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Visiting Maya's orphanage and foster family

Today was a very emotional day. I was allowed to see where Maya has lived since she was 8 months old. I met her main nanny who cared for her until the age of three, and her foster parents who have cared for her from age three until present. foster families live in a building near the orphanage. Each foster family has four children with special needs. Next week a new child will move in with Maya's foster family. Her foster mother and father were very loving, and I am so grateful for the love she received. to see the children in the orphanage and know so many of them will live there whole lives in an institution was hard. Half the Sky foundation runs in Maya's orphanage, so it is a very well run orphanage, and the children are well cared for. However, an orphanage is not the love of a family. I especially had a soft spot for Maya's 14 year old brother with down syndrome. At 14 he is no longer eligable to be adopted. He will live his whole life in the social welfare institute. I asked to take a picture of him and he had a sweet pose for me. I cannot express how grateful I am to be raised in a loving home in our beautiful country. I am emotionally exhausted, and will never forget today. I also remember that God reaches into every corner, and I can do what I can do, but, must give the rest to Him. But, we also need to allow our hearts to break for what breaks His....and that heartbreak hurts.

Family Day and official Adoption Day

Yesterday, I arrived in Nanjing and was brought straight to the civil affairs office. I was nervous, and walked into a very full building full of crying babies and kids with adoptive parents. walked throught the room, and recognized Maya right away. Maya did not make strange, and seemed rather indifferent to everything going on. She was very, very quiet, so, at that moment I was still thinking she was none verbal. The staff gave me the gifts we had sent her, they took our picture, and we were sent off to our hotel for some bonding time :) At the hotel, we began playing, and I saw a very giggly girl, who also had much more language then I had thought she would have. She is charming, and a bit of a stinker, all good signs of her personality. I was not sure if Maya would be toilet trained, she is, and tells me when she has to go. The kid scrubs her hands after like she is prepping for surgery. she eats well, and really likes to eat with a bowl and spoon. Today we went and finalized her adoption I find it very special signing the papers and making it official with my red fingerprint. Like blood it reminds me we are now blood relatives. FAMILY Maya loved going shopping and riding in the cart, she also loved riding in the stroller, such blessings,as I had put her in the back carrier, but will save my back for the trip up the great wall. Again, thank you for your continued prayers, on this journey to Maya in China. I have been doing very well, am healthy. I enjoyed a huge apple tonight, which was nice, as I do not think I can eat more rice or noodles for a few meals. The food is much better in Beijing.

Beijing-Day 1

Today we took the bus to pipe alley and enjoyed some hotpot. I loved this hotpot restaraunt and was so happy we traveled back there. We also saw a lovely lake and enjoyed looking in the stores in pipe alley Tomorrow morning, I fly to Nanjing and in the afternoon will meet our sweet Maya for the first time. I am excited, yet, it somewhat seems surreal that the day is here.

The Count Down.

It seems like a lifetime ago when I first saw her picture. The face that captured Kevin's heart right away. The little girl whom we will soon call our daughter. On Dec. 6th I will be flying out to Beijing and on to Nanjing, Jiangsu to adopt our sweetie pie. Please keep me in your prayers, our daughter Maya, and my husband and kiddos who will be staying in Edmonton.

YES, YES, YES

YES, YES, YES "Get your "YES" straight at the very beginning. Decide on it. Roll around in it. Put it on the table and shellack it. Because you cannot let every delay and snag derail your certainty about adoption. When you say YES, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "show me a sign" or "this is a sign" or "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage. You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like hell to get them home. So we will. We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but get them home we will." --Jen Hatmaker

The Price of Children

The Price of Children This is just too good not to pass on to all. Here is something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It's nice. The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into: * $8,896.66 a year, * $741.38 a month, * $171.08 a week. * A mere $24.24 a day! * Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice is: don't have children if you want to be 'rich.' Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140.00? * Naming rights. First, middle, and last! * Glimpses of God every day. * Giggles under the covers every night. * More love than your heart can hold. * Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs. * Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. * A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate. * A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites. * Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to: * finger-paint, * carve pumpkins, * play hide-and-seek, * catch lightning bugs, * never stop believing in Santa Claus. You have an excuse to: * keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh, * watch Saturday morning cartoons, * go to Disney movies, and * wish on stars.

You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodlewreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day. For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for: * retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof, * taking the training wheels off a bike, * removing a splinter, * filling a wading pool, * coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and

* coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless. You get a front row seat in history to witness the: * First step, * First word, * First bra, * First date, * First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great-grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match. In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!! Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren!!!!!!! It's the best investment you'll ever make!!!!!!!!!