Oh, she has been waiting and waiting to turn four. It seems like ever since she turned three she has been waiting for this day. She will often tell people, “When I’m not three I’m going to be four. And when I’m not four I’m going to be five. And when I’m not five I’m going to be six.” So I guess the countdown is now on until she is five.
We started Ami’s day by singing Happy Birthday to wake her up. We were all up and anxious to celebrate with her. She chose cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then she got to open presents before Daddy left for work. To top things off it had started to snow during the night and it has continued to snow throughout the day. It’s beautiful!
Chewing gum from Michaela; finally, now that she's four!
Ami had a great day playing with all of her new goodies and chewing gum. For her birthday dinner she chose green beans, chicken nuggets, and jello. Chicken nuggets are a rare treat for her since most have dairy products in the breading. I can’t remember the last time she got to eat any. She also chose pink cake with pink frosting and sprinkles.
We are thankful everyday for our Ami treasure that God surprised us with. Yes, we call Ami our “surprise pregnancy”. We thought we were done, but God. He had bigger and better plans and I can’t imagine having missed this. First Ami, then Elijah, what next God?
Here’s a video I took today. It’s a bit long, but Ami just kept going on and on so I kept the camera rolling. She is very imaginative!
Last fall Michaela and Benjamin started going to a local Tae Kwon Do class. They have enjoyed it, and a couple of weeks ago they each earned their yellow belt. The class is at a local church and as part of the belt requirements they have to memorize scripture. It’s been a good experience and they’re trying to talk Dad into joining them. Way to go Michaela and Benjamin!
We are celebrating that another Elijah has a forever family! This wonderful family, the Bourkes, is in China right now. We became connected with them because our Elijah and their Philip both lived at Shepherd’s Field before their adoptions. We got to meet them in person last summer when we attended the Philip Hayden Foundation reunion.
The incredible thing that I wanted to share is that the Bourkes were empty-nesters. Twenty-two years after the birth of their first son and only child, they were in China adopting their second son, and this week they are adopting their third son. How neat is that?! If you’ve ever thought that you were too old to adopt, please, please think again.
We were also travel mates in 2006 with another incredible couple that had three grown sons and despite being empty-nesters they were in China to adopt Jaden and also returned last year to adopt another daughter.
I am so thankful for the examples of these two couples that went against what our culture said they should be doing as they neared retirement age. Rather than preparing to kick back and collect shells on the beach, they followed God’s heart and have now given homes and hope to four more children. God is good! We love and admire you Bourkes and Murrays!
Johanna can always bring a smile to my face. This morning she came upstairs ready for breakfast all decked out in matching clothes with her American Girl doll. Hope this brings a smile to your face, too!
Today was a special day as we celebrated Elijah’s 11th birthday. It also seemed like a celebration of his being home with us for one year. We arrived home just a week before his birthday last year and it’s amazing to think back to our relationship and how we communicated at that time as compared to now.
Elijah requested donuts for breakfast, noodles and apples for lunch, then chicken drumsticks, mac ‘n cheese and corn-on-the-cob for supper with chocolate cake to top it all off. Last year we didn’t know what to feed the kid so we took him out for Chinese food and got him an ice-cream cake since he didn’t like sweet cake. So much has changed!
Birthday wake-up call
We are so blessed to have Elijah in our family. His cheerfulness and resiliency humbles me. I can only hope to learn from his spirit. We honestly don’t know his “real” birthday. Shortly after being abandoned he was taken by a helpful policeman to the local orphanage. The day he arrived was February 1, thus that was the date chosen to be put in his records as his birthday. The date itself isn’t important though. What matters most is that Elijah’s heavenly Father knows the very hairs on his head and knows him by name. And as far as earthly parents go, we will do our very best to reflect our Father’s love and make Elijah feel ever-loved and cared for. Happy birthday, son. We love you so very much!
Well, maybe it’s not always fun, but the kids have enjoyed learning through some particular activities this week. Because of my background with Japan we have always enjoyed some origami here and there; we have several origami books and always have a supply of origami paper around. The kids have been on quite a kick this week of making all sorts of things. This isn’t “school”, but you can bet I’m going to count some art hours! Michaela discovered a neat site that your kids might be interested in. It has countless designs, many of which are simple to recreate.
In science this week Benjamin, Elijah, and Johanna have been studying static electricity. Of course this means lots of fun experiments. Some experiments don’t need to be written out in a book. This is Johanna after rubbing her head on the couch!
After science time this morning I got out the humidifier to help with our dry air.
I had to show off Elijah’s beautiful penmanship from this morning. He had fairly good printing when we met him last year, but over the last few months we have also been working on cursive. He copied this verse from his Bible without asking for help or looking at his letter chart at all. Yes, I’m proud!
Most of you who know us are very aware that Elijah’s adoption story is no small miracle. It’s hard to know how to even wrap up his story in the proverbial nutshell. If you are unfamiliar with the miracles that brought our latest treasure home and are up for some reading, I would encourage you to go back in the archives to the middle of August 2008. That’s not when our story started, but that’s when I backtracked and started blogging about it.
In June of 2007 we began sponsoring Elijah through the Philip Hayden Foundation. God planted a seed in our hearts early on and we knew without a shadow of a doubt that Elijah was to be our son. What happened between that point and January 8, 2009 when we were united in person with him could be represented by one “standing stone” after another. Our key verses throughout that time were from Isaiah 45:2-3. “I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” We witnessed leveled mountains, broken down gates, and cut through bars of iron. Our God was mighty and it was an incredible period for our family to live through.
Our Memorial Box is filled with “standing stones” that show God’s faithfulness and hand in our lives, based on Joshua 4. Now we have a literal standing stone to place in our box. You see, Elijah and his new cousin Zane are both from Fujian province. Their home province is know for soapstone. We purchased some on our trip last year, but Elijah’s aunt and uncle also purchased this special standing stone carved from soapstone for our family on their trip just last fall. We felt it was a perfect representation for Elijah’s adoption story. We also wrapped it in twisted “iron” to represent the broken down gates and bars of iron that were cut through that brought Elijah into our family. We thank Him for this indescribable gift, our promised son, and for the journey that He took us through to receive that gift!
When we went to China to get Ami I packed along some burp cloths. In my prior mothering experience we had had a couple of kiddos that spit up a lot and I wanted to be prepared for this. Little did I know that these burp cloths would become Ami’s little security cloths. That sweet baby would stick her first two finger into her mouth then she would also tuck a corner of one the burp cloths right under those two fingers and suck away. I was actually glad that she had a way to soothe herself, probably one of the ways she got through eight months of being institutionalized.
Over time Ami somehow gave up the fingers, but she has continued to suck on those cloths until they are ragged. No other cloth or towel would do, only the original burp cloths. She gets a clean one every night and I have also bleached them regularly, but they are raggedy on all corners and even somewhat stiff on the corners. Gross!
Ami only uses them to go to sleep at night, but I’ve been wondering how long this would go on. So I decided that when she turns four (in just a couple of weeks) that it would be time to say good-bye to the cloths. I don’t mind at all that she has a security item that she sleeps with (I have an older kid who still sleeps with Kitty every night!), but the sucking on it is what I was concerned about. It’s nothing like a thumb that will mess up her teeth, but it just doesn’t seem right at this age.
Am I doing the right thing? We’ve been talking about it for several weeks now and she knows her fourth birthday is coming up very soon. She laughs about it, but I know she doesn’t really want to give the cloths up. If she just slept with them that would be fine with me, but I know from habit they would end up in her mouth.
Aaaaah, is she really growing up? I’ll be sad in a way to see the cloths go, so maybe that’s why I’m second guessing myself. What to do!!! I took these pictures this morning after she came wandering out into the kitchen.
Recently I was inspired by a post on a blog that I follow. Not only was I inspired, but the kids and I took action on it. We have had bitterly cold temperatures here for the first part of January and we have thanked God every day for our warm house. While being thankful for what we have, it reminded us of the many that are without proper shelter even in our local community. The kids and I came up with a list of things that we could put in ziploc bags and keep in the car to hand out to homeless people as we saw the opportunity. So many times I have sat waiting at a light and felt the tug to do something for a panhandler on the side of the road or highway exit. Now we are prepared. We made up eight bags to have ready and filled them with items we hope will be a blessing to those that receive them.
This was a fun and easy project. We bought a few things at the dollar store and we used several items that we had stocked in our house. All in all, we only spent about $25. We included: a granola bar, box of raisins, peanuts, hand warmers, toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, wet wipes, mints, cough drops, water, $1 gift certificate to McDonalds, a comb, and deodorant. We also included a note praying God’s blessing on the recipient.
The neat thing about this is that yesterday we had just been to the store to shop for supplies, then stopped at the post office. Outside there was a man asking for help. We hadn’t even been home yet to put our bags together, but we quickly gathered a few things from our purchases and gave them to the man. The kids were excited and it was a blessing that they so quickly got to see the importance of being prepared to meet the needs of others.
I hope this inspires some of you to do the same. Most of all I hope and pray that this not only blesses those we minister to, but that it ministers to my children’s hearts. I want to instill in them the desire to serve Jesus through those among us.
