Having fun with photos

I rarely take our kids to have their picture made anywhere. I'd love to be able to take them to a professional photographer, especially a really good one, at least once a year, but that's just one of the sacrifices we have made in order to deal with adoption expenses. However, I've really been wanting to get some good pictures of Christina (at 17 she has never had her portrait taken professionally aside from school pictures), and I really wanted to get some good pictures of the kids together (since I've never done that before) so a few weeks ago I took them to Sears. I know it's not the same as taking them to a true professional photographer (like this, one of my friends from high school who is truly an amazing photographer), but with the adoption expenses we are dealing with I'm just happy to have gotten any pictures at all! The best part about getting pictures done at Sears is the ability to purchase a cd of all the images. That way I can not only print up as many pictures as I want whenever I decide I want them, I can also have a lot of fun with the images. Here's a look at the fun I've had with these!


This is the original picture as it was taken. I didn't order any copies because I thought it just didn't look right. Not that my daughter isn't beautiful, just that the portrait could be better.


My first edit, straightened just a little, cropped, lightened, and with some minor touch-ups.


I wanted the focus to be just on her beautiful face.


By playing around on iPhoto I got the picture to look like a drawing. I really like this one a lot!


I think it also looks nice in black and white.


Another picture, truly a beautiful picture to start with.


I really love the way this turned out!


Showing off her face again - so beautiful!


Just as beautiful in black and white!


Another photo I edited just a bit.


All 3 together (I do wish the photographer had placed Malachi on the side with greater lighting instead of Caleb so he wouldn't blend into the background so much).


Another edited version.


I don't usually have time to do much editing on photos, and this was the first I really got to try out the new iPhoto program that came with the new computer (which we were forced to get when the motherboard on the other one died - I really didn't want to have to get a new computer!). Now I can't help but wonder just what I could do with some of the software for editing photos, digital scrapbooking, etc. I'd also love to figure out how to totally redesign my blog with a much better header at the top that actually includes ALL my children. With the new computer I don't have a way to merge multiple pictures into one so I still haven't been able to get Joshua's picture up there. Unfortunately, I haven't a clue which would be the best programs to use and I don't want to waste any money on a program that isn't very good. I hope I figure out something soon!

Another senseless adoption comment

Most all of us who have adopted children at some point in time have had to deal with irritating, rude, and downright mean comments. It wasn't my first, and I'm sure it won't be my last, but tonight I got stung by yet another senseless comment. I don't think the person meant any ill will, but it really rubbed me the wrong way!

To set the story, last night Caleb went to Vacation Bible School at a church near our home, not our own church. When we went to pick him up his teachers saw Malachi and told us he could come tonight also. I made sure it was okay since he is a little younger, and the teachers said it was not a problem. So tonight when I went back to drop them off I told the lady at the registration table I needed to sign Malachi up also. She questioned me about his age and said since he was only 4 he was too young for the kindergarten class and he couldn't stay unless a parent stayed also. I told her he was about to turn 5, was old enough to start kindergarten this year, and that the teachers had explicitly told me he could come. She didn't seem convinced and started asking me very direct questions.

She asked,"Where do you live?" I'm not sure why that mattered, and I don't generally like telling strangers where I live. Given that this is a small community church it's very unlikely someone who is not a member of that church would drive very far just to take their kids to VBS since there are plenty of other churches doing VBS right now also. Thus she could have easily assumed I lived somewhere nearby, and of course she could have just looked at the address I wrote down on the registration sheet if she really needed to know.

Then she asked, "Do you go to church?" Well, I most certainly had no problem answering that, but I couldn't help but think if we didn't go to church anywhere how uncomfortable that question would make me. There are much better ways to find out if someone goes to church and invite them to your own!

Next question she asked was, "Are these your only 2 kids?" I started off by telling her, "No, we also have a 17 year old daughter." Of course, every time I tell people who see Caleb and Malachi that I also have a 17 year old daughter I can tell immediately what they start thinking - that I got pregnant when I was very young - and their mindset about me seems to take a negative direction. I really dislike the fact that unless I tell people how we adopted Christina when she was 12 they automatically draw negative conclusions about me. So then I told the lady about our 2 kids waiting in China and she questioned me further about our adoptions. Thus I told her how we had adopted Christina from Siberia 4 years ago and Malachi from India 2 years ago, at which point she told me, "Your husband must have a very good job."

Quite often when I tell people about all our adoptions they have very positive reactions, even saying things like, "How wonderful", "God bless you", "What special people you must be", etc. Although I don't expect such positive reactions and don't feel deserving of them (because we aren't adopting to get praise or even to "save a child" - we are adopting because we want to share our love with a child), I will admit I can deal with the positive comments much better than the negative ones (e.g. I usually mention how blessed we feel to have our children with us, that while others may see the sacrifices we have made we see only the blessings we have received), and it really caught me off guard to get a comment like this from a stranger at a church - those are usually the people who say the nicest things!

When we are right in the midst of an adoption that will take over $40,000, when I am dealing daily with the frustration of knowing we will probably have approval to travel in August or maybe even July but we really have no choice but to wait until the beginning of September to travel due to money issues, when we are working so hard to pay off the debt from our previous adoptions while still trying to fund this one, it is very irritating to have someone make the assumption that just because we are adopting these children we must have plenty of money to spare.

NO, NO, NO!!! We have made many, many sacrifices to bring home our children. We work hard to come up with the money. When we don't come up with the money in time we deal with the added burden of debt. While so many people urge being debt free and especially avoiding credit cards, we have dealt with the burden of unwanted credit card debt when we had no other choice for buying airline tickets or paying hotel and other travel expenses. We most certainly aren't wealthy, we have just chosen a different path for our lives and our money than most people choose. Personally, I can't help but feel the blessings we have received have been far, far greater than the sacrifices we have made!



Oh, and I do find it a little ironic this happened right after my last post in which I talked about just a few of the sacrifices we have made to be able to afford adoption. I get so tired of having people tell me, "Oh, I would love to adopt but we just can't afford it." If only more people understood the blessing is much greater than the sacrifices I think there would be fewer orphans in the world!

It's that time of year again...

...when for the 4th year in a row riding in our van is downright miserable due to the lack of air conditioning

...when I watch all the other neighbors zoom around the yard on their riding lawn mowers while I spend endless hours in the blazing hot sun and stifling humidity pushing a cheap little push mower up an incline and over the rough ground

...when we hear everybody else talking about their vacations to the beach, Disney World, and other neat places while our 6 year old son begs for the experience of staying in a hotel for "at least one night."

...when Vacation Bible School in the morning at our church gives me a chance to run errands and experience time without the kids for a couple of hours for 5 straight days, and I think about how much easier life must be for all the moms whose children go to Mother's Day Out each week at church (or any other part-time child care)

...when Vacation Bible School in the evening at the church around the corner from us gives my husband and I a couple of hours alone for a few days, and we spend the first day in a state of near shock at the concept of actually being ALONE together while imagining how fun life must be for those who can hire a sitter for their children

But then when I see this beautiful face...

...and I see this sweet smile...

...when I think of this precious boy...

...and this sweet little girl...

I have no regrets about how we have chosen to spend our money, and then...

...I am thankful for the old cars we have that are paid off, even if it means driving with no air conditioning, and even if the cars need some work. After all, it's pretty neat to think we are still using my very first vehicle, the truck I bought when I was still a teenager!

...I am thankful for the big yard we have that needs to be mowed and for having a little push-mower to mow it with, for the nice neighbor who fixed the mower so I'm not pushing around a half-broken mower anymore, and for the green grass and weeds that grow in the yard (because in Florida we had too much sand in our yard to grow anything).

...I am thankful that although we don't get to take neat vacations we live in a place that's so nice people come here from all over America for their vacations, and before that we spent many years living in another popular vacation destination along the Gulf Coast of Florida. I'm also thankful for the opportunity to travel around the world to bring home my precious children, and while we've never taken a luxurious vacation personally I think what we have seen has been far more life-changing and rewarding. We have been to an orphanage in Siberia where children begged us to find families for them. We have seen indescribable poverty and depression, homeless mothers begging for help, starving children begging for food, young kids selling themselves in a desperate attempt at survival. We have seen the slums of India, we watched naked children eating from the same piles of garbage on the street corners from which the cows were eating. We have seen hundreds of families living on the streets, and we knew those kids were the lucky ones because at least they had parents to love them as opposed to the thousands and millions of unwanted orphans. In short, we have seen what most people here in America never will, and thus we know just how incredibly blessed be are.

...I am indescribably thankful for the children that are always with me instead of going to a Mother's Day Out program, that go everywhere I go and beg for everything in the store and then whine when they don't get it, that make running the simplest of errands a burdensome task. I rejoice in the fact that I am never alone, because it doesn't mean I have my hands full, it just means I have my heart full!

A new name

You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow. - Isaiah 62:2

When we first felt called to adopt our new son in addition to our sweet daughter we had no idea what his Chinese name was (the agency wouldn't give us any information on him since we were already in process to adopt our daughter). Thus when we thought about what we would name him if we were miraculously given approval to adopt him we couldn't help but think about the name we had already planned for our next son. Therefore we always thought of him as "Christian" even when there seemed to be no hope of adopting him.

Once we learned his name, "Hua," we couldn't really think of any American names that were similar, and since Hua wasn't really a name that would fit in well here in America we decided to go with our plan of naming him Christian Isaiah.

A couple of weeks ago completely out of the blue it occurred to me that the name Joshua ends in "hua." After realizing that, it only made sense to change our new son's name to Joshua since it ends with his Chinese name.

Although it took several weeks to get used to the idea of a different name for him, we all like the name Joshua. It is a beautiful name with a very powerful meaning, especially given the miraculous story of Joshua's adoption that could only have been orchestrated through God.

The name Joshua means "God is my salvation." Another translation is "God rescues." People rarely adopt older children, and the vast majority of adoptive families choose to adopt girls instead of boys. Even healthy little boys wait simply because they are a boy, so as a teenage boy, especially one with congenital heart defects and pulmonary hypertension (a potentially life threatening condition that can lead to double heart/lung transplants), Joshua had virtually no hope of finding a family. At 13 time was rapidly running out for him given that on his 14th birthday he would no longer be eligible for adoption. We watched the photolistings for months in hopes this child would find a family since we knew our agency would never allow us to adopt him. Once we began the battle to get our agency's approval to adopt him we knew it would take an absolute miracle. Yes, it seems like common sense that we be allowed to adopt him, and yes, people adopt 2 kids all the time through other agencies. However, our agency NEVER, NEVER, NEVER allows this!

It took a huge battle, lots of effort, way too much time, and enormous faith, but ALL things are possible with God! God truly did rescue Joshua as without this miracle Joshua would have been condemned to life as an orphan in China. In a country where males his age greatly outnumber females and extended families are of great importance, without a family (and thus an inheritance) Joshua almost certainly would never have found a wife. Thus he would have lived his entire life as an orphan with no family - no parents, no grandparents, no wife, no children, etc. His life may have been severely shortened due to a lack of medical care for his pulmonary hypertension. He would never have been taught any kind of faith to help carry him through the trials of life, and he would probably have never learned about Jesus Christ. However, through a great miracle God rescued Joshua, and thus I don't think there could possibly be any name more appropriate for him than one that means "God rescues."

We will keep the middle name of Isaiah (which also means "God is my Salvation; the Lord saves me"). Given all the connections to that name (mentioned in this post) I think it too has great meaning, and Joshua Isaiah seems like a perfect fit

Our handsome little Indian prince!

To save money I take our passport/visa pictures myself. It can be hard to get a good picture of Malachi (not because he isn't adorable but rather because he has no ability to follow directions), but this one turned out so well I think I may blow it up and frame it!

Adding a little more to the story...

In order to get the last post done in time I didn't really write very much about my father for whom Micaelyn is named. Thus I'd like to add just a little more to the story.

I was very little when my parents were divorced, and my father always lived several hours away (at least) so I didn't really get to see much of him. When I was in late elementary school he was transferred to Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, FL (he wasn't active duty Air Force - he was in the Civil Service). At that point he lived 8 hours away, so I really only saw him a couple of times a year. However, when I was 20 years old I decided to move there for the whole summer to spend more time with him and also my little brothers who were 1 and 4 at the time. I got a full time job working in a hospital affiliated gym (because I was majoring in Exercise Science: Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, as well as Biology: Pre-med and Chemistry: Pre-med - and I managed to take home several Outstanding Senior awards for having the highest GPA in each of those 3 majors - Isn't it ironic that instead of becoming a doctor I ended up being a stay-at-home mom to a bunch of special needs kids? As I always say, God's plans are so much better than our own!).

Within my first few days in Florida my father invited me out to lunch with him and his coworker - a young Air Force officer. The two men worked side by side alone together in a locked vault all day long doing top-secret work for the Air Force. Throughout the summer I would occasionally see this young officer on other occasions. Sometimes he came by our house to hang out with my father and talk about things most people couldn't begin to understand. Not having much understanding of radar, missiles, drones, and all the high tech topics they were discussing, along with the fact that a lot of what they did was shrouded in secrecy, I didn't ever really hang around to get to know the young officer very well.

After summer was over I left Florida to go back to college. However, when Halloween rolled around I skipped a bunch of classes/labs/clinicals so I could go back to Florida and take my little brothers trick-or-treating (I had a professor complain about that, but I argued that nothing was more important to me than my family. I think if I wouldn't have been the top student I would have gotten myself in a bit of trouble for skipping!). While there the young AF officer invited me to a Halloween party with him. I told him I would be busy taking my brothers trick-or-treating, but he told me to just meet him there when I was done and promised to not dress up himself so I wouldn't feel out of place or not recognize him. So after I finished taking my brothers trick-or-treating I drove over to the party, but when I saw how many cars were there (A LOT!) I chickened out (I can be pretty shy!) and went home. Later he called me and said he was disappointed I didn't make it.

The following Memorial Day weekend (obviously quite a few months later) I headed back to Florida, and while at work my father told the officer I was headed down and casually mentioned how I would be bored while I was there. The officer said he had a new jet ski and told my dad he would take me out on it. How on earth could I turn that offer down? I might have been shy, but I was also adventurous and loved to have fun! :)

So one afternoon along with my father I met the young officer at an area called Bonita Bay right there on the Air Force base. I said good-bye to my dad and sailed off into the water with the man I would marry just 7 1/2 months later.

Almost a decade later just before Christmas of 2007 we went back to Bonita Bay to say a final good-bye to my father. He had died of a heart attack at 55 years of age, and the Air Force had arranged a ceremony on one of their boats to spread his ashes out at sea. We rode out in the bay, through the pass beyond Shell Island, just as my husband and I had done 10 years before on our first "date" together. A plane flew overhead in a final salute good-bye to my father. It was the plane my husband had spent so many hours/years working on doing airborne telemetry we affectionately called it "his" plane. At my husband's request, the Air Force presented each of my dad's 4 children with framed pictures signed by the members of his squadron (the same sort of going-away gift that is given when a member leaves the squadron either through retirement, transfer to a new base, or separation from the Air Force - my husband has several of these from his years in the Air Force).

The pain of losing my father will always be there, but I am ever so thankful that God orchestrated things the way He did! My father did a lot of really important and amazing work, but few people in this world will ever know or understand exactly what he did (and thus the reason I'm not going into any detail on that). God blessed me by leading me into marriage with the one man who best understood what my father did, a man who had the capacity to actually talk with my father like few others could and therefore became one of the few true friends my father ever really had, the man who fought for recognition for my father, a fight which subsequently led to my father receiving numerous awards and honors for his work. Because of this I will never have to wonder what my father really did. My children can learn about their granddad from the man who best knew him and his work, their own daddy. My father may be gone, but his work will be well remembered in our family!

During the time my husband was in the Air Force working with my father the squadron had carved a wooden plaque to hang above the door of the vault that read "Big Ern's Playhouse" (Big Ern was my husband's call sign). After my dad's death they took it down so they could make a new sign in memory of my father (I think the new sign was supposed to read "WolfMan's Den" since they called my father WolfMan). Only God could have known that from those two men working together in a locked vault doing top secret work for the military a man and woman would be married, the man would accept Christ into his heart as Lord and Savior of his life, a child would be born, and 4 orphans would become beloved sons and daughters (and that's just what has happened so far, only He knows how many kids are still waiting for us!).

The following two pictures were taken when Ernie was promoted to Captain (before we were married). He had already asked my father to pin-on his new rank before that time he took me out on the jet-ski, and when we started dating he figured I would be the perfect person to pin-on his rank on the other side. How cool is that?


The picture below is the one given to me by the Air Force during the ceremony out at sea (my 3 brothers each received one made specifically for them). Since my father could have retired earlier in the year (at his 55th birthday) for his 30 years in the Civil Service my husband requested these pictures be made for his children in place of the one that would have been given to him at retirement. It was signed by the members of his squadron - since the notes were written specific to me about my dad it is really special. The boats at the bottom of the picture are the ones used by the squadron in support of their missions, and the ceremony was held on one of those boats. The white plane in the picture is the one my husband worked on for so many years as a contractor after separating from the Air Force. Thus even though he was no longer in the Air Force he still worked on the base supporting his old squadron doing nearly the same job as a contractor instead of as an AF officer. The plaque at the bottom reads:
Gary "WOLFMAN" _______ (I don't list last names on here)
83d FWS Computer Engineer
(aka Mr. WSEP)
1989-2007

The following picture is the one that was given to my husband by the same squadron for his service to that unit. The plaque at the bottom reads:
CAPT ERNIE "BIGERN" ________
30 SEP 96 - 29 JUN 99
"Namesake of the PLAYHOUSE"
Remember I mentioned the wooden plaque that had hung above the door to the vault for over a decade that read "Big Ern's Playhouse."

This is a shot of the pictures hanging in our office along with some of my husband's other military things, many of which are related to his work for that same squadron. The collage hanging above the picture I received in honor of my father is one my husband received for his work as a contractor working on the E-9 (the white Air Force plane seen in the pictures). Unfortunately all the signatures are on the back of that picture so we have to take it off the wall to read them.

The next picture was taken during the ceremony as we were heading out of Bonita Bay (and it really is a "beautiful" bay!) towards the Gulf of Mexico. The land seen in the picture is Shell Island, a popular tourist destination in Panama City. This was the same route my husband and I had taken a decade before on our first outing together. I don't really have words to describe what it was like to take that same journey to bid my father a final farewell while remembering the time I had bid him a brief farewell before heading off on the "date" with his friend that would change my life forever.

Looking up from the boat.

A presentation to my granddad. As hard as it was for me to lose my dad, I felt worse for him. He buried his younger son from a heart attack at only 26 years of age. Then his older son died from a heart attack at 55 years of age. Those 2 sons (my dad and uncle) were his only kids, so in burying my dad he had outlived all his children (and also one grandchild).

The E-9, the white Air Force plane my husband spent so many years working on as a contractor (the same one seen in the picture given to me by the Air Force) flies over the boat.

God blessed us with truly perfect weather and indescribably gorgeous skies for the ceremony.











The sun cast its final light as I unwillingly forced myself to say good-bye, but I take peace in knowing my father lives on in eternal light with our Heavenly Father, the One who is the true Light of the world.

Micaelyn's Name, Part 2

Today is my father's birthday, but I can't celebrate it with him (he died in December 2007 at age 55). However, I'm sure the greatest celebration here on earth can't even begin to compare to a single day in Heaven, so although I wish I could tell him I love him at least one more time I'll do my best to focus on where he is now and not what I have lost. Since I never got a chance to finish telling the story of Micaelyn's name, today is the perfect day.

The first part of Micaelyn's name comes from the name of my first step-dad, Michael, who died of Lou Gehrig's disease right at my 7th birthday. He was only 28 years old. I told more about that story in this post.

The second part of Micaelyn's name comes from my father, whose middle name was Lynn. I think it's really special that as his only daughter I am able to pass his name off to my own daughter. I only wish he were here to see his granddaughter named after him. However, I take great comfort in knowing I will see him again one day in Heaven.

Thus, Micaelyn is named after both my father and my first step-dad, both of whom are now in Heaven. It's a very special name that's also unique without being odd, and I happen to think it's a beautiful name as well! Just perfect for our very special and beautiful little girl!

My father with Caleb as a baby (since I obviously don't have any pictures of him with Micaelyn) - Look how light Caleb looks compared to my dad! I always assumed my children would have dark hair and eyes and tanned skin since those are "dominant" features, but Caleb definitely inherited his coloration from his daddy and not from me!

An old picture of Micaelyn, because I have no new ones! This one is 8 months old, and I am desperate for some new pictures of my little girl!

More about Christian

Christian is 13 1/2 years old and lives in Guangzhou in southern China. This is what was said about him on April 20 of last year (which just happens to be Caleb's birthday!):
Hai Hua is currently living at a boarding school where he studies as a third grader. He has grown up healthily under the careful care and concern of his teachers. Currently, he is the top student in the third grade and he easily grasps all the material that his teacher presents. His grades are excellent and he often holds the top rank in his class. He is very intelligent and his memory is outstanding. He likes to read books not assigned in class and the scope of what he likes to read is very wide. Moreover, he is able to recall a lot of content. When he is talking with others, he is able to show off by recalling all sorts of facts. He learns anything quickly and is developing into a well-rounded young man. Hai Hua likes to joke around with acquaintances even though they might not understand his jokes. He also likes to perform magic tricks. He wants to be a computer teacher when he grows up.

As to why he is only in the 4th grade now at 13 1/2 years old, the orphanage said:
He has congenital heart disease and he was not in quite good condition so that he was delayed for schooling.
Christian had surgery to repair his heart defects when he was 8 years old and was able to start school the following year when he was 9 years old. Thus he is pretty far behind by American standards, but since he is very studious we think he will do just fine here. Also, many of the older children from China are advanced beyond American kids the same age in math, so even if we move him up a couple of grades he will probably be just fine in math. English would be challenging regardless of what grade he is in. With his love of reading and high intelligence, once he learns English well enough I'm sure he will do fine in the other subjects such as science and history. With respect to his medical condition, because his VSD appears to have been pretty large and wasn't repaired until he was 8 years old there is a significant risk for long-term complications related to the pulmonary hypertension he has as a result of living with the VSD for so many years. However, here in America he will receive excellent medical care, and we know God is completely in control! We won't know how significant his medical situation will be until he has been evaluated here in America, but regardless of whether it turns out to be very minor or more serious Christian is our son and we love him!

New computer!

I will be back to blogging soon! We finally had to get a new computer (yep, it was that bad - motherboard problems), and I am downloading pictures now for the first time in a long time! I will be busy all day today, and this evening our new preacher is coming over to visit with us (we have been going to a new church). He is a wonderful man with a great heart - we can tell he truly cares about and loves each member of his congregation. He has a daughter just barely older than Christina who is Caleb and Malachi's Sunday school teacher, and they love her! We look forward to visiting with him tonight, and then later this evening I will be sure to finally get some updates on here, pictures and all! Lots and lots and LOTS to share!

Computer problems

I just wanted to let everyone know I will be back to blogging soon. My computer has been broken, really broken! It had been having a lot of problems for several months, e.g. crashing a lot, but thankfully God allowed it to hold off until we got our dossier done. As soon as that was done, however, the computer died! It won't even start up now. I know it's bad when even my husband can't fix it considering I've never seen a computer he can't fix. However, I'm pretty sure if he had the right equipment he could do it, but it doesn't make me feel good to hear him using words like "motherboard" and "expensive." However, the bills had to be paid so I finally had to resort to using his computer, which isn't very fun since I usually prefer to work on the computer at the same time as him so we can be together while we're on the computer. It's not as fun in here by myself!

Anyways, the point is I haven't quit blogging, and once my computer is done I'll be back to it regularly. I'll probably even do some posting before then on my husband's computer. He enjoys reading my blog and sharing it with others, so I guess even if I end up doing it late at night after he's done on his computer it's still worth it!

Our dossier is in China now, and the race is on to beat Christian's 14th birthday. We recently got a new picture of him, and I can't wait to share it since it's the first one we have of him really smiling (which made us wonder if they told him he had a family). He's a really handsome kid! Someone from our agency is going to China next week to meet with the Journey of Hope kids (the group he's in), so hopefully we'll get even more pictures and some more info soon. Also, in about a month another adoptive family will be traveling to Micaelyn's city so we should get some pictures of her also!

Aside from the adoption journey, life has been busy with both Caleb and Malachi playing t-ball now with Ernie coaching, new kittens being born, Caleb losing his first tooth, hiking, picnics, and other springtime fun. Ernie has been greatly enjoying having me mow the yard and seems to feel like the luckiest man in the world when he sits out in the evening with me watching the kids and enjoying the beautiful property God has blessed us with. It's just a little less than 2 acres, which isn't so much out where we live but is a lot compared to where he grew up. We're surrounded by farmland with a view of the Smoky Mountains, so it's really pretty here! Not to mention how much Ernie loves having his wife mow his big yard for him, especially since our mower is just a cheap little push-mower (and it's not self-propelled, and the yard isn't perfectly flat nor is the ground perfectly level). It's not an easy job, but it's so worth it to see the pleasure on my husband's face!

Retiring the ultrasound picture

When we first started this adoption we weren't yet matched with a child, but because I wanted to represent our new child on my sidebar I put up the infamous China ultrasound picture. Once we were matched with Micaelyn I kept thinking I needed to take it down and replace it with her picture, but for some reason I never got around to it. I now realize my heart knew what my mind didn't at the time - that there were TWO heartbeats, TWO lives represented by that ultrasound picture. Now that we can see that second life, I am excited to finally retire the ultrasound picture and replace it with pictures of our TWO children waiting in China!

Our next TWO blessings, still in China, but waiting no more for a family of their own!

...and yes, I will be updating the heading picture soon as well. :)

More about his name...

Christian Isaiah is a name I have long liked and picked out way before we found our new son. My first interest in the name came when I worked at a YMCA summer camp as a canoeing instructor while I was in college. There was a little boy named Christian who captured my heart. He was of African descent, and since we have talked about adopting from Africa I always figured we would have a little African boy named Christian. However, since we are bringing home our Chinese son first if God blesses us with an African son he will get to have one of my other favorite names!

Christian is a common name but not overly popular that will fit in nicely here in the heart of the Bible belt. It goes well with our other childrens' names, particularly with Christina who he will probably be closest to since they will be the closest in age and have similar backgrounds having grown up in an orphanage and been adopted at similar ages. On a funny side note, during the long and difficult battle to get our agency's approval to adopt Christian along with Micaelyn we had to have more interviews with our local agency. They asked what we planned to name him, and when I said we were thinking about naming him Christian they told us they didn't think we should do that because it was too similar to Christina's name and she might not like that. However, just as we figured, Christina loves the name! Besides, many people give their biological children similar names, why should it be any different for our adopted children?

Isaiah was a very important Biblical prophet, and the book of Isaiah is one of my most favorite books in the Bible. I have many favorite passages from the book of Isaiah, one of which is is extremely relevant to our adoptions, especially Christian's. It reads as follows:

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, 'Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. - Isaiah 43:5-6

I will bring your children from the east... - China, India, and Siberia are all in the eastern hemisphere.
...and gather you from the west. - The United States is in the western hemisphere.
I will say to the north, "Give them up!" - Our agency, the one that never allows the adoption of two unrelated children at the same time, is in the northern part of the US.
...and to the south, 'Do not hold them back." - We live in the southern part of the US. We were concerned that pushing our agency for approval to adopt our new son along with our new daughter could cause problems with her adoption, but we felt called to push for their approval no matter how difficult the battle - we didn't hold back!
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. - Our sons Christian and Malachi both come from afar (China and India). There are at least 2 ways in which "the ends of the earth" can be tied to China where Micaelyn is, and there are connections to Christina as well. There is a location on Hainan Island in southern China called "The End of the Earth." Though Micaelyn does not live on the island, she does live in southern China. This spot also happens to be very close to Vietnam, and Christina's birth father was from/lives in Vietnam. China also has another very interesting connection to the phrase "the ends of the earth." There is a spot in northwestern China in the Gurbantunggut Desert that can be associated with the phrase "the ends of the earth" because it is the remotest point of land on earth - it is further from any sea than any other place on earth. It just so happens that this spot is near the border of Russia and close to where Christina is from. Thus our Chinese daughter is waiting in a country that has 2 different connections to the phrase "the ends of the earth, and our daughter from Siberia came from a part of the world that can easily be considered "the ends of the earth," with her birth father living near a spot called "The End of the Earth." "

As if those words aren't powerful enough on their own, here is another amazing connection to those words from Isaiah. For the online photolisting our son was given an American name, Harry. The founder of our adoption agency, the man who pioneered the way for international adoption 55 years ago, was also named Harry. The verse from Isaiah I just mentioned was one that guided him in his efforts to help orphaned children around the world come home to the loving arms of their families.

Here's another interesting thing about the name Isaiah which I had chosen long before we were matched with our new son. If you reverse the last 3 letters of Isaiah you have Hai, part of his Chinese name (HaiHua). Also, both Isaiah and Hiahua end in the "ah" sound.

Because of his age, we will give him some choice in what he wants to be called. The vast majority of the Asian students here take American names, so most likely he will want to do the same.

Introducing Christian Isaiah Haihua!!!

Like cold water to a weary soul
is good news from a distant land. -Proverbs 25:25

After a month of waiting, we finally have our PA (pre-approval) from China to bring home our new son. Thus it is with great delight I introduce you to...

Christian Isaiah Haihua



About his name:

Christian means "Follower of Christ." This is our greatest hope for him, that he accepts Christ as Lord and Savior of his life and becomes a man of God.

Isaiah means "God is my Salvation." While God is our Salvation in the eternal life, I find this to have a special meaning in our son's physical life as well. As a 13 year old boy with heart defects there was virtually no hope for him to ever find a family to adopt him before his 14th birthday, the age limit for adoption in China. Then when we expressed our desire to adopt him there was virtually no hope the agency would allow it since we were already in the process to adopt Micaelyn and they NEVER allow the adoption of two unrelated children at the same time. However, many many prayers were lifted up, and God blessed us with a miracle, proving that NOTHING is impossible with GOD!!! Through this great miracle, God has given a family, hope, and love to Haihua and saved him from a life of sadness and uncertainty as an orphan. How much more fitting can a name with the meaning "God is my Salvation" be for our new son?!

Hai Hua is his Chinese name. I have no idea what it means, but will update when I find out.