Kindergarten CNY

Today I did a presentation on Chinese New Year for Bailey & Ben's kindergarten class. We had alot of fun. I gave out coloring sheets, red envelopes with chocolate coins & rice crackers. After we talked about Chinese New Year, we took out the lion costume and had a parade through some of the other classrooms. The kids loved it - Ben was so excited he was bouncing up and down!!! Bailey wanted to wear her silk dress to school - she was beautiful! I am attaching a picture of the class as they were finishing their parade.

Still Waiting

This photo was taken during our beach vacation last summer. Doesn't it just look like someone is missing from this photo!!We are currently on something like day 83 of our wait - 83 days since our dossier was logged in to the CCAA in Beijing. Of course it is something like day 200 since we first saw Emma!!!!! I found a poem that I think pretty much sums up how we are currently feeling.

KISSES IN THE WIND
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night
--Unknown

Happy Year of the Golden Pig!!

We send you greetings and good wishes for a prosperous, healthy & wealthy year of the golden pig!!! We celebrated the New Year by meeting friends at a Chinese Resturant in Cheney for dinner tonight. These friends are all families that have adopted from China. The Warne's adopted Lily just after we adopted Bailey and they are currently waiting for a referral for a new sister - they also brought their two granddaughters to the party. The Bailey's have 6 children that they have adopted from China - they just returned in January with their youngest son Levi. The Yeagers have 2 children they have adopted from China - Katie is 12 and is tall and very elegent, Spencer is 9 and a real live wire. Cindy Hays has a daughter Hannah that was adopted from China 2 years before we adopted Bailey and her daughter Abbie came home from Cambodia the summer before we adopted Bailey. I am putting in a picture of all the kids on. It is so cool to watch these kids grow and change with the years.

Valentine's Day

I am posting a picture of our tile from the Hands of Hope Wall at Shepard's Village - Langfang China. The Bentley's lived and worked at the Village during most of the time covered in the book - "Saving Levi: Left to Die; Destined to Live" by Lisa Misrage Bentley. I just finished the book this week. It is a very powerful book...really makes you think about all those coincidences in life. There is a wonderful quote in the book from Donald Miller's Through a Painted Desert :
"And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter.... My hope is your story will be about changing... about learning to love a child... about learning to love others more than we love ourselves... We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it? And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."
You just gotta love Donald Miller. After all, he went through that Painted Desert in a Volkswagen Van - Quality Transportation!!!
Happy Valentine's Day from our house to yours! If you still haven't gotten Valentine's for those special people in your life - take a look at the Love Without Boundaries website. Tonight we are having some leftovers for dinner and sending the money we would have used on a Valentine's Dinner to help sponsor a life giving surgery. What could be better than a gift of a healed heart, a healed lip or a full tummy! http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/HowToHelp.php

Well here it is February and no word on travel. We did get an email with updated height and weight for Emma. She is 102 cm - about 40 inches tall and 16 kg - about 32 lbs. She and Bailey are very close to the same size. This ought to be interesting! They also said she is just getting over a case of chicken pox. We are so glad that she is in a wonderful foster home with a foster mother to care for her. It is really hard knowing that our little girl is sick and not being able to even give her a hug!!
I am attaching a picture of a homecoming. It is Levi Bailey surrounded by his new sisters and brother. Levi is the shortest one in the middle. The rest are Sami, Annie, Shania, Elle & Luke. The Bailey's had their paperwork in to China about 2 months before us. They had their TA before Christmas so we are hoping that ours will arrive along a similar timeline!

It's also Groundhog Day - Happy Birthday Dan!!!