Blessings From Others!

I joined a Yahoo Group for the orphanage that Molly is in and received a special blessing from two of the ladies on the group. They were in China in June picking up their babies and they had the privilege of going to the orphanage. They were able to take several pictures of the babies and children there, and they have one of our Molly when she was only 1 month old. There were only three infants there at the time, and the other two were a bit older then Molly would have been. So here is a picture of Molly at one month old!

LOI to China!

It is official! Our LOI (letter of intent) went to China today. So we officially begin the wait for our LOA (letter of acceptance). Our agency estimates that the LOA will take about 90 days, so we should get that mid-February, and then travel 4-6 weeks after that! We want to be there NOW to get our baby girl, but we are trying to be patient. There is alot to do during the wait. We went and applied for the boys passports today. We also have to update our homestudy--ugh! And then there is the fun stuff we get to do while we wait like shop for girly things and decorate her room! And of course there are the Holidays that are upon us! So, hopefully the next 90 days are so will fly by and we will have our LOA! I am posting a picture from below here as well, just because I want her picture back up top for a while!

More on My Dad!

It has been over two months since my Dad passed away and life has seemingly moved on as normal. But it's not normal, and it will never be normal again. I so want to call him or go by and tell him all about Molly, and I can't. I do believe that he sees her and is having God watch over her especially for us, but I still want to talk to him about it myself--and I can't. Sometimes I think it just isn't fair, and then I have to remind myself that life is not fair. I also have to go on with my normal life and raise my kids with a smile on my face. Which is exactly what my Dad would have wanted.

As a special reminder that my Dad is always with us God did do something wonderful with our referral of Molly--besides just the fact that she is wonderful, and we are ecstatic to have a baby girl, he did more then that, because He is God! My Dad smashed his left thumb off in his twenties, and always had half of a thumb. Well, our sweet Molly, along with the malformations on her right arm only has half of a thumb on her left hand. I like to think that my Dad made that request so we would know that he is watching us and enjoying his grandchildren from Heaven, even though he can't be here!

I miss him terribly and sometimes it is still not real that he is not here! I love him so much and want him here!

More current info on Molly!!!

God reached down today and gave us one of His special blessings, or "handfuls on purpose". The CWI that Molly is in emailed some pictures and new measurements to our agency today, and they of course forwarded them to us. The pictures that received at referral were almost three months old, so we are so excited to see some new pictures of our little girl, and to know that she is being loved and cared for by the wonderful staff at her orphanage! Here are the new pics!!!!
Also, they sent new measurements. She is 15.4 pounds and 25 inches long. So right on target for her age--6 months! We are beside ourself with excitement. We were not expecting new pictures anywhere near this soon!

New pictures of Molly!!!!

Molly's Pics!

Several people have had a little trouble viewing the slideshow of Molly below, and some have said they want to see the pics for longer then the 7 seconds on the slideshow. So, here are the pictures just as pictures! Sorry for any trouble the slideshow gave anyone!

All About Molly!!!

We have recieved the referral for our Molly!! Her Chinese name is Jiang Zinan. Jiang is the last name, and Zinan her first name. She will be Molly Elizabeth to us! We are so excited about adding this baby girl to our family! She is currently 6 months old--which is as young as they refer babies from China! The pictures below were taken when she was a little less than 4 months old. At that time she weighed 11 pounds and was 23 inches long. She is currently living in a Children's Welfare Institute (CWI) or orphanage in Jiangyin City, Jiangsu Province in China. We have already emailed with a few people who have adopted children from this same CWI, and they all say that the children are very well taken care of and the babies are very healthy!

This has happened so soon because she has a minor special need. Her right hand is turned sharply inward because one of the bones in her forearm is not as long as it should be (radius bone). This causes the other bone (ulna) to flex and turn the hand in. She also does not have a thumb on this hand since it is usually formed at the end of the radius bone.

We have prayed long and hard over this and feel perfect peace that God has prepared this child for our family. She is beautiful and it is going to be agony waiting the 4 to 6 months that it will take before we bring her home.

We definitely need your prayers as we prepare for our exciting journey to bring Molly home!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Boys!!!

I haven't posted much lately because we have been super busy. October is always a busy month for us. There has been some discussion on one of the adoption forums that I am on about adopting boys or girls. Many people adopt from China because they want girls. And one of the reasons we are adopting from China is this very reason, not because we don't want boys--but becaus we already have two. So, I just wanted to take a moment and say what a blessing my boys are! We knew they were miracles when God gave them to us in miraculous ways, we just didn't know what a blessing it would be to have two wonderful and unique boys in our lives. They are both ALL boy, and very energetic and active, but that's what makes life so much fun! Paul is my sweet, caring, compassionate child, who hides these qualities behind his very rambunctious personality. So many people don't see the very emotional and caring side that is within him. Zach is my truly crazy child. He thinks EVERYTHING is fun, and the world revolves around him. Though some of this is because he is 2, we can also tell that this is simply is personality. He is a bundle of energy who will try to get away with everything, and then give you the cutest smile in the world to try and get out of the trouble he knows he is in. And, of coures Mommy is often a pushover because of those big brown eyes, so he gets away with more then he should sometimes. I don't really have much else to say, I just wanted to share with anyone out there who might be thinking about adopting a boy, that they are WONDERFUL and truly a blessing from above!