Joshua's Adoption Ceremony and Dedication

Some things in life are just worth making a big deal over and celebrating. September thirteenth we did our best to make a big deal about God's goodness and the amazing miracle of our adoption of Joshua. Here's a lot of pictures from the night.

Hannah and Hudson were dressed in their Chinese outfits we brought back for them. They were our greeters for the evening and passed out prayer cards for Joshua. We had over ninety people come to celebrate with us.

Here's a friend of ours leading us in a few songs of worship. He's really not as mean as he looks! He and his wife have also recently adopted so it was special to have him lead part of our ceremony.







After worshipping, we showed the video montage of our trip to get Joshua. (It's the one I posted a few posts ago.)


Our friend and pastor, Jim shared a few words about God's adoption of us.



For Rusty and I, the most significant part of the whole ceremony was making our commitments to Joshua. Knowing that it is common for adopted children to sometimes struggle with their place in the family, we wanted to make verbal, written and public commitments to him. Since he more than likely won't remember what we said that night, we've printed them out and will frame them.


Hudson really liked the hat that went with his outfit!!

Hannah is such a sweet sister!

Here we are dedicating Joshua, giving our little miracle back to the Lord. He's God's and we are most blessed and amazed that we get to be his parents!

To end the ceremony, everyone gathered around our family and prayed over us. What a gift!

Next it was time to party!!! Joshua's second birthday was just three days away, so this was his birthday celebration as well as reception. Here's about 150 cupcakes with fortune cookies on top!

My friend Amy and I had a lot of fun with the decorating!!!

We made luminaries out of Chinese "to go" boxes.

We served crab rangoon, egg rolls, punch and "fortune cupcakes."

Grandpa and Grandma (my parents) came up from New Mexico to celebrate with us.

Our little sign in table had a framed picture with mat for people to sign as well as two scrapbook sized papers for people to write notes.

Here's my Mom, the proud new Grandma!

Could God have made him any more adorable?

Here's precious Piper. She's the treasure that our friend who lead the worship just adopted. She's pretty irresistible!!

Man we are so blessed!!! Just look at those three miracles!

GOTCHA two months ago!!!

I just happened to notice the date today and realized that we've had Joshua for two months now!!!
I'm astounded by the way that our hearts have fallen so deeply in love with him. I knew I would and could love him, but I didn't know it would happen so quickly and go so deeply. Flesh, blood and genetics really mean nothing to a mom!!
Joshua is a pretty amazing little guy. We think he's one sharp fortune cookie! It appears that he is comprehending almost all that we say to him. He's not saying very much (except Mama and bye bye.... which when you get down to it what else do you really need to say in this life?) He has learned about six signs. This week he started his speech therapy. His therapist will be coming to our home once a week.
Rusty was gone on business for about four days. He called on his way home tonight and I asked Hud if he wanted to talk to Daddy. Joshua heard me say this and ran over to me. He started grunting loudly, pointing to the phone and doing the sign for please. I asked him if he wanted to talk to Daddy too, and he shook his head yes and grinned really big. When he got on the phone, he grunted a few things, listened to Rusty then said, "Bye Bye."
We think he is going to grow up and be a dentist some day. He brushes his teeth about 6 times a day.
He's also a little climber. I have to be careful about what I put on my kitchen table.
Last weekend we had his adoption ceremony and birthday celebration. It was really special and so much fun! I will post pictures as soon as I get them.
Hud and Han have been adjusting really well, and seem to have settled into our new norm. I have them on a daily schedule now that has given them some predictability to their day and some security that they will still get their needs met (like reading and play time with me). Han is my rule lover, schedule follower. She's always wanting to know what is next on the schedule. The other day she said, "Mom, when I am old enough to get my license Hud and I can just drive over to Chuckie Cheese's during our "free play time" on the schedule." (She informed me that Chuckie Cheese's is where a kid can be a kid. I asked her where a mom can be a mom and she said at small group!)
Life is settling down for me too! I'm not feeling like I'm going insane by 3pm. I'm still trying to learn how to juggle it all, while living a dependent life on the Father. That's a really tight rope to walk! (Sounding like a circus, huh!)
Rusty and I celebrate our tenth anniversary this week. Please pray that we can carve out some quality time together to celebrate. Our anticipated trip to some place tropical for a second honeymoon turned out to be an amazing adventure to China this summer! Not so romantic, but incredible, life-changing and we're keeping our little souvenir forever!!

Dear Birthmother,

My sweet baby boy turns two tomorrow. He's your baby boy too. I thought about you today. What will tomorrow be like for you? Will you think about the son you gave birth to just 24 months ago? Will you wonder where he is? Will you cry?

I have many questions about who you are, but I mostly have compassion. I wonder if you carried our son with anticipation and excitement, feeling him move and kick, counting the days until you could deliver him. Was your labor hard? Did it break your heart to have your firstborn finally in your arms only to realize that the extent of his facial deformity was beyond your ability to give him the help he needed because you were poor? Did it tear your heart out to relinquish him?

Or maybe he wasn't your firstborn. Maybe you knew all along that you would not be able to raise the child you were carrying, but you chose to give him birth instead of end his life.

I'll never know the answers to these questions, but I want you to know that I'm grateful that you gave life to Joshua. He is an amazing little guy, so affectionate, loving, active and smart. I hope somehow you know that he is loved deeply by his family. I pray that somehow you will someday know the One who created you, that you will find life through his Son and that one day in heaven you will see Joshua again.

Joshua's Adoption Video

Dad's got another huntin' buddy!!!

Bet some of you were wondering how long it would take Rusty to get his new son in some camo! And, while some of you might cringe at this, others will be glad to know that PaPaw's already bought this little hunter his own rifle! Don't worry cringers, Hud got one a few days after he was born and hasn't shot it yet.

What is WITH these people!!!???

Can't a brother just get a bubble bath?

(This is a rare pic of all the FOCUS staff babies. All the dads are off staff retreating. The moms decided to combine the chaos for our "un-retreat"!)

Keepin' it real....

I don't want to paint the picture that all is roses around here. The kids are all having their own adjustment issues. Hannah is more fussy, Hudson is a bit antagonistic and Joshua is quite needy. I'm not getting a lot of sleep at night, and Rusty starts a very difficult class on Tuesday. Bible study group members have been put on the back burner, and thank you notes need to be written. Not to mention that I haven't opened my mail for a long time. I had a few quite moments, so I checked the blog of a friend who traveled with us to get her daughter. She lamented about school starting, and how things were such a mess at home... how the business of life was difficult. Here was my comment....

Boy how I can relate!! Even though I didn't send anyone off to school today (no one is old enough) I kind of secretly wished I could. The house was a mess, laundry is piled up and this tends to stress me out. By the time Rusty came home, I wasn't the patient Mom that I want to be. As he walked in the door I yelled, "The house is a MESS!!!" To which he replied in a cheery, who cares, it doesn't matter tone of voice, "GREAT!!" I immediately countered in my don't ruin my pity party with your good attitude tone, "NO, it's not GREAT!"
Last night when the kids were finally all asleep, Isaiah 58 was refreshing for me...if I break the yokes of wickedness and release those in captivity, if I spend myself on behalf of the hungry, homeless poor... the Lord will strengthen my frame. I will be like a well watered garden, called repairer of broken walls. Joshua is requiring a lot of my time energy and attention right now. It wasn't long ago that he was the hungry, homeless poor under the yoke. He's no longer an orphan, but he has broken walls that need to be repaired!! Praise the Lord that he has promised to strengthen my frame and make this dirt clod of a Mom a well watered garden!

GOTCHA a month ago!!

It's been a month since we got our sweet boy!! He's just an amazing little guy, bursting with personality, kisses and smiles!

This month hasn't been without its challenges, but overall we're all adjusting well.

I'm quite busy as a mom with three kids, and would love to tell you more about what's going on,

but I honestly don't have the time. Just wanted to make note of and celebrate our first month anniversary..... enjoy the pics!

A little trip to the park on a Sunday afternoon.

I like to climb the slides!

Helping Dad mow the grass in my sling!

I love to swing on our new tree swing!!

They already let me fall off this thing once.

My brother, sister and new friend Emma.

Mom and I got on the swing together today and sister said, "Mom, if you hear some loud cracks that means it's time for you to get off!"

I met my Grandma and Grandpa when I flew home. Last weekend I got to meet my PaPaw and Grandma Doris. They're really great! They gave me everything I wanted!

I'm proud to be an American, even if I've been adopted by red necks!

I've also gained two pounds since I got home! I don't sleep so great yet. And, I'm on my second round of antibiotics for my ears. I plan to get a tube put in one of them soon (the other one doesn't need one because it has a huge hole). I'm also learning that throwing myself on the floor, screaming and kicking doesn't get me much around here.

Don't forget to come celebrate my adoption and second birthday with me on September 13th!!

Last Day in China

Our last day in China turned out to be quite an adventure!! We spent the morning packing up all of our suitcases, then met the Caros and Kemps for one last chance to eat at the Uigher (wee-gur) restaurant. The food was delish, which made the intense heat bearable. After lunch we headed back for a photo of all the families in our travel group.

From there we headed to the White Swan Hotel, for a red couch photo of all our kids. The red couch in this hotel has become the traditional place to take pics of the groups of kids being adopted. Lets just say I've seen better.... ours was rushed and included lots of tears and maybe a few boogers!. What we won't put our kids through in the name of tradition!

After that we drove nearly an hour to the new office of the US Consulate. Unfortunately they didn't let us take photos in the office, so you'll just have to picture it. We went through tight security and entered a room of probably forty adopting families. We were all asked to stand up and raise our right hand to swear that all the documents we submitted for immigration were true and accurate. That was it.... pretty anti-climactic. Once we did that we were handed a brown envelope (containing all the important and necessary documents needed for Joshua's immigration) with the following instructions.... DO NOT OPEN!..... guard with your life....this is the most important thing other than your child you need to take home.... this is very important!!!!!.....You HAVE to have this to get your child into America.... Present this UNOPENED brown envelope to the first immigration officer you meet at your first entrance into the US..... Guard with your life..... Do not loose this.... this is important........... ( you get the point?)

Well here's a pic of us outside the Consulate just moments after having it handed to us! Don't we look happy!? We're so relieved.... that was the last step in China to complete... now we just had to insure that we got our child and this precious brown envelope home.

Take a good look at this pic, because it's the last time we saw that brown envelope until the next morning..... ummmm..... one of us (who will remain un-named to protect the guilty) did not guard said brown envelope with his/her life. It wasn't until almost 10 pm that night when we were packing the last minute things that it was deemed to be missing. Can you say PANIC!!!!!? Can you say furiously unpack all your bags in a mad search for it!!!?

We finally got a hold of our guide who then called our bus driver, waking him and asking him to get out of bed to go search the bus.

After what seemed like hours, we heard back from the bus driver that he had found the brown envelope. Our guide suggested that it might be nice of us to reimburse the driver for his taxi ride. You better believe he got reimbursed!!! He could have ridden across China in a taxi with what we slipped him! (not really, but almost).

Guangzhou's Shopping

Well things got a little hectic the last two days in China before we flew home, so I'll catch you up on our crazy shenanigans.

Second to the last day in China we were supposed to hang out around our hotel rooms until noon while our guides went to the Consulate to file our paperwork for Joshua's immigration. They needed us to be available in case they had questions. Once everything was complete, we met up with the Kemps for some last minute shopping on Shamian Island.

Shamian Island was where the consulate used to be located so all adoptions out of China were completed there. As a result, the island is full of souvenir shops that cater to the adoptive families.... they sell lots of squeaky shoes, silk outfits... and love to see those Americans show up who don't know how to bargain!! It also has some really neat architecture and bronze sculptures.

First stop was Lucy's Diner, a great place to get a cheeseburger and fries!

After that, the power shopping began!! After purchasing a few things on our lists, we convinced the Kemps to venture off the island to look for a deal on pearls. This was a true taste of culture! You're lucky we didn't come home with some dried seahorses or snake skins for you! Too bad this is not a scratch n' sniff blog, the pics might not do it justice!!

Good pic of the happy little couple here (the kids not the dads!! Although Phillip and Rusty did make quite a pair!)

Dried bones anyone?

How about some dried bugs?

Or, dried seahorses?

Partial to snake skins?

Maybe pearls are more your style!!

Macy Li get a little lovin' from her Daddy.

We finished off the evening with our travel group at the Banana Leaf (see previous post).

{I must give credit where credit is due... some of these great pics, especially the gross ones were either taken by Phillip of Glamour Shots by Phillip or his beautiful assistant, Rhonda.}