Why are we doing this again? Don't we have enough kids already??

How does an adoptive parent answer the above questions? How can you explain having a heart for the children left as orphans to fend for themselves? How do you explain to someone that you have known for three years that a child you saw in pictures is your daughter? How do you explain the sadness felt at not knowing your child as a baby and the joy of watching thier first steps because you adopted her when she was 8 years old? How do explain how lucky the newborn that just came into the world is because he is wanted and loved by his parents and born in America? How do you reconcile the feelings that you feel over all the unwanted, hurting orphans in the world? I don't know. But, I do know that the love and joy I feel for my adopted children is real and they are just as much my children and meant to be in my family as the ones that I gave birth to. I also know that I had to fight for them to be here just as much as I had to carry my other children in my womb for nine months. I also know that I will fight for this new child as well. Fight through the red-tape of the paperchase, fight through raising the money to bring her home, fight through the convincing of whoever needs to be convinced that she is my daughter...fight through the travel, jet lag, emotional rollercoaster and whatever else comes my way. Because she is born in my heart and she deserves a mother to cherish her and love her as much as my other children.

                                                    Jailynn holding Feng-Feng's hand.

Answered Prayers!!

I am Praising God for answered prayers tonight!
Little Reese and the other adopted children from Haiti are on their way home tonight! Their story was featured on CNN last night and tonight. God intervened and families are being brought together!

Next is our answered prayers.... 

We have PA (Pre-Approval!) for our third Hunan Princess!! Thank you Lord! Can you hear our celebrations?? Jordyn and Jailynn were s excited they screamed in unison and began jumping up and down!The picture below are the three girls together for a brief reunion when we were adopting Jailynn. Feng-feng was so happy to see them. She told Jordyn that she got big and gave her a big hug. God has heard our prayers and the three girls will grow up together as forever sisters!
More to come soon!

Prayer Needed for a Family in Haiti!!

Dear Bloggie friends,
Please read this post and pray for this family as they are detained while trying to get their child and other legally adopted children out of Haiti. The situation is just in urgent need of God to move on behalf of this family and the children. Please pray!
http://debraparker.typepad.com/just_one_girl/2010/02/please-pray-for-this-family.html
http://www.thethackerpack.blogspot.com/

Will you please pray for our situation right now?




On Friday morning, I flew into PAP on an Agape flight. I was met at the airport by two escorts from the orphanage and six children. I was coming to help escort my son, Reese, age two, and five other children home to the United States. We waitied all day at the US Embassy for the last military flight out of there. (It was so wonderful to be with Reese) All of the children were cleared to leave, signed off by the Prime Minister, etc. The flight was cancelled. Big surprise. We were told we could make our own private arrangements b/c there would be no more military flights out. We arranged to have Agape flights fly us out on noon on Saturday. We stayed with the children in a guest house on Friday night.



On Saturday morning, we packed up the kids in a taxi and headed to the airport. Minutes after the taxi dropped us off, we were attacked by an angry mob of men saying that we were trying to steal the children. They tried to take the kids from us. The Haitian police came and detained all of us. It was horrible until the US Embassy got there.We sat on the street with the children outside of the airport for six hours while the Haitian police, border patrol, immigration, and the US embassy had a huge pissing match. It was unbeliveable. Then they took us down to a police station for three hours while they continued to sort things out. Thye let us go, but they took the children from us and they are sitting in a Unicef tent camp. I'm writing this out and I can't even believe that this has happened. I am staying at an international doctor's house. The US Embassy is "working" on it. Actually, I'm pretty sure that Hillary Clinton has gotten involved. It escalated quickly. I know for sure that my senator from MN is heavily involved. My husband is in Florida right now waiting for us to get out of Haiti. He was going to meet the plane on Saturday afternoon!



I am a strong believer and Jesus' supernatural peace is comforting me right now, but my mind seems so muddled that I can barely from coherent words to pray. Will you please pray on behalf of Reese and the other children?

Fun In The Big Texas Snow!

Jailynn's Birthday Pictures

Jailynn's 8th Birthday

Today 2/03/2010 is Jailynn's 8th birthday! The pics are from the summer when we had a special welcome home party for Jailynn and I never got to post them so I will post pics of Jailynn's party soon. I just really wanted to blog this on time :)

I am so happy to celebrate her 8th birthday with her. We sent her a birthday cake in the orphanage but did not get to celebrate with her on her 7th birthday. This is a very special day for her and she is very excited about Her Birthday!

So today I am bringing special cupcakes and party favors to her class and I am going to take pictures of her class party. Then, tonight we will have cake and Icecream for her at home with her birthday presents. Then, Saturday, we are having a party at Nana's with a cookout and playing at the park and more presents. Finally, next weekend...we will drive to Houston Tx to celebrate with my sister and her family. Why so many celebrations for this little girl? Because she has only celebrated her birthday once, in an orphanage with a cake. We sent her a care package with presents, but she did not get to keep any of it because it became orphanage property. So, clearly, such a special and beautiful little girl deserves to have these special parties. I am keenly aware in the back of my mind what my spicy Hunan princess missed out on in her life. She did not have a mother to hold her and feed her a bottle, kiss her hurts away, and rock her to sleep. She was a small baby that learned to survive and comfort herself until she was old enough to use her cute self to charm her caregivers. I do believe that they took good care of her as best as they could, but it is still a lonely place for a baby to grow. As I think back on the times I missed with her it makes my soul sad. But God sent a little Angel to be Jailynn's comfort...her big sister Jordyn. The bond they have is evident every day. Being the spicey girl that she is, Jailynn is a surviver, a comedian, and a charmer. She is s character and she brightens up our life and our family!

Happy Birthday Dear Jailynn!