Fairy Tale Dance

We have been going to Playaway pretty much since we moved here. Matthew started and Caroline watched from her car seat, then last year Caroline got to attend the music and movement class while Matthew was in school. This year Ms. Tracy started a fairy tale dance class so we thought we'd try it out! The first week Caroline was not so sure. She just observed all the girls and took it all in. By the end she was participating a little bit. But this week she loved it! She did everything Ms. Tracy asked her to do. I couldn't resist taking lots of videos of her because it was just so precious to watch! Please note that I did manage to get my little tomboy into a dance outfit, but she insisted that it be blue and was not happy about putting it on :o)

 

 

 

 

School!

Last week the kids started school. Matthew switched schools this year, because I wasn't quite ready to send him to a 5-day a week VPK program. He's in a Kindergarten Readiness program at Lakewood Ranch Baptist Church, and I can send him 1 day or 5 days. We are starting out the year going 4 days, but he seems to like it so much we might send him all 5!

Sending Caroline to school was a mid-summer decision after seeing how much she loved going to camp there! She is super excited to have her friend Jack in her class and our friend Jodi as her teacher.

They were so cute on their first day! Matthew started a day before Caroline, and she's having a hard time not going every day that he does. In fact she insists on bringing her lunchbox in the car with her every day whether she's going to school or not!

Hope and a Future

This is the room that our daughter has been sleeping in for the past 13 months. In fact, as I write this, that's where she is. This picture is bleak, sad, and rather depressing. This picture is what makes our so far more than 100 day wait for our LOA (letter of approval) from China so difficult. This picture makes me want to cry. However, this picture is also one of hope, redemption, and love.

This is where our Lily is coming from. This does not define who she is, or who she will be, but only her circumstances at this moment in time. This is merely her starting point.

Some parents who have adopted from Lily's orphanage have said it's rather gloomy and grim, without many toys or smiling faces. Some say that they felt their children were truly loved and taken care of while they were there. Either way, it is not the same as being part of a loving family. It falls far short of the ideal. But it allows so much room for God to redeem our daughter. Right now she doesn't know what she's missing. She doesn't understand that she's supposed to be loved better than she is. In fact, she might be really upset when we come to take her from the only home she's ever known. She can't see the other side. She doesn't know what true love feels like. She only knows this bleak, white room with a wooden mat in a metal bed. And to her, that is safe and familiar. That is home.

A few years from know she will know the love of a mom, a dad, and two siblings. She will have a bright, cheerful bedroom with a soft bed. She will have toys and books and food readily available to her. The time at her orphanage will probably not even be a memory. She will be redeemed as a daughter.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and future." Jeremiah 29:11

God has great plans for our daughter. He is giving her a hope and a future. While every day of this wait seems unnecessary and excruciatingly long, the end result will be the same. She will come home to us. She will know true love. She will have hope and a future. She will be redeemed. And the beauty of it is, she doesn't even know it's coming!

Lily is like us - we don't recognize our need for redemption. Our lives are familiar, and we are perfectly happy living them our way. We don't know that there is anything better than our own bleak, white rooms with wooden mats in our beds. It is only when we have truly experienced God's love and the hope that comes from Him that we realize our need. Then we see what we have been missing. We see the potential of what our lives can be like, and we never want to go back to the way it was before: familiar, but falling far short of the ideal.

Please join me in praying for our sweet Lily as she sits on the other side of this redemption. Pray that our LOA comes soon and that we would be able to bring her home. Pray for us as we transition into becoming a family of 5 and for all the hiccups and obstacles that will come our way as a result. And in turn, I pray that you experience the true love, hope and redemption that come from following after God.

4th of July Week

We have had quite a busy, fun week! One of my favorite things growing up was to go out to the beach and watch the fireworks. There are actually 3 different days to do this, so we decided to go out on the 3rd of July. We invited Scott and Catie to come with us too. The plan was to meet around 4:30, go pick Brian up from work, and then head out to the beach for a picnic dinner and fireworks. At about 3:00 the rain started, and kept on going. I keep hoping that the beach would still be clear, since it rains by us every day but not by the water. No such luck. We continued with the plan anyway, driving through monsoon rains to get Brian. Then Scott had the brilliant idea to go to our parents' house and wait out the rain. They were in Italy at the time, so we conveniently let ourselves in and ate dinner out on the patio under the cover of the roof. (We wanted to feel a little bit like we were having a picnic.) Around 6:30 it finally seemed to clear so we decided to make our way out to the beach. The rain definitely helped with the usually horrendous traffic and parking, and we found a spot right on the beach!

The kids had a great time playing with Uncle Scott and Aunt Catie, digging in the sand, and running from the waves. We had some sparklers but forgot a lighter, so when we saw the people next to us lighting sparklers we borrowed theirs and quickly went through 6 boxes of sparklers! Matthew loved sticking them in the ground and watching them. Finally it was time for fireworks! Unfortunately there were people about 50 feet away that were setting off pretty big fireworks, and Caroline was not a fan of the noise. She was pretty upset even when the actual firework display began and it wasn't nearly as loud, so Brian took her to the car to watch. Matthew on the other hand, loved them! He kept pointing out the gold dust and naming the color of each one. We both liked the ones that looked like palm trees the best.

On the 4th of July we decided to take advantage of our annual passes and head up to Sea World for the day. It was HOT!!! We got up there around 10:00 and started with the kids' section of the park. We did the helicopter simulator that Matthew loves, rode the train (of course), and then (literally) lost Matthew in the big net climbing area. We regrouped for some lunch then let the kids ride 2 more rides.

We headed across the park to see the new penguin exhibit, and unfortunately discovered that the only way to see the penguins is to wait in the 100 minute long line for the ride. No thanks! Instead we saw some Shamus swimming in their tank, baby dolphins, and super loud sea lions. We decided to watch the Pirate Sea Lion show, but after that we were pretty done. It was crazy hot and humid, and the kids were starting to lose it.

My college roommate and her family live in Orlando, so we made a little impromptu visit to her house. The kids had fun playing with Violet's toys and doing crazy daredevil stunts on the slide and trampoline. We decided to go get some dinner, but the first two places we tried were closed for the holiday. Thankfully Jason's Deli was open. We headed back after dinner and everyone (except Brian of course) fell asleep on the way home.

 

 

Friday, July 5th, was our 10 year anniversary! I am not quite certain how this is possible, since I am definitely not old enough to have been married for 10 years! Brian had to work during the day, and I was pleasantly surprised to have flowers delivered to our door around lunch time. In the evening we we had a fancy dinner at The Bijou Café. They brought us a free appetizer bite to start the meal, and since they knew it was our anniversary they brought a fancy chandelier lamp to the table with some dark chocolate bites for dessert. It was nice to be able to sit and talk over a meal for more than 15 minutes before the kids start needing something or having a meltdown :o)

 

When we finished we were going to try to head out to the beach to watch the sunset, but as we were driving we noticed lots of lightning in that direction, so we ended up just pulling off at Bird Key and sitting on a bench and talking for a while until it got dark. We even saw a pod of dolphins surfing the waves!

 

 

This week we are heading to Ireland for 10 days to continue our anniversary celebration. We can't wait!

Happy Birthday Lily!

In just a few hours on the other side of the world you will be waking up on your first birthday! We wish more than anything that we could be there with you, to see you eat your first piece of cake, to watch you open presents, and most of all to tell you how much we love you and how happy we are that you were born.

While it breaks my heart to miss this very important milestone, I am so thankful that this is the only birthday I will miss. And while we can't celebrate WITH you, we can still celebrate YOU! You are a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, a niece, and a friend. You are a child of God, and we are so thankful He has entrusted us with you. We can't wait to bring you home, but until then, we send you our love you and pray for you every day.

We sent you a birthday cake, some new clothes, and a book so hopefully you will get to enjoy those sometime today. We hope that they bring you joy and help you to know that we love and care for you. Happy Birthday little ladybug!

Shortly after I wrote this post, Caroline wanted to play with her cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday. I told her it was Lily's birthday, and was able to catch her singing.

Lily Update!

It's been over 2 months since we first saw our sweet Lily's picture, and I was getting more than a little antsy to see her again. There's a company called LadyBugsNLove that will call your child's orphanage for you, request updated measurements and pictures, and ask up to 10 questions on your behalf. So last week I ordered the phone call, and much to my delight got 2 new pictures and some updated info on Tuesday!

Lily is now crawling and loves it! She is 11 months old, about 18 pounds and 28 inches tall. She also has teeth! I wasn't sure how that would work with her cleft palate, but it looks like once it's repaired her teeth will be in the right place. Her favorite activities are crawling and playing in her walker. She smiles easily but is shy around strangers and likes to be held when she is upset. (This should be interesting when some strange family comes to take her away from the only home she has ever known!)

I must admit that while getting these pictures was wonderful, it did make me a little sad. She is so much bigger than she was in the last pictures, which I think were taken at around 3 months, and it just made me realize even more all the time I was missing out on with her. And it made me even more anxious to move along quickly in this process! Unfortunately we are in the dark waiting period, where our dossier is being translated and approved in China. This process usually takes 2-3 months with no updates or hints of progress. So in the meantime we pray for her, we pray for patience and trust in God and his timing, and we stare at her sweet face dreaming of the day we finally get to hold her in our arms. She turns 1 on June 30th, so we plan on sending her a cake and a care package. Hopefully we will get some more pictures as well!

Caroline Turns 2

I can't believe that you are already 2 sweet girl! I honestly feel like you've already been two for a while, because you have developed such a little personality and are so verbal. But it's still hard to think of you as a two-year-old! Here's a snapshot of you at 2:

You love animals, especially dogs. When we go to the dog park you love petting all the big dogs and giving them hugs. You're not such a fan of the small dogs though. We always look for chomp chomps, turtles, and birds when we drive through our neighborhood and you get so excited when we see one. I hear "I found it!" or "I see it!" coming from the back seat.

I love how you are so generous and loving. Any time Matthew asks you to share something with him, you immediately hand it over. If he's sad, you bring him a toy to cheer him up. And sometimes you just deliver things to people that you find around the house. A few times I've cringed watching you carry a full glass of tea or water to me!

Your favorite things to play with are your dolls and stuffed animals. You love to push them in the stroller, cover them with a blanket (including their face), give them bottles, rock them (you say "rock minute" which is what you say to us when you want to be rocked before bed time), and carry them all over the house. You also enjoy moving things between containers or putting things in boxes. One of your favorite games (that I do not really enjoy) is to dump out the box of crayons all over the floor, declare it a mess, then put them all back in. You'll do it a few times in a row, but always seem to get tired of the game while half the crayons are still on the floor. Another favorite game is chase. You absolutely love it when Daddy or Matthew chase you around the house. It's hilarious to watch you run with your right arm pumping and looking over your shoulder to see how close your pursuer is getting. I'm amazed you don't run into more walls!

You are definitely a talker. I am impressed by how many words you know, and how you already talk in pretty complete sentences. Some of your favorite phrases are:
What's that sound?
Watch me!
Look at me!
Hold on...
Awww, so cute. Cute (fill in animal name here.)
Help you
Rock a minute
You also like to repeat the last few words on each page of books, and you repeat a lot of what we say too! I definitely have to watch what I say :o)

At 22 months you potty-trained  yourself. Seriously, I did nothing. You just started telling me you had to potty and would go in the bathroom with Matthew and go. In fact, you don't even like me to come in there with you. You'll tell me "away" if I'm in there, and then will bring out the roll of toilet paper when you're done for help.

Another of your favorite things to do is help Mommy around the house. You love to do laundry. If I try to put clothes in the washer or dryer without you you get upset. And you also like to help me fold the clean clothes, but all you really do is take things out of the basket and pat them down in a big pile. I try to fold the clothes when you're asleep so I can actually finish :o) You're good at putting the silverware away, helping me dust, and putting away toys.

You have been so much fun this year, and I can't wait to see what the next year holds! You are my cuddly, tough, independent, hilarious, talkative, compassionate, smart, joyful 2-year-old!