The many, many corners of life...

Corner #1:



For the last two weeks, our family has been living on pins and needles. Leonard interviewed for a job in Kansas.



This job would be wonderful. The increase in pay would be more than I make in a year. Not to mention, it would be just a better job. But on the other hand, we would have to move our kids.



The little ones are not so bad, but the older ones would be really hard to move. Jacob would be a sophomore and Nathan would be in 8th grade. It would be really hard.



We have prayed and prayed, and prayed again that it God's will be done. So we wait. The longer we wait, the less faith we have that he will get the job, but of course - God's will.



Corner #2:



I have written a couple of times of my desire to adopt again. Most likely a little girl from China. There are many reasons:

1. Kaycee needs someone in the family that shares her birth country.

2. Kaycee has been so easy to adjust to, I know she has spoiled us...but that is ok!

3. I don't think a person can go into an orphanage and not be a changed person. Walking around, seeing the children...you will never be the same, really.



The first children I saw at the orphanage were four babies, all about 6-9 months old, cleft affected. Then in the next room were three babies - about 6 months old, all had CP, or at least that is what they were diagnosed with. They just layed there in their cribs. Needing held, needing love.

The next room was the preschool room. There were three boys in this room who will never be adopted out because they were "stolen" babies. They do not know who their parents are, but cannot be adopted because they were not abandoned.

The next room were school aged children, but due to SN they were not able or allowed to go to school. One little boy, about 8 years old had been badly, badly burned. His face and body. To this day, it will still make me cry.

For more on this little guy, go to http://www.fujiankids.org/ they are doing a fundraiser for him so he can have some surgeries. (He had been abandoned as a baby, was adopted by a Chinese family. Then there was a fire at his house and his mother was killed, he was burned very badly, so he was sent back to the orphanage.)



Anyway, I have been watching a little "boy's" file since about October. He has the same SN as Kaycee, although it does appear he can hear a lot better than she can, he actually has normal hearing, even without a hearing aid. His file is due back in a couple of weeks. After a file is returned to China, the file may or may not be sent to another agency. If it is not, the child will most likely live in the orphanage for the rest of their life.



He really has my heart. I have prayed for him, advocated on my groups for him, and still nothing. No interest in him, no family for him.



This was the same way with Kaycee. Her file was only days from being returned, and look what a beautiful little princess we have in our lives.



I am sold, just have to get my husband to jump on board.



I asked him to pray about this little boy. Not for anything, but just for this little boy.



He did.



"Let's talk about the adoption." He said this afternoon.



"What about it?"



"Let's see how and if we can bring him home."



I had prayed for a miracle yesterday afternoon. I asked for a sign. Perhaps this is it....

Tutus and more tutus

So I am making these tutus and really have a lot of fun making them. I think I have about seven between my two girls...We have a bunch of different colors. Right now, I have an order for four more and a lady who is trying to figure out if she would like to do a bulk order.

As I was making these, I was trying to figure out how many I have made and how many yards of tulle I have used.

At last count, I had sold 11 off of my website. Not as much as I would like, but this blog is the only "advertisement" I have done.

As far as ebay...I had to count, looks like about 43...

Then there are the personal sales around town...one for a poodle, one for a three year old and one for a five year old.

57 tutus, at 70 yards of tulle per tutu, is that really 3990 yards of tulle? Wow! That is a little hard to get my mind around...

The more there is though, the more I have for who I would like Chloe.

My sister in law has a wonderful blog about their adoption. She calls her daughter Maddie all the way through, but her name is going to be Eliana, mine is Chloe. Really that is what I would like to name her. But husband says no to that...I guess we will see...

But back to the tutus - they are a lot of fun to make, and really I wouldn't mind making more.

Pictures, pictures and more pictures...

I was having more computer problems, so I posted the other post and then did this one with pictures.

Side of the road - we were parked on the sidewalk.

First time we see Kaycee.

At the passport store.

Doing the temporary paperwork.

Before we get changed.

After we are changed.

Sound asleep...

Pizza - looks good but really didn't taste that great. We actually each ate one bite and that was it...

Day three...

Actually this should have been posted yesterday - and really it was. However, my computer shut down at the end of the post and I didn't have time to repost it.

____________________________________________________________________

Day Three - We get Kaycee!

After not sleeping for most of the night, we were ready to leave the hotel at about 4:00am. Finally, the wake up call came and we were ready to go.

We headed straight for the busses and got on. And waited...and waited...

Finally, after about 45 minutes, we were on our way. Finally! We were going to be with Kaycee in just a matter of hours.

The rush hour hit. Remember...I live on a dirt road in rural Colorado. If there are two cars on our road at the same time, neither car knows what to do.

Rush hour in Beijing meant the bus drivers got out to have a smoke. They saw people they knew. They hung out and talked like they had just met at a ball game. There was no "hurry up" anywhere. So we waited...and waited.

Now, if you know me, I am not a patient person. Actually I have very little patience. I truely believe it was God teaching me another lesson. It was going to be on His time.

Finally, we were off again to the airport.

We got there and boarded the plane. We were just an hour from where Kaycee was. I prayed she was ok, and that she would do well with the transition.

We landed...got our luggage...and, yes you guessed it...waited!

Our guide was not there. I walked and walked the airport - unlike the Beijing airport, the Fuzhou airport was very quiet and very clean.

Finally, we spotted our guide and we were off. Driving up the coast to where Kaycee was. As we passed the run down housing of the area, we learned we would be driving to a shopping center, would be given Kaycee, her photo would be taken and we would need to do some paperwork. Minutes, merely minutes.

As we pulled up in front of the shop (we were parked on the sidewalk) we were told to "wait" here. Our guide went to see if Kaycee was inside the passport shop. No - not there. They were on their way.

Finally, a van pulls up next to ours, and our comes a lady, with a precious little girl in her arms. There she was.

All of the paperwork, the tears, the signatures, the unknown, the fear, and yes, the waiting was done. She was there.

We jumped out of the van, my mom with the camera and me with the video camera. Kaycee was there. Our daughter, who was born without ears, who for all we knew was deaf, was standing in front of us, inches from me.

I reached out, touched her hair and the lady handed her to me. On the side of the road, in front of a little photo shop, my life changed.

Here was this little child in my arms. My deaf daughter looked at me, and said as clear as can be, "Mama?"

My heart stopped. And I cried - she didn't. All of the praying for her transition must have been heard and answered by God. She was fine...I wasn't.

The rest of the day was really a blur. We signed papers, went back to the hotel. We changed her clothes - no time for a bath - we had more paperwork to complete.

I picked her up, and there she fell asleep in my arms. She slept for almost two hours - even when we got in the van to go do more paperwork.

Fuzhou, Fujian, China - aerial view