Gotcha!!

Today is a GREAT day!
Every year on January 26th we celebrate one of the most important dates ever.
The day we got her.
Long XiaoHua.
My sweet little flower.

Three years ago we got the spunkiest, loudest, bravest, smartest, bossiest, most wonderful 5 1/2 year old ever.  And our lives have changed for the BETTER!  It chokes me up every time I think about how much I love her.

Although the first few hours were very rough for her on this day three years ago, this might be her favorite day of the year.  She LOVES Gotcha Day!  She puts it on her school calendar and counts down the days!  When she came down this morning she looked at me with wide eyes and a big grin just waiting for me to say, "Happy Gotcha Day!!"  She did the same to her dad.


Izzy then:

Izzy now:

What To Say

It's been almost two months since I last posted on here.  Where does the time go?

Life has been moving right along!  School is going strong, AWANA is going good, football season has come and gone (and it was fun!!) and Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here - like.....tomorrow!!!!

Lot's going on.

But todays news is all about this guy.........

Grandpa Garrett

This morning my step-dad received the Honorary American FFA Degree award at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis  this morning.  He is a wonderful teacher and all of his students love him.

Not to mention all his kids and grandkids.  :  )

We are so proud of him.

I will be posting soon about the kids and how school is going.

I am also getting a mommy break next week and I can't wait!!!!

It's been quite crazy busy around here the last couple of weeks!

Football has started for Trey, school has started for us, birthdays, sleepovers at the farm, Awana, and football games to cheer at!!  We also did our LAST post placement report!!  Yea!!!

Wesley and Kim came home from a rainy honeymoon in Cabo and took a day to pack a trailer and head north!  They slept their first night in their new home last night!  Trent is on his way home from visiting and reported that they are so happy to finally be in their own place.

We just finished our second week of school and I have to say it's been a lot of work for everyone to adjust.  The great part about school this year is that we have added a new teacher!!
My sister, Olivia is here to help with the load and I KNOW FOR SURE I couldn't do this without her!
She is awesome!!

First day of school!!

I assure you.....I felt the same way.

I wonder how he would do at pubic school?  :  )

The Birthday Buddies!

On our way home from our last post placement report we stopped at the farm to check the minnow traps
and feed the fish.  All the kids love to go to the farm!!

Isabella attended Cheer Camp this year.

Last Friday at our first home FB game she got to do her thing!!

And yes.....she LOVED EVERY MINUTE of it!!

Izzy... break out into a dance all on her own?!!
Oh YA, BABY!!!!!

The highlight of my week was going to the first K-State FB game of the year!!

It's been a couple of years since I've been and it was SO fun!!

It was my niece, Johnnye's, birthday and she asked me to go!
She said I'm the only one who knows how to get around in Manhattan.   But I think she really wanted me to go
because she thinks I'm such a cool aunt.
Right, Johnnye?   :  )

This is how Jen and I looked after sitting in the bleachers sweating in the 90 degree weather.  Nice.

 Awana Games

Trey's first FB game is tomorrow.  I love football and can't wait to watch him score some touchdowns!!

No. 7 makes a touchdown!!

Cracked Foundation

This post is from the blog The Voice of Adventure.  Her name is Angel and she has an amazing way with words when it comes to adoption and the adopted child.

If you are an adoptive parent, you will understand this.

If you are not an adoptive parent, please read this and get a small glimpse of our lives and what our adopted kiddos have gone through and will continue to go through.  And then go read Angel's blog. 

Adoption.

There are people who think that children who are adopted are weird. There is nothing weird about them. There is, very often, something broken... cracked.. at their very foundation.

Similar to a beautiful home that has a crack in the foundation.. these sweet ones have been hurt and wounded at their core. 

That's the reality. The thing about a cracked foundation is it must be repaired or the structure is unstable. It's likely to be a messy job during the process. It may look HORRIBLE for awhile. It may require intense work. It may require special tools and skills. 

Here's the amazing part though. If repaired correctly and with skill the foundation will be stronger after the repair than it ever was originally. 

That's the beauty of things... people that are broken and healed are stronger in the end. Our children come split wide open with trauma and grief. They have most often endured more than the average adult. 

They were not easily broken. They have endured an emotional earthquake. The very fact that they are ALIVE is a testament to their strength. 

So here they are... by no fault of their own... cracked wide open. We walk into brokenness and pain. We have to walk into that house with that gash in the floor knowing the mess that's going to occur. 

Even when we DO know it catches us off guard. We wonder what we've gotten ourselves into. We wonder if we will survive. We wonder if we can ever find the skills to help repair the foundation. 

And it's slow.. and it's hard.. and it's messy.. but we usually figure it out with some help. Our children heal. The cracks close. We find the tools or help or resources or knowledge and we DO THE WORK. AND IT'S WORTH IT! 

I'll tell you why it's worth it. A person who has been broken to bits and keeps fighting is the one we scream the loudest for isn't it? A person who loses everything and keeps going... THRIVES.. That person is different, unique, special.

That is who our children are inside. Just as sure as some children are born without limbs many of our children are established with deep wounds that they overcome. The overcoming and healing of these obstacles, wounds and grief makes them MORE. They become MORE. They have been rejected and learned to love again. They have been ridiculed and continued to try. They have been denied food, shelter, care and attention and survived it to find a home. They are not weird. They are MIRACLES.

They are being forced to learn lessons in forgiveness, kindness, survival, empathy, determination, courage and surrender that most adults don't learn... ever.

When we look at our adopted children we must see the cracks, attend to the damage and expect the healing. We will get there and our children will not be normal. Heavens no, when a child's foundation is broken and repaired with great skill it can be stronger than it ever was before.

Our children will never be normal. They will be phenomenal.