One step at time

My walking buddy! I love this little one to pieces. It is so much fun to watch her think, learn and figure out new things. We have races on who can take the most steps in a minutes time or run the fastest distance. 

I think they were missed!

Emily and Hannah were gone last week to Arizona and the excitement when they returned home was great! I think the dogs missed them very much, but I sure missed them. I am thankful that they got to go to AZ to help out our friends/family. Hannah was able to spend the whole week with Ava (China Sister). It is always nice when they get that time together. Emily was the house mom for a week and did amazing job too. I am thankful that Emily and Hannah got some great sister to sister time. I LOVE watching their bond grow. I can't say it enough, but Emily is an amazing big sister to Hannah. I love them both very much and I was really ready for them to be home. 

10 year old questions

As many of you know, Hannah is attending Legacy Christian Academy this year for school and she is doing amazing.  I could not be more proud of her, as she has grown so much this semester. Hannah came home from school one day with what I thought was going to be a crazy fun writing assignment,  but Hannah turned it into a serious topic that was tugging at her heart for awhile.  I want everyone to know that David and I DID NOT help her with any of this paper.  Below I have retyped her story.

Back to China 

          One day I was walking along Avila Beach exploring for seashells.  One shell I found on the inside it had buttons.  I pushed on a random button and an enormous gray and rustic machine appeared.  I stepped closer to the machine and then a voice echoed " Who dare to awaken me?" "It is I Hannah Williams."

          "I noticed you are a time machine." "May I have your approval to ride upon on?' Yes, but first you must answer my riddle. 'What occurs once in a minute twice in a moment but never in a thousand years?' "Hmmm an hour, when you meet a time machine, Hmmm ooh the letter M? CORRECT you have my approval!

           Now where and when might you want to go?  Hmmmm I want to go to Maoming, China in 2006.  Your wish is my command.  Then at that moment the wind began to howl.  Then the machine started to shake like an earthquake.  I closed my eyes thinking I am going to die.  But to my surprise I was alive and in a rice field and you know what this rice field was in Maoming, China.

          The first thing I did was explain my story to the first person I saw, but all she did was stare at me.  Then I realized I didn't speak Chinese.  I searched around fore someone who spoke my language.  I managed to find somebody, but she seemed to know me.  She cocked her head and stared at me.

           I asked "do you know me"?  Then she looked away solemnly.  Then she said "I am your mother." I gasped at the thought and the sight of my mother then I turned my head.  I gave a quick prayer to give me courage for the questions I have longed for answers.  I turned back towards her and gave her a hug doing so I stared to cry.

          Later we walked to her house silently.  The whole time I was thinking I'm inside her stomach right now.  I was rounding up my thoughts and thinking does she know she's going to abandon me? Does she know I'm going to be born with a cleft lip? When we reach her house I asked her my list of questions.  I got some answers, but I wanted her to know that I am going to be okay. I will be adopted into a loving home. "One thing I want to tell you is about my God. If you believe in him you will see me in heaven.

         I just want you to knowI will be praying for you.  I love you always.  Just remember I'm OKAY.  Then a loud voice sounded again and said "times up we must go."  I watched her as I disappeared up into the air back to my family.

The End

World Adoption Day

   As many of you may know, November is World Adoption month.  After all of these years, I realized I haven't really shared my personal story and feelings regarding adoption.  I will try to make this short...
   About thirty years ago when I was in high school I was diagnosed with endometriosis and ovarian cysts.  I will never forget that awful afternoon sitting in the doctors office being told that I would never birth a child of my own.  At that point I was sixteen years old and I wasn't even thinking about having kids yet.  It was always in my heart to be a mama to lots of kids, so being told this stung really bad.  I felt the world crashing in around me, thinking that I would never be a mama, or what guy would want me because I could not provide a baby for him.  I began to question God and wondering, why was I going through this, but through it all I never lost site that God had a plan for me.  I think the hardest part through all of this was waiting and wondering what was going to happen to me and my life.
   Then, one Sunday night I was sitting alone and watching TV. There was a documentary on regarding China and how they treated their women and little girls.  It was filled with sadness and these women meant nothing to their country.   They started talking about how they were abandoning their little girls and orphanages were beginning to fill up with all these unwanted girls.  I knew at that moment God was speaking to me and saying, This is how you will be a mama.  You will adopt!! I had a peace that overwhelmed me that is so hard to explain. The only thing that I can say is God placed that unconditional love and peace in my heart.  I am not saying that I still had doubts and fears, but it was always in God's hands.  I began at that very moment praying for a little girl that would someday become my daughter.  I had no idea when or where, but I knew it would happen.
   A few years later I met and started dating my best friend and the love of my life, David. While dating we talked about our future and I had to tell him that if we were to get married, we may never have a child of our own.  I think the most precious and reassuring words I have ever heard where I am not marring you for children, I am marring you for you!  It made me think again at how Christ loves us for who we are, no matter whats wrong with us. I expressed to David that my heart is in adoption.  We still at this point didn't know when or where, but we knew it was going to happen.
   A couple years after we were married, God showed us He has a really funny sense of humor! I became pregnant.  Hooray for us! But I was very angry about this.  I think I was so mad, because I had grieved so much about never having a baby of my own I wasn't looking at the situation correctly. I should have been looking at it as a miracle from God.  You know those moments in life when your spouse puts you in check? I had one of those moments.  I remember crying on David's shoulder and he just held me.  After I had my crying spell, he looked at me and said, "You need to be thanking God for this baby that you never thought you would have."  WOW, talk about a reality check.  We had a beautiful baby boy who was born on my 22 birthday.  God had given us our first child.
   We still had no idea if I would be able to have another child, but we knew God was in control of our lives and who was going to be in it.  God knew how many children we were going to have and when. Two years later God blessed us with another child that I was able to carry.  We had a cute baby girl. God had given us our second child.
   A few years had passed, and my heart was still yearning for another child and I knew that baby was in China. I had talked to David about it and we prayed for God's guidance about another child, but we still had no idea when He would open this door and this child would be placed in our life. Several years later, in February of 2006, our lives changed forever when we met a baby girl that had just been adopted from China.  God spoke to us through this little girl named Ellie Lou.  She was so cute.  We knew at that moment we needed to start our adoption journey.  We knew God was saying your baby is out there waiting for you, but just be patient, this journey is long.  We filled out lots of paperwork, went through a detailed interview process, and background check after background check, and waited patiently for our soon to be daughter. This journey of adoption was over a two year process.
   We got our call for our daughter on April 15, 2008.  I think when you first see that picture of your child, you just know that God is and has always been faithful through this whole process. I just knew that she was our baby girl, thousands of miles away, just waiting for a forever mama and daddy.  We still had to wait a couple of more months before we could go get her.  Those last months were hard, but I knew God had His hands on our little girl the whole time.
   Our little one was placed in our arms on July 7, 2008.  God had given us our third child.  Hannah's life was forever changed at that moment.  She now had a FOREVER family that would love her unconditionally for the rest of her life. I think for me, through this whole process God taught me that you don't have to be blood to be a family.  There are so many children that need a forever mama and daddy.  Hannah is an amazing child and a true gift from God.  The Chinese always say when a child is adopted "Lucky Baby", but I think David and I are the lucky ones. Looking at what Hannah had and has come from, we are the lucky ones.  These children like her just want to be loved.  If you have love and are even thinking about adoption, just pray and let God lead.  God will guide in what direction you need to go.  There is a whole wide world that is filled with children that need a family.

Every child deserves a forever family!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I spent my day with this little one! My true love is in Tampa on a business trip. Hannah and I have had a fun filled day. Our day started out by taking Shirley to school and then a trip to Chick-fil-a for breakfast. Later in the day was gymnastics.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!! Hope everyone has a blessed and lovely day!

Chinese New Year 2013

I had a hard time getting a photo of Hannah this year. She has had a terrible cold. Smiles were far few and in between. Happy New Years!

School Work

Today was a quite day doing school work with the girls. I love watching them learn. It is hard to believe that I have one child in college, one that is a senior and a LITTLE but very mighty kindergartner. I think the next few years are going to be an awesome challenge for me as a mom to keep her challenged with school.  She LOVES it, so that means we are having to find lots of things to do.

Tofel Test and Homeschooling

Tianyan had her Tofel test today at the college.  For those of you that don't know what a Tofel test is ......a test to see how much English she understands and comprehends.

While we were waiting for Tianyan to complete her I loaded up Emily and Hannah to do there school work in Bakersfield today.  We had our classes at McDonald's near the college.  Hannah thought it was pretty funny that we were doing school work at McDonald's.  It was kind of fun to be at a different place.  Change of scene.

First Puzzle

She completed her first puzzle!!! She was so proud of herself!!

Pink Eye

Well, what a whirl wind of a couple of days! Hannah woke up yesterday morning complaining that her eye hurt. I thought she maybe poked it. Well a couple of hours later she comes up to me and says her I hurts worse. I look at her and she has green junk running out of her eye. NASTY!! I took her to the doctor and they said she has pink eye. I never relized that one little eye could produce so much green junk. We are putting drops in both eyes and this is a fight to do.  She has a complete melt down every time we do it. It has been 24 hours so I think we are on the road to recovery. Her little eye looks swollen and puffy today! At least it is not running green stuff today.

Happy Halloween

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween! Our girls went with Hailey to the church harvest festival at St. John Luther Church. They said Hannah had a blast going from each car to get candy and play the games. This is Tianyan first Halloween. Emily and Hailey said that she laughed a lot and seemed to enjoy herself. It is really hard for me to believe that she has been with our family for 3 months now. The time is passing very quickly and I am not sure if I like it. I want to have her stay longer, but I now she has to go back in May. We are enjoying sharing our culture with her and we are having a blast learning more about China!!

Disneyland and Tianyan Birthday