Happy One Year FaY FaY!

December 30th is Faith's 'gotcha day' where has the time flown, it seems as though she has always been in our lives, to think she was in an orphanage just last year is unbelievable-and she has progressed so well. She is a blessing and a treasure to us. Our life is forever changed because of our youngest daughter's presence in the family. We have just completed Faith's one year post placement report for China. And per China's new rules (they are trying to be more flexible for adoptions) we no longer require a social worker to fill out our reports, we can now send them on our own now-yeaahhhh! Faith celebrated her first Christmas as well as Jiaxuan-they were both quite thrilled! I hope you all had a blessed Christmas-ours was exceptionally special. I pray for an amazing new year with many of the Lord's blessings!
Shalom xox

Our Tricks and Treats

November's Adoption Awareness Month

http://rescuechristians.org/government-spain-partners-rescuechristians-org-rescue-orphans-iraq/ How often do we revisit adoption awareness month and think about our local foster care organizations, and popular countries like China, Columbia when we think about the orphaned population. What about places like the middle east and the recent disruptions there? Have we given thought to the consequences of the recent attacks on Christians in Iraq? With the increasing awareness of persecution of Christians caused be ISIS (Muslim extremists). There are now many orphaned, abandoned and abused children as a result. This one is heavy on my heart. I say let's acknowledge this and do whatever we can to support these children this month and acknowledge their families who fought the good fight. Please continue praying for them. If they decide to place these children with Christian families in West, that would be a blessing to both them and to us-Christ's Holy Church. Visit the link to find out more. http://www.persecution.com/ https://barnabasaid.org/ RESCUECHRISTIANS.org Be apart of the greatest mission in history! God Bless Spain for its concerns and aggressive action in protecting the Church! Praise God for the Conservative decisions that recently played out-Go Florida! Praise God for what He is doing to our hearts! Praise Him, Praise Him all the time we don't know what He is doing but He is doing something amazing before our very eyes! Blessings to you my brother and sisters in Christ. Let's turn this country around by prayer first and foremost! Shalom!

Jiaxuan

This year we had: A fracture A wedding A Missions trip(s) to Haiti Embarked on Challenge A (middle school with Classical Conversations) Tutoring the Masters class (ages 10-12) (Classical Conversations) New Ballet Studio 'Expressions of Joy' Boys in Ballet Hope doing Pre Ballet and Modern dance A foreign exchange big brother (student in High school) Learning Mandarin and Chinese customs and culture Planning another wedding A new Community group with new friends New ministries

Why all of this quiet?

Well cause we have been busy and because we are HOSTING A CHINESE student from ZHENGZHOU! He is not an orphan, he has a wonderful family in Henan China and God has put it on our hearts to host him for his high school Senior year, here in America. And because I am a terrible blogger, I do not have a descent picture of him to post yet. I have been homeschooling, tutoring, and this is our eldest son Frederick's first year in Middle School, so the work load has increased! Hope has continued ballet but fractured her clavicle 6 weeks ago, and so that is when the boys were offered a dance scholarship at the new ballet studio. They enjoy ballet very much and Hope has healed well and is back in the studio dancing also. I am really enjoying this journey so far. Faith is not doing ballet yet, because she is not yet potty trained and does not follow directions well enough....I should know because she is now in my Sunday school class and that has been a hoot! We have not travelled this year, we have just been trying to get on a schedule that works for our family. I have been facilitating Trees of Hope and that has been a very beautiful experience as well. There has just been wonderful growth for our family in many ways, and we praise God for what He has done! I miss blogging and I need to start taking pictures of this growing family. I cannot even gather my thoughts enough to explain how much Faith has grown and transformed dramatically. The girls get along very well, and Faith doesn't stop talking. She is very bright and very loving and still resumes in a crib in our room. Comfort and familiarity is very important to her still, but she adores her grandmothers and uncles and she adores her big brother and our newest addition Jiaxuan. We still are practicing our Mandarin with Jiaxuan, but we have a long way to go. Hey you know what they say about humble beginnings.....well I don't know what they say but its good to be humble any way right? Blessings in His shalom!

Hope's 1st Ballet Recital

Sighhhhh... You know you're in heaven when your daughter turns five and has already completed her first ballet recital. Faith really wants to do ballet as well, but I told her she has to use the potty first and she just rolls her eyes and hides her face. I am so proud of our children this year they have all grown so much with such maturity and love. Praise God for His grace towards us as parents. Amen.

More Doctor visits for Faith-Let it Goooooo!

Well we're still here! School is already out for us homeschoolers even though we will continue to school during the summer to brush up on other skills. I will have to post pics later. Faith has stepped on some very huge mile stones of progress. She speaks in phrases and belts out Frozen's 'Let it go' song every so often. She is quite funny! She is demanding at times, but is a great communicator, I don't think I have ever parented such a communicator. She closes her eyes to pray and says "amen!" Another example is: one night, she was repeatedly yelling out at 10 pm, "Mommy, mom, mommy, mom, ma"....and then I replied with a "go to sleep now Faith" And then she continued with a "mooooooooom". And I said "sleep". And then there was some silence again and then she said "Jeannie, Jeannie". Freddy and I laughed hysterically. She will not stop until she gets what she wants....hmmm sounds familiar. She even likes having bows in her hair. Ok, on another note regarding her physical progress. We have seen a physical therapist who gave us a load of stuff we need to look for and to set up a plan for her muscle strength. Then we saw a neurologist who looked at her and said she seemed fine but wants to have another MRI of her brain because of the flatness of her skull. Sheeshhhh...they also want her to see a crania-facial surgeon, but we're not operating for aesthetical reasons. We also saw Dr. Herzler a neuro-surgeon, who is very important to the equation because he was one of the doctors who originally gave the ok to adopt Faith! We finally go to meet him, and he shared that his younger sister was adopted from China! He also confirmed Faith's MRI results. He explained everything so clearly! Wow! He showed us her little spine and the little cysts filled with fluid and how it relates to the lesion on her lower back. Well her nerves and spine are in tact and her little lesion on her back which indicates Spina Bifida, are not connected at all-which is great. The spine was completely formed, but the skin on the outer side was not. There are little air bubbles filled with meninge fluid, but they should close on their own he says and there is nothing to worry about. She should be able to have a full, active life!!! He says there is no need for physical therapy at this point. WOW! We will go ahead with her brain scan, just to have it on file and for the neurologist to take a look at as well, but both feel she will be fine and is completely healthy.And I second that as her mother! She is an amazing little girl, who we feel so blessed to parent and she is such a gift. I cannot even believe how healthy she is. So far, she has no allergies, she's still picky with food and fluids though. She is also, finally jumping and hopping around the house, as that was a concern of ours. I want to wish all of you blessings from the most High as He has flooded our family with such blessings. I ask that you never stop petitioning and praying for your needs and those of your friends and family members. He hears our prayers, He cares too. This month we are on the JOY JOURNEY into PASSOVER & EASTER. A great resource to this is THEHAPPYHOMEFAIRY.