A Time To Dance!!!!

I'm so glad no one was around to see it but at 1:09 p.m. we got a phone call from America World telling us that we have
Travel Approval!!!!!

We filled the whole afternoon, ok evening too, with lots of "happy dancing"!!!!

We are breaking up our trip a little by flying to Los Angeles on July 8th and then
we leave for China on July 9th!!!!!

That means that on July 13th I will finally hold this beautiful child in my arms!!!!

Is there a limit on how many exclamation marks you are allowed to use in one post because I am going waaaaaay over!!!!!! The next two and half weeks are going to be beyond crazy (I still have so much work to do!) but I will love every minute because each one brings us closer to God's promise of her!!!!!!!!!

Soon, very soon, we will teach her to dance before the LORD!!!!
This is definitely a time to dance!!!!!

"A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance."
Ecclesiastes 3:4

Sewn Together

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb."
Psalm 139:13


Several years ago...ok, three years ago, when I began asking everyone to participate in KayLi's 1oo Good Wishes quilt I knew very little about sewing and nothing about quilting. I had no idea that I should probably ask for cotton. So when several people...ok, five sweet people, gave me beautiful silk to sew into her quilt, I was thrilled. The silks were so pretty and what a great way to talk to KayLi about where silk originated and her homeland.

Well it didn't take long for the experienced quilters to let me know that sewing silk into a cotton quilt for a toddler to USE was probably not a great idea. So I have spent a lot of time trying to decided what to do with these gorgeous fabrics. Above is the "mini quilt", the "Five Good Wishes Quilt" that I made yesterday....ok, TJ and I made yesterday.

T.J. came up with a simple quilt design and I sewed the five silks into a 14x14 square. Then T.J. sewed the hand stitched quilt square on top of them...I was chicken! Then we framed it in a shadow box frame.

Two very special things about the fabrics above:

#1 The red silk in the top left corner was given to KayLi by Allies cousin Jennifer. She had a dual marriage ceremony to honor her husbands Vietnamese heritage and this silk was taken from her Vietnamese wedding dress. Thank you so much Jenn for giving KayLi such a precious piece of fabric! We love you and Thai so much!

#2 The hand stitched square that is sewn over the silks was given to KayLi by my sweet friend Myrna. She was a midwife/missionary in Africa for 15 years and I love her to pieces! She sewed two of these precious quilt squares - one for the quilt and one for the scrapbook. You can't tell from the photo but the baby is "stuffed" and puffy - very three dimensional. Thank you so much Myrna for giving KayLi such meaningful and thoughtful squares for her quilts! I can't wait to tell her about her Creator!!!

Thanks again to EVERYONE who helped with the quilt in so many sweet ways...you're awesome!!!

How Beautiful!

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news."
Isaiah 52:7

Through the Shandong Kids chat group I have been able to "meet" three other families who are waiting to bring home children from the Social Welfare Institute in Jining, Shandong (KayLi's orphanage). One of those families is in China right now and they held their son for the first time yesterday! They are staying in Jinan, the capital of Shandong and their child was brought there from the SWI in Jining to meet them.

They said that the director and nanny seem like very loving and caring people who answered many questions for them. The nanny even teared up a little at one point. We have suspected that this little boy is the first international adoption from this SWI and the director confirmed that he is their first adoption ever.

We have all been watching Lydie and her family closely, since we knew they were going first. It's soooooo exciting to see that their son was well cared for! He seemed to have been prepared to meet them and that just thrilled my heart!!!!

Their family will be going to the SWI in Jining today and they have promised to ask about our children. They will not be allowed into the SWI but they will be able to take pictures of the outside. Since KayLi was found at the SWI this is a very special place to us. In the world of adoption, it's called her "finding spot." A place carefully chosen by her birth family. A place where they knew she would be found quickly and cared for. I'm so thankful that Lydie and her family will be able to take pictures and are willing to share with us, since we may not be able to go.

Please pray that they are able to get updates of our children and that maybe, just maybe they will be allowed to see our children and take pictures of them.

It All Adds Up!

Two amazing friends.

Four days of really hard "work."

One very unfortunate frog incident.

(Yes, I'm scared of them.
Yes, I will run and jump on top of a toilet and scream like a little girl if you chase me with one.
And yes, my "friends" will find this so hysterical that they will fall on the floor laughing and still try to take pictures.)

One really big but fixable mistake.

All adds up to one amazing quilt top that is ready to be sent away to be quilted as soon as we return from China.

Thanks beyond thanks to everyone who sent fabric, wrote wishes, cut, sewed, ironed and cooked to welcome KayLi home in such a sweet way.
I know she will tell her grandchildren about you!

Some days my heart aches to hold her and I pray our wait is just a little bit longer.
Today is one of those days.

Showered!!!

On May 31st (I know I'm a little behind) several of my friends from church threw KayLi a baby shower and it couldn't have been sweeter.

Isn't her cake cute!?!?! My friend Jenny made it to look just like the wall in KayLi's room!

Here's a little explaining for those who aren't from Texas. I grew up in Southern California where showers are usually thrown by one, maybe two of your closest friends and that is their gift to you. Here in Texas they do things a little different :0)

Here lots of your close friends all get together and plan the shower. They are called hostesses and they kinda divide up all the different things that need to be done. They also give a joint "Hostess Gift." Well, their Hostess Gift to KayLi was her bed. My mom and sister in law gave her the bedding. Isn't it adorable!?!?! I can't wait to get all of the items we are trying to pack out of KayLi's room to take pictures of how cute it looks in there!

I was overwhelmed by all the sweet gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful!

She got soooooooo many cute dresses and outfits! She is going to be the best dressed little girl in China!

She also received lots of fun toys. I can't wait to spend hours reading, playing with puzzles and molding Playdoh with her!

Some of the gifts where a little more than I expected!

Emily was the official "gift giver" and handed me each gift to open. She even made sure that a few were just right for her little sister.

Emily also made this guest book out of a composition book. She's so clever...thanks for helping her with this Priscilla! She used one of the invitations that my mom made on the cover. Everyone wrote the sweetest thoughts and wishes for KayLi. And Donna Sue wrote down all the gifts, so that I would be able to write thank you cards.

I can't tell you how much it touched my heart to have so many people that I love together in one place welcoming KayLi home. The hostesses were amazing and really went above and beyond! Every gift was appreciated more than I can say. I really can't thank everyone enough! You blessed my socks off!!!!

Fifth Grade Fashion!

It's hard to believe that Emilys fifth grade year is over...sigh! It seems like only yesterday that she stated that this year she was going to be "all about fashion!" She was so excited about the endless possibilities of wardrobe combinations and accessories. She still loves to lay out several outfits at a time and rearrange them over and over, mixing and matching the different styles with various bracelets and necklaces. It's so funny to watch!

So I have been trying to capture a few of my favorite style combinations through out the year with this post in mind. While she wasn't constantly fashion conscience, she really developed a sence of who she was this year.

She even tried her hand at designing a pair of jeans. You have to click on the picture to see that she is pointing to where she wrote "God Rocks". I love the leggings under the jeans...too cute! And I can't tell you how much she loved the green hat...sigh again!

She was all about scarves but somehow I didn't get any pictures of them. At least I took this picture the day she got her new glasses.

Of coarse there was the Red Tie!

Dresses over jeans were a big hit! But neither of us can remember why she was holding the hem up like that. Oh well, the edgy "model look" is still cute!

By the end of the year she was really "all about fashion." Don't you love the two different colored flip flops? So Punky Brewster!

Look out junior high...Emily's coming!!!