First Impressions

It's been very foggy and dreary since we've arrived in our new city.  Our view from our hotel is really pretty, but I know it would be even prettier if I saw it with sunshine!

It's amazing how you can pare down for 13 months...9 suitcases and 4 backpacks is all we took.  Ahhh...simplify!

"Front" view of the hotel (on the far top left).

This is on the patio of our hotel room.  We see these fishermen each morning...bamboo poles and a very rudimentary "reel".  The "driving range" is at the top of the picture.  People hit golf balls off the top of the hotel into the water...there are "holes" at different places in the water.

This reminds us so much of China.

This street is very tame right now!  There are no traffic lights, no stop signs, and pedestrians do NOT have the right of way.  It's playing chicken at its best!

Creativity at its best!   Abigail made a chef's hat out of a bath towel on top of her sun visor and AA is our waitress for lunch in the room.  I had to have a break from noodles and rice hence the PB &J sandwiches the girls made adorned with ritz crackers and a silly band!

One tired family...they were all sacked out at 7pm.  AA literally fell asleep in her noodles at dinner and had to carry her back to the room!  Our body clock are just completely whacked right now.  The girls are beginning to adjust, but mama and papa bear are not.   Poor David, I don't know he's sitting in class and learning new manuals right now.  We NEED SLEEP!!!!!

Last Day of School

Although last Thursday was difficult for the girls since it was their last day of school before the move, both of the girl's teachers made it a special day for them!

 

Abigail's awesome teacher!  They gave a "Fairwell Abigail" party....too sweet.

Being silly!

What a great class!

Audrey An's Awesome teacher!  She got a stocking full of goodies from her two teachers for Christmas & Birthday...AA got a new Dangles!!!!

AA's "bestest buddy" at school...OH, she misses you , Reagan!

We celebrated an early birthday before our departure with brownie cupcakes.  She was grinning from ear to ear as the sang the Happy Birthday song to her!  One of my friends even made the brownies due to the craziness at our house last week....thank you, Aliza!

New Diet!

I've got just the answer for you if you want to lose 15 lbs...fast!  It's called "The Prepare and Move to a New Country in less than 30 Days Diet"!   It works...seriously.  You really must try it!  About 6 days prior to us moving I went to the doc for the last round of some immunizations.  Of course, they weighed me.  I couldn't believe my ears (yes, I must say it was music to my ears).  I had shed some weight, and I hadn't even been trying.  Sweet!  This morning I put on my khaki capris and they hung on me.  I guess all that crazy running around, forgetting to eat lunch, and just plain stress the past 30 days did it.

We left Friday morning and arrived Saturday night (we lost 12 hours...eek!).  I may have shed about 5 of those lbs. just hours before the flight, too.  In true Christa stand-by fashion we weren't cleared from the stand-by list until minutes prior to take off.  David thought he was going to start this new chapter of our lives together alone.  I knew in my heart that this wasn't going to happen, but it made for some interesting "Plan A, B, and C" planning just in case!  Once we got on the flight it was smooth sailing from there.  Or maybe I should say smooth flying!  It was a loooooooooooong flight, but we arrived with all our luggage and successfully made an airport transfer and received our visas on arrival without a hitch.  Yeah!  We left our house at 8:30 am on Friday and entered our hotel room about 11:00pm on Saturday- a total of about 24 hours in the actual plane.

We're having a bit of trouble getting our bodies adjusted to the 12 hour time change.  David says I actually I'm right on schedule...3:30am wake up is quite normal for this insomniac!  Yesterday, we went to the "meet and greet" the the GO and met many of the other pilots and families.  That was nice.  David started his training today, and I hope that he can stay awake.  From just one hour last night with all of them it is VERY apparent that everyone is a close knit family here.  I look forward to getting to know one of the other wives as she has a 2 1/2 yr. old daughter and will be having another baby in in the spring.

It was great to see and hear the management, too.  We're having a "happy hour" tonight with the CEO's of David's  parent company.  They arrived a couple of days ago and toured both domiciles....expecting to purchase 6 more planes- so it's a big deal they're here.

The girls are doing great so far, and they have adjusted better today to the time change.  We had to peel Abigail's eyes open in the afternoon as we literally couldn't wake her from her power nap!  I am so thankful they love school.  They've started their own home school (YES!!!!  I guess their BORED). Seriously??? Who does that??? I never did when I was a kid- or at least I don't remember that.

We just got back from a short walk with a new friend who is like minded (one of the other wives), ate lunch, and have just returned back to our room.  The sites, sounds, and smells (and traffic!) remind all of us of China.  The girls are watching a movie, and I 'm going to unpack.  Okay, who am I kidding?  I'm about to take a power nap!   Abigail took some pics, but I'm too tired to post.  Maybe I will tonight.   I just can't believe we're finally here!!!!!!!!

Be Still

Like the title post says....that's about all I can be right now!  I threw my back out of whack yesterday due to my over zealous packing attempts.  Now I'm REALLY paying for it.  There's so much that needs to be done and so little time.  David told me last night, "I don't want you to pack up one more thing."  yeah, right!?!?!  Well, actually, yeah, he IS right.  God has a funny way of making one "be still and know".  I'm such a control freak and I'm so out of control with things right now.  Ummm, that makes me a bit c.r.a.z.y. ya know?!  I know deep deep deep in my heart that we're doing the right thing.  It's just a weeeeee bit overwhelming to prepare for an international move in 30 days (and as of today not even sure what city we're going to be in).  I had someone ask me this week how the moving preparations were going, and I responded with just a couple sentences.  You would have thought I had 10 heads growing out of me or something.  Seriously???  Do people not have a clue about what it takes to move- especially an international move?  Well, guess not.  Oh, wow....Lord, give me patience (with myself and others). 

It's hard being a perfectionist and feel out of control.  Like a told two friends yesterday...I really need God to show up and carry me (fly me, actually!) through these next few weeks.  My girls need as much stability, security, and normalcy as possible.  They need to see mommy and daddy calm.  They need to see mommy and daddy praying for peace, patience, guidance.  They need to see God do "great and mighty things".  They need to see faith being lived out right in front of their very own eyes.   They need to see their own faith grow and mature.  I know this will happen.  I know this must happen.  I trust in You.

Okay, so guess I should go sign off and go eat some more bon bons!

Possible Detour

Let's see...the following was a recent post on my facebook page: scheduled 4 dental appointments (completed 2 of them!), 3 hair appointments, 2 pediatric appointments, 1 eye appointment, drove carpool, dealt with insurance/doctors/pharmacies, went to the county health depart for travel immunizations (only to discover they are closed after lunch...nice), scanned passports for visas, helped with homework, packed boxes, packed, oh...about 6 suitcases, did crafts and a photo op with Abigail...other than that it's been a pretty uneventful past 24 hours : )

This morning we learn of another possible detour.  We received an email today around 5am (yes, darling hubby and I were up for the day...couldn't sleep anymore!) that the company may be switching cities on us.  WOW...doesn't surprise me but still in a bit of shock.  I wish I could say my very first reaction was, "Oh, yeah...how wonderful!" but it wasn't.  Let's see... the two places are about 1200 miles apart, two different climates, prepping kids for 3 weeks for one thing just flew out the window, and...I need to repack!  So...after I settled down a bit, prayed for a better attitude and openness to what He has in store for us, I'm much better now.  We're still awaiting confirmation on the official "detour" and hubby started training today.  Should be a fun day : )

Is. 26:3.  MUST keep this in my heart and mind right now!

SPECIAL Sunday!

The most beautiful site I've seen in a long time!  Praise be to God for HE has done GREAT and MIGHTY things!  Sunday, November 14, Audrey An chose to stand before her church family and tell them she loves and believes in Jesus!

 Last Wednesday our Minister to Children taped a video testimony of Audrey An to share on Sunday morning prior to her baptism.

 

We had a blessing and celebration for Audrey An with a few of Audrey An's favorite people and teachers!

She even picked out the cake.  At the end of her video she said, "I'm God's little princess!"  So I thought it was appropriate to have a cake with a a crown and scepter! 

Beautiful flowers for the beautiful girl!  Thank you, Stevens family!

 David praying a special blessing and thanksgiving for God's gift of salvation for his youngest daughter.

Abigail made her mei mei a crown for her special day!

Sunday was quite a day for our family.  We started the day by David and I sharing with our Sunday School class some exciting news.  Remember a few posts ago how we couldn't get out of our heads and hearts about a decision we had turned down back in May?  Well, God saw fit to give us a second chance.  We shared with our class that we are moving overseas!  It was a bitter sweet moment for us.  David has taught our class, and I have directed our department ever since we moved here.  One of the hardest parts of this decision has concerned our class.  You see, we're invested.  We love, care and pray for our class.  God took just a few couples 5 1/2 years ago and began this class.  The Lord has multiplied it, developed friendships, and given us a burden for the young adults in our church.  It's hard to let that go, but at the same time we're excited to let them sprout their wings and fly...without us.

After we shared with them they gathered around us and prayed for us.  They encouraged us.  They made me cry!  Then...I had the privilege of standing in honor of my newly adopted daughter be baptized and give testimony of her "2nd adoption" that took place last Monday night.  WOW...as soon as her toes hit the water I lost it!  What a sense of awe I felt.  How absolutely miraculous that the Lord chose our family to care this tender little heart.

Special doesn't even begin to describe our day on Sunday.  I think perfect was more like it!

2nd Adoption!!!!

Is this one happy little girl or what!

All I can say is WOW!!!  Praise God from whom ALL BLESSINGS flow!  I wasn't quite expecting for my husband and I to experience a 2nd adoption this morning when I woke up, but guess what?!?!  We did!!!  We had the privilege of leading Audrey An to Christ tonight.  What an incredible night for Audrey An...and for her blubbering-like-an-idiot mommy,  pretty choked up daddy and very excited sister! 

What a beautiful night it has been! So here how it went it down as best as David and I can remember.
8pm- I'm snuggling with AA in my bed right before I tuck her into her bed and just finished praying together for her foster family, birth parents and Ms. Kitty.  She then looks up at me with those chocolate brown eyes and and begins to stutter (like she does when her little brain is moving faster than her lips!) and asks, "Mooooommyyyy,  yayayaya ya know that chriiiiiissstiian thing we've beeeeeen taaallllk taaaaaallk taaaaalking about?  How do yooooouuu do that?"  I say, "Oh, that's such a great question...let's go get daddy and we can all talk about that together."

AA asks again.
David- "Well, there are some things that you have to know and believe.  Who is Jesus?"
AA-"God"
David-  "Where did He live?"
AA- "heaven"
David-"Okay, where else did he live"
AA- can't remember exactly what she said
David- "How did he die? or what happened to Jesus?"
AA- "He was in a tomb."
David- "Yes, He was in a tomb.  Was he dead or alive in the tomb?"
AA- "dead"
David-"Who put him in the tomb?
AA- "soldiers"
David- "Did he stay in the tomb?"
AA- "No, he came out."
David- "Why did they put him in the tomb?"
AA- "They hurt him."
David- "Yes, they hurt him.  How did they hurt him?"
AA-  They put nails in him.
David-"Can God die?"
AA- "no"
David- "Can man die?'
AA- "yes"
David- "Jesus the man died."  Earlier you asked how to become a christian.  If you pray and tell God you know and believe these things and ask God to be a christian and Jesus to come into your heart, He will!"  Is that something you are interested in doing??
AA- Yes!    She then hesitated and fumbled around with her answer then said, "No, I think I want to wait.  Maybe just for a little bitty bitty bit (as she is showing us with her two fingers what a "little itty bitty bit" is!)
Me- "Well, how long do you think that will be?" (sweating bullets as I'm glaring at David cause neither of us want to coerce her into anything FOR SURE!)
David- "Do you mean like a year? a day? a month?"
AA- Yeah, I think I'll wait a year.  (yes, she probably has no concept of time!)
David- "Do you think God would want you to wait a year?"
AA- OH, no!  Let's do this now!  (SOOOOOO precious...soooo innocent!)
Me- "What do you think you'd say to God in a prayer?"
AA- was at a lost for words so David stepped in
David- "Do you want daddy to say a prayer and you repeat after me?  We could do that."
AA- Yes!
David- "Okay, let's pray.  Dear God,  Thank you for your son Jesus.  Dear God, thank you  that Jesus dies on the cross for me.  Thank you that He came alive again.  I know I do things that I shouldn't do. Please forgive me so I know I'm okay with you.  Pleas come into my heart so that I can become a christian and live with you forever. I love you.  Amen." (and she repeated word for word)
AA- "Now I'm a christian?!"  Can I tell  people?!"
Me- "Oh, yes!  That's exactly what God wants us to do is to tell others about Jesus!"
AA- Can I tell my teachers tomorrow?  and Reagan? (her sweet friend at school)
David and me-  "Oh yes, they love Jesus and love you and will be so excited!"

We all talked for about 30 minutes.  It was a very factual type of conversation.  She was answering deliberately.  Somewhere in all this conversation she brought up the miracle of Jesus walking on water and she said, "You know he was the only one who ever walked on water!"  Then she said, "There was a really old guy who had a baby."  I said, "Are you talking about Abraham and Sarah?"   and she said, "Yes!"  All that to say that she has been soaking in everything that we and many others have been pouring into her in the last 16 months.  WOW! 

She wanted to call my best friend, Kristina, and her buddies Owen and McKenzie Grace who we've just been with last weekend.  I must say it was a PRECIOUS conversation!  She talked with "Uncle Troy" who first answered, and he was sooooo excited for her and shared her joy (THANK YOU!).  Then she called Kristina who was with Owen at the doctor and had to leave a message.  Owen called back within minutes and said, "You're a christian now?!?!  Yeah!  We're going to heaven together now...yeah!" (I did mentioned Owen was my future son-in-law in a couple posts ago!!).  He's looking out for her : )

Why am I ever surprised at God's amazing grace and perfect timing?  Seriously...why?  When you pray for your child's salvation and then it happens....just wow!  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that God would be so gracious in prompting Audrey An to have enough of an understanding of salvation to make her own decision of asking Jesus to come into her heart after being in our family only 16 months.  Childlike faith...that's what it's all about.  I know she doesn't know "everything", but she believes, and she couldn't have been as matter of fact and happy about it all!  Acts 16:31 says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved."  Yes, it's that easy!  It's a process....all adoptions are!  There's a starting point and God in his grace allows us to grow and mature.  Man, I sure don't know it all either!   Never never ever under estimate the power of your words.  Abigail and I were were helping her memorize John 3:16 just this weekend along with illustrating to her them as we carved a pumpkin that all the "gunk" in the pumpkin was like sin in our own lives.  God wants to scoop it all out and make us clean!

So interesting that just yesterday I was asked to give a devotional at a friend's baby shower who has just returned from China about a month ago and I chose to parallel our girl's physical adoption to Christ's spiritual adoption of us.  I made the comment that prayerfully our girls would experience two adoptions in their lifetime...something that most of us would never experience.  I had no idea I would be sharing the absolute JOY in experiencing my own daughter's 2nd adoption the very next day! I've asked God to hep us recall every detail because I want her to know exactly what was said in case she ever has doubts.  I experienced that as an adult and it was such an unsettling feeling.  I'm sure some more details will come to mind and I'll add that to this post.

Thank you, God for this precious gift and answer to prayer!  All you ask is for us to believe.  I'm trusting that is what Audrey An has done tonight.  Help David and I train her in the ways she should go.  Our prayer for her is that she'll love You with all her heart, soul, mind and strength!  Her dedication verse we chose for her last year was Psalm 86:11-13 "Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.  I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;  I will glorify your name forever.  For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead."   Praise God, You have saved her twice!

beaming!

Abigail sharing in her joy!

telling her good buddy, Owen!

She should get some gooooood sleep tonight....I know I will!

udpate on 11/9/10:

Audrey An woke saying, "I'm a christian!" and wanted to read in her bible (totally unprompted!).  Also, as I reflected more about the night I think it's interesting  to David and me that as we were discussing last night about Abigail's spiritual birthday, AA wanted to go get her bible- her CHINESE bible.  It' probably one of my most favorite gifts we've received for her.  Her great grandmother Weedie (the onewho has just passed away last month) and aunt and uncle gave her this the first time they met her.  It's a children's bible written in both english and chinese.  No, she can't read the chinese (nor the english!), but for her momma and daddy it's pretty significant.  To us, it symbolizes her dark past and her bright future all wrapped in one!

Eve...amended (just a little bit!)

Given the fact that I don't like to talk bad about anyone and can't fake my feelings about anything, let me set the record straight in case anyone (other than myself!) reads this blog.  I must give credit where credit is due and make a slight amendment to my yesterday's post.  Dr. H, my doctor who performed my hysterectomy and delivered my first born, is a wonderful, caring, christian doctor who happens to be a man.  I think he must be the only one of his kind!  He is NOT the doctor I saw this week either.  Okay, so there- I said it.  There is ONE male doctor that I've encountered who should keep his license : )

All male doctors (especially those who practice gynecology) but Dr. H should not graduate from medical school without passing "Bedside Manners 101" and "Understanding the Female Brain", AND these courses should be written by females, ya know?   Yes, this is what I was thinking about at 3:30 am today when I couldn't sleep.  Oh brother, I really need to get a life!

Thanks a lot, Eve!

Okay, let me just get it off my chest from the get go-  Men should NOT be in the field of gynecology...JUST sayin'!!!!!   How could you be a doctor who has a post-op hysterectomy patient sitting laying in front of you bawling her eyes saying she feels so horrible and to PLEASE help her with her hormone levels not be sensitive to that???  Seriously???  What is wrong with this picture?  Did he get up on the wrong side of his bed or is HE going through menopause?  Oh my word, I'm so extremely frustrated.  I'm just waaaaaay too young to feel the way I feel, and I'm bound and determined to find someone who is willing to help me get all this figured out.  God, I'm asking you to send a female doctor who is patient, sensitive, and willing to expend some energy on me...just me- and to do it...like- NOW (pretty please).  ALL women are uniquely made, and unfortunately, my mom, my sister and me (oh, Lord, please spare my daughters!) have always fallen into the medical category of "oh, that only happens in 1%-2% of cases"....uggh.

Psalm 139 says I'm uniquely and wonderfully made, but Genesis 3 says that there was a woman named Eve that totally goofed things up for me (and all other women- thank you...ha!), too.  Ummm, not feeling "wonderfully made" right now, but I DO KNOW that God will help me get through this.  So...maybe I should go clean my house now with praise music blaring (that's what I do when I feel out of control!).  Oh my, is that why my house is usually so clean?  Okay, nevermind.  Don't answer that!

50 fingers

my future son-in-law

my sassy goddaughter

my beautiful cowgirl

my li'l punk'n

best of friends...ready to conquer the Fall Festival!

This past weekend I had the privilege of spending time with my best friend, Kristina, and all these cute kids.  I'm so grateful for all the memories we've made over the years and look forward to many, many more!  I don't think I've ever seen kids play, adore and love each other as these kiddoes.  I think often why these 40 fingers have such kindred spirits like their mommy and I do.  I think know it's because we all pray for each other.  We all have shared some great joys and some great sorrows as well.  In May of this year my best friend and her husband lost their 24 week old baby, Rex.  For some reason (only God knows) Kristina didn't get to deliver and bring home her bouncing baby boy like we had prayed and hoped.  Instead, she experienced a very traumatic event in her life, and I continue to pray that God will heal her (and her family) wound of what she experienced.  Tragedy doesn't just effect the mommy.  It effects the daddy, other children and those close to them.  We all respond to grief in different ways. We often times don't know how to respond in a crisis like this- I didn't, and she's my best friend.  She's the one in my life who knows me better than anyone-other than my hubby.  She's the one who "gets" me and I with her.  David "gets" me, but he "gets" me as best as he can through his "maleness" (love you, babe!). She's the one who is on her knees for me (literally!) at 4:30 in the morning because she loves me and prays fervently for me (and so many others).  Before I boarded the plane back home on Tuesday I had to ask her to forgive me.  I got a lump in my throat.  I was sweating like a pig. I was trying to control a quivering chin.  I was streaming tears (I get that way when I'm nervous!).  You see, I haven't known how to help her through this grief in her life- a tiny little baby boy named Rex but a huge loss.  Kristina, I love you dearly.  I can't even imagine the pain you continue to feel.  I do know the the God whom we both love and serve PROMISES to heal the broken hearted.  It may not come in the timing we want (OH, how we both know that!), but He is the One who heals our wounds and wraps us in His arms in tender mercies.  I know we had such fun with these 40 fingers this weekend, but I'm sorry there weren't 50 fingers with us, too.  I love you.

Hoedown!

Audrey An's school had a good 'ol fashioned hoedown today at school  She told me they even ate "farmer food".  When I asked what that was she told me it was biscuits, bacon, and eggs and some mild to wash it down.  Well, there ya have it- farmer food!

Audrey An LOVES her awesome teachers! (As so I...they do a great job!!)

Caught her in mid air...sweet!

Ready for the hayride...sweet friends!

Abigail's class had "wacky tacky jammie day" for their fall party!  If you're thinking AA's overalls look kind "vintage", they are.  Those were mine...ahem, a "few" years ago!!!

PUMPKINS!

Last weekend we went to two fall festivals...lots of fun and lots of pictures, of course!