At 19 months, There Is A Reason

Today is our 19 month anniversary of our LID. How much longer? Unfortunately, no one knows, but it WILL come! Steve and I have faith in that and know that we will soon be parents. This adoption journey sure has tested my faith in God and taught me how much I need to lean on faith and the promises of God. He is the one that created the blessing of adoption in our hearts and will make it happen. We are so grateful to be on this journey, no matter how long we have to wait.
There is a new song by Caedmon's Call that helps remind me that 'There is a Reason' and God will have our Sarah ready for us in His perfect time.

There is a Reason

Late at night I wonder why
Sometimes I wonder why
Sometimes I’m so tired
I don’t even try
Seems everything around me fails
But I hold on to the promise
That there is a reason

Late at night, the darkness makes it hard to see
The history of the saints who’ve gone in front of me
Through famine, plague and disbelief
His hand was still upon them
Cause there is a reason

There is a reason
He makes all things good
He makes all things good
There’s a time to live and a time to die
A time for wonder and to wonder why
Cause there is a reason
There is a reason

I believe in a God who sent His only son
To walk upon this world and give His life for us
With blood and tears on a long, dark night
We know that He believed
That there is a reason
There is a reason

For the lonely nights
And broken hearts
The widow’s mite
In the rich man’s hand
And the continent
Whose blood becomes a traitor

For the child afraid to close their eyes
The prayers that seem unanswered
There is a reason
There is a reason

Did you celebrate National Ice Cream Day? We did!

Hey, these days we've got to look for things to celebrate! And boy, did we?!?!? Check out this banana split!

Feels Like Today

This song has kind of been my 'theme song' for our adoption. Thought I'd go ahead and put it on the blog, since it means a lot to me and reminds me of our journey to Sarah.

"Feels Like Today"

Woke up this morning
With this feeling inside me that I can't explain
Like a weight that I've carried
Has been carried away, away
But I know something is coming
I don't know what it is
But I know it's amazing, you save me
My time is coming
And I'll find my way out of this longest drought

It feels like today I know it feels like today I'm sure
Its the one thing that's missin'
The one thing I'm wishin'
Life's sacred blessin'
It feels like today
Feels like today

You treat life like a picture
But its not a moment frozen in time
It's not gonna wait
Til you make up your mind, at all

So while this storm is breaking
While there's light at the end of the tunnel
Keep running towards it
Releasing the pressure, that's my heartache
Soon this dam will break

And it feels like today
I know, it feels like today, I'm sure
Its the one thing that's missin'
The one thing you're wishin'
The last sacred blessin'
It feels like today
Feels like today

And it feels like today
I know, it feels like today, I'm sure
Its the one thing that's missin'
The one thing you're wishin'
The last sacred blessin'
It feels like today

Feels like, feels like your life changes
Feels like feels like your life changes

Its the one thing that's missin'
The one thing you're wishin'
The last sacred blessin'
Feels like today

Feels like Feels like your life changes
Feels like Feels like your life changes

Happy 4th of July!

We spent the day at our friends Cheryl and Alan's pool with my brother and his family. We always have so much fun with them, it's no wonder that we had a wonderful day together on the 4th!
The kids have so much fun together!
I have to share this adorable story from a while back. Lydia (who's 3 yrs old, pictured here with our 3 yr old niece, Lauren) came home one day from daycare and was telling her mom, Cheryl, that pandas came from China and that they ate bamboo. Cheryl explained to her that Sarah would be coming from China. Well, Lydia, being very attached to my husband Steve, replied, "No! Julie and Steve are mine! I want Julie and Steve to adopt ME!" We all thought this was so sweet and showed how very protective she is of 'her' Julie and Steve. It will be a wake-up call for us all when Sarah does get here and see how everyone reacts! :)

Minix Family Reunion

Last weekend we took a trip to Nicholasville, KY for a get-together with my MIL's siblings and their families. We had a great time with Steve's aunts, uncles and cousins. Of course, you can't have a party in his family without a bonfire! Friday night, we all enjoyed each others company in his uncle's back yard with the kids playing on the tire swings, playing with remote control airplanes, and eating smores by the campfire. (notice the pic of mine!)
His cousins have a bunch of kids, and we really enjoyed just sitting back and watching and listening to the kids!!
On Saturday morning, we went to garage sales with my BIL and SIL. We also drove around a neighbhorhood where Steve and his brother lived while going to high school and college. Their dad built two houses in the neighborhood and for a time, they lived in both of these houses.
We'll be going to Cincinnati, OH in the beginning of August for a Dalton family reunion, the decendants of my MIL's grandparents.
Steve and I discussed over the weekend about how it will be a blast to take Sarah with us in the future!

A Poem for our 18th month waiting for Sarah

Promises

I heard the voice of Jesus say
My child, you must not cry,
For I in my own wisdom
Know the reason why.

Though years have come and gone
Since happiness you've known,
I will restore the wasted years:
You see, you're still my own.

Thank you, God, for promises
Recorded in your Word,
That hope, once lost, can be regained
By trusting in the Lord.

--Shirley Collins

And just a little more...

On Saturday, we got up early to hit a few garage sales. We covered Pawley's Island, Murrell's Inlet, Surfside Beach, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach. We also found some thrift and consignment stores on the way.
Steve thought it would be fun to play putt-putt and we found Mt. Atlanticus Minotaur Golf, which looked like fun! We played both the Conch and Minotaur courses and had a blast! Steve got a MUCH better score than I did, I am awful! But, it was a lot of fun anyway.
Then for dinner, we went to Benjamin's Calabash Seafood and enjoyed the buffet. We have to do a calabash each time we visit, but only one will do about once a year!!

More about our vacation

On Friday, we went to a favorite breakfast spot we love in Pawley's Island, Eggs Up Grill. I went shopping a little with my aunt and then Steve and I went to the pool for a bit. We stayed in for dinner and my aunt cooked for us. After dinner, we all went on a walk at the beach.

A much needed vacation!

Steve and I just returned from visiting my aunt and uncle in Pawley's Island, SC. We had a great time with family and just enjoyed spending time with each other.
On Thursday, we visited Huntington Beach State Park, which has a freshwater lagoon, salt marsh, maritime forest and three miles of unspoiled beach. We walked along the beach and really enjoyed the marsh boardwalk. We saw egrets, tons of crabs, egrets and alligators!!!
The park is also the site of the Spanish-style castle Atalaya, former winter home and studio of American sculptor, Anna Hyatt Huntington.
We had lunch at a quaint Italian restaurant, Landolfi's, and then went thrift shopping.
For dinner, we went out to the Gulfstream Waterfront Cafe in Ocean City with my aunt, uncle, cousin and some friends of theirs. From the upstairs, you can see Murrells Inlet on one side and the beach on the other. We watched the sun set over Murrells Inlet and it was just breathtaking!

Wow! 17 months of waiting. . .

Well, today is our 17 month LID-versary! Doesn't feel so important anymore, just like another 30 days have gone by. Another month of waiting for our little girl. I think I'm almost numb to the wait at this point. I know it will happen, just nobody knows when. . .
It's crazy--the ups and downs of this roller coaster we call international adoption.
The one thing I know is the love we have for our daughter, the love we have had for over two years when God led us to the idea of adoption. She's been in our hearts for a long time and it will be bliss to have her in our lives someday.

National Day of Prayer

Just wanted to acknowledge that today is the National Day of Prayer. More info can be found at www.nationaldayofprayer.org
Please take a moment today and everyday and lift someone up in prayer--friends, family, loved ones, our enemies, the elderly, our heroes in the military and their families, precious babies around the world in need of a home. . .

April Showers bring May Flowers

Here are the pictures I promised from my weekend. My aunt has beautiful gardens at her house in North GA and I couldn't resist taking some photos. Enjoy!

Dreaming of my baby

Just a quick post to document that last night was the first time I have dreamed about Sarah. I've dreamed about us being parents before, but this was definitely a Sarah dream! It was sort of a crazy dream so I won't share the details, but wanted to quickly blog about it for future reference. Who knows, maybe yesterday or today is some significant moment in her life?

Sweet Sixteen???

Today marks our 16th month waiting since we got our LID on 12/29/05. Enough about that. . .
I just got back today from a quick trip to North GA to visit my aunt, uncle and grandfather. We had a very nice time visiting together! I enjoyed helping my aunt with her library book sale on Saturday. That evening, we went on a boat ride and this morning I attended their contemporary church service. It was awesome and very uplifting! Very much what I needed today!!!
The drive home was beautiful! I took some great photos of my aunt's flowers and will post them soon.
Steve is in NY for a month doing a big remodeling job and I don't like it one bit! We're one week down, about 3 weeks to go. I sure am missing him tonight! I think I'll add a pic to this post, just so I can see his sweet face. :)

Garage Sale Finds!

I was so thrilled to find these at a garage sale last weekend in my neighborhood!! They were only $25 for all three. I can just imagine Sarah rocking in the rocking chair, getting toys out of the toy chest, or writing at her desk.
When, oh when, will we get to see our baby?!?!?
I will quote a blogger friend, Firegirl, "Some day our princess will come!"

The Good Women of China--**Highly Recommended

I found this book that I had purchased some time ago from a used bookstore and recently started reading it. It's funny because a lady at church (who has 3 adopted granddaughters from China) recommended it to me a while ago and I didn't even realize that I owned it. That tells you how MANY books I own. :) I'm not quite finished, but I thought I'd recommend it especially to those of you adopting from China. It has really opened up my eyes to the secret lives of many women in China. The pain and sorrow so they have had to endure is incomprehensible. If anyone would like to borrow it, please just let me know and I'll send it your way when I'm finished. Below, I've added what the New Yorker says about it.
From The New Yorker
In 1989, Xinran, a Beijing journalist, began broadcasting a nightly program on state radio that was devoted entirely to personal affairs—a radical concept in Communist China. In response, she received thousands of letters from women, many with questions about sexuality; one woman wondered "why her heart beat faster when she accidentally bumped into a man on the bus." Eventually, Xinran persuaded her superiors to let her share some of these letters on the air, and in this groundbreaking book, written after she moved to London, in 1997, she has also included stories that didn't make it past government censors. A teen-ager commits suicide after learning that a neighbor has seen her boyfriend kiss her forehead; a university student speaks casually of becoming a "personal secretary," or mistress, to a rich man; a Kuomintang general's daughter goes mad after witnessing the torture of the family that sheltered her. This intimate record reads like an act of defiance, and the unvarnished prose allows each story to stand as testimony.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

I did find on chinaconnectiononline.com a great list of books of special interest to China-adoptive families. I'll have to check off what I already own and see what else I can add to my collection!
http://www.chinaconnectiononline.com/books.htm

We are so very 'fortune'ate!!!

Today is Steve's 35th Birthday! Happy Birthday Baby!
We went to our local Chinese restaurant for dinner and we both got the same fortunes! Hmmm, I guess we shouldn't be wishing our life away and should be enjoying every moment!!
It's so hard to wait for our Sarah, but there is a REASON, whether we like it or not and I have to try very hard to realize this!!

15 months down, how many to go?

Well, tomorrow will be our 15 month LID-Versary! Woo Hoo or Boo Hoo! Not sure whether to shout with joy or cry with sadness! Well, at least we're still here and we're still anxiously awaiting Sarah!!! We'll do whatever it takes to bring our family together! (please don't tell the CCAA, we're REALLY tired of waiting!)

How much longer, you ask? Nobody knows. . . Our agency thinks it could be August when we get her picture, I think maybe Sept, but again, nobody knows. I am just hoping and praying that she'll be home for Christmas!
Please keep us, our Sarah and all the other waiting families in your prayers!!