Happy 6th Birthday M!

 A Build a Bear Birthday!

 An American Girl Doll as pretty as her!

 Making a wish on the bear's heart!

Happy birthday sweet M....what a blessing it is to be your mommy!  You are an incredible little girl and I thank the Lord that He blessed me with your beautiful life!  On many days but especially this day I think about your birth mommy and know that she is thinking of you too!  What a gift she gave to me! I love her dearly and wonder in how many ways you and she are alike! You are an intelligent, sweet, thoughtful little girl that works so hard!  You are so passionate in all you do and have a love for life!  Happy Birthday precious!

Summer Madness.......

I'm so sorry that it has been since April that I have blogged.  There has been so much going on around these parts that I hesitate to even enter this information overload. One of the things I am is authentic and I think anyone writing and sharing with other moms and families should "keep it real"....so here goes!  The end of April, my father in law (after almost 44 years of marriage) chose to leave his wife and family.  Well folks when Satan ravishes a family there is much much carnage left to sift through.....which is what our family is currently in the process of doing.  I won't go into details about this situation but it is devastating and we would appreciate prayers for both of his parents and our family as a whole.

M:  My sweet little bear graduated preschool in May and she is changing everyday from my little sweet chubby toddler to a beautiful, smart and thoughtful girl!  I am so thankful but it kinda makes ya sick all at the same time.  She is getting ready to begin kindergarten this fall and we are SO excited about her school.  Me because it is only two days a week, but for many more reasons way more important than that....Pics will follow in September.

W:  He is my tender hearted...hands on .....all boy....little man....He loves "angry birds" and can make the faces too!  He loves balls, cars, fixing things and working with his Papa.  He loves the ipad and tv a little too much and so he is having a little summer hiatus from them. He will be doing preschool with me in the fall and I am so excited to teach him and watch him blossom.

H:  What happened to my little four pounder?  She has grown up so so fast and all right before our eyes.  She is now about 34 inches tall and 27 pounds.  She is speaking in full sentences and has  a personality as big as Texas!  She loves to do whatever her big sister and brother are doing and she does it very well.

J B and I :  Well we are just hanging on and savoring our blessings.  JB had a heart "scare" about the time all of the family business erupted and we spent a couple of days in the cardiac unit at our wonderful hospital and recovering from atrial fibrillation.  He is doing great and the doctor stated that it was brought on by extreme emotional stress (go figure). We are busy with a new business Zija International ( I'll blog more about later) We have changed many aspects of our home....the main one being nutrition and detoxifying our home of artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup and processed foods.  We have lost a combined total of over 60 pds and feel great!  I have cut back a lot on my adoption work as I am needed much more here at home and enjoying my time. 

This is a quick catch up on us in a nut shell and I'll post pictures soon!  I promise!

Happy 90th Granny!

February 14, 2011 was Granny's 90th birthday.  A few months back I told her that I wanted to give her a BIG BASH to celebrate.  She reluctantly agree as she doesn't like to feel as if she is causing anyone extra work.  She soon became very excited about it and all of the preparations being made.  On February 20, 2011 we celebrated this wonderful, Godly, sweet, sacrificial and hard working lady.  What an inspiration she has been to me.  I have witnessed her sorrow after the death of her husband and watched her live her life with such grace and always displaying a gentle and quiet spirit.  She has served so many for so many years and we wanted to take one day and treat her like a Queen.  She looked so beautiful that day and I think she felt special. Just two weeks later she fell and broke her hip...had surgery....didn't recover well and is currently residing in a nursing home and unable to communicate with success.  It saddens me greatly to see her this way.  She has always been such an active participant in her life (riding her exercise bike each day, washing and folding clothes and preparing meals).  I still like to go and sit with her, hold her hand and allow her to talk with me.  I understand little of what she is saying but I know she is in there and understands perfectly.  I love her and I pray that the Lord will shower her with grace, mercy and a peace and take her to be with Himself very soon...just as she desires! Here are just a few pictures from her day.

Time Flies

My Oh My! How time flies! I haven't posted regularly on my blog in a really long time and I do not know if anyone still checks it. For the faithful...here is some posting of what has been happening over the past 6 months are so.

Here are the kids this past Christmas 2010

 M modeling her new hat...

 H showing her personality!

 My sweet, thoughtful and adorable W.

We stayed home for Christmas this year. It was a first for us. We loved having a relaxing Christmas day with the family. It allowed us to truly reflect on the day without all the tinsel and hustle and bustle. We ate breakfast, read the Christmas story, played ...played....and played....ate lunch....watched a movie and played some more... sweet times with our precious babies. I think it will be a new tradition!

 In February, M and Papa went to the annual Daddy daughter banquet.  M always looks forward to this evening with her Papa.  She was especially excited this year.  I thought she looked stunning and made my heart proud and sad to see her so grown up

 She has her Papa wrapped around her finger....

 I love it when she laughs her deep gut laugh....

the banquet...they had a candy table created in the middle and all the girls were able to fill bags full of their favorite sweets.  She had a great time!

Third Day Gets It!

Older Child Adoption

When many people think of an orphanage, I think they often envision babies and toddlers. I used to be one of those people myself. On my many trips to China, however, I began meeting and falling in love with the older children who have grown up in institutions, many who never had any true chance of finding a permanent home. Their faces and stories are in my heart forever now, and sadly many of my memories of these great kids involve tears. Tears from Jenny, who broke down on her 14th birthday when she realized that she had aged out of the adoption system without being chosen. The final realization that she would never know what it meant to have a mom or dad of her own caused her to fall into a deep depression. Tears from Lily, a 17-year-old girl whom I had given my jacket after she admired it. When she refused to accept it initially, I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “But of course you have to take it because you are like family to me.” And it was at that one word, “family,” that this normally stoic young lady broke down and sobbed uncontrollably, as it is the one thing that she longed for.
By far, however, the most emotional moment of my time in China came one night when I was able to meet with a group of older orphaned teens I had watched grow up over a five year period. Every time I would visit their orphanage, I would enjoy getting to know them more. They all seemed so close, such good friends, and they always had smiles for me when I arrived. That night, however, was a night when the kids finally let their guard down. It was a night of real conversation and sharing what it means to grow up as an orphan. Toward the end of the evening we were all in tears. Afterwards, one of the older boys stayed to talk with me privately. I am hesitant to even write of it now as it was such a deeply personal and emotionally raw conversation. I will share, however, that he told me that growing up without a mother or father “hurts more than death.” Children aren’t supposed to raise themselves. They are not supposed to grow up alone, which I know sounds impossible when you are growing up in a crowded orphanage. The reality, though, is that hundreds of thousands of orphaned children feel utterly and completely ALONE. I held this incredible and wonderful teen in my arms as he sobbed about how much he wanted a mom, and I can’t think of it now without great pain.
Why was I given the opportunity to be born into a family who could take care of me, while millions of children are born into situations so sad and filled with hurt that many people don’t even want to hear their stories? I have struggled with that question for years with no answers. But I do know that all of us who have been blessed to know what a family really is should make every effort possible to help those who are orphaned. If not us, then who?
The theme song for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was a song called “You and Me.” It has been sung to me by children in orphanages many times, and it always makes me cry. The words haunt me… especially for the older children who have grown up feeling so alone: “Put your hand in mine. You and me, from one world. We are family.”
How I wish those words were true in every person’s heart. How I wish everyone believed that we need to treat people as family and share our ever shrinking world. What a wonderful place this would be if every adult took the hand of a child in need and didn’t let go. To all of the older orphaned children who have aged out of the possibility of ever finding a family, I send my heartfelt prayers. You are not forgotten. And we will continue doing our very best to help in every way possible.
Amy Eldridge is the Executive Director of Love Without Boundaries.
Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.

Lord help me to move and not be indifferent.