November Updates

I can feel the busyness of the season already filling our home!

We had an amazing weekend of inspiration at the Show Hope dinner and then at our church. John and I discussed how blessed we feel to be a part of the adoption community. Such wonderful families and amazing kids! The plight of the orphan is so big but we celebrate that our God is bigger! One thing I heard from the president of Compassion International, Wess Stafford that has stayed with me is him saying to Believers....you might not be called to ADOPT but you are called to ADAPT. He discussed adapting our finances, our priorities, our churches, our missions to help the orphans. He also stated this is not an option for Christians....this is not an area you can say "that's just not my thing." I also agree with him as he talked about being so close to the heart of God when working in orphan ministry. Its so true! As I've watched others adopt....even years ago, as I've spent time in an orphanage, and even as we've experienced our adoption of Elizabeth. Truly....its such a blessing to be a part of the lives whom God holds so close to His heart.....the orphan. Its simply the gospel. We were all spiritual orphans whom God adopted into his Forever family. 

So on Sunday, our church acknowledge Adoption month and Orphan Sunday. We decided to celebrate our families multiculturalism and the kids wore some of their Chinese clothes. 

Tonight we prepared our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. The kids were really excited about doing this. So they packed their boxes with socks, candy, matchbox cars, colored pencils, watches, lollipops and several other things. Its amazing what you can fit into a shoebox! We also included a note with a photo of the kids. Langley added a note to her box and I thought it really captures the heart of Christmas. She is a neat kid. This is what her note says:

Dear Friend. I hope you like the gift I'm giving you. I am 9 almost 10. My name is Langley. Jesus loves you very much. He never forgets you. I love you. Now you know someone cares for you and always will. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. God Bless Everyone!

Also today is Veteran's Day and I'm very proud that both my father and my father in law served in Vietnam. At Mac's school they do a wonderful Veteran's Day program. Mac and "Pop" (my Dad) went up on the stage and Mac introduced his hero to the whole school. He practiced several times yesterday how to say "Veee uht nahm". He really did a great job. I was so proud of both my Dad and Mac.

Finally some news about Elizabeth! We got her physical therapy officially started and I'm very excited to see how she progresses with our new PT. We are looking at splinting her hand so that we get her contractures less severe. Our PT is very creative and eager to work with Elizabeth. I'm so thankful to have someone so skilled working with us.

We also did an initially consultation with a pediatric orthopedist who referred us to a hand specialist who we also see this week. The exciting news is that the doctor thinks Elizabeth does have some muscles "firing" in her arm! So there is a possibility that surgery could benefit her. We have many more conversations and testing to go through but it feels really great to know we MIGHT be able to offer her some improvement through surgery!

Here are a few more photos.

Elizabeth fell asleep in her high chair one day...chasing her older siblings is very tiring! : )

Also....had to get in Daddy's alma mater....here is our Vandy cheerleader!

And some cool shots of my big kids playing soccer. I LOVE to watch my kids play their sports....so fun!