So Blessed

It is Christmas Day and we are celebrating Christ's birth as a family of 5! We have been so blessed by the Lord this past year.

We returned with our daughter from China on December 10th. We had a wonderful trip that we will never forget. The boys say it was their favorite trip - EVER! We wished we could have stayed longer then 2 weeks. We fell in love with China, the people, the culture and most of all with our sweet Eloise HuanFen, who we call Loe.

Loe is such a joy. She is 13 months old and full of energy. She quickly attached to me in China. She fell in love with her brothers and always has a smile and quick snuggle for them. It took a while to figure out who this Daddy-guy was. (Perhaps that bald head and facial hair were a bit too strange!) She was just over 15 lbs when we got her, which made it easier to carry her around and work on bonding. We did discover a few days after we got her that she can walk!

Now that we are home with her she is getting into a good routine. She is now sleeping all night, getting up some nights for one bottle. Sometimes she just needs reassured that we are still here. She takes a good afternoon nap. She takes 3-4 bottles a day and is eating pretty well during mealtimes. She is a typical toddler and eats more some meals then others.

Loe knows who Mom and Dad are. She has been getting to know her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins over the Christmas season. She plays contentedly in a room as long as she knows we are close by. She loves the kitty and is still getting to know the dogs! (A lab & a Dane!)

We are thrilled with our baby girl and feel so blessed to be a part of her life. She is so beautiful that she takes our breath away. Her smile and laugh are contagious and her personality is blossoming into such a fun little girl with a great sense of humor and love for silliness and playtime.

I think I am going to end our journal with this entry now that our adoption journey is complete. Thanks to all who followed along and sent encouraging e-mails during our wait!

If you want to continue to read about what is going on in our family, send me an e-mail and I will give you our new family website address.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Lisa & the fam

collinsacademy at 12:16:48 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

It is the eve before Thanksgiving. We are mostly packed for our trip to China. We leave Saturday afternoon to pick up our baby girl! We have been so busy getting ready. It's amazing all that is involved in preparing for this trip. We made lists, shopped, ran errands, cleaned, did laundry, paperwork, e-mails, phone calls, make plans for care of our home, animals, bills. Prepare for the school/work break. The boys & I will resume school in January. (Though they certainly won't stop learning!!) Trev will get back to work as soon as he can when we get home. But, he will be flexible depending upon our day and how we are all doing. What a blessing!

It is so incredible that we are now this close to our trip. At times it seemed as if it would never really happen. We are all so excited, but also ready to be done with this prep. part and onto the traveling! The boys are THRILLED about the flight! I'm sure they will feel like quite the experienced travelers after this trip. They have books, tapes and cds checked out from the library, a few games and toys packed. They are ready!  We will need to finish up some last minute stuff on Friday and then we will be set. We will meet up with about half of our travel group Saturday evening in LA and fly out to Hong Kong together. The other half will fly out from the east coast together. We will get into Hong Kong at 6:00am on the 29th. We will get Loe on the 30th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to all who have prayed for our adoption journey, for us and for Loe. We know the Lord has honored those prayers and cared for all of our needs. We trust that He will continue to go before us and supply all of our needs. Please pray for a safe, healthy trip for each one of us. Pray for her to make a smooth transition into our family. Pray that we will finish up the last minute details before we leave and that our return would be smooth with little or no jetlag and sleeping problems. We are so glad that we will have a few weeks to rest up and then go out for Christmas parties. God is so good!!! Praise His holy name!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

collinsacademy at 10:25:03 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Yesterday we finalized part one of our itinerary! Basically travel from home to Hong Kong and back. Today we should hear what our flights and times are for our in-China travel.

We've been spending all kinds of time e-mailing with our travel group. That has been fun to get to know them. We will spend 2 weeks sharing one of the most exciting times in our lives together. How amazing.

After spending time figuring out our travel plans, dealing with a mild case of the flu and trying to get some school done. The day was gone! Today I'm feeling better so I hope to accomplish MUCH!

We have our co-op meeting tomorrow. We are studying India so we are all contributing to an authentic Indian meal - yum! The kids will all read the reports they wrote to the group. And then the boys and Trev are going with Grandpa to see the Nuggets play in the evening! Which means a free night for me - yipee!!! Taking advantage of those while I can. But, truthfully I can't wait to have that baby girl glued in my arms and spend all the time we want falling in love with each other.

God continues to be such a very present help each step of our journey. Yesterday became a bit stressful and He flooded us with peace and resolutions. What an awesome God! Please continue to pray for God to provide all we need for our trip as well as bills, Christmas etc when we return! Pray for us to finish preparing for the trip and have some down time next week before we leave. Pray for good health and rest now through our trip and after we return. And for our sweet baby while she waits for us and we wait for her. That God would hold her in His loving arms. Thank you. :)

collinsacademy at 9:41:01 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

We have been given tentative travel dates! We hope to leave on Saturday, Nov. 27 and return on Thursday, Dec. 9th!!! It's hard to believe we will leave two weeks from tomorrow! FINALLY we will have that baby girl in our arms!

We continue to plan and prepare for our trip. Seems there are a thousand details to deal with. But, it's fun to work on the list and feel a step closer each day to Loe.

Last night we went to church - our church has had a service on Thursday nights for the last 7 years or so and as much as possible we choose to go then instead of Sunday. They announced that they would be changing that service to Saturday nights after the holidays are over. A change is always - well, a change! But, Saturdays should work for us most weeks. It's a more relaxed atmosphere and generally much less crowded. So, we'll probably stick with it. After the service was over we stayed around to watch a dress rehearsal of the play some of our church members put on. Oh my - VERY funny!

Tomorrow we will celebrate Trevor, my brother - Curtis & Loe's birthday with our family here in town. The rest of the weekend we will be working on preparing for the trip.

We appreciate continued prayers for God to provide all we need for our trip and our needs while we are gone and when we return. He is so faithful and we are amazed at how He continues to work in our lives. Pray for us to stay focused on what needs to be done (I need this prayer the most!) and that we might be able to be prepared for the trip several days before we leave so we can relax on Thanksgiving and celebrate all we have to be thankful for!

collinsacademy at 1:17:31 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Our agency received our Travel Notices from China today. Now they are working on confirming our appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou and once they have that date - they will plan our trip! We are still hoping to fly out on or around Thanksgiving. One more step closer to Loe!

We have Loe's room almost complete. We still need to put a shade up in her window and get a curtain rod for the curtains we got last weekend. The crib is due to arrive by the end of the week. We will order the changing table either in the next week or perhaps after we return from China. That's about it. She has a closet full of clothes and everything else is ready for her. As Chase put it, "we've got all of this baby stuff around here - now all we need is our baby!" :) We thought of her all day on Monday as it was her first birthday. We prayed for her and for her birth parents. I imagine it was a hard day for them. Lots of mixed emotions around here on that day. But, it's good to think that we will have so many birthdays and holidays to celebrate with Loe in the future!

The boys are really enjoying our Co-op. Last week we started a unit on India. Trevor came and talked to the kids about his missions trip that he took several years ago. This week the boys are having fun working on their India reports. I continue to be thankful that we have this group that adds into our studies this year. The kids have fun together and enjoy learning, and the moms get a chance to help each other and visit.

We are hoping to get most of the rest of our to-do list done by the end of the weekend. If we leave on Thanksgiving Day - that is just two weeks away. We need to start packing soon!

Thanks for all of your prayers and birthday wishes for Loe! Please continue to pray for HPE and many sales to happen as well as commissions to come in. Pray for us to finish getting everything ready for our trip and that we will have travel dates soon and bring our baby home SOON after!

collinsacademy at 11:13:59 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

We have heard that we might fly out on Thanksgiving Day! We are so thrilled to go pick up Loe and experience China - that we don't care where we have our Thanksgiving dinner! That means we could leave in just over 2 weeks. WOW - it's amazing that it's all really happening now. Each day we are feeling a bit closer to being ready.

Saturday we went to two more classes at CCAI that we missed earlier this summer. They were about grieving and attachment. Our social worker taught them and she was great. They were very informative, I even learned a few things I hadn't read about in a book already! Trev really learned a lot since he hasn't been able to read as much as I have this past year. We feel like experienced parents - but we know that having a child through adoption is different and we want to be aware of anything she might go through and be prepared to handle it the best way we can for her.

It was also great to be able to spend time with other waiting parents. They were all so excited to see Loe's pictures and know that soon they will see their daughter's face as well. We were able to meet one of the couples in our travel group. We had lunch with them and enjoyed getting to know them. They are also believers so we started our relationship by praying together! We look forward to some playdates with our daughters in the future!!

Trev & I finished up most of our shopping for Loe over the weekend. We are all set for her - we just need to go pick her up! We still have a list of things to prepare US for the trip. Our house is almost in order. Just a few more areas to work on. I really look forward to coming home and relaxing for a few weeks before Christmas and enjoying a clean house. That way we can just focus on playing with Loe and bonding as a family.

God is incredibly faithful. We are praising His name for all He has done for us this past year. He has provided for all of our needs - financial, physical and emotional. We have been blessed with a beautiful daughter that we are already in love with. Tomorrow is her birthday - so we pray that God would pour over her with His love, joy and peace - and the same for us as we think of her turning 1 in China. We would ask for prayer for continued sales for Trevor until we leave for China. And for commissions to come through quickly on all previous sales. As well as continued wisdom as we plan and prepare for this trip and this amazing life change.

collinsacademy at 11:54:32 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

We received 2 updated photos of Loe today! They were taken 2 weeks ago. She has more hair and is just as cute as ever! She weighs 15 lbs and is 27" tall. She looks so healthy. What a blessing. We were thrilled to see such recent pictures of her. But, are terribly anxious to go get her!

God just continues to pour out His provision and blessings upon us as we prepare for Loe! We would appreciate your continued prayer for sales and commission to come through for Trevor. And that we would be able to finish up our house preparations and shopping so we can start packing!!! We pray that we can leave around Thanksgiving or soon after.

 

collinsacademy at 12:17:54 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

My Mom, sister-in-law and good friend threw a baby shower for us today. Wow - we were so blessed to be able to celebrate our referral with so many friends and family members. I put together a slide show all about our journey to Loe. And a display board telling about Chinese adoption. They made prayer cards with all of our prayer needs listed on it so everyone could take one home and be in prayer for us. Many also wrote out a blessing for Loe to put in her scrapbook. We were given so many fun gifts! GIRL STUFF!!! The boys helped open the gifts and we also had help from the little girls that attended the shower. They seemed to approve of it all - especially the baby dolls.

Last night we spent the evening with a family that brought their daughter home from China last October. We watched some videos of their trip and looked at all of their pictures. They gave us two bags full of clothes their daughter had grown out of. What a gift!!

Now that the shower is over, it is time to get back to work on this house and preparing for our trip. I think tomorrow we'll clean carpets and work on cabinets and drawers. It's going to feel so good to get this house whipped into shape.

Praise God for all the blessings He continues to pour out upon us. He is incredibly faithful. Please pray for us to be able to get much done this coming week to prepare for Loe and our trip. Pray for continued and increased sales for Trevor. Pray that the boys and I will be able to continue to get school done in and around all of the baby preparations. We are so thankful that the boys are home with us and such a HUGE part of this adoption process and will be able to be with Loe all day every day when we bring her home. We are praying for God to bless their relationships with His amazing love.

collinsacademy at 11:41:05 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

We were given the opportunity to go see President Bush this morning! Wow - what a fun experience and such a great memory for the boys. It made for a long morning of being on our feet the whole time - but well worth it. What a privilege we have in this country. The freedom to vote for our leader. The freedom to assemble together, whether it's for politics, church or our homeschool group. We are blessed to live in a country that allows these freedoms and we pray that our children will be able to grow up and enjoy the same freedom.

We are still awestruck with the pictures of our precious new daughter/sister. I realized this morning while driving home that I don't have that constant longing to take out her picture and look at it - because her image is burned upon my heart and mind! I now long to hear her voice. To kiss her sweet round cheeks. To watch her smile. But, at the same time it is almost harder to now know who she is and think of her in the orphanage. - going to sleep everynight without being rocked and snuggled. No goodnight kiss or blessing. And seeing the other babies in her orphanage pictures breaks my heart. I stare at them and wonder if they will find a forever family.

We worked on some housecleaning and childproofing over the weekend. Still a lot on that list - but it's getting done bit by bit. We sent her care package to her at the orphanage last week. We included a bear (the boys made at Build-a-Bear), an blanket with her Chinese name embroidered onto it, a toy, some socks, a little album with pictures of her and of us in it and a disposable camera. Hopefully the nannies will use it to take pictures of Loe before we come get her and the orphanage and other babies as well. We also put together a package for the other babies and the nannies. Hopefully they will receive those this week.

We have heard a rumor that we might head to China on Thanksgiving weekend. Nothing confirmed yet - but that would be wonderful!! We were praying to leave by the end of November!!

Please pray for God's will to be accomplished in this election. Pray for health in our family (we are fighting colds).  And continued prayer for more sales and for commissions to come through quickly. That God will meet all of our needs in the coming weeks and months. Thank you. God bless!

collinsacademy at 1:45:24 PM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

My sister-in-law has helped us paint our nursery for Loe and repaint our half wall and shelf area in the livingroom. Loe's room is going to turn out SO cute!! It has a light spring colored green on the bottom of half of the walls, a white chair rail dividing the top from the bottom. And the top half is several layers of very transluscent yellow. SO pretty!! We will accent with pink and a bit of purple. Loe inherited Grandma Eloise's bedroom furiture. Kristen also stripped those down and repainted them white with cute little pink flowers on the knobs!!

Our livingroom walls now have a tan suede look to them - very cool!

Trev & I cleaned all the windows, screens and window sills over the weekend. Whew - what a long, yucky job!! But, it's done for another season (or year!). We still have much to do on our list before we go to China.

We sent Loe's blanket & teddybear shirt off to have her Chinese name embroidered onto them. When that is done we will put her orphanage package together and send it off to her!

Tonight my local adoption group rejoiced with me about our referral! What a blessing this group has been. We have just spent the last few times chatting about what is going on in our lives sometimes regarding adoption and sometimes just life and parenting in general. We are about to start a new book that we will discuss together.

We all keep on staring at Loe's photos!!! Wow - we just couldn't be more in love with a baby girl then this! Can we go to China yet??!!

We are SO excited for our trip. Praise God, the boys received their passports! We are getting work done in the nursery. Please pray that we will continue to get lots done as we wait for our travel dates and group confirmation. Please pray for God to pour out provision regarding finances. And please pray for Loe - that God would bless her heart with overflowing joy!

collinsacademy at 12:07:31 AM MDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own