Journey: Baylor Homecoming

One thing that we were looking forward most was taking David to Baylor Homecoming. Side note ~ Sic 'Em Bears, #6 in the country!!!! We did not plan for David to be sick and running a fever on Friday. Poor David was feeling pretty bad on Friday thanks to a virus. By Saturday morning his fever was gone and he was jumping around-literally- so we decided to head to the parade. David loved looking at the floats ad the fire truck. It was a cool morning and he was very glad to wear his Baylor hoodie :)

Hanging out in the Tri Delta room after breakfast.

I Love Baylor!!!

Steve and I were able to get 2 tickets for the game so David enjoyed some time with his GiGi and Papa! We hope next year he'll feel up to some more festivities. He'll definitely be getting some more Baylor experiences with his first bowl game coming up... who knows where Baylor is going to play but wherever they are we'll be there! When we wear our Baylor gear now David always makes sure to do a "Sic 'Em", we've taught him right!!

Journey: A Garden Fair

I'm a little (or a lot) behind on the blog but I'm determined to get caught up!! We've had a lot of fall fun!!
A couple of weekend ago we went to a local children's garden fair. We had a fun time and David got to do a lot of neat things. We're so glad Cheryl and Hannah invited us!! The Master Gardner's had a lot of activities that David and Hannah enjoyed!

Giving his new plant a "drink"

A second pet~ a pet rock!

this plant grows via a soda can

love that smile!

he likes hats and Hannah!

Precious, Precious!

Yay for a fun Fall afternoon!!

Journey: HOT Fair

He's a Texas boy!

What a FUN fall weekend! It's starting to feel like fall in Waco with a cool front so we celebrated with a trip to the fair- a perfect fall event! Last year, when we visited the Heart of Texas fair, we could only imagine what fun it would be to visit as a family.
We went late afternoon while a lot of people were headed to the BU game. We stopped by the petting zoo first. David wasn't really sure about the goats and it took awhile before he would touch one. He liked the sheep though. We then headed to the rides. He loved riding the rides!!! I think I got some good pictures! After riding all the rides he was tall enough for it was time to enjoy a corn dog. You can't go to the fair in Texas without eating a corny dog!! David loved it- as did his mom and dad. We then headed to the stables to check out some more animals. By the end of the evening David was making lots of farm animal sounds. We ended the evening with another fair favorite- funnel cake. David is starting to like sweet stuff and the funnel cake was a hit.

Loving the corny dog!!

We look forward to some more fall events including a visit to the pumpkin patch and Halloween. We are also looking forward to some more football games- I LOVE Fall!!!!



A boy and a deer

This is how he was most of the time during our petting zoo visit.

Oh, that face! I love him so much!!

Journey: 1 Year Ago today... (it's long and wordy :)

My, oh my how in one year can your life change in so many amazing ways!!! It was one year ago today, October 3, 2012 that I got a call that would change our family forever. We are so very thankful for our family and friends who had been praying for us and our adoption for so many years. After waiting for more than 4 years I was getting to the point where I was beginning to wonder... would I ever be a mom, would be ever get to go to China, was there a child out there waiting on us? God answered me in a BIG way and how blessed we are!!

I am so thankful for my mom and sister. My sister knew the road we were traveling down having adopted Hannah in 2003. She was always encouraging me to remain positive and seek God and His timing. My mom would ask those questions that I didn't want anyone to ask, moms get to do that :) Thanks to both of them we worked on getting our paperwork in order to seek a child from the Waiting Child list. For years my mom and sister had suggested I look into the list and for some reason, a reason only He knows, I hesitated and waited.  I understand more now that God's timing is perfect even when I can't understand it!

Fall was in the air and Steve and I had spent many days looking over list and working on getting the paperwork to our agency. From financial records to doctor visits we were ready to get things moving! We had prayed about the checklist and for the child that God would bring into our lives. We prayed that we would be the best parents for that child and that we would be ready to be a family and that we would be prepared for whatever medical condition the child faced. On Tuesday night (10-2-12) I finally submitted the paperwork to our agency. What relief I felt, we were finally moving forward!! Steve and I talked that night about how long we thought it would be before we got a referral from the agency. I was hoping within 6 months, God had other plans!

The next day I can home a little early from school thanks to an early release day. Since we had spent several nights up late working on the checklist I was exhausted, a nap was in order! I had no sooner sat on the couch when the phone rang. Sure enough it was our agency. They had some questions about our checklist and what plans we were already making for our child, lots of general questions. After about 10 mins. I was off the phone and ready to rest. I dozed a little and then the phone rang again. Honestly, I was very tempted not to answer it but I am thankful I did. This time it was another person from our agency. She said the words I thought we might never hear, "we have a referral for you." What?!? Less than 24 hours later the agency had already matched us with a child? I thought it was too good to be true. I shook myself awake and started taking notes about the child. I learned that it was a boy, a boy, wow!!!- we had checked either gender- that he had a heart condition and that he was from a province I had never heard of. Then she told me his birthday, August 2nd and I knew a God-incidence had happened as August 2nd was our wedding anniversary. She then said she had some pictures and asked if I wanted to see them and read his file- Yes and Yes! She gave me a warning though, that he was awfully cute, and she was so right!!! I got some details of what we needed to do and hung up.

I was in shock! I pulled myself together and called Steve. He was on his way from Baylor to teach at MCC for the evening. I told him I had some very important news and that as soon as he got to his computer he needed to call me. I forwarded the email I got from the agency so we could look at it together. So, we were on the phone with each other when we learned his name and saw his face. Oh My Word!! My heart was leaping in my chest. We read through the medical jargon as best we could and talked about what we needed to do. We prayed together and for our family, which in my heart had just grown by 2 little feet. Before hanging up Steve asked, "how am I supposed to go teach now?" :) I called my mom, of course, gave her all the information I knew and asked her to pray for our decision. Then it was off to GAs. I downloaded David's picture onto my ipad and when my sister came in I told her I had a big surprise. I showed her his picture and we cried together for this precious little boy who was on the other side of the world. We did manage to make it through GAs and teach something that night.

Our letter of intent, to officially adopt Xin Zheng Yuan, was off to our agency within a few days. The hardest part was I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. I blew that within the few days but I knew I had prayer warriors around me. 6 1/2 months later we were in China meeting our son for the first time!! As David hugged and kissed me goodnight tonight I had tears of joy for the life that God brought to us. For the family that He has provided. For the desire that He put in our hearts many years ago to adopt. What a Mighty God we serve!!

Journey: pictures

No fun news to share but I do have some cute pictures of my boy! We enjoyed a fun Saturday at the zoo yesterday. He was much more interested in the animals this time which was fun to experience.

Grandparents Day!

Cousin Time!



My awesome co-workers! Our boys are very close in age which is so fun!!

These boys know how to have fun!

Friends at lunch!

Journey: 5 months

Today we celebrate being with our boy for 5 months. Life is wonderful and busy! David has been in school for a month now and LOVES it. He missed some days this week due to being sick :( and he was sad. He did get to stay with GiGi and Papa which made for a couple of fun days.
David has discovered cars and trucks and loves pointing them out to us on our drives around town. His favorite book right now is one about Rescue Vehicles. We read it each night along with a few others. He still enjoys Daniel Tiger and now really enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We thing that's what he'll probably be dressed as for Halloween. He also loves animals and making the animal sounds.
We had some special visitors from the south last weekend. My cousins, David and Al, came to Texas for the A&M vs. Bama game. They are both HUGE Bama fans and my dad is an Aggie which made for some fun ribbing. I hadn't seen Al since my wedding, 10 years ago! It was so fun to have them in town!
We are excited about fall weather getting closer and closer. David loves being outside so we are looking forward to days we can be outside without sweating so much :)

How cute are these boys?!? David and his friend, Brock!

Journey: new routine

He did better than Mommy did with the transition!

Last year at this time Steve and I were going back to jobs after an awesome summer of travel and kitchen updates. We didn't even know about David- how weird is that! I had the adoption paperwork out and had looked at it but hadn't made that next step in sending in our Waiting Child checklist. How a year can just fly by! This year we've had our first week of school and are figuring out our new schedule. This year we are loving every moment we have with our precious son. This year I will spend much less time at work and much more time playing blocks, cars and ball with my son! So excited that THIS YEAR is finally here!!

CUTIE PIE!!

The great news is that David loves school! He's had no problem during drop-off and he is all smiles when we pick him up in the afternoon. Steve is doing all the dropping of and picking up due to his more flexible schedule and being so close to school. There will be a few days when I get to pick him up and I look forward to those days! David has enjoyed playing with new friends and playing with new toys at school. He really likes to put on his backpack in the mornings- he's so darn cute!! His language continues to expand and I think school will really help with that. His newest "I'm so cute" thing is that at prayer time he will bow his head and close his eyes. He tends to close them really tight and usually has a huge smile on his face. Oh My Word he is precious!!!
Steve is teaching 5 classes this fall at Baylor and not teaching nights at MCC- thank goodness! He had a great first week with over 200 students. I've started my 10th year as counselor at Cedar Ridge. We have a population of about 650 this year. I've have a new scheduling duty this year which has taken up most of my time the past two weeks but I should start teaching next week. Steve and I are so blessed to love what we do and be surrounded by great co-workers!!


Ready to cheer on the bears!

Yesterday we enjoyed taking David to his first Baylor football game. It was HOT! I mean really, really HOT! We got there early to visit a friend's tailgate and see the band. By the time we made it into the stands we were all worn out. David did okay but wasn't really interested in the game. He yelled some and enjoyed swinging the pom-pom around. We've been working on teaching him "sic 'em bears" this week so we had fun with that at the game. We left during the first half and I was glad to get into the ac filled car! It was a fun first game. I think we'll wait till it cools off before we go to another one. Better yet I am already looking forward to basketball season- indoors and shorter :)







Sic 'Em Bears!!