She is doing wonderfully!! It has been simply amazing watching the transformation of this beautiful little girl. To God be the Glory!! This is what prayers, adoption, love and a family can accomplish!!
Check this out!!!
Take a peek at my life in the country. Meet my best friend( my husband ), my 3 wonderful sons and my precious daughter.Share with me the moments that are special and the difficult ones as well.. As the song goes,"The view I like the best is my front porch looking in!"
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
"Heart" felt prayers please
I have been following three blogs of little girls from China with serious heart disease. Annie,
here has been a bloggy friend for a few years. Her daughter Katie Grace has been discharged today PTL!!! While following their blog I found a link to another precious girl Ivy. I was awed by this little girl, her family, and their Faith. Please pray for sweet Ivy as she recovers from her very serious operation. And remember , in China, she was deemed unadoptable and inoperable here
And another sweet girl is waiting for a heart transplant. here Rachel also was brought home from China, her new family not knowing if her broken heart could be fixed! All three Moms have written wonderful posts abut what is really important this weekend. Please stop by all three places( you will be glad you did ) and keep all three families in your prayers!! I absolutely can not write a better Easter post!!
here has been a bloggy friend for a few years. Her daughter Katie Grace has been discharged today PTL!!! While following their blog I found a link to another precious girl Ivy. I was awed by this little girl, her family, and their Faith. Please pray for sweet Ivy as she recovers from her very serious operation. And remember , in China, she was deemed unadoptable and inoperable here
And another sweet girl is waiting for a heart transplant. here Rachel also was brought home from China, her new family not knowing if her broken heart could be fixed! All three Moms have written wonderful posts abut what is really important this weekend. Please stop by all three places( you will be glad you did ) and keep all three families in your prayers!! I absolutely can not write a better Easter post!!
Friday, April 6, 2012
I have wanted to post but I wanted as many people as possible to read about Spencer and the important message his Mom wanted to share. So...if you have not done so...please read the post below!!!!
We have been busy here. I haven't posted this but we are moving...less than a mile down the road...into the house that Scott grew up in. It will be a good move for us, but there is a lot to do before that happens. There is 40 years of stuff in the house we are moving into and about 10 years of stuff in our house we are moving out of. It makes for a lot of stuff. But its good timing as I have been wanting to get rid of more stuff in our lives. The things and junk we really don't need. We are doing some remodeling in the "new" house...the kitchen, turning the garage into a den/guest room, making the laundry room a little larger and adding a mud room. We are in no hurry ( at least that is what Scott keeps saying) so we are taking our time. The kitchen is done as of this week when they put the counter tops on!! I will hate leaving behind so many precious memories and things like the bluestone walkway and wall my son David made for me when he was 16. I cry every time I look at it. But we will make new memories and Scott is so excited to be back at the house!
Our dear friends Jill and Steve moved to Maine in December. They have 3 wonderful children. Izzy, their youngest was adopted from China in 2010. We have missed them terribly. But...they came for a visit in March AND last weekend e took a long weekend and went to visit them. It was awesome. I love Maine...I always feel like i am going back home when I visit...although I have never lived there. If I could retire and have a place there I would be sooo happy!! We love spending time with this family and had so much fun!!
We have been on spring break. I have really loved the weather...cool and sunny. Ticks are a problem this year. I found one crawling on Sierra the other day and then found one embedded in my neck the next. Many around here have been diagnosed with Lyme disease and I am on a preventive dose of antibiotics. as I won't give up waling we must be more diligent in checking each other!!
david has been busy going to college at the community college three days a week and then working the other two. He loves to keep busy though and that is a good thing!!
We are looking forward to two camping trips this summer. Gas is so expensive and since we are pulling the camper...we will only be going about two hours away....once to Pennsylvania and once to Corinth NY. But we love both places and Sierra and I will be kayaking on the lakes!!
Sierra is loving kindergarten and is a sponge for learning. Thank goodness for the internet as I can not always answer all of her many, MANY questions!! She is a blessing to our family and also to all who meet her. Just the other day I was telling her we needed to go through her toys and weed out what she doesn't need. I told her we were having a yard sale and she could sell her toys and keep the money for something special She said. "No Mommy, I want to send the money to China so they can build a hospital where kids can go and not have to pay. We have been following some blogs of newly adopted children from China who have undergone serious heart surgeries. I was so proud of her!!
I hope to be a better blogger. I get so caught u pin reading others. If you stop by to visit please leave a comment. I'd love to know who you are!!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Please, PLEASE read!!
Spencer was 21. He had played on my son's Little League team years ago and more recently on his football team. Ironically I ran in to him while he was home for Christmas break. He was full of excitement about college, becoming a doctor and his upcoming internship. I smiled as he walked away and thought...good...Spencer is doing great!
Then last week we heard the horrible news that Spencer had taken his own life. Anytime I hear of a suicide..I wonder... why?? what happened...what were they thinking? My son David kept asking me if I had heard anything...his 20 year old mind trying to come to terms with it all. And then...in yesterday's paper...his mothers words...Spencer's story. It needs to be told...people need to hear it. If you have teenagers or college students..read it. If you work with children..read it. If you are a parent ..read it. Spencer's Mom's bravery during this painful time is admirable. Here is what she wrote:
Spencer- The Details: My beautiful son, Spencer , took his own life in his fraternity room at Penn State, State College, Pa. early in the morning of Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. He was 21 years old. Spencer is survived by his brother, Taylor, his mother Celia, his father Herbert, and his grandmother, Genie . Friends and relatives may visit at the funeral home from 2 to 4 p.m.; a Celebration of Life Service will begin there at 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Spencer's name to www.benspeaks.org, an organization founded by my in-laws to help prevent teen suicide. The Story: Spencer loved to be always moving. As a baby, he could be held close only in sleep. As soon as he could stand, he was jumping. As soon as he could walk, he was running. Once, when we were in New York City's Central Park, we came upon a ring of people listening to the haunting Peruvian flutes. Spencer, who was two, ran into the empty space and began to dance. He turned round and round, he jumped, he rolled on the ground and came up waving his arms. Spencer loved to dance and later even studied dance in New Paltz. But he gave up dance for baseball, the more manly sport. Later it was lacrosse and football. Spencer, like all boys in our society, began looking for ways to be a man - as if being himself were not enough. I remember the rage and frustration he felt in Little League when he struck out; the unbearable self-hatred. My unending gratitude to Frank C, a coach who saw something special in Spencer and helped Spencer develop what he could be good at - his speed. Spencer was always fast. It seems early on Spencer felt he was not good enough. I don't know why, but I do know it is something many young people feel today. How much teen and youth suicide do we have to endure? In 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. There is despair among the young of our society that springs from a misapprehension of what it means to be human. Every human needs to feel special, to feel that he or she belongs as a valued member, to feel appreciated and honored by others. But so many of us don't. In our huge anonymous schools and conformist youth culture, in our adult world of fame and wealth, social climbing and cool, competition and winning seem to be the only means of finding what we need. We have lost our way. Love and tolerance is the way - the antithesis of teenage culture. As adults, we preach love and tolerance at school, then fail to lead by example. In business, in sports, in entertainment, in personal relationships and in the media ... how often do adults place people before profit, a helping hand before blame, caring ahead of winning, others ahead of self? Spencer's true nature was one of extreme sensitivity. He was easily and deeply wounded; he cried when others were cruel. When Spencer was in sixth grade, he told me he thought he should see a doctor because at times, "water" came out of his eyes. Of course, he was not crying; that was not manly. But Spencer was very smart, resourceful, ambitious and determined. As he grew, he built a new and tougher personality: a personality of cool, of fun, of hard work and goals. He built stubborn walls to protect that fragile self. He constructed a defensive, brittle confidence. He made friends; he gave parties; he got drunk; he achieved Eagle Scout; he drove fast. What Spencer really wanted, more than anything else, was closeness. He wanted to be a doctor so he could help others; he was an EMT. How ironic; how typical: His own walls and drive to be the best kept him apart from the closeness he craved. Ever determined, he worked hard on understanding what he was doing wrong, how he could be a better person, a better friend. And I think he was really beginning to get it. Drinking sabotaged all that: seductive, deadly alcohol. The drug that brings down the walls and helps us feel close - as long as we're drunk. The drug that circles back and rakes out your heart. The afternoon before Spencer died, he called me between classes. He was thrilled and excited about a lecture he'd just heard about nanotechnology and medicine. "This is the future," he said. "This is what's going to pull our country out of recession." Spencer had just won an internship for the summer. He was planning on applying to a med school that emphasized the special relationship between doctor and patient. He was excited about his future. That night, Spencer got very, very drunk. Binge drinking at college has been a regular thing since freshman year. Why didn't he get the proper help? Thursday night was one of those binge nights at the frat. He had a fight with his best friend. He said he was going to kill himself. He locked his door and did it. He did not leave a note. He did not look for help. Alcohol brought down those prefabricated walls, and all that was left was thoughtless pain. It was stupid and impulsive and he would not have done this thing if he had not been drunk. Spencer had plans and goals and family that loved him. He knew this. We talked about it -Spencer said he would never do such a thing. But he did. Because of alcohol. The drunken impulse in a moment of despair that can never be taken back. Kids drink this way because they need to escape their own false personalities. They strive to be the best, to be cool, to be popular and successful. Underneath, it's all about the same old human needs: to feel valued, to feel important and special, to belong, to be loved. Lectures and platitudes to the young will never change their society. We must all be the agents of change. Our society, as it gets bigger and more global, must evolve just as our species has evolved. Each of us, at work in the office, at home, in the post office, at the grocery store and in the government, must honor and value each person we encounter. How would your day be if, instead of trying to be right, you were trying to help? In the media, we must pay homage to the ordinary hero: not the superstar, but the man who goes to work and loves his kids, the person of integrity who has the courage of his convictions. The culture of children in huge schools should not be left to run amok with misguided values, churning out young men and women who believe that social status is the measure of their worth. It is more than destructive; it is brutal, a de-evolution of humanity. Now Spencer, finally, is at rest, and I hold him close within me. Please hold him close, as I do, in your mind and your spirit. Remember the meaning of this tragedy. If a young man or woman says maybe I'll kill myself, tell someone. Don't leave him alone. If a young man or woman drinks too much, say something. It's not a game; it's a symptom. And let us find and encourage within ourselves, within our society, those gifts that make each of us special: not star power, not intellectual prowess, but the ineffable mystery and extraordinary beauty of the simple human heart.
Then last week we heard the horrible news that Spencer had taken his own life. Anytime I hear of a suicide..I wonder... why?? what happened...what were they thinking? My son David kept asking me if I had heard anything...his 20 year old mind trying to come to terms with it all. And then...in yesterday's paper...his mothers words...Spencer's story. It needs to be told...people need to hear it. If you have teenagers or college students..read it. If you work with children..read it. If you are a parent ..read it. Spencer's Mom's bravery during this painful time is admirable. Here is what she wrote:
Spencer- The Details: My beautiful son, Spencer , took his own life in his fraternity room at Penn State, State College, Pa. early in the morning of Friday, Feb. 17, 2012. He was 21 years old. Spencer is survived by his brother, Taylor, his mother Celia, his father Herbert, and his grandmother, Genie . Friends and relatives may visit at the funeral home from 2 to 4 p.m.; a Celebration of Life Service will begin there at 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Spencer's name to www.benspeaks.org, an organization founded by my in-laws to help prevent teen suicide. The Story: Spencer loved to be always moving. As a baby, he could be held close only in sleep. As soon as he could stand, he was jumping. As soon as he could walk, he was running. Once, when we were in New York City's Central Park, we came upon a ring of people listening to the haunting Peruvian flutes. Spencer, who was two, ran into the empty space and began to dance. He turned round and round, he jumped, he rolled on the ground and came up waving his arms. Spencer loved to dance and later even studied dance in New Paltz. But he gave up dance for baseball, the more manly sport. Later it was lacrosse and football. Spencer, like all boys in our society, began looking for ways to be a man - as if being himself were not enough. I remember the rage and frustration he felt in Little League when he struck out; the unbearable self-hatred. My unending gratitude to Frank C, a coach who saw something special in Spencer and helped Spencer develop what he could be good at - his speed. Spencer was always fast. It seems early on Spencer felt he was not good enough. I don't know why, but I do know it is something many young people feel today. How much teen and youth suicide do we have to endure? In 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. There is despair among the young of our society that springs from a misapprehension of what it means to be human. Every human needs to feel special, to feel that he or she belongs as a valued member, to feel appreciated and honored by others. But so many of us don't. In our huge anonymous schools and conformist youth culture, in our adult world of fame and wealth, social climbing and cool, competition and winning seem to be the only means of finding what we need. We have lost our way. Love and tolerance is the way - the antithesis of teenage culture. As adults, we preach love and tolerance at school, then fail to lead by example. In business, in sports, in entertainment, in personal relationships and in the media ... how often do adults place people before profit, a helping hand before blame, caring ahead of winning, others ahead of self? Spencer's true nature was one of extreme sensitivity. He was easily and deeply wounded; he cried when others were cruel. When Spencer was in sixth grade, he told me he thought he should see a doctor because at times, "water" came out of his eyes. Of course, he was not crying; that was not manly. But Spencer was very smart, resourceful, ambitious and determined. As he grew, he built a new and tougher personality: a personality of cool, of fun, of hard work and goals. He built stubborn walls to protect that fragile self. He constructed a defensive, brittle confidence. He made friends; he gave parties; he got drunk; he achieved Eagle Scout; he drove fast. What Spencer really wanted, more than anything else, was closeness. He wanted to be a doctor so he could help others; he was an EMT. How ironic; how typical: His own walls and drive to be the best kept him apart from the closeness he craved. Ever determined, he worked hard on understanding what he was doing wrong, how he could be a better person, a better friend. And I think he was really beginning to get it. Drinking sabotaged all that: seductive, deadly alcohol. The drug that brings down the walls and helps us feel close - as long as we're drunk. The drug that circles back and rakes out your heart. The afternoon before Spencer died, he called me between classes. He was thrilled and excited about a lecture he'd just heard about nanotechnology and medicine. "This is the future," he said. "This is what's going to pull our country out of recession." Spencer had just won an internship for the summer. He was planning on applying to a med school that emphasized the special relationship between doctor and patient. He was excited about his future. That night, Spencer got very, very drunk. Binge drinking at college has been a regular thing since freshman year. Why didn't he get the proper help? Thursday night was one of those binge nights at the frat. He had a fight with his best friend. He said he was going to kill himself. He locked his door and did it. He did not leave a note. He did not look for help. Alcohol brought down those prefabricated walls, and all that was left was thoughtless pain. It was stupid and impulsive and he would not have done this thing if he had not been drunk. Spencer had plans and goals and family that loved him. He knew this. We talked about it -Spencer said he would never do such a thing. But he did. Because of alcohol. The drunken impulse in a moment of despair that can never be taken back. Kids drink this way because they need to escape their own false personalities. They strive to be the best, to be cool, to be popular and successful. Underneath, it's all about the same old human needs: to feel valued, to feel important and special, to belong, to be loved. Lectures and platitudes to the young will never change their society. We must all be the agents of change. Our society, as it gets bigger and more global, must evolve just as our species has evolved. Each of us, at work in the office, at home, in the post office, at the grocery store and in the government, must honor and value each person we encounter. How would your day be if, instead of trying to be right, you were trying to help? In the media, we must pay homage to the ordinary hero: not the superstar, but the man who goes to work and loves his kids, the person of integrity who has the courage of his convictions. The culture of children in huge schools should not be left to run amok with misguided values, churning out young men and women who believe that social status is the measure of their worth. It is more than destructive; it is brutal, a de-evolution of humanity. Now Spencer, finally, is at rest, and I hold him close within me. Please hold him close, as I do, in your mind and your spirit. Remember the meaning of this tragedy. If a young man or woman says maybe I'll kill myself, tell someone. Don't leave him alone. If a young man or woman drinks too much, say something. It's not a game; it's a symptom. And let us find and encourage within ourselves, within our society, those gifts that make each of us special: not star power, not intellectual prowess, but the ineffable mystery and extraordinary beauty of the simple human heart.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Love Black and White Photos!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Some more catching up!!!
Right after New Years Day begins a very joyous time for our family. On January 8th 2009 my husband, my 17 year old son (at the time), and I, embarked on our journey to China. Every year we remember the trip of our lifetimes, the one that led us to our daughter. On Jan. 12th the 4 of us celebrate that wonderful day when we first met. This year we went to Engs ( a local Chinese Restaurant). Shortly after is Sierra's birthday which happens to be the day we left China and arrived home. It is the day the rest of the family welcomed home Sierra. This year as an added bonus Sierra's birthday was also Chinese New Year!!! Since we have a celebration every year for Chinese New Year...we combined the party and had a CNY and Sierra's 6th ( still can't believe she is 6!!!) birthday. It was fabulous and everyone had a great time. Oh and it was football play off time and two of my sons had their teams playing. Here are some pi ctures of our celebraion!!!
A very special panda umbrella!
Love it...all of us together!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Because He Lives.....!!
Christ's Church Shamian Island Guangzhou, China
This past week has been full of memories and emotions as we celebrated the three year anniversary of meeting Sierra in China. I love this time as we pour over our more than one thousand pictures and watch the many videos we took. One of my favorite memories is the Sunday morning church service we attended on Shamian Island. I was moved to tears many times that day as we witnessed the fact that the love of Christ is alive and abundant in China. The service was an English speaking one...attended two by both local Chinese and many adoptive families. The hymns were divided, two sung in Chinese....two sung in English. One of the hymns we sang that day in English...was "Because He Lives". I had always liked it and much emotion overtook me as I stood there with my new daughter singing about how she "will be able to face uncertain days..because he lives!!"
As Sierra and I watched some videos this past week...we came across the video I took in the church as we were all singing that hymn. It brought back all the feelings and emotions and I have been singing in my head for days. This morning I woke up and again...the words were there..."because he lives...I can face tomorrow!" Sierra and I got ready and drove to our church. We helped our friend set home for our food and fellowship time after the service. We walked up the stairs...sat in our pew and waited. I opened my bulletin, looked it over and ....gasped out loud. There ...listed towards the end of the service...the last hymn were going to sing...today...exactly three years from the day we sat in that small church in China...were the words...."BECAUSE HE LIVES!!"
I turned to my friend and showed her and quickly told her the meaning. I sat there for a few more minutes and realized I had to share this. I raised my hand and waited for the pastor to notice. He stopped and nodded towards me. I explained about being in that church three years ago...I mentioned how not too long ago sitting in a Christian church in China would not have happened...I told them about how exactly three years ago today, we had sat in that church in China and sang "Because He Lives" ...the same hymn that was listed in our bulletin today. Only God!!! Needless to say when it came time to sing...already my eyes were tearing up. At the first chorus I was unable to sing. The tears rolled down my face and my friend handed me a tissue. How was it that this hymn found its way into our bulletin today...of all days??
No one asked me "Kathie what hymn should we sing today??" But God knew........he was with us that day in a small church in China and he was reminding me...... that he still is with us today!! Its moments like this that I am so happy I have a blog so I can write about these moments in my life and
share with you all!!
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