Fall is Coming to Virginia!

The maple tree in our yard. It is the only tree that has started turning.
Pretty Melissa with her pretty baby girl.

What a beautiful baby and she is MY granddaughter!

Daddy with his little baby - she looks so little in his arms.

Shane enjoying a ride on an outing with his grandparents.

Abigail after taking a shower. She enjoys "looking like mama" and putting on her head towel.

What a good brusher she is!

"Lo, children are an heritage of the lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward". Psalms 127:3

Where has September gone????? There is never a dull moment in our lives and we are blessed! Shane continues to enjoy school very much and his teacher tells us that he is a very good student and well-mannered. We are pleased since we know the "real" Shane and how active he can be. He loves to learn so he soaks up all the teaching that he can. His teacher has confirmed that he is left-handed. I suspected it as he constantly switches hands when writing and the doctor said that left-handers are usually later declaring which hand they will write with. I am left-handed so I am pleased that one of my 4 children are left-handed also! Abigail and I continue to enjoy spending my days off together. I am not sure I can adequately express our relationship and how much it has grown. I just love having a little girl! We had our post-placement visit on September 14th. It is hard to believe that she has been with us for almost 6 months now.

The EXCITING news for this week is that we are going to Boise on October 20th! This time will travel as a family with the exception of Jeremy. John will meet his granddaughter for the first time and I have no doubt that he will instantly fall in love with her. John Anthony will meet his baby sister for the first time so what an exciting visit we should have. The only downside is that Jeremy can't go with us. We were hoping that he could and I was so looking forward to having my 4 children together in the same place at the same time. I will continue to hope and pray that John and his family can come home around the holidays and we can all be together.

Susie had surgery this week so Sharon and I are sharing keeping her 4 children with us. 3 of them spent the night with me last night and the 4 of them spent Wednesday night with Sharon. Our house is really busy today with kids and visit from my father. I have to run as housework is calling!

Luci Video, Birthday Celebration, etc.

The birthday girls at their outdoor birthday celebration
Shane and Abigail enjoying the beautiful fall like weather.

Lorene, Savannah & Isaiah at the birthday celebration

Susie enjoying reading her cards, along with Savannah & Isaiah

John with Smokey on a hike that we took while in Boise

The view of Boise from the top of the hill that John and I hiked.

http://www.facebook.com/v/126580012074

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13

I really hope that you all can see the video link that I have included of Luci. I have always heard people that were already grandparents talk about how much they instantly love their grandchildren and what a powerful love it is. Just like the love of a parent, I think you have to experience it to understand it. I think of my little granddaughter each and every day and I pray for her and her parents every day. I am so in love with her and long to see and hold her again. She is talked about such much in our house that Abigail instantly recognizes her picture when it is pulled up on the computer --even though she has not seen Luci yet.

I spent last week at home as Abigail has surgery on August 28th and was in the hospital for two days. The surgery went well and she is doing great. I took the week after the surgery off to be at home with her. It was a GREAT week to be home as the weather was absolutely gorgeous with temperatures in the 70's during the day and 50's at night and I kept the windows open. It was a great week of one-on-one time with mommy as Shane is now in school. We celebrated Lorene and Susie's birthdays on Saturday, September 5th so I am including pictures. We missed Roy and his family as Daniel was sick . Shane and John are at King's Dominion today but unfortunately, I won't have pictures to share as I didn't send my camera with them. Back to work tomorrow....................

Five Months Home for Abigail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuKR68qgoLM

For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him: I Samuel 1:27

I hoped to complete this post yesterday to mark Abigail's 5 month anniversary at home with us. As usual, time got away from me so I am a day late. The past 5 months has flown by and it has been a tremendous experience for our family. On March 20th, we saw Abigail for the 2nd time with the first time being in October 2006 when we visited New Day while in China to bring Shane home. As we looked down at the one year old sleeping in her crib, we had no idea that 2 1/2 years later we would be bringing her home as our fourth child! Isn't God great!

We have gone from a little girl that obviously was very happy at New Day and did not want a new family to a girl that now loves her family, her home, her Sunday School, and her bed! Abigail loved her native Chinese tongue and I could tell that she resisted speaking English. She knew some English when we arrived in China on March 20th but she pretended that she did not. For the entire two weeks we were there, she refused to speak English. She chattered non-stop with anyone that she came in contact with that spoke Chinese. She now chatters non-stop in English!

It still thrills my heart to hear her say, "I love you mommy". She now says it several times a day without any prompting. The little girl that did not want me to hold or rock her now runs to me with open arms and hugs. I am now her "number 1"and I am overjoyed. I was Shane's "number 1" from the first day we met and it was difficult for me to accept that Abigail did not feel the same way but each child is different and Abigail was much older when she joined our family than Shane was.

I am hoping that you all can see the video that I took of her yesterday!

God's Beautiful Creation

"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth". Genesis 1:1

The pictures say it all. They were taken by John's brother, Bernie (we call him Junior but he likes to be called Bernie). He is not a professional photographer but is gifted. These pictures are of the Blue Ridge Mountains - just twenty minutes from our house.

How could anyone look at such beauty and not feel the the presence of our Holy God???