Easter

Easter dressing like dad!
The Chocolate and candy has gotten to him!
I love this can we have baskets everyday?

Oh I can't just sit here and finish this basket of candy?

Easter was fun with all the cousins. We did not see much of James which is very unusual. He is starting to enjoy his extended family more and feel very safe to branch out. He especially had fun with his two older boy cousins Johnny and Joey. He loves getting rough with them and this is sure all new for me (boy stuff!) I am just waiting to end up in ER with the way he flies around.

The girls were insistant on James getting dressed up for Easter. When we got him in China they said he likes "comfortable clothes" and since he's been here I really haven't been able to get him in much more than sweats. Well the girls did it by telling James he could be like Baba. So they showed him the matching khaki pants and the button down shirt and that did the trick.

I don't think he was in it too long, but it is a start!

Easter Egg Hunt

James with his basket at the egg hunt
James in the red we gave him instructions to to do whatever he had to do to get the most eggs (kidding?)
James and Ali


James went to a few egg hunts and loved it. I am looking forward to when he can fully understand the true meaning of Good Friday and Easter. But I don't think he is ready yet given a recent exchange with Ali. Ali: James what did you learn at church today? James: We learned about the lions. Ali: What about the lions? James: The lions ate baby Jesus....
We are so thankful James has transitioned into going to his church class by himself. He has a lot of wonderful things to learn about the God and Savior who loves him very much!
He told me recently he loves library class and church class!

Spring Break and the Zoo

James just loved the zoo
His favorite was the gorilla!

James and the gorilla close up he was amazed!

We did not let the weather stop our spring break fun on our trips to Independence Grove!

We had a great time on James first trip to the zoo. I knew it would be pretty exciting for him because he has really loved the animals in the books we have been reading. When we explained the zoo to him he got these big eyes and could hardly wait for the day to arrive. We went to Lincoln Park Zoo and due to the colder weather, we had the place to ourselves. James had some great up close and personal interaction with the gorillas and even got to see a monkey try to come after Claire when she sneezed by the glass-that was scary!

Mommy and Bobby!

James enjoying his chinese food

James is really good with the chopsticks

We got chinese the other night and you would have thought James had not been fed for a while. He was so happy to see the food! I think either we'll have to order out more or I'll have to learn to cook better chinese food!

When James first met us we were Mama and Baba (Mandarin for mom and dad) Well just recently he started calling me mommy. It sure is the cutest thing hearing his sweet little voice saying it! Occasionally he would call me mother which I have to say sounds pretty funny coming from him. Well we all got a real kick out of it when he decided since he was calling me mommy he would change Baba appropriately to Bobby! Wow have we all had some good laughs hearing him calling for Bobby. We are just loving it, not sure if dad loves it as much but we are laughing. James and Baba are getting to be real buddies especially at the dinner table when all of us girls are laughing about something and the two boys don't think it is such a hoot!

An Adoption Legacy of Sorts!

"Difficulties afford a platform upon which He can show Himself. Without them we could never know how tender, faithful and almighty our God is." - Hudson Taylor

They say writing is therapeutic and so I write...February of 1999 was one of the hardest times in my life. My mom was taken to the hospital one morning and as us four kids met my dad at the hospital we found out she didn't make it. To say we were shocked is an understatement-she had no health problems, it was so out of nowhere. I remember those first few days and nights so vividly, thinking it had to be a bad dream. We just sat at the house we grew up in and cried and kept thinking someone would say it was all a mistake. I was a few months pregnant with Claire and she was due on my mom's birthday. I had been having problems in the pregnancy and they told me it was pretty certain the pregnancy would not continue and that I would miscarry. One time when I went in the ultrasound tech recognized me and said something about not believing I was still carrying the baby. My mom had been such a support to me during this time.

I really didn't know how to process my emotions, I don't think any of us did. I just felt so unprepared. I felt like the walls of my faith came crashing down, and it was a fork in the road in my faith. Was I going to believe God was who He said He was and His comfort would carry me? It was a long process of grief and I grew in my relationship to God in many ways. God met me in so many ways I can't even begin to count. I think through it instead of my walls of faith crashing down, the walls were made solid. I found I could believe God was who He said He was and He would carry me. I look at the friends He put in my life prior to this to grieve with me and support me. I am thankful for the great church I was attending where I could really continue to grow in this time. I can remember the beautiful conversation my mom and I had the night before she died. The dinner Mike, Ali, Caroline and I had with my mom and dad the prior weekend. This baby I was carrying that was due on my mom's birthday, which miraculously I was able to deliver!

I think it has been hard this year not having my mom here to be able to share the joy of bringing home James. I think of her often and know she would love James and get such a kick out of this little boy. And God continues to pour down His blessings and comfort. What an incredible joy to find out just recently from my dad that my mom had talked about wanting to adopt(a boy)! He said they talked about it, but never ended up going further. I could hardly contain myself when my dad shared this on the phone with me recently. I just cried-how amazing that this was my mom's heart as well and I never even knew it-but yes I guess it doesn't surprise me at all. I am so thankful that God would choose this time to have my dad share this with me, because it has been so comforting to me and just brings me such joy! Our kids have said they are going to adopt too-how cool is that!

1st Haircut with us!

I need a haircut mom-look what these girls are doing to me!
Yes it is time!

James thought this was worse than the doctor!

He sat on my lap and moved quite a bit as the buzzer tried to clip his hair!

That was not so bad!

Chinese New Year!

James and Aunt Cocoa (formerly Coo Coo but James has renamed her Cocoa -Coll is thrilled!)

James was so happy at the parade

His favorite was the dragon

James celebrating with some of his cousins

We went to Chinatown for Chinese New Year and went to the parade and went for a great lunch. James had a blast and the weather was actually great (heat wave at 25 degrees!)
It was great spending the afternoon with our family!