Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Time For Some CUTENESS!














Ok, so I just can't stop thinking about my baby way across the world. She had a bad heat rash and I so want to go snatch her up and give her a cool bath and slather all kinds of good cream on that little body. Then snuggle her in a rocking chair and sing to her and rock her to sleep. All while I inhale that sweet freshly bathed baby smell. Oh.......the waiting is so very hard! I keep hearing "things" about the long wait times for approvals and LID and TA and.... oh my! Why? Why do I do this to myself? I can't control any of this, especially when you have 2 different governments involved. So why don't I just trust in GOD? Why don't I let Him have this and know He loves Louisa more than I do and He will bring her home to us when His timing is perfect? Why? I will keep praying. I will keep giving it to Him. And then I am sure I will try to take it back again because in my human mind and heart I think by researching dates, and reading blogs and charts, etc, that I can do better than God. So for now, I will pray for my little Lulu and gaze at her cuteness in the pictures we have received so far! I thought you might want to share in that cuteness too!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Yes It Is Us!!!

WoW!!!!! Ashton did a great job on our blog didn't she! It looks wonderful!!!!! And she did it so quickly!!!! If you need a face lift/makeover check out her site! Thanks so very much Ashton you did awesome!

Face Lift!!!!

I am getting a face lift! No, not for me....for this old ratty looking, "uncute" blog. I am NOT computer savvy so this plain old template from blogger was a HUGE step for me to do by myself. HOWEVER, there is a very talented teen, and adoption advocate, who is going to make over this sorry looking site! Stay tuned......I am so excited!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Friends













Through adoption we have met so many wonderful people. It is a blessing I never anticipated but am so grateful for! We had such an awesome and BIG travel group with Jaida. We have all stayed in contact and have tried to get together each year. One of the families was passing through so they spent time with us this weekend. The kids had a blast as did the parents. This sweet family also welcomed home a new little one just a few months ago so we got to meet her for the first time. The really neat thing is... she has the same beautiful hands and feet that Louisa does-I mean almost IDENTICAL. I watched in awe and joy as this little peanut did anything and everything she wanted to do with those hands, and the feet were a non-issue! It was so encouraging!!! We had another family join us for dinner Friday night too. So with a house full of 10 kids, 6 adults, 2 dogs and 1 bunny we ate, talked, swam, played and of course took pictures. Thank you Lord for unexpected blessings!!!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Baby Break and Other Stuff

The kids wanted to celebrate Ollie's 2nd birthday! He looks so happy!?
Celebrating Father's Day. We love our Daddy so very much and are blessed by his love and sacrifices for us. And I can't forget my wonderful Dad too!!



My sweet "princess" heading to Princess Ballet Camp.




Pizza with cousins Zeke and Ezra.



Well, as much as we have consumed ourselves with the photos and dreams of our new little one, we have also been very "busy" with other stuff! I love summer and it's lack of a schedule. I like the down time. I NEED the down time, as do my kids.


So what have we been doing? We have been conditioning a few days a week with the Augusta Eagles (home school sports league),Princess Ballet Camp, celebrations, reading, swimming, playing with friends and cousins,grilling out, doing puzzles, thinking about Lulu and praying for a speedy approval (oops...see, we can't get her out of our minds!) watching movies, sleeping later, well some of us, and just enjoying each other's company. Hope your summer is going well too and you are treasuring these moments with your little ones, as they go by oh so very quickly!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Monday, June 13, 2011

Overflowing with Blessings!





































Stay tuned for pictures of her in a tutu!!!!!



Since last week when we received pre-approval, we have been blessed with over 40 pictures of our sweet Louisa! There is a wonderful mission team that spent the last 5 days at Lulu's orphanage and they have provided us with incredible pictures that have allowed us a glimpse into our daughter's world and her personality. One kind woman even emailed me about her development. She appears, from a Mama's point of view to be developmentally on track. She uses her hands very well. She is shy and serious. Her feet do appear to be clubbed. We want to thank Makenna, a beautiful 13 year old, for loving on our Louisa so many hours. We look forward to connecting with them when they return so we can keep her updated on Louisa. What blessings these photos and information have been. They will sustain us during this LONG wait. Ugh...I can't even wrap my brain around the wait. Do you think if I just showed up they would give her to me now?????


Because we have sooooo many pictures we will post a few over several days time so as not to bore you. By the way, we think she is just BEAUTIFUL!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

LOOK WHAT WE FOUND AT THE BEACH...........



Introducing......



Louisa Margaret Hatcher


Born Chen Xiangying


April 19,2010


Waiting for us in the Chenzhou CWI-Hunan Province of China



Yes, can you believe it? I still can't! One year ago I would have NEVER imagined this! But God had plans........so, this may be long-sorry, but it is important. So get comfortable.


Let's start at the beginning. Last Monday morning I awoke to our first day of vacation at the beach. It was early and I was by myself. I poured a hot cup of coffee and sat down at the computer to check emails real quick and then catch up on my favorite blogs. I never made it to the blogs. There in front of me sat an email from our agency stating they had locked a file for us and we had 48 hours to decide. I froze, but my mind went 90 miles an hour in 90 different directions. It is Memorial Day, we are on an island with not even a grocery store or gas station, we have NONE of our adoption "stuff", this is a surprise, etc.... Then I opened the file. There she was. She stared out at me as if asking "Are you my Mother?" My eyes quickly scanned the file for her special need.....there it was, just what we had wanted. I read on, no red flags of caution jumped out at me, in fact it all looked really good! "Hold your emotions in check, Amy! Remember how hard it is to get attached to those adorable faces only to find out the needs are greater than we can handle." You see we had already looked at several files, with great regret and hearts of heavy sadness we had declined those. (That is a post for another day!) I could not get attached to this child, only to turn her down. So began the frantic 48 hour scramble. We did ALOT of praying, we had some wonderful friends and doctors come through for us on short notice and on a holiday too, and we were able to get her file reviewed. All gave the thumbs up! So with encouraging prognosis for her condition and God's peace in our hearts we sent our Letter of Intent to adopt -Tuesday the 31st...with 24 hours to spare! Now this is funny, remember we are on an island with nothing! We needed passport photos-have those at home-does me NO good on the island-I quickly blow dried my hair, sand, salt, sweat and all, brushed on some mascara and blush stood against a white wall and Julia took a lovely photo of me and then Will on her cell phone. We texted those to Will's phone-his has email-and he emailed them to the agency. Next, we had, luckily, a family photo on my ipod touch. We promptly emailed that to the agency. Our agency then emailed me a mock letter of intent that I copied and changed to fit our needs and emailed back to her. DONE! We celebrated that night with ice cream and watched as the sun went down into the sea....looking as far as we could and wondering if Louisa was watching that same sun rise across the world.


Ok, so now for the "heart" and "mind" part. Remember, I told you this was long. A couple of years ago, before we found Xin, I had a "vision". No, I am not a kook but I did "see" this in my mind's eye. God appeared to be showing me a little girl with an upper body limb difference. Her name was Louisa. I was her Mommy. Fast forward...... we found Xin. We felt very certain this was the child God was calling us to at the time. I wondered what that could have been-maybe I am a kook? So we moved forward with Xin, brought him home and no secret here, struggled greatly with his adjustment. I am not a depressed person, but I must say, these first few months with him home were some of the lowest times I have experienced. I was angry at God, I was running with fingers in my ears not listening to a word He had to say to me. This was hard and I wanted no part of "hard". Yes, this is a pretty bratty attitude, completely ungrateful. I am not proud but it is how I felt at the time. One day in January, a file of a little girl came across my computer. I stiffened and said "NO WAY GOD!" Not adopting again! She caught my eye though, and my heart. God pursued me hard. He pulled those fingers right out of my ears and spoke. With great trepidation I listened, I prayed and then I let Him have my life plan back."I am yours God. What do you want me to do?" I remembered my "vision". My little girl with the limb difference,my Louisa. "Oh, I see now! NOW You want me/us to get THIS little girl! NOW not THEN!" So we did alot of praying, talking and soul searching and we took His hand and He led us into adoption #3. The files we turned down were hard but none of them had a limb difference and I knew God had that for us out there waiting somewhere. So, what do think our little Louisa's special need is? Yep! You got it! She has an upper body limb difference. She is missing some fingers on both hands and some toes too. She may have clubbed feet as well. From what we were told she probably has Amniotic Banding Syndrome. This is where little bands from the amniotic fluid come loose and get wrapped around parts of the baby, not allowing limbs to grow. She may have a surgery on her hands to enable better usage of fingers and she may have to have her feet casted. But hey, Mia Hamm, Olympic soccer player, had clubbed feet at birth.


For those of you that think we are crazy, or we have bitten off more than we can chew, know that we go into this with lots of forethought and knowing that God stands beside us. Our decisions might not make sense to some of you, but it doesn't matter. We try to lead our lives following what God desires for us. You see,He is just so darn smart! He gave me this "vision" BEFORE Xin. If it had been AFTER Xin, I would not have paid attention-remember I was running from God with fingers in my ears? We are ALL so excited. We think this will help Xin greatly. He will not be the "new" kid. She will. He likes that. He also sees how we talk about her, pray for her and put her picture up-just like we did with him. He gets to experience it first hand!


We are humbled, grateful and overjoyed that God is allowing us to parent this little girl and call her a Hatcher! We hope to travel within the next 6 months to bring her home to her forever family. All of our paperwork is done. Just waiting on our approval from our government and then off our dossier goes to China. We welcome prayers for Louisa and for us as we all move into this next phase of our lives as a family of 7!


Monday, June 6, 2011

A Week at the Beach

This is where we stayed...boy did we love those porches!
My sweet beautiful big girl!



Xin was really good at hitting the ball.




Jaida and Xin played on this slide over and over and over.




Love these kids!



Everyone gets around by golf carts on the island-our big hunker of a cart!



This was at the end of the island at sunset.



They truly adore each other!



At sunset.



We watched until the sun went "down".


My babies...aren't they cute?!?!




There was NO beach at high tide!



The other end of the island.



This is my favorite picture!



Sheer Joy!


Feeding the deer that were everywhere.


This was in the front yard.


From the rooftop deck.


We just returned from a week at the beach with Will's family. We had 14 in all staying in one very large and very beautiful house on Fripp Island SC. We had a wonderful time! Way too many pictures but I couldn't help myself....sorry!