PLEASE consider giving

Please see this blog post for details http://www.teamchenzhou.blogspot.com  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider giving ANY amount to help these kids. Let's watch God multiply our meager offerings!!!! School is so very VITAL. If they are not funded they return to the orphanage to sit on a wooden bench ALL DAY LONG watching Sponge Bob. They are precious kids that need our help. I have hugged them and looked into their faces....they NEED us! Please PRAY for full funding. Donations are tax deductible as they are funded thru Love Without Boundaries. Thank you!!!!!

The last one...

My last one started school this past Tuesday. It was bittersweet. I so enjoyed having this first born of mine home these past 4 years but it was time to move on to a new chapter...school again. She was thrilled and has had a fabulous first week. I will always treasure that time with her at home. I got to see how my child learns, how she organizes, her strengths and weakness, her determination and self-guiding spirit. It was a joy to be her "teacher" if only for a point in time. I will miss having my oldest around, my buddy. I love this girl and her heart. She is not only my daughter but my friend. She transitioned beautifully into this new phase and that made me so very happy! As I dropped her off Tuesday morning, I must confess I had a few tears. Why? I think I envisioned 3 years from now, which WILL fly by, dropping her off at college......how did the years go by so fast? As I kissed Jaida, my 1st grader, goodnight that evening with her toothless smile, flower nightgown, and stuffed animals lining her pillow, my mind raced back to 9 years ago. Julia looked like this, and now......now as I hugged my little 6 year old a bit tighter and lingered a bit longer, I caught  a whiff of Julia's perfume still on my shoulder. She is all grown up, almost. Jaida will be too....sooner than I realize. A reminder to enjoy the days with my children, even the tiring ones. They go by so very fast! Grateful this week to be a mom, ok a sometimes frazzled mom, to 5 treasured gifts! Thank you Lord for the gift of children.

2 more....

 Sam is the lone one I will be homeschooling this year but Sam, Lulu and I are doing a once a week co-op and it started Thursday. Lulu calls it "my school". Sam tolerates it. I teach art. 

Sam is a 6th grader...middle school!

Lulu is getting used to being away from Mommy!

One more to go.... Julia starts Tuesday.

2 out of 5

Yesterday 2 out of my 5 returned to school. I always hate to see summer come to an end and I swear each summer  goes by faster and gets shorter. Still don't understand the "why" behind starting school at the beginning of August...August is summer! Anyway...off they went. Jaida and Xin. A first grader. A second grader. They were excited, very excited! And if I am honest, I was "maybe" ready for them to go back, seeing that the bickering level had increased lately and the boredom level too.(Don't get me started on the boredom thing.) A great day was had by all and before I knew it, I was in the ridiculously long car line! The excitement and constant stream of voices trying to top one another with volume made me smile. They were happy. And that makes me happy.

Enjoying a last lazy afternoon of swimming on Sunday.

The Barbie family enjoying a day poolside too!

Ready to go!

Jaida in front of her classroom waiting for the bell  ring.

Xin in front of his classroom as a big second grader.

Jaida exploring her classroom. 

Julia and her BFF Haley kindly woke up "early" to go with us on this big first day! Thanks Sissy....a great big sister you are!

There is something about 1st grade that is so sweet to me. I shed a few tears yesterday as I looked at her toothless little grin ready to begin the year.... and said my goodbyes.

And little miss had to be a part of the event at hand.

 She asked "When I go to school?" What she fails to realize...Mommy doesn't go with her to school!

My hip accessory is still heartily attached. I pray my back holds out!

Happy 2013-14 school year to all!

They are there!

I heard from our guide last night, that as of 2 days ago those sweet baby girls are in Beijing! We are praising God for moving mountains and providing a place for them to go and to get the help they need. I think I mentioned on here before, but one of the big lessons of my trip was that "I" can do nothing to help the 147 million orphans of the world. I am one small person. I felt so utterly helpless. I prayed for His help, knowing He loved them more than I did. I prayed for mountains to be moved and He did just that!

Another element to this story that I must include, is the fierce sense of loyalty I felt toward Charlotte's birth mother. If you remember from an earlier post, 8 month old Charlotte had only been at the orphanage for 2 months. When Julia first picked her up, she turned as if to breast feed. It startled me and broke my heart. This baby had a mother that breastfed her and more than likely loved her. She probably abandoned  her when her heart condition became evident with her blue color and labored breathing. It was probably her only choice. She probably thought it was her daughter's only chance at life. If she left her, the orphanage might be able to provide surgery, she might live. This precious mother was willing to give up her child for the chance to give her life. Can you imagine having to make that choice? As I watched my first born daughter hold this daughter of an unknown Chinese mother, my heart ached. I can't imagine the pain I would feel if I had had to give up the child I loved and cared for and held for 6 months. I decided right then that I had to fight for this baby and for this mother. I could not let this mother's unselfish love and last chance hope for her daughter die. But again, I am just a housewife from America, in a country I didn't speak the language, with 2 governments and lots of red tape between them, what could I do? Enter my BIG God! He took our meager and desperate efforts of sending emails and praying and turned them into a chance at life for these girls. I wish I could find that Chinese mother and tell her that her daughter is in wonderful, loving, Christian hands and that her selfless act was not wasted and did not go unnoticed. I wish I could wrap my arms around her and hold her and cry with her. More than anything I wish I could tell her how much God loves her and her daughter.

These little girls' life stories have only just begun, I hope and pray. We don't know the prognosis or the specifics for surgery yet. But, I do know the One who holds them, and He is mighty. May He continue to show favor and mercy upon these little souls. May He grant healing through surgery. May He place them in loving families. May He do the impossible by human standards and in His mysterious ways somehow grant peace to that unknown Chinese mother's heart. These things I pray, Lord.

Amen!