God sets the lonely in families,
He leads forth the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun scorched land.
Psalm 69:6


Charli's little friend Josiah (on the right) was united with his family this week. We are so happy for the little guy who is in so many photos with our girl. You can read his family's blog here.

Nesting

We are spending the summer break getting Charli's room ready for her. My parents painted these adorable letters for her wall. I've been knitting away on her log cabin blankie. Poor Daddy-O has been doing the hard labor; hanging letters, moving furniture, etc... We are almost finished. Now all we need is a little girl!

A steady stream of dolls have been making their way to Charli's collection. Ling and Little Mommy came via Amazon and Ebay. Annie the rag doll came from one of Chad's students as an end of the year gift. I knit little Dolly myself. A girl can't have too many dolls. I'm sure Charli will have her own names for them. One can only wonder what they will be.

We *Heart* Summer!

Nothing says summertime fun like a ride in a rusty wheelbarrow. Aren't Big C and his Poppa cute? This photo was taken with my mom's AMAZING new camera. I'm not saying we're reaching Pioneer Woman heights, but photo quality is about to improve around here.

Taa Daa!

I finished my Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The yarn is O-Wool Balance and oh is it ever so comfy. But you guys don't really care about that... Bring on more Charli!

We got a growth and development report on our little sweetheart today. Her orphanage was unaffected by the earthquakes. She appears to be doing quite well. In fact the report indicated that she is very lively (and maybe just a tad naughty!). Our dossier went off to our agency today so we are hopefully just weeks away from being DTC (dossier to China). We are so wonderfully blessed. Please pray for continued protection and healing for Charli. You are truly all "Charli's Angels."

Paperwork Update

Our home study is finally complete. Yahoo! Now we wait for it to clear DHR, then CIS, and then finally it's off to China. Pray that things will move quickly. Also pray for us as we gather the funds we need to get us to China.

Oh my goodness, it's like my life was just set to music.
Happy Mother's Day!

Knitting in Braille

I've been trying to come up with an interesting way to knit Charli's name into her blanket. An old episode of Knitty Gritty featured a sweater with the knitter's name written in braille with bobbles. Bobbles are a pain to knit, so why not use beads instead? This swatch is my name. Pretty cool huh?

We are Pre-Approved!



This week is ending with some happy news. Love Without Boundaries has arranged for Charli Grace to receive an eye exam in China. We also got our pre-approval from the CCAA. I don't have a cute photo to go along with this post, so enjoy the happy pandas.

Pre-approval is basically a confirmation that we have been matched with our daughter and are free to proceed with the adoption. Our next step is having our home study cleared by DHR in Montgomery, then it is off to the CIS office in Atlanta. From there our dossier goes to the Chinese Consulate in Houston, then to China. So there are quite a few steps in between Charli and home. Pray with us that our files will be given favor at DHR and CIS. We are going to petition for our home study to be expedited through both offices. My greatest wish is that we can bring her home before her 3rd birthday.












Love Without Boundaries is having their 5th annual Born in My Heart Art Auction. All proceeds from the auction go to healing orphaned Chinese children in need of heart surgery. They have done so much to help our daughter and hundreds of other children. Visit their auction and bid on one of their beautiful items. It will make your heart feel super happy.

"Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

6 to 12 Hours

That's how long it was supposed to take to assemble our new swing set. Granted we had some serious ground prep to do first. Everyone in the family pitched in. Daddy-O, Poppa, Uncle Chuck and Mommy were on the ground and assembly crew. Grandma, Grandpa, Anna, and BeBe were on babysitting and clean up duty. From start to finish the project took 4 days, but WOW was it worth it!

A Few New Pictures

We have been blessed with an abundance of pictures of little Charli. Emily, her HTS sponsor, sent me these today. Her personality really sparkles in each photo.

We've decided on the Chinese middle name MingZhu, which means "bright pearl." Charli Grace is certainly our "priceless pearl."

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46

My Little Brother

My mom and dad brought home a sweet little golden doodle today. (That's a cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle in case you didn't know.) Isn't he beautiful?

Think Daddy likes him?


Pebbles isn't so sure.

Lately I've been on a mission to find the perfect doll for Charli. None of the pictures I've seen of her Half the Sky class have any dolls in them. (They have lots of great developmentally appropriate toys. I just haven't seen any dolls.) She may not have had a chance to have a doll of her own. So I want to get her something kind of special.

My criteria for the perfect doll are: 1. It should be age appropriate for a toddler. 2. It should be soft and cuddly. 3. It should have similar features to Chali.

I never noticed until now, but it is impossible to find baby dolls with Asian features in my area. Thank goodness for the internet. The search has been narrowed down to 3 candidates:


Fisher Price Little Mommy




Corelle Calin Yang



Lee Middleton Itty Bitty Nursery Baby


Help me decide. Vote for your favorite dolly. The poll will close at the end of the week. The winner will be added to Ming's growing toy collection. Heck, they will probably ALL wind up in Charli's collection, but a poll will be fun anyway. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you look for in dolls for your children.

Freedom from Pull-ups!

It's been a long process, but Big C is officially out of diapers. I was beginning to think we were going to have to pack a diaper bag for Kindergarten. Some wiser and more experienced moms told me to calm down. He would go when he was ready. Boy were they right. We established a rule that we wear underwear at home and Pull-ups only at preschool. C quickly decided that going to the potty was better than the alternative mess. We started off with a few accidents, but it has been smooth sailing for 2 weeks now. Now we are in underwear 24/7. I am so proud of my big boy!

Speaking of freedom: I had jury duty last week. I knew that I would need to bring along a fairly mindless, but portable project in my knitting bag. I grabbed up some blueberry Cotton-Tots that I had in my stash for Tater's Cotton Cardi. By the time the judge dismissed us I was finished with the yoke. I found the adorable blue sunhat at Tuesday Morning on one of our long lunch breaks.

Glaucoma makes bright sunlight uncomfortable, so I've been collecting cute hats for Charley. I think I may be developing a habit here. Kim has her hairbows, I have my sunhats.

Thank God I'm a Country Boy (Girl)



My dad got a new tractor last week. Needless to say Mother and I have been having a hard time keeping him and Conner in the house. Those two love to work outside and get dirty. Charley Grace's finding add came in today with the translation. (I'm not going to post it because the picture makes my heart hurt. She looks so sad...) I adore the name of the paper, the "Henan Farmer's Daily." Our girl's picture is sqeezed in next to an article on new cars and a tractor ad. Just another little sign that she's going to fit right in around here.

Charli's Spring Wardrobe

My mom, mother-in-law and I had tons o' fun buying little pink girly clothes for Mingming's care package. The 18m clothes seem so tiny compaired to her big brother's 4T outfits. She is one petite little peanut!

Even though the clothes are tiny, I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to fit it all inside the "flat rate" postal box. Maggie came to the rescue with a great idea: space bags.

Awww... look at the poor squished dolly.

All the fuss over packing the box quickly drew Conner's attention. We haven't even finished our dossier and sibling rivalry has already reared its ugly head. Sending clothes and dolls to sister is no big deal, but suckers and these cool sunglasses? How dare you!

We've found Charli Grace!
She's 2, and has congenital glaucoma. She's blind in one eye, but has some vision in the other. We are so blessed that she has been in a Half the Sky preschool and is soon going to be part of the Love Without Boundaries foster care program. We've prayed for God to show favor to our daughter and he's poured out blessing upon blessing. I'm holding fast to the account of Christ meeting the blind man in John 9.

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?''Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.'"

We believe that God has great things in store for this precious girl. I'm honored and humbled to be part of His plan for her life. Please pray that we can get our paperwork together quickly and that our dossier will speed through the CCAA. We are also praying that her remaining vision will be preserved and perhaps by a miracle restored.

You know all those poor souls who took an influenza shot this fall but got the flu anyway? That would be me. I'll spare the details, but February 2008 will forever be known as the month mommy got the plague. Somehow we still managed to celebrate quite a bit this month. Big C turned 3 and I hit the big 30.

Am I unsettled about turning 30? No way! I can honestly say that I feel like I'm in my prime. At 20 I was awkward, inexperienced, and didn't have a lot of confidence in myself. 30 finds me far from perfect, but my life has a real sense of purpose. I know who I am, and what I'm meant to do with this life. Did I mention that we can finally move forward with our adoption now?! Big adoption news is coming soon! I'll post some exciting pics as soon as I get the green light from our agency.

Can you believe it?


My baby is 3!

Happy Birthday sweet C. Mommy loves you!

How do you keep from going crazy while you are waiting for your adopted daughter?

You knit her stuff... Lots and lots of stuff.

First a Modern Baby Blanket: I'm using Cotton Tots in their jelly bean shades. I'll probably throw in a little pink somewhere just for good measure and to match the dolly. I'm changing stitch patterns as I go to give it a little extra interest. Hopefully she will enjoy feeling the different textures someday. The changeup makes it a lot more interesting to knit. Just flip open the old stitch dictionary and go.

Next: Finish January's Sock of the month in time for Chinese New Year. Our adoption group is having a CNY party at a local catfish restaurant. It's the only place in town big enough for all of us. You can't get more "East Meets West" than that.

Finally: Work on the "Red Thread" blanket in TLC Wiggles. This pattern comes from the first Debbie Macomber knitting book. It's a bit of a pain to work the crossed stitch pattern, but I like how it is turning out. Why acrylic and not a natural fiber? This is going to be Charley's travel blanket. Puke washes easily out of acrylic.

Last but not least: Find something cool to knit for big brother. Is that not hilarious?

"A Father's Heart"

This message has deeply moved both Chad and me. Please pray for the Burgess family as they endure this terrible storm.

Rick Burgess, of the Rick & Bubba Show, took the opportunity to speak at the memorial service for his son William Bronner Burgess (also known as Cornbread on the show). Bronner had accidentally drowned in the swimming pool at their house. Rick delivers a powerful message showing his family's strong faith in God and helps us to understand what we can do to honor his Father and his son during this earthly tragedy. For more information visit www.rickandbubba.com