My Cups Overflows--You Might Want to Read This: PART 2

There are so many verses that have come to have a more special meaning to me over the past few years.  One of the ones that I am thinking about today is  “My cup overflows.” (Psalms 23)

Why is my cup overflowing today?

After waiting for more than a year and a half, today we finally brought home our baby girl.  Yes, you are reading this right.  Today, we brought home Taylor Faith!!! 

At 8:00 this morning (on the dot), we arrived to meet Taylor and have her join our family.  There were lots of tears, but after a short time (shorter than we expected anyway), she was starting to seem more comfortable.

We stayed and visited with some friends and gave Taylor some time to warm up to us.  Then after lunch we got in the van and headed home.  She slept the whole way—which was a true blessing.

After getting home, she mainly just sat and cuddled with us, but she also had some good bonding time playing with her big sister Autumn.  She didn’t eat too much, but she did eat everything that we gave her which was another huge blessing. 

Tonight when I put her in bed she really settled down and started to show her true personality.  When she realized that the mattress was soft, she started jumping up and down and clapping.    Normally I might not encourage this behavior, but I thought for the first night I was just glad she was smiling.  She was just SO happy.  I prayed for her and thanked God for giving us such a beautiful blessing in Taylor.  Then I thought I would just slip out and see what would happen.  Believe it or not, she didn’t cry but just sat in bed talking for a while and then eventually went to sleep.  Not a single tear.  In fact after we got home today there were no tears except for when she wanted one of us to hold her—which we were overjoyed to do.

I know that it could still be a difficult week for her, but we are so excited…thankful…joyful….so many emotions that I can’t fully verbalize them all.  Thank you for all your prayers and I will ask for forgiveness ahead of time for all of the pictures that I might post of her in the days ahead.  

***The adoption is not final, but we have the awesome advantage of fostering her while we are in the process.  We hope that all will be finalized in August/September. 

Sweet News

One Day Closer…

It has been a long wait, but God’s timing is always good.  Look at this sweet face… of a precious gift from God that we hope in a few months we can call “daughter.”

 A little more than a week ago we got the adoption file that we have been longing to see.  After much prayer, we decided to pursue this sweet little girl’s file, and yesterday we heard very encouraging words.  We have been pre-approved to be her parents.  This is one of those times in the process where some families wait to post pictures—similar to a mom that waits to announce her pregnancy because there are so many things that could still happen.  So we want to emphasize that as excited as we are, she is not officially ours until “Gotcha Day.”  We will be continuing to fill out paperwork and wait on additional paperwork and after all that is finished, we will receive approval to go and make it official.    We will keep you updated as those milestones come along. 

We are so excited!!!  We are also overjoyed to finally be able to share her sweet face with you.

Now You See It...Now You Don't

Now you see it…now you don’t…

I haven’t forgotten the blog, but the last few weeks have not held too much to write about.  More than a month ago, I sent a picture to my primary physician of some moles that Isaac has on his shoulders.  I wanted her to let me know what she thought about getting them removed.  They are right where his backpack rests on his shoulders, and I thought that it might not be good for them always to getting rubbed up against.  So I sent a picture at her request and I included a picture of my birth mark that I had just noticed seemed to look different than in years past.  The birth mark is on my ankle and I really don’t ever pay it any attention. 

Her response was “I’m not worried about your son’s moles, but you need to call and schedule a biopsy with me to have your mole removed.”  I fell…literally…on the floor.  I cried out to God, “Please forgive me for my lack of faith… I said that I wouldn’t worry again, but I am scared.”  After a couple of days I convinced myself to stop googling pictures of melanoma and to trust Him enough to not think about it anymore.  In that I also made the decision not to tell some people really close to me.  I felt that the more people I told…and the more questions they asked…I would be more tempted to worry. After praying about not telling them, I felt that was the right thing to do.  I scheduled the appointment for as soon as I could get in.  That Monday morning our whole family showed up at the doctor’s office—I didn’t want to go alone.  When she saw the size of the birth mark, she said, “I didn’t realize that the mole was this big.  I am not going to be able to do this in my office.  You are going to have to see a specialist.”  So with all the anxiety that I had built up, I was somewhat relieved that I wasn’t going to have to have the operation that day, but I also knew that it was going to have to happen eventually.

It was more than a week before I heard back about an appointment with the specialist.  Another week and a half after that (as soon as I could get an appointment), I went in to see him.  He told me about all the risks…that I might not be able to walk very good for a while, there might be a permanent indentation in my leg, it was going to be an ugly scar, and I wouldn’t be able to do life as normal for a while, I agreed to do the surgery.  Honestly he told me that day that I could just ignore it if I wanted…from the looks of it, he thought it was benign.  However, I already knew that the only way to truly know was to have the biopsy.  After what seemed like 15 shots to numb the area (I felt most of those), he finally removed the mole.  That wasn’t painful, but when I sat up to see the completed picture (before he put on the bandage), my stomach turned a little—it was VERY indented.  After he got everything all cleaned up I had to sit and rest on the bed for about 5 minutes until I knew that I wasn’t going to pass out.

Three weeks later I still can’t exercise, but other than that I am back to normal.  Stairs are still not that fun, but no one would know that I had any kind of surgery.  The results came back after about 4 days—the mole was benign.  Praise the Lord! 

When I look back on the last year, it has been quite the adventure with hospitals and health in general.  I am not sure what exactly God is doing, but I know this I have learned:  God doesn’t desire that I have an easy life.  An easy life would not require trust in Him.  I rejoice in my suffering…  “And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.”  Romans 5:2-4 

Let’s do a quick recap of what all God did to teach me this (I am a slow learner):

April 2014—Cara told she might have had a stroke (because of memory loss)

May 2014—Doctor ordered a MRI—told that the doctors were not sure of what was wrong, but that she definitely had hearing loss.

May 2014—Doctor confirms that she has hearing loss, and orders her to take steroids.  The hearing loss somewhat improves, but is still not completely normal in one ear.

June 2014—A doctor friend encourages Cara to keep trying to find out what is the reason for the memory loss. 

Summer 2014—Countless tests: blood pressure, EKG, 24 hour EKG, blood tests, etc.—all come back normal

October 2014—Another MRI is performed in Macau

November 2014— The MRI comes back clean…NO cancer, NO stroke…but still some spots on the brain that need to be rechecked in a year’s time

December 2014—Autumn has an emergency appendectomy.

January 2015—Cara gets the flu.

January 2015—We discover that Joel has a hernia.

January 2015—Stephen falls and cuts his head and hands on a glass—another visit to the hospital.

February 2015—Joel has hernia surgery

February 2015—We all get sick with the flu—a BAD case of the flu.

March 2015—Cara is told she needs to have a biopsy; the mole is removed

April 2015—The last stitches are removed.

I am not quite sure what the future holds, but I know that my Father is the one that holds the future.  I am putting up this stone to remember…

One of the Few

In a city of about 4.5 million, I know what it is like to be the minority.  In our suburb (the smallest), there are a total of 250,000 people, and after living here for more than 6 months, I have randomly seen 3 other white people (other than my family of course).  Other than that, it just a sea of "black hair."

It is impossible for local people to know what it is like to be us.  When I sit in the restaurant and feel the stares of the cook, the waitress, and most of the customers, they don't get that picture that I do of all of their eyes looking at me.  They are caught up in the moment.  I am told over and over again that it is because our kids are so cute or that we are so interesting, but that doesn't make it less "irritating."

When I go in the store and get extra attention--workers following me around or asking questions, I feel different.  I feel like a foreigner.  I have lived here for more than 7 years, but I still don't feel like I belong.  Because I look different, I am automatically treated different.

When I get in a taxi and the driver wants to leave off the meter and offer me a "deal," I can't help but think it might be because I look different.  When I meet someone and they want to become friends, I can't help but wonder if it is because they see me as a way to raise their kids' English scores.  When I am walking down the street and people yell out at me, "Hello!!!," and then they turn to laugh with their friends, I can't help but feel like the butt of their joke.  When I get on the bus and the little kids point at me and tell their Grandma that a "foreigner" just got on the bus, I can't help but feel like cheap entertainment for the ride.  Or when I hear "they have THREE kids!!"...or when I hear "they are so white!!!"....

To be real, most of the attention that I get is good attention--ok, maybe annoying at times, but for the most part it is positive attention.

 But over the years it has made me think of what it would be like to be the minority in America.  The difference is there is a lot more baggage attached in the states.  If I went through what I went through now but with a knowledge that my family before me had been slaves in this country, it would change my perspective immensely. 
 
My thought is simple.  I just want to say that it is impossible for us to fully know what it is like to be Black/Hispanic/Asian or another race in America.  We only see their life for just a moment.  We only know how we personally treat them.  We don't know how they are truly treated because we can only see through our eyes--not theirs.

I'm not trying to go political nor am I referencing any of the recent racial news stories, I just wanted to share my thought for the day.

 ________________________________________________

Happy New Year!  (an update on us these past couple of weeks)

OK....yeah, I know New Year was a while ago, but we just finished celebrating Chinese New Year!  School started back this week, and our classes at the English Training Center start tomorrow.

Cara's Classroom (Kindergarten-2nd Grade)

Joel's Classroom (3rd and 4th Grade)

Joel and the kids took a trip to Thailand for a homeschool meet-up, and they all came back with a tan.  Stephen and I stayed home and did some more painting.  Tonight we should finish up with all of the last minute decor and clean-up.  Here are a few pictures of the finished project (well, almost finished).

The Airport Waiting Room (still not finished decorating--in the same room as the big plane)

This is inside the Airport Waiting Room.

The past week we have successfully passed the stomach bug to everyone under our roof, and thankfully we have all recovered.  :-)   Hoping to post some pictures of warmer weather soon.