SNOW!

I am home from school and Lily's daycare is even closed. We got hit with 8 inches of snow last night! This area hasn't seen that amount of snow in one day in probably 10 years. We made cookies last night, because I didn't feel like going out. It was snowing, but nothing the car and I couldn't handle. Looking back, I should have saved the cookie baking until today!


More Lilyisms:

Lily: "After I eat my dinner, I watch Jericho. Three minutes." Yes, that's 10 words!
______________________________________________

Lily: "My nose came out."
Me: What?
Lily: "My nose came out on my finger."
Me: Roaring with laughter - Yes, there was a booger on her finger.
______________________________________________

Lily: "I love Grandma."
Me: "Yes, you do, don't you."
Lily: "Grandma loves you."
Me: "Grandma loves me?"
Lily: "Yes, Grandpa loves ME." With a big grin as if to say that Grandpa just loves her!
______________________________________________


Lily: "SNOW! Car covered. I can't get in it!"

Why? But why?

It has started and I am already pulling my hair out! Because I am the Mommy!

Boys vs. Girls

Tonight (while on the potty of all places) :

"Pocketbooks are for girls. I'm not a boy. I'm a girl."

Thank You

While running the risk of posting a record number of posts in one day, I felt that this one deserves its own post. I cannot thank everyone enough for the prayers and support. Just knowing that you are there and lifting us before the throne of God is assuring to me.

Specifically, thank you Mom and Dad. I couldn't do "this" without you. You have given more than I could ask for. LFCN, we are feeling very loved and supported. We continue to go further into debt, but it would be significantly worse if not for the Weltys. Your apartment for Steve is a God send.

The last 2-3 weeks have been as rough as they come to date. Today was a breath of fresh air, though. Please pray as we will be unable to make connections with Steve this weekend for the first time in several months. Pray for a sense of peace for Lily and I. Pray for wisdom for Steve as he has a very busy two weeks. Pray for endurance for all of us!

Prayers

Lily continues to be quite thoughtful with her prayers. Tonight she thanked Jesus for Daddy, Mommy, Grandma and Grandpa, other one, Andrew (we were looking at family pictures earlier this evening and I asked her who everyone was in the picture. She piped up quite confidently Andrew when I pointed to her Uncle Andrew!), Tabba, Daniel, and Micah. I think there was more, but I lost track. She then proceeded to ask Jesus to be with Daddy at school and Mommy at school.

I have been praying that Lily will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus at an early age. I think he is already working on her heart! Her favorite movie/DVD right now is Bible songs (thanks Aunt Kim and Uncle Chris). She is singing the songs all the time. Yesterday, she was singing "Jesus Loves Me" while leafing through my Bible. She found a different Bible of mine that she put in one of her backpacks and carries it around with her. She likes to raise her hand in the air when she is singing "Jesus Loves Me" (neither Steve or myself are that demonstrative during worship). Her other favorite song right now is "I am a Promise." In the video she is saying, "I am a promise, possibility, I am a promise, possibility!" She has quite got potentiality down yet!

Lord, may I nurture this sweet and tender heart without crushing her strong spirit!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Lilyisms

I asked Lily, "Has anyone ever called you a goose?" not expecting an answer. She said, "Daddy!" Which is one of his nicknames for her.

"Caleb was under my bum." I was clueless as to what that meant at first until later she told me that Miss Robin put her in time-out for SITTING ON Caleb.

Lily has been "praying" for quite sometime (Dear Jesus, na na na na heaven, amen). We have been working lately on getting her to thank Jesus for the food at meals and pray for people at other times. Usually, it takes great prodding. I prompted her to say thank for the food and be with Daddy at school. She then added, "be with Mommy, be with Grandma, be with other one."

Just after I prayed tonight, I asked her is she wanted to pray tonight. She nodded yes, put her blanket down (a big deal as she was VERY tired and sucking her thumb), and this came out, "Thank you for Daddy, Thank you for other one, Thank you for Mommy, Thank you for Grandma."

I am pretty sure that "other one" is her way of designating between her Grandmas.

BTW, I forgot to add a tidbit about our ice cream run to Chick-Fil-A. Just before Mom took the picture, I took Lily to the bathroom. I set my keys on the floor trying to help her get her pants down. BAD IDEA, not only is that gross, but what happened next is REALLY gross! Lily picked them up and promptly threw them into the toilet.

I watched them sink thinking, "I am going to have to stick my hand in this public toilet." My other thought at the time was, "There goes the remote entry. Hope we can still get into the car without setting off the alarm." Fortunately, the toilet appeared to be freshly flushed. Although there was water dripping from the keyless entry, it still worked!

Pics

First Snow Angel

In Gma Robey's cabinet

Decorating Daddy

At the risk of embarrassing myself . . .
She is trying to put my, well you know, on under her shirt

Ice Cream

This is what happens when you have ice cream with Grandma!

Hard

Life isn't just complicated right now. It is HARD. I can't go into a lot of detail as to why, but it involves school. I was more than a little relieved that my mom had already planned to get Lily from "school" in the afternoon and spend the after with her and the evening with us. Yes, I know that was a run-on sentence.

Please pray for me. I really don't know how much longer I can take this. I am used to seeing the behaviors I am seeing from pre-teens not 5 and 6 year old children.

I can't remember what I have mentioned here, so bear with me if I mentioned it. I don't feel like checking right now. There is a very real possibility that I could lose my job for next year due to budget cuts. The most frustrating thing is that I may not know for sure either way until June.

I know if I have any success with my class, it is going to be all God's doing. I am at the end of my rope and trying my best to hang on.

Lily's "School"

Lily loves her school. We had a lazier morning, because my school system closed today for half an inch of snow. What can I say? We live in the south. I will say that I teach in a pretty rural area where there are very steep mountain roads that the buses have to contend with. I digress . . .

I took Lily to school, so she could have the preschool teaching portion of the day. I decided to take the morning and do a little shopping and cleaning since I have to pay for Lily to go whether or not I keep her home on days like this. It was the most relaxing, yet productive morning.

I picked her up after she ate lunch. She ran down the hallway saying, "I see Dr. Fay, I see Dr. Fay!" She ran in the open office door and raced around Dr. Fay's desk and got a big hug. Of course, the fact that Dr. Fay was on the phone didn't even cross Lily's mind. Oh, well. At least, Dr. Fay is welcoming AND forgiving!

We were walking to the car and with a HUGE smile Lily said, "Dr. Fay have sticker me!" It took me a minute to put it together. I asked her if Dr. Fay had a sticker for her. YES, mommy! I am most thankful that Branches is a place that Lily loves and a place that loves her!

Gung Hay Fat Choy and Happy Referral Anniversary!

I know this is a week late, but what can I say. Happy Chinese New Year! The first picture is the earliest picture we have of her and was taken when she was about 6 months old. The last two pictures were taken one day shy of one year apart. The doc said that she would grow the most in her first year home. Well, Lily has proven her wrong. I am amazed at how close I came to getting the distance right between the two pics. Lily grew 3 1/2 in. the first year home. She has grown 4 in. for the second year and she still has three months to go in the year!

Today is the second anniversary of our referral call. The day we first knew her name. We saw her face for the first time the next day. She hasn't changed much has she? Here is a recap of that beautiful moment two years ago:

We will never forget the day we received the phone call telling us that we had a daughter. Many of you have heard the referral story, but we can’t keep from telling it as it is a testament of God’s peace, providence, and timing. Jen was volunteering at our church Thursday mornings. Thursday, February 1st, was no different. We knew that referrals were arriving in Europe, but truly thought we might get skipped or at the very least not hear anything until the next day. Jen didn’t even keep the cell phone with her as she worked. Something made her go get the phone – just in case. As she was walking down the hall to find the phone, it rang! She immediately knew who was calling and what it was about as NO ONE had that number.

In an instant, God had given us what we had been longing and praying for. The next day we were able to see Lily’s face for the first time together Stephen’s work. Other adoptive families have said that the wait just melts away and becomes absolutely worth it once you receive your referral and see your child’s face. Of course, we couldn’t believe how that could be true until we experienced it ourselves.