Trunk or Treat!

Our church had a festival tonight with a trunk or treat. We have all enjoyed candy tonight. I will probably need to walk a few extra miles the next few days! Lily actually left her hat part of her costume up the whole time. We enjoyed our first Halloween as a family!

Park and McDs

The outfit is complements of our friends, the Conners, who adopted their daughter from China. We were glad to finally use it. Lily is sooo cute in it, but it hasn't been cold enough yet. It seems like we were just running our air-conditioning a couple weeks ago. We seem to have completely missed the lovely mild part of fall.

We went to the park and McDs for lunch with friends today. We really had no intention of going to McDs, but the park was over-run with 90 Kindergarteners on a field trip after we had only been there 15 minutes or so. The kids wanted to play more, so we headed to the Playland at McDs. We were even able to bribe Daddy to join us for lunch. You can get Steve to do just about anything for McDs!

Whew!

The pictures explain it all! I think we are going to need to start using the gate to keep her out of the kitchen.

God is our Protector

The rain was coming down in torrents! On the way to the study, I started to hydroplane a couple of times. My heart skipped a beart, but nothing too serious. However, it was much different on the way home. I'm not sure how fast I was going (our speedometer is not working), but the RPMs were well below 2000. I couldn't have been going more than 35 in a 55. Other cars were flying past me. In fact, there was car passing me when this happened.

There was a second where I truly believed we were going to hit the guardrail. I said ok God. The car is just a car, but keep Lily and I safe. I took my foot off the gas and didn't hit the brakes just like they teach you in driver's ed. We were sliding diagonally. I turned the wheel ever so slightly, the car started to veer into the left hand lane. We fish-tailed a bit, but soon we were heading straight again. We didn't hit anything or anyone.

They found it

We left one of Lily's blankets at the concert on Saturday night. I asked about it before we left, but it hadn't turned up yet. I called the venue today and they found it. They are going to mail it to us!!!! Now, Lily really doesn't care what blanket she uses when she is tired, but this one was special to me. It was the blanket we took to China. Her very first!

I continue to be amazed that God cares about me - even about the little things!

This picture was taken 2 days after we received her in China!

Woo Hoo - What a Weekend!

The meet and greet for the concert wasn't until after the concert was over. We thought it would be during the opening acts, so we thought we would be able to leave early, but alas we didn't.

PRAISE: The venue that hosted the concert had a nursing moms room. They offered the room for our use: diaper changes etc. We took her at intermission and too our great surprise, the room had a crib. Lily's always gone to sleep very easily, so we looked at each other and said - Hey, why not try. We turned out the lights, gave her her blanket, and laid her down. Out like a light. We just traded off turns returning to the concert. You could still hear almost everything from the room, so we still got hear the songs when we took our turns watching our little girl sleep. She was still cranky for the meet and greet, but not unbearable.

SCC had all three girls and Marybeth with him, so we were able to meet Shaoey and MB too. Maria and Stevie Joy went out on stage earlier, but were already asleep on the bus. Shaoey even signed a Shaoey and Dot book (book SCC MB co-wrote about adoption from China) with her Dad for us! The trip home was long, but we hit our pillows safe and sound at 2:15 am! Even bigger

PRAISE: Lily did awesome during the service. Our Pastor did an excellent job presenting the gospel and telling the story of a little girl from China (even pronounced her Chinese name correctly) who had ben orphaned and eventually found a family. At the end of the little story, he asked the audience if they would like to meet "Xu/Lily" They responded with a verbal Yes. The three of us walked up the middle aisle.

Our pastor said, " Come to your pastor". Lily literally ran to him in her squeaky shoes holding my finger. He held her for several more minutes and she didn't even bother his microphone! She had the church in stitches and tears all at the same time. I nearly bawled. We were at the church from 8:45 am to 12:30 (we participated in the early and late service with a brunch in between. I know some may think we were crazy for even attempting it knowing we were going to be out of town the night before, but we couldn't say no to God and an opportunity to actively participate in telling the salvation story.

God is good and his time is PERFECT Keep the faith. There is a reason for your struggles. You never know when an opportunity to minister to others will result. I never saw this coming!

Over the moon (in spite of the lack of sleep)!

Praise God for his timing

I've had an up and down week dealing with people understandingattachment and adoption, etc.

I have to say God does gives what we need when we need it. Sometimes, like today, he gives us an extra special blessing. We have been attending a new church (Lynchburg First Church of the Nazarene on Wards Rd in Lynchburg) for several weeks now. We are starting to feel connected and invested. Steve received a call from the pastor today.

He wants to use our story as part of his sermon illustration on Sunday. It is "friends day" and he will be comparing our adoption of Lily to God's adoption of us into his family at salvation. We will be participating in the 8:30 and 11:00 services with a brunch at 9:45 in between. You guys are more than welcome to come and visit if you would like!

What an honor for us. I have been feeling like I wanted to share our story with our church family for the last 6 mths, but we have been in transition - looking for a new church. I had no idea that God was waiting for this Sunday in our new church. A few months ago, I even gave up on the idea. I sent the pastor an e-mail with the testimony that I had typed up for Shaohannah's Hope, a few pics, and a map of guangdong.

We are going to have one heck of a weekend! Saturday we are travelling a couple hours to do a meet-and-greet with Steven Curtis Chapman at the concert near DC this Saturday. My mom and I met him just after Steve and I recieved our referral. I only had a picture in hand and Steve couldn't make it. So SCC asked us to come back when he was back in the area so he could meet Lily and Steve! Then Sunday morning our story will be used to illustrate the story of salvation!

Please pray for a hedge of protection over our family in the coming days as Satan just doesn't appreciate when God uses us to help spreadthe gospel!