Adkins Adventure - Our Family Way !

APRIL 15, 2008

2008-04-13T19:04:00.089-05:00

This is our first post since last fall and we're all doing fantastic ! We've had LiLi with us for 8 months now and she continues to blossom in every way possible. Her English is excellent (although a bit fast) and she loves school. She continues to memorize scripture with EJ and Dad and is very excited about learning how to read. Did we mention that she's more beautiful than ever ? When you're talking with her, don't be surprised if she blurts out "AND I AM ALSO BEAUTIFUL"....her Dad taught her to say that.

As always, the Adkins family tries to have as much fun as possible (when work and school are finished) and we've tried to capture a bit of that for you in the pics below.

FUN FAMILY NEWS:

Buckner International has published a story on our family. To check out the magazine version, go to http://www.buckner.org/downloads/08-beafamilyinsert.pdf. To check out the online version, go to http://www.beafamily.org/ss-picfamily.shtml. Or just let us know and we can get you a copy of the magazine.

Buckner has asked us to speak quarterly at their adoption seminars. We are excited and honored to be involved with adoption and family ministry in this way.

Missions Trip To Mexico: We will be participating in an interesting missions trip to Puerto Penasco this fall. This missions effort will involve a drama unlike anything you've ever heard of. Let us know if you're interested and we'll tell you all about it.

KDAF-TV has expressed interest in doing a feature on EJ during their sports program..........FUN ! (date & time ???)

Enjoy the pics below: The vid of EJ (at the bottom) was captured last year. We are so proud of him in every way (particularly with his studies and eagerness to learn) and excited to see what's ahead for him during 2008.

Sassy !!!

LiLi recently asked her Mom if she would teach her to read. Later when we asked her about it she said "I fink I be abel too reed beforrrr I 5 yeeer ode"

Friends recently gave us kitties ....and we need them to kill the rats and the mice. The mommy cat killed a fat rat within about 3 minutes after we got her here...we all watched and it was cooooool !

"there's more than one way to have fun on the landing pad of my

dirt bike jump" .....EJ

Fun at dusk !!!

On our Mexico Missions Trip in December 07: "it was great ministering and praying for people and I made a new friend...his name is Daniel Antonio Alonzo" ....EJ

Scoping out "Big Hill" at Rocky Ridge Riding Area. This pic was taken by a
journalist who was there doing a story on local riding areas....fun !

Riding with pals: "this is my bud...his name is Hud"

The vid below is a brief tribute to The Edge (2007 - 6 yr. old)(it takes a bit to buffer but it's worth it) When recently asked what he thinks about dirt bike riding he said: "it's fun.....I love to ride. But I don't think I want to be a racer or a freestyler....my goal is to never break a bone as long as I live".........EJ

God bless ! And as always, leave us a comment or shoot us an email (let EJ know what you think about his 2007).

madkins@travelers.com (MT)
mtadkins@pkfamily.com (Melissa)

A Top Spot

2007-10-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

God is good and continues to bless us beyond measure. The things He has done in our family over the years is incredible. As you can see, our daughter LiLi is very beautiful and is growing by leaps and bounds everyday. The rate of her psychological, emotional and spiritual growth continues to astound us, and we are as optimistic as you will find regarding how well children can and will grow and adjust according to God's plan in the home.

As we've noted in prior posts, she is spunky, playful and likes to tease. She is brave, tough and figures "if you can do it....then she can do it ! Did we mention that she's tough ! On the other hand she's gentle, loving and likes to snuggle. She's eager to please her Daddy & MaMa and continues to respond beautifully to loving guidance and training.

Eston is the incredible big brother that we knew he would be. He is gentle with her and always leads and guides, never manipulating, bullying or arguing with her.

LiLi helps her Mom out around the house daily and even helps Daddy and Eston with the rougher stuff outside once in a while. She sits in while Daddy reads to Eston in the evening and is beginning to memorize scripture right along side her big brother as well. We even have Eston read to her some in the mornings which we also believe will continue to improve her vocabulary and help understand concepts etc. It's amazing how easy it is for children to develop a love for learning, loving, helping and serving if we get them started on the right track early.

Before the pictures, we thought we'd take the liberty to throw down some tips for parents that we believe children everywhere would benefit from.

7 IDEAS ON HOW TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH OUR KIDS
by Mike & Melissa

Give Them A Top Spot
I believe all of us would agree that our children are one of our top priorities. However over time, our priorities can become jumbled a bit and even we can become confused about what's most important and why. Even more likely, we get going in a certain direction believing it's in line with our priorities when if fact it is not. If we’re not sure whether our life priorities are in their proper order, the following may help. We should write down the things that are most important in our life in the order of their importance. After completing the list, we should do a simple mental inventory of what we actually spend our time on. Many of us will be shocked to see how much of our time is spent on things that do not have eternal value and are not at the top of our list. Another idea is to take an inventory of the books, magazines, websites and programs that we’ve been reading/viewing. This will also show us what our priorities really are and could help us decide that we need to make some positive changes to how we spend our time. I believe all of us would agree that our children deserve A Top Spot. Let’s make the necessary adjustments and make certain that they know their place in our hearts and in God’s eyes.

Put Your Schedule On A Diet
If we were to take a look at some of our day-timers or schedule books, it would look like we’re trying to write a book on each page. It’s about time that some of us take a close look at our weekly and monthly schedule and amputate some stuff. If you really think about it, the time we have to spend with our children before they become adults is limited. Consider this, if we could share valuable time at home with our children every single day from the time they’re born until they turn 18 years old, that’s only 6205 times. How many sun-sets and sun-rises, tea parties or Lego building contests can we fit in during this time ? How many books can we read to them or scriptures can we learn together ? How much can we love, instill, guide, impart, share, train, instruct, talk and laugh ? How much can we squeeze in during those measly 6205 days ? I don’t know about you but I want to find out. If the stuff on our calendar doesn’t truly support the things that are most important to us then we should get rid of it. Think about how much more effectively we could focus on and impact our kids if we did.

Cut The TV Cord
Our kids need their parents not “Playhouse Disney” or “Game Boy”. Interaction with Dad and Mom is so much more beneficial to them than vegetating in front of a yak box. Even if the programming is wholesome (which most of it is not), children will grow and develop much more effectively by doing almost anything other than watching TV or playing video games. Some ideas on things you can do with your kids in place of TV include: exercise, read to them, play with them, enjoy games together, do puzzles, have them help you with a project, build a fort, take a country drive and talk about what you see....and the list go's on.

Let Them Help
How much of our week is spent on mundane tasks around the house ? Unless perhaps we are filthy rich, most of us spend several hours per week on such things as: preparing and cleaning up after meals, straightening up the house, doing laundry, managing our personal finances, bringing things in from the car, doing yard work etc. Sadly, these are hours that many parents miss the opportunity to impact their children. It doesn’t matter what age our children are, it is important for them to be involved with what we’re doing and for them to help. Admittedly it takes longer to get things done when they’re tiny but the benefit to them is well worth it. You’ll be surprised how much they love it and how helpful they can be at a very young age, particularly if you combine it with loving instruction and intimate conversation. Git-R-Done.

Exercise Together
We all know that regular exercise is important but instead of going solo, why not do it together. Instead of bouncing off the blab with 40 strangers in a colorful room down the road, why not walk it off with your family on a country trail. Instead of pumping up the triceps with sweaty, hairy strangers in a busy gym, why not do it at home. A good idea is to have your children work out at the same time that you do. There are plenty of great exercises that children of all ages can do safely (particularly if they have a Dad or Mom teaching them how). And you can use that time to teach them about the importance of regular exercise and proper diet. You can also teach them about setting and achieving goals, about thinking skills as well as lots of other things that are important for them to learn and have success at an early age. By exercising together, you will receive benefits that are much more valuable than a six pack.

Emphasize Sports And Other Physical Activities That You Can Do Together
Although there may not be anything wrong with organized sports, contrary to popular thinking, kids don't necessarily need to have some other child slapping them on the back or a strange coach in their life to teach them about teamwork or self confidence. This is the responsibility of the parents. Why not emphasize sports and activites that we can enjoy WITH our children. It doesn’t take $50,000 worth of gear and equipment to do this, all it takes is our time and commitment. There are so many types of sports and physical activities for us to choose from. Remember, this can and should be combined with loving, teaching, training, character building etc.

Choose A Career That Allows You To Be Home More
We all have to work to sustain our families but we should never let our work outside the home keep us from spending quality, one-on-one time daily with our children. So what if we can make an additional $25,000 more/year ? Will that really matter to us in 15 years when our children are grown up and living outside of our home ? (Besides, there are plenty of ways to accumulate wealth without having to be away excessively). We should try to never let a day go by without looking our children in the eyes and speaking to them in a way that only a dad or mom can. This is particularly important when our children are young. There will be time after they have left home to continue to make our millions, but when they are young, there is much more eternal value in being home where THEIR heart is.

Serving The Kids At Church

Ride Anyone ???

Hiking In Iowa

Boating on Lake Murray

Asleep After Helping With The Yard Work

New Record For Consecutive Push-ups In A Single Set !!!

Adventure Trip To Colorado

Stealth Search & Rescue Mission At Altitude

As always, we want to say thank you to all of you who continue to offer your love, support and prayer for our family. God Bless.....

SETTLING IN !!!

2007-07-29T11:25:00.000-05:00

Things continue to progress at a supernatural rate. As planned, we have been laying low as a family and spending a lot of time alone, just the four of us. We are just now really beginning to have people over for fellowship and fun. LiLi is doing wonderful and is really having a great time as you can see. She likes to be outside and really loves riding with Daddy or Mama on the dirt bikes. Although still reserved when around strangers, she's otherwise playfull, cheerful, tough and loves to wrestle, tickle, tease and laugh. Sometimes her and Melissa will play and laugh out loud for long periods of time. And like any child, she responds beautifully to precise, loving training and guidance. She is picking up English very well and can understand most of what we say. She continues to pick up new words and concepts everyday as well. The pics with some of our friends were taken here at our little ranch of 11 acres. We all rode the bikes a bit and as you can see, Mike, Jeremy and Tim had a race on the mini's.."men will be boys" ! We had fun. The pics with Mike's parents were taken at their beautiful home near Ardmore, OK. We laughed and played, the kids climbed in the tree house and Papa took them for a slow ride on his cruiser....what a fun day. Remember if you would like to enlarge the pics...simply double click on

them. Enjoy !

Fitting Right In

2007-07-22T19:11:00.000-05:00

Well, what do you think ? Take a look at the photos on the right side of this site (pics of us before LiLi) and then take a look at the photos we took today.....fitting right in eh ? I know it always gets better but right now I don't see how it can.

LiLi is blooming like a spring flower. She's repeating a lot of words after us and is beginning to use single words appropriately. She uses gestures and motions and single words to communicate, tease etc. and just has a great time with us. We believe she will be using full sentences in English in no time. She's responding beautifully to training as we lovingly guide and direct her behavior and attitude. Enjoy the pics.

HOME SWEET HOME !!!

2007-07-21T06:45:00.000-05:00

The pic on the right pretty much sums up how we feel. We're here and everything is fine. Our body clocks are still goofed up a bit but things are lining back up. It is so cool to be able to have so much fun when we're away and then it be even more fun when we come back home.

LiLi is doing excellent and of course is having a great time here. She is such a happy little girl when she lets her guard down (warning: it's up when she doesn't know you). We still talk everyday about how wonderful she is. Early this morning, Mike & I were re-discussing how it's as if we lined up all the little girls in world and hand-picked her. Wow !

There are a lot of special people who helped to sweeten our arrival. Mike's folks spent countless hours at our house while we were gone, helping to prepare our home and particularly LiLi's room. Other friends checked on our house, checked and watered our animals, mowed our grass (very big job...thanks Cody), picked up trash that stray animals scattered, bringing us a HUGE breakfast our first morning here; gifts for the kids and the list go's on. A very special thanks to the following people for all they've done (Jerry & Karen Adkins; Mike & Laura Tunnicliff; Mike & Malika Roberts; Jermaine and Polly McDaniel; and Cody & Stephanie Fain).

Thanks to all who continue to be interested and check our updates. It was encouraging and heart warming to get up early in the morning while in China and read each of the blog comments and emails of our friends and family. The pics below are a few that were taken after arriving home. Note the one of Mike and LiLi which was taken at around 4:00am this morning....can you say "jetlag". The one of Melissa, LiLi and Mike's mom is just before LiLi see's her room for the first time (Karen is so excited).

Still On Our Way Back

2007-07-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

Well we’re back on America’s time clock and it’s exactly 4:13am as we fly over the Pacific Ocean toward home. While reflecting on our trip, we know that this was something special. Not perfect, but special indeed. Sure we were able to do some touring in various cities in China; yes we got the surprise opportunity to experience Tokyo, Japan (very positive experience by the way); yep,the hotels were all top notch etc. but what made this trip special can be summed up with one word....relationships. Friendships were formed. As noted in previous posts, we’ve met some super people, all of whom were also adopting. Most already had children of their own, whether birth children or previously adopted children. What great parents each of these people are. We are better people because of our time spent with them on this trip. Eston made friends with the Zimmer boys. Wow are they great kids…we bragged on them the whole trip. Mike nicknamed one of em’ Six Pack Zack (Zack – 8 years old) because he has one. Our family is also being brought together more as we definitely went through some new stuff on this trip as a family and we handled it all very well. It’s amazing how God will work in your life if you’re obedient to Him and if you simply exercise his principles. Most notably, is the wonderful relationship that has blossomed between Melissa and our daughter. We have only had her for 11 days now and it’s practically a miracle that they were able to bond in the way they have so quickly. Again, please understand that it hasn’t been easy the whole time. She has painfully endured some genuine grieving for her Chinese foster family. But just as a friend recently noted on our site, LiLi is grieving and bonding simultaneously. God is good and continues to bless us. Thank you for all of your prayers for us and interest in this most recent journey of ours. We will post after we get back home to let everyone know what LiLi thinks of the place we’ve been telling her so much about…..home.

Held Up In Tokyo Japan

2007-07-18T11:17:00.000-05:00

It is now after 2:00am in TOKYO, JAPAN (a little after 12:00 noon in Texas). We've had a wonderful time abroad but we're now held up in Japan for a bit. There have been some bumps and bruises along this journey but everything will work itself out of course. We have a really interesting story about how God sends angels in disguise to assist us once in a while. We'll tell the story to anyone who inquires.

For those of you who are planning to greet us at the airport on Wednesday night.....DON'T, because we won't be there. We are trying to make it in on Thursday night but still not sure what will happen. We really appreciate all of you who inquired about our return flights hoping to greet us. Please know that we are experiencing some communication difficulties which is why we haven't contacted you to let you all know about the change with our arrival time. Believe it or not, we don't have any of your numbers because they are all on our mbl phones. We can't turn our phones on to get numbers to call you because: First, Mike's mbl phone disappeared during the first couple days of our trip. Second, Melissa's mbl phone charger got fried because of the difference in electrical outlets in China and now can't be charged up to access phone numbers to call you. And lastly, we lost our ability to send/receive emails as of yesterday. What we did do a few minutes ago was call Melissa's mom (only number we knew by memory) and ask her to call Mike's mom to ask her to call people to inform them we were not coming in on Wednesday night. Truly hope that everyone gets the message.

Just want to say that we are blessed, thank God. We have a couple of rugged, travel weary kiddos that continue to impress us and blow our minds every day. LiLi has been throwing up a lot on the flights but never cries and never complains. She just does her business and then go's back to smiling or back to sleep or back to picking on Eston or back to loving on her mom or whatever she was already doing. We are crazy about our kids. As always, thanks for the comments and emails. God bless.

Adkins Four

"Coming To America"

2007-07-17T19:21:00.000-05:00

It’s about 3:00am here on Wednesday, July 18th (2:00pm in Texas on Tuesday, July 17th).

Well, our time in The Peoples Republic Of China is over. We have left Guangzhou and are now in Beijing for our final night in this strange land. Then from Beijing arriving in Texas, America on Wednesday night, July 18th.

We must say….this had been like a dream ! We feel like we’ve had LiLi for weeks now….she’s doing so well. She’s everything we hoped for and more. We’re so excited about her and everything God had done for us. We’ve absolutely loved our time here in China and definitely would like to come back soon. We are in agreement that this has been the greatest time of our lives.

We’ve met so many great people here and have got to know some of the other adoption families better. One thing we’re certain of, these families who are adopting are very special people. Extra special ! Many of the families that we’re getting to know are also adopting “special needs” children just like LiLi. A great example is the Zimmer family (see Rick and lil’ Faith with Mike and LiLi below). Faith is precious and believe us when we say…she is full of life. Yes, the parents we’ve met here who are adopting are very special people indeed and we’re better people to have met them.

The first pic below is all of the adopted angels from our group. This is the famous “red velvet chair pic” of all the kids. The rest of the small pics are of our time at the “White Swan” during the last couple days of this wonderful trip.

We really hope that this website has provided you a glimpse of just how special this time has been for this Adkins family. We’ve tried not to be too detailed with our daily posts. For those of you interested, please know that we would be happy to share any and all thoughts and details of our trip with anyone who is interested. We welcome any questions or comments. May God bless all of you.

Church In China/Another Great Day !!!

2007-07-15T08:30:00.000-05:00

Can you believe we attended church service this morning ? It was hot, dusty and the pews were rock hard but best of all….it was jam packed ….standing room only with chairs lines up and down the aisles. As most of you probably know, in the past it was basically against the law to have church or openly profess faith in Christ. Today, it was so exciting to see lifelong Chinese citizens praying and worshiping the one true God. Worship service included songs in mandarin and English but an interpreter was used for the message. It was really something to behold and we believe it was LiLi’s first church service. I guess she’ll be experiencing a lot of firsts from here on out.

We are staying in the famous “White Swan Hotel” in Guangzhou (http://www.whiteswanhotel.com/). Hopefully the pics below will show a fraction of it’s beauty as well as how much fun we’re having

Never to Leave the Edge out:

Evening Time:

Floats Like A Butterfly, Stings Like A Bee (Forget About Muhammed....We're Referring To LiLi !

2007-07-14T08:55:00.000-05:00

Her right cross is swift and her ability to flail toys with precision is uncanny. That she was treated like royalty by her foster parents….there is no doubt. Words and phrases that come to mind when thinking of the flower that God so graciously bestowed upon us: lovely, firecracker, beautiful, pistol, lovely, pinball, pure, wild thing, sweet, punchy, helpful, likes to pick (on Eston & her nose); tough; sensitive, chili pepper, laughy, emotional, show out,………GOD SENT !

Even the above does not do justice to describe her and the pics mostly only show her serious/concerned side and some show her posy/sweet side. To illustrate our point: A couple of days ago while playing, she popped Edge on his already bruised eye. He simply slipped away trying to hide his tears (it hurt a bit but mostly his feelings). Yesterday while wrestling, she flung a toy (with precision) and hit Mike in the mouth. Today, she & Edge were wrestle/playing and she kicked him off the bed onto the corner of the night stand. It’s safe to say that we have our hands full but we know we’re up to the task. Regarding training and Kingdom Parenting (as we like to call it), with Eston we started when he was zero…..so this will definitely be different. As was the case however before Eston was born, we have spent much time thinking, praying and preparing how we would handle each situation with our daughter. It’s super cool to watch Melissa as she is already patiently training LiLi in a variety of areas. Even with the language barrier, it’s obvious LiLi loves it and is certainly responding beautifully.

We feel so very blessed that God would continue to entrust us with his most precious of gifts….life. As usual, the pics below are shown in the order in which they were taken earlier today.

In-Country Travel

2007-07-13T12:02:00.000-05:00

It's after 2:00am here (1:00pm Texas time). This is Mike writing and we had planned to do a special post to give readers a better understanding of what our daughter is really like. We were unable to finish it due to our exhaustion so perhaps we can post that one tomorrow. The big news of the day is the fact that we traveled from where we've been staying for the past 5 days to another province. Here we are joining some of the other families who are adopting and will take care of a lot of particulars during the next few days. Tomorrow we have a medical appointment for LiLi (required by the Chinese government). We won't bore anyone with more of these details right now...we try to stick to the more interesting stuff.Today started off relaxing but the late travel sure beat us all up. First breakfast (first pic) then later a work out in the hotel gym. At one point during the day, Mike and Eston went out into the streets to watch and film people (still can't get over how the local people are intrigued by us....tried to capture it some on video). Little LiLi grieved deeply today.... you can see her holding a pic of her foster family while Melissa loved and comforted her. It was a very emotional time for all of us. Miss then had her listen to some Christian hymns in Mandarin (which she loves by the way). After that, she fell asleep in Melissa's arms and then Melissa shared some one-on-one time with Edge ........(her mommy ability is truly off the charts.....approaching sainthood if you ask me).LiLi's first travel by air went smooth...she didn't mind it at all. Enjoy the pics for the day and perhaps we can get out a better post for you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in.

The People of Changsha, China

2007-07-12T06:02:00.000-05:00

Below are a few comments from each member of our family about our experience with the Chinese people. These comments are derived mostly from our experiences here during the past few days and conversations with these wonderful people.

Melissa: I love the Chinese people and my experience here has been very enjoyable. I look forward to coming back again some day. I love a lot of the things about their culture. The Chinese women are very beautiful. Their country is so rich in history….it’s very fascinating. The country seems very crowded and busy. The cities flow with people in a sort of a robotic yet chaotic yet familiar routine. The demeanor on the faces of people seem to show discontentment and lack of fullfillment. The hopelessness in their soul is obvious to me yet they seem to have conceded to it. Even though they are controlled by their government, if they knew Christ they would have freedom, contentment and joy that no man could take away.

Eston: I think they’re pretty great…or nice I mean. They sure give me a lot of attention. They’re being really nice to me. I like the way they dress. They get a lot of exercise because they ride bicycles a lot to get around. They are sort of different from Americans in the way they look, their language, and the way they think. They think everyone should be the same, they don’t have freedom……the government is communist.

LiLi: "Gongustimuyyen waaiiannniiii donglarrrr yoshueeeoooow"

Mike: First, I want to say that our experience here has been wonderful. I have really enjoyed interacting with the Chinese people and simply talking with them. Everyday, we meet new people that can speak English a little. It is fascinating and I don’t want it to end yet. As we’ve stated in previous posts, the locals stare relentlessly in wonder and amazement at this American Family….. and their genuine curiosity is blatantly obvious. They also watch from a distance…... they seem to desperately want to know what we’re thinking and if we are really like what they see on TV (of course we’re not). They seem intrigued at how we interact with each other as a family unit, the way we love on each other and particularly how we treat our children (playing and talking with them). Hopefully, God will use this in a supernatural way to reveal himself, I must say it has been difficult not to verbally witness the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people (we have been instructed not to do so). For the most part, they seem to be nice, friendly, courteous and accepting of us. I’m really enjoying our visit here and expect to return again soon. On another note, the fact that women are considered second class citizens here is very obvious. American women living in the states who constantly complain about equality should travel to any other country around the world and study their customs.

Summary of our day today: Breakfast downstairs (very good breakfasts with mostly Chinese food and some American ). Play time in one of the hotel play areas. A visit to a local embroidery shop (the talent of the workers, the detail in the embroidery etc.. is absolutely incredible). We did buy a couple of things for LiLi’s room while there. We had lunch at McDonalds (yes you read correctly and we enjoyed the burgers and mcnuggets). Back to the hotel for family interaction, relaxation, swimming, play time, dinner, and visits with a few of the other families who are adopting. LiLi continues to bloom. As usual, the pics below are shown in the order in which they were taken during the day. Let us know what you think.

"One Day In China"

2007-07-11T07:57:00.000-05:00

Today while Mike & I were walking behind our daughter, Mike leaned over to me and whispered the following words “my oh my….it’s as if we lined up all of the little girls in the world and personally hand picked her”. I responded by saying “yea, she’s the one we would have picked”.

LiLi continues to grieve outwardly but she’s handling it all like a winner (must be that Adkins blood flowing in her veins)(yes, this is Mike writing…dadgummit). Anyway, Melissa is the one that LiLi adores but she’s warming up to Mike and Eston as you can see in the pics. Our Wednesday started out by all of us loving on each other and just playing and talking. Mike was awake much of the night and took a pic of LiLi and Miss sleeping at about 4:00am (first pic). After eating breakfast downstairs and playing in the one of the play areas, we headed off to a local museum that featured one of the Chinese dynasty’s that existed about 100 years B.C. It is supposedly one of the best museums in all of China. After that, we had lunch at another authentic restaurant where the Chinese food was just incredible (PF Changs is our favorite in the states but there’s no comparison whatsoever). Later, we went for a swim and just continued to enjoy each other as much as possible. Later in the evening after having dinner (we’ve been having room service every night), the kids colored and looked at books.... and later we bounced on the bed and played. Before bed time, Melissa read them a book (LiLi is already starting to repeat words back to us in English). While Melissa put LiLi to bed, Mike and Edge went for a stroll around the hotel to talk and play.... and just visit about whatever Edge wanted to visit about (as it turned out, he had questions about a familiar discussion they have about the difference between being “a winner and being a loser in life”).

We truly hope that we’re not implying that LiLi is perfect or that everything here is perfect….because certainly it is not ! LiLi continues to outwardly grieve and is revealing that she can be very “testy” (understatement) but, certainly we are doing the best we can to express ourselves and our experience here as accurately as is possible (without being too detailed). Bottom line is that we are crazy about HER and we are having a wonderful time. Please continue to share this experience with us and feel free to comment as you feel led. God bless.

Wow !!!

2007-07-10T08:48:00.001-05:00

We will start this post by quoting something that Eston said yesterday. While we were on our way to get LiLi, he spoke up and asked the following question to our adoption representative. “ummm, so Ashley, when do we need to pay the money…..……..you know…..to buy LiLi ?”

It’s 10:30pm here (9:30am in Texas). This is Mike writing (Miss is with me right now…we’re so excited about everything): The pictures show a lot but just can’t do this justice. We want to say that God has given us way more than we could have ever asked for, expected or…….(emotional)…..even thought possible (See Ephesians 3:20). We are unable to truly describe how we feel about what is going on right now. For all out there who will have the pleasure of meeting our girl LiLi……..well, we don’t know what to tell you…..we’re speechless on the issue because words will not do it justice. We will do our best here so bear with us.

LiLi is still grieving but at the same time is growing very, very close to Melissa. She won’t let her out of her site and hugs and loves on her all day. They laugh and play; they talk even though they can’t understand each others words; they interact in such a lovely way…it’s truly difficult to describe. Today was such a beautiful day, so wonderful to watch this little girl heal and watch her let her guard down. She trusts Melissa with all of her heart already and her BIG personality is rushing like water from a bursting dam. She picks and pokes on Eston, teasing him and laughing….like she's been with us all along. She sings and talks in mandarin and has such a good time. She plays hard and apparently doesn’t feel physical pain. Eston is still trying to figure it all out. He desperately wants to hug and love on her but she’s not quite ready for him yet (or me either (Mike) for that matter). Though, there were a couple of occasions today where she sure enjoyed hugging her big brother “gaa gaa” as you can see in the pictures.

The pics below are shown in the order in which they were taken today. Thanks for all the comments…we love reading them first thing in the morning when we wake up.

THE BIG DAY !!!

2007-07-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

Well, where do we start. Isn't she beautiful !!! This must be what God meant in James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father (Eston just picked that out of one of his books and read that too us a few minutes ago). I guess we’ll mostly let the pictures do the talking. The first picture on the right was taken after we got back to our hotel room. She was already enjoying fun interaction with her forever mommy. The other pics below are pretty self explanatory. They begin with a few that were taken when we first met her. After taking her from the government office, we went back to our hotel room for a little while. Later, we went to lunch with our agency representative, Ashley. LiLi is a whiz with chop sticks (or a fork) and loves rice and vegetables of course. After lunch, and after Ashley left, we mostly stayed in our room but occasionally went out to walk around, or play in one of the childrens play areas in the hotel. She loves the sticker book.

There’s so much to say. For those of you wondering, the Chinese woman is not her foster mom...she's an orphanage representative.

We know that LiLi did receive the gift we sent and had it all with her in her purse when we met. It seems that she had wonderful foster parents who loved her very much. She is very smart and obviously spent a lot of time with her foster mamaa’. For that, we are so very thankful. However, because she loves her family so much, her grieving will be difficult for her. She is doing great as you can see from the pictures, but she is grieving deeply because she is being taken away from everything that she has known. Right now, she wants to go back home to her family. Many times during the day, she would put her flip flops on, go and get mine for me to put on and then gather all of her things together in her purse. She would then say mamaa’ (and then speak something very clearly in mandarine). Walking me to the door I knew she wanted to take me outside. She would push the elevator button herself; once down in the lobby, she would lead me outside and while pointing at the buses would talk to me in mandarine. (She was asking me to take her home). On the other hand, it’s obvious she knows we are her parents. She wants to go back to what’s familiar to her but she also has a peace and a calmness about her spirit. It’s obvious that her foster family has prepared her for this day. She’s been calling us babaa’ and mamaa’ since the moment she met us. The little family picture album that we sent her is worn out and it’s obvious that she has been looking at it a lot. Even the t-shirt we sent her with our pictures on it is faded and worn. We are happy that she is grieving…we know that it’s healthy for her. We’ve prayed from the beginning that her grieving would be immediate and healthy. Even so, it is difficult for Mike and I because we know she’s hurting. We believe that her foster mom is probably the one hurting the most.

An Interview With Eston

2007-07-08T17:53:00.000-05:00

Q – Edge, what would you think if we asked you a few questions before we go to get your sister ? Eston - Well, I think that would be best.

Q – Tell us about your visit to China so far ? Eston - I pretty much liked it…..”because I don’t love things” but I sure liked it tremendously. It’s been pretty nice, nice people, nice hotels. I made two friends.

Q - What do you think about having a sister ? Eston - Well, I really do like it. We’re going to have a great time and I’m going to love her with all my heart I think. I know she’s going to be right here talking to us in just a few hours.

Q – What does it mean to you to be a big brother ? Eston – I like it. A big brother will need to do a lot, get things for her, teach her a lot of stuff and just help her until she learns to do things for herself. You’d need to help her learn to talk and help train her.

Q – What type of training do you think would be important ? Eston - All sorts of training, like train her to obey, train her to know scriptures. And sort of secondly important is for her to learn about history, to know about Jesus and all the people that died for us during wars and about the Declaration of Independence.

Q – What do you think LiLi is going to be like ? Eston - At first I think she will be mad and sad and maybe cry a lot but then I think later she will know she’s a part of our family, laugh a lot, be happy and a funny little girl. I’m gonna love on her the whole time and my whole life until she really gets to know us and knows everything that we know. I’ll remember this day for all of my life !

Not Yet .....

2007-07-08T07:31:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, we were not able to get LiLi today as hoped. We are scheduled to get her tomorrow morning at 9:30am on July 9th (8:30pm Texas time on July 8th). We were disappointed, but we are also able to rest a bit today after getting checked in to our hotel. We really need it after the past few days (see prior posts for details). Today, we walked around outside of our hotel room {which is really nice by the way} in Changsha. I don’t think we’ve ever felt more out-of-place in our life. We were the only non-Chinese people within site. A really strange feeling (understatement). Everyone (and we do mean everyone) stared relentlessly and analyzed us as they almost fell off of their bike, cart, mo-ped, bus or off the back of the truck they were riding on. Some on the street would try to speak to us…… they are really getting a kick out of Eston. We realize we are not being very detailed or specific in our posts but this whole process is incredible. We know that we haven’t seen anything yet, as tomorrow we will have LiLi and our lives will forever be changed. Thanks to everyone for your comments and emails of support and encouragement.

Is Today The Day ?

2007-07-07T17:01:00.000-05:00

We sure hope so ! We are headed to Changsha, in the Hunan Provice where LiLi is (about a 2 hour flight).

Eston and I were talking early this morning (about 4:30am) about how there is no greater a gift that God gives than a life. Today might be the day when God stretches out His hand, opens it and says this is the gift that I have been waiting to give you. Wow...what an honor to be entrusted with a diamond from Heaven.

I opened my bible yesterday to Hosea and my notes at the top read "What is love? Very simply...the answer read "A burden barrier"! Love is when one bares anothers burdens. , My prayer for LiLi is that all the rejection, all the feelings of abandament, religion, curses etc. be left here. I know that God can do that because He has done that for me. Our responability is very simple.....juust spend time polishing the gift. What a great day today will be.

We love to hear from home.

"The Great Wall"

2007-07-07T09:23:00.001-05:00

This is Mike writing: It's about 11:40pm here now which means it's about 10:40am in Dallas, TX. It's been a very full day and Miss and Edge already fell asleep. We started by getting up early, having breakfast downstairs and heading off with the other adoption families for some touring. We made several stops with the "The Great Wall" being the most significant (first pic). The second pic is Eston in an upper area of an ol' look out station of "the wall"....we got a lot of exercise today. The next is Edge and a local boy. The boy's family literally grabbed Eston and placed him beside their son and started taking pictures. Eston's blonde curly hair and skin hue brings him a lot of attention in a place like this. People doted on him all day (particularly the chinese women). I watched as one gentleman stared at Eston for awhile and finally walked over to him and simply begain touching his hair and poking on him...it was interesting but fun to watch. We also stopped by the Ming Emperors tombs. We did a lot more today but I will stop here. Even in midst of all this fun, there is something we can't stop talking about....LiLi. We had fun talking with the other families about our daughters that we will be meeting and taking home soon. We might get LiLi tomorrow. Stay tuned.

We Made it to Beijing !!!

2007-07-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

It's 11:50pm in Beijing, China (9:50 am in Dallas, TX) and we just got to our hotel room a little bit ago.

This is our first posting from abroad and we are happy to say “WE MADE IT ! Mike and I have slept very little the past few days (we have been traveling a total of about 28 hours straight now including drive time, airport time, flight time etc..) I guess it’s the excitement and anticipation. Eston didn’t sleep much either but of course he's had a lot of fun all along the way. At one point when we were flying from Dallas to Tokyo, he had tears in his eyes. When I asked him if he was ok, he said he had “tears of joy”.

Tomorrow morning, we will meet some of the other families and tour the Great Wall of China. We’re really looking forward to that but all we can really think about or talk about is HER…..our beloved LiLi.

The attached picture was taken in Tokyo, Japan a few hours in the airport (sorry about the quality). We should post some of the "Great Wall" tomorrow night.

It is difficult to describe what we're going through. We are finally completing the last and final phase and should see our daughter within a couple of days.

A little delayed but we're off on the 5th !!!

2007-07-04T21:19:00.000-05:00

We experienced some delays but we're leaving on Thursday 5th (standby travel). We will depart Dallas and fly AA direct to Tokyo, Japan. A few hours after we arrive there, we will pick up a flight on Japan Airlines to Beijing, China. We will arrive in Beijing very late at night on July 6th. We will meet up with some folks on the 7th and do some touring and expect to get LiLi on the 8th (which is actually the 7th in America). We hope to add a very special post with pictures as soon as possible after we get her. Stay tuned.

New Name For LiLi

2007-06-30T10:41:00.001-05:00

I'm sure this will come as a surprise to everyone, but we've decided to make a change in LiLi's name. Her name will be LiLi Praise (as opposed to LiLi Grace) ! The name Praise is a name that we've been considering for some time now, but ........ was confirmed during a time of worship at church on Sunday (June 24th). When we sat down, I leaned over to Mike and said " her middle name is "Praise" ! (Mike was excited because it was he who suggested that name several weeks before). In Psalms 89:9 it says "with my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations. Psalms 100:4-5 says "enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into is courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth to all generations". Only by praise and worship can we enter into His presence and have intimacy with Him. God said for one generation to teach the next generation to praise Him. That is my prayer for LiLi ...... to know what it means to be able to enter into His presence and to Know Him.

A Bedroom for LiLi

2007-06-28T07:33:00.000-05:00

I Have always imagined LiLi walking into her very own room, while we say to her "everything we have is yours". I wanted her room to be calming , peaceful, and fun and thanks to some great people it's becoming that. First, our pastors (Randy & Jenny) along with the Cashions blessed us with new carpet (carpeted our entire house for us...can you believe that?). Mike's mom (Karen) has been helpful from the beginning, pitching in with much of the hard work and offering ideas as well. My friend, Malika Roberts (a professional artist and interior designer) wanted to help with LiLi's room just because she wanted to bless us..... and that she did and then some. She painted cherry blossoms on her wall and created cool ideas for LiLi's space , such as a french bistro, and LiLi's own reading room which used to be her closet. I will have pictures when we are done with it. In addition to this....Malika painted some cool bears and trees on Eston's walls...how neat! Thank you so much....you have blessed us more than we can say.

The Champ !

2007-06-28T06:51:00.000-05:00

This is Mike writing: If any of you had asked my son Eston how he is doing during the past few days, he would have immediately said "Great" ! There are a few reasons he would say this - 1) because that's how we've taught him to be; and 2) because he is. In reality though, he's had it pretty rough the past several days. For starters, he lost his beloved dog. Then, he lost both of his front teeth (natural course of things when your 6 years old); and then to cap it all off, he jumps off the couch and blacks his right eye. Of course the loss of his and LiLi's pet was the toughest on him (and how it happened was a bad situation). "Miss Annie" was a beautiful blonde lab (athletic and sweet as sugar) that we got when she was only a few weeks old. The Edge and her sort of grew into our new home together out here on the farm. They used to race through the pasture at full speed (Edge on his dirtbike) and wrestle in the grass. She is missed. Even with all of this and with his mom and dad caught up in final preparations, he's come through it all like The Champ he is. Even though I know that I'm his leader, I'm amazed at how much I learn from him and how much I'm edified by him. I'm convinced he will be the best big brother ever !

A Post for Polly

2007-06-25T17:43:00.001-05:00

We would like to say thank you to our friends Jermaine and Polly. They have done many thoughtful things for our family (and particularly our son Eston) during this process and over the years. This is especially cool of them as they too may be adopting children in the future. We thought we'd share the following poem that Polly recently wrote about how she believes we feel as we wait to see our daughter. This is amazing !

This Child

Long before we see her

She is the essence of our dreams

Oh, we long to meet her

There's been no end (it seems)

Dad has prayed to God

"Protect my little girl"

Mom has prayed the same

"This child she is our world"

Eston too has waited

To hug his little sister

And one day she will realize

How much he really missed her

Now the time has come

To love This Child completely

We will wrap her in our arms

And call her our sweet LiLi

Shower For LiLi

2007-06-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

Some special friends of ours put on an "adoption shower" for us on May 5th, 2007. It was a very special day for us as many of our friends and family were present to offer their love and support. We received many thoughtful gifts and for that we thank you so very much. The photos below show only a fraction of our wonderful experience on this day. We want to offer a special thank you to Malika Roberts who hosted the shower and to Pam Robertson who helped her (first pic below with Melissa). Lisa West spent several hours making the cake and it was special. We also want to say thank you to our friend Polly McDaniel who took all of the photos on this day (Polly has also done a tremendous amount more for us and we will most likely dedicate a post to her and her husband Jermaine at a later date).

Hymns In Mandarin

2007-06-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

A dear friend of mine named Malika gave us a CD for LiLi called "The Canaan Hymns Jesus in China". The songs are in Mandarin (Chinese language) and they sound beautiful. These songs were written be a shy peasant girl (named Xiao Min)....a girl who can't even read music. In the 1990's Xiao Min went to her aunt's underground bible study. She became born again, during worship time and time of meditating on God's word, the Holy Spirit would come and bring her songs, Xiao Min wrote over 1000 songs in a short amount of time. Chinese Christians worship to these songs all over China. We will be taking these songs with us to comfort LiLi, but most of all this might be the first time she hears about the one who adores her. I can picture her now with her little head set on during the plane ride home with peace on her face. She will fullful her name. This is a most awsome time in our lives.....

Package for LiLi

2007-06-21T10:16:00.000-05:00

Knowing we would be traveling soon we wanted to send LiLi a package. We found out that a family was headed to China to pick up their little girl and were willing to take our little package with them and try to get it to her. We could not put a lot in it so we wanted to make sure it would be things that would help her not be so shocked when she sees us. So we made a picture book with pictures of us, her room and her dog. Eston and I made a bracelet from one of my pearl bracelet's, we put a flower charm and a locket on it . I wanted it to be a family picture but all of our faces would not fit so it ended up with only mine. We got a t-shirt made up for her with Eston and her dog on the front that said "Big brother" in Chinese and Mike, Eston and I on the back which said "Daddy and Mama" in Chinese, a red bow and a piece of a blanket that will be sown together with the other piece when she comes home.

We are HOPING she received our love package.

All about Hou Yan Li

2007-06-18T21:27:00.000-05:00

Melissa has had it on her heart to adopt ever since she was a little girl. She first told Mike about her desire to adopt soon after they started dating back in 1990. Mike was only 20 at the time and was by his own admission quite indifferent about the whole thing. However, after we got married God placed the same desire into his heart as well. Admittedly we've waited quite awhile to begin this process (we've been married 14 years)but again, we believe this is all in God's timing. Many people have asked "Why China"? Melissa has always believed that we would adopt from China however over the years we did seek God and investigate other options. As the time grew closer, we both felt strongly that our daughter was there waiting for us.....

Hou Yan Li, was found on March 17th 2004 (she was approximately 6 months old) in the Xia Yang Village bus station of Yan in a town in the Hunan Province. She wore a simple coat and there were two bags of clothing left with her. The Xia Yang police station tried to find her parents but nothing was found. On the same day, she was sent to the social welfare house. They estimated her birthday as September 06, 2003.
She has been in foster care for a year and a half now and we assume she was in an orpanage before that. The pics on the right are 2 more of the very few we've received. We don't know how old she is in these pics or where she was at the time. According to some of the papers we've recieved on her, her caretakers say Yan Li is a clever girl, sweet and she is always greeting others in her neighborhood. They say she loves to get her picture taken, and likes to be taken to the supermarket and playground. It will be fun to see what kind of personality she has.

I think about her birth mom and how hard it must have been dropping her little baby off at a bus station after having her for 6months. What name did she call her? What was the last thing she spoke to her little girl....and how painful and lonely that night must have been. There is still not alot of choices in China. Families are heavily penalized if they have more than one child. Boys are prefered so that they can take care of their parents and carry on the Family name.

The name God had given me years ago for our daughter was "Lily" referring to the lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon. A Lily is one of the flowers that represents Jesus. They grow in the valleys and hillsides of Israel and their trumpet shapes represent the prophetic that sound the good news. They also bow as in worship, are filled with gold on the inside and the white shows the purity. They are found at both weddings and funerals, as He is with us in all things and at all times.

Her name is more than a name, it's who she is, a worshiper of God, to proclaim His name like a trumpet. When we first got Lili's profile it said " A little girl name "Lili". We were so excited about that and have now decided to spell it that way. We call her "Lily" spelled LiLi and will most likely pronounce it as LeeLee some as well. You may refer to her however you choose. I say God gave me her name because He gave me a passion to adopt from China when I was very young. When God births something on the inside of us He will bring it to pass. One day she will know-----we are so in love with Lili, everyday I say "She has no idea". She has no idea how much we talk about her, how much we think about her or pray for her. She has no idea all the peparations, and how long we have waited. One day she WILL know.