Our little men

The first week the boys have been out of school has been busy, and I think my little men

deserve some credit as they have also had their own sacrifices to make along this journey.  In particular, Thursday, they had the delightful opportunity to have their second round of the Hep A vaccine, which is truly not fun as I can remember being sore myself for several days afterward.  Little David has actually been running a low fever the past couple of days as a result, but at least now that is behind us and we can look forward to the rest of the summer with hopefully little to no torture!  There at least is some silver lining on this part of the process though in that these shots were covered by our insurance for both of the boys!  Yeah! Finally something in this adoption is free!! And it will last them for the next 30 years if they do any more international travel like mission trips as they get older.  Hopefully they will thank me then for getting this out of the way.  This small cookie cake was a unanimous agreement by the boys as we had to pick up a few things at Publix before there appointment.  I felt like it was well deserved to make the shots sting a little less-and for all they've put up with along this journey as mom and dad have put so much extra time into the process.  

Looking back over the year, we could not be prouder of our little men and how they've grown up and matured, and I am sure most of you parents would say the exact same thing about your children.  They still have their moments (and hours:) of course, but there have been many times when I have been so pleasantly surprised by a grown up response, or unexpected display of manners, which gives me hope that they actually are paying attention to their parent's attempt to raise them at lease some of the time:) But even more than that we are excited about their growth in faith and the knowledge of God.  And we pray that this trip to China would not only be the trip of a lifetime, but a trip that God would use to forever change their hearts and lives to be used for His glory.

And with that-we are planning to take them to a very fun but economical  getaway next weekend to Six Flags over Georgia.  Andrew's job requires him to travel sometime, but we as a family get the perks of hotel reward points every once and a while so we have 2 free hotel nights and also a discount to Six Flags through his work!  So we'll have the opportunity for some affordable crazy fun (before we drain our bank account completely) with just us and the boys before we bring Kailyn into our lives and so we'll not be going on roller coasters for a while.   China will be the trip of a lifetime-but at the same time it will not be the same as going to Disney.  Please pray for our boys for this trip-I know there'll be parts they love and parts that may make them hate it (jet lag, the food..).  Mom and dad will be giving a lot of our time and attention to another child-their new sibling- and we'll get her just a day or two after our arrival in China (so thank goodness for Aunt Sherry!)  So this will be a lot of adjustment for our boys.  We've been told that they will find kid friendly things for us to do-like the zoo- and other site seeing around Kailyn's province-which I am looking forward to.  And we will also be staying in a big city (the provincial city of Nanchang I believe) so this should be quite an experience.  But you all know what I mean- site seeing to a child, is not like a beach trip or Disney-particularly if you have two little men who need their chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.  So please pray that the boys will be just as enthused about their experience on the other side of the world as we will be.  Thank you!

Amy

Shower!

Yesterday some moms that I have become friends with through the preschool that both of my boys have attended graciously gave me a shower for Kailyn!  It was so perfect (at the playground-with kids) and such a wonderful memory to have as a part of this adoption journey!  I am so thankful for the support that God has placed all around us during this adoption and I could not feel more blessed to have gotten to know these wonderful ladies.  On the cake was the verse Phillippians 4:13-I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength- which also sums up where our strength is coming from to finish the tasks that God has give our family to do at this time.   As we look back over the past year and a half, since we have started this journey, it seems like God has taken this time to push us to the end of ourselves in so many ways and has give us so many other issues to plow through on top of this adoption.  This may sound a little strange to some of you, but there have been so many times when I have felt the weakness of my own flesh, completely exhausted mentally and emotionally not only because of the roller coaster of the adoption process, but also as we have felt God moving us to work toward some other goals.  But at the very same time, feeling a strength and energy that is not coming from within ourselves at all, that keeps us moving forward and striving toward the goals that are set before us.  And for this we are very thankful and give God all of the glory and praise.  


I love this verse because it is talking about a seemingly impossible task that Zerubbabel cannot possibly make happen on his own.  But God is telling him that it will not be done by his might-but by God's spirit.

Zechariah 4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. "

Amy

Still chuggin along:)

I got an email last night that Ann had received our care package and would be sending it out the next day!  So Kailyn will be getting her luvees, clothes and also seeing pictures of her family for the first time! Yay!  To the side is a picture of some long jing tea, also called dragon well tea that Ann is going to add to our care package for Kailyn's caregiver.  Ann is also going to translate a letter that we wrote to her caregiver as well and we are very happy about it!


Also, I just mailed off our visa applications.  The instructions for that were just about as lengthy and detailed as any of the other adoption documents we have had to prepare.  My OCD has really come in handy for this whole process:)  We are also excited that Andrew's sister Sherry is planning to travel with us.  She will be such a blessing not only as an extra pair of hands for the kids, but just being able to share this experience with a close family member.  The boys are excited to have Aunt Sherry with us as well!

In the mean time, we are also in the process of helping my parents get moved here to Helena.  So we are not lacking in anyway for things to do or keep up with, and to be honest, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.  But God is good and He does tend to give us much more than we can handle on our own-otherwise we might be tempted to think that we are just that good and miss out on a chance for God to reveal more of His glory to us!

Phillippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Amy

Waiting...

I just wanted to give a brief update tonight which won't be much of a read:)  As of now we are simply waiting and getting everything that we have to have in order for when we finally get travel approval from China.  We have the boys passports and are about to send off for all of our visas.  I just got word today that our i800 is being approved (Kailyn's immigration paperwork).  I have also been picking up supplies that we'll need for the trip here and there and trying to make lists in my mind of how to get my kids through the two weeks in China when it comes to food!  Especially, Joseph, my picky eater.  We've heard all kinds of stories about the food-but the only really good reports that we've heard are that the breakfasts that the hotel will serve are excellent.  The rest of the time is just up for grabs and any "American" restaurants may not taste much like ours.  I am also waiting to here that Ann at RedThreads has received our care package and I am starting to get anxious about that.  Anyway, in the meantime I LOVE this blog!  I am so glad that they haven't ended their blog after the adoption because this is the family who got their little girl at the same orphanage we are going to.  I love to read how things are going afterward and it is so helpful to me.  Their little girl is adorable!

Chronicles of Nestlewood Lane

Amy

New Pictures!

This may be my favorite post so far because we finally received some updated pictures of Kailyn!  And she is cute!!  Also, this morning I was able to send the care package after getting the Chinese characters for her name that I had been waiting on.  It took a couple of days because after we got the LOA there was a holiday.  But now the Letter of Acceptance and the i800 (Petition to classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative to Homeland Security) are out the door and so is her care package!!  She should receive the package in about 2 weeks.  It will be 6-10 days to get to China and then Ann at RedThreads will forward it on and it will get there in 2-3 days.

This little girl is tiny!  I have been comparing her weight and height to that of my boys and she is several months behind.  Even now at 14 months old, she is just starting to grow out of 9 month old clothes according to the information that we have.  But that is pretty typical of Chinese orphans and it is also pretty typical for them to start gaining more weight once you can get them home and you spoil them with just about whatever and however much they want to eat for a while (not on junk of course:)  We can't believe that it is likely that we will be traveling in 3 months or less!!  The next news we'll hear from China is when we will travel!  

Amy

Just because pics:)

I just wanted to add these very important pictures! 

Amy