A year in review

 

1 week old

 

1 month old

 

2 months

  

3 months

 

4 months

 

5 months

6 months

 7 months

8 months

 9 months

 

 10 months

11 months

12 months

From laying and being bottle fed in our arms,
to drinking and feeding yourself.

From crying for us

to saying, "mama, dada," when you need or want us

From sleeping 20 hours a day and waking every 3 hours to eat
to sleeping most of the night with 1 long nap a day

From being cuddled constantly
to mama and daddy trying to catch a cuddle when we can

From staying in one place
to being chased as you crawl as fast as you can

From little smiles
to out loud giggles

and...

From not being born from our bodies
to now an irreplaceable place in our hearts

Today,
we celebrate you!
We love watching your sweet little personality come to life!

We love you little mister man!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!

A busy weekend

This past weekend we drove a couple of hours to meet other Home of God's Love families to celebrate Chinese New Year.  We are blessed to have so many opportunities to celebrate Titus' heritage with so many people!

Since the celebration was in the same town that Uncle Braden, Aunt Clarissa and Cousins Hadley and Braxton live; we decided to make a weekend of it and spend some time together.

 Hadley & Braxton love their "Baby Titus"

We had the special treat of watching Braxton and Coach Braden  in action during a basketball game on Saturday morning.  We often wish we lived closer so we could enjoy more of these fun aunt and uncle moments.

 I think B was having a great time.

Love that smile!

Because it's preschool basketball the coaches are on the floor at all times.  It's great that the little ones can have one-on-one help.  We had a great time and it's really hysterical watching this age play!

We were also ecstatic when they in turn, decided to attend the CNY party with us.  Hadley was overjoyed as she loves reading about other cultures.  She has been reading lots of books from the library about CNY, China, and adoption.  I love to watch her learn and explore.

Thanks Hadley for helping me make egg rolls!

We spent a lovely evening eating, talking and meeting with other families.  It never ceases to amaze me how God uses adoption to build families.  We saw several classmates from our alma mater, Ozark Christian College, that have also adopted from THOGL. So exciting to watch how God intertwines our lives yet once again.

6 months ago

We were in Taiwan

I knew very little about it or what life would be like there.
Our son's birth country
90 miles from mainland China
Mandarin Chinese is the national language
A whole different culture
And those were the main things that I knew.
But now, when I think of Taiwan literally thousands of pictures come to mind...

Memories
Faces
Stories
People

The Home that has facilitated in creating many forever families.

 The majesty and beauty of God's creation found in the
marble at Taroko Gorge.

Singing Amazing Grace together with Ted and The Crowdus
in a cave were a secret church met almost 100 years ago.

The largest Taoist temple in Taiwan that overlooks
The Home of God's Love.
Sometimes during the evening and late night hours
we would hear chanting and worshiping.

The streets of Taipei filled with incense, food, and
paper prayer cards
 all to be given to false gods and deceased ancestors
because it was ghost month.

Oh how my heart now breaks for the lost people of Taiwan.
Will they ever know the Truth?
70% Chinese religions (Buddhism/Taoism/Confucianism)
28% nonreligious
2% Evangelical Christians

I also picture the beautiful children at The Home
that have childhoods so different from my own.
Despite the cultural divide and language barriers we found alternative means to communicate
through hugs, tickles, teasing, and playing games.
My life will forever be changed by these beautiful faces.

The love for two people who have taken James 1:27 to heart;

ministering for 42 years in the country of Taiwan

Thank you Ted and Bev!!!

 

Remembering Bev's prayer over Titus 

before we began our long journey home

still makes me weep.

 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.  

I Thessalonians 1:3

Of course, one of the best moments  is when

my aching arms  finally held my baby boy for the first time. 

Oh the joy and love!

Super Bowl and Chinese New Year

Since CNY and Super Bowl fell close to the same time this year, Aunt Kate and I decide to break from the traditional Super Bowl food and make a delicious, made from scratch Chinese cuisine.  It was a LOT of work! We spent several hours cooking in my tiny kitchen, and I think almost every dish, pot and pan I owned was dirty, but it was so worth it!  The food was delicious, and we learned a few things about cooking Chinese food to add to our cooking repertoire next time we attempt this.  And you can be sure there will be a next time!

 Elle helping with dumplings

 All the delicious food:

egg drop soup, dumplings, fried rice, egg rolls, and bok choy

 Aunt Kate and Zane excited to have a 

chocolate coin for dessert

 Titus didn't want to be left out.

Sorry buddy, no chocolate... :(

 Kevin and the infamous Magui that we had in Taiwan.

When I saw it at our Asian market I had to bring some home.

Mini Reunion

This weekend our sweet friends, Mr. and Mrs. Earhart and their precious daughter Ava came to stay with us for the weekend.  It was fun reminiscing about Taiwan, discussing child training methods, encouraging one another, talking about our childrens' milestones, and watching our little ones interact with one another. After the kiddos went to bed we stayed up way too late playing Spades...Strategery.  ;)

The last time we saw Ava was in Taiwan at 2.5 weeks old.

We gave her lots of extra cuddles for her Mommy & Daddy.

It was fun to see how much she has 

grown and changed in 5.5 months!

 "This is way the cowboys ride"

Poor Titus did not feel good this weekend...  :(

He spent a lot of time in tears 

so we spent a lot of extra time cuddling.

Our own little Lucy & Desi

Babalu

Want to see what else I can do?

 

I love how adoption has created  beautiful relationships with sweet friends. Thank you Earhart family for coming to visit.  We hope you can come back soon.

Missing the Outdoors

Please warm up soon out there.

Despite the beautiful blue sky and sunshine
it's a mere 2 degrees.  

Brrr!!!

Welcome February

This was the weather forecast last night;

the meteorologists were correct in their prediction!

 I can't resist going out to walk in the snow.  

There is nothing like walking in fresh snow!

 Awww, love seeing my baby smiling and enjoying the snow!

 Beautiful drifts

 After a fast walk in the snow we enjoyed a nice cup of hot tea