Surprise, Surprise!!!

We thought it was going to be just another one of our usual Clergy Couple gatherings last night. 

A little out of the ordinary, sure, because the Holdens who moved away in 2011 had driven up because of a speaking engagement in the area and were able to join us once again.

They showed up at our house around 3pm and

we got a chance to visit and the kiddos got a chance to play together again. 

By 6pm the babysitter had showed up and the Johnsons had picked us up and six of us were headed down to Lady Lake to our friends, the Sanders. They are moving out of the district in July and we are sad to lose them.

When we arrived there were a few gifts on the table in the living room. My first thought, "Oh, no! We forgot to get them a going away present!" We wandered into the kitchen and dining room and it looked like we were going to have Chinese for dinner. I was excited to practice using chopsticks before our trip! ( I missed the ladybugs at first glance - a symbol of good luck for adoptive families!)

 

 

 

 

When I noticed the Panda faced cupcakes and fortune cookies for dessert, 

I started to wonder if something was up. 

 

Then I noticed the sign and everything clicked.....

Daryl and I had been setup - it was a surprise Clergy Couple Adoption Shower!

There was no speaking engagement for our friends the Holdens - 

they had just driven up from Fort Myers to be part of our special night.  

After a wonderful dinner, we moved into the living room to open presents. 

From the DeLaunes, a precious little outfit and a gift card to Target.

From the Johnsons, a beautiful card and a gift to go clothes shopping. 

From the Holdens, several fun things for the boys on the flights (gum Pez dispensers, activity books) 

as well as some necessities for the whole family (wipes, bottles of purel and toilet paper!)

Which led us to unearth this present further down in the bag. 

A shadowbox with the Mandarin characters representing Davis' Chinese name. 

 Beautiful!

From our hosts, a print of Charissa' artwork on a card (it was a ladybug painting she had originally done for the Holden's daughter). And a cool little swimsuit and swimshirt set so Davis can play in the water with his brothers.

It was a tremendous surprise and we felt so loved. 

We are so thankful for our Clergy Couple colleagues. 

All ten of us serve God in so many different ways and places. 

Having their friendship is such a special blessing in our lives. 

 

(Far left, Ryan and Rachel DeLaune; front of couch, James and Christy Holden; 

on the couch, Allen and Sue Johnson and us; back of couch, Chris and Charissa Sanders)

 

Finally!!!!!

I think we set a record on the longest wait for confirmation of a Consulate Appointment (CA). 

Finally tonight we got  the email we had been waiting on for the last 23 days!

We have a confirmed appointment at the US Consulate in Guangzhou for Tuesday, July 2, 2013. 

That just also happens to be Davis' 3rd birthday!!!!!

Off to start emailing the travel agents and book those airline seats. 

We hope to leave one month from tomorrow on Wednesday, June 19th. 

A NIce Normal Day

Yesterday we enjoyed the chance to sleep in on a Saturday. 

Later we got up and headed to Gators Dockside for lunch,

followed up by haircuts for the boys. 

It was so nice outside we decided to surprise the boys and take them to Greenway Park.

They were so excited and glad to run around and play!

This is their very favorite piece of equipment at the park.

Then when we got home, we broke out the slip 'n slide in the backyard for them and the fun continued. 

Daryl and I hung out on the patio watching the boys; it turned out to be such a nice normal day. 

Daryl and His Ear

Friday morning we went to Gainesville to check in with Dr. O'Malley, 

the ear surgeon who looked at Daryl's ear a few months back. 

The perforation in his eardrum has completely healed up, the scab is gone and there is no infection! 

That was very good news. 

We talked through the options of Daryl getting a hearing aid vs. having surgery. Since the hearing tests show that Daryl's hearing nerves are intact, Dr. O'Malley feels confident that surgery is the best option. He wants to recontour the eardrum and replace the very damaged middle bone in Daryl's ear with a metal piece and this should significantly improve Daryl's hearing in his left ear. There is a small risk of making Daryl's hearing worse; but Dr. O'Malley says that Daryl's hearing is so poor in that ear anyway, he probably wouldn't notice it if things got worse. Bascially Dr. O'Malley said that Daryl could put a earplug in his right ear and still hear better out of that than the sound he gets from his left ear. 

We are looking at scheduling the surgery over the summer after we return from China. While Daryl will have to be completely under for the surgery, it is outpatient and should only require a few days recovery. Thank you for your continued prayers for Daryl and his hearing. 

Tooth Fairy Helper

Wesley received this certificate at Carousel on Friday morning when he arrived. 

On Thursday afternoon, there was an incident involving another student and a teeter-totter that caused the child to lose his tooth on the playground. Wesley dug around in the playground through all the mulch and found the child's tooth so the little boy could take it home for the tooth fairy! 

Three cheers for our little hero! 

Getting Antsy

This wait for confirmation of our consulate appointment is getting old, especially since several families that we were on the same timeline with regarding paperwork are in China right NOW picking up their children. My Facebook newsfeed has lit up this week with beautiful pictures of children meeting their forever families. I know in my head it's better for us to wait and go in mid-June after Annual Conference and the boys are out of school, but my arms ache to hold my little boy and to introduce him to his Daddy and brothers. Sometimes it is just hard to sleep at night, with one of your children halfway around the world.

We were hopeful to hear confirmation of our consulate appointment this week, or to receive our final update on Davis from the orphanage. But the US Consulate in Guangzhou had an facilities emergency on Monday afternoon and is now closed for the rest of week. That means of course it will take longer for us to hear back. But while that is an annoying inconvenience for us, this closure is wreaking havoc on the traveling schedules of all the adoptive families in China now. There are over 70 families effectively stuck in Guangzhou. The closure meant those who had their appointments Monday could not go back on Tuesday to pick up their child's visa. It also meant that all appointments on Tuesday-Thursday will have to be postponed and rescheduled into next week. These families are facing rearranging of flights and extension of hotel reservations and for some the possibility of one parent returning home to the US, while the other waits in China with their child for the situation to be resolved. Please continue to lift up our schedule in prayer as well as this situation in Guangzhou and all the families affected.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today after our lovely worship services at BUMC and DHUMC, Daryl and I piled the boys in the van and headed home to Seffner to see our families.

We had a wonderful lunch at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house. My mom joined the group as well as Grannie, Uncle David, Uncle Kelly and Uncle Nam. The boys had their cousins to play with too, but we were missing Uncle Daniel and Aunt Dawn - Daniel went in the hospital last night and is facing surgery later this week (we snuck over to the hospital later to visit him for a bit).

After lunch was over it was time for presents!!! Grandma was the first to open hers - 

Her shirt says "WaiPo" which is Mandarin for Maternal Grandma. 

And the scarf? Handmade by our friend Lindsi Baugher - 

she was making them to sell to help pay for her Safety Patrol trip to Washington DC last week. 

Then it was Grandmommy's turn. 

Her shirt says "NaiNai" which is Mandarin for Paternal Grandma. 

Her bag included a scarf too! 

While Grannie was watching the other ladies open their bags, she remarked on the fact that many of the ladies at her retirement complex have those scarves too and how pretty they were. 

And then she opened  her bag and found a scarf in her favorite colors. 

The boys blessed with me with all kinds of beautiful handmade cards and gifts 

that they had made at school and church. 

My card from Daryl and the boys......

Inside the card it reads - "A queen with really lazy subjects who don't listen very well." 

It made me laugh out loud!

And inside I was promised a day of beauty at my favorite salon. 

One last picture from the day, showing all the Mothers at our gathering. 

Tonight I'm thankful for another Mother's Day that I got to spend with my mom. 

I certainly do miss my grandmothers and great-grandmothers, 

but I know that I am very blessed to have both Joyce and Murriel in my life and as part of my family. 

I'm also so incredibly thankful for my husband Daryl and my boys, Parker and Wesley. 

Some of the greatest blessings in my life come from being a wife and mother.

I'm looking forward to traveling next month to bring our Davis home. 

And tonight I also give thanks for his biological mother who gave him life and 

for his foster mother who loves and cares for him now.

Happy Mother's Day to all the important women in my life who have been part of my journey!