Quilt!

Ok, so it's not THE quilt you've all been waiting for... we're still trying to gather about 10 more squares to reach 100!!!... but I wanted to make something for our baby girl... something that we could take with us to Ethiopia one day very soon and keep her wrapped up in it through the transition home!

Here is just a snippet of it being enjoyed by Micah's "Baby Shani"...



This was a fun project for me... I'm not sure what I enjoyed the most... the quiet time alone (knowing "my boys" were having a ball together eating and playing at Out of This World Pizza! and also working on Potty Training (yippee!!!) which I've determined that only two dudes can really appreciate!); joyfully crying as I thought of all the things to come having our daughter in our home, the long journey we've been on to bring her home, and the millions of thoughts of when it will all finally take place; or was it the memories of two wonderful women who have shaped my life that filled me with the most joy as I laughed to myself (and sometimes outloud) when my "perfect" 4 1/2 inch squares somehow turned into rectangles, when yet another "square" of four squares simply didn't line up, when I tore out yet another seam... :)

You see, I experienced one of those times, where you suddenly become thankful and truly appreciative for the gifts God has given others and which you in turn have then been blessed BY! My Grandma Lois and my mom Michelle are simply amazing seamstresses. You name it, they have likely sewed it... and to a beautiful perfection! Growing up, I was blessed with the most beautiful home-made Christmas and Easter dresses... and my family of Cabbage Patch kids had a wardrobe that was simply unbelievable! Sitting down at my sewing machine I was simply flooded by their example in my life. Not just of sewing (which is one of the least of things passed down to me!!! I was simply too much of a Daddy's girl that loved to do "guy stuff!" to sit down and learn to sew!)... but the beautiful legacy of what it means to be a role model to your children... to provide love and warmth, safety and guidance, nurturing and self-sacrificing. Thank you Mom & Grandma!!!

While my quilt isn't "perfect"... I'm reminded that God's love is. And, just as I long to wrap my arms around our baby girl in the warmth of this blanket, I take comfort knowing she is already in His hands, lovingly touched by His presence every day.

Court date!

Praise the Lord! We just received news that our court date in Ethiopia has been set for February 3rd! We all just did a happy dance in our kitchen (after I got done screaming for David to come in and read the e-mail with me!!! tee... hee...)!!!

What happens next? Our agency represents us in Ethiopia at our court date... once the judge finalizes the adoption we travel within 3 to 6 weeks to finally have our baby girl in our arms.

Prayer request: That all the paperwork and anything that is required for the case to pass court is in place by February 3rd and that the judge indeed passes us on the first go around! And, continue to pray for our precious one as she continues to grow and develop!

Reflections on 2008

Christmas Eve 2008:

What a miraculous year this has been! While I sit here listening to the snow finally begin to melt (we've had over 29 inches fall in the last 1 1/2 weeks!) I'm struck at how God has moved in our family's lives this year... how His timing never failed us... how His provision was always perfect. Indeed, this past summer, we had tensions of selling our home and buying our new home in a declining economy, all the "what-ifs" and "when's" of an international adoption, and the daily loving and training of a wonderful toddler! But, God, through His grace, took us in His arms and carried us as only He can.

When we would get just a "wee overstressed" this past summer, David would dream and pray about Christmas. He envisioned us in our new home, our old house sold (though he never expected a simultaneous close!!! Praise the Lord), sitting by the fire watching the snow fall (really, though, we didn't need over 2 feet of it!!!) with our precious baby girl in our arms. At the time, I giggled at his childlike faith... I love how he forever trusts in his Abba (Daddy) Father. Well... God is indeed faithful to give us our hearts desires... Yes, at this time we are only blessed to hold a picture of our precious one in our hands, but she indeed is here in our hearts and a part of our lives daily. We all long to have her home. Baby girl, it will be soon! Micah reminds us that "God has a timer and He knows."

December 11, 2008: An update!
We received an update on our precious little one today! While again, we can't share much... she has been healthy!!!... (Thank you Jesus!!!) and they report she is "a smiley one". Oh how we love hearing that news!

We continue to wait for a court date. Please pray that indeed this will come soon!

November 5, 2008: It's a girl!!!
We are overjoyed looking into the eyes of the 2-month old beautiful baby referred to us today! We can't share much at this time, besides our complete excitement and joy in seeing God's hand move to bring our family together!

Next step: We will receive a court date in Ethiopia at which our agency will represent us. Once the Ethiopian court has approved the adoption, an Embassy appointment will be set and we will be approved for travel!

Please pray that we will receive a court date soon... that this precious baby may grow and thrive in the loving hands of Holt's nannies... and that our hearts will be at peace until we have this blessing in our arms! What joy!!!

April 22, 2008

Dearest Family & Friends,

Today (April 22, 2008) is a day of celebration for the Reece family! We are celebrating God’s amazing faithfulness, His perfect timing and His unfailing provision for our needs and the fulfillment of the dreams He has put in our hearts. Today we are celebrating an amazing turn in the road of the journey of adoption that He has led us to!

We have not updated our adoption blog since our paperwork was officially logged-in in China and many of you have lovingly inquired as to when Emma Mei is coming home. Thank you! We love that she has already become a living part of your hearts and will one day be loved by your loving embraces!

As we began the new year of 2008, adoptive parents waiting for their Chinese babies were informed that the “wait time” would be lengthening. In fact, parents whose dossiers were sent to China in the spring of 2006 have been notified that their expected wait time is another 2+ years. As you know, our dossier went to China in the fall of 2007, another 1 ½ years behind that group. Accordingly, we may be waiting another 3-4+ years for Emma Mei to come home. This news has indeed been shocking and a bit heart-breaking. I once agonized over the thought of waiting 2 years to hold our daughter in our arms. Now, we wait in complete uncertainty as to when we may go to China.

But, God’s timing is perfect and while we sometimes think we have His plan all figured out, we are finding that sometimes (actually… most times) He has a surprise up His sleeve for us! So, in the first three months of this year, we began a new prayer journey to seek what God would have us do during this time. Would He have us wait for Emma Mei or did He desire for Micah to have a sibling before he reached elementary school age? Did God want us to have two children or would He bless us with a third child? If so, would He call us to have another biological child or gift us with another adoptive child?

In February, we met with representatives from Holt to discuss all the options available to us. We knew without any doubt that God had called us to pursue adoption from China. We could not give up waiting for Emma Mei. But, our hearts were not at peace just waiting. What about the other options? It is said that when God closes a door, He does so in order to open another. The more we prayed, the more our eyes, minds, and hearts became focused on one, single option. All the others simply drifted away.

We shared our hearts with only a few people, enlisting them in prayer for God’s will and direction to be CLEARLY known to us. Sometimes He makes His will known to us through clanging cymbals, other times through soft whispers. He encouraged us with several “soft whispers” of confirmation, but this was a huge leap of faith that David and I were facing. As we’ve said before, with Micah, I (Shana) had to take a leap of faith and trust God to help me through a healthy pregnancy. With Emma Mei, God took David on a journey of faith to bring him to peace at His calling for us to adopt. Now, He was asking us to link arms and hearts together as a couple and with Him to bring us a third blessing without ever experiencing being parents to two! He was calling us to adopt a third child…. this time from Ethiopia!

Shocked? Confused? Slightly bewildered? Delighted? If you are feeling any or all of those emotions, that’s ok! I think David and I both did at first as well. In fact, even after receiving many confirmations, it took a clanging cymbal to bring me to have the beautiful peace He wanted to grant me in this decision.

You see, we first strongly felt this calling on February 21st, 2008. That night, after spending time in prayer about His direction for our family, we thought it would be fun to look at African baby girl names. We looked through the list in the baby name book and “Shani” (pronounced “Shah-nee”) came to our attention. When we looked at the meaning of the name, we looked at each other and smiled, knowing that God had just provided another confirmation. In Swahili the name Shani means “Marvelous, Wonderful & Adventure”. In Hebrew it means “Lily”. And, in Irish it means “God is gracious. Gift from God.” What was the confirmation? When we were pregnant with Micah we had two girl names picked out. One was Emma, which even then was always reserved in my heart for a Chinese daughter. The other was Lily Kristine! The meaning of my name, Shana, is “God is gracious. Gift from God.” just like Shani. At that moment, our hearts began to fall in love with a little African girl named Shani Kristine.

David’s faith in God’ plan for us never faltered after that very moment. It took another month of seeking and letting God move in my heart until I fully realized the beautiful plan He had for our family. I was sitting in church on Easter Sunday listening to our pastor talk about Christ’s compelling characteristic… that He is Victorious! He overcame the world to save us. He endured the cross, but He rose again. He conquered death to give us new life! I felt convicted as He spoke softly into my heart… “You, Shana, aren’t letting me be victorious. I’m trying to bless you with my plan for you, but you are too worried about the world. You are too concerned about “what ifs”. You have fear. In me there is no fear. I have overcome the world. I really am in control! I want only the best for my children. I know you do too.” I knew He was right! I knew He wanted us to adopt from Ethiopia, to bless and be blessed by a little one who needed us as much as we needed her, to be blessed with three children… but, still, a part of me kept wrestling with Him. No use doing that, He always wins in the end… Praise the Lord!

The following morning, on David’s drive to work, he knew I’d been struggling and he prayed that God would give me a VERY direct confirmation of His will. Here comes the clanging cymbal… I was exhausted from “wrestling” all night and loaded Micah into the car to go through the Starbucks drive-through. I hear a cheerful voice say “Good morning! Welcome to Starbucks. My name is Shani. How can I help you?” I laughed out loud! Shani? I thought I was losing it… I really needed caffeine and quick! I composed myself enough to make my order and then drove up to the window. After apologizing for my laughter, I asked what the name of the girl taking the drink orders was, and the teller said, “Her name is Shani… isn’t that unusual?” I replied, “Yes. It is absolutely beautiful!” I drove away thanking the Lord for His direction, humor and the clanging cymbal. So, later that day, March 24th, 2008, we made the call to Holt and joined other families who are now in dual country processes. While we wait for our precious Emma Mei to come home from China, we will be bringing home another daughter, Shani Kristine, from Ethiopia!

So, let us tell you a little about Ethiopia and Holt’s work in Ethiopia (much of the information is direct from Holt’s website). Despite its rich history and agricultural potential, Ethiopia (with a land mass just less than twice the size of Texas) has an estimated 4.3 million homeless children. While poverty is a widespread problem in Ethiopia, Holt never considers poverty alone to justify international adoption. Children needing adoptive families may have lost one or both parents. Some have been abandoned, and others become homeless due to social/cultural conditions that present extreme hardship.

Most of Holt’s adoptable children come from an area south of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Holt’s staff there receives children into care, performs initial evaluations and provides immediate medical treatment and nurturing. At the same time Holt assesses the child’s birth family and counsels them about the decision to relinquish their child for international adoption. Where appropriate, Holt offers assistance to enable the birth family to remain together. Holt also provides shelter, counseling, pre- and post-natal medical treatment for some birth mothers.

When Holt determines that international adoption is in the best interest of a child, they transfer that child to their new child care center in Addis Ababa. This center provides an attentive environment where children are lovingly encouraged to thrive and develop. Holt tests each child for HIV and other illnesses prior to referring them to a prospective family. The children receive excellent care from a caring staff, which includes a pediatrician, a professionally trained childcare supervisor and around-the-clock caregivers.

Where are we in the process? Well as I said earlier, today is a day of celebration! Today we are celebrating that we shipped our completed dossier to Holt’s International office in Eugene, Oregon. That’s right, in just 28 days since notifying Holt of our decision, we have started and completed all the paperwork necessary to adopt from Ethiopia! As you know, it took 6 months for us to complete the paperwork for China, so we are ecstatic to have completed another “paperwork journey”.

Now, we wait. How long? Well, the Ethiopia program is one of Holt’s newest programs, so timeframes are still fluctuating. The website states “Families typically receive a referral 3 – 6 months after Holt receives a family’s dossier.” We are not expecting the “match” to happen that quickly as there has been an influx of families interested in Ethiopia, but we have been given hopes of traveling to Ethiopia by next spring (perfect timing to use David’s much deserved sabbatical) and then in God’s perfect timing, hopefully to China 2 years after that.

Another interesting thing is that unlike China, where the government will be matching us up with a child in care from one of many orphanages, in this case, Holt will be matching us up with a child in their own care. They will make the referral themselves and then The Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ethiopian Court reviews the translated dossier, child information, and referral acceptance information and legally approves the adoption. Once the adoption is approved by Ethiopia, Holt’s in-country staff will obtain our child’s birth certificate, passport, and set an appointment for a final medical checkup and embassy appointment. At that point, we will be invited to travel to Ethiopia to meet and receive our child, Shani Kristine!

Let us close by saying, “Jesus loves the little children”. He truly does. He created them to love them. When others tried to push them aside, Jesus reached out and held them, listened to them, and loved them unconditionally. “Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.” Our prayer is that each of our children are loved for the hearts and precious lives that God has given them, the unique characteristics and heritages they’ve been blessed with and that they in turn see themselves and those who love them as precious. “Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

What a “marvelous, wonderful adventure” this will be as we continue the journey to adopting our next “Gift from God”, Shani Kristine.

Blessings One & All,
Shana & the boys (David & Micah)

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Celebrations throughout the journey!!!

One piece of advice that our social worker reiterated to us several times when we began the adoption process was to celebrate each step in the journey. This 2nd journey has been relatively quick, but we have had to fun celebrations so far and look forward to many more!

April 21st, 2008: Paperwork Journey Complete!

We celebrated completing all the steps of our dossier (with the exception of state certification which happened the following day) by going out to dinner as a family and finding the perfect first baby doll for Shani!

David also surprised me that night with a sweet "Thank You" card for my part in completing the paperwork... and he'd also purchased an adorable outfit for our little girl! Our first girlie outfit!!! So CUTE, so lavendar, bows & all!!! tee... hee... (This coming of course from a mommy of a TRUE BOY!!!... have we told you lately how much Micah LOVES bugs, dinosaurs, and puddles??)

April 26th, 2008: Girls Weekend Away - Who is the Stowaway?

Girls weekend away in Sisters, Oregon... I (Shana), my mom (Michelle), aunt (Debbie) and best friend (Jeannie) headed out for a fun weekend with just the girls! Little did they know that by the end of the trip a secret would be revealed to them!

We headed out snowshoeing on Saturday morning and after reaching a good spot for lunch, I presented each of the girls with a set of flags representing the country in which each of their children were born. Each flag was labeled with their children's names.

My mom was the first to take her flags and "plant" them claiming a successful journey! :)

My aunt got a kick out of putting hers in a tree, as that would be the most likely place her kids (uh... her two dogs... Tanner and Thunder) would enjoy!

Jeannie place her three flags for her two boys Austin and Carson and for Baby #3 on the way...

Then I handed my camera to mom and asked her to take a picture as I "planted" my flags. Everything was quite "normal" as I planted the American flag for Micah and then the China flag for Emma Mei. Things got quiet as I planted a third flag, the flag of Ethiopia. Mom sweetly and quietly said, "What's that?" Debbie was off quiet aways and nearly yelled, "What's going on?" They began guessing what country the flag represented (Greece? no... It starts with an "E"... Egypt? no... )and it was then that they realized I was telling them we were adopting another child!

You hear of people having "Mountaintop Experiences"... this one will always remain such an experience for me as my "sisters" celebrated with me a very carefully kept secret that had been hidden in David and my hearts. (Jeannie was privy to the plans however as she was one of two references we had to have to complete the paperwork!... lucky girl! And, what a blessing to me!)

As we sat down for lunch, I then read them the letter that is posted above. And, then began the "name game". Each of our children's names was attached to the flags with little alphabet beads. I laid out all the letters of Shani Kristine all scrambled up, and they began guessing which letter came first, second, etc. until they had the name.

Then, I brought out Shani's doll. Everyone had open arms to hold her, but none so loving as Grammie's! :)

The hike out was a blast! All of a sudden I felt like a dam had burst wide open and I could tell them everything about the process, the wait, our anticipated travel in Ethiopia... EVERYTHING! And, the Shani doll?... she had a good view too!

The journey begins... the decision to adopt...

Our story begins before David and I ever met. You see, ever since I (Shana) was a little girl, I have had a desire in my heart to adopt a baby girl from China. At the time, it seemed impossible for me to ever have my own biological child due to my type 1 diabetes, so I excitedly looked forward to the blessing of adoption. God's plans are perfect though and in His ever-abounding grace, he allowed me to bear a son, our first miracle child, Micah David Reece, on January 17th, 2006. What a blessing he continues to be in our lives every day!

David and I agreed that we wouldn't begin conversations about "adding to our family" until after Micah's 1st birthday. At the beginning of the year, we began praying together and individually as to what God's plan for our family was.

But, let's back up the story just a little so God can receive the credit He deserves! Before meeting me, David had never considered adoption. And, frankly, before marrying David, we had long discussions about how at that time I was not comfortable promising him a biological child. We knew it was God's plan for us to marry, so we both went forward in faith knowing His love between us would carry us through the years.

Just ten months after our wedding, God softened my heart incredibly and gave me complete peace about trying to have a biological child (as only God could!). David had always had peace in that area but knew it was God's plan at that time when and we received confirmation after confirmation from friends, family members, pastors, doctors, and complete strangers! The next month, God confirmed our decision and we were pregnant!

The pregnancy was a full-time job, but a total blessing! God kept me safe (in fact, I am healthier now than pre-pregnancy) and He gave us a very healthy, active baby boy! I will never forget the moment though when we found out that we were going to have a boy... (besides my silly expectation that the whole world would stop turning, that blue balloons and confetti would fall from the ceiling at the ultrasound technician's words)... I remember having tears in my eyes and looking at David's own teary eyes and saying, "It's a boy!" My next words were, "God is confirming that we can adopt a baby girl!" David smiled and nodded in agreement in the awe of the moment!

Back to the "adoption story"... we knew that if it were God's will for us to have another biological child, He would carry me through another pregnancy. However, neither one of us felt that resounding peace we had before. Our prayers became more and more directed and in March, we began to receive very clear answers (that again, could only come from God!). The first weekend in March, I had traveled to Springfield with Micah to visit my family while David worked on Micah's 1st year video. On that visit, I waded through a bunch of old scholarship applications and essays I had written in high school. By re-reading them, I realized that God had given me so much more than I had ever dreamed of, a husband who truly loves the Lord and is my best friend, and our miracle baby boy... just top the list! Suddenly, I felt total peace that God's plan was for us to adopt, but that this was a decision that David must come to on his own. I couldn't pressure him into it. We had to agree totally. God could do just that...

A few days later, on March 8th, David lay in bed sick all day. With nothing else to do, he prayed constantly all day! God had been softening his heart towards adoption throughout our entire relationship, but that night, He made it clear to David that it was His will for our family. Trusting in what David felt God say to him, while I was showering that night, David went downstairs and wrote on a note: "March 8th, 2007 - Decision to adopt a baby girl from China". Then David went back upstairs and prayed one more prayer.

You see, in the Bible in the book of Judges, to be sure that Gideon understood God's promise to him, he laid out a piece of fleece and one day he asked God to make there be dew only on the fleece and all the ground around it dry. In the morning, he found it to be so. The next night, Gideon asked God to make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew. The next morning he found it to be so, and Gideon knew that God would do just as He had promised Him. David's final prayer, was similar to laying out his fleece. He prayed that he would know if it was truly God's plan and not his own desire by the initial reaction I would give to him upon hearing his decision. You see, we had not spoken about it directly for nearly a month and the last time we spoke I had told David that I was "open" to having another biological child. He truthfully did not know what my reaction would be.

At the same time David was praying this prayer, I was in the shower "talking with God". I clearly felt God saying that I needed to say to David, "Do you remember the first time God confirmed to us that we were to adopt" and then relate to him the time when we found out Micah was a boy. But, just a few days prior I had definitely heard God telling me NOT to bring up adoption, to let David lead on this and let God work on his heart alone. I took a LONG shower. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to tell David. That night I lay in bed SILENT. David too was SILENT.... not our normal routine. Finally, I couldn't take it any longer and said the words I felt God had led me to say. "David, do you remember the first time God confirmed to us that we were to adopt?" David was silent for a few seconds and then said, "What did you say?" I nearly beat myself up thinking... "He's not even listening... what am I doing... You told me to be quiet Lord, why did I speak?" But, David wanted me to repeat it for another reason. My words were the perfect answer to his prayer... more perfect than he had even prayed for. That night, David told me that he believed God wanted us to adopt a baby girl, from China. Through tears, tears of joy similar to those I shed when David proposed to me, we saw how God had moved us both to the same decision, at the same time.

Our decision to adopt was finalized... March 8th, 2007.

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The journey continues... paperwork!!!

Just four days after God confirmed to both of us our decision to adopt, we attended an informational meeting at Holt International Children's Services, Inc. in Portland. God quickly confirmed to us that we were to take this journey with this agency.

From their website: "Holt coordinated one of the first international adoptions from the People’s Republic of China... and continues today to significantly improve the opportunities for the abandoned children in China to have families. Holt’s orphanage “Baby Care Unit” and foster care programs have dramatically improved the care and health of abandoned children. Because of Holt’s commitment to integrity in adoption and extensive programs serving other homeless children in China, Holt has a strong, long-standing relationship with the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), the government agency that oversees every China adoption." Most importantly, the agency was aligned with out faith and our hearts!

Then began the paperwork!

I recall throughout the summer people asking us, "What's new?"... our answer... "Not much." Or, "What have you been up to?". Our answer, "Not much." You see, we had decided as a family to only include a very few people on the news of our plans. We wanted to treasure the decision in our hearts and then share our news once the paperwork had been completed and on it's way to China!

In reality this summer we were in the midst of a LOT of paperwork (as you can see from our timeline at the right)! It was indeed a journey, but as we prayed over each piece of paper as we filled it out and then went through three layers of notarization/certification (and I became a FedEx expert shipping documents all over the United States!), we saw God's hand throughout the process. When my own attempts at perfection failed, we were reminded that this can be a great challenge for even the most organized of folks! And, we were reminded that God's timing is perfect. So, any delay we may have encountered was due to God lining up our paperwork for the perfect child He has called to be a part of our family!

The "paperwork journey" began on April 3rd when Holt accepted us as one of their adoptive families and we began preparing for our homestudy. This "paperwork journey" will indeed continue until we bring our baby girl home, but on September 28th, 2007, our dossier (the name for the collective final adoption documents) was shipped to Beijing. It is currently being translated by Holt staff in China and will then be sent to the CCAA at which point we will receive our log-in date. Once we receive our log-in date, the waiting begins (although in our hearts, the waiting has indeed, already begun!). Essentially, we are in a long line of prospective adoptive parents waiting for baby girls to be given into our care. The current estimated wait to be matched with a child is 23 months from your log-in date. This could fluctuate throughout our wait. While the wait will be lengthy, we know God will give us comfort and patience and many memorable months to share with Micah!

How will we be matched? Our understanding is that once our log-in date is at the front of the line, all of the files of the parents in that group are gathered together with the files of the available babies. The matches then occur as photographs are reviewed for "family likenesses" and homestudies are analyzed for family similarities (a baby seems to respond to music = a family who enjoys music as a hobby). I often picture myself holding a tiny baby girl, but then I can't help but giggling thinking of the Chinese officials looking at David at 6'7" and myself at 5'10" and placing with us the largest baby girl ever to be adopted! Tee... hee... Once the matches are made, we will get a call from our social worker who will say "Are you sitting down?" and the very next day receive a photo of the prospective child, our baby, and her paperwork. It will then be another 7-9 weeks for travel arrangements to be made before we can officially have her in our arms. You can be sure that as we learn more about this next part of the journey we will send an update!

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Celebrations throughout the journey!!!

One piece of advice that our social worker reiterated to us several times was to celebrate each step in the journey. As a family, we took this to heart and have had a LOT OF FUN in doing so!

May 5th, 2007: Girl's Day Out! Tea Time at Ruthie B's

On May 5th, I shared an unforgettable Mother's Day Tea with my mom, grandma and aunt. We had already shared the news of the adoption with my mom, but this was to be a very special surprise for my grandma especially and, my mom didn't know that I had a couple other surprises for them all up my sleeve! :)

Here we are at Tea Time at Ruthie B's in Springfield, all decked out in our hats and sipping our tea! It was extra special in that I was able to reserve a room with a black and white motif that had all kinds of China Dolls and other Chinese decor. After we had picked out our hats and began enjoying our tea and our first course, I handed out the "Girl's Day Out" programs.

First on our agenda was "Story Time". We each took turns reading one page of a boardbook called "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes" and then passing it around for the next person to read. The rules of storytime, however, was that no one could ask ANY questions until story time was over. This was especially hard for my Aunt Debbie! :)

Here is Grandma reading. In short, it is a very sweet story about a woman who longs to have a daughter and adopts her precious baby in China. After story time, we obviously had a wonderful time talking about the journey that we were just beginning at that time!

It was then time for "The Name Game"... subtitled... "How well do you know your own name?". I had made up cards with each person's first, middle and last name on one side of the card and the meaning of each name on the back side. I'd show one card, and they would try to guess who's name it was based on the meaning. It was fun to make guesses and realize how special each of our names was!

Time for the surprises!!! On the agenda next was "Special Guest Appearance - Just who is that hiding under the blankie?". I had arranged with the ladies at the shop to bring over an antique white wicker crib with a baby doll wrapped in a pink blanket. So, as we were having dessert, and everyone was reading their Mother's Day cards I had given them, the ladies surprised us at just the perfect timing! We had a little one with us, and by the way they ALL reacted, you would have thought it was a real baby! They actually almost fought over who got to hold her the most!

So, just who was it? I had color coded the name cards and asked Grandma for the card that did not match her other two cards (Mae) and asked Mom to do the same (Michelle). I used those two cards and then added a third (Emma), to then tell these special ladies the name we felt God had led us to name our little girl. Emma Mei Michelle Reece. (See the column on the right for more information regarding the meaning of her name.) It was, indeed, a very special time for us all!

Finally, to end our wonderful time together, we searched the large antique selection that the Tea House encompassed until we found the perfect little tea set to share with Emma Mei one day. Thanks Mom for such a wonderful keepsake!

May 8th, 2007: Home study paperwork submitted to Holt International

This was a GREAT day! What Mom wouldn't love celebrating a big step like this on her birthday??? God gave me a very special gift this year, by lining this up on my birthday!

September 3rd, 2007: Celebration of I-600A Application Approval

What does this mean? It means that the United States Department of Homeland Security authorized that we can bring a child (our baby girl) into the United States. This is another major step in the process! We were actually in Seattle celebrating the Reece kids' birthdays, so David and I had an adventure together while Micah stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.

We ate authentic Dim Sum at the Imperial Garden... yummy! We were both quite adventuresome, but still opted for all "cooked" selections!

After our meal, we explored the Great Wall Mall in Kent, WA. In remembrance of this time we decided to purchase a heart-shaped "Lucky Bamboo" plant. It now sits on our fireplace mantel as a reminder of how blessed we will be to have this precious one in our family!

September 28th & 29th, 2007: Celebration of our dossier being shipped to China!

I am very blessed to me married to an extremely thoughtful husband. On Friday, September 28th, our dossier was shipped to China. That night, when David returned home from work, he brought with him a dozen beautiful roses. And, as though God was blessing his efforts, the name of the roses he found was "Emma"...

He also purchased a small Demdaco angel entitled "Celebration - In Joyful Anticipation". She now stands next to our special bamboo plant watching over it's growth and reminding us of our special angel to come!

On Saturday, we took an excursion to the Chinese Classical Garden in downtown Portland. It was a little chilly that day, but the rain held off as we explored the beautiful serene spot in the midst of the busy city! Micah's favorite part by far were the beautiful Koi ponds!

We look forward to learning more about the beautiful Chinese culture and adding Chinese traditions and experiences to our family's lives. God created us all so uniquely and put so much beauty upon this earth! We can't wait to explore the new land that He is calling us to be a part of through the miracle of adoption!