Leah's Gotcha Day! March 23, 2014

  



 

 

 

 

 



Taiwan At Last

 

     After staring at pictures of her beautiful face for more than 10 months, this past Friday, March 7, we finally received the news we've been praying for, "You have a court date, come to Taiwan!" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We leave March 21st and will be in Taiwan for 10-12 weeks until Leah's adoption is finalized and she can come home. More details coming soon!

The Birthday Girl

On September 4, our little sweetpea turned one year old! 

 

We were blessed to be able see her on her birthday via Skype. We got to watch her open her birthday gifts from us and sing happy birthday to her. It was so much fun to watch her and get to see more or her sweet personality.

She is so fun and full of life!   

 



 

Below is a little excerpt from the birthday letter I wrote to her that I will give her someday...

 

 

 

Dear Leah Hope,

Happy birthday, precious one! Today, even though my heart is

sad that I can't be with you on this very special day, I am feeling

very thankful. I am thankful to God for forming and knitting you

 together. I am thankful for the plans he had for your life before

 you were even born. I am thankful for his complete care,

 protection and unconditional love for you that goes far beyond

what I can even imagine. I'm thankful for your birth mom - that

she chose life for you and that she made a very painful decision

to place you for adoption because she wanted you to have the life

 she dreamed for you, but couldn't provide. I am thankful for the

 precious souls in Taiwan who have fasted and prayed for you, 

for those who fought hard for you to be  protected and safe. I'm

thankful that you are loved - so loved. I  am thankful that

 everyday you are kissed, squeezed, played with, read to, and

 sang to. I am thankful that every night before you are tucked in

you get to hear Goodnight Moon and look at pictures of us, your

 forever family. I'm thankful that God has given us the amazing

 privilege of getting to be your forever family.

 

Your sister and brothers are anxiously waiting to meet you.

Daily they pray for you, ask how much longer until they will

see you and argue about who will hold you first. I just smile and

 nod because well, we all know, Mommy gets to hold you first.

 We long for that day when we will finally hold you in our arms

and all of the pain of waiting will melt away. For now, we cling

 to Jesus, holding on to his promises and knowing that He is good.

 

 

                                                                               

 

 

Catching Up - May, June, July & August

May
In May we were blessed to be able to send a care package to Leah. This is NOT an option for most parents adopting internationally so we consider it an incredible privilege. We had lots of fun picking out special outfits and little toys to send to our sweet girl. Moriah also picked out some adorable super soft fleece and my mom helped her make a blanket for Leah.

  

  Moriah and Mamaw's sewing project

 

Ready to pack the box

 

 Mailing the box

  

 Leah with her gifts from us

 

June

In June we got this adorable video of Leah playing peek-a-boo. There really are no words to describe the cuteness. Just watch!

 



 

 

 

July

In July we had the privilege of spending the day with 3 wonderful families who have adopted through our agency in Taiwan. It was so fun to visit with them and watch our kids play and laugh together. Also visiting that day were Sara and Ashleigh, two of the ladies who live in Taiwan and care for Leah. They are affectionately referred to as "the aunties" by many of the adoptive families. We loved having them in our home, as did our kids, and it was such a blessing to get to know them better, to hear about their ministry, to pray with them and of course to hear stories and details about Leah. Learning more of Leah's story and how she came to the orphanage revealed to us just how completely God has had his hand of protection on Leah since her birth. We are so incredibly thankful for his watchcare over her and that he has placed loving, godly people like Ashleigh and Sara, among others, in her life. 

 

  Our kids with Sara, Ashleigh and the kids of another precious

Taiwan Xi En family

 

 

August

In August Leah turned 11 months old. In our monthly update we learned about her newest milestones and developments.

 

1) She is a very happy baby.

2) She loves to smile and laugh

3) She can say "hi" and "bye"

4) She is standing alone and has taken a few steps

5) She LOVES music and often "dances" when she hears it

6) She LOVES books and often chooses them over toys

7) She LOVES Elmo

 

 

 

 

As you can probably imagine, waiting to have Leah in our arms is hard. Very hard. I know that God in all his goodness will not allow this difficult season to be wasted. If we allow Him, he will use it. He'll use it to make us more like him. There is absolutely nothing I can do about the waiting, it is out of my control. So...I can choose to just survive it OR I can choose to let God use it. To teach me, to mold me, to change me and to allow me to reflect more of Him. I can choose to let it be a gift. Oh I know, I'm making it sound really easy. But it's not. It's a daily moment by moment surrender of trusting in His sovereignty, in His faithfulness, of continually acknowledging that his ways are better - so much better than mine. Better than my hopes, my dreams, and yes, even my timeline. My prayer is that I can live out in my heart what I know to be true in my head.

 

 

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31

 

 

~Angela

 



 

 



 

 

 

Mother's Day

I received a wonderful surprise on Mother's Day....40 new pictures and 16 new videos of Leah! Oh, it made my heart so happy! (The other members of our family we're pretty happy too).Typically adoptive parents with our agency receive 5 new pictures and 2 new videos each month. However, on this our first month to receive pictures, we were blessed to receive 5 pictures and 2 videos for each of Leah's eight months. What an incredible gift.

Love those big beautiful eyes!

 

Today we happened to drive past the airport. Just driving past brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat as I am longing for the day that we will board a plane and finally be with our sweet girl. We covet your prayers that the process will move quickly. If you would pray specifically for us to receive our paperwork from Taiwan this next week so we can begin the process here on the state side, we would appreciate it so much.

 

She's so unbelievably precious!

 

Thanks for journeying with us!

 

 

~Todd and Angela



9,360 Prayers

780 days x 3 kids x 4 times a day = 9360. That's the approximate number of times that our children have uttered these words as a prayer to their Heavenly Father: "Jesus, if it would be your plan for our family, would you please give us a baby sister?" Just ask anyone who's eaten a meal with us in the last two years and they'll tell you. I seriously don't think Moriah has forgotten one time to pray this prayer in more than two years. She and Joshua began asking God for a baby sister even before Todd and I were quite ready to pursue adopting again. Samuel was praying this prayer along with his brother and sister before he was old enough to understand what he was asking for. What an incredible testimony of faithfulness their little hearts have demonstrated. They knew God would answer them. They never asked "why is it taking so long?" They never doubted.

To give them the good news, we presented each of them with a t-shirt (which they are wearing in the picture below) that said "Big Brother" or "Big Sister" in Chinese and English.

 

God is good. We are blessed.