In Memory of Maria...

Since the tragic death of Maria Sue Chapman on May 21, 2008, there has been over $100,000 donated in her honor to Shaohannah's Hope. To learn more about how you can help honor this little girl and help orphans around the world please click here.

Tragedy...

I know that I don't personally "know" the Chapman family, but their family's loss has me in tears this morning. I was so moved by the Chapman's story when we went to a concert about 6 years ago. I sat and cried as Steven shared his 2 adoptive daughters' stories. They went on an adopted a third daughter from China, Maria.

The Chapman family has been a huge encouragement for so many adoptive families and changed the life of so many orphans around the world. Not only in the area of adoption, but their dedication to the children still in orphanages and foster care. We were blessed last year with a grant from their charitable organization, Shaohannah's Hope, when bringing home Anna. We have again applied to help with the expenses of Elli's adoption. I may not know them personally, but they have personally touched our family.

Please pray for this family as they are grieving the loss of their 5-year old daughter, Maria Sue. I cannot imagine what they must be feeling or the long road ahead of this family. There is no doubt that they love their children and are truly dedicated parents. Only God knows and only God can bring peace and comfort to this wonderful family.

Sending prayers to the Chapman Family,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

With Hope

By Steven Curtis Chapman

1 Thess. 4:13-14 / Heb. 6:9, 10:23

This is not at all how

We thought it was supposed to be

We had so many plans for you

We had so many dreams

And now you've gone away

And left us with the memories of your smile

And nothing we can say

And nothing we can do

Can take away the pain

The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope

We can say goodbye with hope

'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no

And we can grieve with hope

'Cause we believe with hope

(There's a place by God's grace)

There's a place where we'll see your face again

We'll see your face again

And never have I known

Anything so hard to understand

And never have I questioned more

The wisdom of God's plan

But through the cloud of tears

I see the Father's smile and say well done

And I imagine you

Where you wanted most to be

Seeing all your dreams come true

'Cause now you're home

And now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor

'Cause we believe that everything

God promised us is true, so ...

We wait with hope

And we ache with hope

We hold on with hope

We let go with hope

Mother's Day...

As expected, Mother's Day was chaotic, but hey, I didn't expect it to be anything less. We got up and did the usual Sunday morning routine to make it to church late :-) During the service, all my kids were given a flower to bring to me. Being the typical cry baby, I cried when Parker first walked up to me and told me that he loved me as he handed me a little red carnation. Trying to swallow the tears, I finally decided to just give it up and let it go. I am truly one of those people that I used to laugh at...my mother's dream is finally coming true!!

Even though there are days that picking up that same toy that I just picked up an hour before gets very, very tiring, I do love being a mom. I would have never imagined having 4 children and another on the way...but I am so happy that I do. It just goes to prove that God's plan for our lives far exceed what we could have planned ourselves.

Anna, Carter, Me, Parker, Elli, Jacob

One Very, Very Proud Mom,
Marcy

Happy Mother's Day...

For 11 years now, I have been able to call myself a mother. The first year brought my first son. The years following brought many happy moments, joyful memories and a few more babies. Every year, I have tried to make sure I had a picture with my kids on Mother’s Day. Last year, I sat on my front porch swing after church to take a picture with my three beautiful blonde boys holding a picture of my daughter that waited for me in China. She held my heart even though she didn’t know it. Anna was just as much mine as the three that surrounded me. The day was filled with many tears as I so desperately wished all my children were with me.

This year, I am so blessed to have my little Anna with me on Mother’s Day. She is no longer a picture for me to hold, but in the flesh. She stands at my feet, swatting at my legs, gesturing for me to pick her up. She dances to the tunes of Backyardigans, hides under her bed with her feet sticking out as a game, brings me cereal boxes to let me know she has managed to open the pantry, kisses the mirror at the sight of herself, tries to put on her brothers’ shirts, plays in the cabinets, loves baths, climbs on her daddy, jumps on beds, mimics everything she sees us do, drags out the clothes in her drawers, comes running when she hears me yell for dinner, gets jealous when I hold Parker, thinks she runs the house, feels so cuddly in her little pajamas, hair falls right over her eyes, waddles when she runs, breaths heavy when she is asleep, makes you giggle when she does, plays kitchen in her room, feeds you food she magically gets out of the TV., understands “the look”, ignores “the look”, happy to be playing at home, loves when brothers come home from school, stands at the door when she see daddy in the backyard, squeals when grandparents come, loves to be center of attention, knows she usually gets her way, rotten as they come, and couldn’t imagine her not here.

This Mother’s Day, I will have my four with me on the front porch swing…holding another picture. A picture of another daughter that now pulls my heart. I will hold my four here just as close as I can believing that next year, she will be here with us fighting for attention, playing with her sister, messing up faster than I can clean, getting into mischief, tattling on her brothers and not wanting to sit still for next year’s picture…but believe me, there will be a picture.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Blessed mother of four & praying for blessing number five,
Marcy

The Grand Total Is....

Big Fat Zero!! Unfortunately, the weather just hasn't cooperated with us this weekend. What started out to be a pretty good weekend for a fundraising yard sale, turned out to be a bad one. So, I have boxed up, stacked up, piled, tucked and just tried to ignore the HUGE mess in my living room. We will try again for next weekend.

All in all, it is probably the best that we didn't do it this weekend. Jacob came home from school on Wednesday sick. Carter got to go back to school on Thursday and Jacob went to the pediatrician. As I expected, it was a virus with some allergies to boot. There was no way I could have done the sale on Thursday with Jacob sick and believe it or not, Thursday is usually the best day?!? Go figure.

Still no news from USCIS. We have not yet reached the average wait time for our USCIS office, but I was really hoping that my request for the application to be expedited would help...which it still may because we still have over 3 weeks to hit the average. I really "need" the approval no later than Tuesday or Wednesday in order to have a potential end of May DTC...but I am beginning to think I need to change my goal to early June. Unfortunately, that could easily push us back into October...sigh! I can't think about that right now, I just need to focus on what I CAN do...which is wait for next weekend and see if the weather is going to cooperate - wow, again, I can't do anything on my own...how many times do I have to learn that one?

I just told someone today that things happen when they should. We just have to wait and trust that they are being worked out. Well, it is true for her and it is true for me. So we wait. We wait for our kids to get better, wait on the weather to clear, wait on immigration, wait on China, wait for travel, wait to hold Elli.....we wait.

Thankful the kids are getting better and sending love to Elli,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

p.s.

I was wrong about the total...I have sold about $50 so far. Yes, I am apparently running an indoor yard sale. I guess that would be like a flea market right? People have come to my house, starting going through the stuff in my living room and bought some things, so I guess considering we actually haven't started yet, $50 is a real good start. It also goes to show that my family members will try to shop wherever, whenever ;-) and that's a good thing - at least for me!

No News...

Do you know how badly I would love to post some NEW news? Well, unfortunately I don't have any :-( I really hope to hear something from USCIS in the next couple of weeks, but you just don't know how fast or slow these things will take. It has been and continues to be my goal to be DTC (dossier to China) by the end of May. I am still hoping.

I am getting things ready for a Fundraising Yard Sale this weekend. My living room is filled to the brim and there is more to come. We have a rather large garage behind our house (big enough to pull a Dump Truck, Backhoe & a couple cars inside)...half of it is filled with Yard Sale "stuff", also known as junk, but you know the saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure". I am so hoping that many men find their treasures this weekend in our yard! I will post pictures of all the goods later....it is quite a site!

In the mix of trying to price and sort all this stuff, I have sick kids. Both Carter and Jacob were home yesterday and Carter again today. I believe he has a virus. He has all the typical symptoms. Jacob had really bad allergies this weekend. Anna is suffering from allergies as well as Parker. Rodney and I are both have runny noses, sinus pressure and headaches...you gotta love Kentucky in the spring ;-) I think just about every possible plant is in bloom not to mention all of the fresh cut grass that is driving our noses and eyes nuts!

Thank you to everyone that has donated items for the Yard Sale. My family has been awesome! Special shout out to Gina, Roni, Missy & Wanda. I will post updates on the Yard Sale and hope that we make lots of money to help bring Elli home!!!

For once happy that you can't walk through my living room and sending many hugs & kisses to Elli,

Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

P.S.

Please say a prayer for all those effected in Myanmar by the Cyclone. Currently they are reporting 22,000 deceased and 41,000 missing. There will be many displaced families, parents who have lost their children and children who have lost their parents. Such a heartbreaking tragedy.