surrendered

I'm so very thankful for all of the
advice everyone gave me yesterday regarding
our travel plans.

Shortly after posting yesterday morning...my heart
started going in a different direction.
And as I read each comment, it was confirmed.

So, as of right now, it will be just
K-man and me traveling.

And Ninny (my mom) will be staying
at our house with Lu, Bren & Nick.
And K's mom/dad will help out also
(they just don't know that yet!).

Plus my friend Angela (whom Lucy LOVES)
is going to pitch in.

As we looked at all the pro's and con's....
Lucy staying home was the
best idea.

I know she will struggle at times but
I think the struggles will be WAY less being
in her own home than
in Ch*na.

Plus, that gives K-man and I a tad
bit of time alone (woo!) before our lives completely
change (again!) and time alone
with Shu Li.

Karen, we might take your advice and
have K leave when we go to GZ.
Though I gotta tell ya...
I'm a little nervous to be completely
alone with Shu Li!

Is that horrible?

What if she doesn't like me....
or we have a hard time communicating?

OR...

maybe it will be an incredibly sweet bonding
time.

I gotta pray on that.

**************

The big thing we were praying about yesterday
didn't work out.

It's a very long story & my heart is a bit
weary so I will just tell it to you
very short & sweetly...

We were trying really hard to bring home
not just Shu Li....but another girl as well.

Like I said it's a very long story, our
agency said it was possible (quite a stretch though).
But after completely surrendering
it to the Lord...
we could see that His hand just wasn't
in it.

I think that my post yesterday was right on....
He was testing our willingness.

And also testing my need to let go of control.

Turns out my willingness is much bigger
than my desire to let go of control.
(If you've been here long, this doesn't surprise you in the least.)

Anyway, I'm happy to say that all is well.

We got our LOA from our favorite UPS
guy yesterday...got it signed & back
to UPS to overnight to our agency.

Please pray that our TA comes *quickly*!!
Since Lynsay told me I was totally dreaming if
I thought Ch*na was less hot and humid in September,
I've decided that I'd just rather go in August then!

You will be quite entertained by the incredible
contortions my hair will do.

willingness

My brain is reeling this morning with lots of things.
Some are big things....that I just can't share
yet. But PLEASE pray.

Since we first started this next adoption adventure,
we had planned on K-man, Lucy and me taking
the trip to Ch*na.

Well, I've chatted a lot with Patty this week
via F*cebook and she has
REALLY stressed how difficult
it will be with Lucy along. :(

She brought her Fu (she also has a pistol
from Fuzhou) with their previous adoption and
she said it was a huge
mistake.
And that this time, without her, it
was much easier.

Then, I was chatting with Linn on
the phone as they were heading toward
Iowa last night and she had the same
concerns about us bringing Lucy along.
Especially with the risk of being quarantined.

So....with both these wise women saying
the same thing...we had to really
think and pray hard about whether it was
a good idea.

I think we are foolish not to take their advice.

So....as of right this minute,
it looks like it's going to be Brenden and me
going to Ch*na.

He doesn't even know yet!!
But I promise you, he will be thrilled!!!

Anyway, please pray for us.
K-man is really sad that he isn't going...
he was really looking forward to being in Ch*na
again, but mostly, he is so eager
to meeting Shu Li.

Now I've got to call our agency to see
how difficult it will be to change our
plans since we had put on the immigration
papers that we were both traveling.

PLEASE pray!!

And any words of encouragement
from those of you who have 'been there
and done that', would be great.



I borrowed this from Lynsay's blog....
it really spoke to me.
And I just love Gladys Aylward.
Her bio is a must-read.

Then the other morning I read this
in "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:

In essence, Jesus says, "Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance." Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard--we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God's name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with our hearts.

Both of these quotes really spoke to me today...
I just thought I would share them with you.

K-man and I both have heard God questioning us on
our willingness.

a bear and his new do

Do you like Beary's new haircut?

Well....I caught Lucy snipping away.
She has seen me numerous times
cutting my own hair (and others), so it's no wonder.

Not so bad!

I wish so much I had been able to get a picture
of Lucy with scissors in-hand as she was beautifying
her fury friend...
but as soon as she saw me coming
with my camera she scrambled.

Here is a tad bit of the evidence.
I really wonder what Beary would look like
if we hadn't caught her in the beginning
of his appointment.

Slow Boat to China....

So, let's chat a bit...

Jean, I WISH TA's were coming that
fast now-a-days but, no.
At least not for Hague families.

Sigh.

We are looking at 8 weeks until we get TA.
(Travel Approval for you who are out of the loop)

Yep.

ALTHOUGH, now that several
groups of families have gone through the Hague
route, the process is streamlining
and shortening slowly.

So it's entirely possible that we will get
it quicker...but I'm not
setting my heart on it.

Once we finally get our TA...we will
travel about 3 weeks after that.

So, if you do the math, that puts
us at around the first of September.

Fine. At least the humidity will be
lower in Ch*na (I'm really counting on that),
so my hair will look better
for pics, which is very important, don't ya know.

Here's our sweet girl...just the other day!
Thanks to Patty!!

Wootie Woot!

the things our children leave behind....

First, I gotta say a big THANK YA to my two new
followers! 100 is feelin' fine.

ALSO...and way more importantly,
my friend Holly told me of ANOTHER
13 year old girl about to
age-out in September.

Email me if you are interested....
PLEASE pray about it!

******************************

Ok, apparently my nagging convincing
talks about cleaning up after ourselves around here
have put deep conviction on Nick.

This is what I woke up to...
apparently he got the munchies in
the wee hours and fixed himself some bacon.
Poor fella was clueless as to what
to do with the bacon grease...
aren't we all.

Then there's Lucy.
Who has a loonngg way to go.
It is very common for me to find this
kind of mess...frequently.
She loves to cut up paper.
New Year's Eve is just around the corner...
get your confetti orders in now.

big girls pants....

Last night after a bath,
I was trying to convince Lucy to wear
big girls underpants....until
bedtime.

Thinking it would help greatly
(but obviously not carefully choosing my words),
I said,

"Brenden wears big girl pants!"

That caught Lucy's attention
and she quickly replied....

"NOOOO, Brenden doesn't wear big girl pants!"

"He wears BOY big girl pants!!"

Heehee!

WOOT WOOT....God is SO COOL!

Ok,

I'm floating here....

Patty just emailed me.

She went to the orphanage today.
They wouldn't let her inside...
but guess who just "happened" to be OUTSIDE?!!

YES!!

OUR GIRL....SHU LI!!!!!

Patty talked to her and took a picture of her!
She didn't have a clue that she was being adopted,
but Patty told her!
And told her that she knows her new Mama and Baba!

Thank you JESUS!!!

OH! There is a friend of Shu Li and Ellie's
who is STILL waiting for a family!!!
She is on WACAP's WC list.

What are you waiting for?
Let's get this group of girlfriends to the
US!!!

North! To Alaska...

Ok, first of all...

I wasn't going to say anything,
but...
since Sarah brought it up in her comment yesterday,

I'll just say it.

98 followers.....??

come on!!

Surely there are TWO of you who
would jump on board to
give me the coveted triple digits!

That's all I'm going to say about that.

:)

**********************

I just thought I would share with you my very
latest project:

Three little dresses for a darling
little girl in Alaska!

I'm shipping them today!

Yes, exactly like the one I made
for my fundraiser...
it's becoming a classic. :)

So sweet!

Yes, the same fabric from one
of the bags I made...
doesn't it look darling made
into a dress?

If you are interested in placing an order for
any of the things you've seen on my blog...
(oh, and I've got a super cool project for this fall!),
send me an email.

However, I'm taking a short break to
organize and clean my "sweat shop"...
my family is tired of me
constantly asking them if they took
my scissors....or if they would help me
look for my seam ripper
(and they don't even know what that is).

K-man said I need a tool belt.
Good idea.

a little good news

I just have to share with you all that I got an
email from Patty early this morning...

she told me that as she was giving
our care package to someone
who is delivering it
to Shu Li, her daughter Ellie (that she just met
yesterday) was asking about who the package was
for.

Well,
turns out that Ellie and Shu Li are friends!!
And Ellie was so thrilled to find out that Shu Li is
being adopted also!!

They all sat and looked at the pictures of our family that I had
included in the care package.

It seemed to really put Ellie's mind at ease
(at least for a bit)
about being adopted, knowing that some
of her friends will be in the US also.

It was such a joy to get that good news.
I just wish Patty and I didn't live half the country
away from each other.

But, we WILL get the girls together
at some point!

a very lovely gift

Monday I received a package in the mail from
my sweet bloggy friend, Lacy!

She made Lucy the most adorable outfit!!

And Miss Lucy couldn't be more excited...
she calls this her dancin' dress because
it twirls quite nicely!

And Lucy insisted I take a pic of
the hair bow Lacy made!
Cute!

"I love my new dress!!"

Lacy also made some ADORABLE little crop
pants to wear underneath but Lucy chose
to go with just the dress for her
photo shoot.


**Lacy has VERY GRACIOUSLY agreed to make another outfit
for me to sell if anyone is interested. She will custom make it
to fit your little darling!
Shoot me an email if you want more info!!

panic stricken?

A couple weeks ago, Lucy was in the living
room watching one of her videos.

During one part, there's a song about
teddy bears and so Lucy ALWAYS
will run to grab her Beary
so she can participate fully.

It's so cute.

So this particular day, as she was
watching her video and I was working in
the kitchen, she had dashed off
to get her fury friend.

I was paying little attention to what she was
doing. But a few minutes later,
she came running into the kitchen
crying hard...carrying on about something.

I asked her to calm down and tell me what
was so wrong....

she, through her tears, told me with
much panic that her bedroom door was 'ocked.

She doesn't pronounce her L's.
You should hear her LOUDLY announce
(in public) when she sees a FLAG.
It's really nice...and embarrassing.

Anyway, her huge dilemma was that her door
was "locked"...or so it seemed.

I walked with her to her door....and simply
pushed it open.

It was just stuck a bit, she just needed
someone bigger to push it with
extra strength.

I have thought about that so many times
as an analogy of how WE are as Christians
sometimes.

How often do we get all panic-stricken...
thinking the door is closed beyond the
point of ever being opened.

We push, push, pull....all by ourselves...
as we cry, fear, and wrestle with
it all alone.

When...

there is Someone bigger.

MUCH bigger....

that is more than willing
to open the door, easy as can be....
or lead us to another one.

Simple as that.

We just have to trust Him.

Are you panic-stricken today??
Are you trying to push that door open...
all by your sweet self?

Surrender it to the Lord
and watch what HIS strength can do.

He is awesome like that.

God's faithfulness...

You gotta go read Patty's blog!!

She and her daughter are in Ch*na!
And didn't get quarantined!
All glory to GOD!!

They are sooo close to getting their
daughter, Ellie!!

After a very long and turbulent
ride, God's faithfulness prevails!!

**If you haven't read her entire story,
look through her blog...it
is amazing how God has brought them
to this point.

just a-swinin'...with a great pedicure, of course

Busy,busy day today but I wanted to post
a few pics...

Miss Lucy in all her beatifulness!
*and her cheesy smile*

Quickly followed by her scrunchy face.

Just a-swingin!
Don't you love Lucy's little crop
pants...that I made out
of a pillow case!
I also added the fun ribbons at
the bottom.

A girl is nothing if she isn't properly
pedicured!

Ummm, Lucy's daddy gave her a dish
full of whipped cream!
(Thanks a lot to little Mr. M at church
who has influenced Lucy to love
this fun treat!)

And a quick brag on our God!
Some say evolution did this?! PUH-LEASE!
ONLY an Almighty Creator could
pull this off!

If you think of it, would you mind praying for us? After almost
12 years of being a self-employed electrical contractor,
work is just too painfully slow for us to make
it and we are sending K-man's resume out in as
many directions as we see can.
We are excited about a new season in our lives
and look forward to what the Lord has in store.
Thanks!

a very good day

We had a lovely Father's Day....

Lucy wore an all white dress which she
refused to take off all day.

She has on a bracelet we bought
her in China...she was afraid it
would fall off so she held her arm
up almost the entire time.

And here is K-man with his clan...Aren't they precious!

fathers....

“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.”

Billy Graham

Happy Father's Day!!

consider this.....

I mailed all (but one, which will go out today) of the

giveaway prizes yesterday!!

It was so fun shipping them off...
though I was a little sad to part with it all!

One thing that hit me hard as I was sewing away,
making my fun little items
was that Big Box stores.....sell things

so.darn. cheap.

I would get a bit discouraged when
I would walk into T*rget and
see a cute fabric purse....
for what it COST me to make!

AND they are making a profit.

*Sigh*

It really hit home to me how the 'ma & pop'
stores are going, going....gone,
because there's just no way to compete
with stores who can
buy in HUGE quantities at a fraction
of the cost.

No, I am NOT anti-big business...
I love WM & T*rget.

I'm thrilled that I can buy things I need
for my home for a reasonable price
because the big guys have worked out
some great deals.

BUT.....

for those little people,
just trying to make a buck (or ten!),
it's almost impossible
to compete.

Here's my proposition to you...
would you consider,
at least for the gifts that you buy for
your friends and family...

to buy homemade items?

Etsy is an awesome site for such things.
I really encourage you to stop
by, and take a looksy...
there are some REALLY talented
and creative folks out there!

Buy something that was made by
a gal who is trying to maintain her
stay-at-home status...
or a grandma who just loves to
knit & wants to support her "habit"!!

You know what I mean.

So, that all leads me to....

my continued effort to raise $ for our
adoption.

I am going to make some things
and list them here (and likely on Etsy),
and if you would like to buy something,
just shoot me an email & we will
work the deal!

Here is my first item...

A 35 x 47" very girly rag quilt!


Closer up...


And the back is pretty darn cute too!
$68
(includes shipping)

So, if you have a baby gift you need to buy soon,
please consider this cute and cozy
handmade quilt that any girl would adore!
If you are interested, email me...

LoriatJoyUnspeakable@yahoo.com

But...

even if you don't buy something from me...
please consider a handmade gift
from someone!

no way hose b

Lucy's vocabulary is incredible.

Not only does she speak with a wide range
of words,
but she tries very hard to get them
just right....
even her pronouns!

She will say, "Mama, do I say him or his?

Incredible.

And when she wants to know what something is
that she is unfamiliar with...

say will ask, "What's that Mama?

example:
I'll say, "Well Lucy, that's a Hydrangea flower"

Lucy, "Oh, hydrangea. Yes."
*pronounced her very own way, and you can
almost see her filing
that bit of info into her brain.

Anyway,

I say to her a lot, "No way Jose!"
and she has
quickly caught onto this and
started saying it also.

It is was so cute.

Her father ruined it for her...and me.

He started telling her, "No way hose B."

Get it? "No way Jose (hose A),
No way hose B).

So now that's all she says!!

With all her Lucy sassiness,
"No way hose B!"

AAAHHHH!!!

It drives me crazy!
No one knows what's she's talking about
except for father.

It's not even funny.

He thinks it's hilarious.
*Sigh*

Patty

Wow wee....you gotta go read Patty's blog!
The roller-coaster ride continues...


it's GOOD.

thank ya...and washing arm pits at the dinner table

Once again,
THANK YOU
to all of you who took part
in my giveaway!

There were a total of 230 entries!
And Lucy was my lovely
assistant who did the drawing.

It was just sooo much fun!

Check the post below this one if you haven't
seen who the winners are!


*******************************

In my continuing effort to save some $,
I was inspired by Sally,
who made her own cloth napkins.

It occurred to me that I spend a lot
on paper napkins (ok, not tons of $,
but still...I'm trying to cut corners everywhere).

But I really hate cloth napkins...
they aren't absorbent.

Then the idea of wash cloths popped into
my brain!

So, I found a package of 18 for $3.92
at WM.

I think it's the perfect solution...
saving $ by not buying paper &
they are super absorbent!

BUT....not a meal goes by that one of my boys
doesn't stretch out his arms and pretend to wash his armpits.

Whateva!

and the winners are....

Drum roll please....

And the winners are:

JANET B.!!

FAYE V. of Hamilton, OH!!

LAURA M. of Berwyn, IL!!

MEGADOG!!

LINNY!!

MICHELE!!

RACHEL W.!!

KRISTY G.!!

Oh how I wish I had something for each
and every one of you!!!

Thank you all for your
gracious giving!!

And a special thanks to my mom who did a lot
behind the scenes to help!!

**If you won, but did not contribute through Paypal, I don't have your address, PLEASE email it to me so I can send you your prize! Thanks!!

hurry, hurry

Ok ya'll! I'm going to do the drawing at 4:00 (central).

If you want in...time is tickin' away!!

baby bird....still here :(

UPDATE:

*Sigh*
As I was fixing breakfast this morning,
I glanced out the window and
saw our little bird friend
who had wandered across to the other
side of the sidewalk...
mouth still open...desperate for food.

GASP.

I told K-man....
and the big ol' soft teddy bear heart that
resides deep inside his hard candy shell,
came out to help this
helpless little feathered weak one.

Not long after turning over a few
rocks, he found a worm...

brought the worm and the baby bird
inside...

and very maternally,
tried his best to give it some nourishment.

He then found a nest that he thought it might
possibly have come from and put it back.
Not sure what else to do. :(

And Lucy slept through all of this....
otherwise,
we'd have a pet bird on our hands.


**I didn't have to take Nick to his lesson after all....
I'm working on the drawing entries.

IF YOU WANT IN ON IT....
PLEASE DO SO SOON SO YOU DON'T MISS OUT!

FUN!!

today's the big day and....a lost mama

PLEASE STAND BY....

Yay! Today is the BIG drawing!!
I'm sooo excited!

But after a difficult night w/ LuBug,
I'm pooped!
Plus I need to take Nick to a golf lesson in just
a little while.

And....I still need to go through all the
entries carefully to make sure I don't miss a single one!

Keep checking back!
It will likely be later this afternoon
or this evening.

THERE'S STILL TIME TO GET IN
ON THE DRAWING!!

****************

Last night K-man noticed a teeny, tiny baby bird
just sitting helplessly, crying for her mama
under a tree close to our house.

When he came in to tell me,
Lucy was all over it.
She insisted on going to see it.

Oh.my.sweet.stars.

The girl was SO WORRIED.
She kept asking about where the mama was....
she even said at one point that
the mama had probably gone shopping.
So my child.

We explained over, and over, and over
that we must leave it alone if we
want the mama to come back.

I honestly didn't have a good feeling about
mama...she was no
where in sight.

But Lucy just kept talking about it,
in tears at one point.

And I kept thinking that this was a good
opportunity to talk about
mama's not being able to take
care of their babies.

But, I just couldn't seem to tie it
into the fact that at least with human babies,
someone will find it and take care of it.

That's where I debated about bringing it
inside and taking over.

But I didn't.
Too tired....
and didn't want to spend my night
feeding a baby bird.

So we joined hands and prayed that Jesus
would bring the mama back
to take care of her baby.

That gave her peace. And she was soon
tucked into bed.

As I was heading to bed, I just had to
go check on the poor little thing.
I hesitated....
afraid that it had lost the battle.

Nope.

No little birdie to be found!
Yippee!!

K-man said a snake probably ate it.

Nice. Really nice.

No....she's safe with her mama.

Look really hard...

See ya'll later!!

when a man loves a woman...

I've really been wanting a new sofa & love seat
for our living room.

But there is no way I could see that in
the near (or even distant) future with our
budget as it is.

No big deal, I'm very thankful for what I have.

Then it just suddenly occurred to me
yesterday morning....

the leather furniture in the basement!

DUH.

About 7 years ago we bought furniture
for our basement family room.

We have used it a lot, but mostly
it's just used by the boys and their friends.

So I sent K-man a text yesterday telling him
that I was thinking about swapping
the furniture around.

He said....fine.

Little did he know that when he got home,
I asked about it...

and being the good hubby that he is,
he got right on it.

It was a huge undertaking.
HUGE.

The ONLY way to get it up was up the stairs.
Our very narrow stairs.

It was like delivering a baby...
backwards.

Looks good at this point....
looks can be deceiving.

K-man not only had to take the light
fixture off the wall,
but also the electrical box that was
just barely sticking out.

Don't let the tag fool you...
it's not brand new...I just never
cut it off!
Brilliant.

Brenden...it's time to put that geometry
to use.

After MUCH time and configuration...
we they got it!

Now I have a "new" living room
and scuffed up walls!
It's lovely.
Even if it wasn't....it's here to stay.
I'd have to take it back down
myself if I didn't like it!

Oh, and if you've been hanging around
my blog for very long,
don't you just KNOW that Lucy
Little Miss Bossy Buns
was in full charge
of the situation!

my trash can never looked better

As I have mentioned in the past,
Lucy has a raging sticker addiction.

Innocent as they may seem....

it's stinkin' expensive!

And the fact that she will race through
a sheet of a hundred or more in all
of about 10 minutes...
sticking them mostly just on a piece
of paper...

or the floor,

leaves me little motivation to want
to feed her love of adhesive decorations.

But....

having to do without real stickers
for some time now,
she found a nice substitute...

tape.

She pulls out the roll
and asks for two pieces at a time.
Apparently she tries not be be greedy.

So here is just a sample of her tape "art"...

on the trash can.

It needed a little sprucing up anyway.

This gal is going to be a huge help
at Christmas time.

I'm not sure who gave her that one long piece....
but that is just going too far.

where there's a will...

My golfer,

Nick.

This kid has been trying to come up with
his own personal putting green
for well over a year now.

He even found a spot hidden in our woods
that he cleared,
(I think may have even cut
down a tree or two....)
and did his darndest to make it
golf-course like.

Poor kid.

As you might have guessed....
it didn't work.

But his Ninny (my mom), told him
she would buy a piece of
indoor/outdoor
carpet to help his cause.

Well, a trip to H*me Depot & a couple
hours spent in the barn with his dad later,

Voila!
His very own, long yearned for, 4x8 putting green...
in his bedroom!

As you can see, Nick has bounced back nicely
from his painful loss the other day.
And with his new practice green....
and a brand new putter that his bought
with his yard-mowing money,
he's back on target!