mystery name and a golf invite

I'm not feeling very wordy today but here's
all the latest...

I'm so sorry, but I can't post the new pics of Shu Li.
:(
We signed an agreement with our agency
saying we wouldn't.
They are super conservative that way.
I probably shouldn't have posted the pics that I
have but since I got them from sources other than our
agency I felt it was OK.

Also,
when we requested updates on our sweet girl we also
requested that they ask her about whether she wanted to
keep her English name that she has there (Katie) or
if she would like us to choose a name for her.

We love the name Katie but we have two Katies in our
family already!

Anyway, supposedly she said she loves the name Katie
and wants to keep it.
Well, honestly I'm totally fine with that...I have
said all along that the choice would be hers.
Problem is,
we are doubting very much that they actually asked
her about it. As many of you know, info received
can sometimes be less than true.
All of our immigration papers say Macy. We may
have a window of opportunity while in Ch*na that
we can change it but maybe not (or so we are told).
So, I guess I'm telling you all this that
from here on out I'm going back to calling her
Shu Li. Golly, this name thing is driving me crazy!!

And lastly,
I thank you all who you have been praying about
our TA situation. It is humbling to know that
so many of you care so much.

And though I know that God allowing this delay
could prove to be a very good thing....
I also know that the enemy does not want us to
adopt and will thwart our plans however
he can.

I ask that you continue to pray that our TA
would come miraculously soon.

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

Last night we got an email with a letter attached for Nick.

"You have been invited to play in the
2009 Kansas City Crusaders Junior Masters
at the Kansas City Country Club based
on your accomplishment in high school and summer junior
tournaments over the past 12 months..."

Such an honor!! He is so stoked!!

And that means another early, early, early, early
morning for me. Yay.

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

Ok, that turned out to be more wordy than
I had planned.

a fun day

Sorry, I forgot that I told you I would check
in at the end of the day!

Our first day of HS went well,
albeit very, very short.

Brenden's brand new computer,
that he saved all summer for...
broke.
The screen malfunctioned and after a
pleasant 69 minutes on the phone
with D*ll,
trying to diagnose the problem,
it was concluded that the screen is defective
and they are ordering a new
one and will have someone replace it.

In the meantime,
all of Brenden's school work is on
his computer with a screen he can't see
anything on.


I had him do R*setta Stone on my
computer.
So he got a good dose of Mandarin
while Nick did his work...well,
part of it.


Truthfully, though it didn't exactly go
as planned, it was a great day.
We laughed a ton and had a great time together.
Golly, I love being their teacher!!

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

I talked to our agency and we are pretty much
at the very beginning of the TA process.
Meaning, even though it's been
about 5 weeks since our LOA, because
of an error, we are back to square one.

Nice, very nice.

Worse case scenario, we won't get our TA
for another 7 weeks.
Ugh...I know.
But, they are doing all they can to get each
step expedited from here on out so that we will get it
much sooner.

I'm really at peace about it.
I know there is a reason God is allowing this delay.
But would you please pray for us?

Macy Shu Li

I have fallen in love with not only,
Shu Li....our daughter,
that we have yet to meet in person
(yet I feel I already know her in many ways),
but I also love her name.
Hearing it just makes me smile.

Hearing Lucy say it makes me smile.
Shoo Wee.

But because I know that she will very likely
want an American name,
we have decided on

Macy.
Macy Shu Li.

I love that name...and I love that it
goes well with Lucy.

Macy and Lucy.
Cute, huh?

But still...I'm really struggling with bringing
myself to call her that,
even as I type this...
or say her name around the house.

It feels the same as me changing
my name to Betty.

Cute name but....it's just
weird.
I talked to Patty about it
(for those who don't know she just adopted on of Shu Li's friends)
and she said she feels the same way about
her daughter's new American name.
I'm relieved to know that because I thought
I was being rather odd about it.

Anyway,
ultimately we will let Shu Li, I mean Macy,
choose what she wants to be called.

If she wants to stick with Shu Li,
I'll be tickled.
If she likes Macy Shu Li,
I'll be tickled.

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

I am up earlier than the chickens today
as Nick and I are heading to his
BIG golf tournament.

YES, I'm positive that it is today.
He is so excited.
And I'm excited that it's the last time
I have to get up so dog-gone early!

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!!

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!!!

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!

Super Secret Project!!

*revealed*

Though we felt very certain we would adopt an older child after Lucy,

it happened much quicker than we
expected.

But what were we to do?? We discovered we had another daughter
waiting for us in Ch*na & nothing would stop us
from goin' to get her, quick as possible.


And even though our agency has waived many of its fees for
our sweet Shu Li,
there are still many expenses.

I have prayed for months over this....do we do a fundraiser?
Or not?

If so, what should that look like?

I prayed....A LOT!

Then the answer came to me.
The parable that Jesus told about the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) revealed it.

I felt sure that I was to use my "talents".....

that I should work hard, as unto the Lord,
to raise the funds we need.

So I began to....sew.

And oh my gracious did I have a ball!

And here you go....

A rag quilt (throw) that is super warm!


This fun bag
is just as cute
on the inside
as the outside!



19"x14"
Great for a
diaper bag!




And some more great bags...


Here's the scoop....

Enter by:

*Leaving a comment (on this post) or email me for one entry.
**One comment entry per person.

*Plugging my giveaway on your blog for one entry.
**Please let me know in a comment that you are
giving me a plug!

*Donate $10 using Chipin (top right corner) for each additional entry.

Easy as can be!!

The drawings will be held on Wednesday, June 17!

If there is anything you just love and don't want to take a chance on
not winning the drawing, email me and if the fabric is still
available I would love to make the identical
item for you for a set price.

Oh yes....one last (very important) thing....
Take a peek at our sweet girl, would ya?



Isn't that the sweetest face ever?!
I'm so in love.

Thank you in advance for whatever you are
able to do to help us bring
our darling daughter home.

DTC, Baby!!!!!

For those of you who don't speak Chinaadoptionese, that means Dossier To Ch*na....or even more simply put, our dossier was mailed yesterday!!

It has been my prayer from the get-go that we would travel in June. Well, with the steps left to go in our process, that target time frame is ummm, almost out of the realm of reality. But, you know what? I serve a God who is in control and if HE wants us to travel in June, well by golly, He can make it happen!! But no matter what, I trust HIS timing....no matter when we end up going. Since He sees the big picture, yep...He knows best and I trust Him. And He wants the best for us and for Shu Li. He won't let us down. Nope.

I've also been praying that Shu Li has received her care package we sent. Unfortunately, sometimes these kiddos aren't give what is sent to them (Lucy didn't get the things we sent until the day we got her). I want her to at least get our photo album and letter. And I've been praying that I would somehow receive confirmation that she received it. And I also want to send her more things but it seems pointless if she may not be getting them.


Last night K-man was trapped in the Lucy web (aka, she had him in her bedroom playing). I went in to check on them and she quickly showed me a large card that had the alphabet on it. She pointed to each letter, and in order, recited the alphabet and got each letter correct (even telling me some words that each letter made...M for Mama, B for B-den Brenden). After showing off her brilliance she quickly told me to leave. Well now. She didn't like me interrupting her fun time with Daddy. Ok, no problem Little Miss. Later I heard K-man say, "Hey Lucy, I know. Let's go see what Mama is doing!"

But while I was in her room with them, I was looking around....boy oh boy, the girl just loves to have ALL of her toys strung out everywhere. And I'm just wondering how in the world she won't drive Shu Li crazy with her messiness. And Lucy will no doubt want to get into Shu Li's things as well. I was thinking maybe getting a nice chest of some sort for SL to put her things in that locks, keeping Miss Nosey Nelly out.

What do you think? Do any of you have a little one who shares a room with an older child? How do you keep harmony??

"Yes, I'd Love to!"

Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments yesterday! We are so excited about Shu Li!! We keep getting bits and pieces of info from our agency about her. We got her complete file yesterday in the mail & I thought I would include a little bit of it...


Shu Li's attitude towards being adopted by foreigners:

Many of her friends have been adopted, and most of them would visit the institute again with their new parents, which arouses admiration in her. She would ask her teachers questions about being adopted and wonders whether she would be adopted one day. When she was asked by her teacher seriously, "are you willing to be adopted?" one day, she gave a very affirmative answer, "Yes, I'd love to."

**sniff, sniff** I would get on a plane tomorrow with nothing more than the clothes on my back (and my flat iron) if I could.

Here are a few name possibilities...tell me what you think! And let me know if you have other name ideas!

Katie Shu Li (if she wants to keep Katie)
Elizabeth Shu Li *or* Shu Li Elizabeth
Shu Li Grace (I don't know if that flows)
Carly Shu Li (not sure if I like how that sounds but I like the name Carly)
Sally Shu Li (Yes Sally! I love your name!! But, not sure if I like it w/ Shu Li)

Unrelated, we are in the final week of basketball for Nick & Brenden's ends next week I think...not including their state tournaments. Anyway, they both had games tonight hours away from each other so we had no choice but to split up. Golly, I just hate missing games!!! I went to Nick's since it was closest to home & it allowed me to get Lucy home at a decent time (and so that I could catch up on my blogging).

After B's games he sent me a text and it went as follows (pardon his colorful language):

B..."Mom, did you hear about my block?

Me...."Dad told me a little but you will have to tell me all about it!!"

B...."Ok!"

Me...thinking he will tell me when he gets home.

B...."OK! this kid was on a fast break and was well ahead of me but! I ran his butt down and stuffed the CRAP out of him!! He was still holding the ball, about to release it but I got all of it and slammed the ball into the wall and he strongly followed suit!!!! It was amazing, I yelled "GET IT OUT!" as loud as I possibly could! lol (followed by 1 Cor 13:4 that is at the end of each of his texts, which with this particular text, I find humorous).

Me...."Woo Hoo!!! Darn, I wish I had seen it!!!"

B...."Yeah, it was the moment of the game for me =) lol and when I say I ran him down, I mean I RAN HIM DOWN! I have neve ran so fast in a game =)

Oh man, I love my boys!! They are so talented & keep me in stitches ALL THE TIME!!!

Hey, now hop over to my friend Patty's blog for a great laugh!! She had a hilarious encounter with the UPS man.....