Be brave

Last week at tennis, I whipped out my Fujifilm to snap a few photos of the girls hanging out.  Well, that quickly turned into the girls taking turns behind the lens.  Now mind you, although the Fujifilm is compact, lightweight, and easy to use, it's not cheap.  So I really had to watch the girls carefully to make sure they didn't drop it on the pavement, because that would be kinda bad.  (In a sidenote, I took the liberty of blurring the signage in keeping with our "undisclosed" location, like I did at the recent Pro tennis tournament.)

Don't you think the shooting-up-at-your-neck-and-nose angle is so flattering? *cough cough*

Regardless of focus, I absolutely adore this shot that Havi took of me with my toothless girly.

And then, of course, when it was Madeline's turn, somebody had to photo bomb.

Then I tried to reduce the neck-and-up-your-nose shot by getting down lower.  It worked, briefly.

We proved that, even though the superhero party was over, we still had it in us.

So believe it or not, that day Caleb actually had two tennis lessons (a private in the morning and a group in the late afternoon).  So it was back to the courts for some of us. Madeline stayed home with Baba, and I took Havi with me to hang out.

I tried snagging a shot of the two of us, but this was the only attempt she allowed.

The courts weren't busy yet, so she took to running down the long sidewalk that splits the front and back courts.

She had a lot of fun, but shortly after I snapped that photo, she hit the pavement hard.  Thankfully she only skinned her knees a little.  So she took to dancing and playing with her diaper changing pad.

I just loved the shadows that the sun and wind screen cast on her.  It was such pretty light.

Well, this past weekend was a busy one for us.  Not only did we go camping, but Caleb also had a tennis tournament.  We also stayed an extra night at the campground, which meant we were driving back to the house at 6:00am Monday morning.  We're so glad we did that though.  I didn't take nearly as many photos as usual because I was trying to keep up with Caleb's tennis matches (Patrick took him to the tournament), but I will try to share about our camping adventure soon.

Two + one = love!

We are beyond thrilled to announce that two more feet will be running around our house some time this summer!

We have recently accepted a referral for our daughter Havalah.  And now that we have PA (pre-approval from China), we're sharing the incredible news here.  She is 14 months old and hails from the Shanxi province in China.   That's about all we can really say without getting too specific.

Since we accepted her referral late one evening, we had to wait until morning to tell Caleb and Madeline.  Patrick wanted to be there for the big reveal, but he didn't think it was fair to the kids to keep the news from them all day.  So I printed out her photos and videotaped their reaction.

Aren't they precious?!  Oh, the references to Micah are for their younger brother.  Now we don't know if we'll be adopting a fourth child  or not.  I mean, we're still working on #3 here.  lol  But Micah will be his name if we do.  In the meantime, the dumplings will keep holding out hope. 

Anyway, thanks so much for sharing in our joy.  We are still pinching ourselves to make sure we're not dreaming.  We are over the moon in love with her!  

We love you Havi!!!

Our Havalah

Dear Precious Little Havalah,

We feel so blessed to be called your family. We don't know who you are yet, but we know that Lord has hand-picked you for us. And us for you. We have been praying for you for quite some time now:

that peace fills your precious little heart, that your mind rests in the knowledge that you will one day have a family of your own, that your nights aren't so lonely or cold, that a gentle hand wipes away your tears when they fall, that your boo boos are kissed and bandaged up, that you know the love of your caregivers until we arrive to bring you home.

Yes, precious girl. One day, when you least expect it, your world will be forever changed. You will be taken from all you have ever known and then begin your life with us, your forever family. You will be sad and traumatized, and we recognize that. How you cope with this transition, only time will tell. Our prayer is that God will equip us to help you the best way possible. One thing we know for certain, we will be there for you...to be patient, kind, and, most of all, loving to you. In fact, we already love you because God has called us to be your parents. We are so blessed to answer His call. We pray also for your birth parents, that God may give them peace and comfort to know their daughter will be loved and cared for by her forever family.

We can't wait for the day that we can finally hold you in our arms and kiss your sweet face. Some day soon, as the Lord has designed it, our hopes and dreams will be realized. In the meantime, our love for you, precious one, will only grow. We love you, dear Havi.

love,
Daddy, Mommy, Big Brother Caleb, and Big Sister Madeline