Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Mitchell had a great time being part of the Red Sox baseball team this spring.




He had 14 games and had fun playing many different positions. He even tried being the catcher.


Receiving his 1st trophy at the end of the season was the best part of the season.

Ming is very happy!

We heard back from Ann, the gal that we hired to help us with the care package for Ming. She was able to call back to the orphanage and get information for us. She told us that Ms Zheng, the orphanage director said, " She Ming was very happy to receive your package and was very happy to be adopted by you and was very happy to go to USA."

We were hoping for more but so thankful to get this message. It sounds like Ming is very happy. We sure wish that we could have told him exactly when we are coming. We continue to pray that he is very happy to receive this news about his adoption and is not too afraid.

A Wet & Cold Night

Our Aquatic Center opened tonight for season pass holders. Our kids have looked forward to this night for a while. You see, our aquatic center opened a whole new section this season that our kids have been looking forward to for 2 years. They even changed the name from Moses Lake Aquatic Center to the Surf & Slide Waterpark. They added a flow rider and a lazy river as well as some little kids fountains and a new snack bar.

So, even though the temperature was more geared towards building a bonfire than swimming, we packed up a picnic dinner and headed over to the waterpark, just as it opened, to be one of the first on the flow rider. Jay was quick to point out that because he is a lifeguard, he has been able to already spend significant time on the flow rider before the park officially opened.

The flow rider is a simulated surfing ride. Check out Madison and Jay in the pictures.




I predicted that they would stay only about 20-30 minutes because it was so cold, but they were having so much fun we ended up staying the full 3 hours the pool was open. This summer will be fun!

The Long Awaited TA

We received our travel approval today. Yippee! We sure wish it had come last week so we could be on our way to China. But we are very thankful that we have it and now have all our paperwork from China that we need to bring Ming home.
We will be working on our travel plans for early July. We will hopefully be leaving for China 6 weeks.

Great Sorrow

Maria Sue Chapman, 5 year old daughter of Steven Curtis & Marybeth Chapman, died yesterday after she was hit in her driveway by the car one of her brothers was driving. Apparently, she was outside playing and her brother did not even see her. What a horrible accident. The family was celebrating great joy this month. Maria celebrated her 5th birthday 10 days ago, oldest daughter Emily became engaged over the weekend, and oldest son Caleb is celebrating his high school graduation this week. How life changes in an instant! Please pray for their family as they mourn Maria's death but also as her brother deals with the great grief this accident has brought to his life.

Maria's adoption story is beautiful and of God. After the Chapman's had adopted Shaoey and Stevey Joy, Steven was in China visiting orphanages and was introduced to a beautiful little girl. When Steven inquired about her name, he was told her name was Maria. He was struck not only by such an unusual name in China, but the fact that years before he had written a song called, "Who will take care of Maria?" God spoke to Steven's heart that day and told him that Maria was to be in their family and they were to take care of her. God took care of Maria as he placed her in the Chapman family, just as I know God will take care of her family as they mourn her death.

The Chapman family has become very special to us. We have had the opportunity to meet SCC on two occasions, completely humbled by his love for his family and his compassion for the orphans of China and around the world. I remember when we met him the month before we brought home Jamae. He told us that our life would be forever changed through adoption and that once we went to China we would go back because part of our heart would still be there. How true are his words! Our life has been forever changed because of the Chapman family, because not only has their family been an inspiration to us in our adoptions but their foundation, Shaohannah's Hope, has helped fund both Jamae's and Ming's adoption.

If you feel moved, please consider honoring Maria and donating to the Maria Miracle Fund:
http://members.shaohannahshope.org


Meeting SCC right before we adopted Jamae



Introducing Jamae to Steven Curtis Chapman

Care Package Update

Here is the email that I received this morning from our contact in China:

Dear Caryn:
She Ming got his package from the orphange ...but the director Zheng did not know anything about your package thing ,also she did not know that you will adopt SheMing ...so she let me call her back tomorrow then she will let me know what she ming think about on his package ,love,Ann

We really don't know what to make of this news. We don't know why the director does not know of our adoption plans. We thought that the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) would have made them aware of this by now. I guess we will just need to wait until tomorrow before we start jumping to conclusions.

My heart is really in China right now, wishing Jody and I could be telling Ming this news ourselves.

Difficult News!

Our travel approval has not arrived. We have heard the words that we prayed we wouldn't hear. Because we have not received our travel approval, we will not be able to travel this weekend to China to bring home Ming. We do not understand but the decision has been made. We will now be traveling in July. We do not know the dates yet, but will post as soon as we learn. We ask for your continued prayers that our travel approval arrives soon, so we can make concrete travel plans. Yesterday I read in a devotional that while God may seem slow at responding to our prayers, He’s always right on time. We know that God has this whole situation in His hands and we trust Him even though we don't understand.

Please pray for Ming's safety, health, and emotions as he waits for us to arrive. Is he excited about his new family or does the whole idea terrify him? My heart breaks that we have to wait so many days to find out.

My Wedding Bear Becomes A Groom

The were only two places I wanted to be today - China or in North Carolina for my nephew TJ's wedding. Where am I? I am in Moses Lake waiting impatiently for China to send us our travel approval so we can bring home Ming. What is taking them so long? I made the terribly hard decision to stay home from the wedding with the hope that we would be traveling to China any day now. But here I am, with no word from China and my entire family in North Carolina for the wedding. Ugh!
So my thoughts travel to TJ and Meredith as they become husband and wife. Is it really possible that my "wedding bear" is becoming a groom today? At my wedding 18 1/2 years ago, TJ was too little to be a ring bearer, but hearing about his older brother Steven being a ring bearer, he declared that he was my wedding bear. He went around saying "grr". Too cute!
Happy wedding day TJ! May God bless you and Meredith with an amazing life together.