New Day Kids on the Shared List

I hope you have seen this, but in the case that you have not.......there are 11 kids who are currently at New Day Foster Home in China on the shared list and available for adoption.

You can read about each child by going to New Day Foster Home's home page, and clicking the picture next to "Waiting for Families" in the lower left hand corner. There you can read each child's short bio, and you can read all the blog posts written about them.....so cute.

Three in particular capture my heart:

Emelia is Cooper's foster sister, and I know they have a close, close relationship. My heart is already breaking at the thought of her being left behind when we bring him home. My heart is also breaking for Cooper and what he will go through losing his sister. I'm not-so-secretly praying that someone local to us adopts her so that they can always remain close.

Robert is also available for adoption. You all may remember Robert from the post on New Day's blog about Cooper seeing our pictures for the first time. Oh how I pray that one day very, very soon someone will walk in to the preschool with a picture of Robert's mom and dad!

Then there is Jamison. I prayed for a long time that a friend of mine would have the privilege of Jamison being her son. God revealed a different plan for that family, and I cannot wait to see the plan for Jamison.

At the very least, will you got to New Day's website, click the link, print the page, and then pray for these 11 kiddos by name?

And, if you dare, would you ask God if YOUR FAMILY is the answer to your very own prayers?

I am.

Conversation with Chloe (Mini-Me)

Chloe: "Grandma said that I can help her train her dog."

Me: "Really?"

Chloe: "Yes, really. She said I could."

Me: "Grandma doesn't have a dog."

Chloe: "She's gonna get one."

Me (having heard this from my kids last week, but not believing it because I KNOW my mom....that would be a surprising choice for her): "Really?"

Chloe: "Yes, really. We had this discussion last week, don't you remember?"

Me: "Yes, I remember."

Chloe: "Well, I do not want to have this discussion again. Am I clear?"

Me (laughing out loud): "Yes, clear."

Who is this kid??? She makes me smile every day!

Bright Ocean

I've never known quite why, but ever since starting this adoption journey, I have always been overwhelmed with thoughts of our child when at the beach.

I made an educated guess that our child had probably never, ever set foot on a beach or in the ocean. So, I originally thought that's why the beach always brought thoughts of our yet-unknown-to-us child. It represented for me something we could share with our child that would be a first- after surely missing so many other "firsts".

I would always tell Scot that I couldn't wait to take our child to the beach with us for the first time- that was #1 on my things I look forward to. And, when you think about it, that's a little strange. Really? The beach? Aren't there a lot more firsts to look forward to more?

I couldn't explain why, but the being at the ocean brought thoughts of our child to me like no place else.

I would look up at the bright sky over the ocean and wonder if that is what the sky looked like over where our child was right.then. And I would pray that God would be with him or her right.then.

I would watch my kids playing in the sand and splashing in the waves and dream of a day when I'd be able to witness the joy of another child of ours experiencing that for the very.first.time. And I would pray for our child to be loved and cared for well while he or she waited for us, and while we were waiting for him/her.

As my kids would play, I would be silently praying. All day long.

I just never realized then how much significance those beach days would have for me.....so much more than I had imagined.

You see, Cooper comes from Urumchi in XinJiang province. Urumchi is known to be the farthest city in the world from any ocean- the most land-locked place on earth.

And his name means "Bright Ocean".

What I believe now is that God impressed Cooper on my heart every time I was there. He knew Cooper's name long before I did. He knew Cooper's home before I ever did. He also knew that once I knew Cooper's name, I would realize God's little way of letting me know that I was praying for Cooper while He knew his name and I didn't.

I mean, I could have been overwhelmed with the thought of our child at a lot of other places, but God would impress our child on me always at the ocean. At the beautifully bright ocean.

You see, one of my prayers from the beginning was that God would impress upon me important dates/times in the life of my child that I would be missing. That on significant dates in his/her life, God would just overwhelm me with a sense to pray for our child on those days.

When I think back about all those days spent praying at the bright ocean, I realize that God answered my prayers. I was praying for my son in a place that held the significance of his name without even knowing it.

I am SO, SO thankful for such a seemingly small gift. Because now, when I look back at my pictures and remember my prayers for Cooper in each of those places, I feel like he was there with us.

Wordless Wednesday: Enjoying Summer

Our Many Colored Days

Some days are yellow

Some days are blue

On different days

{We're} different too

You'd be surprised

how many ways

We change on different colored days

-Dr. Seuss

Ahhhhh........the new us. This has been a L-O-N-G time coming.

A new blog design and a new blog name seems fitting for a new phase of life here. We are living "many colored days" as usual, although right now the colors seem so bright, varied and, constantly changing.....and you'll notice that if you refresh the page, the blog header is also ever-changing! Clever, huh? (Just to point out though.....our blog address has not changed.)

Jen over at The Art of Living Designs put together a design that was just what I wanted to reflect where we are right now in our life and in our family. She did a great job of hinting at my favorite artist, Eric Carle, and capturing the feel of one of my all-time favorite children's books, Many Colored Days by Dr.Seuss. She also made sure to let me know that the photos were really easy to crop so when Cooper comes home, we can add his precious face to our header!!! :) Thanks, Jen!!! I'm already feeling right at home here!

Speaking of Cooper, savor the cuteness below. We just got some updated pictures! And, if you have not already seen the pictures of Cooper seeing our pictures for the first time, head on over and check out this post on New Day's blog. I know I'm his mom, but still, you may want to have the tissues handy just in case!