the dude

i'm going to be super honest: he hated me the first 4-5 days in china, as in:
*he would pull away from me and choose to walk in front of a moving car rather than walk next to me
*he would be thirsty and parched instead of just taking the bottle of water or soda from my hand
*he would rather be bored than take his kindle fire from me when i was offering it
it happens. pick up trips aren't always filled with unicorns sliding down rainbows into gumdrop seas. but it gets better!

one day in guangzhou (the final leg of the journey) i was walking through one of the rooms in our hotel suite (and he had hidden himself on the other side of the door) and he jumped into my arms. just like that. and ever since then, he's been my cuddle bug, my right-hand man. my dude.

most of the pictures we had of him he seemed somber and quiet. ha!
even our main guide in guangzhou said "wow, he was so quiet when we met him a few months ago". ahhhhh, we still laugh about that....

he is the most energetic, wild, and personable dude.
gosh, this kid, y'all, he really does have so much personality.  i just wish all you you could meet and enjoy it with us!

he loves electronica music--the kids has some mad dancing skills. i set the t.v. to my pandora "moby" station, and he will dance his little heart out.

and his high and roundhouse kicks--chuck norris would be jealous of them.

here is a photo documentary of his personality:

the dude loves technology too. 

he's a blessing to us. he really is. 

i know others are well intentioned when they tell us we are a blessing to the kids, but honestly, we are the blessed ones. 

my heart and soul are full--and house loud now :) 

the story of luke

God brought us to lucy, and everything since then has been perfectly orchestrated by His hands.

our journey began with this picture:

the last news for lucy is that we received LOA from china (this means they accepted our dossier (the 1,000,000,000 sheets of official paperwork and such) and approved us to adopt lucy), and yesterday i sent the signed LOA and a few other required applications/documents to our government's immigration services for her. now, we are waiting on all those documents to go through the next process (this is only a few weeks) so her visa can be eventually be issued (once she enters the country, she will become a citizen) (i feel like there should be unicorn and leprechauns inside the airport where numerous children like lucy are entering and at that moment becoming u.s. citizens :)).

...in the meantime of all the final approvals being issued for lucy-girl, the director of our agency and a few other individuals associated with traveled to china. while there, they were in the anhui province (where lucy lives) and while in her province, they had a day "off" so they traveled to the city she lives in, and then visited the orphanage/foster home she lives in. and....
while visiting her it was brought to them how close and attached lucy is to one of her foster brothers. they've lived most of their life together, as brother and sister, and love each other dearly. and in the 8 years he has been waiting on a family, not one single family has inquired about him.
we simply cannot take her out of the life she has known and the orphanage/foster family she has loved and lived with; and leave him remaining as an orphan in the process. we have the extra room in our house, and more than the extra love and patience in our hearts, so, we are adopting him too!!!

here is he showing off a picture he drew of him and lucy-girl. :) (we may let him keep the mustache ;)) 

and, here they are together, soon to be forever brother and sister! 

what this means for lucy-girl besides her having her beloved foster brother become her forever brother: we won't be bringing her home at the end of february/beginning of march as projected. everyone involved (us, our social worker for our home study, and our adoption agency) agree bringing them home together best for both of them. so now, we have to submit for a provision to our original i800a approval (this is the american government) to be able to adopt 2 at the same time. lucy's part is pretty much done, except for a waiting game for her visa, and it to make it's way to china, but that will be held off on begin submitted to china while we catch up luke's process.

it's possible we will be bringing them both home this summer. :) 

He does! He sets the lonely in families (psalm 68:6)! 

i am in awe: teary-eyed awe at how He is making our family. what a wonderful treasure, what a blessing, what an indescribable joy for Him to choose us to be the forever mommy and daddy to these TWO precious children, who already love each other so much! 

thank you for taking part in our joy, and loving lucy-girl and luke! 

we'll be able to de-deadmau5 and de-cat his face in a few weeks. :)