Five Years Ago Today! Yes It’s Been Five Years!

This is the view from our computer when the Agency sent us her first picture during THE CALL.  December 7, 2007 is a day our family will never ever forget.  Our older girls were all at work anxiously waiting for us to call them with the information about their “little sister”.  I love hearing them say that.   When we first saw the picture I cried and Ronnie almost did.  This morning I asked Ronnie if he remembered what happened five years ago today and he of course he did. I also said remember my house was perfectly clean and already decorated for Christmas that morning….he said yeah you also didn’t have those two little grandbabies who are sleeping on the couch!!

Hope is a joy and such a blessing.  If we were only younger we would definitely adopt again.  We just hope that we might inspire someone who already has been  prompted by the Lord to go ahead and take the plunge.  There are orphans all over the world who need forever families, my heart is centered on those still left behind in Hope’s orphanage in Huainan.  

Hope’s referral day came one day shy of two years since our dossier was logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs.  Now the families who are getting referrals in the “non special needs” program from China are waiting about six years!  That is almost unbelievable…but true.  I pray that those in charge in China will make some changes and those children waiting ( I’ve seen estimates as high as one million) for families will be placed more quickly in the future.  Please remember to pray for orphans all over the world and if you are able and God has not asked you to become a forever family there is still so much you can do.  There are numerous charities and outreach programs.  Here is a link to one.

 http://pearlriveroutreach.blogspot.com/

You will be blessed…open your heart just a little and see what God has in store for your family!!!  Just look at that face in the picture above and then take a look at this.

A smiling happy little girl waiting patiently for Disney on Ice.  We love you Hopie Marie and are so Thankful we saw your sweet little face on our computer that morning five years ago today.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for.  I could write pages and pages recounting all the blessings in our lives, but I’ll just condense it a little by saying I am Thankful for:

Jesus

Our family

Our church

Our friends

Our Health

Our Home

and for Ronnie’s good job.  A lot of people do not have a good job in this economy and that is one of my prayers that good good jobs will be plentiful again in our county.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone…

Our beautiful daughter…just one more blessing in our world.

 

Hope aka Pocahontas with two more blessings Grandma and our sweet little cowgirl Audrey Elizabeth.

Heath and Audrey

Sunnie Kay at her first Pep Rally as a Cheerleader for the Eagles…Go Eagles!

Caleb is working working working…we are so proud of him.

Tyler is busy with getting ready for The Fort Worth Stock Show.

Bradley is playing basketball for Austin College and getting the hang of college life…studying, studying, studying.

Ben in his Senior year is busy managing the Eagle Basketball Team, studying for a college course he is taking as a Senior in High School as well as all his other activities somehow finds time to play that latest game that just came out…something about a Halo?

Our older girls are doing wonderful working working working, loving and raising their families, and making Mom and Dad proud and feeling so blessed every day. 

Grandma is still cooking and blessing our entire extended family every day! 

Oh yes and Ivy Joy is getting better… see post below. If you have not yet read about this little miracle child you will be blessed just reading her story.  Since I posted the request for prayer she has undergone another open heart surgery. 

Thank you Jesus … Thank you.

 

Becky

Ivy Joy

Please pray again for Ivy Joy.

http://sammonsfamily7.blogspot.com/ 

She is a little one adopted from China earlier this year and is having some real problems waking up from her two recent  major heart surgeries.  Her mom is so inspiring and needs our prayers right now as well. 

Thank you

Becky

Fall 2012

Can not sleep!  I have a headache…I was not sure why, I never have headaches, then I remembered we have been out of coffee for two days and I have been drinking decaf.  Oh MY now I know where that headache is coming from.  Anyway after waking up with that darn headache for the tenth time I just got up and remembered a couple of packets of instant coffee and heated up some water…the rest is history.  Although it tasted terrible, I am a brewed Folgers girl it seems to be working except that now I will probably not sleep again tonight so a good time to update since I have been so neglectful lately.

Hope is doing good in school this year.  Loves her friends and her teachers and again for the third year in a row got best citizen of her class for the first six weeks.  Is that not an awesome accomplishment?

We are so very proud of you Hope!

Other things keeping us busy have been birthdays, Carmen and Bethany’s are a week apart in September.  This year we planned a trip to Canton to celebrate.  All I can say is it was fun and WET.  So glad they have the pavilions!  Everyone went except Jeff who had to work.  You should have seen us sloshing around in the water in our hastily bought rain ponchos.  Hope’s only other trip to Canton was when she had only been home with us for a few months.   She loved it!  So did I.  Planning another trip soon…as in NOVEMBER!  Below is a picture of Hope and her prized Canton purchase. Not sure if we looked like a bunch of candy corn or a bunch of ducks in a row?

Halloween is upon us and Miss Hopie Marie has chosen to be Pocahontas…I was pulling for Mulan but what do I know! I broke out the sewing machine and even if I say so myself it’s pretty cute.  Maybe next year I can talk her into Mulan. No picture yet…

Can anyone say SPOILED!  We went to the airport to pick up Misty after a trip to Vegas of all places to visit a friend and stopped by Bass Pro.  Daddy sprung for the archery set but Hope decided against the Davy Crockett hat. 

This pic is blurry but shows the sweetness of their relationship.  We are so blessed with four such wonderful beautiful daughters.

While we were waiting for Misty to arrive Hope and Dad had to do a little escalator riding for fun!  This was the first time Hope had been back to DFW since the day we brought her home from China.

Boy were we ever tired in this pic…before our flight from San Francisco we had spent the night with Hope hooked up to IVs in some hospital there. Believe me we were so happy to see DFW.  Oh yes Hope has grown a bit since then don’t ya think. Correction most of us have grown a bit especially those boys…has anyone seen Tyler recently he is six one and a half in his sock feet! …he had to have some knee x-rays done and the Doc said he is not yet through growing. WHAT???

School Starts On Monday :(

School starts for Miss Hope Marie on Monday and this Mom is sad…I love summer with my children and my grandchildren.  Even though this year was a little laid back around here for several good reasons we had a wonderful wonderful summer.  We only took one short trip, but we spent HOURS and HOURS in our new cheap pool.   It was a great buy and we have already gotten our money back in fun.  More about that later.

Hope is going to have an awesome year with Mrs. Joyce her second grade teacher, who by the way was one of her teachers last year also.  I think that is a good way to transition the younger kids.  In first grade the kids changed classes and one teacher did reading spelling and English and the other did math science and social studies.  Anyway the same two teachers who taught her in first grade will continue to teach her in second grade.  The only difference is that this year her homeroom teacher is Mrs. Joyce not Mrs. Betty.  Good idea whoever thought that one up needs a lollipop!!  I look forward to the year but am just sad that summer is over.  I will allow myself to be sad about that for about 24 hours then it will be “lets see what a great fall we can have this year”

Our beautiful, talented, awesome daughter will amaze us again this year just as she has for the past 4 and 1/2 years…yes it has really been that long.  What a blessing she is.  Our lives are forever changed for the better because of her presence in this family.

We love you Hopie Marie!  Have a great year!

Hope

Seems it’s been forever since I posted. It all started at Hopie’s birthday party when I was too busy to use my camera but Bethany took lots of pictures for me.  She then loaded them to her computer and I have not ever gotten them.  I have been so busy over the last year that finding time to post has been almost impossible.  I’m going to try and post from way back over the next couple of weeks so hold on for the ride…it’s been busy around here.  Tonight I will just post a couple of pictures of Hope and then get to the catch up later.  I have always meant for this blog to be a way for Hope to look back and see how she has changed and blossomed over the past few years.  She is a precious little lady.  I feel like she has always been a part of this wonderful family of ours.  We have been so blessed by her presence in our lives.

Hello And A Prayer Request

I’ve been having a hard time finding time to post and our internet connection has been the pits lately.  Ronnie recently reset our internet to a new tower and for now it is great!!!  Hopefully I can do some catch-up posts …we have been very busy around here.

I follow along on several blogs of families who have adopted from China and there is a little girl named Ivy Joy who was adopted a few weeks ago and brought home who had a very serious heart condition.  I will post a link to their blog at the bottom of this entry and I would just ask that you click on it and read her story.  She is still in real need of prayer she had another surgery today and has been through so much. Please whisper her name in your prayers and ask for her healing and complete recovery from all she has been through.  Warning she will steal your heart, when you read her story!  Pray for her family to have strength I cannot imagine what they are going through.

http://sammonsfamily7.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Becky

Four Years Ago Today…

After about 10 minutes of quiet…she started to cry… no scream!  The nannies from the orphanage helped us calm her and soon had her saying mamma and baba (daddy in Chinese).  After signing a few papers, we left the Civil Affairs office with our sweet baby girl and went back to the hotel.  It was a magical wonderful day.  The adoption process takes two days and the next day we went back to the same office for more paperwork and fees.  By the next day she  only wanted us and clung tightly to us and that was just fine by us. 

When we got her back to the hotel we introduced her to her sisters and other family members via a set of web cams Misty had set up for us to use before we left.   Then it was time for a bath.  It may have been her first bath…honestly…I think they mostly just wipe them off.  That set off another round of crying and screaming but soon she was calm again and took a nap while Ronnie went out to buy bottles and other supplies we did not know we needed.  Hope was still taking formula and in diapers at age three.   I believe the formula was the only thing that kept her going back then  she was so very skinny (19 pounds).  After we started removing the layers of clothing we were shocked at her size. Sleeping safe and sound with her new doll and the blanket her grandma sent with us to keep her all snug and warm. 

 

We are so blessed to have this precious little girl in our lives.   If you have ever considered adoption and think God might be leading you in that direction…just go for it… !   Hope has been a joy and beautiful presence in our family for the past four years and we are so very thankful we listened to that still small voice that led us to China.

We love you Hopie…with all our hearts!!!