Daniel is Eleven!

Daniel is now 11 years old!

This boy is so funny and so smart...and talks all. day. long.

Whether he is asking questions (approx. 1,000,000/day) or making comments...he keeps us rolling! 

And if he doesn't become an engineer, then my name isn't Joli!

Opening birthday presents

Noah explaining his homemade Agar.io card

 

Daniel thinks it's funny when he makes faces like this

When I first saw Daniel's face on a little picture from China (and he was wearing a pink coat), I thought he had the sweetest face.

And I still do.  This face....

 

...is so very precious.

And Daniel is one precious soul.  We are so blessed to be his parents!

The Night A Family-of-8 Bunked With Us - Literally

One of the things I love about adoption is all the wonderful people we have met.  People all over the country...some we have met in person, some we never have.  A few days ago the B family went from that first category, to the second.  

Joy first contacted me 4 and 1/2 years ago.   She is my friend's pastor's daughter's friend.  And she lives in another state.  I have had the distinct privilege of watching her family bring home 4 boys from the Philippines during the time I've known her.  And then most recently, a precious baby girl.

We have talked back and forth for years now, saying we needed to figure out how to actually meet in person.  When Joy messaged me a few weeks ago and said her family was coming near here, and they would love to come a day early to get to meet us...I was thrilled!

When another 12-passenger van pulled up next to our Silver Bullet, we knew our peeps were here!

Every single one of the eight of us fell in love with every single one of the eight of them.

They actually have 7 children, but their 19-year old daughter is serving in Kenya right now.

 Our only complaint?  They only got to spend one night with us.

Abigail thinks Mrs. Joy is great!

Jas and I both loved the dad - Stephan

For supper, the R family (and their Mimi) joined us also.  So we had 7 adults and 16 children:

Yes, it was cozy here at our old homestead...and a tad loud.  And it was fabulous!


Joy and Stephan got to sleep in the boys' room (on bunks! ack!), Kylee bunked with our two older girls...and all 6 of the oldest boys (their 4 and our 2) had a slumber party in the family room floor.

 I knew that the B children love playing games as much as my children, and they all had a ball:

 And G and A also "had a ball"...playing b-ball with Aaron (he was so sweet with them!):

It looks dark out in this picture because it was.  The kiddos got up and immediately started playing games again at 7:15 a.m.:

And I didn't catch any pictures of this, but they were all swimming shortly after breakfast.  The water temp has definitely cooled, so some of them had chattering teeth...but they hung in there!

My girls hogged baby A.

She has hydrocephalus, and Joy and Stephan brought her home when she was 2 months old.  When they heard she was living at a hospice facility with no family to love on her, they immediately worked to bring her home.  We don't know how long she'll be here (but then, none of us do), but they are loving her with everything they have while they are blessed to have her.

It is so moving to see the love that this baby girl gets from all her big, tough brothers, and her sister...and her parents!  I am getting tears in my eyes just thinking of it again.

To have watched the B family respond to God's call on their lives again (and again) over the past few years has been such a privilege.

This is the whole reason we're here.  As believers our sole job is to make Him known.  To make much of Him.  To point people to Him.  To bring glory to Him.

The B family has done this...and done it well.  I feel so honored to finally get to meet them in person....and so very encouraged by the time we got to spend visiting with them.


And now our kiddos are begging us to go visit them...and Jas and I look forward to that also!

Miscellany Monday - August 24, 2015: Hair, Retreat, A Date, and What I'm Reading and Listening To

My friend/hairdresser-for-13 years, Donna, went and moved.  She said they were going to do it...but I truly was in denial for quite some time.

I had to go get my haircut by someone new last week.  I almost cried.

But then I put my big girl panties on and went on in to see Tasha.  We had a great time talking (she is hilarious!), and I don't hate my hair.

I may survive.



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I stayed up late I set my alarm to get up at midnight to register for another Created for Care conference.  Amy and I went to the first one ever 4.5 years ago.  There are now two of these events a year, and they sell out fast (like 15-minutes-fast).

I am going with Amy, Amy and Vicki...and I could not be more excited.  Three of my sweetest and closest friends.  We have 18 children between us - 14 of them adopted.

I learned so much from the sessions last time...and just as much from the adoptive moms I met.  I am so excited that we get to attend this together!


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Here is something I never imagined myself saying:

"I am reading a book entitled, Lessons from Madame Chic - 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris."

WHA?!?!  That doesn't at all sound like the kind of book that I would normally be interested in...much less be caught dead reading.

But I have come to thoroughly trust Modern Mrs. Darcy's recommendations.  When she mentioned and described this book, I knew I would like to borrow it from the library.  I had to wait for it to arrive through our state's inter-library loan system, and I am so glad I did!

This book is fascinating.  It does talk about clothes...but it is so much more than that.  Food, Exercise, Clutter, Entertaining, Cultivating your mind.  It is about living well...intentionally.  I am thoroughly enjoying this book!


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Jas and I got to go on a date last weekend.

This cute couple got all crazy and went to the auto parts store (Jason's AC is out in his truck), and to a wings place.  We had a great time!  (It wouldn't matter where we went, and what we ate, I'd take a date with this cute guy anytime!)

I have always fully agreed with the suggestion that married couples should have a weekly date night.  That would be great!

But that is simply not reality.  Not for us.  Not right now.

"Babysitter Fees" would have to have its own (big!) line item in our monthly budget to make that happen.  There is just no way we can do that right now.

But even though we can't do weekly date nights, we have tried to be much more intentional about making dates happen this year.  This equates to approximately 6 dates so far this year.  (Might only be four or five, actually) Less than one a month.  Not great.  But...this is actually much better than any year since we became parents!  We're moving in the right direction!


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A fabulous coffee punch was served at a baby shower I attended several months ago.  It. was. so. yummy!

So when our community group hosted a baby shower for Marissa last weekend, I volunteered to make the punch.  Thankfully I had the link for the exact recipe I'd tried.  There are quite a few recipes floating around on the interwebz, but none look as easy as this one.  And they simply cannot taste any better than this one.

The Best Coffee Punch - from Dukes and Duchesses

This coffee punch only has 5 ingredients (6 if you count "water", which I don't!).

CAUTION:  There is NOTHING even remotely healthy or redeeming about this recipe.  Actually, I suppose "The Best Tasting Thing I've Had This Month" is a bit of a redeeming quality...

Now go pin this recipe for the next time you help host a shower.  You'll thank me...

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I am a bit in love with this song right now.


How Can It Be? by Lauren Dangle

You plead my cause,
You right my wrongs
You break my chains
You overcome

You gave your life
To give me mine
You say that I am free
How can it be?




I have been a Christ-follower for 16 years now (really?), and I still wonder all the time:  "How Can it Be?"

And then I am so thankful that I don't have to understand His reasoning to benefit from His endless love and mercy and grace.

New Views since Last June

The children have been swimming in the pool since April.  I joke with them every year that I'm not getting in until June.  Except...I'm not kidding.  That water is too COLD until June!


So, yesterday was my debut in the pool.  All six kiddos and I got in there together after rest-time.

As I looked around, I couldn't help but marvel at all the new views I was taking in.  Things that were new just since last year at this time.....



First, G without swimmies/floaties!

He is now a little over half way through his two weeks of daily swimming lessons now...and he is doing great!  He is a regular little fish!







The next view that struck me as really funny, actually...the cows.  Looking up from the pool and the cows look like they are practically right there next to you.

There is actually about 15-20 feet of grass/backyard between the pool fence and the pasture fence....













...but from the house side of the pool, you can't really even tell there is that space.

It makes me smile/laugh to look out my kitchen window, at our pool (that I never thought we'd own) and see the cows (that I never dreamed we'd really get to own) just beyond it .  We're blessed.




And finally, the third new view:

This precious girl!  

It is so hard to believe that a year ago she wasn't here...we didn't even know about her yet.  We were just finishing up our paperwork and getting ready to go "active" in the Prospective Adoptive Parents waiting pool. 

She is such an integral part of our lives, and we can't imagine our family without her.  I have felt this way with every single one of our children: during every adoption process it is so hard to imagine another child here...but on the other side of the process, it is then so hard to imagine how we ever managed without that precious soul.

And the same is true with this sweet girl.  We all love her so much!

Seeing what the Lord has done in our lives since last June reminds me of His tender mercies and huge blessings - in both the big and small areas of our lives!

Abigail's Finalization Hearing

We were on the docket for 9:00 a.m.

The eight of us rushed in strolled into the courthouse at about 8:55 a.m.  

At 9:20 we were loading back up in the Silver Bullet.  

Quick business, but oh-so-important.

The older children were so disappointed that we didn't actually go into the courtroom ("We want to see criminals!")....but Jas and I were very happy to just meet with our lawyer and the judge in this side room.  

Judge D - who has seen us with previous adoptions - was again so nice.  He made small talk and chatted with the older children a bit.  I was glad the meeting didn't take longer than it did, as G (sitting in my lap) discovered that the table in front of us made a very fine drum for his sticks fingers, thankyouverymuch.  

After exchanging pleasantries and looking over all the papers that were very much in order and straightforward...the judge stood up.  Done.  

Judge D bid us a Merry Christmas and "God Bless You."  And I responded as I always do when someone says that to me, "He certainly has!"

Abigail is finally, irrevocably, forever-and-ever-amen ours.  We've known it for months....but golly, is it ever nice to have the judge agree with us!

They're Here

Our family goes to the "early" (meaning 8:30 a.m.) service at church on Sunday mornings. We love going to this service. There is no child care available at this first service, so G-man and Sissy are with us, which we like. (We sit near the back, because while they are (normally) pretty quiet, they do move and squirm, and we don't want to distract anyone.)

Yesterday during the worship service as Jas and I held our youngest two in our arms, surrounded by our oldest four, we all sang "I Will Follow You."  One of my favorite songs ever.    I couldn't help but smile as the song began.  And then cry.



This song spoke to me so much four years ago in the aftermath of our Love the Least Conference that I changed the name of the blog from One Blessed Bunch to Following Where He Leads.

This weekend marked exactly four years ago that our Love The Least group hosted that adoption and orphan awareness conference. You know...to help educate others.

And it was during this conference that the Lord spoke to both Jas and I separately and let us know that we were to adopt again. He told us we were to adopt domestically.  Not once, but twice...and two little chocolate-skinned precious ones.

And now they are here. They're. both. here.  And singing that song, holding them...I couldn't help but cry.

He lead. We followed. And He blessed.

We mentioned this in the panel discussion last weekend, but the Lord has really been driving this home to me recently...short and simple...one word:  Obey

I need that point driven home, because...see...my sin-sick heart wants to plan, and organize and anticipate and....plan.  And do my own thing...because I've always got it all figured out.

Or not.

It would have been so easy to not listen four years ago.  It was a crazy idea, I thought.  I never wanted to adopt domestically.  I never intended to have an infant to care for, thankyouverymuch.

Thankfully - praise YOU, Lord - we had enough history with God under our belts by that point (he'd already been leading and blessing us through our first four miracles) that we knew better than to balk when He said to do something.  And these last four years have only strengthened our resolve to move when He says "move."

We get asked all the time if we are "done"...if we plan to adopt again.  Our answer:  We don't know.  We may very well be done.  We will stop adding to our family when the Lord stops prompting us to do so....and conversely, we will only add if he says "add."    What we think should happen (in any given arena) does not always match His plans...and we definitely want to follow His plans.

Transcript from Panel Discussion

I mentioned that Jason and I took part in a panel discussion on Sunday morning, during our church's Orphan Awareness service.  Here are the four questions we were given...and our answers...

Q: Is there anything God taught you during this time that you want to share with the church?

Joli: To just obey. To trust Him with the details. When we hear Him call us to something….we need to just obey. Even when it is scary. Even when it doesn’t “make sense” from the world’s perspective. He is faithful and He is always right there with us. Obeying doesn’t ensure that things will always work out perfect - and it certainly doesn’t mean things will necessarily be easy or comfortable - but He will always be right there with us, even in the hard parts.

Q: What were financial challenges along the way & how has God been faithful?

Jason: Both of us were finance majors in college, and we know and love numbers. The numbers with our adoptions don’t make sense. That we have been able to adopt 6 times in 10 years just doesn’t make sense. The numbers don’t add up. We call it God Math. He called us…we obeyed…He provided and worked it out. He has provided several grants, gifts from family members, my advancement at work…and probably the biggest help has been the Adoption Tax Credit that is available through our government for every adoption.



Q: You have been faithful to open your home to 5 beautiful children. Why one more? What adjustments have you had to make in order to be available to be used by God in this way?

Jason: The short answer is that God told us to adopt domestically again. Four years ago this month, during an Adoption and Orphan Awareness conference that we helped host…the Lord spoke to both Joli and I separately and told us that we were supposed to adopt two children domestically…African American children specifically.

Joli: Adjustments? We would be coasting right now if we’d stopped adopting with Lily Kay, who is now 8 years old. We were past diapers, and sleepless nights, and potty-training, and teething…and two-year old tantrums. And it absolutely makes me teary-eyed thinking about what we would have missed if we hadn’t adopted our youngest two…if we’d been too scared…or too comfortable to step out. What an absolute blessing they are to us. And to watch our oldest four interact with the two babies is such a blessing…it is priceless what the older four have learned and experienced through these babies also.

Q: Most people are scared of domestic adoption. What is one fear that you had that God turned into a blessing in the end?

Joli: I never wanted to adopt domestically. The Lord planted the seed for adopting from China in my heart back when I was 7 or 8 and saw a documentary about China’s One-Child Policy, and I was so glad to be adopting internationally, and skip any of the potential problems that we hear about with domestic adoptions…parents changing their minds or birth parents wanting an “open adoption.” But the Lord changed our hearts as we stepped out and obeyed and adopted domestically the first time. And with our most recent adoption we have been extremely blessed that we were able to meet with and spend several hours with Abigail’s first mom a couple of times. It was a blessed time that we will forever cherish. The Lord has shattered pre-conceived notions that I held regarding who places children for adoption and why. He took something that I was so scared of, and wanted no part of…and totally blessed us with and through it.

Miscellany Monday: November 17, 2014

Saturday morning was the last soccer game of the season.

I have a love/hate thing going with soccer.  (This applies to any outside activities, actually.)

I love that my kiddos love it.  I love that they are learning new things - physical and mental - through their involvement with it.  I love the friends that we've made through soccer, that we never would have met otherwise.

I love that my kiddos all love the same activity, and that (by bumping LK and D up an age bracket) they are all on the same team.

I LOVE that Jas was their head coach this season.

I don't love running around...and time away from home.

And since the "loves" far outweigh the "don't loves"...we'll continue to play soccer.



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The eight of us hit the stores this week.  The children each had a "shoe box" to fill for Operation Christmas Child.





This has become a wonderful tradition for us every November, and I love how much the children love to participate.


As the children have gotten older, they are much more involved in picking out the items...and packing them.  We had quite the packing party last night!

D is smiling like this on purpose....where does G get his weird smiles from?

We pray that the Lord would use each of these boxes to bring light and joy into the the life of a child...

....and use this small gift in a powerful way, as only He can.



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Yesterday our church celebrated Orphan Awareness Sunday.  Jas and I were were blessed to be asked to be on a panel to discuss Orphans and Adoption.

We jumped at the chance.   They were able to drag us up there because we were going to be able to talk about our precious kiddos...and brag on our amazing God.

G and A got to come up with us during the first service, since there is no child care available in that service.
G wanted to get his hot little hands on the microphone SO BAD!

I checked with the older children before we agreed, to see how they felt about us talking about them and their adoptions...wanting to always be sensitive to their feelings.  They told us to go for it.

It was a neat panel discussion, in that 4 different households were represented, who have responded to the orphan epidemic in different ways...from mission trips to adoption.


Lord, I pray that we would each be sensitive to your leading, and obedient to be Your hands and Your feet in whatever unique way You have planned for each of us.  Amen

Abigail is 4 Months Old

Our little sissy is 4 months old now.

If she looks like a big, healthy girl in the above photo...it is because she is a big, healthy girl!

I took her to her 4-mo. well-child appointment on Monday, and Abigail is 26.5 inches long and now weighs 18 lbs 1 oz. This is - ahem - more than her big sister Elisabeth weighed when she came home from China at 14 months old.  But Elisabeth was on the little side for her age (still is), and Abigail is on the big side for her age.   To be precise, on the growth chart Abigail is currently 97th percentile for weight and 99th percentile for height.

We had a blood draw on Monday also.  The women (whom we have been to numerous times before and love!), could NOT find a vein to draw blood from.  Turns out that "fluffiness" makes it hard to find your veins.  After feeling around for at least 20 minutes - and one unsuccessful poke - they decided to prick her heel and just squeeze blood from there.  Abigail was a trooper.  She cried a little briefly during the unsuccessful poke, but she just smiled and cooed her way through the feeling and even the prick and squeezing.  

It amazes me how fast this is going.  I'm not new to motherhood, so why am I still surprised by how quickly they grow and change???

I love looking at "before and after" shots.

And this is how she looked in her bouncy seat as a newborn...and a few days ago:

And this is how she fills out her bassinet, then and now:

Yes, it will be time for her to move out of her bassinet, sooner rather than later.  [sniff]

The girls are ready and waiting for A to move into their room with them.  But I don't know if mama is ready for that yet.

Abigail is still drooling.  

Alot.

And it really bothers her for her shirt to be perpetually wet.

Or not.

But it does bother her mama, it looks cold and uncomfortable to me.  So I've taken to putting a bib on her much of the time.  The older children don't like it...but I don't want her to go through 4 outfits a day.

Some new things that Abigail has begun doing:

Trying to sit up - whether in her bouncy seat or her car seat, sissy wants to sit UP and be a big girl!

And she is thisclose to rolling over by herself from her back to her front.  Every time we lay her down on her blanket on the floor, she immediately starts rolling to her side...like this:

Gabriel had to get down there and play with his "sissy girl."

She is no longer content sitting in her bouncy seat watching while we eat supper.  She wants to be sitting in one of our laps, watching all the action from up close.  Can't blame her.

It is so interesting to watch her discover and investigate new things.  Like her hands.  She finds them so enthralling, and just turns them around and stares at them.  Hard.  

I'm also thinking it won't be too much longer that I'll be able to hold her bottle.  Abigail is now holding on to my hands/fingers while I hold the bottle...or else, she is actually holding on to the bottle herself also!  Girlfriend digs her bottle.  

Abigail continues to be a very content and flexible little girl.  Ideally, we would have her down at about 8p.m. every night...but when things come up - like if we have another family over to eat - she may not get down until 10p.m.  No problem.  She usually wakes up in the morning somewhere between 6 and 7a.m.  It was 7 or 8...thankyouverymuch time change.  

She normally will cry out a time or two (or three) during the night, but she doesn't need a bottle...she just wants help getting her paci back in her mouth.

Abigail is still taking 5 bottles a day, with 7 oz of homemade formula per bottle.  And it seems to be agreeing with her.  Dr. D said she looked great and was developing great and seemed to be "advanced" in terms of motor skills.  I may just be a proud mama, but I agree!

I have begun accumulating some new hair products for sissy's beautiful curls.  Her hair is now 2.5" long. 

I recently ordered this book, and am making my way through it.  I've read Rory's blog since G came home, and I'm so glad that she just released this book!

My favorite new hair tool is this Tangle Teezer: 

I've read about the Tangle Teezer for years on this Adoption Skin and Hair Care yahoo group I'm on...but haven't needed one for G-man.

This thing.  THIS thing...is great!

Abigail used to cry when I would use a wide-tooth comb to detangle her hair after I put conditioner in.  

But now she just lays there...acting like a cool cat.

This look is definitely saying: "Ain't no big thang."

You can use the Tangle Teezer on wet and dry hair.  We have fun making her hair into a fro right before her bath...

...and I think it is so interesting how it shrinks so much after her bath.

The quality of these next pictures is not good at all.

But I love them because they show the love/love thing going on between LK and A.

It is really like this with all the bigs kids and both of the little kids.

But for some reason it just really has surprised me with LK.

I guess it is because she is so not a girly-girl.

But this rough and tumble gal has such a soft spot - and a gift, really - with these younger ones.  She is a great big sister...and will make a great mama one day.

Guess who missy is looking up at.

Yep, daddy.

She's a little fond of him.

Just a little.

"I'm tired of holding my head up."

Abigail is just as deprived of attention as G was as an infant:

Gabriel loves his little sis.

He calls her "Sissy Girl"...but it sounds more like "Sissy Gull."

We have had two post-placements visits with our social worker.  Mrs. Sandy is great and we've so enjoyed working with her.  Whenever she's here she drops hints about "when I come back to do the homestudy for your next adoption."  She thinks we need 10 children.  We'll see about that.  

We've been sending in our monthly "share sheets" and pictures to our agency...that they then turn around and share with A's first parents.  

Everything has been progressing as expected with the legal side of the adoption, and our finalization hearing at the courthouse in front of the judge is scheduled for next month.