Depraved Indifference

I copied this over from another blog. When I first saw it, it made me cry. When I watched it again, it kind of made me mad at myself for all the years I spent in my own little world not really caring about the hurting of others.

Of Birthdays, Cars, and Seasons of Life

Before I begin this post, I want to share something really important. Please take a moment to check out the 2 links on the right hand side of my blog. One is called "2,000 Tu-tu's" and the other is called "Orphaned No More" Both of these moms are trying to raise their funding to bring home 2 more precious children. Both moms are making and selling items that would be great gifts for girls on your Christmas list. One is, of course, really pretty tu-tus of different colors. The other is handmade bracelets. I am definitely going to get these for my girls for Christmas to help out these moms. Thanks for taking a minute to look and please share this with others too. If you have a blog, you can add the links to your own blog too, in order to spread the word further. Thanks.

WELL...
Four Years Old !! Our little Faith turns 4! Last year on this day, we did have a party...but she had no idea what we were doing. The whole thing scared her and she had no idea what presents were. Tonight we were reminiscing about her "lightbulb moment" last year when she finally understood that the presents WERE for HER. She literally just sat and looked at a pile of presents because it meant nothing to her. We tried for a while to explain and when she finally understood, her eyes got big and she started pulling the presents in towards her with wide eyes saying "That's-a-Faiful"



Well, this year...SHE KNEW. She knows aalllll about parties now...you know, being our "social butterfly and all".

Uncle Dan and Aunt Jes...here are your goodies making their appearance half way across the country. She loved them! We started your book already.




Aunt Sue and Cousin Jennie make the blog!
As you can see, Miss Faith got lots of jewels for her birthday.



Jennie, our family cake decorator, wisely talked Faith out of her "Blue-flower- with-a-kitty-on-it-and-Spongebob" cake. And talked her into a princess cake.
Yeay, Jennie.




Happy Birthday...Happy Four Years Old!!!


Well, now....

Here's someone who's older than 4 years old!

This week Mitchell bought his first car! My hubby says this car is every teenage boy's dream car. Seriously, it is gorgeous. It's Way Cool...do you think it's cool to say "way cool"? He worked many long hard hours to save the money for it!



We drove to Virginia to get his car and it was such a gorgeous day. I oohed and aahed the whole way about how the leaves are still hanging on the trees down there...and of course it was warmer...Ya know, "the grass is always greener," right?

There is this incredibly beautiful tree in my yard that has become the "last tree standing"



It looks like this...













...when everything else looks like this...

I don't ever remember not wanting winter to come like I do this year. I don't know why. It's almost been like a sentimental feeling of sorts..wanting to hang on and not head into that barrenness.

There's this song that has grabbed me...


So I've been thinking alot about seasons. And how maybe for different seasons of our lives God has different work for us to do. My dear brother and his wife just filed paperwork to adopt from Ethiopia. My kids joke all the time about our family really being able to sing "Jesus loves the little children" with each child singing their own color! The reality of it all strikes me deeply though....that God destined us for this calling...and that He knew long before we took our first breaths, what He quietly speaks to our hearts, but our minds still only know in part. I think about how my wonderful parents were divinely veered off the comfortable road, to now walk with their children in gathering orphans from all corners of the earth. We are not capable. We are not wise enough. We are not even strong enough.

But He is.

Father, I write this post for You. That as You unfold Your plan, be it in times of beautiful color...or times that feel barren...that we would walk it without question.

The Photo Shoot

I now remember why it is that I rarely get family photos taken. It all started with the search through the deep recesses of closets for matching clothes. Then it turned to curlers, props, and lots of barking commands (on my part). And lo-and-behold, several hours later...we produced the following....among about a hundred others that made us laugh as we looked through them.







































I have recent individuals of Mitchell and Faith so just Matthew, Gracie, and Christian got individuals today.










I must say I was quite pleased.










Of course girls love having their picture taken.







Our dear sweet friend Mattie (hi Mattie :) took them for us.










A fine looking bunch of kiddos if I do say so myself.
















Oh, look....here's Mattie now. Many thanks, Mattie.

"My Mommy Is a Slowpoke"

Well, here I am... 1year and 1month later. This is my story about my journey home.
You see, it's my baby book really. Because when Mommy or the kids look at baby books, Mommy can see that I am worried because I don't see MY story. So, here's mine. Mommy missed my gotcha day deadline...but it is finally finished.


This is my story.

Adoption Video from Cherie Steele on Vimeo.

Oh, I feel so happy to have Faith's video done. It was so important to me to get it done for her. She likes to watch it. She calls it "my Chiner". She really is bothered when she sees the other kids' baby photos and there are none of her..so this is important for her. I didn't think I'd ever get it done. I had it almost done about 6 months ago and then, due to a computer glitch, I lost the whole thing. It took me a while to get up the nerve to start all over again. And then we had trouble uploading because the whole thing was done in HD and we had to downgrade it so drastically to upload. My kids teased me and told me that I made it so long that people would need popcorn to watch it...but I ask you...what do you leave out when it's all she has of her first two and a half years of life?..Nothing I say. It's her keepsake.

Expose' On Me

OK. So, I'm just saying.

I am only one woman.

I am coming clean.

Something's gotta come clean, right?



I will not try to hide it.



I may let out a cry for help.








For I am not ashamed.

HAPPY "GOTCHA DAY" MISS FAITH !!!!!!!!!!!!

August 23rd.
Oh, little Miss Faith, happy "Gotcha Day" sweetie. We love you.

I have been working tirelessly to get Faith's adoption video done in time for this Gotcha Day post. I would have made it too. But, I chose to hold off on posting the video until something special arrives. You see, I have been saving for a number of months to hire Bruce Yu, an investigator/interviewer of sort, who lives in Nanchang, which is the seat of government for the Jianxi Province. He will research Faith's time in China, checking for photos at the orphanage through a contact there, finding and visiting Faith's foster home with a list of questions I send, taking photos of where she lived, and looking for photos of her that were perhaps taken in her foster home. I have decided to hold off on publishing her adoption video until I get Bruce's report because what if (hope, hope) he sends me a photo of her when she was 9 months old, or 10 months old, or....Oh, I hope he finds some photos of her when she was littler. I feel like...well, what's the chance her foster mom even had a camera...I don't know. Time will tell.

So...in the meantime I thought I'd share some thoughts and snapshots of the journey...and a FUN interview with Little Miss Faith at the end as icing on the cake.

Now don't skip ahead to the video because this is important:

As I'm writing this, it is 1:20am. In exactly 2hours and 40minutes, we will have held you for one year. For the past two days, we've been saying things like, "Well, last year on this day, at this time, we were getting off the bus at the Great Wall." Or "Last year at this time we were getting on a plane to Nanchang. So as I type this sentence..."Last year at this time, we were in a filthy, rickety van bumping along through the China countryside past scenery that caused us all to ride in silence and just stare. We were headed to the center of Nanchang to get our girl.


(The gate of the Fuzhou Social Welfare Institute by which she was left at one day old)







The baby room (now abandoned), where she spent the first 9 months of her life.










By 3:00am (our time), 3:00pm Nanchang time, I was pacing the floor waiting for the van from the Fuzhou Social Welfare Institute to arrive...far too nervous to sit down. They arrived at 4.
There was a shot in our gotcha day video that I had Matthew edit out that very evening, because the look of fear in her eyes was too painful to watch and I wasn't sure I ever wanted her to see it. Last week, Matthew and I were pushing her on the swing and I said, "Do you remember when they brought you to mommy when I came to get you?" She said, "Yes, I was 'skeered'."

She was scared and I was scared. It's the oddest feeling when all in one moment, someone you've never met...becomes yours...and you become theirs.

Today after church found us in a local restaurant having lunch with our extended family. When mom asked who wanted to pray, Faith jumped at the chance. And so she, who a year ago couldn't speak English, who a year ago had never heard of Jesus, said the blessing around the table with all our family and thanked God "for the food and for everything, in Jesus name."

That prayer today on her Gotcha Day symbolized God's providence. His divine guidance in our lives. The fact that nothing happens outside of His will. The fact that everyone whom He has called...will come to Him. There are things I have never written about. Things like the fact that an incredible amount of spiritual warfare surrounded Faith's whole adoption. From the day we first filed papers...to the day my awareness of it scared me stiff as I rocked her to sleep on our first night home. That's all I'll write. If you want to know any more, you can certainly ask me. I will never forget the first time she said, "Jesus". It was music to my ears. I figure God must have some mighty big plans in store for this little one. She must be going to grow up to make a difference in this world. Perhaps her presence here in a place where adoptions are few and far between, perhaps her homecoming will start a chain of homecomings. This is my prayer.

And so, our sweet girl, on this your Gotcha Day, we love you and pray that your very life will be an incredible picture of God's beauty.





And now...for the Pièce de résistance:

How then shall we live...

...and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a Loud Voice he Glorified God and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And this man, was a Samaritan. -Luke 17
Lord God, let us be like the Samaritan ...who though he was nothing in this world, became an extravagant worshipper. Cause us to be such extravagant worshippers. Like that alabaster jar, may we pour out all we have at your feet, our very tears and all that we are...because much has been forgiven. Cause us to always remember the depth of our sin, and the lavishness of Your Grace.
Always keep before our eyes the greatness of Your Plan, the greatness of Your Power, and the greatness of Your Son.

Sunday Snapshot

For my very first ever "Sunday Snapshot"...here's our beautiful Little Miss Faith! Home 10 months!!

Little Miss Faith...she's the life of every party. She's our social butterfly.

Mitchell says he can't remember what life was like before she came...
perhaps we were bored and just didn't know it because we had never met Faith yet...

There are NO making quick stops at the store with this girl. She has to have a lengthy conversation with every person she comes in contact with...while shopping...while waiting in the checkout line...she shares many (too many) details about our life...she asks many questions. Her conversations usually start out like this, "I'm Faif. Who are you?" The other day, she told a man, "I'm just going to the potty. Where are you going?"
Sometimes you don't always feel like talking to EVERYONE in the store. With "Faif", this is not an option.

Happy 4th of July !!

"Land of the Free"Waiting for the big parade to come.

Ballet and The Outer Banks

Pictures from Gracie's BEAUTIFUL ballet recital.


My little ballerina is very serious about her dance. She's the second from the left in the front (right smack in the middle of this picture) The entire ballet recital was done to worship music with the finale being "Shout to the Lord". It was beautiful.


























































Indulgent moms take a lot of pictures.


Keep reading...the next post goes with this one. I was having trouble getting everything into the same post so I had to split it.

What a blessing...

We were so blessed last week to spend the week with our loved ones on the Outer Banks. The kids asked me, "What was your favorite thing?" and I said, "Having nothing to do." We biked and hung out on the beach and just enjoyed being together. I am so thankful for family!





















The biking trails were wonderful and we all put lots of miles on our bikes.






























We think Faith could have entertained herself for days on end in the sand. And having the cousins bury her was great fun!



















Then....there was this guy who showed up in our house...anyone recognize him??

Seriously, these silhouettes were painted on the wall in the game room and this one looks EXACTLY like Matthew!!! Even Matthew thought so. "I noticed it right away," he said.



And last, but not least, our beautiful house...and the beautiful family that occupied it.

We are calling it the first of a yearly tradition. I am so thankful to God for allowing us this blessed time.





Just an interesting tidbit: While we were touring down in Kitty Hawk, Faith told my dad, "I'm afraid of planes...planes take me back to China." Interesting huh?
It made me think about the time I wrote about her being alone in the world.

She's certainly not alone in the world anymore :)


And so today I have a grateful heart for my family, who cares for me with a sincere Christ-like love, for rest and refreshment, for my beautiful daughters and my awesomely cool sons, for my husband who works tirelessly to care for this brood, for parents who love me, and most of all for God... Who restores my soul.

Love to you all.

Let's talk about boys and girls

It's been forever since I've posted. Oh, I spend lots of time reading everyone else's blogs and then I'm too sleepy to write anything on mine. So tonight I limited myself to reading only two other blogs.

So...since I have this time, let's talk. I thought today we'd talk about boys and girls. Two entirely, completely, totally different species. One physically active and vocally inactive, the other physically not-as-active and vocally much too active. Let's take a moment to assess which species momma prefers transporting in the family vehicle...

Yesterday momma transported several young members of the male species to a neighboring town. Each male, though he was quite alert, traveled in a mostly quiet state. Each conversing a bit, each enjoying the transport, but none infusing the vehicle's interior with excessive levels of noise. ie: momma arrives in peace.
Just hours later, however, momma transports several young members of the female species to..you guessed it...a neighboring town. Each female, obviously quite alert, traveled in a state quite unlike that of the opposite gender. Two girls both talking at the same time, each trying to speak more loudly than the other. Two girls both singing...each at the top of her lungs singing a DIFFERENT song more loudly than the other and each yelling "BE QUIET, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO SING!" at the other. Both inflicting great pain on the eardrums of said momma. Both ensuring a blissful state of ceaseless noise during the entire transport. ie: momma does NOT arrive in peace.
Ahh, the norm. Yes, what would we do with out the normal everyday things that are so predictable about those we love.
I love these kiddos with all my heart.

Cherie

Tiffany McBryde, if you're reading this... POST girl...I'm checking.

Spring has Sprung

Oh, it has been so long since I've posted. We went from snow to spring. (Wasn't it just snowing like 3 weeks ago though!!)
Pappy and the Girls!

And Christian finished well in this, his last derby car race. Next year he'll be too old. He's had a great track record with either a first or second place finish every year. He took 2nd place this year.


Well we spent all day Sunday clearing out the flower beds and washing windows and getting ready for SPRING! Lo and Behold, there under all those leaves were...TULIPS!! Oh, how welcome. The boys loved these pictures of Faith, she's such a ham. She had a ball with all the long grasses we were cutting.



Then there was a job for our resident pyrotechnic. Mitchell and I argued over how short he had to cut the grasses down before he burned them. He thought he should be permitted to let them standing seven feet in the air and just torch them. Stating that he "could handle it" and I should "just stay out of it." I WON. (Cuz I'm the MOM you know). And so, he drenched the ground around them (it was already muddy wet from lots of rain) and cut them to no more than about 8 inches high. Then he told me to "Stay back." So here he is in his glory. And...
And...
And...OHHH...I wasn't going to, probably shouldn't, really shouldn't post these...BUT..Oh...should I or shouldn't I?...Wanna see them??...You know those times when you don't know what you've captured on your camera until after the fact...Oh, man, they're just too priceless not to post... Oh, here goes...

































And about this time, my lovely, organized, on-top-of-things neighbor (who surely must think I'm a few bananas short of a fruit basket anyways) walked by (love you Niki) and said, "Is this a controlled burn?"

Yes, I seem to be losing a grape here and there as time goes by.

...Maybe I'll go read up on what the Scriptures have to say about fruit.