I am blessed!

Children are a special blessing from the heart of God!

I tell you I am the most blessed woman around. Today is my 28Th birthday and my daughter tells me I am getting old! (Ha!) Anyway, even though I am "old" I have had the most spectacular birthday. Last night my seven year old son threw me the most wonderful surprise party. He has been working for weeks to get in touch with all of my friends (all three of them) and invite them to the party.




My friend Beth came by at about 5 to pick me up and take me to town. When we return my friend Sunshine and her family are pulling up. We walk in and as I make it to the living room my kids jump out and yell "Surprise." Well, this was fablous. They had decorated the dining room, had an ice cream cake and even had a pinata and pin the tail on the donkey! Unfortunately Blake got mixed up in his times and my friend Heather and her kids didn't arrive until 7:00 (we got started at 6, oops). Anyway, it was an absolute blast and I am blessed to have kids who care so much about their momma that they work for weeks to plan this surprise. You have to look at the pics below!

This is the pinata my sweet son made for me. Sorry can't figure out how to turn the pic.

Here is the donkey from "Pin the tail on the donkey."

Samuel's first birthday party! I think he likes the cake.

All nine of the sweet children who were in attendance.

Prayers...

The beautiful family above is really close to ours. They are actually the ones who inspired us to adopt. They have two beautiful daughters from China and a blonde headed son plus the two bio children. Anyway, Ellie, the youngest will be having surgery in a little less than two weeks. This surgery will hopefully repair the spinal damage she has. I ask that anyone who reads this blog please lift Ellie, her family, the doctors and anyone else involved up in prayer. I am praying for God's healing and the comfort of her family.

We met ALEX!!!!

Warning!!!!! This is some very heavy picture content. Please, if diabetic, don't view for a prolonged amount of time as this is full of sweetness!


Okay, for those of you who do not know, Alex is Samuel's buddy from the orphanage. They were both there from infancy and are just a couple of months apart in age. Alex went home in October to be with his forever family in Arkansas. This means it has been about 10 months since Samuel saw him. We have shown him pictures, (just about all the pics we have of Samuel have Alex included =), but we weren't sure how they would react.

So Tina and I decided to meet together, with our families, in Birmingham, Al. We arrived around 8:30pm to be greeted by the Cornelison Crew in the hotel lobby. This was a very exciting moment for me. Well, after the boys saw each other Alex kinda got shy and Samuel put on his roughness and wrestled with Blake. We finally decided to get them up to the room so they could be more comfortable. It was amazing. They played together and we talked until 12:00am.




Okay, so here is a picture of them playing together in one of the rooms shortly after seeing each other. It's really cool, Samuel has the same shirt that Alex is wearing.


So on Saturday morning we got up and went to the Birmingham Zoo. The kids did really great. No one had a melt down and we walked all over for 4-5 hours. Unless you count Samuel's terror at the geese walking around when we got there. They were moving them and he was not too happy about being so close.

The boys in front of one of the ponds at the zoo.

This is us going into the zoo. Not sure if you can see it, but the boys were holding hands.

Blake was enjoying pretending he was a cowboy.

Grace and Addie on a giant frog. She is such a ham and Addie is a beautiful China doll.

Somehow we were allowed to bring some animals home from the zoo. Maybe the zoo keeper won't notice =)

Here is a picture of the boys just before we got ready to leave. I really do think they will be buddies forever.

Just a little more. Tina and Johnny are some of the greatest folks. We didn't know each other before this weekend, but I hope this is a friendship that lasts a lifetime.

Samuel's Adoption Story

So this post is really more so I can put my thoughts to words, but for those interested this is our story. In Feb. of 2004 some very good friends of mine brought home their little China baby, Josie-Tatum. This really started me thinking about adoption and I felt a desire to do this. Jim however, did not feel the same desire. I begged and pleaded but he was firm about no. Then Steven Curtis Chapman came to Atlanta in the fall of 04 and we got tickets. I then bid on backstage passes and paid a great amount to get Jim back to meet him. All this in hopes that the concert and meeting him would spark interest in my husband. No such luck.

So by now, I have stepped up my efforts and I think that if we go to visit these orphans he will surely be moved. So we prepare for a two week mission trip with Buckner to China during the summer of 2005. Jim still seemed so unmovable. I was like, how in the world can he not feel some compassion for these kids like I do. So after all of these efforts I give up begging him and I begin to beg God. I literally cried out to God to please take away the desire or change Jim's heart. I vividly recall one night going into our closet and falling on my face and crying praying for God to move in this situation. Still there was no answer.

I let things cool for a while so as not to annoy my husband, but continue to pray for a child. Then in April of 2006 we move into a new house and I am busy preparing this house into a home. By the fall of that year I am again searching the internet on adoption and looking at waiting children. In Nov. Lifeway published a list of christian adoption agencies and I checked them out. I found Dillon International and requested a password to their VN program (really the only one we qualified for) There I found this cute little boy in a Santa hat. I showed his picture to Jim and said "Awe isn't he cute." Jim's response was "Yeah they are all cute." Still I longed for this little boy. I would check each day to be sure his picture was still up.

Christmas rolled around and the holidays were great. But then came the melt down. It was Christmas night and I was out on the porch just sobbing. Jim came out to see what was wrong. I simply bawled as I told him how empty my heart was and how I ached for another child. I knew he didn't understand, but I continued. I told him how other people my age were just having children and here I was finished. I wanted more kids, but I knew it was hard for him.

That night I fell asleep on the couch from crying so much. The next morning I woke up and Jim asked did I get my present from the tree. I looked and there was a letter he had written to me basically saying he was putting his trust in the Lord and we could begin the adoption process. I was thrilled beyond belief! I immediately began the process but did not rest easy until our first money had been sent off.

Now, let me interject some things that happened while all this was going on, but we didn't know about. When my friends came home from China, Samuel was just being conceived. Shortly after the SCC concert, Samuel was born. God didn't answer my plea because VN was closed. In 2006 when we bought our house, Dillon was again able to complete adoptions in VN. God knew we needed a bigger house in order to adopt. Our old house would not have been big enough. And it was Christmas before He changed Jim's heart because that is when we celebrate the birth of His son.

It is so amazing to me to look back and see God's hand in this adoption. This is just the big stuff. There were so many times along the way that the only way to explain something was God. All that time I thought God was not answering my prayers, He was. I just didn't hear Him say "wait." His timing is perfect and I would not trade this little boy for anything. The funny thing is that after we were home for a couple of months Samuel came running in the dining room, gave a grin and jetted out and Jim looked at me and said "Why didn't we do this sooner." ?!?!?!
God knew we needed to wait! Blessings.

What an adventure!

Okay, so this weekend Jim had guard duty so the kids and I tagged along. We arrived late Friday night to Atlanta and crashed at one of his friend's house. Saturday while he was off being a soldier the kids and I did some exploring around. First we had lunch at the Dwarf House/Chic-fli-a. The kids were thrilled by the little door. Then we rode around awhile trying to find something to do. We stumbled upon a Farmer's Market and decided to see what it was about. We parked and got out and walked and the kids bought some fruit. I found a dragon fruit and was very excited. In some small way it reminded me of walking the markets in Vietnam. It's the closest my kids will get to that experience for a while. After that we found a small VN area with a grocery store. So of course we pile out and in we go. We bought a few things and then it was time to pick up Jim.

Here is where it get really wild. We pick him up, he changes and we head out to the Braves game. When we get there the lady asks where we would like tickets. Jim tells her where ever. Thankfully she puts us on the visitor side, since the home side was in the sun. We walk in during the 7th inning(we were in no hurry). I am so glad because I don't think the youngest two could have taken much more. Anyway, as soon as the game was over it was time to move for the concert. It was STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN! The entire reason we even came to the game. So we find seats for two!! Jim is on one row holding Blake and I am behind him holding the other two. Fortunately it was a good view of the stage. Just as the thing is beginning to kick off a storm comes up and things are delayed. Now this is not just any storm, the wind is blowing so hard people are losing their hats and trash is blowing around the stadium. It soon begins to pour rain and lightning like crazy! We were just on the edge of the covering so we decided to stick it out. Fortunately for us others did not stay so all the kids wound up with seats. I told Jim that this was crazier than paying $500 for backstage passes! The things I do to see this guy!

But here is a God thing. The last time we were at his concert was in 2004 and I was trying to convince Jim we needed to adopt. Shortly after that Samuel was born and the next time I see SCC I have a son! God's timing is great!

So I get up Sunday morning and turn on the news to hear that half of Atlanta is without power and that a huge tree was blown over at the Gov. Mansion. This news report confirmed to me that we were indeed crazy for sitting out there, but also that God is so in control and watching out for us.

Sunday the kids and I decided to venture out a little more. We head down 285E to get to an even larger VN population. We get there and I was so excited to go into the Asian food market. Remember, I am from po-dunk with one red light and you drive half an hour to get anything. The whole area was asian. Every sign was written in English as well as an asian language. There were so many VN restuarants it was overwhelming. I was like a kid who had just arrived at the fair. So we go in and buy a few things. Some I'm not sure about but we are going to try. Then we go down the road a little ways and there is another store but it has aisles marked for all regions of the world. There were people everywhere. There were fresh plants available for sale that I had only heard of. Truly I was bug-eyed walking through this store.

Having spent enough time I decide it is time to return to daddy. So we came here on 285E we will return West. WRONG!!!! This road is so confusing as it goes around Atlanta. Really I should have turned around and gone back the other way, but no I-75 was right up the way so I'll just hit it and go back. However, I forgot about road construction and 75 was backed up. After sitting in traffic for forever, I whip out the map to find an alternate route. Now my map is so old it doesn't even have all of the exits listed but I find one close by and decide to try it. What I did not know was that I was getting off in the ghetto! On every corner there was a cross and things to make a memorial to someone, graffiti everywhere, and girls with less clothing. Not only did I get off here, I get lost here. I soon get panicked. However, I do find my way and we finally make it back to Jim. The trip that took 30 minutes to begin took two hours to end! Needless to say I will be buying a new map! Overall the trip was a huge success, but I was ready for my small town where I won't get lost. Sorry for the book but I was a great weekend.