Bits and pieces......

Amy-Li the artist, she so loves to paint and I have a confession to make, I so dont love all the mess when she does! :-)  I never was very arty and try as I might, I am not as patient as I would like to be.  But when I do let her loose with some colour and a brush, she is off, painting and happy as can be. Yes, she is left handed!

Taylor is very into juggling at the moment and practices all the time - inside and out! He can juggle 4 balls too.  The irony here is I learnt to juggle at about the same age, as I had a boyfriend that was a clown, ha ha

Aaah, my lovely duo, terrible two, double trouble, terrific pair - they are them all!! And boy is Amy going through a difficult phase at the moment.  She is under my feet all the time and clingy one minute, infuriatingly independant the next, and talking NON stop, esp with the "why" to everything!  But oh so cute and VERY loving.  She has gone from being a child who would not kiss me at all, to one now who asks for kisses and tells me she loves me.  We have both come a long way and I am so so proud of her.  Anyway, how can you resist those two adorable faces?? If butter could melt.....

Hudson with his lovely God-mother, Aunty Lesley who is one of my mom's  best friends. ( She used to be out lovely neighbour when we lived in SA)

Autumn is a great time to go for a walk, breath in the fresh air and kick the leaves and enjoy the amazing colours that God created for us.

My lovely bunch!

Tree climbing is their favourite thing!

And there in the middle of all the pines was a lonely, colourful, beautiful tree.  I just stood looking at it for the longest time, and Im sure it even spoke to me.  "Being different makes you beautiful....being different shows your true colours and allows you to be who you were created to be,...... being on your own does not necessarily mean you have to be lonely,........ when you still have alot of growing to do compared to those around you, you are still special by just being you, ........your colours can shine no matter where you are. 

I SO LOVE this little tree and all it spoke to me.

After spending much of the last three years struggling to deal with the whole grieving thing, a friend told me about a book called The Lonely Tree and it is such a lovely story....such a painful concept to embrace, the circle of life, learning to hold onto good memories and be all that God has called you to be, understanding and accepting death.

Butterflies are everywhere....

God Bless

PS please keep praying our house will sell, we need favour and wisdom - THANKS!!!

A winter beach trip...

My lovely little Nephew, Roman enjoying the beach with his big cousins.

Amy, Hudson and cousin Ethan - brrr the water is COLD!!

The boys are ALL in holding their bits (ha, ha) ready to go in .........

Down they go, well,......... nearly all of them........

Ha ha dad did not get out of it so easy, rugby tackled by his three boys and down he went, into the FREEZING cold, English sea.  They came out red, freezing, but VERY happy!!

God Bless

Moving!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness - WHAT A WEEK it has been!!! We have bought a house!! We were not even looking and it all just happened - "God-happened!"  This house is our dream house and after chatting with my mom about their future and decisions we might need to make, we decided to look on a house website and there it was - calling us!  So last Saturday we went to look at it, fell in love and the out-of-the-boat, experience began.  There were other buyers who had an offer in, they had stalled and messed the seller around so he put house back on the market - and along we came.  Of course, our interest sent the other buyers into action  and soon the house price was increased....way out of what we could afford.  Even being able to afford the house would take a few miracles in itself.  But, in God's timing - every time we hit an obstacle, we stood, prayed and God made a way.  By Wed it looked like buying the house without first selling ours would stretch us beyond what we could manage - the seller was not willing to wait for us to sell ours first.
Thurs the agents rang and said the seller was going with the other buyer.  An hour later Colin rang me to say he has an act of God provide a deposit enabling us to go ahead with the sale, so I rang the agent, who rang the seller, - who had not yet rang the other buyers and he rang me instead to say that it was ours!!!
It was a whirlwind of a week, and I now have LOTS and LOTS to do, de-cluttering my biggest challenge.  Our house is going on the market on Monday and it needs to be uncluttered enough for photos for the brochure :-).  I am a collector and sentimental and struggle to not collect and display everything I love - SO I have a massive amount of work to do.  But, just like Nehemaih - I am going to see this project to completion - even if it means I work through the night till it is done.  I am determined not to keep all this stuff - I cant take it with me to heaven anyway (or China one day) and we def dont NEED it all, so I must sift through it all and be ruthless, might even have recruite a few friends to help me with the ruthless element :-)
Anyway, thats our news!!!!! Its all so exciting and scary all at once, but that just confirms to me that God is in it.  He has renewed my vision and will carry me through the hard work and tough times and bless us in this new house!!! For those who dont live in the UK, the house buying system works differntly here in that the sale is only definate right att he end when contracts are signed - so please PRAY for protection on this house deal, that it all completes smoothly in Jan sometime. 

Above:  looking from the back - pool building on the right, house in middle, clubhouse on left.

Below:  The indoor pool where I can teach from home (yippee!)

Looking accross the bowling green (flood lit), soon to become, cricket pitch, tennis court or pitch and putt (the boys and Colin were having a heated discussion about who wanted what where

Below:  The front drive, gardens and part of the house

The kitchen :-)

The very beautiful conservatory - what an adventure hey?
Please do come and visit us!!!!
God Bless

A special day.....

Today has been an emotional day.  Today is the day that Amy's birth mother left her to be found.  I will never know the exact day that she was born, only her birth mother will know that day and hold it in her heart forever, but today is the first definate date I have, and the only day that I share with her birth mother, the day she lost a daughter and the day I gained one.  What was going through her mind today - 4 years ago??  Its not very long really is it?  I have been so tearful today, feeling her birth mothers pain, feeling the pain that is to come for my little girl as she one day understands and works through the pain of this day for her, the reality of it all, the loss, the trauma.

Amy was estimated to be 6 weeks old.  I work with LOTS of babies every week, as I teach mother and baby swimming and no two 6 week old babies look the same.  I have in my classes a 3 week old baby that looks 3 months old and a 6 month old baby that is so tiny and barely looks 6 weeks old.  Who can tell really?? And why did her mother keep her for so long?  Was she forced to give her up, or did she put it off and stay in hiding for as long as possible?  Did she know about the benefits of breastfeeding for the first 6 weeks and hold out till then?  How do youlove a baby for 6 weeks and then leave her in a park early on a October morning?  I have been praying for this special woman all day, feeling her pain and her loss.  Praying that she will know her daughter is loved and happy.

Four years ago today I was in China, with Daniel - who was only 10 at the time, and I was loving a room full of 4- 6 month old babies.  I remember nuzzling my nose into the neck of one I had nick-named squishy baby and praying for my own baby, feeling so so close to her, and there while I was there praying.... in China, with my heart breaking for the babies I was loving, my own daughter was spending her last days with her birth mother.  It is a mind blowing thought and has had me blubbering all day.

After doing some obligatory chores this morning, we took the kids to the zoo, and then up to Cromer beach for an ice-cream.  I wanted Amy to have a good day, a special day, to have fun.  I explained to the boys why mommy was so teary today, but I did not say anything to her - what do you say?  How do you explain to a 4 year old?  So, we celebrated having this amazing girl in our lives and had a fun day!

I am sure that there will be many a tough day when she will need to mourn what has happened - and her mom understands all about the need to mourn at the moment!

We have a weeks holidays here in the UK and Colin is off, so we want to attempt a de-clutter and a week of family fun.  Anyway, just wanted to share about our day......

God Bless

Autumn moon Harvest, Thanksgiving FUN!!!

Ellen, Shawn and I planned an Autumn moon, harvest Thanksgiving festival for this weekend.  After much planning the weekend finally arrived and much to our sadness, Ellen and family came down with the dreaded Swine flu and could not come this weekend.  We missed you Ellen!!  We held it in Shawn's new, nearly ready house and it took loads of work for them to make this work!  Thanks Shawn.  We decorated and cleaned and cooked and Ellen planned loads of fantastic crafts for the kids to do.  She also made the lovely Thanksgiving banner you see hanging over the fireplace and a couple of pumpkin pies - thanks Ellen.  I think all who came would agree that we all had a lovely time.  The food was great, the kids had fun, the displays looked good and the company was fantastic!  It was lovely to meet up with old friends and make some new ones.  I love seeing all our adopted kids together. Thanks Kate for all your help too.

Anna, Li-Na, Taylor and Amy-Li wearing the masks they made, the kids all had great fun doing the crafts.

Our lovely puddings, front right is the yummy pumpkin pie Ellen made.

Cant seem to turn Lily around, but how cute is she though?

We made two pumpkin displays and I enjoyed taking photos of the kids with the pumpkins.  We had some rain, but that did not dampen everyones spirits.  I love all the different colours, shapes and textures of the pumpkins

Lovely Aila Mei, just look at that cheeky grin!

The whole group.

Besty Friends.....

Some of the girls, having fun!

The trio, Amy, Alice (Kate's little one) and Aila

Li-Na holding a pumpkin and giving a huge smile....aaahhh (above) and Anna-Li (my friend Ally's new daughter) striking a pose.  Poor girl is recovering from pneumonia.

Laura and Eric with Amy, Aila and Li-Na, Eric and Laura are immigrating to Nw Zealand next March, we are going to miss them loads!! But we are planning to visit hopefully next Dec - Yay!!

God Bless, Love Jules

xxxxx

Reflection.....

I was reflecting today on how much our lives have changed since adopting Amy-Li.  How God has put a passion in our hearts for the orphans in China, not to necessarily adopt them all :-) but to contribute to making a difference in the lives of as many as we can. 

There are of course the financial ways to do this, ie monthly support for kids in foster homes, raising money for various organisations that are in China helping the kids in a more practicle day to day way,...... buying a washing machine or piece of equipment you know is needed (we bought a washing machine for Bao'an SWI when we adopted Amy-Li).  Then, there are the practicle ways of helping.... getting over there and rolling up your sleeves and gettting stuck in, volunteering, loving, helping, caring, cleaning, playing....SO many needs, SO much to do.  I have loved every one of the times I have gone and given of my time and love, and I cant wait to see how many more times God has in store for us to go and give and serve in China.

Then there is educating, not only those who are affected by your adoption, but the local community, people you meet, and of course the people in China... I have been over a few times now to do training in a land based movement programme to teach carers and foster parents how to help the kids in their care.  There is always more to do than hands to do it, but God has placed within each one of us a different gift and talent, a different desire and passion, a heart for different issues in different countries.  If we all did something, did our part, did our best, flamed the passion in our hearts, instead of thinking oh someone else will do it....being on fire instead of being luke warm...... we CAN make a difference.

I LOVE going to China, I LOVE doing training in China and seeing the impact it has on the kids who benefit from it, I LOVE the Chinese children and the culture. I love the Country.  And I oh so LOVE my little girl who comes from this country.  I took something from it and I want to give something back.

Amy-Li is such a part of this family, I can no longer even remember a time with her not in it.  She balances out the boys, blue, balls, bats, hormones, cricket, and all the boy stuff and brings a softness and a joy to us all.I am so grateful that God hand picked this little girl for our family.  It has been a tough journey at times, emotionally draining on the good days and damn right overwhelming on the hard ones.  Its upside down parenting to the tee.  NOTHING can be assumed or presumed.  Adoption parenting is parenting plus, parenting with a twist. 

I look at some of the adopted kids who are older than her and think, ooohhh...there is still so much to come, but BRING IT ON Lord, for you have equipped us for this and put a flame in our hearts that cannot be extinguished no matter how tough things get, no matter how many rages or adoption isssues we have to deal with along the way, You know we can do it.  You have blessed us in this before we even began. 

Our adoption community, both close by and far away will hold our hands through all the struggles and support and encourage us.  Who would have thought only a few years ago, that these are the plans....
Who knows what the future will bring?  But one thing I know for sure.... His plans ARE for Good, and I cant wait to walk in them, to follow the passion God placed in my heart, and walk the in the destiny He has waiting for me and my family.
Blessings

Blustery British Beach

Really making the most of some family time....we went off to the woods to collect some sweet chesnuts. The kids had a ball and it wasnt long before a competition ensued to see who could find the biggest one. We walked for what felt like hours and got oh so lost, finally came accross the path of another walker who showed us the way back to the car park - what an adventure!




Climbing trees with the boys. This photo was a hoot to take,because Dan tried his hardest to shake me off the branch, there was some pushing and shoving and finally.....a photo - was it worth it?


Ooi, cheeky!!


My kids love the beach, but on this cold, windy, cloudy day on this pebble beach .... it was time for a little reflection.....pondering God's amazing creation, the strength in the waves and the wind, the movement in the sea, the sound in our ears as the wind wipped past.  The sea gulls hovering in the sky.... not bothered at all the the blustery winds. God is amazing...


I love this photo and the movement in the sea. I have not had time to photo shop them, as I am sure with a little play the photo and colours could look a lot more dynamic.

It was not long before the boys were throwing the stones and running and jumping and soon they were pink in the cheeks and out of breath, but oh so happy to be near the sea.  Amy is such a girl and does not run and jump and throw, she is so graceful and lovely and walks around with me holding my hand.

God Bless
A word from Joel Osteen: "If you will release your faith and get up every day expecting God's far and beyond favor, then you're going to see God show up and do amazing things. "
BRING IT ON LORD!!