Amazing Love

a·maz·ing  

/əˈmāziNG/

Adjective Causing great surprise or wonder; astonishing. Startlingly impressive.

I use the word "amazing" a lot, much too often and without proper context most of the time. 

For instance, it's probably not an occasion worthy of an "AMAZING!!" outburst when Blake whips up the most fantastic feast of fried pickles, but still my lips exclaim, "These pickles are amazing, man!" (And to give credit where credit is due, they are indeed the best I've ever had.)

Likewise, it's pretty exciting when we discover that the light is still on at the Dairy Queen when we drive out of the Piggy Wiggly parking lot empty handed and craving Turtle Tracks...but is it really AMAZING?

The past three weeks have been a blur for me.  Some might say that it's the jet lag or sleepless nights.  Others might say it's the adjustment to having two new children, babies even. I'm here to tell you that I'm certain that it's something more that's got me walking around like I'm in a fog. 

It's AWE!  That's what it is!

Have you ever experienced something so AMAZING that you were rendered speechless and fuzzy-headed for days on end?  Well, I have.  It's actually taken me three weeks to take my journaled thoughts from the night we arrived home and put them together into a post coherent enough for anyone to read.  Experiencing the display of God's glory up close and personal has truly been AMAZING.  

Are you tired of me capitalizing that word yet?

I could just change the font for you:  amazing, italicize it: amazing, or maybe change the color:  amazing, but nothing gets the point across as well as all caps.

Enough of the babble, already!  I've got a story to tell, and I know you will join me in exclaiming that God's love is truly AMAZING!!

Journal entry:  May 19
Watching God move on the hearts of His people and experiencing the amazing provision we needed to bring home Wyatt and Jubilee was just the beginning.  Each of our 18 days in China were amazing in new ways.  We fell asleep each night counting our blessings and praising Him for the amazing things He had done.  Again tonight, we fall asleep bewildered by His amazing love and counting plentiful blessings once again.

The drive home from the airport took nearly 2 hours.  After 27 hours of traveling, we were beyond tired, but the site that welcomed us when we pulled in the driveway put a little pep in our step. Just walking through the door left us wide awake again.  It's after 3:00 and our kiddos just went to bed!  

I can't believe our kids kept this secret for so long.  We talked to them almost every day in China!! While we were away our beautiful friends and church family were hard at work here at our house.  The whole place has been cleaned from top to bottom.I almost hate for my little mess-makers to get up in the morning!! I hear one precious friend deserves a extra round of applause.  She loved us enough to even tackle the teen boys toilet!!!

Not only is our house clean, but clearly an organizer extrordinaire has been here!  Our adoptions in 2009/2010 and this year have taken priority over the home remodel that's been going on for the past several years, and we've learned to just deal with the whole "unfinished" look of things.  Tonight, God blessed us with years worth of to-do list items checked off!  

The laundry room has been made over.  I wish I had a before picture to show you because seeing the finished product makes me weep with gratitude.  Our laundry basket stackers have been painted.  There are new cabinets on the wall.  There's a new folding table with labeled hampers underneath and hooks for all the stuff that needs hanging.  Calendars are on the wall to keep up with all the happenings and deadlines. I absolutely LOVE it!

The blessing crew switched around two bedrooms to better suit the needs of our girls, so both our older girls and younger girls got new bedrooms and makeovers.  The big girls have a new look and are loving their new digs.

The little girls' room is sporting a new crib, a new set of bunk beds and organization that has them telling me where everything goes.

Our little boys have new sheets and comforters, and hangers and hooks for all their stuff.  A place for everything and everything in it's place. It's even labeled! 

Our hall bathroom has hooks for towels, new cabinet doors and a beautiful curtain to hide the stuff beneath the cabinets.

In mine and Dean's room, the crib is set up and sporting a new bumper in the sitting area of our room for Jubilee and the desk turned changing table has a new changing pad and cover and wipes and diapers aplenty. There are room darkening shades on the window that will hopefully help our little princess sleep past dawn. The bathroom has new mirrors and new doors on the cabinet over the toilet.  Thank you!  The longest bathroom remodel in history has had me using a teeny tiny mirror for over 3 years!

The front porch has been spruced up with pine straw, new pillows on the chairs and a beautiful wreath on the door.

As if all of that is not enough, the story just keeps getting better.  Some of our manly friends came over and worked in the yard - bush-hoggin', pine strawin', tree choppin'...the whole nine yards! The kids can make it all the way down to the pond without risking life and limb now, which makes this mama one happy chica!

I could go on and on, but I've only got time to share one more.  It's the schoolroom.  Our friends redecorated and organized our schoolroom!!! Slipcovers are dyed a darker denim. Furniture is painted.  There's a new table and chairs and bookcases.  The bookshelves and school closet are organized and ready for this mama to finish up the school year with seven pupils that were probably hoping to just call it a year and start again in the fall.  

God's love is AMAZING, folks.  We are so thankful.  Thank you so much for loving on us! Actually, thankful isn't even a strong enough word.  I need to capitalize, italicize, fonticize and color it up - THANKFUL!!

One month with Wyatt

One month ago today we welcomed Wyatt to Team Robinson.  He wasn't so happy to be our number one draft pick, at least not right away.

The van hadn't made it out of the Civil Affairs parking lot before we discovered that Wyatt loved music.

Within hours his sweet, funny, loving little personality began to peek through the sadness and we saw our first smiles.

The past month has flown by and Wyatt has blossomed more and more each day.

We grow more and more in LOVE with this boy every second!

One of are our more difficult struggles with Wyatt has been communication.  Wyatt is not concerned one bit about it, but I'm eager to be able to converse!  Wyatt has abnormal hearing, and we don't think he can hear much of what we say.  We do know that he can hear his name if we call out loudly, and he stops when I call out the word "stop". We don't know the quality of the sounds he can hear, though.  We know he doesn't respond to a cowbell ringing, but he does turn his head when we clap our hands loudly or bang our hands on a table.  He has a hearing aid, but every time I put it on his head, he sails it across the room.  The joker's probably expensive to replace, so I just put it away for awhile.

Crazy funny story:  we were eating dinner and Wyatt was slapping his hand on the table over and over again.  Dean signed "wait" and Wyatt swung his head to the left, away from Daddy.  I thought, "Hmmm, that's interesting.  It's almost like he didn't want to see what Daddy had to say."  Dean gently pulled his chin back around to look at him and Wyatt rolled his eyes as far to the left as he could, refusing to make eye contact.  Oh yeah, baby boy is choosing not to see what Daddy has to say.  Next, Dean put himself in Wyatt's line of vision, and what did he do?  Why, he snapped his little peepers shut, just like that!  I guess it's like hearing kids putting their fingers in their ears. Now, if baby boy doesn't like what you have to say, he looks up at your face, sweet as pie and all attentive like, and closes his gorgeous brown eyes.  Hmmmm....now, what's a mom to do with that?

Happy one month home, Wyatt!

Planes, trains and automobiles

Our day began, thankfully, just like it has the past 10 days - with bacon and eggs.  I know y'all must think I'm all about the food.  I am, and that's okay.  It's the Garden Hotel breakfast buffet.  They want us to be all about the food.  That's why they make it so awesome, each and every morning.

Jubilee enjoyed her first waffle this morning before we left for the airport.  Isn't she the cutest baby girl on the planet?

As you can tell, Wyatt is not happy to be leaving the Garden.

One short party in the lobby later and we were on our way!

Rebecca helped us through the checkin process, and I was so relieved to be free of the luggage.  When we said our goodbyes at the security checkpoint a bit of sadness washed over me.  We had such an amazing time in China.  If my kids were all here (and we had a money tree to harvest) I could've stayed much longer.  One last hug around Rebecca's neck and we were off to the gate to wait for our flight!

Our first flight was from Guangzhou to Seoul.  We were seated next to a very nice gentleman that lives just a few hours from us.  I'm so glad I asked him if he speaks English! I enjoyed hearing about his four children, the Bible classes that he teaches and his church family back in the US. Wyatt and Jubilee were both delightful during the 3 hour flight.  I know I'm being a whiney-hiney, but their delightfulness during the short flight established some pretty unrealistic expectations for the 14 hour flight to come.

Incheon International Airport in Seoul is probably the best place to have a layover.  You just can't beat cleanliness, cute little ones and the Hello Kitty Cafe!  We enjoyed our time there, though I must say Riley was a bit off-the-chain. I think Joey was a little bewildered by Riley's train antics.

The flight from Seoul to Atlanta was nothing short of a nightmare.  I really did think that the diaper bag full of clever entertainment options and the most delicious of toddler snack selections would be the ticket for a pleasant trip....yeah, well, that was not our reality.  Wyatt, it seems, does not like to be told "no", and he can cry extremely loud when he doesn't get his way.  The nice gentleman next to us showed him how to press the light button on the remote control in front of him, so sweet Wyatt did just that - again and again and again and again, until I (and the people all around us) had had enough.  Once I began preventing the fun button pressing, Wyatt began crying very loud.  I wish I had known that his crying would be so loud and obnoxious because the light flashing was a lot less obnoxious.  I even tried to give him the little remote control back, but it didn't work.  Once he's mad, he's mad.  He did eventually fall asleep and sleep for many hours - and I am thankful for every one of those hours.

Jubilee did fine on the flight, as long as we could walk the aisles with her.  The turbulence was bad, almost the whole flight, so we had to stay seated.  Little miss would arch her back and holler.  Dean and I handed her back and forth across the aisle often, needing a break from the madness.  The flight attendants were very attentive and came by often to fan our crying babies and offer something that might help.  One, without warning, even picked Jubilee up out of my lap and began to walk off.  I'm sure she was trying to be helpful, but Jubilee flipped!  Our friendly flight attendant quickly plopped her right back into my lap.  After that, passengers began to offer advice.  She's too cold; she needs more clothes.  She looks hot, you should take off her socks.  She's hungry.  She's thirsty.  She's very, very tired.  I was never so thankful as I was when the captain announced our approach in Atlanta!!  I'm certain those were the longest 14 hours of my life!!

As we headed for passport control (along with two international flights of passengers), I pulled our two visa packets out of my bag and we began looking for the special situations line.  I was so thankful when I saw only a few people in front of us.  The other lines had 50-60 people waiting.  One of the employees in the waiting area said, "Oh no, brown packet", when she saw us.  Those words didn't exactly give me a good vibe.  It seems that when our flight was delayed, Hartsfield sent many immigration officers home because of budget cuts.  I was confused about that because our arrival was expected, only delayed by an hour.

I'm sounding whiney again, aren't I?  By the time an hour and a half had expired there in immigration, I was done with my whining.  We brought out snacks for the kids and they played with their friends in line with us.  We also met two chaperones bringing children to families here in the US.  Pretty exciting, if you ask me!  We finally made it to the counter and were greeted by Officer Smiley.  Jubilee celebrated her US citizenship with a dirty diaper right then and there.  We were ushered pretty quickly to the visa processing waiting room, and from there the wait was only about 20 minutes.  Dean and Tate went ahead to baggage claim while I waited for the babies passports.

As soon as our passports were returned to us, we gathered our stuff and headed for the arrivals lobby.  I  can tell you that seeing the faces of our family, friends and coworkers was the most beautiful feeling in the world!!  So many had taken the time, late at night even, to come out and welcome us home.  It was AMAZING!!

Hugs and kisses and introductions flew by and it was time to head for the van, all 11 of us!  It's a beautiful thing to have the whole family together!  Blake drove us home and were welcomed by so many surprises - enough that they deserve a whole blog post.  I can't wait to share about what was waiting for us at our house!!  Next time....

Good night, folks, from the good ole US of A!!

One last day in China!

I'm feeling short on words but so full of gratitude.  Today was another beautiful day in GZ.  This whole trip has been such a marvelous display of God's power and might, His mercy and blessing.  My heart is so full!

Rebecca called and said that she heard from the consulate that they would have the visas ready for pickup this afternoon!!  After hearing the good news, we took Riley and the babies up to the pool for one last swim. We ran into two other families excited about the news, as well.  One of the families there, Paul and Candace and their children, are from GA.   Paul was kind enough to ride Riley around the pool on his back and even saved the life of Wyatt, who made an unexpected headfirst dive from one step to another while we were standing there talking.  We're going to need to teach Wyatt and Jubilee to swim pretty quick.  They both love the water.

Melissa and I make a quick trip out to Shamian Island for a grilled cheese sandwich and apple pie ala mode, with a side of shopping.  She was gracious enough to help me schlep my bags of goodies for the kiddos back home across the island and to the Victory Hotel, where we caught a cab.  We ended up having to go into the Victory and ask them to call a cab for us, and they were kind enough to do that for us, even though we weren't guests.

I arrived back to our room to the beautiful site of two complete visa packets and passports containing visas for Wyatt and Jubilee.

It looks like we will be able to make our flight home tomorrow morning!!  We are so excited!!

We met friends from Fayetteville, the Pruiksmas, in the lobby at 7:00 to grab a bite to eat out on our last night in GZ.  We ate at Tekila's and enjoyed the food and company as much as we did the last time.

Only one more sleep in GZ!!  The next time I write it will be from the good ole US of A!!

The most amazing Thursday in GZ!

I love a lazy morning, every now and then.  For the first time since we arrived, we have no where to be first thing in the morning, except for breakfast which closes down at 10:00.  I decided not to wait for Dean and the boys to wake up and got myself and the babies ready to go.  Dean and Riley woke up in the nick of time because I would've left them in the room!  I've pretty much narrowed my adventurous eating in the morning down to a fried egg, two slices of bacon, a hashbrown round and a glass of grapefruit juice. There's no reason to be a creature of habit here.  There is such a variety (and not just traditionally breakfast foods) on the breakfast buffet at the Garden.  Still, I just had the usual today.  Maybe tomorrow I'll shake things up a bit and throw a croissant or some friend noodles onto my plate.

With no where to go or to be, we took a leisurely walk through the garden and then took Riley to the pool to cool off.  Riley usually asks about 20 times a day to go, but Wyatt and Jubilee didn't have a clue until today.  Both of our sweet babies love the water, which is a blessing.  We love to go to the pool!

We had planned today to catch a taxi back over to Shamian Island to enjoy again a glass of iced tea and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  I know that seems like a lot of effort to expend for such a small reward, but I promise it would've been worth it!!  At 2:00, I picked up the phone to call Melissa and see if they were ready to head out.  Joey answered the phone and asked me if I had gotten the email.  What email?  I didn't get an email.  Who sent the email, Joey?  THE CONSULATE IS OPENING!!  I quickly hung up the phone and called Rebecca who told me that the consulate was opening this afternoon at 3:30 and we needed to gather all of our families together and be in the lobby at 3:00!!!  I buzzed the other Lifeline families and had the joy of hearing the excitement from each families waiting for an consulate appointment.  What an amazing 5 minutes that was!

I hurried and dressed the babies in their red, white and blue and we headed for the lobby.  We grabbed a quick snack at the deli at the Garden and then headed for the bus.  By the way, the chicken and mushroom pastry at the deli is yummy and if you don't take the time to convert the currency in your head you'll enjoy it much more.  Remember before you convert currencies, it's always easier to spend money that you don't understand.

Riley shared his deli snack with friends on the bus.  He loves sitting in the back.

The consulate had decided to open up for every single family that missed an appointment this week.  Do you know how amazing that is?  Typically, the consulate sees about 20 families each day.  Today, 100 families arrived at the consulate together at 3:30 in the afternoon, and each and every family was processed and interviewed.  Then, the most beautiful moment happened.  Every family took the oath there together.  It was emotional for me (and probably most of the people there), seeing the faces of more than 100 children forever changed by the hope and future of life granted by the love of a family.  Praise the Lord, Father to the fatherless, Almighty God!

The consulate is saying that they will make every effort to have visas for the children in attendance today as early as tomorrow.  They have even agreed to come in on Saturday if they are not all completed tomorrow.  Our flight is scheduled for Saturday in the early afternoon.  We might just make it!!

This is a picture of Rebecca sharing the news that there is a chance that visas will be available on Friday or Saturday this week.  Do you see the hands raised in praise?  LOVE!  Sweet Eliana there may have no idea what this means, but it's pretty good news if you ask me!!

 We celebrated the blessings of today with dinner out with our friends.  We ate a second time at the Paddy Field and had a great time!!

Maybe just two more sleeps in China!!

The word for today is...

HOT!  On the agenda for this morning was visiting the Botanical Gardens.  We stepped off the air-conditioned bus into the wall of heat and humidity.  Rebecca didn't seem to notice.  She introduced us to the gardens and then in a puff (probably of humidity) she was gone.  Maybe she went back to the bus.  We didn't stand around wondering, though.  We set off in search of small air-conditioned buildings that we thought might be on the premises.  Before leaving the entrance area I tried to get a sweet picture of Riley in front of a beautiful arrangement that says "Love".  His expression was priceless.  I don't guess he was feeling the love.

It seems like there is a lot of Dutch influence in the gardens.  I half expected to see Heidi skipping walking along the path looking wilted.  

I've been a baby-wearer since Jubilee arrived.  (I tried to be a baby-wearer with Wyatt but the boy weighs 33 pounds.)  After 20 minutes in the gardens, we found a way to fit two babies into a single stroller.  Wyatt was not all that happy to share his space with Jubilee.  Jubilee was happy to be out of the Ergo.

After an hour we found a shady sitting spot with a few friends while the kids played with cars and balls and Riley climbed around in the trees.  Wyatt loves cars. He carries them in his arms with fierce possession, stopping every now and then to roll one on the ground.  Why didn't I bring matchbox cars instead of a suitcase full of baby toys?

As beautiful as the gardens were, we were praising our Heavenly Father when the time came to head back to the entrance. Just thinking about the air-conditioned bus put a little pep in our step.  I snapped this precious picture of Wyatt walking with his hand on his friend Lily Hope's stroller.  So sweet....

And then I saw his interest....ice cream.  He stared her down, poor thing, as she ate the last of it.  Don't you worry, baby boy.  Mama's looking for an ice cream stand just now!!

On the bus ride back to the hotel, Rebecca shared with us news that the consulate will be closed on Thursday and Friday, as well.  It doesn't look like our consulate appointment scheduled for tomorrow will happen.  We were a bit disappointed, but remain certain that God does not make mistakes and that this is no surprise to Him.  We are praying that our attitude might be such that we will embrace every opportunity to allow God to work through us and that He might be glorified in mighty ways.  Even as I say that, my heart stings with missing my babies back home.  We've been able to talk to them almost everyday and see their faces on FaceTime, but I miss them so much it hurts.

We are also trying not to be alarmed by rumors and focus just on the official information being given to us about the consulate's closure and when we might possibly be able to go home.  The facilities emergency was a white powder substance sent by envelope and opened by an employee at the consulate.  The incident has not been on the US news but was reported in the newspaper here.  Thankfully, we have not heard of any injuries.  Many families here have had to change their flights home and extend their hotel reservations.  Even so, the attitudes among the families here have been impressive.  Our flights are scheduled for Saturday, but if the consulate is going to be closed Thursday and Friday, it seems like we'll have to begin looking at changing ours, as well.  Our travel agent says that we need to wait until Friday to change our flights. We're hopeful that it won't be an expensive change because we just don't have the money.

We spent the evening in the room and had Subway for dinner.  Entertainment was provided by Wyatt and Riley.  Their stage was visible from the bed, which was so nice.  The boys love playing in the bathtub which is separated from the bedroom by a glass wall.  The whole shebang is housed in the shower, which is ingenious if you ask me.  No mess to clean up, and when the window gets foggy, it's art time!  We will begin looking at remodeling our master bath in order to recreate this little setup as soon as we return home!!

Goodnight from Guangzhou, friends!