Welcome to my family blog. I have been married to Mike for over half of my life. I love my Savior, Jesus. I am a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom to six terrific, interesting children. My 3 oldest were born to me in my younger years, while my 3 youngest were given to me by God in my older years. I am very blessed. ~Cheri
When I was little, I always thought being 7 years old was getting big. Six still seemed babyish, but 7, wow, that was getting up there. It was the same with being in the 7th grade. Somehow 7 made such a difference in my perspective of things. Seven weeks pregnant, 17 weeks pregnant, 7th month of pregnancy, 7 years of marriage. It was always a milestone I was glad to reach when I was "waiting" for something. Now, we have waited 70 days for our LOA. It feels so good to be "up there". Does this mean I won't feel old until I am 70?
Jack seems to like tie-dyed shirts. So, we decided to give it a try on our own. I bought all we needed along with some cheap t-shirts (not good for tye-dying). The children had fun with the squirt bottles, and Eva and Joy had fun running around in their underwear on the deck (no houses nearby). The results were good, but would have been better had I known to purchase better t-shirts. I just ordered Jack a couple of shirts from Lands End. I'm sure they'll hold up better than our Fruit of the Looms.
Cheri and Jack
At the park
I am also in the process of getting some picture cards together for when I travel for Ivy Xue. They are cute simple pictures, words on the bottom, showing actions, emotion, sickness, hygiene, and food. Jordan and I colored most of them and laminated them. For anyone adopting an older child, go
here for the printable cards. I am hoping they will make communication much easier.
My personal favorites
There is another Virginia mom, raising money for her adoption. She's got some fun things to raffle, if you'd like to help her out. The button is on the side.
Rebecca's mom sent me some more pictures. These are just too cute!
Rebecca looks all into this posing stuff. Ivy seems a bit unsure.
I've already thought about asking Mike if we could adopt the sweetheart on the left. She and Joy have a similar arm/hand defect. Ivy would probably LOVE to bring her home, too. But, then I thought about it again. As much as I would easily jump back into the adoption life to bring her home, I know it is not possible for our family.
I've been finding lately that I want to share my joy and excitement about adopting Ivy Xue. Yet, I'm hesitant because of our experience in May. Sometimes I feel as if it is wrong for me to be excited about another adoption. Most people have been very gracious because they know us personally. There have been others who have not been as gracioius. One lady actually moaned in a sad way when I mentioned that we were in the process again. In my heart, God has healed me and has shown me quite a few things these last 6 months. I cannot help but quote the scripture from Psalm 30:5, "..weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Then again in verse 11, "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou has put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness." So, I'm throwing off my sackcloth and am going to rejoice about adopting Ivy Xue.
I feel pretty confident that we are at least half way through the wait. Now the wait gets harder.
