How Long??

It has been 3 months and 1 week since we heard about our daughter, and the projected date to go get her is November. Which was okay, because a wedding was keeping us busy.

I am no longer busy like that.

Now the waiting is getting to be LONG.




We are hoping to hear anything. ANYTHING. Granted Kate, our case worker, called and said that nobody has forgotten about us. Which is funny, because I was thinking that self-same thing the week she called. She must have known.

It's just China's waiting game.

As much as I enjoy games, I don't like this one.

Trust. In all sorts of ways.

CAUTION!! Loads of pictures. Click to see larger.

We were kind of bored today after church, and so we decided to go visit the Raptor Trust.

It is one cool place and we haven't been there in a long time. Even though it is only 15 minutes from our house. I need to set up a field trip there for our group this fall.

At the entrance, there is a lovely gazebo.


There are loads of hawks and owls. So cool. But my all time favorite...The Bald Eagle.


It started rumbling and getting a tad dark, so we made our way back to the car. I don't think it occurs to them to walk on the wide path. I never have to wonder where Samuel gets it from.



We made it to the car, and we were on the road for about a minute, when the storm hit. The rain came down in sheets, the wind was wiping, then the hail started; it was so loud it was hard to hear. I have to say, it was one of the worst storms I have ever driven through.


We pulled into a parking lot, so as not to get hit by a tree or downed poles. Samuel got out. Sometimes I have to wonder about his mental capabilities. His father's also, seeing as how he let him and then, he joined him out there. You can see the hail hitting hard and fast.


The storm last about 15 minutes. Then it was so clear & beautiful outside, you would have never known what happened.


Until we started driving again.

And encountered our first fallen tree.

Samuel: " Don't worry Dad, I'll move it out of the way."
John : " Okay. And hurry up, I'm starving"


" You know what, I can't do it by myself, come help me."


When they couldn't do it by sheer muscle, Samuel went to the back and got some cord. That were too short.
( Just so you know, neither John or I thought it was going to get done. We just thought we would let him figure that out by himself.)


Hmmm... " DAD!! We could just DRIVE through it!! We have 4-wheel drive!!!"


I think we just have to turn around.


We did turn around. For the next 2 hours. Though we were only 15 minutes from home, every time we went down a street, there was yet another fallen tree. I really thought we were not going to get home until late tonight.

Everywhere we went, we saw fallen trees, on the road, on the yards, through windows, on top on roofs. I am thankful we are all okay. Everywhere we looked we saw this:


And when we got home, we were thankful our house was still in tact, and our great oak was still firmly in place.

Learning a new language. At 41.

Learning Chinese is such an amazing experience.

Samuel & I were suppose to start a few weeks ago, but then I realized, with the wedding stuff going on, there was no was I was going to learn/remember anything.

We started this past week.

We go 2x a week for 2 hours each time.

And it is sooo cool.

At first the fact there there are 4 tongs messed with my mind. You can say something in a wrong tong ( accent or extension or shortening of an ending or vowel) and it changes the meaning COMPLETELY.

Such as the time I called my teacher a rat, because I extended the word too much.

Or the fact that ball, tree, and the verb to be, all sound ridiculously similar to my american ear. But now that we are practicing, I am learning to differentiate.


It is sooooo cool!

And of course, Samuel is a natural. The teacher loves him.

Back to the tong. I thought it was unfair for the language to do that to foreigners. ( I know, self-centered american thought) But when I got home and got to thinking about it...we do the SAME THING!!!

Think about it.

Shoe, chew,shoo, and even jew, may sound similar to foreign ears.

I know!

So once I got over my pity party, we are running with everything we've got!!!

So come on over and I will speak some chinese to you. And hopefully, if you are an american, you won't hear my mistakes. :)

Good Old Trusty

I broke my camera.

I have had this digital camera for 6 years. I love it. When everyone was getting the newest ones every year or every other year, I held on to my camera. It took great pictures!! Why change something if it works great???

I dropped it and broke it on Saturday. :(

And since we just had a wedding, the chances of me having the money to buy a new one anytime soon are.....zilch.

But I NEED to get one before we go to China.

I used to borrow Chloe's when my wasn't charged or it went *missing*. But she took it to VA.

Oh well.

Life is still good.

Even if I can't capture it.

Pets

I remember way back when, Samuel was about 2 1/2 years old, and couldn't even speak yet. But he loved turtles, and he was able to make that perfectly clear to anyone. Which is so weird, since we never really encouraged it, knew anything about them, or even talked or showed him any of them.

Weird.

Well, he has been asking for a pet turtle for forever.

And ever.

And ever.

The day before my daughter's wedding rehearsal, Josiah went out, and found this turtle on his driveway.

ON HIS DRIVEWAY!!!!!

Like...what on earth??!?!

Chloe was on the phone with him, and she told me what had happened, to which all I said was "Awww, Samuel loves turtles."

I thought it would be neat for him to see it the next day, hold it and enjoy it before it went back to...wherever.

Well...

Josiah gave Samuel this turtle as a "gift."

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!........




It's HUGE.

There was just no way that thing was coming home with us. NO WAY. I made that perfectly clear, to which someone responded, " It's already in your car, in a 50 gallon tank."

I have been spending these past few days convincing him to let this Herculean creature back to the wild. I know, I know. They are not native to this area, it is North/South Carolinian, and it is totally illegal to dump it in our streams. (someone must have brought it up from there, got tired of it after few years, and dumped it near Josiah's house.) But see, GOD is so good, and it just so happens that Lance is going on vacation to N. Carolina TOMORROW and can take it with him, and give it to a rescue down there!!!!

YES.

But Samuel is heart broken.

He has finally still agreed to let it go, after much talking and praying, and convincing, and crying.

Here are his good bye pictures we took tonight before it leaves tomorrow at the crack of dawn.

Samuel with his turtle face.








A TURTLE!!! What was he thinking??!??!?

Mr. & Mrs. C

The wedding was perfect.



Not that everything went off perfectly, but it was perfect. This was the first 4th of July in Jersey that it didn't rain or wasn't steaming.

My daughter was SO happy and my new son-in-law was precious.

My sister took some candid pictures and since we don't have the "real" pictures yet, I thought I'd share these.



My husband is not doing well.

At all.

But the whole day was just breath-taking; whether is was the ceremony, that was so holy, the scenery & the sky that were stunning, the couple that are crazy about each other, and yet were determined to make their relationship pleasing to GOD. It was just...beautiful.

But I miss her already...

Time

Time flies.

No, I am not in a panic. Life has been busy, but actually pretty serene.

Today we had the bridesmaids over for a luncheon and they got their gifts. And they painted signs, and picked out flower stuff, ate, worked on last minute stuff and generally got to know each other. I dragged them out to the front porch to take a picture of all of them.. Yes there are 8, and there would have been 9 if the other cousin wasn't out of state and couldnt' make it. We are hispanic. We own it.



The 2 dear friends.


The future sister in law.


I have made, revised, thrown out, remade, check off, lost and mulled over more lists then I care to admit. And in all that, it's all still coming together.

I am leaning and trusting in HIM to get us through it all, to HIS glory.

2 very, very short days to go

I ran ( and I use this word loosely because it takes about an hour to get there) up to the vineyard to make all the final payments on Tuesday.

I had forgotten how absolutely beautiful it is out there.


It was hot and humid, so much so, that in walking the 1/4 mile to the wedding rock, it started to thunder storm to break the humidity.

And I couldn't even feel the heat because the sight-senses were on overload.

It was just stunning.

I was talking to one of the garderners, telling him about the up-coming wedding taking place in his *home*. As I was talking to him, I noticed was that his face was so serene. I mean, it was just at peace. so unusual, I didn't want to leave his presence. Then I looked at another one of the gardeners walking by. As he smiled at me, SAME THING!!! I met about 4 or 5 of them. All of them seemed to just love being there.

There just must be something about a vineyard. And that is probably one of the reasons Jesus refers to them. Often.



Well, the dress has been picked up, the marriage license ready, everything is pay for, the vows have been written. The groom-to-be is back from VA, the father of the bride is melancholy, the mother can't sleep, the suitcases are packed. The house is almost clean. The out of town guest are here in Jersey, my mom is in full panic mode, the tears come freely and often, and the bride is just about jumping out of her skin with excitement.

Yup, the wedding is but 2 days away.

I would say pray for me, but if I really thought about it, I would have to say, if you can only pray for one person, pray for my dear husband. His little girl is "leaving him". And I'm not sure he can handle it as well as I thought he could. Or he thought he could.

He is going to be a mess.