Halloween and Harvest

Old Baker Farm / Pumpkin Patch

We had a fun afternoon exploring the barn and pumpkin patch with our sweet friends, the Woods, at Old Baker Farm.  Adair loved the animals and choosing her very own pumpkin.  It was late in the halloween season, but there were still some pumpkins on the vine.

Petting a baby goat.

Adair and Anne Fulton playing their new flutes.

Mommy, Daddy and Adair on the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Is this THE one?

This pumpkin is just my size.

God's House / Trunk or Treat

The church where Adair goes to school held a Trunk or Treat event as their Fall Festival.  This was a first for our family and we all had a great time.  There were some impressive "trunks" and it was a fun, safe environment in which to get candy and have a great time.

Adair's sweet friend, Sarah Kathryn trick or treating with Rupunzle.

Cinderella and Belle (aka Adair and Sarah Kathryn)

Sliding on a pirate ship.

Pumpkin Carving

This year, I waited too late to purchase an orange, traditional carving pumpkin, so we ended up with an oblong, white pumpkin.  Not at all traditional, but your choices are limited when you are pumpkin shopping on Halloween.  We decided our atypical carving pumpkin was the perfect pumpkin for carving a friendly ghost for Halloween night.

Adair was all about the "goo" this year.

Our finished product.

Trick or Treating

We spent Halloween night with our sweet friends, the Beasons.  We enjoyed a great meal together and then headed out to their neighbors houses for trick or treating.

Adair dresses as her favorite pricess this year, Cinderella.  In preparation for our upcoming trip to Disney World,  I splurged slightly on the dress and she embraced pretending to be royalty.

Our little Cinderella

Woody, Cinderella and Obi Wan Kenobi (aka Jack, Adair and Robert)

Inspecting the loot...this girl LOVES candy!

Mr. and Mrs. Ballard

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of standing beside one of my dearest friends as she said "I do" to her prince charming.  Kara and I met on bid night of our Freshman year at Samford and became fast friends.  A couple of years after college, she moved to Khon Khan, Thailand to work with college students and minister to the people of Thailand.  It was a leap of faith and God has blessed her abundantly for her obedience.  She was able to see many friends come to Christ and grow in their faith during her five and a half years in Thailand.  While she was in Thailand, Kara met Mark (a youth minister in Macon, GA) through mutual friends.  Their relationship began over Skyppe, Facebook and email and grew over brief visits to each other's current home.  It has been so neat to watch God grow this chance meeting from a friendship to a courtship to a marriage over the last year.  They are the perfect couple and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for their marriage.  Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Ballard!

The happy couple

The beautiful bride

Hank, me and Adair

Tricia, Ashley, Katie, Loren and me

Hadley and Adair

They loved dancing together!

Like I said, loved it!

Samford girls: Loren, Mary Ellen, Tricia, Lora, Blair,

Ashley, me, Kara, Katie, Meg, and Kimber

Our Little Musician

I'm sure I have shared this before, but Adair is obsessed with music and instruments.  Her first love is the violin.  Everything she touches becomes a pretend violin...straws, drum sticks, mallets, rhythm sticks, spoons, etc.  A couple of weekends ago, she had the opportunity to play a real violin at my family reunion.  The sweet violinist noticed her obsession and offered to let her explore her violin.  She actually said she had the "touch".  Ha!  Perhaps we have a future violinist on our hands...

or perhaps a mandolin player.  She is beginning to be equally interested in all string instruments.  She loves her Joe-pa's guitar from his "band days" in high school and enjoyed playing this mandolin at the reunion.  I think it's time for me to start looking into lessons of some sort to try to capitalize on her interest and potential musical talent.

She also loves to sing.  Much to my surprise, she wanted to sing with the band at the reunion.  She was shy at first, but once she warmed up she sang "Jesus Loves Me", "This Little Light of Mine" and "Rocky Top".  (One of these things is not like the other, huh?)

Powers, Party of Five

On Saturday, August 20, Hank and I got the shock of a lifetime...we discovered we are expecting our third child on April 22, 2012!  From that very second, we knew that the baby I am carrying was our third child.  We never desired to change directions or deviate from the path we were on to our Emalyn! 

I'll back up a little and give you the full story.  That Saturday was two days before my 30th birthday and I had already received the best gift when we found out we were DTC and would soon be matched with our daughter.  (If it's possible to receive two best gifts, this was definitely my year.)

That day Hank and I had joked about getting pregnant during this process and the idea got into my head.  I started trying to count days and was reminded of two quick bouts with nausea the week before.  With margaritas on the menu for my birthday dinner that night, I decided I should take a quick test, just to settle my mind.  Much to my surprise it was positive...immediately!  When I showed it to Hank, he sat down on the floor, speechless.  Soon after, we both looked at each other and burst into laughter.  Of course, this is how God would write our story!

The next day, I began starting to gather information.  For those of you who know me well, you know I am a doer and a controller, so had to start figuring out time lines, bedrooms, etc.  I emailed our agency and requested a meeting, called my doctor and insisted they squeeze me in on Monday and thus began the planning. 

On Monday my doctor settled my nerves by confirming that I could travel to China through 32 weeks (the end of February), assuming this pregnancy is as "vanilla" (his word) as my pregnancy with Adair. 

On Tuesday, I met with our social workers.  We knew there was a possibility that they would want us to put the adoption on hold just given the potential close arrival of Emalyn and our newborn into our home.  They brought up some valid points for us to think through, asked us to pray over our decision for the next week and let them know where we stood on Sunday.  At that point, they, along with the Director of International Adoption (who was out of town for the week and needed to be a part of the decision), would make a decision.  We knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we wanted to proceed and we believed with all of our hearts that that was God's command for us, but we took time to pray and seek Him over that week.  It was SO hard to wait, but God used that week to confirm our decision.

That Sunday night, August 28, we sent a long email to our social workers and expressed our desire to proceed, our belief that God was commanding us to proceed and practical reasons why we could make it work.  The very next day, Amy called and let me know we could proceed.  We were thrilled with the news and then she followed up with more good news...we were logged in and the shared list was coming out that very night.  She was careful to manage our expectations that we would be low on the list having just gotten logged in, so we may not get a referral, but there was a chance our daughter could be on that list.

The next morning, she called and the first words out of her mouth were, "are you sitting down?".  I knew immediately she had a file for us.  Within in five minutes of hanging up the phone, Hank and I saw the face of our second child...our sweet Emalyn.

We have experienced God in so many amazing ways throughout this process.  It has been so hard to keep this pregnancy a secret, because this baby's story is so interwoven with Emalyn's story.  We believe with all of our hearts that God has an amazing plan for our family and we are thankful that He is revealing it little by little. 

We covet your prayers as we prepare for our family to expand from three to five in a short 3-4 months time span.  Please pray that LOA comes quickly and we are able to travel as soon as possible.  Not only are we anxious to bring our Emalyn home, but we would love to have as much time as possible with her before the baby comes.  In addition to that, it is my heart's desire to be able to travel to China, to her homeland, to love on her from the very second she's in our arms.  To have to wait at home for Hank to bring her back to me, just might "do me in" emotionally.  I do know that God has a plan, though.  I know that He ordained this and it will play out just as He has plans and I can rest in that.

Visiting Biltmore Estate

On Sunday, after Loren and Bobby's wedding, Hank and I visited the Biltmore Estate before heading home.  It is an astounding setting and beautiful home, one that truthful looks more like a castle, set in the breathtaking Blue Ridge Mountains.  It boasts 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and, during a time when very few people had electricity or running water, Biltmore house had both.  To say it was a sight to behold would be an understatement.

View of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the terrace

A small sampling of the vast gardens

Mr. and Mrs. Spiller

One of my dearest friends married the love of her life this weekend in Asheville, North Carolina.  It was a beautiful weekend filled with special moments leading up to their wonderful wedding and fun reception.  Congratulations, Loren and Bobby!  We love you both and can't wait to see what God has in store for you as Mr. and Mrs.

Me, Loren, and Blair

Before as Mr. and Miss

After as Mr. and Mrs.

Kevin, Mary Ellen, Mary, Kimber, me, Blair,

Phillips, Hank, Matt, Kara and Mark

Beautiful lighting and reception

Mr. and Mrs. Spiller

Sorority sisters after we embarrassed Lo with our wedding song

Meeting Aubie

Hank took Adair to The Club on Thursday night to meet Aubie.  As you can imagine, Aubie is one of Adair's favorite things about going to and watching Auburn games, so she was thrilled to meet him in person.

War Eagle!

We took a little road trip to Auburn this weekend for the Mississippi State game.  Despite the heat, it was a fun day and a very exciting game.  I did not go to Auburn, but it's always good to visit and we always leave wanting more.  We hope to venture back to plains at least once or twice more this season.  On November 19, my alma mater (Samford) is Auburn's opponent for Homecoming.  This is a rare event and we plan to be there to support our teams, despite that the outcome of the game is fairly obvious.

First Day of 3-K

Adair started 3-K on Thursday at God's House Kindergarten.  This is a new school for us this year and I think we are all going to love it.  It is a very quaint and warm school.  They focus on the gospel everyday and desire for the children to learn about Jesus.  I love that Adair will be exposed to the Bible outside of home and church.

Her teacher's name is Miss Beth and she is precious.  Adair already loves her!  Two of her best friends from church are also in her class and I know she will come home every day after school saying "Sarah Kathryn this and Caroline that".  It should be a fun year full of learning, encouragement and growth.

Craft Note:  If you are curious about her bag, I made it and it was SO easy anyone can do it.  These little tote bags come in a pack of three for $6.99 at Hobby Lobby. 

If you would like to give it a try, here's how I did it.

Supplies:
Canvas tote bag
Template for letters (from Word)
Heat and Bond Light
Fabric scraps
Embroidery thread
Scissors
Needle
Iron

Steps:
1)  Print an outline of the letters you want in the right size in Word and cut them out
2)  Pick out your fabric, cut squares of fabric a little bigger than your letters, then iron the Heat and Bond Light onto the backs of the squares following the directions on the package
3)  Trace your letters on the Heat and Bond Light side of the fabric (make sure you face them the right direction)
4)  Cut out your fabric letters
5)  Iron your letters onto your bag following the directions on the package
6)  Use embroidery floss (I used 3 pieces together) and hand stitch around each letter; you could also embelish with buttons, fabric flowers, etc.

Introducing Our Daughter

Many months ago, we told you about our heart for China and today we are excited to introduce you to the daughter God has given us through adoption.  Here she is, the newest member of our family...we proudly introduce Emalyn Mae Qing.

 Our first unofficial family picture

Emalyn with her big sister

 

Emalyn is 15 months old and has a first degree cleft lip.  She is tiny for her age, but seems very healthy.  Her cleft lip seems to be mostly cosmetic and doesn't seem to interfere with her eating or babbling.  Her file says she is well liked and fairly on target for her age, developmentally.  Qing is part of her Chinese name and it means "celebrate".  Which we will do for the rest of her life! 

 

It is surreal not knowing every detail of her life and growth and needs and likes/dislikes.  Everyday I try to imagine what she is doing, if she is eating well, sleeping well, well loved, played with...it is hard not knowing much for sure.  Please pray with us that God would prepare her heart to meet us and that He would prepare our hearts, too.  A friend who has an adopted sister told me that her mom always prayed that someone would cry when they took their daughter from her orphanage.  I love that, because it says that someone loved her enough to shed tears because they wanted what was best for her, a forever family, but they would miss her.  I want that to be my prayer for Emalyn.  I pray that someone with her now loves her enough to cry when she meets her forever family.

We are so thankful to be at this point so quickly and we pray that the next steps move along as quickly as the ones before them.  We can't wait to hold our daughter in our arms...to love her up close instead of a world away.

If you would like to read our full referral story or follow along as we make our way to China, visit our adoption blog at http://www.alongroadtomeetyou.blogspot.com/.