Birthday Gifts (cause Momma had more to say ...)

What an exciting birthday we had for Jude, that spanned over three days! While our dear son was celebrating with his foster family on Aug. 18 in China, Jake picked out his brother's cake (hope you like strawberry Jude!) and mixed it up.

The next day as Jude was wrapping up his 4th birthday, we were celebrating Jude's birthday a half a world away. We went to church where the congregation sang "Happy Birthday" to Jude's picture projected on our screen.
It was so good to share his special day with our church members, who have been working hard to help us get ready to bring him home.
After church we decorated Jude's cake and we gathered with Grandma Sherry and Grandpa and Grandma Hassler at a local, favorite Chinese restaurant and enjoyed Chinese food and birthday cake in honor of Jude.

It was a great day, and that night we went out, just Mom and Dad and Jake, and we lit sky lanterns in honor of our son on his birthday, as our wishes for health and happiness and quick travel took flight!

The next day one of the wishes came closer to coming true, as we received word our official Letter of Approval had arrived at our adoption agency, Lifeline, in Alabama.
AND, even better, we received pictures of Jude on his birthday sent to us from Helen, a dear woman in China who arranged the gifts and party snacks sent to Jude for his special day.

Jude is looking at NaiNai (Grandma Sue) and YeYe (Grandpa Bill) while wearing his birthday clothes we gave him.

 "Gnawing a bone" is what this one was labeled! lol

 

This was all the snacks sent for his party. We were told a cake could not be delivered because the orphanage is remote. They said he had plenty of help eating them but they did not picture anyone else for privacy reasons.

 This one was labeled Fuzhi's birthday dinner (melts my heart)

 With the look on his face BaBa (Dad) first said "he must be looking at me!" lol But upon further investigation, Jude is eyeing Jake with LaoLao (Grandma Sherry).

The next day was a big one as Jake started school (I'll post on that later) and we had our "celebratory" lunch with dear friend Amy. They were out of town during Jude's party but wanted to give him and Jake gifts from their travels. Thanks guys, and especially to Big Sister!!
So here is Jude's gift, which will travel to China with us:

It was such a blessed few days. Cannot wait until he gets here!!!!

Birthday

Jude Fuzhi's birthday was Aug. 18. He turned 4. We weren't able to be there, but we did send him some presents, including the outfit he's wearing in this photo. We also sent him some photos, and he's looking at the album of them. This was the first time he laid eyes on us.

We wish we had been able to spend his birthday with him, but we will next time. We're just happy the things we sent him made it and he looks so good.

Happy birthday baby!

When we were waiting to go to China in 2008, we were delayed because of paperwork and we hoped to travel and bring Jake home before his 2nd birthday. We made it by 10 days. This time around, there was really no hope of beating the birthday, so as the time ticked across the world, our son celebrated turning 4 without us yesterday, which was today in China. We hope he had a great day with his foster family, and we can't wait to celebrate today with Chinese food and a birthday cake. His gifts were sent last week, and hopefully he enjoyed them. Here's the birthday boy in his younger years and the gifts we sent him through a wonderful woman in China.

Fuzhi aka Jude 

Outfit 

Snacks for the orphanage.

(We were told a birthday cake would be too hard to deliver as the orphanage is in a remote location) 

Toys and photo album of pics we sent of his family.

A new leap

In May 2013, our world once more was blessed as we saw the face of our second child for the first time. Happy with our dossier behind us, one that with the blessings of a full life took longer to complete than we hoped, we learned the same week that our second-born is waiting for us in Chongqing, China. Our agency sent us your file, little one, and we fell in love. Your brother talks about you every day and prays for you every night, and your parents long to hold you in their arms. In July we learned that we have pre-approval for this adoption to be finalized, and just this last week we found out we soon will have the official OK. This blog became a whole lot richer tonight as we updated the status of our "son" to our "sons."

Our first family portrait

The best day of our lives

Oct. 5, 2008, was indeed the best day of our lives. That was when we finally met the little boy we had only known through photographs and information from a few sheets of paper. Our meeting happened in our room in the Bell Tower Hotel, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, People's Republic of China. Our little boy, a baby really, was 3 weeks shy of his 2nd birthday. Now, he's a big boy, in kindergarten and almost 6 years old. Look at him then and now.

We were very blessed that day and have been blessed every day since. We love you Jacob and are so proud to call ourselves your parents.

Well worth watching

This is an amazing 20 minute or so video. Well worth watching if you have adopted from China. All I can say is Mama Kong is an amazing woman. Her husband's not a bad guy either. ... Kevin

See Website HERE

Eyes on the future

Time continues to fly, and my goal of doing a better job at recording our lives seems to be falling by the wayside. But know as you read this some day son that our time as a family was the most fulfilling, fun and beautiful time of our lives, even if not every aspect was covered on these blog pages. Today you spoke of how you cannot wait to start kindergarten, and as I smiled and nodded in excitement for you, I prayed a little for time to slow so that you don't grow up quite so fast. While I probably always will try to rope in time's flight, I find myself learning to savor the moments and even looking forward to future memories and milestones, like kindergarten beginning. Good friends and family in our lives have made those times even more special. So here's to starting kindergarten, and saving ladybugs from certain doom, carnival rides and bedtime stories. All of these things we can savor a little more, until time brings us more joys and adventures. Love you Little Man, Mom