Birthday Week at the Mason's

It's been a week of birthdays at our house this week. Of course, we celebrated Christ's birth on Thursday, and then today is Eden's 3rd birthday. My niece Savannah turns 12 on Tuesday and so we had a party for her and Eden together at our house today.

I haven't had time to put all of the pictures on our computer yet from Christmas, but here are a couple from my mom's camera. We have had such a fun week. It's been exhausting, but totally worth it to spend so much time with family. Here are a few pictures. I will post more next week after I've had time to "organize" our chaos :0) Love you all!

We made a birthday cake for Jesus this year to help Eden understand that Christmas is when we celebrate His birth. We bought a special heart-shaped pan to bake it in. She even sang "Happy Birthday" to Him and blew out candles on the cake. It was so precious!

Here's the birthday girl! I can't believe she is 3 years old! Last night I told her that once she is 3 she cannot come in mommy's bed anymore at night. She looked at me, thought about it, and said, "Where's the cot?" (We used to put a cot up at the foot of our bed for her to crawl in if she needed to come in our room). Such a smart little girl!!

Here are the birthday girls blowing out their candles. Eden ADORES her cousin, Savannah. Too bad she lives 11 hours away in Florida. It's been so great having her in town this week!

Because I Love You

I am up at 2:15 a.m. I HATE when I wake up and cannot go back to sleep, don't you? Anyway, I wanted to share a lesson God taught me the other day...it was such a sweet reminder. I was heading downstairs to get some clothes out of the dryer and I said, "Eden, stay here with Ba-Ba (daddy in Chinese). Mommy is going to be right back." You see, it takes longer when she follows me because I have to help her down and up the steps...you know the drill. I thought if I explained I'd be back quickly she might be content to just wait upstairs for me. But, she said, "No mommy, I want to come with you." I replied, "Why honey, I'll just be gone a second." She answered, "Because I love you mommy."

What a precious, priceless reason to want to follow me. And how worth the extra couple of minutes it took me! Later that evening I was thinking about what she said. My heart warmed and smiled the moment she said it..."because I love you." In the midst of what seems like endless and constant disobedience and correction she reminded me of her love for me. She didn't want to be separated even for a minute. Why? Because she loves me.

That is how I long to be with Christ...to have not only the willingness, but the desire to follow Him every moment, to be by His side at all times...simply because I love Him. Among my seemingly endless disobedience and correction, I'm sure it would also warm His heart to hear those words from my mouth..."because I love You."

May this remind us all to remember to stay right on His heels even in the routine, mundane, simple moments of our days. May our motivation be our love for Him, and our desire to show others His great love.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving week! Love you all.

Fall Happenings

Well, we took Eden trick-or-treating for the first time on Halloween and she definitely got the hang of it. Then, the next day we took a trip to the Atlanta Zoo to see the Giant Panda bears. They were incredible!!! When we were looking at them Eden yelled, "Hey Panda bear, I'm from China, too!" It was so funny. I don't have long to post right now so I'm going to give you a couple of photos. Love you all!

Here is our little "lucky" Ladybug from China.

Eden in front of the Panda habitat in Atlanta.

Aren't these animals amazing? Did you know all Pandas in the USA are leased from the Chinese government?

The rest of these photos are some that my friend took of Eden and me to give to Gene for our anniversary present. On Nov. 6th we celebrated 4 years of marriage. I am so grateful for my husband. He is such a wonderful father and partner. We went to see "Fireproof" for our date and it was a great movie...I highly recommend it! These photos were taken in a community down the road from us called Mount Laurel. Isn't it beatiful?




That's all I have time for today. Our adoption agency (Lifeline) is having their annual fundraiser banquet next Thursday night. I hope to see some of you blogging buddies there! Our pastor, David Platt, is the keynote speaker. He is amazing to listen to because of his passion for God and His Word. Hope to see some of you! Have a great weekend enjoying what's important...not housework, PEOPLE!!!!

The Next Five Minutes

This is a video I did that was used recently in our church to highlight the urgency of our involvement in the needs of the world. Our Pastor has been teaching on just how radical Christ's call on our lives is and our responsibility to serve the poor as an integral part of our daily lives and faith.

All of the statistics in the video are real, gathered from the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. government, Persecution.org and other sources. I thought it might be relevant to those who, like us, share a heart for those less fortunate throughout our planet.

What We've Been Up To

We've had a busy couple of weeks in the Mason household. We're getting ready to have a garage sale this Saturday, we're dog-sitting for my mom who is on a mission trip this week, and I've been working on a writing project for some DiscipleNow curriculum. Whew! I wanted to do a quick post to say hi to everyone. Below are some photos of what we've been up to.

This is a picture of Eden in her favorite "Dora cowgirl" pajamas, laying in our bed. I honestly think that Eden's favorite place on earth is "Mommy's bed." For some reason, she never calls it "daddy's bed" even though he sleeps in there too!! Can I just be honest and say bedtime/night time is so frustrating and hard? Every time I think we're making progress she regresses back to severe clinginess and anxiety. The other night she was laying in bed with us and she looked over at me with the sweetest expression and said, "Mommy." Then she looked over at Gene and said, "Ba-Ba." Then she said, "We are a family." I immediately starting crying and said, "yes baby, we are your family forever." That was the first time I ever heard her say the word "family." It was so precious. I am continually humbled by what God has done in this little girl's life.

A couple of weeks ago, we took Eden to see "Sesame Street Live - Elmo Makes Music." She LOVED it! This is her with her Tickle Me Elmo before we left. She was so sweet singing all the songs. Her favorite was when they sang the ABC's. You know every kid has a cute, unique way of singing the ABC's when they are first learning. Eden's version is: A B C D E F G, H I J K L L L L P, Q R S, T U B, W X, Y Z.

The Chick-Fil-A near our house has Family Night each Tuesday night. Two weeks ago it was "Princess Night." Eden got all decked out in her finest princess gear and we went out to eat. There was a real princess there, a limo, and free balloons and tiaras. So fun!

We took this picture before church a couple of weeks ago just because she looked so stinkin' cute. This whole outfit came from Target...I love Target. So does Eden! The other day she and Gene were spending the morning together and Gene asked her what she wanted to do next after they left the park and she said, "Go to Home Depot and get a Sprite and then go look around at Target." Isn't that hilarious? She always goes to Home Depot with Gene and he always buys her a Sprite when they check out. And of course she is with me when I go to Target. So that's what she wanted to do.

I can't believe we have been home for almost 15 months! And I can't believe my baby will turn 3 in December. Time is flying by. I can't remember what life was like before she was my daughter. Sometimes I grieve over the 18 months I missed with her. I'll see an infant and think about how I wish I could have known her at that age. I wonder what she looked like before her surgery and wish more than anything that I could have been there for her during the scary time of her surgery. It makes me so thankful for every "new" thing she does, because I missed so many firsts in her life. She is such a blessing...and a mess.

The Lord has really been convicting Gene and I lately about materialism. I realize that so many times I show my love to her by giving her something. What we really desire is for her to have experiences and memories with us. We want her to have a heart for the poor and be appreciative of what she is given. We have committed to really scale back on "stuff," and to focus on experiences with her. This will be a challenge with the holidays and birthday approaching. But we are resolved to be obedient and make some tough changes in our family.

Lastly, Eden has been talking constantly lately about her little sister in China named Lucy. Don't ask me where she gets this stuff. We have talked to her about adopting again when we explain to her about her adoption. But she is taking it to a whole new level. She'll bring me a toy and say, "I not need this anymore, I save it for Lucy in China. She is crying and sad and this will make her feel better." She has quite the imagination. Gene and I are hopeful that we will begin a home study late next spring to adopt again. We are praying for God's direction in all of this, but are right now leaning toward going back to China. We think it might be important for Eden to walk through the experience with us on this end, and travel to her home land. We will have to see what doors God opens as we depend on Him.

Hope you are all doing great. I will post again soon!

Blessings Abound!

Great news everyone! First, thanks to all of you who prayed for my friends the McMullans. The judge granted their request and their court date was TODAY! Is God good or what?

And, IT'S A GIRL!!! Yes, my sister is having a girl. The ultrasound technician broke her leg (how random) and Kelly had to wait a whole 'nother 24 hours to find out the sex of the baby. So finally, with great joy I officially announce to the blog world the pending arrival of my precious niece, Ellie Kate Herndon. (I haven't confirmed the spelling so I better check on that).

Eden is in Mother's Day Out today (go "Groovy 2's!) so I am going to go upstairs to try and finish sewing her Auburn jumper. Love you all!

Prayer Request

Hey friends. I wanted to ask you to please pray for my friend, Linda McMullan and her family. They departed on August 11 to adopt in Ukraine. After 3 appointments, they finally accepted a referral for a beautiful 5 year old girl, Ivanna (they will name her Jenni). This has been a ROLLER COASTER ride for them, and they just found out their court date isn't until Oct. 17th. Then, there's a 10-day waiting period after that. They've already been there close to 2 months, so they are petitioning the judge to move the court date up to this week, and waive the 10 day wait. They are trusting God's sovereignty, but are obviously so discouraged and anxious. They just want to get their daughter and come home. Their 5-year-old son is with them also. Please pray for them. I know all of you who have adopted understand just what they are feeling. Thank you for praying for them.

I'm A Sewing "Machine"

Ok, not really...but, I finally did dust off the beautiful sewing machine my sweet husband bought me for my birthday a few years ago (haven't sewn a lick since we adopted Eden) and started a project this past weekend. I wasn't brave enough to go at it alone, so I headed to my grandmother's house so she could talk me through the supposedly "quick and easy" pattern.

I had a lot of fun! The dress isn't done yet, but I'm close. Let's just hope the buttonholes and buttons don't undo all my hard work :0) I'm making Eden an Auburn jumper. I'll post a photo when I'm done. My next endeavor is another jumper, and then a Dora shirt to wear with blue jeans or leggings. Then, I'm on to some super-cute Christmas PJ's. We'll all faint if I actually get all this done before Christmas, won't we? But, it's a good goal.

I'm posting this cute picture I caught of Eden the other night at bedtime. Nights are SLOWLY improving. But, even when it's difficult, I can't resist this cute face!!!! Have a great day!

Her sweet eyes were the FIRST thing that drew me in when I saw her photo for the first time on December 14, 2006. They still get me every time!

One last bit of exciting news, my sister who is my best friend in the whole world, is pregnant with her first baby...I'm going to be an aunt and Eden is getting a little cousin. This is my first "local" niece or nephew and I can't wait. I LOVE being an aunt! Well, tomorrow (Tuesday) morning Kelly and Matt will find out if it's a boy or a girl. I can't wait so I can start buying cute stuff and planning a shower. I will post the info tomorrow if she'll let me. I don't want to spill the beans before she gets to tell everyone.

AND, two of my other great friends, Alisa and Amber, are both pregnant and having girls (Hannah Elizabeth and Millie Marie). All 3 of these babies are due in Nov., Jan. and Feb. Blessings abound!

These Boots

Okay, so my mom went to Oklahoma a few weeks ago and brought Eden back some hot pink real, live cowboy boots. Check out the pics...

What a fun age! What a terrible age! Do you get what I'm saying? She can be so precious one moment and so disobedient and selfish the next. I get so frustrated, thinking, what am I doing wrong? People say, "She's just 2, that's part of it." I know that is true is some sense, but at the same time, it still grieves my heart when I see her selfishness rear it's ugly head. I want to scream, "Don't you know how precious you are? Quit acting like that!!!"

It's in these moments of frustration that God usually quietly reminds my heart that I often am that selfish 2-year-old, too. One minute, I'm obedient. The next, I'm screaming, "MINE! NO!" Oh how it must grieve His heart. How He must want to scream, "Don't you know how precious you are? Quit acting like that!!!" He is so faithful to discipline me with a firm but loving hand when I need it (quite often I must admit). Thankfully, He makes no excuses for me. He loves me too much for that.

So, even though she's "only 2," and she looks precious in her cowboy boots, I know I have to choose to do the hard thing and make no excuses for her sinful nature. I must discipline her with a loving and firm hand (or spoon:0). It's just so hard when she looks so cute!!! I think it's even harder for Gene...she knows how to "work" her daddy. Last night he took her to Chick-Fil-A while I had Bible study and as they were leaving I pulled her aside and said, "Eden, please obey your daddy." Sometimes it's funny to watch her work her magic on him. He just can't resist her cuteness. But, after spending a few hours alone with her sometimes I'll notice him becoming more firm with her. I'll think, "Yeah, it's not so cute now, is it?" He'll look so harried and exhausted and I just chuckle. He's such a good daddy.

Well, that's all for now. Hope all of you are doing well. Oh, and I'm happy to report that Eden has slept through the night several times in the last week. What an answer to prayer!

Design on a Dime

I know, don't have a heart attack...I'm actually posting TWO days in a ROW!!! If you haven't checked in on us in a while, there's a recent post from yesterday. Okay, I am quickly becoming addicted to HGTV. I love the show "Design on a Dime." While I am nowhere NEAR their expertise (and my definition of "dime" greatly differs from theirs right now), I have been having some fun getting creative with some little projects around the house. I have had little time for decorating since Eden came home, but thanks to Mother's Day Out, I've been able to do a couple of projects the past few weeks.

I wanted to do some family pictures in Eden's room, but don't have a lot of table top space in there. And, I wanted to utilize one of the Asian silk dresses we bought her in China. So, I set out to Michael's craft store to see if I could muster up some creativity. I am NOT artistic at all (my sister got that gene from my mom) so I needed it to be fairly simple and impossible to mess up. Here's what I came up with:

I was able to find a wall shelf that would hold frames that also had pegs so I could hang the dress. The frames and "E" letter were $1 each and the shelf was $10 or so. They were unfinished wood and I painted them with acrylic paint. So this whole project with paint (I had the spray sealer and brushes already) was about $20. Not bad!

Here is a close-up of the shelf and frames. The flower appliques for the frames were already painted and I just glued them on.

I also needed something with a few hooks for purses/bags. This also came unfinished and I painted it pink and glued the froggy on it.

Also, I love family pictures!!! The walls in my newly painted craft room were bare. So I picked out several pictures that I love of our family and changed them to black and white in i photo. Then I sent them to Wal-Mart digitally to be printed in a variety of sizes. I spray mounted them on black foam board and attached some chocolate brown ribbon that I had left over from a wedding to them for hangers. Here's how it turned out. I love it!!! I'll just go in there a stare at the walls, and these will be easy to update and add to as our family grows and changes.



That's about all we've been up to this week. Stay tuned for a post tomorrow or over the weekend titled "Real Pink Cowboy Boots." You can imagine the sassiness of that one!! Love you all!

Finally an Update!!!

Okay Cheryl, here's the update I promised. Sorry to everyone for the delay. I have lots to catch up on but here's a start:

Eden started school! She goes to Mother's Day Out 2 days a week and was apprehensive at first but is starting to love it. On Monday when they came to get her out of the van in the carpool line she confidently announced to the lady, "Mommy always always always comes back!" as she hopped out of the car and walked in like a big girl. How far we've come!!! She is in the Groovy 2's class with her great friend Mia, who is also in her class at church and gymnastics. Thank you Lord for knowing how much a familiar face would help her feel secure! Boy,0 does God watch out for our little ones or what? She has her own school bag and a Dora lunch box. Mommy LOVES school (8 hours a week alone makes a huge difference)...and I'm even the room mom! Here are some pics of her leaving her first day.

Such a big girl!

She loves Dora!

The rest of these pictures below are just some that capture her sassy, silly and precocious personality. She is a mess, a handful, and an angel. I am amazed daily by the words she is learning. Gene was tickling her the other day and she busted out with, "You're driving me crazy!" He laughed for 5 minutes. I have a feeling her 3's are going to be much more challenging than the 2's have been. She is becoming so opinionated and bossy (much like her mommy, I think). Sometimes it is so funny, but other times so disrespectful. Lord help me as I try to shepherd her heart towards You...so challenging!

Right now my focus is authority. God is daddy and mommy's boss, and we are her boss. We are beginning to teach her Scripture and she knows 4 verses. Her memory astounds me. Now we have to work on making sure she knows what they mean, and how to apply them to daily life, right? Knowledge without obedience is useless.

Sleep continues to be our most difficult challenge with her. We switched her to a "big girl" bed (toddler bed) and now she crawls out of it every night and comes to our room. This is better than her screaming in her crib 3-4 times a night. We have put a cot at the foot of our bed and are trying to train her to crawl in it without waking us up so she can be near us if she needs to be without being IN our bed. She won't let anyone but mommy put her down for bed. She still has so much anxiety with separation at night. Maybe she will always struggle with this. I'm trying to redefine "normal" and adjust my expectations while still gently pushing her towards more confidence and independence in this area. She is now going down to sleep in her bed which is a huge step. She just doesn't stay there. You'll never guess how we got her to do it...she asked if our Lab, Maggie, could sleep in her room. Sweet Maggie!!! She's 9 and just goes with the flow. It comforts Eden to have her in the room.

Here are some recent pictures I thought you'd enjoy. I'll post more soon!

Love yall!

This is how Eden wears her tiara...she is learning she is God's little princess...just like GiGi (a children's book series we love)

We were finally able to buy Eden her long-awaited tricycle because she now is fully potty trained and pooping in the potty like a big girl!

Eden's new big-girl bed.

Playing dress up with sweet Maggie. Poor dog!

I LOVE her in dress up clothes!!! Check out the jewel necklace!

Silly bath time.

More silly bath time.

Slideshow for No Reason

Just trying out Flickr's new slideshow function with this quick set of fun photos of our family and Eden...

Lessons from My 2 Year Old

I just love when the Lord teaches me through Eden's innocence. The other day we were on our way to worship at Brook Hills and Eden had her little pink New Testament Bible with her in the car seat. She was pretending to read it and I said, "Eden, what do your Bible words say?" She proceeded to quote (in toddler fashion), the 2 verses she has memorized, Romans 8:39 (a condensed version) and Genesis 1:1.

After she finished I said, "Do you know what else your Bible says? It says in Ephesians 6:1 that you should obey your parents." I went on to explain what "parents" were by telling her Mommy and Ba-Ba are your parents. She then started pretending to read aloud, "Obey Mommy and Ba-Ba" from her Bible. Then, she added so matter-of-factly, "Because I love them SO MUCH!"

Tears filled my eyes. She often says, "I love you, too." But I'm not sure I've heard her verbally express her love for us so clearly. And she wasn't even talking TO me, she was "reading" from her Bible.

As I pondered her statement I was struck by the symbolism of those words..."Obey Mommy and Ba-Ba because I love them so much." Remember the words of Jesus, "If you love Me, you will obey My commands." Eden was reminding me the Father's heart for obedient children. Not obligation, not fear of punishment, but love. Wow!

I was struck at how our relationship with Eden has been transformed throughout the past year since we came home. In the beginning, Eden tolerated our love, even received love from us, but didn't love us back...she didn't know or trust us yet. But our faithfulness to meet her needs wooed her into a relationship with us. At first, her love for us was built on what she received from us. She loved us because of what we gave her, the blessings she received from us. But as that comment in the van showed me, her love for us has grown from what she receives, into what she can give...obedience. She is now desiring to please us simply because she loves us. How precious!

I believe this is how the Lord desires for our relationship with Him to grow and mature. My hope and prayer is that we, His Church, will grow beyond loving Him because of His gifts, to loving Him for who He is, and expressing that love through obedience to His Word.

This little incident reminded me anew of God's great love for people. You know, when we adopted Eden, we didn't do so just so she could grow up in a nice, middle-class neighborhood and have things she wouldn't have had as an orphan. We adopted her so she could have us, a family, love, and most of all, the Lord Jesus. God was reminding me through Eden, "Keri, I didn't adopt you as My child so you could have things, I adopted you so you could have Me, and so you could share Me with others."

I have learned so much about God's heart through this whole adoption experience. Many times when I haven't known what to do about parenting issues, toddler behavior issues, or attachment/adoption issues, I have said, "Lord, give me wisdom! What do I do?" And He has been so faithful to respond in my heart, "Just treat her the way I have treated you...with love, grace, and discipline." Thank goodness I have access to the true parenting and adoption EXPERT.

On a personal note, we have Eden's 1-year follow-up visit at the International Adoption Clinic tomorrow. We are only seeing the behavioral/attachment specialist to ask a few questions about minor issues with Eden. The main question is how to handle her questions/discussions about her "China mommy." She has been mentioning her quite often lately, even when she is playing and talking to herself.

And, we are going to the beach for 7 whole nights next week with several family members. We'll have TONS of new pictures to post after that. Hope you are all doing well. Carolyn, if you are reading this, please e-mail me your blog address. I can't find it anywhere!

Love,
Keri

Poo-Poo in the Potty - FINALLY!

Okay, so I just had to post that Eden gave me a little surprise today. I was downstairs for a couple of minutes and I heard her calling for me to come upstairs and look at something. When I got upstairs I found her standing naked from the waist down in the bathroom peering into her little potty and pointing for me to look. And what did I find? You guessed it...poop! I think of all the hours I spent reading Dr. Seuss to her (those books are so LONG I thought she was BOUND to poop while I read) while she sat on the potty and nothing happened. And I'm downstairs for 5 minutes and she poops all by herself. That's Eden for you.

Of course I hooped and hollered as she smiled and looked a little confused at what all the fuss was about. Then she said, "Tricycle?" I have been promising her one once she starts pooping in the potty. So, if she does it a few more times, we will go get that tricycle. For the time being, she got a sucker and that satisfied her just fine :0) All of you blogging moms were right. She eventually did it. Let's just pray it wasn't a fluke, right? She's such a big girl!

Hope you all have a great rest of the week! And I must brag on my amazing husband. How great was the Gotcha Day video he did for me yesterday? I've got to remember to get him to put the one up that he made for me for Christmas. It is incredible! My mom has some great photos of the Cabbage Patch adoption that she's going to send me and I'll post those, too. Eden LOVED adopting her baby!

One Year Later

It's hard to believe it's been a year since Keri and I stood in a rather sparsely furnished room in Wuhan, China on the second floor of the Civil Affairs Office and looked across an aisle of chairs at a little girl for the first time. She was scared to death and so were we. But we were also excited and anxious and ready to smother her with all the love we had been saving up on the 15,000 mile trip from Birmingham, Alabama.

A year later and much has changed in our own lives and in little Eden's life. We never imagined she would be so funny and smart and strange and interesting all at the same time. Those first few days were filled with sadness for her--but the Lord answered our prayers then to join her heart with ours. And God continues to answer our prayers as Eden grows into a sweet, loving, outgoing and beautiful girl.

This past weekend we took a trip to Georgia to visit the "Cabbage Patch Hospital" where the popular children's dolls are "born." We thought it fitting on the anniversary of Eden's adoption that we would celebrate by letting her "adopt" a doll of her very own. She chose a baby boy doll and named him "Moses"--I think she identifies with him when she sees him on the TV floating in a basket down a river in Egypt and being adopted by an Egyptian mother...

Here's a quick video of the experience, along with some recent pictures of Eden and our family. To all who have made the journey with us, personally and through prayer and friendships, thank you and God bless you. Our lives are richer than we could imagine and we give God all the credit for everything good He has done for us. Most of all, we thank Him for allowing us to shepherd the heart of a little girl that He brought to us from half a world away.

Eden Hope Eve

Today is what I call "Eden Eve." One year ago today we were one night away from meeting our sweet daughter for the first time. I remember feeling so nervous, excited, and emotional. I was about to become a mommy for the first time. And a little girl was about to become a daughter for the first time. And a foster mom was about to have to say goodbye to the child she had loved and cared for for 13 months. It was the boldest step of faith I have ever taken to begin down the road to adoption. To say God has provided and poured out His mercy and grace is an understatement. I will post more tomorrow. But here are some pictures of what we were doing in Wuhan, China this time last year...

We were filling out our paperwork to take Eden into our custody.

This is some of what we wrote.

I set up a little play area with toys we brought from home, and made up her crib.

I packed a diaper bag with diapers, toys and snacks. I had no idea what I would need for her.

Katie Lyn, one of the children traveling with us, put photos of our soon-to-be babies on our hotel room doors as a surprise for us.

I can't believe it's been a year!!!

Jaw-Dropping Moment

Sorry I don't have any photos to post...I still haven't sat down to do the slideshow. But, I had to do a quick post about something that happened Thursday that literally made my jaw drop. For those of you who know Eden, she is quite the verbal, insightful, and sometimes bossy little 2 1/2-year-old...kind of like her mommy :0) Anyway, last Sunday they had to come get me out of our worship service because she wouldn't stop crying. This is the first time in a year that this has happened. They said she just sat in a rocking chair and refused to move because she was, "waiting for mommy."

The workers in our church nursery have walked this journey with us and are sensitive to Eden's attachment issues and the process of bonding that our family has been through. As soon as I got her, she was fine. Well, this past Thursday my friend was over to visit and I was telling her what happened. She said to Eden, "Eden, why were you crying? Were you afraid mommy wasn't coming back?" And Eden said, "Yes." Then my friend said, "That's silly, you know mommy always comes back." And then Eden said, clear as day, "My China mommy didn't come back." My friend and I just sat there for a minute, stunned and jaws open.

We talk a lot about Eden's foster mom when we look at photos and watch China video. It was apparent 5 minutes after they placed Eden in my arms that she had a healthy attachment to the foster mom who cared for her for the 15 months before we adopted her. But I have never said those words to her and she has never said them to me. We always just acknowledge who she is in photos and I tell her how much mommy loves her and how grateful we are for her, and how much she loved Eden.

I was shocked when she acknowledged verbally that fear that I know lives way down deep in any child's heart who has been taken away from someone they loved so much, and then learned to love another mommy and daddy. I explained to her that her foster mom didn't really "leave" her, it was time for her to come home forever. God sent her foster mom to take care of her until mommy and ba-ba could come bring her home. And when we came, God sent her foster mom to care for another baby while they waited for their mommy. I told her that her foster mom would always love her. Then Eden looked at me and said, very matter-of-factly, "Mommy came to China to get me." I said, "yes, baby." Then she got up and started playing.

I've read and heard so much about these subconscious memories and fears, and I've even seen evidence of it in Eden's behavior over the past year. But I honestly never thought that a child adopted at 19 months would be able to verbalize so well a year later. I know every child is different and there's no "right or wrong" way to handle these issues. I've chosen to speak very openly about her adoption as a blessing. I'm so glad now that the Lord led us to parent her this way. We often look at China travel books, photos of our trip, pray for her foster mom and other orphans, and she LOVES to watch the DVD, and seems aware of the sadness she felt on Gotcha Day.

I just had to share this because it so profoundly impacted me. The thing is, she wasn't grieved or upset...it was so simple and factual the way she said it. Reading between the lines it was like she was saying, "Well, I know mommy always comes back, but my China mommy didn't so sometimes I still get scared....bare with me people."

Anyway, our Gotcha Day is next Wednesday, July 23rd and I fully expect to cry all day long. I can't believe it's been a year. I can't believe this child is home and thriving. I feel so humbled to be her mommy. I'll post photos and video soon...I PROMISE!

Beach Trip

Hey everyone! Eden and I (mommy) were able to slip away to the beach for a couple of days last week with my mom, grandmother, brother, and niece and nephew who are here from FL for the month. I am going to get Gene to help me do a slideshow later because there are so many AMAZING photos. But, I'm posting a few of my favorites to "hold you over" since I haven't put pictures up in a while. Hope you enjoy them!

We went to Gulf Shores and it was Eden's first time at the beach. She kept calling the ocean the "big pool." She LOVED it and the sand didn't bother her one bit. In fact, she had sand in places that the sun don't shine, people! Eden loves the water. Several times I sat in awe as I remember how absolutely terrified she was of even a bath 11 months ago when we brought her home from China. Now, she will jump off the diving board with no hesitation..."all by herself."

She is so strong willed. Her favorite words these days are: "No mommy, Eden do it!" We are coming along well on potty training. We have pee pee down but poo poo is still an issue. She just prefers to do it in a pull up. Any suggestions? She will say she needs to go, we will sit on the potty and read for like 30 minutes and nothing happens. But then she'll poop 10 minutes after we get up in her panties. Help experienced moms!

We went to the cleft clinic for our 6-month visit last month and got a great report. We will go for a full speech evaluation in 6 more months and if that is normal then we won't have to go back until it's time for her first cosmetic surgery when she is 4 years old. We LOVE Dr. Grant and his team.

That's really all that's new with us right now. I can't believe our 1-year anniversary of Gotcha Day is next month...July 23rd. It seems like she's been mine forever, and yet the last year has flown by. Eden loves to pull our the "China DVD" that Gene made me for Christmas. She narrates each part and loves to tell others her story as she watches. She'll say, "poor Eden" on the parts where she is sad. And the funniest thing is the footage from Gotcha Day where Eden was sitting with the nanny looking at me and I'm trying to get her to come to me, she'll say, "Eden not know," which is how she expresses that she didn't know us and was unsure about letting me hold her. It's a hoot!

Well, I need to go. I still haven't finished Eden's "Life Book" from her adoption and I'm bound and determined to get it done. She's with her Ba-Ba visiting Meemaw and Peepaw so this is a good time to work on it. Oh, and did I mention we got a Guinea Pig and named her China? So now we have 2 dogs, 2 turtles and a guinea pig. Am I crazy???

Here are the beach pictures. I'll post the slide show later.

Playing on the beach.

Check out those legs! Couldn't you just eat them up???

Eden loves the sand!

Precious, just precious! These are the shots that will make me cry when Eden is all grown up!

I call this the Pottery Barn Kids photo. I don't know how my mom managed to get this one...Eden is never still!

I love candid photos like this. Eden loves her cousins, Hayden and Savannah.

I am SO SO Sorry for the long delay!

I just wanted to do a quick note to apologize for the long delay on our blog. I PROMISE I'm going to do better. Gene is on a mission trip in Ecuador this week and we are SO ready for him to get home. He will arrive home Tuesday morning. Eden and I are going to make him a welcome home gift tomorrow...after we go swimming with my niece and nephew who are here for a whole MONTH from South Florida. We are so excited! I promise to post some new photos in the next couple of days as well. I've gotten so behind and have LOTS to catch you up on.

I am going to begin using the blog to share my heart and what God is teaching me and not just Eden/family news. I know how much it encourages and challenges me when I read other blogs when you guys share your heart with me.

Sorry again for the delay. I PROMISE to post pictures soon so please, no hate mail!!!

Love you all!

Easter Photos

Sorry it's taken me so long to get these up. We had a great 1st Easter with Eden. Gene and I gave her a basket of gifts on Saturday night. Her "big" gift was a small pink New Testament Bible with her name on it. It's exactly like the "B-I" (that's what she calls the Bible) that she uses in her church class for Bible story time. She was so proud to get it. Now she carries her Bible to church like a big girl.

We also dyed eggs. Here's a picture of Eden with her basket full of "real" eggs.

After our church service, we drove to my parents' house in Anniston for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. Ja-Ja (my mom) bought Eden's new dress. Gene didn't get a great picture of her dress, but you can see the smocking pretty well in this shot. The lavender looked SO good on her!

Eden was so cute hunting eggs and Gene got some GREAT shots of her outside. She is so funny...she kept doing this thing where she would drop the eggs out of her basket and say, "Hide them, hide them," like she was hiding them by just dropping them right by her feet. Then, she would walk off and act like she was looking for them saying, "Eggs, are you?" over and over. At one point, she even put her hand over her eyes like she was looking. She is such a little ham!

Finally, after a long, hard day of egg hunting, Eden enjoyed the "fruits" of her labor by eating one of the THREE (thanks, Mom) ring pops that her Ja-Ja put in her Easter basket! I'm just kidding, I LOVE that my mom spoils her :0)

We had a wonderful day with our daughter as we were reminded again of our Father's great love for us. Having a child brings new understanding to what it means that God is our Father. And adopting a child humbles me with the great truth that God chose us, pursued us, sacrificed for us, and loves us unconditionally. What an amazing God He is!