December 31, 2012 -- HAPPY CHICKEN NEW YEAR!

Today had a little bit of crazy all day long!!  Today the kids laid 50 chickens to rest.........in the freezer!  It was quite the experience.  Now, in all honesty - I only went out there to take a few pics because I knew my stomach couldn't handle it!!!  The older kids in the orphanage have to help. They all have certain jobs they do.  One person catches the chicken - Ted or Anna have the "Ax" honors -- there is a feather plucking group -- a gutting group -- and a cleaning group.  Guess what we had for supper tonight? (1 guess only). :)

I have to say this made me sad because the first week we arrived here we loved taking Grayson to look at their chickens. They were just born the week we arrived back in November.  I remember someone telling me not to worry because we would surely be home by the time the "chicken day" came and then I wouldn't have to see it :)  Along that same line - one of the older boys in the orphanage asked Ted last night how long we planned on staying cause we have been here so long!?  Ted told him we would like the same answers!!

We also got to skype with Kelsey during the Elite Senior cheer competition at Opryland! That was really fun to wake up to that! I am very proud of all the Elite girls and coaches and the hard work they put in this weekend at Opryland!  And thanks to all who have asked about us, prayed for us, kept me updated throughout the weekend, and wore their Taiwan shirts this weekend!!  I hope you all had a blast and I loved getting the fb photos!  Great Job Elite!!!

It was really cold here today!! It was suppose to be bath day for the babies, but was way to cold for it so they will have to wait another day. :(  We keep the babies nice and warm though by dressing them in layers and keeping a dehumidifier in their room.  

So today is our New Year's Eve!!! So we will celebrate the New Year here in Taiwan :)........I guess.  The kids were off of school today and also get off tomorrow.  It's funny because they didn't get off school for Christmas, but they get off 2 days for the New Year???  Anyway, they are all staying up till midnight.  Last I checked they were playing games together and eating popcorn while watching movies.  They seemed to be having a lot of fun :)

Please continue to pray for our paperwork to be found and the judge to be able to sign it this week.  The government offices will not be open until Wednesday and we most likely will not hear anything until Friday when Ted calls.  Heard a great sermon that my Aunt Lin sent me.  The point was " Just because God is silent  does not mean he is absent."  It was a great sermon by the Kingsway Christian Church pastor and I would highly recommend listening to it online.  It was the December 23 sermon.  I cannot even describe how many emails, fb messages, cards, and words of encouragement we have received this week.  In 1 way I feel like I should be freaking out, but I know we have so many friends, family, and even strangers praying for us.  God has given me a peace this week that I cannot explain.  So thank you all so much for standing in the gap.  I truly do not know how people go through life without having a true faith in God. We would be in such a hopeless state at this point.  Please continue to bathe us in prayer this week!

 Catching the chicken!

 doing their jobs on a very, very cold day here!.... I zoomed in because the smell was so bad I thought I was going to get sick!

 Rinsing the headless chicken :/

 Nana and Grayson

 I love this pic!!! He looks just like a baby doll!

 Mom's food pantry!

 Bobby (Mom's brother) got her gigantic gummy bears!! Hilarious!

 We got to skype Kelsey and see the senior girls compete at Opryland!! I am so proud of them!!!

 Giving him lovin's

 2 girls riding a bike! There is a smaller seat on the back.  It was funny to watch them "hang on".

 Cannot wait to show everyone his personality and smile!

Giggles!!!!!!!!!!!!

December 30, 2012 --- The Meaning behind our shirts

Today was a "normal day" here at the orphanage.  The weather was really cold and rainy here today!  Probably about 45 degrees and there is no heat in the house :) ........or they don't turn it on?  The babies stayed warm though because they are dressed in 3 layers (not kidding).  This was the coldest it has been here though.  We spent the whole day feeding, changing, and playing with the babies.  Grayson did so good today at tummy time and bumbo time (his arms are so long he can reach the toys on the floor!).  He also had his best day at sitting up!  Below are a few pics from today!

Please continue to pray for some answers this week.  We would love to know something before Friday!  I am not even going to expect our first decree to come this week since they do not even know where our paperwork is at the moment.  I just want someone to call US and say they have it!  Although, they have never called us to inform us about anything. Please pray specifically for us to locate the papers and for strength for our families.

I do have to say real quickly that there are quite a few moments throughout the day when I get a little down about the situation at hand.  Today I had a moment while in my room.  As all these "what ifs" were racing through my head when I heard a song in another room playing.  I can hear the older girls here in the orphanage because my room is right next to theirs.  Anyway, I heard the song called, "God is Able".  Now this might be another "church song" to so many people, but this has been "our song" that has got us through this year and helped us to press on.  I don't think there was a Sunday morning in church that I didn't cry when singing this song.  And of course, we sang it all the time which honestly was very hard on some days :)  We decided to put "God is Able" on the back of our Taiwan shirts because we have FAITH and know that GOD IS ABLE to do anything we ask of him.  We have also learned it is never in the timing we want, but God's timing. This was the song I heard today for the first time since coming to Taiwan.  I hope you will be able to use it whatever your situation in life may be right now. Below are the lyrics:

God Bless

~Lindsay & Grayson

VERSE 1:

God is able
He will never fail
He is almighty God
Greater than all we seek
Greater than all we ask
He has done great things

CHORUS:

Lifted up
Defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able

VERSE 2:

God is with us
God is on our side
He will make a way
Far above all we know
Far above all we hope
He has done great things

CHORUS:

Lifted up
Defeated the graveBRIDGE:

God is with us
He will go before
He will never leave us
He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never fail us

CHORUS:

Lifted up
Defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able
For the Lord
Our God is able
For the Lord
Our God is able

Raised to life
Our God is able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is able

By: Hillsong

 Grayson sitting up by himself!...even though it doesn't look like it :)

 Play Time!

 I will NOT smile!.................... I will NOT smile!

 Apparently he was done playing......naptime.

Seriously the cutest kid ever!!!!

December 29, 2012 -- Ground Breaking Ceremony

Today was the ground breaking ceremony for the orphanage here. They have been working on the building plans and getting permits for 7 years now!! Can you believe it.........7 years! So it was a very exciting and busy place here today.  They set up some tents, had professional decorations, speakers, songs to sing, and the children sang "Our God" for everyone in English and Chinese.  Jenna and Peter (older kids here) played on a beautiful song on an ocarina (flute type instrument).  Jenna was sooo nervous but she did wonderful!  The new building will house up to 70 "older kids".  The babies will stay in the same building they are currently in, but will have double the space :)  The building will be 3 stories high!  There were about 300 people here to witness it.  They asked if I would be in charge of taking pics for the day and video taping the ceremony.  I have to admit, it was a little awkward being like 1 of 5 white people there and not understanding anything that was being said or done!  But I enjoyed it and was honored to be able to do that for them!

I spent the afternoon playing with Grayson and Mom and I went for a walk too.  It was overcast all day but it didn't rain!  Grayson seems to be doing so many things each day now.  He is def. getting spoiled with Nana here now!  He did tummy time for about 40 minutes today!  I couldn't believe it!  He got up on his knees one time to crawl, but wasn't sure what to do after that :)  I am hoping he holds off on that until we get home! There is no room to crawl on a plane!  

So anyone who knows our family knows that sometimes we laugh at the most inappropriate time.  (Ex: Staci) .......hehe!  Well, I started chuckling at devotions tonight and then couldn't stop!  I was laughing so hard that I ended up having to hide behind the baby I was holding :)  The kids around me started laughing too because I was laughing.........good thing the devotions ended soon after my "inappropriate" time to laugh.  Below are some pics from today :)

 The ladies that work at the orphanage :) Amazing women!

 Golden shovels in hand - ready to "break ground"

 The "committee" that has been working on this project for 7 years now.  The post in the background says, "Unless the Lord build the house, its builders labor in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. Psalms 127 1:2 -- This is the scripture verse Ted wanted on the post.

 Jenna and another boy playing an "ocarina" -- sounds like a flute

 The kids here singing "Our God". They sang it in English and Chinese and did an awesome job!

 Setting up for the ground-breaking ceremony

 The Golden Shovels

 The programs for today

 On the 3rd story of the orphanage.  They sometimes put their clothes on the clotheslines up here to dry.  

 Finally saw the diaper/formula stash up on the 3rd floor! WOW.

There were about 300 people here for the ceremony today! It was a big day!

 Nana and Grayson playing :)

 Going for a walk and getting some fresh air

 He has the funniest expressions sometimes!

 Grayson playing with a soccer ball :) sorry Matt, there are no basketballs here!

 Grayson and Nana :)

Such a happy baby!

December 28, 2012 -- Urg.

Today was a frustrating day to say the least.  We waited until around 3:00pm to get an answer about our paperwork and where we are in the process.  We heard last week that our paperwork was on its way from Taipei to the local judge here.  It should have arrived last Friday or Monday at the latest.  We "assumed" it made it to the judge and we were expecting our first decree this week.  That did not happen.  Every day I woke up thinking, "Today might be the day!!"  I was sadly disappointed over and over.  Ted is only allowed to call the judge on Friday's so he called this afternoon and she never received our paperwork.......URG!  Ted followed up by calling the social worker again and she doesn't know where our paperwork is now.  They were going to look for it later. (which means - they will not look for it, but will tell us that to keep us off their backs).  Ted asked if they could fax a copy of it to the judge and they were also "checking into that" to see if they can legally do that.  We never got an answer back today about that. Shocker!  The communication has been horrible to say the least.  So now we continue to wait.wait.wait.  We cannot call again until next Friday which seems forever away.  The days are getting longer it seems and home seems so far away at this point.  Feeling totally helpless and stuck.  Monday night is new years eve so the offices will most likely be closed on Monday and Tuesday.  Although I will be so happy and grateful to be spending New Years with our Grayson and my mom, it is getting incredibly hard to be away from everyone and everything I know.  Some days I seem to forget how things are at home, etc.  I am trying to see God's timing in the situation, but it's still not easy by any means.  I am human and have real emotions.  I don't believe there is anything that could have prepared me for this trip or the emotional, mental, and physical side of it.  There is no way I could have held it together this long without my family and friends.  I think there are moments in life where you see who your true friends are by the way they help and lift you up when needed.  We have experienced so many wonderful things through this process, but it has been the hardest year of our lives.

Ok, my ranting is over :) Thank you for reading it.  At the end of the day when I put our baby to sleep I know in my heart that we are blessed to have a son today.  Below are some pics of the cute little guy that keeps me going everyday.
Please continue to pray that our papers will be found again and our first decree will come soon.  Please feel free to mention our situation as a prayer request at your church, youth groups, life groups, friends, and family members.  We do know that prayer is so powerful and we desperately need all the prayers we can get at this point.
Thank You!

 Grayson and I getting ready to take a bath :)

 Taking a bath......he isn't sure if he likes them yet or not :)

 Keeping snuggly warm in the towel :)

 Playing with Nana!

Grayson trying very hard NOT to fall asleep :)

December 27, 2012 -- Our Day Out!

Today we went to the city of Yilan.  It's about 20 minutes away.  Ted took us to a "western style" meal, which I have come to realize there is no such thing here in Taiwan.   Our food was actually pretty good because we ordered the only thing we could recognize in the pictures! We had potato wedges and spicy chicken!  Then we split a dessert which was apple crisp with ice cream and fruit!  The dessert was incredibly delicious! Mmmmmmmm! We then went to a mall which was actually only 1 store?? That's NOT a mall :)  But they call it the "mall" because its about 7 stories.  Not gonna lie - we were a little disappointed. We spent  the day walking around the city and looking at things :)  We rode the train back to Luo-Dong and took a cab back to the orphanage :)  Below are some pics from today!

We have still not heard anything about our adoption paperwork? :( Ted will try and call in the morning to see what the update is on our paperwork.  If it crosses your mind today, please pray between 10:00-11:00am.  Home is seeming so distant right now.

 Mom and I at the restaurant 

 "play area" in the mall. the house thingy is filled with huge balloons that are being blown around in there! It looked totally fun!

 In the mall

 Kelsey getting a massage in the mall :) actually she was trapped in this and didn't know how to get out! hilarious :)

 Grayson getting ready for the New Year :) Mom brought over a onesie that says "Happy New Year"

 I could't wait till Jan 1st to show these :)

 Grayson and I

 Our food today! potato wedges and chicken

 dessert! Apple crisp with ice cream and fruit

 Filling a bag of Taiwan candy :)

 Ewwwww! Gross - chicken feet!

Nana and Grayson :)