Monday Meditations

Monday Meditations are going to be a bit different today. My focus is not on our adoption although I am praying for LynnMarie and how we can be better parents daily.

Please join me at 2pm Atlanta time in prayer

First off, I ask you to pray for Nathan and Tricia . If you have not seen this blog around blogland or my blog, they need your prayers. I know he visits this blog, so let him know his family is being lifted up. You see, his wife delivered a sweet baby born very early and his wife is waiting a lung transplant due to her cystic fibrosis. Last night, they received word there was a match! He will update his blog with details, but this could be it. This could be a "dry run" as he calls it and may not work out, but lets pray regardless. Lets pray for Nathan and Tricia and sweet baby Gwenyth Rose and lets also pray for the donors family.

I tell you. I have never felt more encouraged than having read this blog over the last couple of months. He has shared his heart and his family with us.

One of the things we talked about in our community group is prayer this past week. Some of us quickly tell people "You're in my prayers", or "Ill be praying for you" and then send up a generic prayer at the end of the day. I am guilty of this. God loves our prayers no matter what, but how humbling is it to come to our Father in such a personal, reverant way with prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I encourage each one of you as you read this blog, to just talk to God at this moment. Lift up this family no matter what the outcome will be. Pray that they will find encouragement, hope, stamina and have a sense of peace.

This adoption thing is so much more than adoption. I have been able to listen to my God. He whispers to me at the strangest places. To Him, they are not strange. He does what He needs to do to get my attention and my heart. One of these places has been the blog world.

Please, send this to your friends. I will be spending an hour in prayer at 2pm today and will be focusing on this family.

******* the lungs are no good, the transplant will not occur. Regardless, please join me at 2pm to pray for this family?*****

To be able to talk to my creator is an amazing, beautiful gift.
Join me won't you? I dont ask for comments much, but let me know if you are praying today, won't you?
Friends, praying as a group is just too cool!

and the red thread continues

So after church, we ran to Publix where I saw a mom and her Chinese baby enter. If you know me, you know I have no problem talking.

So we chat in front of the pudding and we talk about her agency when they got home and how adjustment has been. I then add, have you been to First Friday? She replies, funny you mentioned it, I ran into Mr. D.C at the mall and he told me all about it. Emily and her mom live very close to us and she is just a doll.

We talked for a while and I asked if we could get her email and instead she gave me her blog. Cool deal! So I get home, head to the computer and type in her blog address and up it comes. Big picture of this beautiful family with Mr. Steven Curtis Chapman. Cool, we have something else in common!

I start searching their site and click on links. Up on top is a company I recognize only because one person has recommended this to us. I click on it and it says- Daddys company. You see, I have met this family before.

Last month, we attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and decided to collect change for the orphans within our small group. Michael went up to get the info and talked to this sweet family who had Emily Grace with them and found out Emilys dad works for a cruise agency and gave us his card. Its a very small world as we met Emily and her family just weeks ago!!!! Such a sweet family and hope to get to know them better!

Saturday morning chat

So this morning, I got home from work and was awake so to the computer I went. If you want to meet some cool people (most in the adoption community) head over the Seventh Diamond from 8-12. RMJ has done a great job building a community and its just fun to chat with new people and catch up with new friends at the end of the week..

Karen of Bruce and Karen made an appearance today. Yeah for Karen!

Nothing to report on the Christopher family. We leave in less than a month for our 4th Disney Cruise. Our nieces and nephews are a bit older, so it will be nice to see the cruise through their eyes and apparently Jack Sparrow will be on this cruise..WooHoo.

First Fridays is next week and we will be not be attending. Friends, have fun and I can't wait to catch up. We will also be missing May as we will be on the cruise that Friday.

If you are in the Atlanta area, hope you will make it as it is an amazing time of encouragement and fellowship and some of us meet for dinner before hand but all are welcome.

Whats new with you guys?

Thats all I have today.

March Secret Pal gift

So sorry I did not post this. My SP posted on personal blog last week and that was a nice surprise. What goodies we got! Cute t shirt, sweet card and lots of stuff from a Chinese market. I may call on some of you veterans to see how to prepare some of this stuff. She was worried about me being on weight watchers. NO worries, all the nutritional info is posted on all the backs! She rocks!

Monday Meditations

Today I prayed for my husband and I, CCAA, the people of China and all that are involved in LynnMaries care, including her birth mom and those who will love her.
It seems like satan is attacking a lot of people right now and it makes me sad to read some of things happening to my adoption friends. Let me know how I can I pray for you. I hope you will join me today.
On another note, many people are becoming forever families this week. I pray for smooth adjustments for all and for all of them to arrive home safely.
God is good! Thanks for being the encouraging friends that you are for letting me have a little glimpse into your life.

this is the book we chose this month!

Happy Resurrection Day friends!

my thoughts

Today is just one of those days. One of those days when I just dream of LynnMarie. Nothing special happened today, just a couple of reminders of Gods promises.

Just a little excited about her coming home, and I know we have a long wait. I just look around and talk to friends and I know we have amazing support. I know our family will just love and spoil her and help her make amazing memories.

I can not wait to spend a week at Disney World with her, and take other family trips. I cant wait for every moment with her. I cant wait to teach her about Jesus and see her in her yearly Christmas program.

I can not wait to see if LynnMarie will have brothers and sisters and taking that family picture years down the road.

Its just a wonderful, silly, looking forward to the future, happy, blessed day

Monday meditations

Good morning friends! I haven't posted here in a week! What the heck! Last weekend I spent last weekend praying with new friends and it was so beautiful and I plan on spending a lot of time today in prayer. I do not have a list in mind, but I will be praying for Michael and I, China, and everyone who has a small part in the process. Some of you have left the most encouraging comments and I thank you.

Hope you will share with us what you are praying for today. Might I add, praying for you guys is sooo much fun! Its such an honor to talk to God about you.

First Friday

No, I did not go to First Friday last week and we will be missing the next several, but I did take a little bit of First Friday with me.


PICS OF MY WEEKEND ARE NOW UP AT WWW.AMYCHRISTOPHER.BLOGSPOT.COM
Last weekend was spent with almost 200 women at an awesome retreat entitled 'The Facts of Life" with our speaker being Lisa Whelchel or "Blaire" from that show.

I will have a bit of a review and pics at the other blog but it is certainly a small world.

We carpooled up there and I rode with 3 ladies I had never met. We talked a lot. I was quiet for a bit but shared out adoption story. Julie just has a serious heart for international adoption and told me about one of her experiences. You see there is a little girl named Salem at her church in Central Florida who was adopted from Ethiopia and has a skull deformity. At first, she could not remember her name but I said " tell me, its not the family from http://www.outofethiopia.com/? She said, well yet it is. IF anyone has read my blog over the past year, you may remember me talking about this wonderful couple as I was Salems nurse for 3 days last year? How cool is that? I told her about some of my friends who have adopted from Ethiopia and others who are adopting from Ethiopia and China.

I told my story once but its amazing how soon several people learned. Through the weekend I had people come up to me telling my they were praying for Michael and I and LynnMarie. Seriously people, there is just something sooo beautiful about strangers praying for you. I cried this weekend. A LOT
During dinner, I started talking to a new friend who was doing the audio and sound for our worship. We chatted a lot and she asked me if I had kids. I told her no, but we are adopting from China. She said, "Are you sad you are missing First Friday"'? Apparently she does the sound each month for First Fridays. She had been considering adoption before she found out she was pregnant a few months go.

Now, I am not into signs or anything like that. I do like the ladybug thing because well, I think they are cute. On the way up to the retreat I shared more of my story and the ladybug stories involved in China adoption.

Would you believe that when I sat down for our first session not one, but 5 ladybugs found me? My carpool friends got a kick out of this as no one else had them on them and we never saw them again.
During our last session, things started clicking but that's a whole other post. One of the women's ministry leaders whom I have really never talked to, just started tearing up and talked about our adoption from God. She said directly to me. "When you receive LynnMarie, and she is placed in your arms or even when you see her picture for the first time, I know that an amazing amount of love is just going to pour out of you. She said its a miracle the love we are going to feel. She forget the biological vs the adoptive parent thing. That doesn't matter. This is your child. This is your heart. Let no one try to discourage you. I am not sure why this was brought up, except for the grace of God. Our discussion was no where near this, yet she spoke directly to my heart. She continued by praying for me and just being there. Boy, was God speaking this weekend!!!! I hate to miss First Friday, but friends, there is no way I would have wanted to miss this.

There was a lot of just me and God this weekend. HE spoke and I listened. I was actually able to just sit still and listen. I learned about that.

Oh boy. This adoption is sooo much bigger than just adding to our family. Its so much more that a referral and paperchasing. This really has been a beautiful process that has changed me in soooo many ways. Everyone of you has been a part of that. Family and friends, blogging friends who read my posts and pray with me, First Friday friends and so much more. You are all a part of our journey.
As much as I want a child right now, I don't want to miss any part of this wait. I am not the best person to put my thoughts down on a blog or paper, but I am just blown away with how much love, encouragement and support is out there. I have tried to push it away at times, but God is sooo much bigger than anything I can comprehend and has given me just what I needed.

Sooo much more to say, but it could go on for a long time so it will have to wait.

Monday Meditations

I had the honor of spending the weekend with a lot of really cool girls and at a fabulous retreat. I spent a lot of that time in prayer and it was sooo much fun to have some in silence with me and my creator. I hope that each of you today will join in my in praying for all of our hearts Lets pray for everyone involved in the process from our agencies to the CCAA. Lets not forget the nannies, foster moms and birth moms and everyone who has the chance to meet our sweet babies. I am thankful that I have seen so many babies come home this year!

God is sooo good and no matter how long this wait may be, I pray that I use it to become who I created to be There is so much I should be doing!

happy monday friends!

Check out my Slide Show!

First Friday- tonight at 7pm

First Fridays is a place for people thinking about adopting from CHina, in the process of waiting for their child and families who are already home. Its a place to connect, to watch the red thread make its way around the world, to find encouragement and support from others and to truly be blessed. I can not say enough about what this group has done for me. If you are in the Atlanta area, I hope you can attend.


This was taken from Susans blog..Hope you guys can make it.. Do not forget to check out http://www.firstfridayschina.com/

I can guarantee you will love it!

Wanted to let you know that Hal Runkel will be on the Today Show Friday morning and then he will be coming to our First Friday on Friday night. Hal is alot of fun and should be a great night to learn something "new" about parenting and how to accomplish this Scream Free!! Please invite anyone who may be interested, we have free child care and lots of space! Hope to see everyone tomorrow night!

Award-winning author and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Hal Runkel is quickly becoming America's greatest expert on human relationships. With an impressive academic and social science background, he has taken the most advanced approaches to relationship theory and, through thousands of hours of family therapy, organizational consulting, and professional coaching in churches, family businesses, and schools, has developed the revolutionary ScreamFree Living methodology.

Memphis

Since this is the family blog, I thought I would share our Memphis trip with you as well!


This weekend was a time of reflecting, remembering and just having fun. We have been planning a long weekend to Memphis for several weeks now.

Thursday morning we got up pretty early and headed to TN. Had lunch at Cracker Barrel and stopped several times before making a stop in Jackson to see my old college Union Univ, which was torn up by a massive string of tornadoes just a few weeks ago. Wow! My old dorms have been demolished and there is nothing there but dirt. We talked to a student there and by seeing the campus (which has already had a massive clean up) its a miracle that everyone survived. My heart still goes to all of those out of state students who did not have their family to support them.

We continued to drive to Memphis. We checked into our hotel (Fairfield) and had dinner at O'Charleys. This is very important because this was my favorite place to eat while in college. Seriously, the only thing I have ordered there were the Chicken O'Tenders and you must emphasize the O when ordering. Its a rule. We spent some time chilling out and we had a visitor at the hotel. Mr. Steven (yes the blogging Steven) came and chatted with us while bringing some Aleve for my toothache. We chatted for quite a while about Union, church, blogging and a ton of other things.. We were actually told to quiet down. Can you imagine someone telling me to quiet down? Geesh. To bed we went.

The next day we woke up realizing we slept for almost 10 hours...Wow, that was cool. It was pretty yucky outside. This was the day we planned to do the zoo and so far it wasn't looking good. We got several phone calls from friends trying to organize dinner and we got a late start. Its a really good thing we decided to go to the zoo because it was a PERFECT day for the zoo. There was about 40 people total there and all the animals were out. As you can see from the slide show, Michael took some amazing pics. I had an awesome experience. We walked up to the chimp area and went up to the glass window where my new friend was waiting for me. Seriously. I have never been so close. It rocked. Ok, so I got a bit silly and got on the ground so that I was face to face with this monkey. I was on the ground looking eye to eye with this monkey. The first thing I noticed were his hands and then he started playing. I really thought I was having an encounter with ET. I put my finger on the glass, and he would try to kiss it. Check out Michael's pics. it seriously was a very cool experience.
So Friday night, we went for some Memphis BBQ and went to Corkys. So we got to see old Atlanta friends, Jeff and Val (valfrey), Stevens wife jenny and his 2 boys and my old roommie LeeAnne, her hubby and 2 girls. We spend the time eating, laughing and just truly having fun. Oh I miss my college times.

Saturday morning, we planned a Red Thread meeting at IHOP. Deanna, who was logged in the same month as me and is active in our yahoo group, organized a breakfast with some families. The red thread continued as Michael and Deanna shared about where they were from. One of the ladies started talking about the Ladmans, who are First Friday friends of ours..It was cool.
After breakfast, we went to Tunica for the afternoon. I am not afraid to say that. I was in yucky mood but after getting some sugar, I played for a bit and the we left..It was quite different than what I expected.
Saturday, we waited 45 minutes to get into Texas Roadhouse. Odd experience as Michael had to send his steak back twice but in the end we got a free meal.Back to the hotel we went where Wedding Crashers and Napolean Dynamite was playing.

The plan was for Sunday to go to church with Steven and his family. We didn't go. Instead, we went to Cracker Barrel with Jeff and Val and had a really odd experience. If any lady bug lovers are out there, check out Cracker Barrel..The stuff is too cute!
After that we went to downtown Memphis to find an Asian art exhibit. So before that, we walked around Bealle street and went to the top of the Peabody and saw the awesome view. Back to the art exhibit, one of the China moms told us about it and I am so glad they did. It was a wonderful exhibit and gave me more of a passion for the Chinese culture..Once again, too cool! Boy, it just hit me that this was a really busy day.

After Memphis, we drove to Jackson so see a college professor of mine and her sons Dalton and Jared. You see while in college, I was the primary babysitter for Dalton from age 8 months- 3 years. As I told Jenni leigh, the night I left Dalton the last time, was a very hard night. I don't remember crying that much. HE used to call me AA. We walked in to Chuckie Cheese, and this 12 year old came up saying, AA? He gave me a hug and we just talked. He decided that since I made him dance to Barney, he is now into drama. He said, thanks a lot! We talked about Dino, a stuffed dinosaur pillow that he had to sleep with every day. As we were leaving, he brought Dino out to show me. Oh he is warn out, but I could just picture Dalton a little boy with his "DOH". I was the one who was supposed to have an impact on, I swear I think it was the other way around.

After our Chuckie Cheese Adventure, we headed over the Casey Jones Village to buy some sauce for Michaels dad.

Then we met some more friends at Olive Garden. First was Sara, my most stable friend. Sara is a fun, crazy, responsible lawyer who was a roommate of Valerie (wife of Jeff). We actually stayed with her on a trip.

So towards the end of dinner, Miss Lorrie Spickard came in with her boyfriend. Lorrie has been one of my closest friends of all times. She was in my wedding. I absolutely adore her. We had not seen each other for almost 4 years but dang, it sure did not feel like it. It was just sooo cool to laugh and share experiences with my good friend. We stayed for hours. We love her boyfriend and Lorrie just made me smile. We talked about short term mission trip with Steven and other people, and the fact that we had so many late night talks. This was soooo cool! We have had some trials in our friendship, but we always come out stronger.

Back to the hotel, for some online time and some needed rest. I was afraid we would be sleep until noon, but that lovely sun woke us up.

Pics coming momentarily

Monday Meditations

Let's celebrate! Micah is home from China with his family and referrals are on their way. Some people are getting travel approval and some people are seeing their sweet baby's face for the same time. Others are still thinking about adoption!

Now matter how frustrated or disappointed we may find ourselves, I know God is big as He has shown himself quite obviously since our LID!
My God rocks!!

From USA Today website on 3/2/08

BEIJING (AP) — China may consider changing its one-child policy because it has succeeded in helping to slow population growth in the past three decades, a Chinese official said Sunday.
The policy, launched in the 1970s, has produced "very good results," said Wu Jianmin spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body to parliament.

There would be an estimated 400 million more people in China without it, Wu said.

"The one-child policy was the only choice we had given the conditions when we initiated the policy," Wu told reporters at a news conference the day before the CPPCC convened for its annual session. However, he added, "when designing a policy we need to take into consideration the reality."

"So as things develop, there might be some changes to the policy and relevant departments are considering this," Wu said without giving a timeline or details on which departments would be involved.

Wu's comments echo a position China's communist government has been thinking about for some time. On Thursday, a senior family planning official said changes were being considered but that family planning policies would not be scrapped altogether.

Under the current mandate, Beijing limits most urban couples to one child and rural couples to two to conserve scarce resources. Critics say the policy has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs that has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses.

There are also concerns about China's aging population, with those aged 60 or older expected to top 200 million by 2015 and 280 million by 2025, according to the government.

The CPPCC includes representatives of China's main business, religious and other non-communist groups. The session will run through March 14.

Wu said the hot topics this session include macroeconomic controls, government restructuring, employment rates, consumer price stability, climate change, and reform of the financial, educational and health care systems.

Sunshine in the morning

How do you wake up feeling good? You wake up and realize it's way too light out at 6:30. you go back to bed and you get up again at 8. At 9am you are at IHoP for breakfast with a group of people you have never met in person, but the red thread does not care.

We met (as seen above Cassie, Glynnis, and Cackie) and their mommies and Cassie's dad) for breakfast before we headed out to Tunica, MS for the day. Cackie's mom was the original owner of the April 2007 LiD group on Yahoo, which Amy now runs. These girls are all within a year of each other at 4 years old and boy can we tell where trouble brews! Cassie and Cackie are great together but you can tell they maybe get along too well. :)

We had a lovely breakfast and talked about the situation with China now versus when these girls were adopted and we talked about people we know and know of through the blogging world. The Ladman's came up in conversation especially as Micah should be home now (or very soon).