Littles taking good naps and cards with the middles….
Rainy day blessings!!
A New Student!!
We are settling in more and more as each day passes!
Everyone is almost sleeping through the night.
Tate has been up just a little bit, and our pup Lexi gets a smig loud when the deer walk through the farm early each morning.
Blake went back to work right away on Monday last week.
Grant went back to work this Saturday.
Tate is settling into our routines so well!
Here we are singing some hymns with You Tube one night before bed.
And I was giving some love squeezes at the same time!
I just can’t help myself!!
Tate loves to sing!
Before Tate came home, one morning during chore time Lane told me that he could not wait for Tate to be home so he and Chad would both have a helper for their chores.
You know, the important stuff!
For Blake and I, working has always been about fun, fellowship, and reaching our children’s hearts.
It is so sweet to see the kiddos draw the littles into fellowship while doing their chores together.
More is caught than taught!
Since things are going so perfectly, I decided to jump back into school today.
Do you know what I am going to say?
Tate LOVED it.
Why, of course he did!
The two littles and Lane colored while I read the story of Joseph from the Old Testament.
A little FYI – we have started calling Tate and Eliza the littles, Chad and Lane the middles, and Grant and Addie the bigs! Clever, huh?
Tate kept raising his hand while I was reading.
I kid you not!
I would call on him, like any good teacher would do, and he would either repeat a word I had just said, or tell me something very important in Chinese.
We just nod our heads and agree with him when he speaks Chinese to us! Hmmmm…..
We are rowing the book Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car, so after Bible time we worked on that.
Our focus was on Science today and learning about the water cycle and clouds.
Way too much fun stuff to do!!
We made a water cycle in a bag….but we need some sunshine to actually make it work.
Then I set the littles free to play so Lane and I could work on Math and Phonics.
After Lane finished his work with me, I set him up with a race car math facts game on the computer.
He is a fun student to have!
Doesn’t he look HUGE?!
And, yes, his glasses are SO crooked again that he cannot even wear them. Sigh.
Chad’s school is self directed!
Because he devours books.
I have a time set up while the littles are napping to meet with Chad for any questions he might have.
But this one will out Math me by eighth grade, I am sure!
Good thing I have a grown up version of him living here too….to help with Math and all.
That pretty much sums up our day (no pun intended!)…except for going back to the hospital with Tate for some ultrasound imaging.
I thought the technicians and child life gal were going to steal him!!
He is SO BRAVE!
Chad was my special helper.
This evening David and Kayla surprised Grant and Addie and took them to The Willis Clan concert!
I am getting texts – and I know they are having a BLAST!
Also this evening, Eliza started running a fever and feeling sick to her tummy.
Nothing like hanging out at a hospital to test your immune systems, huh?
Our poor baby girl.
Maybe it is just the sight of that bucket, but I have been feeling queasy too.
Good thing we do not have any where else to be this week!
We still need to be just us cocooning with our sweet boy – till Tate understands that people at the hospital are not his Mama!
I can’t even put into words what ten days has done for Tate already!
Thank you, Jesus, for this precious boy!!
A Glimpse Into Tate’s Past
On the day that Tate was brought to Blake and Grant in Hohhot, Tate had a bag full of precious treasures.
I can hardly breathe when I look at these things….imagining the love that was poured into making a scrapbook, a CD full of photos, and collecting Tate’s artwork to place into that bag.
I have mentioned before that we know Tate was fiercely loved – and we believe that simply by how prepared he was to meet us, how calm and fearless he has been since that day, his endless dimple-filled smile, and how many things he has obviously already experienced in his first four years.
Yes.
He was fiercely loved.
There is an American who, years ago, started a program called Half The Sky.
After adopting their little girl from China in 1997, she was burdened to teach the caretakers of the children in the Chinese orphanages how to make a difference in the children’s development – all by showing them appropriate LOVE. You can see a recent video about this gal they now call Angel Mom here. Please watch it – it is so worth the time.
In 2009, Half The Sky started working with the orphanage Tate lived in.
The impact of the training these caretakers are receiving is SO OBVIOUS.
And it leaves us speechless.
It also gave us a glimpse into Tate’s past through the beautiful keepsakes that were sent home with him.
Over one hundred photos.
Pages upon pages of writing about our precious little boy.
And a whole pile of his beautiful art work.
An amazing gift.
A precious glimpse into Tate’s past.
A treasure for his future.
How I wish I could hug each and every nanny that poured their time and love into Tate.
He is who he is because of how the Lord used them.
They will never be forgotten.
Our Little Helpers
Kayla had a little helper snapping beans!
Well, maybe.
A bowl. A hat. A drum!
Tate was making his little sister laugh from her toes. Which made the rest of us laugh from our toes. Which made Tate drum louder. And longer!
I have always had my kiddos help with whatever I am doing from a very young age!
Working together is fun and full of precious fellowship!!
And they are good helpers. Cute ones too!
Tate was very good at folding laundry! Whenever we do laundry together, I have this feeling he has done it before. We were told in his file that he liked to help with things. That is very true!
I love how Eliza holds the top she is folding with her chin!
Thank you for your prayers for Tate’s appointments this morning! It went very well! Tate is such a calm, fearless little boy! He was stealing hearts all over that hospital!!
We are starting to feel a little rhythm in our days here and Tate has only been home one week! Tate is starting to stay in one place for more than five seconds at a time! Smile! Hmmm…maybe I will start up school again Monday morning!
We are loving this cocooning stage as we get to know our precious little man. A friend told me it looks like he fits right in here with us! YES! He does!
God’s perfectly appointed plan! Praise the Lord!!
