New pictures

Time has flown by and oh how Rhylan has grown. I love to hear her sweet little voice and watch her play with her "babies." She commonly tells me she's busy and Ry Ry made a big mess...and yes, she commonly makes BIG messes!!  She loves to do gymnastics with her big sister and adores her two brothers.  She is a delight and joy!!!

Our family photo

Fun Pictures

Having Fun at the Park

Giving Big Sister a kiss

Cameron and Rhylan pose for a picture

Mother's Day Reflections

Tomorrow will be Mother's Day and it will be very bittersweet for me.  I think of my own mom (of course) and grandmas, but this year one other Mother has entered the picture, Rhylans China Mom! My heart goes out to my own mom who will hurt and grieve as she tells her youngest son once again "good-bye" as he deploys.  Oh, the anxiety his deployments cause!!  I am reminded that he has deployed before and that God was with him then and will be this time too!  No better hands could he be in!!  Please pray for his safety, good wisdom, and decision making to keep his unit secure and safe!!!!
In the past two weeks twice I have been asked point blank, "Do you think her birthmother ever thinks of her?" I sigh as I really have no answers but this question has arisen multiple times in my mind.  I am burdened by what I will tell her as she grows...I really have NO answers.  I recently read that you should begin telling them their story very young.  I have practiced a few times over the last few days as I rock her to sleep and I usually become teary.  I really want her to just "know" that she was adopted and grow with that fact and not "discover" it one day.  So now I keep it simple by telling her she was born in China and has a China mom too, and it is SO cute she shakes her head up and down saying yes!!
I came across this blog entry on another blog and she got it from another blog....handed down.  It is SO GOOD and I take NO credit, it is not mine but I wanted to share it and have it in my blog for easy access, so I can always refer to it!! I pray that someday I will be able to handle the two mommy issue as well!!
Here it is:

When my boys were little, I use to worry about handling them as teenagers.  I hoped this...I wished that....
A wise woman told me not to worry about those days ahead.  When I got there they would not be as tumultuous as I expected.  The same grace that God gave me in the present, would be waiting for me there, in their teen years, when we arrived.  God's grace, she said, is given in daily doses.  She shared with me that I feared the days ahead because I did not yet have the grace I needed to live them. I only had the grace of the moment.  Here we are many years after that advice, our boys are 18 and 15 and you know what?  She was right!  When Hope came into our lives, there was a day I fretted about with her as well.  It wasn't her teen years.  It was the day she would finally know that she had another Mommy.  I've never experienced jealously towards her birth mother.  Perhaps my time in China prior to Hope's arrival, working with oppressed women there, gave me a compassion that united me to them rather than divided me from them.  I've always felt a pain in my heart for the pain in her birth mother's heart at the reality of having to give up a child.  No matter the reason, whether it was purposeful because she was a girl or not purposeful because Hope was dying of heart failure and she could never provide the care she needed, a mother still had to lay the child she carried in her womb, delivered, held and nursed at the gate of an orphanage-and walk away. FOREVER.  Never knowing what would happen to her.  You don't dislike someone who walks in shoes that you could never wear.  You respect them for doing their best with a tragic situation.  Even if their best is one that has left heartache in its wake.  All you can do is respect it and honor it.  Casting doubt and negative feelings on her mother and her father's choice, doesn't help anyone heal.  Especially my daughter.  And the fact is in the end, we just don't know why Hope had to leave their lives.

Three months Home!!

The time has flown!  Our good friend, Jan, told me that the paperwork nightmares would soon fade, and once again SHE WAS RIGHT!! It seemed that we waited FOREVER and I mean FOREVER to get Rhylan and now the time is flying by.  We have been home 3 months already!! In these past few months she has grown and changed so much!  She rarely is still now and when we got her in China she was not yet walking.  She doesn't want me to hold her/carry her especially if we are outside, but thankfully always wants to hold my hand (which melts my heart.)  She didn't want too much to do with her siblings, especially the first few days in China, and now demands their attention and will squeal loudly to get it! Ha!  She now gives them kisses and will "feed" them bites of food.  She especially loves it in the morning when Cameron climbs in the crib to play with her and she jumps up and down and will pat him on the back and cheek.  She is starting to "pose" for pictures and will pretend she is taking our pictures when she manages to get her little hands on a cell phone/ipad.  She learned what lipstick is this week and will pucker her little lips and insist that you put some on her! She enjoys "writing" and will cover an entire page and anything else near (tables, walls, clothing etc.) with marks also.  We are working very hard on explaining to her that we "write only on paper."  She is starting to be a little monkey and climbs on everything and I even caught her trying to climb out of the bathtub!!!  She continues to be a little delight and her smiles and giggles continue to light up our world.  I found this quote the other day that I wanted to share because it mirrors my thoughts and feelings and is SO, SO TRUE!
An adopted child is not an unwanted child, to the contrary.  They are a child who was searched for, prayed for, begged for; received by arms that ached, making empty hearts full.

 
       

Our Busy Little Bee

Rhylan continues to provide us endless joy and is a little ball of energy.  She awakes each morning with her Asian grin (smile so big eyes are closed) and greets the day head on.  She is enjoying the warmer weather because she LOVES LOVES it outside.  It was so neat to see her "discover" rocks this weekend and the expressions on her face were priceless.  She then brought a rock to me and said "look".  Her two new words of the week are cute and yes (love the way she says cute)! She loves getting rides on her brother Cameron's gator and really wants to drive it to? Ha!  She has fun and squeals when she gets to jump on the trampoline with her siblings.  Madisyn is now teaching her front rolls and she loves to show them off and claps loudly and happily for herself!  Her "newness" has not worn off for any of us and we continue to adore her and marvel at the great gift our family has been given.

Our BUSY little "Bee" Pictures

Doing School with her Siblings

Helping Mom clean out her pantry

Helping Mom with laundry

Having a snack
 

Enjoying the Great Outdoors

Fun in the Sun

We finally had a beautiful sunny day and Rhylan had her first experience on the swing with her brother Cameron and cousin Naomi! I think she likes it as you can tell from her beaming smile!!