Welcome to our story...

God has richly blessed us with a big, fun family...
We have 10 children... 3 homegrown & 7 born in our hearts!

Blake... our oldest is 25 and has a heart for the Lord. He enjoys; church, family, mission trips, making music, playing guitar & drums at church, and writing.

Brianna Faith... is 21 and has a compassionate & tender heart. She's a wonderful big sister. She began talking to us about adoption when she was 11 yrs old. She is "Faith in motion"

Brent... is 17 - he's an awesome guy! He's in highschool. He has a special heart for family and God. He loves sports! Brent loves to laugh & is full of life!

Bethany Lidia... now 15, joined our family in August 2006 at 9 yrs old. She's from the beautiful country of Guatemala. She started school for the very first time (at 9 yrs old) and is now in 9th grade. Lidia's passion is sports & dancing!

Benjamin Ross... 15 yrs old. We first saw his picture in April 2007 & came home in May '08. Ben is deaf, but his special need is that he needed a family. Ben loves making home-runs & hanging out with family & friends. Ben is from Tianjin, China.

Briella Xiyao... our beautiful 15 yr old daughter from Fujian Province, China. She joined our family in July 2009. She's always wearing a big smile! She has a passion for the deaf & very proficient in sign language. She loves basketball!!

Bellamei Ying... our Inner Mongolian princess. Bellamei is 14 yrs old and held my hand for the first time on July 18, 2011. She has melted into our big family seamlessly and it is truly an honor to be her mommy.

Brinley Grace FuChuan... is 9 years old and joined our family in July 2007. She's from Jiangxi Province, China. She has the most gentle, sweet spirit... she's an angel!

Bayla Shea Chao-Yu... our youngest. She's 9 yrs old, 5 months younger than Brinley. Bayla's from Hunan, China & came home at 11.5 months. She's bright, funny (and spicy!) We can't get enough of her hugs & kisses.

and our caboose... Braxton Emanuel Jordan - 8 yrs old? (see post below) He's from Guangdong Province and is now officially our son!

This 1 min video shows how we've GROWN!

Update for today...

Today we went to complete more paperwork...first the police dept, then the notary office.  Then we took a taxi to the orphanage, where we met up with Robert and the Gour family.  Together we all went out to lunch.  Robert took us to a local restaurant he likes and we spent hours in great conversation.  He's a great guy and I'm very appreciative for his efforts at the orphanage.  He also had found some more pictures of Ben which was great.  Ben is probably around 6 yrs old in the pics.  Brent and Ben were so bored while we had lunch.  We were in a private room at the restaurant, so they probably felt confined with nothing to do... well, it was around 2.5 hours!
 
Tomorrow we are going to the deaf school.  Ben will get to see his teacher again and also his 2 good friends.  I'm wondering how that will be for him, having to say his final goodbye.  After that, we are going to see his finding spot.  Then after that, we will visit ancient culture street.  Then Friday....fly to Guangzhou!
 
Well, tired and going to bed now.
Hugs,
Lisa

1 comment:

Angel said...

Good to hear from you! What a special visit to have. I am sure you got to learn so many cool things. (even if they were bored) LOL! :0) Angel