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!

One More Heart for This Home...


It is hard for us to fathom that we could be so lucky to have 9 children. We've been so richly blessed by all of our kids. We thought Briella was our caboose! God has led us to another precious child. She needs the love and laughter of a family. She's been waiting her whole life for just that. She's 11 years old, and will turn 12 in January. Wish she could know now that she has a big family & extended family waiting to love her. But, she likely knows nothing about us yet. We are only 2 months into the process. Almost finished with our homestudy. We cannot post her picture yet, but can share that with you directly. We are starting our first fundraiser.. it's called Just Love Coffee, an on-line coffee shop set up exclusively to help adoptive families raise the funds needed to bring their child home. I have heard great reviews from other families about the product, and the coffees are from all around the world. (Guatemalan coffee is SO GOOD!) This might be a great gift for that hard-to-buy-for person for Christmas! Pls help spread the word about our fundraiser. We ask for your prayers for our adoption process and for Ying.. waiting for us in Inner Mongolia.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am SO excited for you! I will be praying for a smooth process and an easy transition!

Keep us informed!

Terri Vessels
(Heartsfull Yahoo group)

Chelsea Gour said...

Wow Lisa, great news! We are heading back soon for a 3 year old from Tianjin....same city we met you in! I can't wait to see Ying when you are able to post her pictures. What B name do you have picked out, I wonder???

Laura Lee said...

Super excited for you!!! We're almost DTC for our little BOY in Beijing. He's five years old today!

Karen said...

Reading your post on Rumor Queen and noticed you were fingerprinted on 12/28 and got your I-800A approval on 1/19. What state are you in...where were you fingerprinted? We were fingerprinted on 1/4 in Milwaukee and still don't have an officer assigned to us.
K. Haske
wk.haske@gmail.com

Kristi said...

My little was born in Inner Mongolia - can't wait to follow your journey!