• I’ve taught my newest daughter from China (whose 12) English.
• I’ve struggled to maintain a sense of birth order between my Sierra, our newest daughter and Lily the baby of the family.
• Getting assistance in public school for Sierra proves to be a bit more difficult that expected.  You just can’t test a native Chinese speaking child with an English speaking Hispanic.   She doesn’t need an Chinese translator to understand the testing proctor, she needs an English translator!!!
• Spent a couple weeks traveling up to Chicago while my husband was in the hospital – he’s okay – now!
• Celebrated a lot of firsts:  First Birthday in America, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas and first Chinese New Year.
• Packed up my youngest Son for a 6-week mission trip to Calcutta, India.  We are now on week 2.
• My Orphan Ministry at our Church is growing!
• All of this and laundry, cooking, cleaning, homework, work, etc.

Like I said, I’ve been busy!

Our daughter Sierra is doing awesome in school – all A’s and B’s!  She blends right in with our family and I can’t image a day without her being with us – although it would be MUCH quieter!!

Now that we are home things are settling down, we have developed a routine that helps Sierra know what to expect from day to day.  After breakfast we spend an hour or so on school work.  Lily is having fun with this, especially because Mommy is the teacher.  Sierra is learning new words everyday.

So far the girls enjoy playing together, how long this will last is anyone’s guess.  Right now I just enjoy the harmony of my girls getting to know each other.

We booked our flight to China – we leave on Thursday, June 11.   I’m not sure when we get Sierra yet but I’ll keep you posted.

Praise God, for His miracle never cease.

If USCIS would stop changing the rules on us it would be really helpful.  I have also learned of a new development in China that will have a great impact on us if we do not get Sierra out of there by July 1.

This was posted on our orphanage yahoo group:

So the US government has thrown another curveball to adopting parents before we can bring our children home. In case you have not heard, beginning July 1st, all children adopted from China between the ages of 2-14 must have a TB test at the medical exam in Guangzhou. If the test site shows a reaction, a chest x-ray must be performed before bringing the child home. If the test and/or x-ray are fine, then you get your child’s visa and can come home. Otherwise you have to have another test. If TB is shown, you could be in China for 6 months while your child is on meds.

WHAT???  Please God, work a miracle and get our paperwork approved soon so we can bring our daughter home by the end of the month!!!

Stay tuned to the continuing saga of immigration paperwork  –  Lost in Space!

(obviously, or maybe not obvious to my readers, I have choosen to keep my sense of humor about this!)

To quote a song that has helped me so much:

“…He never promised the cross would not get heavy and the hill would not be hard to climb.  He never offered victory without fighting but He said help would always come in time.  Just remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision and the adversary says give in  -  Just hold on, our Lord will show up and He will take you through the fire again.”

He always shows up just in time doesn’t He?  Our journey to Sierra has taken quite a few turns, bumps not to mention YEARS!  But His timing is perfect and He never promised it would be easy to do His will.  Just hang on baby ’cause God is gonna do some movin’ and shakin’ in your life if you follow Him.  It’s a narrow path so worthy of taking.

You know if we were traveling to Rome it would be rather cheap.  To bad Sierra is in China.  We spend hours at night looking up different travel sites to find a cheap fare – why we do this to ourselves I don’t know, we don’t even know our travel dates yet.  Will that stop me from looking again to night?  Probably not, I guess it makes me feel like I’m actually  doing something  to bring home our girl.