Trying to play a bit of catch up

I am so sorry for the lack of posts!!  Internet has been crazy...the trip has been CRAZY...and now, we are all crazy:-).  It all began when Birmingham Delta caused us to miss our international flight to Beijing, and then couldn't figure out how to get us to China.  Seriously.  This has never happened before.  So, we went from Birmingham to Detroit to Shanghai (RACED through the airport in Shanghai and BARELY made the flight to Beijing).

Met Aunt Chantelle in Detroit!

Finally made it to Beijing

Stayed at New Day in Beijing for two nights so that CJ and Landon could see their old foster home.

This amazing woman oversees New Day

Mimi and kids outside of New Day

Flying from Beijing to Nanning to get David

David's orphanage director bringing him in to meet us

Waiting in the civil affairs office to get David

Bless his heart, David was brought to us directly from the hospital.  They said he had been there for a week with a transfusion reaction.  So so hard.

Finally a Symasek

This photo was loaded FIRST and the computer posted it last...anyway, this was at the airport in Birmingham.  Y'all, these kids were rock stars...they traveled for 36 hours straight - the trip was supposed to take 24 hours.  Luke finished the trip with a migraine.  But God.  He has given strength to overcome migraines, vomiting, paperwork mistakes, and flight cancellations.  We absolutely could not do this without Jesus.  Thank you guys SO much for your patience with me!  I promise to post more tonight!  Love you all!!

Headed for David!

Well, I *think* we are ready!  Departure in less than 24 hours.  So very grateful for each one of you and your prayers and love for us!  Next post, Lord willing, will be from Beij*ng!

 David leaving his foster home in Tianjin to go back to his orphanage

The first photo we saw of David

Hi Friends and Family!  Departure is less than seven days away!!  We are so excited and are thrilled to have you "join" us as we travel home to bring home little David from Nann*ng, Guangx!  I tried to create a privatized travel site, but those of you who know me well know that this is not my forte - so the blog will have to do.  Because this isn't privatized, I may type words a little strangely or share "in code".  My hope is to update as much as possible!

Love you all and thanks for following along!!  And while we are traveling...your comments will be cherished!

Playing a bit of catch up...

Travel time is quickly approaching.  We have been so busy trying to get all our appointments done.  Then, come the end of July, we decided to get some visiting done!  We had a great time in Jacksonville visiting family and friends.  It was exhausting because Daddy couldn't come, but it was nourishment to our souls.

 Maggie and Abby and a sweet friend, Aaron - it was a special treat because he is from the same province AND city as Abby Grace:)…funny thing is that their personalities are quite similar too;-)

 Emily loves being a "mama" and quickly took over with my sweet friend, Stacey's son

 CJ and Landon were loving finding lizards

Luke has now LOST the mohawk…praise the Lord.  This boy is growing so fast it makes me sad.

I have yet to get the travel site up and going.  But I promise it will be done before we leave, and if you have sent me an email requesting the link and password - it's coming!!  It may be the night before we leave, but it is coming!

Travel Dates set!!! Here we go again…!

Come and get me!

The past few days have been a whirlwind of planning…even though we don't get to depart until August 14.  Prices in the summer are BRUTAL, and since everyone is traveling, we just had to get there and home the easiest/cheapest way possible.  We were really hoping to take the boys back to New Day BJ, especially since we realize that this may be the last time we travel to Ch*na together as a family.  Once home, it is very likely that Lainey will need a port for transfusions, and most medical professionals don't feel that travel to areas with less than stellar health care is a good idea.  A child with a port who develops an infection in the port could go septic within hours.  Okay, ALL that info to say…everyone is going and possibly the last time together as a family :-)

I haven't been that great at updating the blog since someone introduced me to this great little thing called Instagram.  Sigh.  The plan is to put together a privatized travel blog just like before.  If you would like to "travel" along with us, just email me at symasekfab5@aol.com and I will send you a link and password when it is put together.  The home where she is staying for now in Tianj*n sent me a video of her showing her nanny our photo album…I will have to see if I can upload it!

We are ALL so so excited!!

Birthdays (still:), summer fun, and APPROVALS

April begins our birthday run…this doesn't end until August.  Next year, our birthday run will begin in March - yay for Lainey!

 CJ turned 4!

 Luke enjoying the tree swing

 Abby, Emily, and cousin Grant

Our June birthday girl turning 7

June is a busy summer month for us.  We continue school because the big boys do their summer missions outreach that lasts for 2 weeks, and the training is intense.  So, we just continue schooling and take the month of July off.

Our adoption approvals began flying in about a week ago.  Things were dragging, but as of last week, the approvals that normally take a month flew in within a week.  We could be ready to go at the end of July (approvals-wise), but because of getting all the other kids' doctors' appointments finished and a much needed trip to visit family and friends in Florida, we will have to travel in August.  It also takes time to get 11 international plane tickets - yikes, and work out the logistics of travel for that many people.  We are getting more and more excited with each passing day!

The Lord has used this time to teach me so very much.  A long time ago, I did a post regarding my obsession with "fixing" things…how the Lord was teaching me that He doesn't make mistakes and often when prayers aren't (seemingly) answered and thorns aren't removed, it is for HIS glory and our good.  He is teaching me to seriously pray without ceasing because there are things that I have asked Him to change and because He hasn't, well…it requires me to pray without ceasing because the only other option I would have would be to give up.  God is so, so gracious and patient with me…wish I had a fraction of His patience :-)  Oh, and I am reading the greatest book on prayer!! it is called "A Praying Life"…let me know if you guys have read it, and what your thoughts are on it.  Fantastic.

Picking Strawberries While We Wait...

People have asked me where we are in our "wait".  We are currently waiting on what is called our LOA.  It will come from Ch*na, and there are "stages" to it.  We are out of translation, which is a great thing!  I will pester our social worker again on Monday to see if we have moved at all. :)

In the meantime, we went strawberry picking.  Everyone had a great time, and it was so much easier than picking blueberries!  The kids had 5 gallons in less than 45 minutes, and they wanted to pick more!  I will be making strawberry pound cakes, pancakes, smoothies, fruit salads, on and on...ideas would be appreciated because they want to go again - yikes!  The great thing is that they are organic - I love to buy organic when we can...although it doesn't happen as much now as a family of 9 as it did as a family of 5 ;-)

Also, in the meantime we are preparing the younger four with conversations of transition and all the grief that Lainey will be suffering from when she comes to join our family.  It has inspired lots of questions from the younger 3, but I believe they are doing so awesome in taking in some hard information for little ones!

Hematologists, birthdays and Easter...

Okay, so I am realizing that I uploaded these pictures in entirely the wrong order.  Oh well.  

This week we met with our hematologist and I loved her.  The appointment went beautifully; she communicated well...listened to us AND she was humble!  The thing that won us over the most was that she wore bright red Converse @ll-stars, and she used the term "Spidey-sense".  There ya have it folks - she is BRILLIANT.  The only thing that concerned me a bit was the facility, and the fact that there is NO way for me to take the other kids with me on transfusion days, but the Lord will take care of that when it is time.

Then, our second oldest turned 12!  Yikes, where does time go???

 Easter.  I love Easter.  I love celebrating my Savior's victory over sin and death.  I love being reminded that His grace paid for my sins...past, present, and future because when He died, ALL my sins were future sins; and He paid for them.  Sigh.  Oh the joy, peace, and relief.

This year we participated in a program called Forget the Frock.  An idea started by a mom that grew up in the South with all the dresses and bows and hats that came with Easter.  Then she decided that she wasn't going to do that anymore...not with children dying of starvation, preventable disease, and orphans without care.  So, she created this program so that people could buy t-shirts to wear on Easter to raise attention to the orphan crisis and where all the funds would go to orphan care and the hungry/needy in various places all over the world.  Loved this!  Hoping to do it every year!

 Because every 12 year old boy needs a machete pocket knife

Easter egg hunting...not sure why their eyes are closed :)

We're back....

Well, I am not sure where to begin.  It has been a long, long time. :-)  So much has happened.  But, as you might have guessed, we are adopting again.  So, that means that I will try to be better about updating the blog.

Let me try to re-cap 6 months quickly so as not to loose people.  The boys went on their missions trip...had an amazing time and fell in love with the country.  This led us to consider foreign work for our family.  As we pursued this road, had meetings, sought Godly counsel, and prayed for direction, it seemed as if the Lord wasn't opening doors for this.

Enter Lainey.

We saw a little one with Beta Thalassemia Major.  Quite a mouthful.  I had no idea what it meant, and after researching it, wasn't sure that we could handle it.  Ha. But God, could we really handle anything?

She needs blood transfusions to live.  Here in the States, she has such a wonderful "prognosis"...but in Ch*na, there is a blood shortage.  Her prognosis isn't good at all.  She has been approved by the US government for a medical expedite.  So, we are in the waiting mode right now.  Ch*na has all our paperwork - we are just waiting on them.

Interestingly enough we have had people ask about "life expectancy".  You know?  For some reason (I believe it was the Lord, really), we didn't even think about that.  Because do any of us really know our life expectancies?  Of ourselves?  Our "healthy" children?  "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be"  Psalm 139:16  We'd better live for eternity.

I can't promise that I will be great about updating, but better than before.  Nothing eloquent.  Just thoughts, experiences, and a record for our friends, family, and the kids to be able to go back and look at when they get older.

Because I am so, so technologically impaired.

Oh goodness, people.  So, I tried to privatize my blog for about 800 reasons.  Then, I got emails requesting permission.  Spent 30 minutes trying to re-locate how to give permissions.  Couldn't figure out how to send the permissions.  Finally, figured it out.  A week goes by.  Got a few more requests.  Just spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to add permissions again.
I am about ready to throw my computer through the wall.  So, we just went public again.
Have patience with me.
Should have been getting ready for church anyway. :-)

Our Blank Check....Part 2

So, this story could end up being a 400 page novel, which is ridiculous, and when I began thinking over why I blog (as I read through Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship), I realized that I have nothing extraordinary to post.  Really, we are such an ordinary family...we just happen to love the Lord a lot and I really wanted this blog to just be a small journal of our lives.  But when things are posted on the internet for the world to read...well, I just realized that I might have to evaluate what all is written on this little page of ours.  I follow some pretty amazing families and women, truly gifted in writing...I read them for inspiration and encouragement, and I think that the Lord uses them in mighty ways.  But, here?  I am just one woman struggling to fully surrender every. single. area. of my life to HIM.  I am going to write our little "Part 2", but all the parts of our "Blank Check" after that...well, we haven't even shared with most of our family, and it is a work that is still in progress.  All that to say, we are not in any way trying to be exclusive, but I am thinking that I need to privatize our blog again.  It isn't any more difficult to access, just email me (symasekfab5@aol.com) and let me know if you would like to still read.  UGH.  I have done this in the past, but I am thinking that I am sticking with it this time. :-)

Anywhooo...as Mike and I talked about missions and our lives, we realized that as much as we wanted to help in Ch*na as a family, logistically and financially, it wasn't wise.  We talked, prayed, and Mike finally came to me and said, "Nik, I just don't think that we can ALL go to Ch*na this year to serve.  It just isn't smart."  I knew he was right, but I was mad, sad, and digging my heels in the sand. (Doing good so far with this blank check.)

We began praying about just Mike and the big boys going somewhere to serve with our church.  Drew turned 13 this year - yikes!  And we wanted him to begin this "teen time" with an event that would point him to a whole-hearted service of the Almighty.  We had been taught about "tithing" the teenage years to the Lord (the first actual years they have of willingly running wholehearted after the Lord...with no hindrances - job, family, etc.).  Through many "small" miracles and guiding events, the Lord guided us to a trip for this fall in which they will be traveling to the Middle East.  The Middle East.  

Inwardly, I get butterflies and I can feel the blood rush to my feet when I think about them traveling over there without me...how stupid is that?  Like I could do anything if I were traveling with them.  HA. HA.  It makes me laugh.  But, I can honestly say that this year...this time of saying, "Abba Father, I give it to you.  With my trembling hand OPEN.  Use us to serve you."...this time has been good.  Sometimes I feel like I am riding a ride that is wilder than The Hulk (that ride was a nightmare, by the way...yes, it is that CRAZY ride at Universal that I think was shut down because a poor woman DIED on it).  Only I know that He has us right where He wants us for now.  He is growing me and teaching me that tomorrow?  That isn't mine.  Today?  Well, it isn't mine either.  Every minute is His, and I need to surrender them willingly to Him, and as I do it with my HEART joyful, I experience spiritual blessing beyond anything I could have ever asked or imagined.

Field Day!

So, when your kids have been homeschooled since Day 1, the concept of school from August to May isn't there.  We often school year-round.  We have been hitting the books hard this month, as well as our 804 activities.  When I looked at the calendar and saw a "blank day" for today...oh, it made me smile.  At breakfast, I told the kids, "We are playing today.  You each pick a game, and we are doing it."  

 Drew picked Sharks and Minnows with a few of his rules attached.

 Obviously, CJ was tagged first.  He didn't like that and didn't follow the rules.

 So, Drew lovingly explained that he needed to stay still once tagged and try to tag other people from his spot.

 He listened well, obviously.

 After more explanation, he stayed still for a round, and then walked off and said, "I'm done."  He cracks me up.  He is totally that kid at P.E., "Oh, I left my gym clothes at home, I can't participate today.  I'll take the F."

 Balloon races were awesome.

 Maggie cracked up the entire time.

 When it came time to pop our balloons, someone didn't weigh enough.  Wouldn't it be nice.

CJ had to be given a slight head start.

We ended the day with a talent show.

Wow.

Oh, and mommy did play a few rounds of Sharks and Minnows until I knocked over one of my children trying to not be tagged.  Hey, who wants to be "it", anyway?  Not me, that's for sure - those kids are fast.