Goodbye Grandpa

Today we say goodbye to our beloved grandpa "Hoot." He's resting in absolute peace tonight. Grandpa loved his family. I pray that he can now see his new great-granddaughter's beautiful smile through clear eyes and that he's smiling right along with her. I'm just so happy that he got to meet Hope and that she was able spend a little time with him.

Peace.

Ray Heutmaker (Grandpa "Hoot") - 101 yrs. old

Emilee

Dear family, friends, and fellow bloggers - I'm asking for more prayers. On Tuesday (19th) of this week, there was a very tragic school bus accident in southern MN that took the lives of 4 young students. This beautiful girl was 9 yrs. old. She was adopted through the same agency that we used and joined her family from Anhui Province in 1999. Please take a moment to ponder her picture here, read a bit about her life, and pray for her family and all those who've been affected by this tragedy.

Here is an article that sort of sums up the accident. It should have never ever happened. The driver of the van that collided with the bus was unlicensed. So SAD!

Thank You! - Beth

CNY - Sunday

As Promised: Here are some highlights from the rest of our weekend.
Hope - Dressed for Church - She got quite a bit of attention that morning. ;) I'm even willing to post this horrible picture of me, puffy face and all (we were all so sick), because it was so special for us to celebrate this holiday weekend together.




"Comee?" (translation = coming?)


Sunday Afternoon ~ Just Cute!


Uncle Mark & Aunt Andria...AND Stella!

Grandma & Marka ~


Hope & Ella say "goodbye" to our weekend guests ~

Sunday afternoon, while her parents crashed after everyone left, Hope played in her room. She is so good at being creative and keeping herself occupied/entertained. It is fun to just watch her play. She's busy all the time. :) One of the newest intellectual developments...this girl knows her shapes! She has a couple of choices for shape toys, but this bucket was the favorite of the day. So far Hope knows circle, square, triangle, star, and heart. I snuck up on Hope for a couple photos of her playing. I'll have to see if we can get some of the video uploaded soon, too.

"Hello and welcome to my room."


Precious Father-Daughter Moment

Hope showing off her shirt - one of our favorites. ;) Made in Heaven is right!

"Two Perfect Ears"

That is what the Dr. said today at Hope's follow-up appointment this afternoon. YEA! The antibiotic did the job. Hope was so funny about taking her medicine. She would actually ask for it every morning and night before bed. "Me-sin?" Then she'd just suck it right out of the syringe no problem. Thank goodness we didn't have to battle that for 10 days. So, Hope is feeling better. I'm on the mend I think, aside from an annoying cough that won't let go. And, Ron with a little protest, finally went to the Dr. last Friday. He has pneumonia of all things. YUK. But, his medicine seems to be kicking in and he's slowly healing as well. Hopefully we'll soon have a healthy house again. We've been pretty lucky around here since coming home from China. So many children join their forever families and come home to one sickness after another. We're so thankful for the care of Hope's foster family. Because of their love, our daughter came to our arms as a healthy one yr. old and she's continued to be so. We are blessed.

Here's a funny story about Hope and the Dr. We've been talking about going back to the Dr. and telling Hope that he was going to look in her ears to make sure they didn't hurt any more. She was fine today. She was fine in the waiting room at the clinic. She was fine when the nurse called her name and she started walking across the waiting room to go in for her appointment. When it came time to walk through the door leaving the waiting room, she snapped. Something about seeing the nurse, the imposing exam room hallway, etc., scared our baby girl and she went down on the floor in tears. Daddy to the rescue. He picked her up and we went in for the appointment. She survived the taking of the temp. in the ear and proudly accepted her sticker from the nurse. Then we talked again about the Dr. coming in to look at her ears and how he would be gentle and wouldn't hurt her. As soon as he walked in the door, TEARS!!! WOW! Hope was not happy to see him again. At any rate, he took a quick look, donated two more stickers to our cause, and we were out the door with a clean bill of health. Hope and Daddy are now resting peacefully after all the trauma. :) Nap time will be over soon though so I'd better make a run down to the basement to switch the laundry while I can.

OH YEAH - One more important update...I talked with my cousin and aunt the other day about NIU. My cousin is doing OK. What a terrible, terrible thing to have happened. Bobby isn't sure about when the students will be asked to return for classes so he's currently home with his family. It was sure nice to hear his voice on the other end of the line. Now as all of the information comes out about the shooter, victims, how much more tragic things could have been, personal stories about students who were there, should have been there, or were close by, etc., continue to pray. Please just pray that we can have healing in this world where there is so much hurt. Thank you.

Prayers!

Gunman on Campus- NIU

My cousin is a student here. We've heard from him and he is OK. He didn't have much information for us tonight. Please just lift up the students/faculty/campus/families....all who've been touched in some way by this terrible act.

Read here for an article about the day's events.

Thank you.

Saturday (CNY Weekend)

Before I get too far into this post I just wanted to update everyone on the China weather reports. I have been comforted by reading a post on the Grace and Hope website that states that all of the children in Yulin are with foster families, safe, and warm. Our Hope's foster care was sponsored through this organization and we are so grateful for the amazing work they do in Guangxi (among other provinces). Many areas are still struggling. Please keep up your prayers for the people there, especially the children, as they continue to persevere through this winter.

Now for the fun! We celebrated Chinese New Year last weekend. We had so much fun with Mark and Andria (AND, we must not forget Stella) visiting for a couple of days. Hope loves her aunt and uncle and she is completely smitten with their dog. :) Hope asks about Stella at least 4-5 times a day. Well, we've all been sick around here. Hope just finished her antibiotic this morning and since she's been coughing on us for the past couple of weeks, Ron and I are both fighting colds as well. In spite of it all, we still had our party. Hope had her 1st haircut, we cooked some yummy food, everyone attempted chopsticks, we matched zodiac descriptions with our guests (only guessing 1 correctly out of 7), Hope dressed up...it was a great weekend.

Enjoy all the photos ~

Happy New Year! I found the short list below on another blog. Please don't ask me for pronounciations. :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai! 新年快樂 "Happy Chinese New Year!"
Xin nian yu kuai! Mandarin "Happy New Year!"
Sun nien fai lok! Cantonese "Happy New Year!"
Gung Hay Fat Choy! A Cantonese New Year greeting meaning "May you become prosperous!"

This was our "Year of the Rat" pudding after lunch - We all made our own. It was sort of fun to pass out choc. chips, nilla wafers, and chow mein noodles and listen to the conversation about what in the world we were going to do with them. :)

Hope was into the chow mein noodles.

Weekend Pals ~ Ella and Stella

Before

During




Sorry - no immediate after photo. Nap time came soon after the cut. We took advantage and used the time to fold wontons.



Mom and I get the woks ready.

Chopstick Success!!!





Dessert! Gotta love Hope's expression here as she checks out the cakes. We also had fortune cookies of course. Some were even chocolate dipped! MMMMMmmmmmm!


Bedtime stories with Auntie Andria and Uncle Mark (Watch out for those crazy puppies!)



Good night Stella.

I think that's it for tonight. I'll have to work on a post of the photos from Sunday soon. Hope you all had a wonderful day today. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! We feel pretty blessed to finally have our own personal little valentine home with us. She sure can spread the smiles, laughter, and love that this day seems to be about!

OK - a couple more...This was Hope getting ready to come home when I picked her up today. SWEET! :)

Attention Please...

I just wanted to take a second to bring some international news to everyone's attention. China is experiencing the worst winter weather they've had in decades. In many place people are stranded and unable to journey home for new year celebrations (most important national holiday) this weekend. Remember hearing us talk about how tropical it was in southern China when we were there? That is the weather they are used to. NOT SNOW. Many places are totally unable to deal with winter. The situation is very bleak for many orphanages as they try their hardest to keep the children warm, fed, dry, and healthy. We are always thinking of the children in China still waiting for "forever families." Now they need our help...AND...there is something we can do about it.

First of all, the Chinese people need our prayers. Please pray for the health and safety of the children and workers in the orphanages in particular. Also, if you are able, please consider offering financial support. Half the Sky is now allowing funds to be directed to specific SWI's (Social Welfare Institutes). If you're interested, Hope is from Yulin SWI in Guangxi province. Her orphanage isn't listed as one of the specific needs at the moment but others in her province are. Please take a look at the needs listed. You won't believe it. From what I've read and seen on various sites and web groups, the response so far has been wonderful and the people in China are very very grateful. However, in some cases, the situation is very serious and they continue to need our help as more winter weather is headed their way this week.

Here is the info I received in one of my email messages today.

"To contribute to Half the Sky's Little Mouse Emergency Fund to meet these emergency needs and others, click here." (Look for the link in the left hand column for the "Little Mouse Emergency Fund."

Half the Sky is a wonderful organization and they are working very very hard in China right now to make sure that the children are all safe. We can make a difference here.

Thank you.

NPR report
One of many CNN reports
Another

local adoptive family experiences frightening situation