Christmas in Carlisle

There's nothing like a trip to a classic old English town for Christmas shopping. The lights were so beautiful. And there's a Starbucks there which is always a treat for us!

Eliana managed to meet Santa while I was shopping with Lydia and the boys were looking at toys!

Lydia loves 'The Early Learning Centre' shop which is full of children's toys. She kept laughing at the toast which literally popped out of the toaster!

Have I ever mentioned that she HATES it when I vacuum? I mean 'scream the house down' crying whenever it goes on unless someone picks her up off the floor. So I always have to time it when she is in bed or someone is around to hold her. However, she loved this little dinky vacuum today! Anyone else have to deal with this?

Well I think we are just about finished shopping for this year!! Not bad going and there's still a week left! Usually I am a last minute shopper and almost thrive on the stress. Perhaps it is having four children this year which has helped me to finally be organised.

Definitely No Words Necessary!! By Jeff

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Poems Written During Home School

Christmas Night

I thought in my heart,

Me eating a jam tart,

Which my Mum would make,

And a great Christmas Cake!

My Mum never buys

Mince Pies,

On Christmas Day,

My Birthday is in May!

When snow blows,

The water flows

And no flowers grow.

My top wants to blow.

When Christmas comes,

We eat chocolate buns!

By Eliana (6 1/2)

Christmas Morning

It's Christmas morning and the children are up,

They are opening presents and they all got a pup.

Wrapping paper flying everywhere,

The youngest got a teddy bear.

All of the children love this day,

Out of the window the marching bands say,

"Christmas is here; Hip, Hip Hooray!"

By Caleb (8)

The True Meaning Of Christmas

On Christmas morning so early you wake,

For your presents and turkey and Christmas Cake.

But in all the commotion, did you forget,

Why the day of Christmas really was set?

You may know, if you're not a stranger,

That Jesus of Nazareth was born in a manger.

If it's God's Birthday, why do we get presents?

Compared to God, we are only peasants.

God wants us to have loads of fun,

And He loves us a tonne.

For He sent His only Son,

Who lived His life, telling people of Him,

Then last of all, He died for their sin.

But that is not sad, 'cause he rose the third day,

Hey lets save that for Easter, it's Christmas today!

So in all of the racket, in all of the noise,

Don't forget, young girls and boys,

That without Jesus you'd have no toys.

No tree, no turkey, not even cake,

So remember the punishment, He had to take!

So next time you hear, 'Merry Christmas'

Think about Jesus not of yourself.

By Isaac (11)

My FIRST Wordless Wednesday!!

The Decorations are up!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...... how lovely are your branches!!!

Our home was filled with the gorgeous smell of real pine on Saturday when Jeff brought the tree inside. Lydia stood in awe as she watched it's branches drop and then she proceeded to touch the soft leaves and giggle!!

Decorating the tree was embraced by all as they worked together to hang their favourites. Lydia followed suit and hung every one of the ornaments she took from me, in exactly the same place. It was so precious to watch and her branch looked at if it would break! Lydia hung in there until the very last one was on the tree, even when her brother's and sister had deserted her to put up other decorations around the house. If I am learning one thing about Lydia, it is that she NEVER gives up!!

This decoration was purchased in China on Shamian Island from 'A Gift From China'. I love it because it says on the back that we will all have some figgy pudding!! In the back left of the picture there is a piece of the tree we had at Christmas in 2001. Every year since we were married, we always cut off part of our Christmas tree and write on it, something memorable about that year. We have one from each year except one which was when we visited family in New Jersey at Christmas time in 2000. This years tree ornament says Lydia's First Christmas.

A quick picture just before we left for Church yesterday.

Now there are six stockings!!

And in case you are wondering what in the world these are, they are traditional mince pies made with mincemeat which is not made with meat but rather raisins, apple, suet and spices. I always make a big batch of mincemeat every year and then make and eat mince pies until they are coming out of my ears!!! I LOVE them!!

Hope you are enjoying decorating your home as much as we have this year!!

A Christmas Challenge

Please take some time to visit Sharla's blog for her Christmas Challenge which I am fully supportive of!!! There are more details there regarding the different ways you can give to Heart for Africa, (see my last post.)

Our home is beginning to look a lot like Christmas and I have some pictures I want to share tomorrow. Lydia had her first opportunity of decorating our Christmas tree... so cute!!! We are so blessed to have her home this year and all these things are so new to her and so exciting. Yet in the midst of our festivities, I cannot help but think of all the little ones who will still not have the opportunity to decorate a tree....... nor know about Who it was Who died upon that tree! I hope that as we take the time to prepare for Christmas and what the Season really means, we will also remember those who sit in darkness and pray that the light will come to each one so that they too shall see and know that the babe born in a manger, is Christ the Lord!!

Heart For Africa

I am among many who has a love for Africa although I have never been. Perhaps it all began when I was 12 years old and watched the pictures of the starving children in Ethiopia flood across my T.V screen in 1984 in Michael Buerk's news reports about the devastating famine in Ethiopia.

Later the next year,on the 13th July I was glued once again to my television set when Live Aid was broadcast to millions watching in an attempt to raise the awareness. None of those who watched shall ever forget the pictures we saw, nor the wave of emotions we experienced from pity to anger and wondering what on earth we could do to help. As a 12 year old girl, I just did not understand the many 'why's', especially why God would allow this. As I have walked with Him over the years, I now understand many of the reason's why and that God never intended for man to suffer this way but it all began in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to do things their way! Ever since then, the world has been a mess, people suffer at the hands of harsh leaders who do not live for Christ but for themselves. And so people all over the world are dying because they have not enough to eat; children are suffering in the most unimaginable ways and we in the Western world see and are aware of all that goes on and yet do not know what we can possibly do to help.

I have found myself in that place once again, crying out to the Lord and asking him what I can do for His people in Africa. Sharla has recently returned from a mission trip to Swaziland. Please visit her blog to read about her experience there..... but I warn you, you may never be the same again. I am so thankful to her for raising the awareness of the awful poverty there and the way they live. I am so thankful for faithful servants of God who have willingly given up their time and travelled across the world to just be His hands and feet in whatever way God chooses. I am so thankful for Heart For Africa an organisation which is Christ-centered and desiring to 'provide self sustainable homes for orphans and vulnerable children through long term programs and short term service trips that deliver quality care, shelter, food, water, clothing, health care, social work, mentoring and education.'

I know that there are many other organisations out there who are serving the Lord and asking Him how they can help those in need. Live Aid in 1985 was not Christ-centered but man's attempt to do something to help those in Ethiopia. Though very successful; about £110 million was raised, much of the money supposedly never made it there. We can attempt great things but unless we have the Lord's blessing, direction and provision, then it will never be as successful as God intends it to be.

God has been teaching me so much lately about doing His work His way and not the way we think we ought to accomplish it! I have so much I want to share at some point but not today!! So how can we know what God wants us to do? How we can be sure of His calling and what He is asking us to be faithful in? I am sure of one thing.... that when we seek Him with a heart that is free from our own motives, free from our own selfish ambition, free from promoting ourselves for our own glory, then God will show us what He requires us to do. I have no idea what God is going to be calling our family to do in the future in regards to Africa.... but I am open to do whatever He asks. Right now I want to be faithful in prayer and to do what we can at this time. Our children wanted to give up one of their Christmas gifts again this year and donate money to Heart For Africa so that children could attend the Litsemba Event which will take place on July 23rd 2010. For the last two years, our children have asked to give one of their three gifts; (Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh) to other children in need. In the past we have given to Oxfam but this year after I shared with them the post Sharla did of the Garbage Dump there in Swaziland, our children decided that they wanted to help these children in particular.

I encourage anyone reading this to visit these links and allow the Lord to show you if He wants you to also be a part of t(His) work. The most productive thing we can be doing as believers is to PRAY. Then we must allow God to use us to do His work His way and in His time. Who knows what incredible things will be accomplished in His Name when our hearts are fully surrendered to His?

Litsemba (Hope) from Heart for Africa on Vimeo.

6 Months with Lydia and an Update

Has it really been six months since we held Lydia in our arms for the first time? It has gone by so quickly and yet when we look back on all the pictures and all the things we have done together, it does seem like she has been with us for so much longer.

On the whole she is doing extremely well!! Whenever family and friends visit and see her in our family, they always comment on how well she has adjusted and how much she seems like she has always been with us. She is certainly our daughter and there is no difference in our hearts between her and our biological children. She may not look like any of us but she is certainly one of us!!!

Her speech continues to amaze me and she will try to say any word that we say. The children love teaching her new tricks and words to say. Of course her favourite word continues to be "no" and I have noticed recently that she does say it with a British accent!!

Her hair has grown and her Granny cut her fringe (bangs) a few weeks ago when Jeff was in Israel. I wish I could have taken pictures but Jeff had the camera with him. She was so good and did not move at all!! However, the boys, when they saw her fringe, declared that they wanted the old Lydia back!! They are used to it now though!!

Many of you have asked about her heart condition. Oh I wish I could tell you something...... but as it turns out.... believe it or not, we are still waiting. In fact, I contacted the hospital a few weeks ago and asked them to give me a rough idea of when she would be seen by someone. I was informed that it would DEFINITELY NOT be before Christmas and that the very latest would be March and the earliest, hopefully January!! So we continue to wait and I believe that if she was serious, there would be signs and she would have been examined by now. God is in full control and I am trusting Him and not at all concerned for she seems very healthy to me.

We are about to begin our six month post-placement for the adoption of Lydia and will be trying to figure out if we need to fly a social worker over here again or try and use a social worker here. I have asked the local authorities here before about using them but it is so complicated because they did not originally do our home study. But I shall ask them again and if the answer is no, we shall proceed with flying someone over!!

As the Christmas season approaches quickly, I am anticipating a very different one this year with our little Chinese Princess. We are all looking forward to seeing how she responds to all the sparkle, glitter and bright lights which Christmas brings. I cannot wait to share with her the true meaning of Christmas and how baby Jesus was born. She is crazy about babies and carries one around with her for most of the day, so I can only imagine how fascinated she will be. We have already learned that she is terrified of Father Christmas, (not that we make a big deal of him in our home) but she did scream when she saw him in York a couple of weeks ago. And we have also learned that she loves our tradition of opening advent calendars filled with chocolate for the month of December!! That went down a real treat this morning when she opened the first door....(thank you Grandad and Grandma Nikki!!!) There will be many more firsts this festive season........ and we cannot wait!!!

Our lovely friends Ed, Kate, Sarah, Sofia and Arielle visited with us this past weekend.

Kate and Sofia are standing in the remaining puddles from all the heavy rain we have had. Actually this day was the nicest one we have had in weeks!!

Sarah and Eliana; the girls had so much fun together!

My boys

Arielle and Lydia

Ed and Sofia

Sweet girl with her Daddy

Lydia has this thing with climbing into the baskets, even when the toys are still in. Then she gets stuck.......

Our cuddly Bunny!!

Lydia's First Thanksgiving

Although Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in England, it is a tradition that we love and believe is so necessary for our family to take the time to remember all the good things that God has done for us. It is a humbling time as we reflect upon the last year and recall all the times that God has provided for us, spiritually, emotionally and physically. And of course this year, we especially wanted to take the time to thank God for our little girl, whom He has so graciously brought into our family!

I have been reflecting a lot lately on what happened this time last year and how our hearts were so grieved and broken. In doing so, I was reminded of something Denise wrote to me in an email, around the time we received Lydia's referral......

Jan Beazely in her book, "The Strength of Mercy." wrote the following which she heard God say to her when an adoption for a specific child fell through:

"I showed you one to give you another. Trust me. You don't have time to grieve

over this. If you do, you'll miss the child I have for you. I promise

in the end you will see and understand."

I have said many times how I am only just beginning to understand some of the reasons. In the midst of this time to celebrate what God has done for us in bringing Lydia into our home, I also want to thank Him for using the valley as a means to bring about this time of Thanksgiving.

Thank You father, for always loving us and for teaching us so much about ourselves through both the little girls you brought into our life..... Lu Ai and Lydia Hope.

Every year, the children make paper leaves and write upon them the things they are thankful for.

Crafts made this morning while I was busy making the dinner.

Caleb's small "turky"

Isaac's colourful turkey

Eliana's fat turkey!!

Ready to give thanks to God for His goodness to us!!!

Thank you Jesus for my food....

Okay, so where is mine?

This girl really know how to pack as much food in her mouth as possible!!

Want to see what is in there?

Now for dessert.... pecan pie!

I hope that you all have had time to reflect upon God's hidden treasures this year!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!