Reflecting

As I sit here again feeling the breeze from the ocean and watching the waves roll in, I sit here with such a thankful heart, a heart that has been humbled. words cannot express my gratitude to our loving Saviour, The magnificent beauty I see right now from the balcony of our condo is enough to humble anyone, to think OUR God has made it by the touch of his hand,why do we worry- why do we fear for if he controls the way the wind blows and controls how high the waves are surely he can take care of you and I...This week has been such a demonstration to me of his almighty power..Our daughter(Who is napping in a BED right now)has opened my eyes to soo many things and for that I am so grateful..To think of the vanity of life of worry if my hair looks ok or we have a new outfit for homecoming and my boys have all the cool stuff other kids have,How silly.. I have never been one to think I had to have the best or had to have name brands,I dont care where it come from as long as I like it but still if I am not careful I put to much thought in things of that nature nevertheless I am sure I will want to dress Resiana as cute as I possibly can but that is not the point the point is there are people as I speak that do not have shoes on their feet and they sure aint worried if there Yellow Box or Sperry or Nike or any other name brand, I wish with everything that was in me I could make a difference, it would not matter to me if I wore clothes from Dollar General or where ever if I could take part of what little money we do have and help these poor poor people... I know I cannot save the world but Praise God I know who can and that is my prayer that he will do that.The joy my children bring is more joy that can be put into words..I sit here feeling the Lord at this very moment and I just want to praise him. Resiana by the mercy of our Lord will never go hungry again or will never suffer the way she has in her few short years on this earth, she has renewed me I am a better person because of her..Never again do I want to take things for granted but I am sure I will but I pray I will never in the way I one time did..Her birthmom changed my life as well,such an humble an grateful soul she has and the hardships she has faced is unimaginable.I know only God can have his way of working things out and I know he will.Maybe those times it has crossed my mind to leave change in the coke machines or to randomly drop quarters in parking lots or silly little things like that, maybe after all it was the Lord giving me those thoughts and someone like Resiana's birthmom happened up on it and was able to buy a drink, I dont know but I will tell you this much I wanna Listen a little closer to the still small voice in my head - just in case...Love to all!!!

Coming Home ??????

I heard at the singing friday night at Stevenson that prayer was asked that things would work out for us to get to come home, and there was a few people that had some fun with us wanting to come home from Paradise... Yeah I understand what they are saying and if we had Carter and Caden with us....we might just stay. It is so beautiful over here and we have had a good time, but we cant wait to be home. I know that we have told stories that have not been funny, but we have had some funny stuff happen to us. Just tonight Crystal was throwing some garbage in the big dumpster here and wouldnt ya know it...threw her cell phone in there also. She came back to the room and was scared to go back because there was a frog there. She said that she asked the lord to let someone come and help us and about the time I was gonna jump in the dumpster a guy with a flashlight hollered ALOHA. It was the lead security guard... we told him what was goning on and he said that his name was Jonah and he was gonna help us. My thought was "he just crawled out of the whale to get this cell phone" anyways he got it out for us and was very nice. One morning we got up and I was putting High School Musical on for Resiana and I was holding her, we sat down on a wood table and I guess the weight was just to much for it...we both went crashing to the floor, and she has laughed all week about that. I guess that girls are different than boys...Crystal and Resiana went to the beach and I stayed back and watched a ball game...since then Resiana is all over Crystal and won't have much to do with me. I finally asked them what was up and Resiana told me I should have went to the beach today, and Crystal told me she was holding that against me...so I guess I am going to the beach in the morning to make up for it. I can see I have a bunch to learn. I have never played with baby dolls or barbie dolls...my boys are not gonna know what to think. Carter has taught Caden that girls have "cooties" and i remember those days..... I am so excited to walk off the plane and see my boys and see the reaction that they have with their new sister. I think of this alot.... at the airport people cant wait to get on the plane, but when it lands they cant wait to get off what they couldnt wait to get on... Thats about how we are right now.... Couldnt wait to get here and now cant wait to get home. Its almost time. slick

Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me

One of my all time favorite church songs has always been "Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me" and is a very meaningful song and that is why I loved and as I would sing it I would think of my wonderful family and my wonderful life, but now it has even the more meaning to me...I have taken so many many things in life for granted not even realizing I was. The life Resiana and her birthmom have lived is unlike anything I have ever imagined...But somehow they have managed to praise God for what they do have.. I feel ashamed of some of the things I have asked God to help me with or do for me..Our daughter is such an example and teacher to us, she has impacted our lives so deeply, I didnt know how it would be to adopt an older child if it might would take some time to bond..Well now I know the answer,she is my child my love and I have the absolute same feelings about her as my boys, they are truly A gift from God!!! All I want now is to have them all Three safe and sound together in the arms of their Dad and I..Resiana has alot to learn about some of the most normal stuff to us,what a sink is and that you put dirty dishes in it,or that a toothbrush is for your TEETH not to scrub your face with(She was in the bathroom cleaning her face good with toothpaste and the toothbrush) I did get a little tickled..There are things that are a little funny such as that and then there are things that break my heart such as I heard her in the bathroom again and she had the bathtub water on and was drinking as fast as she could,and looking around like she was a little frighten, and I said Resiana Mommy will get you a drink and she said thank you mommy I love you..She is amazing,soo happy we walked out to the beach and passed two people and she started saying Hello Hello,until they spoke back.When we talk about our friends and family she repeats their names and asks questions about them, she has defintley learned who her brothers are even though she has not got to see them,she loves kids and talks about wanting to be friends with everybody,If I mention someone to her she will sometime say "they wanna be my friend" it is so sweet. I am sure it will take her a litte while to adjust and that will be our main focus, helping her and helping her learn where her home is and that me and daddy are her forever family..In time she will be a completly normal southern litte girl..We are so very grateful and look so forward to being home and showing you all our little girl in person...Talk to you soon.We Love You All

Life is Great!!!

Resiana is still doing great, she has taken to Michael and myself just as if she were Caden and Carter, I am in amazement every second I look at her precious face...She is full of laughter and excitment, We thought we would have to deal with months of her being withdrawn and crying and that she would not understand what was going on...She is wise beyond her years, she has told me things that I cannot even process...Her birthmother has been trying to prepare her for a few months now and I think that has helped somewhat..I am sure in time when she realizes we are not going to go visit her birthmom or have lunch together she will have issues and I am sure Michael and I will have to be deligent to assure her we are not going anywhere..she is our newborn..She is your typical little girl and has learned real fast about things she had no clue of,she loves her hairbows but did not know what they were called,there are soo many basic things she has never been accustomed to..She was amazed by the washer and dryer, blow dryer,curling iron etc. Even though her English is very good there are things we say that she will have to learn the meaning of,her birthmother always spoke Marshallessee to her and how she learned English was from other people in the park, we realized she didnt understand (come here) so when her birthmom was here I asked her how to say that in Marshallesse(Itok)pronouced Etalk so when I say Etalk to her she dies laughing, she thinks is so funny when I try to speak Marshallesse.There are several other words I have learned how to say ,or try to...The translator and the birthmom were such sweet and good people, I truly hated to see them leave..I feel such a love.We did end up seeing them for a little while today which was not in the schedule but things went well, Resiana just smiled and waived when they left. We were not able to get an appointment for the birthmom while we were here so we will have to wait on finding out a due date for the baby but truthfully I have been so consumed with Resiana I have not even thought about that much, she is the one who has needed us right now..I am getting ready to go bed and guess what, Resiana fell asleep on the couch!!! I tried to convince her it was soft and good and she did fall asleep.It is soo sweet she keeps talking about her brothers and how she wants to talk to them and see them(we brought a framed 8by 10 photo of them and put it up at the condo so she looks at it all the time and gets excited.Well going to go for now but I will tell you all more later.
Love Crystal

Not ready for bed

Well I have done many things in my nine years as a mother to help my children fall asleep, Rock them for an hour, read stories for 30min, tickle their backs, sing to them, but I have never had to lay down on a cold tile floor with no blanket or anything - to help my child fall asleep...tonight I told Resiana it was time to go to bed and she said I want to sleep on the ground and I said no baby were going to sleep on the nice soft warm bed with daddy and she started to cry and said no I want to sleep on the floor so I said ok mommy will sleep with you and we laid down and a few minutes later she was out..So I got up and come to tell you all this and now I am fixing to pick her up gently and take her to the soft bed...It is hard for me to even wrap my head around all this and it is unfolding before my very eyes..oh yea she has fiqured out we are not going to let her sleep on the beach or on the ground outside so she choose the floor. I am trying to process all of this and I am in disbelief...Talk to you all soon

The Love Of A Mother

We have been very busy today, we went and picked up the birthmother today and spent all day with her and the transalator, we just now got back from dropping them off. Very humbling is all I know to say, so many stories they shared with me from life in the Marshall Islands and I could not help it I broke down and they said dont cry God is with us.I told them if I was rich they would never have to worry again but how sad it is to know their is thousands of other people like her and there is nothing I can do but pray for them and Love the children. Resiana's birthmother was so humble, We took her to walmart today and let her pick out some clothes, she was very hesitant and I just had to pick something up and say what about this and she would just say ok.We are trying to get her the necessary paperwork so she can be a citizen and be able to find work here in the America, she has lived here in Hawaii for several years hoping to have a better life but has not been able to get a job because she does not have the necessary paperwork.Resiana is amazing, I fiqured she would be so withdrawn and afraid but she is the very opposite she is another Caden she laughs all the time and when she gets excited she starts tslking real fast in Marshalesse,She speaks very good english but her and her birthmother always spoke marshalesse to each other.I kinda hate that I will not be able to help her retain her other language but of course we do not know how to speak it, they did teach me a few words and I will teach them to Carter also. It is beyond wonderful the way we can feel the hand of God over here, we were driving in the van today and I felt like singing them a song, so Michael and I sang Thank You Lord For Your Blessings On Me and I could feel the presense of the Lord. When we got done, the transalator told me "I feel the spirit and I am not even a christian", the birthmother had silent tears flowing down her cheeks. Our emotions are crazy right now, it took every thing I had not to rack with grief, I did break down but I refrained from wailing, gut wrenching stories. To think she has never known life as we have. I will carry her in my heart forever.Today may have been the last time she will see Resiana and she knew that...when I went into the store with the translator.. Michael, Resiana, and her birthmother was in the van, and Resiana climbed in the back of the van with her birthmother and they began to speak Marshallesse and her birthmom took her dirty and ragged purse and pulled out some braclets and a handful of change and gave it to Resiana, I can hardly see thru my tears to write this..I am forever changed..I gotta go to emotional..Love you all and thank you for the prayers!!

Good Morning All

We are watching the sun come up right now, Resiana is safe and sound still asleep in the bed. She slept all night again and so did Crystal...no nightmares no talking... just sleep. Last night it was time to go to bed and we told Resiana to get ready for bed, and she asked Crystal if daddy was gonna sleep outside with her tonight, and we asked her where at outside and she said "the beach". I told her that she was not gonna be sleeping outside anymore, then I went and had me a cry. She would not get in bed with us, she got her little babydoll and laid in the floor and in about 2 min was asleep, we got her and put her in the bed where she is now. We was with the birthmother for quite a while yesterday and learned just how bad it has been for Resiana and the mother. They live in a park and for 2 hours a day they have a chance to come in and take a cold shower and watch tv in a shelter. After 2 hrs they run them out of the shelter. They have to be out of the park by 6am. We asked her where they went and they said to the beach. It makes it understandable now when Crystal gave Resiana a shower why she said she did not like the warm water.. to make it cold. And when we was driving and saw the beach....why she got excited and started saying...the beach...the beach, and when we went into walmart she started clapping and cheering and saying to EVERYTHING..what is that..what is that, and finally why she wants to sleep outside. I am telling you all..we are VERY blessed. There is a little girl fixen to come home to Alabama that has been thru things that has been thru things that I can't imagine, but all of that is over thanks to the good Lord. I think I am gonna go get back in bed with her now. Love you All.... slick

Happy Times

Ok im still truly amazed each moment brings more and more amazement of the work of our Dear Lord...Resiana is doing wonderful much better than I could of ever expected..I know without a doubt God is helping her, helping us,helping her birthmother..she laughs ever few minutes and just looks around our condo in amazement.We are beyond happy just soo ready to bring our little girl home to her brothers.We spent time today playing on the beach and we spent more time with her birthmother,she told us she prayed to God every night to send her a good Christian family to take care of her child, and she said she loves her so much she gives her to us..She was a very humble person and told me of her love for Jesus. The birthmother has a transalator with her who is also from the Marshall Islands and they told me how life was in the Islands and it is unreal..To all of us we need to count our blessings,and today I sit here felling the breeze from the ocean and watching my Little black haired girl smile and laugh and I try with all that is in me to appreciate what we have, all the little things they are not so little anymore...We love you all.Talk to you later

The heartbreaking moments...

Oh my Oh my do not even know where to start, well as you all know we have our little girl and at this very moment she is still asleep in a warm and soft bed..This was a first, she was a little afraid of the bed and (prepare yourselves) cried when she realized we were not going to sleep outside..she also took her first bubble bath last night,she is use to taking cold showers in the park building,when that is even possibe,she didnt know what the strawberry body wash I washed her with was nor did she know what the blow dryer was. Oh my so many details it would take all day to write them but the most important thing is knowing she will NEVER have to do without anything again...The attorneys office that is helping us facilitate this adoption arranged for Resiana to have on a now outfit when she met us so they seen to it she had one and here is the sad part all the tags was still hanging from her outfit and her shoes because the birthmother did not know to take them off because they have never had new clothes..As you could of imagined she was in great need of a bath and she loved it!!! her hair had fallen out in many places and is very thin, last night was the first timw it had ever been washed with shampoo..her little feet has sores on the side and bottom. Well she just woke up so I gotta go more to come when we get a chance..I want to share with you all how she is responding to us and all that good stuff. God is with us no doubt I feel his presense, Her mother has been talking with her and she knows she has two mommies and now a daddy, and I tell last night when she spoke the word Mommie without being prompted it was AMAZING as well as calling for her daddy...Working on gettin pics uploaded..Thank you all soo much for your prayers keep it up.

Seeing our daughter for the first time

WOW...seeing our daughter for the first time,she was more beautiful than we could of ever imagined..she was shy for the first little bit,but when we gave her the baby doll that we bought for her she would not stop playing with it feeding it a bottle, she was amazed at the babydoll,they said she has never had a doll.Ever...she wouldnt put it down..There is a ton of details we want to share with everyone but its nearly 5am Alabama time and that means I have been up 46 hours straight so i gotta get some sleep..The Good news is there is a precious little black haired girl laying next to me sound asleep..talk to you all real soon...

We Have Finally Arrived

We are here...Thank you Lord!!!!Couldnt post anything on our six and a half hour flight over the ocean no internet connection..we had a little mix up so we just made it to our roon and trying to clean up real fast because we will meet our little girl in 33 min, oh my- so nervous, excited and a hundred other emotions..What do I say What do I do I wanna run up and grab her and hug her soo tight and tell her how much we love her and how sorry I am I couldnt be here for her sooner but she doesnt even know were her Mommy and Daddy..We will spend the rest of our lives giving her all the love we possibly can.Im guessing she might be a Daddy's girl. I do not know if i have ever seen Michael like this.Amazing simply amazing gotta go she is waiting!!!

Are we there yet?

It seems like we have been on this plane forever, but thank the Lord I'm not in a panic I know he is helping me... Michael is sleeping now and has been for awhile I'm not having much luck in that dept. I guess I'm going over everything I'm my mind and don't no how to shut it off. We are flying over Flagstaff Arizona right now. They were able to change the seats so Michael and I could set together. I'm very thankful for that because I sure would of hated being a nervous wreck and talking ninety to nothing to Jim Bo or whoever cause when I get nervous that's what I do, so poor old Slick has had to endure it, well not now I think he was snoring a few minutes ago. So sorry everybody whoever reads this has had to endure my rambling. Well nevertheless our sights are set on Resiana. Can't wait! I have imagned a thousand times over already how it is going to be seeing our little girl for the first time. Talk to y'all soon

Well not much sleep for me, it's kinda hard to get comfortable...Michael got a little sleep last night I didn't even try my nerves were to shot, leaving the boys was soo hard even though that is what we were advised to do and knowing that Resiana needs us more right now. I know the boys will be well taken care of but I'm not use to being away from them period even the few times they have spent the night with our family I've cried. I think I have finally got ahold of myself and am able to realize we are only a few hours away from meeting our daughter. Wow that's so amazing!I love watching Michael when we talk about her he just lights up. Right now were feeling like some of the most blessed people ever. We were talking earlier how we couldn't of asked for a better life and how blessed we feel God choose us to take " The Journey Of Adoption" we wouldn't want it any other way. Tears of joy come a flooding every few minutes, then I think of the boys and have a little sadness but it want be long and we will all be together forever.... Can't wait to show the photos of our little girl !!!!!!
Crystal

In the air

Hey guys.... Right now we are in the Air flying over Jasper, al right now. Crystal is asleep I am watching espn news. Got about 4hrs and 15 min left on this flight. Resiana ....... Here we come. Everytime I think about her I almost break and start crying. Just when I typed that to Resiana... Here we come, I think I just really really realized that it's gonna happen. I am gonna cry. Talk to ya later. SLICK

Huntsville

We are here at Huntsville waiting on the plane. So excited

We Are Off

well its Tuesday Morning and we are already off on our way to HAWAII, they told us last night that we are gonna see Resiana tonight (we was thinking it was gonna be thursday). We leave out of Huntsville and then go to Atlanta and from there to Los Angles and then on to Lihue. We should arrive at Lihue around 11pm your time so not sure if we can update later today or not. Please pray for us and for Resiana. We Love all of you.

Michael and Crystal

Counting Down The Hours

Well this is so amazing and We are so proud to get to share our story and journey with everyone. We are so thankful, there is just no way to put it into words...Michael and I feel a piece of us is missing and just cant stand it much longer to think that our little girl is over there and we are over here but just a little longer and we will know all of our children are safe and sound.All you parents out there understand the need to know that your children are safe and warm and not hungry.Its hard to discribe the instant connection that we have with her but this is just how God gives us our children and has made our family. We are beyond excited and so are the boys.We will be leaving around 5:30 tuesday morning and we just cant wait until we can start our new life with her in it.Going to try and get all the quality time we can get with her because as you know we only have about three months until our baby is born.I guess I am in shock a little bit...All I know is miracles still happen. THANK YOU LORD!!!!

The Baby

Ok guys here is the full story. There was a part that we was not telling and we let the rest of the cat out of the bag last night. We got a call Tuesday night from our adoption agency asking us about Resiana and with no reservations we said yes, then they told us that her mother was also expecting a child in July and the mother wanted them to be placed together....what did we think about that. We was like WOW!!! We told them YES we wanted both of them. So we leave out Tuesday Morning to get Resiana and while we are over there the mother wants crystal to go with her to the ultrasound to find out what our 4th child will be, we will then have a date (thinking it will be in July) when we will go back and pick up "baby". Wow...this is so amazing.
Slick

Getting ready

Well things are moving along very quickly, we wrapped up our homestudy yesterday and our social worker to us we could take off when we got ready. So right now we are trying to get flights out of here for tuesday and come home the following tuesday. We should know today if thats gonna work out for us.

Our Little Girl

Hello Everyone I just wanted to take a moment and let yall all know how happy we are, its truly amazing!! We were amazed when the Lord gave us Carter and felt so blessed and in our hearts would of loved to have more children but felt fortunate to have one..Little did we know that 4 years later we would get a phone call on a Sunday and by the next Thursday be in the delivery room getting another son..Wow...We thought that would be it for us but in the back of our minds hoped God had other plans. I often told people that it seemed God just let our Children fall out of the sky into our laps( we could never be that lucky again) and guess what that is exactly what has happened again...During the horrible tragedy that happened in Haiti , Michael and I knew we had a strong desire to have another child and wanted to be able to make a differnce in a childs life. With our boys we often think its not us that has made the difference its the boys thas made all the difference in us.. Joy beyond measure, they are our world!!! When we got the phone call about Resiana we were thrilled and thought to ourselves a third miracle(how could we even be worthy of that) well in reality were probably not but God is so loving and gracious he gives us the desires of our hearts..The series of events that has led us to Resiana are to many to describe but without a doubt through the work of our Saviour... Im amazed -in shock-Its a dream come true...As a little girl I often dreamt of having four children and a wonderful husband and a life of cooking,cleaning,going to church and that is exactly what the Lord is giving me..I am blessed beyond measure to get to be a stay-at-home mother and have my dreams come true.Please Pray for us in the weeks ahead as this will be a transition for precious Resiana..We will keep you all updated, we hope to have her by end of next week...

Crystal

New Photo.

Here is the only photo that we have of Resiana. We are so excited!!!!! Ready to leave now!!!!

The Announcement

Hello freinds,

Me and Crystal have started another journey to add to our home, when I say add I mean children. Thursday night at church we are gonna announce to our church that we will be leaving for about a week heading back to hawaii to adopt again. We have a precious little 4 year old girl waiting on us over there. We have been working for the last 2 months getting our homestudy, background checks and everything else that goes along with it. It has been so hard doing this and keeping it from everyone, but the cats coming out of the bag tonight. We will use this when we are in Hawaii so that all our freinds can follow us and we will try to post photos and videos here. Stay tuned....

slick