My China Noodles

Celebrating Dad's Birthday

2010-05-05T14:08:00.001-07:00

We haven't been out on a boat for a few years and all John wanted to do for his birthday was take a couple of days off work (paid of course) and go out on the river. We rented a pontoon boat and did just that from 8:30am until 5:00pm. What a fun relaxing day for the family. The St. John's River is just beautiful and we went up a couple of fingers and at one point I thought I was at Six Flags where they take you on the LaSalle boat ride and tell you that you are in the State of Florida and watch for alligators, etc, it was that overgrown with greenery and alligators and birds, but just gorgeous and peaceful. Nope, we weren't scared our boat was bigger.

The Holy Land Experience

2010-05-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Words just cannot describe this experience. We went with our congregation on a chartered bus and it was about a 3 hour trip. Bus, was old and miserable, the company was just fabulous. We broke into three groups when we arrived since there was close to 90 of us including children. The first thing we did was take the children to the children's section so they could play, make bracelets and enjoy just running around after a long bus ride. We then went and saw the Passion Play. For one of our homeschool lessons during Easter we studied the Passion of Christ so Hope and Joel knew the story and yet seeing it enacted and dramatized was extremely emotional. Joel, looked away at the flogging, the blood was so real and the sounds of the cat of nine tails and the hammering of the cross. Hope cried softly and I held her and we talked and I reminded her that this was for our sins and that we celebrate Easter and that in just a little while Jesus would rise. The ressurection was magnificant and Hope shouted with Joy and Joel was thrilled. We saw the Old Tabernacle and the kids were enthralled with everything, they so enjoyed the Holy Land Experience and can't wait to go back. However, on our way out of the park we had about 45 minutes to ourselves and we got stuck behind the taped line as they were finishing with the last Passion Play of the day. Hope recognized it and began to absolutely bawl, heavy sobs and the cast members standing there told her that just wait the best was to come. Didn't matter all she could say was "They are killing my Jesus twice, they just can't kill him again, it's not fair". I pulled her haid on my shoulder and we prayed. Oh, how that child loves her Jesus. Every since we have come home she tells Him everyday how much she loves Him. I would not have traded this beautiful experience in our lives for anything. It truly was a HOLY Experience.

Easter Sunday

2010-05-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Our Little Photographer

2010-05-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

Hope is on the move with more photos. There are so many and it was really hard to chose just a few of them to share. I created a little video to show her eye for the various things she sees and how she sees them. We know that when a person loses one of their five senses that the others are enhanced and I would say that Hope's eyes are definately enhanced

To Celebrate Our Move to Jacksonville in January - Disney on Ice

2010-05-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

The Never Ending Faces of Joy and Glee of Hope as she watches the Ice Skaters. Not only faces, but actually hoots and hollers. You would think she was at a football game not an ice capade. The audience around us really thought she was cute, all dressed up in her Cinderella Finest and yelling like a quaterback. "That's our Hope".

Joel at Disney on Ice

2010-05-05T04:59:00.000-07:00

Joel, is still shy with the camera and would rather frown than smile. Not that he's not happy he just doesn't like cameras. So we have to be watchful when taking his pictures.

Christmas Pagent 2009

2010-05-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

What a true blessing for me this Christmas, all three of us Joel, Hope and Mom were in a Christmas Pagent at Church and Dad was the sound engineer. I can't imagine a better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior than acting out his beautiful birth.

2010-05-04T23:53:00.001-07:00

Blue Ridge, Georgia - For the first time in 13 years my entire family was together for Thanksgiving. A friend gave us a great rate on her cabin and we just had a GLORIOUS Thanksgiving. My grandaughter Alicia said "Grandma, you just look so happy". Right on, Sweetheart! This Grandma was the happiest ever. God has truly blessed me with beautiful children, grandcildren and my childrens spouses. Then he gave me a wonderful friend in my husband to walk this life with. How could I not be happy.

A Thanksgiving to Give so much Thanks for

2010-05-04T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hope's Birthday of Course it's Late....

2009-10-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hope's Birthday was in August. I am only almost 2 months late in posting it. I just didn't know what I was going to do, the weekend of her birthday was Joel's surgery and Joel and I had been in Jacksonville since the Wednesday before her birthday on Sunday and that Sunday was a meeting for Joel's confirmation class. None the less a pool party meeting with all the parents, the kids and Pastor. I was beside myself. I thought we could go out to eat dinner that night and the next week take her for a movie an something else. However, not only was it a suprise for Hope, but a suprise for Mom, the parents and kids of Joel's confirmation class gave Hope a suprise birthday party along with the swim party. What a special gift for all of us.

A New Photographer

2009-10-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

See How Long the Bus is (Not), Flags at National Monument, Kya

A self photo (Hope), Her sister Dawn, a Poster at the Christmas Store

Our Little Photographer, will she be famous one day? Hope took these photos and about 375 more and some of them really great, some silly, but she has an eye. I love some of these of our precious little newest addition to the family grandaughter Rylee.

You All Know Me Well! Late Vacation Summer Posting

2009-10-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, So I said I would stay on top of things..... I am now homeschooling Hope. Only 3 weeks or so into her school year and we had horrible experiences and frustrutions beyond belief. They had changed her program from last year, lost her teacher she adored, her teachers aide as well, her friends from class were not in the program and they made her go from classroom to classroom every 40 minutes. This from a child that was abandoned at age 2 1/2, then in an orphanage not even a foster home for another 2 years. Had no communication skills whatsover when we adopted her 2 1/2 years ago, then received her cochlear implants beginning a little over a year ago for the first one and eight months for the second. Hope began crying and screaming at night to us no more school Mommy, please no more school, home school, please. I met with the new teacher and she was nice enough, but couldn't change anything. Now mind you there was only Hope and one other student in this program and the other student being new to the program. The principal said hang in there we can change it after the semester if Hope can't change. WHAT! Then Hope started having nightmares and bedwetting.... We feel that all security had been pulled out from underneath her and she had nothing at school to give her that security she so needed. Since I was already home schooling Joel, I just pulled Hope out of school and began home school Hope and fighting a different battle with the school district in getting her DOH services.

So all that to say why my vacation pictures are late in posting. I needed to get them on the blog so I can go ahead and get my other photos on.

Also I want to let you know Hope is doing great and we have a coop that the kids go to on Tuesday and they love it. Hope, especially and it has been really a growing time for her. She is just doing wonderful in so many ways.

And Yet Again More Vacation....

2009-10-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

More Vacation

2009-10-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

Just more videos of vacation. Some awfully cutes ones. These are not only of Joel and Hope, but my precious Grandchildren, Kya, Autumn, Aaron and Lily.

Now the Babies

2009-10-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

And More

2009-10-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

We spent Joel's Birthday with Dawn and Family. He had such a great time.

We made it to Big Sister Dawns and Washington DC

2009-07-10T19:51:00.001-07:00

There is so much to say and yet I don't have the time to write alot, we have been busy busy busy. We have spent two days in Washington D.C. taking in the sights. I have been totally awe struck by the massive size of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial was absolutely breathe taking and Joel could not get over the size of the White House and Hope fell in love with each flower, bird and squirrel. B etween, the three of us we have over 500 pictures and of course I can't even post that many photos. It is about 11pm and we leave in the morning around 6am for New York City and again I am like a kid in a Candy Store, all my life I have wanted to go to NYC and of course Joel is so excited about going to the World's largest toy store FSO and Hope thinks it's Santa's Toy Store.

These are Hope's Photos from her own personal Camera, a black squirrel we feed goldfish crackers, The Washington Monument looking from the Lincoln Memorial and the flags surrounding the Washington Monument.

Here is some of Joel's photos he personally took with his camera...Hope at the National Aquarium, Andrew Hamilton Statue at the Treasury Building and of course the White House.

Fist Part of Summer Vacation

2009-07-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, So I said I was going to post more and I just haven't done it. My heart is always in the right place I promise, my fingers just aren't. Yes, that's an excuse and I do apologize. This year has been hard health wise for me. I have not been one that has been sick a lot but this year I have been sick for about six or seven months out of a year and that's a lot, I do believe I am finally on the upswing and we are all rejoicing and the vacation Part 1 has been a tremendous help.

I wish I could just post all of the wonderful pictures and I will post a few from each segment and tell you just a bit about our journey and as you can see this was just Part One. We left home on June 12th for Texas to visit family and returned on June 26th. My family and John's family had never met Joel and Hope and it was an adventure for both the children and family and we left many heartbreaks in the trail and there are many photos I wasn't able to caputre.

Our little Hope has turned out to be the best photographer of all of us and I do hope to post some of her photos for you, but it maybe when we return from Vacation Part 2. Please enjoy Vacation Part 1's Journey. God Bless.

We had planned on pulling out of our driveway at 5am, but for the three nights prior to leaving, I had jut not been able to sleep, so as usual I woke up at 2am after only going to bed at midnight. I knew I wasn't going to be able to fall back to sleep, so I got up got dressed and woke up John and said why don't you go ahead and sleep in the car and I will drive the first 4 or 5 hours and then we can stop for breakfast. So, we loaded the kids up in their pj's and out we started by 3am. I sipped coffee and enjoyed such quiet and peace in the driving and communing with the Lord, it was a beautiful start to the vacation. We had breakfast somewhere around Gainesville, FL and then drove on into MS and it was hard to find roadside parks for us to have lunch. We packed a picnic lunch for that day and all the parks were closed due to Hurricane Katrina devistation. We were on beautiful back roads, we finally found a small campsite and asked them if we could just come in and eat our lunch, they had a beautiful pavillon down by the river and it was so cool. Here's some of the photos from lunch.

Reached Texas and Grandpa John's

2009-07-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

We did stop and spend the night in Jackson, MS. However, after being up since 2am after eating dinner, John and the kids went for a swim and I went for a tub soak and then crawled in bed thinking it must be about 10pm and fell asleep only to find out that when I woke up and thought it was about 11am the next morning it was only 11pm. John said you went to bed at 730pm. We had reached Jackson, MS with the time difference about 4pm and then had dinner by and back to the hotel by 5pm and I was out. So no photos of Jackson. We got up the next morning had waffles in the hotel and drove on into Grandpa Johns around 2:30pm and it didn't take the kids an hour to get their swimsuits on and get in the pool. We stayed there for about 3 1/2 days and the kids lived in the pool the entire time. John has like 8 brothers and sisters and just about all of them where there with children and grandchildren there where about 35 to 40 people over most of the time and John's sister and her children and grandchildren from Oklahoma where there. John's son Darren stationed in Washington State in the Army got leave because he is going to Iraq again August 2nd and he came down with his girlfriend from Oklahoma and John's daughter and her baby came down from Oklahoma and they all stayed at Grandpa Johns as well. Then John's niece Lexi stayed there. Totally spending the entire time in the house with us was 16 people and Grandma Earline cooked breakfast for us each morning and wouldn't even hear of any help, what a WOMAN. She was wonderful! Talk about a Proverbs 31 woman.....

Crystal & Rylee (Rylee is our 8th Grandchild) She is precious.

We did get photos of Joel going off the dive board but he always did belly flops and he was in the water so fast all we got was waves.

On we traveled deeper or should I say further out West....

2009-07-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still in Texas, but we are on the way to Weatherford to Grandpa Dixon and Nanny Parl's. No, Swimming Pool, but there are SHEEP! Hope took countless pictures of sheep and as I said if I can get her photos posted later, it might be about 25 photos she took. We gave her Joel's camera he got for Christmas, because I bought a new digital for me and gave Joel our other one that is really better than the one we gave him for Christmas. We probably should have given Hope our other one and left Joel with the one he had for Christmas. He wants to take photos but he took about 35 our entire trip and Hope took over 400 and about 350 of them really great and some very abstract. Anyone know of a gallery that would support a 6 year old photograher? Anyway heres a few photos at my Dad's. Yep, we had brothers and sisters here as well. I didn't get as many photos because we helped my Dad and Pearl move and settle into their new home, but at night after 9:30pm sister and brother in laws met in the old home and we drank coffee and played games. It was a family reunion and then on Father's Day I cooked, Steph and Kelly and Larry brought Dessert and Turkey to add to the dinner and we had a great feast for Dad, the first gatherin of Dad's kids for Father's Day in over 15 years. We stayed there until our trip back home which was for 5 1/2 days.

The Hardest Heart Day

2009-07-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take the kids out to see where my Mom was buried, Joel is always asking me about my Mom and for me to tell him stories about when I was little and about my Mom. I showed him pictures of her when I was little and then I took them out to the cemetry. Crystal and Rylee went with us and Crystal brought flowers, (buried next to my Mom is my sister Debbie).

What, made this the hardest heart day? After we got there and we placed the flowers on the grave and took a photo of the kids and I had never taken a photo of the headstone and I just wanted one, because I rarely get back to Texas anymore and Dad will be 83 in two weeks and perhaps not that many more trips left for me to take and I just want something to remember.

Well anyway back to the story. Joel, said "Mom are you going to introduce us to your Mom?" UH! I had to catch my breath and I looked at Crystal and I said Joel give me just a minute and yes I will introduce you to your Grandmother. Tears and all, I couldn't help it, even as I type this the tears flow. I told my Mom, she would love Joel and Hope and how precious her Grandchildren where and I knew she was watching from above. Then Joel said "can we talk with her too"? So, Joel said just a short hello and glad that he was able to come and sorry that he really never got to see her alive and only her pictures and again my tears flowed.

Then Hope, she talked for 10 minutes and it was 100degress in the hot Texas sun, no breeze and no trees. She talked about bringing her flowers and if they died it was okay, and she loved her, and then she went into Hope language and I have no idea what she was saying to her.

We then got in the car and went and got something cold to drink and headed back to Dad's.

I found John and cried on his shoulder for a long time. My Mom died 3 days before John and I were married and that was 15 years ago. I don't think you ever lose that void of losing your Mom, the pain eases but a Mom is someone so very precious, someone that shares in your joys, your sorrows, your pains, does not judge you bad decisions and rejoices with you when good comes your way, she is your confidant and in life you may friend a very close friend to share with and your husband like mine maybe your very special special friend but there is NO ONE LIKE MOM!

Leaving Texas and back to Jackson, MS

2009-07-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

We returned to Jackson, MS and spent two nights. Took the kids to the Museum and the Planetarium. Want to know how to relax on a vacation? Make sure it's really hot outside and you can't do anything outdoors, go buy 4 expensive tickets to see the planetarum wjere it's really dark and cool and all 4 of you will fall asleep for the 45 minute showing.

The kids loved the museum and what they saw of the planetarium.

From MS to GA

2009-07-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

We are really finalizing our trip we are leaving MS and normally you head back down towards FL, we decided lets take I-20 and just see where it leads throughout Alabama and GA. As we got into GA we thought this will go through Atlanta and our son Jim is just north of Atlanta why not call him and have dinner with him and if it's too late we will just find a hotel and stay the night and head back to FL the next day. So we called and had dinner with them and ended up spending the night with them. It was great, we haven't seen Jim for a couple of years and haven't seen his wife and step sons in about 6 years and I haven't seen my oldest granddaughter Alicia in about 7 years and she was with her Dad for the summer. This will be her 2nd year in college and she is enrolled in Forensic Science I am so proud of her, actually I am proud of all of them. The boys have grown so much and such gentlemen.

GA to FL

2009-07-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

UGH! The Atlanta traffic was terrible going to Jim's and I was not about to get into that traffic on Friday morning, so we followed every back road in GA to get home and yes, it took an addition 3 hours, but no traffic no lights and it was gorgeous. However, when we got to Jacksonville, FL this is what was waiting for us.

ChenChen

2009-07-04T05:59:00.000-07:00

This one is easy and hard. We left Taj with the foster mom that had him when we adopted him, she always keeps him when we go away or the kids have had surgery. While in Texas and at John's Aunts while visiting John's Grandma, Hope fell in love with the Chihuahas and she was determined we were not getting Taj's back.

Now, I guess finding out I was the only one that was fond of Taj and he had never really fit in like Trax. He was obedient and a good dog, but he was not a normal couch potato greyhound either. Joel was afraid of him because he was always like a puppy and wanting to run and jump at you and lately he had been doing that with Hope and knocked her down a couple of times. So when she saw the small dogs and played with them for a day she decided the small dogs where for her.

So when we got home I called the greyhound adoption society we got Taj from and talked with them and they have found a new home for him in NY and they thanked us for teaching him to be a pet and the foster mom told them how different he was and that he really had learned to be a pet and was better dog. My heart hurts, but it was best for him. He needed more than what we could give him as far as playing, our children just couldn't give him that. Our experience with greyhounds have been as I said a couch potato and Taj was not that...

So, we were hoping to find Hope her little dog after our Part Two Vacation Journey, but that just didn't happen. The nice gentleman we bought him from though is going to keep him until we get back. We have had him since Thursday morning and you would not believe how attached ChenChen and Hope have become. If Hope goes out of the room for longer than 10 minutes and he is asleep and wakes up he cries for her. When he wakes up she carries him around. We had to go get John's car yesterday from the AT&T yard because John is on call while we are gone and that means he has to have the AT&T truck in our drive, but cannot use it for personal use. ChenChen had to go with us. He slept in Hope's lap the entire way and on the way back Hope had to ride back with Dad and she feel asleep, dog and daughter both asleep in the back seat. John took a picture with his phone the little tail is caught in the seat belt and Hope's head is back.

It is a good match. The dog already goes to the backdoor to go out for potty, he is adorable and Hope picked him out or he picked Hope out not sure which... (yes, Dawn we did call him Chip, but John thought since Hope's middle name is Chen and this dog has a whit chin we should call him Chen and so thus comes ChenChen)

Palm Sunday

2009-04-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Our little Hope loves music and has finally begun to dance. On Palm Sunday she was in her first Liturgical Dance, it was only a 2 minute song. When I think that a year ago she could not hear, nor were words even intelligable that she was speaking and that on Palm Sunday she was able to hear the song and to dance and she is speaking multiple complex sentences today, I truly know that God has blessed us and this special little girl in our lives. We have heard the stories of other families and their CI children are struggling and Hope continues to amaze us, her speech teachers, her audiologist and all those around her with her comprehensive language. I do hope that you enjoy her first Liturgical Dance.

2009-02-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

It is just that time again for me to sit down and write something about my wonderfully beautiful children. I so wish, that I was one of those Mother's that sat down each day and journaled about the life of my children, I adore them and each day they are more amazing than the day before and yet life goes by us so quickly and I find myself letting it slip by and not blogging a thing about it.

On February 6th John and Hope had their first real date night, it was a Father~Daughter dance at Hope's school. Hope was so excited that her Daddy bought her a flower and away they went together. As you can see from the video below.

This child of my heart has changed so much, she is maturing, she is fun, she is loving. You cannot come in contact with her and not walk away a different person.

I know the song that was written on this video was for a special girl and yet aren't all of our girls very special daughters and as I think about it, we are all Special daughters to the Father.

We are "Daughters of the King."

A Trip to the Brevard Zoo

2009-01-02T16:30:00.001-08:00

We have lived in Brevard County for 14 months now and not one time have we gone to the Brevard Zoo. Autumn wanted to spend the weekend with Meema wo we brought her home with us and on December 26th along with just about the entire population and all foreign visitors to Brevard County we went to the Brevard Zoo, it truly is a beautiful little Zoo and the kids had a great time. Now mind you when I say we went, I mean I myself only me took Joel in his wheelchair and Autumn and Hope. I really am not sure if I got up that morning and instead of taking a bloodpressure medication I took a loco pill or what, but we did have a great time and the proof is in the video. Joel, kept saying what a great day Mom, what a great day. Then I took them grocery shopping with me to Super Target and all the Christmas Decorations were on sale 50% off. Autumn, Kya, Joel and Hope now have new nutcrackers for next Christmas, nope not as gifts they have them now and they get to view them for a week until time to wrap and put them away until next Christmas.

Christmas with My China Noodles

2009-01-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning Awake Ole' Eyes that I might see...the little eyes are abounding with such anxious anticipation too see what might be under that tree in the livingroom. The Glee, The Joy, The Happiness, that's what just a few wrapped packages brought to Joel and Hope and those shouts brought The Glee, The Joy and The Happiness to Mom. I love watching Christmas through their eyes, it didn't matter what they got, it could have been a plastic baggy with rubber bands and little Hope would have jumpped up and down and said YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We then jumped in the car and headed to big sister Dawn's and shared the rest of the day with Jei-Jei, Dale, Kya, Autumn, Aaron and Lily. We had the biggest and best Christmas. Biggest because there were soooooooooooooo many of us this year.

I can't believe it was only a few Christmases ago and John and I would spend Christmas Eve going to 3 services at church singing in the choir at all of them then going to Dawn's early on Christmas Morn and there would only be 4 of us to spend the day together and this year in 4 short years there was 10 of us, how the Lord has multiplied our Blessings.

Just see for yourselves.

It is still the Season for Miracles

2009-01-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

Around December 20th I was on one of the yahoo groups I have belonged to for about 2 years, and just casually scan through it, since we have been home with our children from China for over a year now. Something on one of the post caught my eye and even made me want to check out this families blog site. When I got there, I discovered they were a wonderful Christian family and had adopted from Guizhou where Hope is from. Their little girl is Madi and she has been home about 9 months, not only is Madi from the province of Guizhou she is from Hope's orphanage which is extremely rare as this orphanage is so small. My Christmas Miracle, it may not be the miracle of receiving sight, or a pair of new legs, but for this Mom's heart it was a Christmas Gift of a Miracle of the Heart.

You see today, January 2, 2007 I was getting ready to board a plan in Beijing China for Guizhou to go and get my sweet little girl and one of the coldest and bitterest winters ever to hit China blew in while we were there, it was 17 below zero that day and when we got to Guizho and on January 3rd received Hope they would not allow us to travel to her orphanage. It was a 3 hour drive over very rough terrain. I remember leaving Guizhou and the Guangzhou with a very sad heart for Hope, we did not receive anything from the orphanage to present to Hope when she is older as a reminder of her life or where she had lived or who she was, there was nothing but a finding add that I personally had sent off for during our adoption journey waiting time.

I did not know if Hope had been happy the two years she lived at the orphanage, if she was well treated, I had no knowledge of any of this. She was clean when she was brought to us and with only the clothes on her back nothing more. She didn't cry when she was left and she was handed to me by the Assistant Director and was interpreted by our guide and told this is now Mama and Baba, she didn't cry, she didn't smile, she just stared at us. We met with him in a private room for about 2 hours and he answered questions for us and then he left. We met the next day and signed all the papers for Hope's adoption and she was our sweet little girl forever. Now why should this matter to me so very much, Hope is profoundly deaf both ears. She was abandoned at a city park in the same town where her orphanage is located at the age of 2 1/2, she then lived another 2 years in her orphanage. I just did not know how she was taking all of this in, she had no way of communicating this to anyone, she had no communication skills at all. She would cry when she wanted or needed something and then smile or laugh when she received it. We began immediately giving her ASL signs to communicate with us and she was a happy thing, runnnig, laughing, smiling and playing. But, was this normal there wasn't sadness - my heart was hurting...for two years now I have wondered what has gone on in her little mind and what her life was like in the orphanage.

Then just a couple of weeks ago I was given that GIFT, that MIRACLE, when I went to Tammy's blogsite, they traveled to Hope's orphanage and took photos. When I saw them I was amazed at the size, how very small. I had visited other orphanages and had been to China three times. When Hope came home from school, I sat her on my lap and showed her the photos and she remembered the orphanage, she remembered her bed, the 2 story white house (apparently it is used to house foster families for a short time), she remembered the director and assistant directior calling the director Ja, and she was estatic, it was a happy memory for her. Tammy has agreed I could include some of those photos that Hope remembered on this blogsite and I am also going to include Hope and her signing as she saw those photos one photo in particular is one of our update photos of Hope as we were waiting to travel and Hope is on one of the little outside sliders and she remembered where it was and could describe the house and the buildings on both sides of that house to me completely. Hope has a memory that is unreal. Please feel free to visit Tammy's blogsite and share in the powerful prayer her husband shared with Director Chen http://enjoyingourjourney.blogspot.com/ Thank you so much Tammy for sharing this gift with myself and with Hope. The scripture verse that you quote on your blogsite For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:10-12 is also the scripture promise the Lord gave us when He gave us the heart to begin the journey of adoption.

100 Good Wishes Quilt

2008-12-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

A Chinese Custom. 100 Good Wishes Quilt. It is a custom to invite friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. Part of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt for the baby, and the other part of the cloth can go into a creative memory notebook with the wish for the child. The quilt contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.
We found out about 100 wishes quilts through our daughter Dawn when they were adopting Kya from China. It is a tradition to greet the new baby with a 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Although this is a Chinese tradition, it is a great tradition for any child to be welcomed this way. What a treat.

We had about 10 months to prepare for Hope's adoption and therefore were able to have friends and family send us 100 Good Wishes along with fabric. However, we found out about Joel the end of May 2007 and discovered that if we did not travel by July 11, 2007 to complete his adoption that he would no longer be eligible for adoption according to the Chinese Law, it gave us no time to make a 100 Good Wishes Quilt.

However, Mama Judy came to the rescue. Mama Judy is Hope's God Mother but she seems to have become the adoptive Mama Judy of all our adopted children and the quilter sewer of all quilts. She 4 adopted children's quilt and then she set out to completely make Joel's and designed it with all the the things that he loves. Bless you Mama Judy that Joel will have his own tradition and one that he will cherish and remember and can hand down to his own children from generation to generation and know that he is loved and wanted forever and always.

Thanksgiving 2008 A Blessing of Baskets Full

2008-12-10T09:30:00.001-08:00

Most of my family together and a wonderful weekend, with a houseful of God's Blessings. Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jerry came for Thanksgiving Day what a joyful fun day we all had with the kids and each other. I just love having a houseful, it really seems like the holidays for me. I remember too many lonely holidays and finally the Lord has heard my crys and gave me the desire of My Heart and filled my life with the sound of children and the laughter of and joy of not only the children but with their parents. God is truly good to me in my years of maturity. On Saturday we took Joel and Hope for their regular Saturday riding lessons and Autumn and Kya also were able to ride.

Now we are up to Halloween

2008-12-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Joel just loves Star Wars and so he went as Adacan Skywalker and Hope went as Tinker Bell, dressed in her favorite color, PINK!!!!!

October brought Autumn and also Birthday Celebrations

2008-12-10T07:43:00.001-08:00

We visited Dawn (better known to Joel and Hope and JJ) for niece Autumn's 5th birthday in October, a Spiderman event. Just a few wonderful pictures of the kids. To see the full event please visit Dawns blogspot http://ladybugsandfrogs.blogspot.com/. Then in November we traveld again for Kya's 5th birthday and this time we went to Chuck E. Cheese again the kids just had a blast.

LWML Convention September 2008

2008-12-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Joel was the Presidents Page and Hope the youngest LWML attendee and loved every minute.

More of Joel with his friends Carol & Henry

2008-12-10T06:54:00.001-08:00

There were so many pictures well over 300+ so I had to take just a few and place them here on the blog site for your viewing. I can tell you one thing Joel had the time of his life. They visited a car museum, Homossa Springs, The Shriners Rodeo, Old McDonalds Farm. Talk about a weekend.

Too Long Since Posting - So BackTracking!

2008-12-10T06:31:00.001-08:00

Joel Visiting Friends over Labor Day Weekend

Hope's First Day of School

2008-08-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

She really did go to bed easily last night and I was amazed she was in bed and asleep by 815pm and that is unusual for her and that was after showering, picking out her clothes for school. She was a little tired and still laid on our bed this morning for a few minutes stretching and trying to open her eyes before she bounced up and started getting dressed.

She was so excited when she saw the bus coming around the corner, of course Mom could hardly keep the tears out of her eyes. Would you believe that had that big bus for three little kids, Hope is the oldest the other two are pre-k, one has CP and the other is profoundly like Hope. She didn't eat her lunch at school today, but did eat her snack. I don't know if it was excitement or what because she did eat her lunch for a snack when she got home.

Tomorrow she has to miss school for us to go to Jacksonville for her mappings of her processors due to tropical storm Fay and she is not at all happy. She tried to convince Joel and I earlier this evening that Joel could just go for her and it was okay. We are not really sure how Joel is suppose to do that, but she had it all figured out.

Her teacher sent a note home saying she did really well today and they read a story about a little racoon that went to school and his Mommy kissed his hand went he went to school and all day long he would look at his hand when he missed his Mommy and he would think about how much his Mommy loved him and he would remember his Mommy's kiss on his hand and he would not miss his Mommy, so they colored little hearts on a piece of paper and tonight for homework they are to cut out the hearts and leave one at home with Mom and take one to school that way Mommy has their heart and they have Mommy's heart at school tomorrow, so Hope is not happy that she can't have Mommy's heart at school.

I can't even begin to imagine in my wildest dreams how this little girl has grown up so much in the past year and a half. She has so much trust and I can on tell you that God has done this work in her. For this child to be deaf and have come with us from China to trust us with her surgeries and with so much in her little life to as you see in this photos just marching herself on that school bus is amazing, there is no fear that Mom will not be here at home waiting for her, she trust us so completely and that alone could only be from God, He has had to have given her that peace.

Please enjoy the photos of Hope's first day of school. God Bless.

Hope Turns 6 Years Old -Saturday - August 16, 2008

2008-08-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hope's Second Year Home for her Birthday

I remember a birthday in August 2006 that I sat and cried I had so wanted to celebrate a birthday when one little girl was turning 4 years old, I sent her a package for her birthday, but it just didn't help the emptiness in my arms and heart. How 2 years have changed so much. Not only are my arms no longer empty, my heart is so full it could burst. At the time we were waiting for approval from China for Hope our family was enjoying our granddaughters Kya and Autumn (just recently home from China), in these photos you will see our grandchildren have grown as well we have Kya, Autumn, Lilly, Aaron and our own family has grown with Hope and Joel. What a Joy and a God Blessing I have. I can only rejoice what God has so richly bestowed on this family.

Please enjoy this video, I didn't add a lot of words, because Hope's expressions and those of Kya, Autumn, Joel, Lilly and Aaron say it all. God Bless.

Joel's First Prize Ribbon August 7, 2008

2008-08-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

I am always late, however, my own Dad always had words of wisdom for me and one of those was "Better late than never". We have had a lot going on in the Kubicek Noodle Family.

Mom has been spending many hours in the early morning when the children are still asleep and then when the family goes to bed working on the LWML covention manual and to add to that I worked on a rummage sale, bake sale and car wash for the church for Saturday and then on that Sunday we had a farewell lunch for our interim Pastor that I worked on and helped plan and our Praise Team did the entertainment, so Mom's just been busy, by the end of September when the LWML Convention is over our lives will settle down into a normal routine. Okay Okay those of you that know me, know it will not be normal for most families, but it will be normal for this family and I promise to begin blogging a little more often.

NOW BACK to my important task blogging about one of my favorite people my son JOEL... Some of you are aware that we entered Joel in the Brevard County Homeschool Association Art Contest in July on August 7th they had the Art Exhibit and a Home School Show as well combined in Melbourne at a very huge Calvary Chapel Church. Joel placed 1st in his age category of 13 to 15 years group. We are so proud of him. He has had no formal art classes at all. They actually had two people that on art galleries from Melbourne come and judge the arts and crtique the art and they wrote up things for Joel to work on to help him with his art.

He was so cute in the beginning, because he has never won anything and didn't know what a ribbon was. He said "Mom it's just like paper, it really isn't anything." I said honey "money is only paper as well, but that's what you use to buy things with so it's worth something" then he understood" and when he saw the other ribbons said 2nd and 3rd place and others received nothing on their pictures he felt good about his own picture.

Of course this Mom is crowing...

Glasses for Hope

2008-08-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Life is just so busy always around our house and I keep hoping I can blog on a more regular basis and I am sure that will happen just as soon as the LWML convention is over in September. Right now Mom is spending almost 18 hours a day working ont he convention which leaves very little time for anything else and especially sleep. However, I do want to share with all of you a couple of pictures of Hope in her glasses. We went a couple of weeks ago to the eye doctor because she failed her eye exam at school. I knew from her eye doctor back last year she had astigmatism and probably would need glasses when starting school, but I was praying so hard she wouldn't need them, I just couldn't figure out along with two processors how in the world we were going to keep glasses on her little head as well. I guess the Lord knew better then Mom because the stay on pretty well. Hope was so excited, she really was upset we had to leave them at the eye doctor for a couple of weeks. When they called me yesterday to tell me they were ready and I told her she jumped up and down and raised her arms up in the air and said yeah, yeah, yeah!

Dawn, this funny story is just for you.. After the technician fitted her with the glasses he handed her a cute little pink plastic case for her glasses to go into it slides together. She pulled it apart lifted up her arm and applied her plastic case as deodarant. She had the entire waiting room and the other two technicians rolling in the aisles. I said I guess you have never seen the cases used that way before?

She has been real good with them all evening and has taken them off to play in her room and eat dinner and put them back on to watch T.V.

Of course big brother Joel, says she's not cute anymore, which Mom then gave him the MOTHER LOOK..... and said you better not let me ever hear you say that to Hope. He thinks she just wants to wear glasses. Joel had perfect vision and perfect eyes, he had his eyes dialated and has never had that before and got the big ole black pair of sun glasses that he has made into his robot glasses he calls them and wears them around to scare the dog now.

I'll have to take a picture of that in a day or so and post. This weekend is Hope's 6th birthday and will be posting again in a couple of days. Thank you for taking time to read our Noodle Kids story. They are great kids and I am just so blessed to have these two wonderful silly kiddos in my life.

2008-07-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

Joel's Birthdy and Gotcha Day

2008-07-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well Dear Son, Always forever in your life your birthday and your Gotcha day will be simultaenou, you will never be able to celebrate one without the other. We wanted this to be your special day and so we made it a very special weekend just for you. We started off with Dad taking Friday off to be with us and we went to Orlando to your favorite store the Chinese Food Market where you enjoy speaking Chinese to the elderly Chinese man there and of course Mom forgot to take you picture with him although I did get a couple of pictures of you in the Chinese Market. You then got to ride Star on Saturday morning and rather than go to a Disney Theme park you wanted all your friends (and you sweet boy have adults as your friends) over for Mom to cook a Chinese meal and that is what we did. We sure had a house full and I wouldn't change a thing. My life has been so blessed having you here and Dad and I can't remember when we have laughed so much. Why just the other day you made us laugh so much you brought tears to our eyes and my stomach began to hurt, with your story of being a snow boy. I'm sorry but I just have to repeat it here. Don't worry Hope get's her turn soon enough.

So Quantam Leap is back on reruns on TV, which is a favorite of Dad's, now a favorite of Joel's. Joel and John were watching it on TV and of course Joel is always confused by the leaps and why the character is jumping into someone elses body and why we see him on the TV as the same person but the people around him see him as someone else and why is he doing it. I go through the explanations each time. John sits and puts a stop as I explain each time. This time we are both laughing or should say trying not to laugh hysteriaclly.

The man leaps and becomes a pregnant woman. Joel says "Mom he leaped into a really fat tummy lady" why? I said honey she's not fat, she has a baby in her tummy. He said Mom, I'm sick. Why does she have a baby in her tummy? I said all babies come from their Mommies tummies? I said you and Hope came from your birth mommy's tummy as well. I DID NOT. I said yes honey, all people are born that way, that is the way God made us to be born. Not me, I came from the snow in a train station............... Don't you love it.

I love you my son, my funny one.

July 4th 2008

2008-07-07T23:04:00.000-07:00

Not only was it my birthday, but we celebrated by being in the Melbourne 4th of July Parade. It was difficult explaining to Joel why America also celebrates their birthday when I do, but I just figure that as he learns American History he will eventually understand. By the way not only where we in the parade we were in a horse drawn carriage.

I have been emailing a lady in Melbourne since 2005/6 she has followed my journey to China when we left for Hope and then Joel. She was driving down the street and noticed me, strange, huh. I was standing beside the carriage at the park. She hollered at me from the car and I ran over and hugged her, she jumped out and we talked for a long time. Her and her husband Mike are also adopting from China. We have never met, but have been in contact for the past few years. It is such a small world and I was thrilled to finally meet her.

The kids just loved it and later in the evening we went to the old air strip and let the kids play around in the inflatables and see the antique airplanes and helicopters and watch the fireworks. Joel's one complaint was that in China he gets to do the fireworks not just see them. I said here son you see them not play with them. Hope was so loud with all her oooo's and auh's that she had everyone laughing around her. She loved it. Well, just take a look and see.

Vacation Time

2008-07-07T19:31:00.001-07:00

Many of you don't know that the credit of this beautiful blog actually goes to my daughter Dawn Clark. I have for the past several months kept saying I need to get a blog up and finally she said Mom, I'm tired of waiting I'm going to do it for you and as you can tell I haven't even kept it up well.

So, I thought I might as well start with our vacation. We took 4 days and 3 nights and went to Flagler Beach and just didn't do anything but get up in the mornings eat a bowl of cereal and walk over to the beach, come back have a sandwich and jump into the pool, cook something simple for dinner in the room or bring something in. We spent time playing games at night and just enjoying being together as a family. I can tell you it just wasn't enough time for me, I was hooked on relaxing.

John still had a few days left before he had to go back to work and our grandson Aaron was turning 1 year old so we included a few photos of his birthday party along with our vacation. Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them.

Hope & Joel's Florida Readoption

2008-05-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the court date to readopt our children and give them official Florida birth certificates, it was not necessary for Hope she has a certificate of citizenship, however if she ever needs a birthcertificate she only has one from China and this could cause her problems in the future for college etc. So we felt since we were required to readopt Joel (due to that I traveled alone and required by Homeland Security) that we might as well give Hope a FL birth certificate while we were at it).

During this video you will see one of the things we did to celebrate yesterday was take the kids to Horse Sisters. It is for riders with Disabilites we tried another and just was not pleased with the uncleanliness of the farm and the disorganization and then one thing led to another with money and my getting sick. More than likely though it was just God's timing. Because on Mother's day coming out of Dixie Crossroads from eating lunch with Dawn and Dale and the Clan we saw Horse Sisters and they invited us to come out to the farm for a visit and we thought what better day than yesterday.

They have over 11 deaf children and they sign. One of the girls is 7 years old and goes in next Tuesday for a cochlear implant, she rides on Thursdays. It is truly the place we know that Hope is suppose to be. They told us not to worry about money, they will make it happen for our children, they want the children to receive and if that is what is holding them back do not worry about it. We spent 2 1/2 hours there with the kids getting the horses from the pasture, grooming them, putting the saddles on them, leading them to the riding arena and then riding them. They were just wonderfu.

You will see we have a solo photo of Joel, but we didn't get the camera in time to take the solo picture of Hope on the horse. She actual sat on the horse for an hour by herself and then road it into the arena and around it.

She is so excited. The instructor has decided by seeing Hope with the horses that she will indeed be a great horseman one day.

Hope that you enjoy our little video clip. Blessings, Pat