Joy in the Midst of Exhaustion

So, we're just concluding homeschooling week 2.  I love it, Halle likes it, but still asks to go back to regular school sometimes.  Oh my heart.  In the midst of that, our school is moving.  It's a good thing.  God is moving in this area, our school is growing!  More opportunities to share His truth with more kids.  However, there's grieving going on.  In my heart, in my kid's hearts, in my husband's heart.  We have been at the same location for 6 years.  This school is all our kids have ever known.  True, the teachers are all moving to the new school, the students are moving to the new school, many of the classroom décor is moving to the new school, but the actual building is not.  It's silly, it's just a place, but a place that holds so many memories.  We know He is calling us to a new place, a better place, just like when the Israelites were called to leave Egypt, and yet my heart is resistant, even fearful.  I want to stay, for things to not change, even if the change is for the better.  And yet, deep down, I want to be in the middle of the great work He is doing.  I know in just a few weeks, I'll be excited about our new school and making new memories in new places, but until that point there is a lot of grieving.  It's hard to pack up classrooms because things won't look the same in the new place and yet it must be done.  Trust is what must happen next.  Trust that even though I'm hurting He is leading us to His next work and it will be good!  Today a group of us friends got together to pray.  I confessed my resistance to change.  I confessed that as much as I'm excited about the new school, I'll miss the old, but I cannot be two places at once.  The tears came, in a flood actually.  He must've known how my heart is struggling because in my email this morning was the sweet, final update of our son Hudson.  How I needed this! The next update will be with our OWN camera and with our OWN words.  He will be Hudson Paul Yost and we will make new memories with him in our new places and it will be exciting.  Change is good :)

Immigration approval and waiting...

Well our I800 came and I began rejoicing until I saw the little word "provisional".  What?!  It said we needed visas.  Hmmm...we live in China, he lives in China, no need.  So with panic beginning in my heart (trying to trust you here Lord) I called the people.  They said not to worry, just let the next step know.  So tomorrow that is what we do.  Call and make sure we do not need anything else but to wait. 
Meanwhile, the wait is starting to kill me:)  Today we get pictures printed for his photo book that I hope to send next week.  Getting some new pictures in the home of him...dreams of him happening more regularly now.  Think I'm definitely starting the nesting stage.  October seems so close and yet so far away right now! 
Tuesday is our baby shower for him.  Pretty excited to celebrate him with others!

Hudson Paul Yost

Yes folks, after months of painful toil (and yes, those of you who live around me know this is true), we've finally agreed on a name- and probably only because we were forced to make a decision on one of our forms :)  Hudson Paul Yost will hopefully be joining us in October or November this year!!!  So, Hudson means son of the Brave Ruler (Jesus!!!!) and we like the name a lot and it has fun nickname possibilities, and the kids all liked it, and of course Hudson Taylor was a great missionary to China so it's perfect!  Paul is a great middle name because every Paul we've known has been a great guy, especially Dave's grandpa, who in a way, we feel brought us together (long story, ask me later!) and my cool cousin married a Paul who we love!  So, it seemed like a great family name to pass down.  And so, there it is.  The last major decision is done!  Phew!

New Pictures!

Recently we were surprised with an email that contained 3 new pictures of our son!  Along with a little description saying "he is doing very well and is very active."  Well we saw that to be true when in one picture he is the only one actively reaching for the food while the others are all sitting nicely :)  He'll fit in just fine here- we are an active family!  So, enjoy them with me!

Busy Busy

So it's a busy summer for us.  School has ended, we've showed Yuan Yuan's photo to everyone at school.  We got approved so we began showing it all over FB.  The kids are getting excited.  Now to decide his name...Until we do, we have to move to a new house, Dave goes to Beijing to work on his Masters's, I go to America to see my little brother get married, and then we need to get used to our new community.  And we can't forget to do fun things like play Star Wars Monopoly and go swimming!  Busy Busy, but that's good.  Keeps me from going crazy while waiting for Yuan Yuan...  :)

Introducing Yuan Yuan

This morning was quite exciting as we opened our computer and there before us was our referral.  My computer couldn't open the links fast enough!  As we sat there gazing at his face, the room started shaking.  First thing I thought was wow, i'm a little tipsy from looking at him so long and then realized that we were actually experiencing an earthquake!
We grabbed the kids and ran down the stairs.  by the time we were outside so were all our neighbors.  We were all in our pj's and I was wanting to go back to my computer so bad and read more about our new son.  But alas, when an earthquake of that magnitude hits, you are encouraged not to go back in for quite awhile so we sat visiting with our neighbors and all I am thinking is "we only have 48 hrs to do our LOI!  i must get back in there!".  Needless to say, we did get back in and got the LOI returned.  Now to put all those pics on the desktop and gaze at him some more :)

12 month PAR

I can't believe that in just a few weeks we'll be doing Halle's 12 month post adoption report. She's progressed so much! riding a bike, knowing routines, going to school 1/2 days, making friends, liking pets, etc. She's a big time talker- just like the other kids are! We are thankful for the blessing she is!