The WEIGHT of the cross!

The weight of the cross was the weight of my sin
Not the weight of the tree that was carried by HIM
My guilt and disgrace Jesus wore in my place
On Calvary's road 'neath the weight of the cross

His face was scarred His body bruised 
His head was crowned with thorns
The crowd now jeered and cursed His name
The object of their scorn
He never spoke a word to them
The silent lamb of God
This man of sorrow bore the cross He chose to carry on
But somehow in His eyes I saw a love beyond the pain
As if He knew His sacrifice and loss would be my gain

The weight of the cross was the weight of my sin
Not the weight of the tree that was carried by HIM
My guilt and disgrace Jesus wore in my place 
On Calvary's road 'neath the weight of the cross

~That is a portion of a song that has been in my van CD player for the past couple of weeks.  What an amazing song to meditate on!

Wow!  During the Easter season we often see pictures of Jesus labored under the weight of a cross He carried as He walked up Calvary's road.  In my mind I had always thought He was bent over because of the sheer weight of the cross, but what a thought to think NO, HE was carrying the weight of not just my sins but the sins of every person that has lived and ever will live!  Every lie, every evil thought, every rude comment, every sin!

Did He have to??

NO!

Why did HE??

LOVE!  
Love for every person that has ever lived!  What amazing love!

"But somehow in His eyes I saw a love beyond the pain
as if He knew His sacrifice and loss would be my gain"

Wow, what amazing love for me, for you!  Praise the Lord He did not die on that cross and stay dead, He rose again three days later and now lives in heaven preparing a home for all of those that will put their faith and trust in HIM, and him alone!

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter Sunday focusing on the amazing love that God bestows on us!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SETH!!

Today our Seth turns 6!!

This will be his last birthday that he has without his family.

I look forward to him celebrating the rest of his birthdays surrounded by family and love.

We sent him a birthday care package that included cake, candy and a toy.  We hope to receive pictures of him enjoying his cake in the next few days.

For the next 33 days we have two 6 year olds, next month Caleb will celebrate his 7th birthday.

We have been blessed by quite a few pictures of Seth from the time he was one until current.  I thought his birthday was a great time to share a few of his sweet pictures.

This is one of my absolute favorites!!  He is one in this picture.

Isn't he just the cutest thing!!!

Seth at five years of age.

Happy Birthday Seth!!

We can't wait to meet you very, very soon!

CABLED!

We have been cabled!  

Which means??

Our immigration approval was sent to the U.S. Embassy in China.  Our agencies in-China representative took a copy of our approval letter along with some other documents and dropped everything off at the Embassy for the next needed approval, which is called an Article 5 letter.  This letter is needed to allow the boys to receive an immigrant visa.  This approval takes roughly two weeks.  Our 

Article 5 letter will be picked up at the U.S. Embassy on April 9th and delivered to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs, then we will officially be waiting for TRAVEL APPROVAL, the last approval before booking flights!!  Oh wow, we are getting close!  

It is beginning to seem very real!

Whew! What a week!

This was an exciting, full and amazingly b.u.s.y. week!

A few highlights:

*A trip to get Taylor fingerprinted at U.S. Immigration, which is 1 1/2 hrs away from home.  The boy had the nerve to turn 18 in the middle of an adoption, so he had to be fingerprinted to prove he has not committed any crimes.  Guess what, he passed!

*Andrew got his learner's permit and he is anxious to drive me everywhere!

*Abby had her big semi-annual check-up at the Children's Hospital.    Considering that this hospital is 1 1/2 hours from our house and it is a very complete check up, on the day of this visit we left home at 10 am and returned home at 5 pm!  They were very pleased with her progress and she does not have to wear her braces anymore!  

Woo Hoo!

*We received updates on both boys and found an amazing consignment sale and the girls in this family had a great time shopping!

*Taylor and Andrew volunteered at a Ladies Prayer Advance, so the girls and I had a great "girls day" shopping and eating lunch out.

*I painted the little boys room.

*Abby had two therapy sessions this week.

*And in between all of this running we had school, music lessons, washed a boat load of laundry and prepared meals for my crew!

And...

if this week couldn't get any better with

 the precious updates on the boys ...

We received

our

I800 (immigration) approval!

YIPPEE!!  

Getting closer to our precious little guys!!

I also ordered care packages for both of our boys!!

Thank you Jesus for a wonderful blessed week!

I don't know if I can STAND...

all of this CUTENESS!!

Today we received an update on Caleb!  WOO HOO!

We found out he knows he is being adopted and is "super happy"!

He likes boy toys and likes to be outside.

His favorite color is yellow.

We got updated measurements.  There seems to be a little discrepancy comparing his height from Sept. to now-- he has shrunk 3 inches!!  :)  So, I don't know which measurement is correct, but I'm sure he hasn't shrunk :).  Just many of the unknowns of adoption.  However, he looks healthy to us!

I have saved the best picture for last!  This is absolute precious, sweetness in a picture!

Be still my mommy heart, what a precious boy!

Oh, we CAN NOT WAIT to get on a plane!  We are getting so close!

Are You Ready???

For MAJOR cuteness???

We received an update this morning on Seth!!

We were told his favorite toys are planes, cars and robots.

We were told he knows he is being adopted and is excited about it.

We got updated measurements, which means this mommy and sisters are going shopping for some sweet little boy clothes!

Oh. my. goodness!  I can't wait to get to China!!

Now we are patiently not :) waiting on our update for Caleb!

Here we GO again...

Yep!!

We have another driver in our family!

Andrew nervously took his driving test today for his learner's permit and passed it beautifully getting 100% correct! 

He did a great job driving us home.  I was a bit hesitant to let him drive home due to the fact that it was raining, he was nervous but did great.  We later went back out after the rain and he was much more relaxed!

A few more gray hairs for this mommy! :)

Fun At The Races!

Today was the AWANA Grand Prix races!  The kids always have a great time, especially the biggest kid H.O.!  There were some amazing, creative designs, we had a hot dog, a spider on a web, a space ship and a Big Ben Clock, just to name a few.  Our guys went for more traditional cars, Andrew did decide to make the church van.

Our kids all won several races in different heats, H.O. had really hoped Carrie Anne would win a trophy because she never has.  Abby was enjoying every moment, she smiled from ear to ear!  When it came to the final race the winners from the four elimination heats raced for first, second and third place.  Abby won second place and Taylor won third place.  The first place trophy went to Abby's friend Addie, also adopted from China.  It was great to see her win, as she had never won before!

Abby won second place last year also but she was not there to enjoy, she was in the hospital and Carrie Anne ran her car for her.  So, really this was her first race and she enjoyed every minute!

H.O. is thinking he should start on next year's cars now as he will have six to make next year!  But ....part of the fun is scrambling the week of the race to get them all done!