Not So Patiently Waiting

Today is day 62 from our LOI. We were hoping to have LOA by now but I guess 8 weeks was an unrealistic expectation. We were told 8-12 weeks. I worry and wonder about little FuSheng (Aiden) on a daily basis. I grieve for the milestones I know I am missing. I am painfully learning the lesson that God's ways are so much better than our own and that His clock keeps perfect time.

Our Journey to Become A Family

Our journey to become a family officially began in January 1998. After mountains of paperwork, endless prayers and countless uncertainties, we walked away from a Hotel in Nanchang, China with the most precious treasure anyone could ever have. Our beautiful 7 month old daughter. Handpicked by God to be ours forever. This journey of a lifetime was destined to be, forever in our minds, the most wonderful days of our lives. We have been blessed beyond measure to experience the culture of China, see it's beautiful land and to be given the opportunity to raise "A daughter of China".

The Dance

Shaelyn attended her first formal dance this past Spring. It was a Father/Daughter dance sponsored by her school as a fundraiser for Relay for Life. She was so excited and of course was beautiful in her vision of pink. She said she felt like she was in a dream. She is growing up too quickly.

Announcing Our Son

Wow, I can't believe I am typing anything about a SON. Our application was approved for a female but God had other plans. We switched our application to the SN program in Feb. 2008 and received a referral of our 15 month old son on 4-28-08. We sent in our LOI (Letter of Intent) on 4-29-08 and had Preliminary approval on 5-12-08. We are now awaiting LOA (Letter of Acceptance) and Travel approval. We hope to travel in Sept. to bring him home. We are simply thrilled. Yang FuSheng (Soon to be Aiden Chase Sheng Roberts) is in the Yunyang City's SWI in Chongqing and we can't wait to bring him home.

When Love Takes You In - Steven Curtis Chapman

Yang FuSheng (Aiden Chase Roberts)

Isn't he just the cutest thing? We are so eager to bring him home!

Baby Aiden's Nursery

When we initially did the nursery we were thinking GIRL but ironically we decided not to do pink and frilly. We thought it would be nice to do an Asian themed nursery with lots of panda bears. Little did we know how perfect it would be for even a BOY! I know God must have had his hand on that small detail.

His Room

We had loaned out Shaelyn's nursery set so had to get Aiden one of his own. We we thankful to find a great deal on this set. Shaelyn's nursery set was white and we thought the darker wood would look more "Asian". I stenciled bamboo (chair-rail height) on the wall. The panda cubs around the room are actually stickers we printed off the Internet. We could not find a panda stencil so had to get creative. We found the Asian printed crib comforter set off the Internet as well. It has been a fun room to decorate.

His Room is Ready

His room is ready and waiting. Wow, this wait is getting difficult! I find myself keeping the door to the nursery closed just so I don't have to think about him not being here yet. We are counting down the days!!

The Chinese Quilt

My sister-in-law's mother gave me this very authentic-looking Chinese quilt right after we brought Shaelyn home. Since Shaelyn's room was pink and frilly, this quilt didn't match so I stored it. Well, it is simply perfect this time around! I'm not sure where exactly she got the quilt from, but it is VERY authentic and looks terrific in his nursery.

Big Sister is Ready

Shaelyn is very excited about being a big sister. She has always wanted a sibling and ironically when she would play with her baby dolls, she would always refer to herself as "sister" not mommy. She would tell me that I was the mom of her baby dolls. We always thought that was interesting. Well....she is finally getting her wish. She wanted an infant sibling at first but quickly changed her mind when we received his referral. She is very excited to be getting a brother and can't wait to go get him. Shaelyn will be traveling to China with us to get baby Aiden.

Our Angel

Shaelyn (FuXun) has brought so much joy into our lives. She was a very strong-willed little baby and this made for some interesting photo shoots. We had a hard time getting any good pictures of her as she would not sit still long enough. This angel photo was an impromptu photo (no scheduled appointment.) and they turned out better than most of our "scheduled" pictures. We truly are in love with our Angel from China. Each time I look at her I am reminded that God's ways are so much better than ours.

China Beauty

Our little China Beauty at 22 months old. She was not a happy-camper during the taking of this photo but the serious look was just perfect.

Shae and Panda

Shaelyn would simply NOT participate in the taking of her pictures. There were several occasions when we would just leave the photo studio without having taken the first picture. We really wanted Christmas pictures so this time got creative. We told her that SHE was not getting her picture made instead PANDA was getting his picture made and she needed to hold him. The photographer joined in and would ask panda to smile each time and of course Shaelyn would be the one who smiled. :) They turned out to be some of the best pictures we had made of her. She was 2.5 yrs old.

She's Getting Big

Shaelyn at 5 years old is such a "girl". She loves anything that sparkles and shines. She loves music and sings very well. She sang a solo "God Bless America" at her preschool graduation at age 4. She has learned to swim, roller skate and ride a bike. She is a social butterfly and has lots of friends.