Easter Blessings

Easter is truly one of the best holidays. We love it around here. It is a joyful time to celebrate a Risen Savior!

On Saturday we spent the day at home watching movies, dying easter eggs, and having a hunt in the back yard.

 

We couldn't do our traditional Easter Egg Party this year because some of our favorite leaders (aka Nana Bunny) was feeling under the weather.

We were so sad we didn't get to celebrate but we still had a fun Easter "party" as just us.

Sunday was spent going to church and eating lunch with some of our sweet family. Including Nana Bunny! We felt so very blessed to be surrounded by our family and to be celebrating the Risen King!

Hallelujah, He has Risen!

Happy Easter, Y'all!

a true princess

all Anna Grace wants to be is a princess. 

She talks about it all day long. 

She wants the beautiful hair, the dresses, the crown and castle. 

She can taste it. 

But what she doesn't know is….

It takes a lot to be a princess. 

A princess is so much more than crowns and pretty hair. 

It's so much more than evil step mothers and prince charming. 

It is so much more about your heart. 

To be a princess you must be honest, loyal, faithful, and kind.

you must be proper. you must love. you must always keep your head up. 

you must be courageous. you must be compassionate. you must have a beautiful heart.

you must be willing to risk it all for another person. you must be a role model.

you must be silly.

All of those things describe my Anna Grace. 

She is beautiful and kind. She is compassionate and loving. She is brave. 

She is faithful. She is giving. 

and in my book, she will always be a Princess. 

"how pretty your face is matters so little 
in comparison to how pretty your heart is." 
and my darling, you have the most beautiful heart of anyone i know.

Transform

I know that a lot  okay, most of my posts lately have been only about Ainsley.

I cannot say enough how amazed and thankful I am for the transformation she has had in just a year. When we started the process to bring Ainsley home we were told she would never do anything. It was a heart breaking diagnoses, but we knew she was ours from the beginning.

God worked miracles to get Ainsley home. 6 months from the day we saw her face she was in our arms. It was amazing.

Ainsley came home with a list of unknowns. We took the first 3 months day by day, but soon we saw a miracle start to unfold. Soon our girl was crawling then walking then running.

Soon she was talking! Forming words and using sign language. She was doing things that amazed everyone who looked at her file!

Do I think they file was wrong? I'm not sure. Did God heal Ainsley and answer our prayers? Absolutely!

I honestly cannot imagine life without this little firecracker in our day to day. She is full of life, JOY, love and trouble.

We just love you, Ainsley.

Friday Phone Dump 1

Spending time with my best friends in Charlotte, Finding starving puppies on the road and taking them in, Spending time with my favorite girl, Running barefoot through parking lots, Going back to Uganda announcement, Three Years with Andrew, Africa Phone case, and Gym Days. I'm not sure how life gets much better.

Happy Weekend!

Three Years with Andrew

Three years ago we met Andrew Hudson in China

What a whirlwind of three years it has been

Has it been easy? Absolutely not.

It's been so hard, but SO worth it.

We are unbelievably grateful to the One who so beautifully chose Andrew for our family.

We cannot imagine life without you, JianHui!

For the Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save! 
-Zephaniah 3:17

One Year Ago

One Year ago today a little girl who I lovingly referred to as Liliana went to be with Jesus.

This little girl was near and dear to my heart as I literally pulled her from the orphans bed. She was dying in a Ch*nese orphanage and from the moment I laid eyes on her I simply knew I could not leave her.

I was blessed to spend time with the late Amanda de Lange on that trip and got to see her heart, passion, and share in it. Amanda was the most amazing and selfless woman I had ever met. She loved Ch*na and it's children and most of all she loved Jesus. It shined through in everything she did, too.

I will never forget when I picked Liliana up from that crib and said "Amanda, her. we cannot leave her." In true form Amanda looked at me and said "You're right. We can't" and with that I wrapped her in a blanket and carried her out of the orphanage. I will never, ever forget that moment. It is forever etched into my heart.

When I found out that Liliana had in fact died, my heart broke. I could not believe the precious baby I was just snuggling in my arms was no longer on this earth. It literally hurt.

Now a year later, it still hurts. I can't honestly believe it has been a year. So much has happened and it has left me simply being thankful for every single moment.

I miss Liliana and it hurts to know she will never have a forever family, but I am so thankful that now she is whole and dancing at the feet of Jesus with Amanda.

Please pray for all of Starfish today. A lot of things are happening that I'm not comfortable sharing at the moment.