Isaiah 43:5

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5

Friday, July 4, 2014

A picture post of Lucy Kim's summer fun! (July 04, 2014)

Lucy girl continues to experience more "firsts" as we have entered the summer months.  She's been having lots of family fun - especially outdoors!
 Lucy celebrated her FIRST Father's Day with Daddy in June!, she's enjoyed many pool days at our community pool with her brothers (thanks so much I.S,) park play days, had lots of fun on a recent Saturday celebrating her adoption agency's 20th anniversary, and seeing lots of Red, White and Blue as she celebrates her first July 4th as a U.S. citizen.
 Next up - first family vacation, first time to sleep away from home since landing in the U.S.A.last September and first view of the Atlantic Ocean.  More posts and summer pictures to come.

Happy Independence Day Family and Friends!   


Helping Daddy scramble eggs


Daddy's First Father's Day with his baby girl!

Trips to the park with her brothers


Sitting w/ Sissy at the park


Summer, Sun and Pool Fun!

From littlest on up...... (ok half of 'em at least)


Re-loading the squirtter

Knocking the ping pong balls

Photo Booth Fun w/ "brother bear" :)

Tie Dying tees

Mommy chatting w/ Samuel Fang
(founder of Living Hope Adoption Agency)

Patriotic Face Painting

Really, you eat this stuff?

You watchin' me Daddy?

Mmmm...that was some sticky, icky goodness

Mom and Lucy sporting pink wrap
after we each had blood draws
Sisters!

Littlest Bro and Littlest Sis



Patriotic Family Shoot
(thanks to a passerby who offered to be the photographer)

An impromptu picture of Mom and all her boys since
everyone was dressed in red and khaki.....

Someone didn't like the fact she wasn't included in the above
picture!

As a new  United States Citizen, we still want our girl to love
the country of her birth as well as her new country














Wednesday, June 11, 2014

NINE MONTHS HOME!

On June 12th, Lucy will be home - NINE MONTHS! What comes to my mind whenever I hear a time frame of 9 months is the gestation time of a baby!  Always.  So in thinking about Lucy being home this amount of time has had me thinking that the amount of time we've now been blessed to call Lucy Kim our "daughter" is about the same amount of time (give or take a week or two) her dear first Mama carried her in her womb!
The earliest picture we have of Lucy Kim
If Lucy's first Mama is anything like her forever Mama, she was daily thinking and dreaming about the little life she carried.  As she rubbed her enlarging tummy, was she thinking about what her baby's future might be like?  As she felt her kick, did she wonder if she would have personality traits similar to her own or her Daddy?   Did the prospect of having to give her wee baby up because of a disability ever cross her mind in those very early days, weeks and months after conception?  
Nine months.  Less than a full year and yet in this short amount of time, we feel like she's always been part of our family.  I feel like I already know so many of her silly, fun, and stubborn idiosyncrasies.  She's my baby. 
1st day with my girl!


October 2013

January 2014

Mother's Day 2014
 BUT.... time tells me we've only known her for 1/4 of her little life!  There's still a lot about her we have yet to learn.  She will always have missing pieces to her early life.  She will most likely formulate her own ideas and thoughts that will change over the course of time as to her earliest months and years of life.  


There are several Bible verses that I often reflect on and take comfort in when I think about our two youngest sons and Lucy's prenatal and infant days.  We may have not known them  in their earliest days, months or years BUT we do know (and have a personal relationship with) the one who formed each of them in their mother's womb!  


Jeremiah 1:5 - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...."
Psalm 139:13 - "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb"

Like each of us, God has had a plan for Lucy since the beginning of time - Jeremiah 29:11 - "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."

While this side of heaven, we'll likely never know the "why" of Lucy's early years, we are assured that her Creator has plans to prosper her and give a hope and a future!  

HE is the MASTER WEAVER (of all red threads!)



Happy Nine Months Home, precious girl!







Saturday, May 31, 2014

Month of May's Musings......

We've had a funky spring that was late in arriving here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania this year.   May brought a wide variety of  weather and temps throughout the month (including thunderstorms, a few days of high temps and humidity, lots of rain and wind, sunshine filled days and even a few 40 degree nights sprinkled throughout the month).  We've taken advantage of the sunny, warm days and have been thrilled to be able to spend time and pent up energy OUTDOORS.  Having over a month and a half of recovery behind her, Lucy's been loving riding her bike on our back deck, swinging often, jumping on the trampoline with the big brothers and eating outdoors when we can!           ------------click on any picture to enlarge-------
Last May,  as I hung wash,  I thought often about hanging little girl clothes
 on the wash line once again, it's a fun reality this year!

Thanks Aunt Rosene for letting us borrow the bike!

Swinging on the back deck
Everyone on the Z Ranch was "on the move" this month with many fun family activities scheduled.  We are so grateful that Lucy seems to enjoy going away together as a family.  Although Mommy has noted that resuming our regular routine after several outings is important as Lucy and some of her brothers do best with routine and home time.

Mother's Day weekend was a full weekend!  We all thoroughly enjoyed watching Emily on stage at her last spring concert in high school (she'll be finishing her high school days in June).
"Big Sis"on stage with lots of music and dance!!
Lucy girl LOVES music and dance too!

Sharing her gift of music and dance

Photo op with the show's star and her B.F.F. 
Between big sister's Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon performances,  Mommy and Daddy were given the honor of sharing God's story in bringing Lucy home to the Chinese Church in Lancaster on Mother's Day morning.
Sharing Lucy's story with the Chinese Church
in Lancaster with the aid of a fabulous interpreter!

Some slides we had in both English and Chinese
(KBS - yes I had to include this picture on a slide :)

It's the Chinese Church tradition to take a photo of all the
Mother's on Mother's Day!

This was my first Mother's Day with Lucy Kim and I asked Merle to snap a couple of photo's before she went to bed on this special day!

A few days after Mother's Day all of my children were home and made a delicious supper that we shared together on a beautiful evening outdoors.

This month we also had the opportunity to have a family photo shoot with a talented local photographer.  This sweet young lady is part of "Red Thread Sessions" (how cool is that name!) that lovingly photographs adoptive families at a reduced cost.  This is their wonderful way of showing their support of growing families through adoption.  Our photographer is currently in the midst of adopting their first child!
Daddy sweetly snapped this picture of us before the
"real" photography session began
Enjoying the slide after pictures
The "BFF's" and their coordinating dresses!
Memorial Day weekend was also a jammed packed weekend with two family picnics and a last day of Chinese school program (the school breaks over the summer months and will resume in September).  Lucy apparently still has her teacher wrapped around her finger.....


Lucy and some of her friends before the program started

The pre-schoolers sang a song about animals,
Lucy was given the "bird" hat to wear (yes it's Angry bird - LOL)
At one of our family picnics, we celebrated Emily's upcoming graduation with a special cake!

With the warm days, we've brought out the sandals.  Seeing Lucy's feet "exposed" in sandals really showed the difference in the sizes of her two feet.  It also appeared harder for her smaller foot to walk in a shoe that was too big.  I realized that her feet are now about two sizes different in shoe size.  I purchased two pair of sandals in two different sizes so that I could have one usable pair for LK's feet.  This would also make her foot size difference less obvious to others (although now that her Mama is broadcasting it publicly on a blog, I'll bet I'll see some of you checking out her footwear :)  For those of you who don't know me in "real time" you need to know I have a thing for shoes and also bags.  Being the Goodwill/Second Hand store shopper that I am, it'll be a rare day to find two of the same shoes in two difft. sizes!
Uh-Oh......this just maybe what it will take for Mommy to keep the shoe fettish in check.
Size 6 on the right foot with a size 8 on the left

A girl needs some variety, right?  This picture will equal three
pair of sandals for Lucy!

We ended the month with taking "big brother" to the Emergency Dept. where he had to get three stitches in his lip.  Of course this topic of conversation was brought up often and each time it was addressed, the little Miss needed to remind everyone that "she has a boo-boo on her back" and stitches too!  
Sporting 3 stitches in the top lip

Not too sure about brother getting all of this attention
over three stitches!
As you can see, Lucy's little life continues to be drastically different from a year ago where she spent ALL of her time behind orphanage walls.  Like spring time, she's blossoming and blooming..  We continue to give God the praise and glory for what He has done and continues to do in and through our family-through the "growing times" and the "blooming times."

We're excited to see how Lucy will enjoy her first visit to our community pool, our first family vacation with extended family and more!

Thanks for joining us in the journey!