His mercies are new every morning...

These new days with 4 little (1 not so little =0)ones are FULL. That is the word of the day around here, but cannot be said without being - FULL of His MERCY and joy- or I wouldn't make it through! Through the busy crazy moments and tantrums, the moments full of precious interactions with brothers and sister, full of little surprises of His grace through meals from friends and family, blessings and prayers of encouragement.

Thank you for the beautiful sign boys! This sign as well as dinner in the crock pot and an 'extreme makeover' to our garage by my amazing father-in-law Pat, and a spotless house and reorganized cabinets by Thelma were waiting for us upon our return- and the list could go on about all our family! You are amazing. Thank you!

First moments home. Does she look scared to you? =0)

First visit at U.W. -with pediatric adoption specialist, Dr. Davies

Again....does she look scared to you?? Who laughs and smiles at being naked in a cold doctor office?

For those of you wondering, we took a day trip to Seattle this last Monday and had visits with Glory's doctor at U.W. , who is amazing and so great with Glory, and also a team of doctors that will help through all her surgeries to come if needed.  Yes, that is correct, if. We are not afraid to say we are always asking God to go ahead and get ALL the glory if He would like to just heal her without surgery, because He has the power to just do that! And if He chooses otherwise, the talented and compassionate medical team at Children's would be great to work with. Through the whole day Glory was amazingly happy and calm. The only horrible, heart-ripping part was having her blood drawn at U.W. This was necessary to see what kind of things she could have without us knowing, and also show which vaccines she was given in China.  But after those horrible minutes of being poked, she really allowed us to comfort her and she really seemed somehow more responsive to us. She was so exhausted from crying and the trauma of that i think, she 'passed out' in the car ride on our way over to Childrens, where we went next, and then ate just fine and laughed and bounced the rest of the day! I think we were more tired than she was by the time we headed over the mountains, and i really could be making this up, but she SEEMED to be happy to be home and went to bed immediately and i didn't hear a peep out of her! I am waiting for reality to set in and for her to start crying at everything because she just seems to be too easily comforted.....so i will just say THANK you God right now, and thank you for praying for us!
  We were just told today that her lip surgery is scheduled for January 3rd. We will go over for a pre-op appointment on the 31st and then go back and stay the 3rd and 4th. A week later the doctor would take out her stitches. Later in the year would be the more complicated surgery and healing of the palate.

Amazing Dr. Davies-They hit it off quickly, he is SO good with kids!

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Here are a few snapshots of our days filled with His glory and mercies!

Seriously??  Could she GET any cuter??

And this guy...I think there is more mischief in the Lewis household than i know what to do with...

...Does ANYONE know how to take a picture of 4 kids at the same time happily looking at the camera??I would love any tips....

This might be how most days go....

I LOVE these days!  My Reedy making art...music to my heart.

Brotherly love seems to have gone even deeper when we were gone. Judah wants to be with his cool amazing brother Zeke that can do almost ANYthing!=0)

First official daily walk, with Glory. Love it!

 

Home Sweet Home

Hello from America. Wow, it is so good to be home!  The plane flight was so much better than expected. Glory was a trooper and even slept for 4 hours on our long flight!  She doesn't sit still really. ever. But she didn't cry much the whole day of travel. We were amazed and SO thankful!  My mom picked us up at Sea-Tac and Glory slept the whole drive home. Again, surprise thank You Lord.=0)  The boys and Papa and Grandma were there on the porch to greet us and all piled in the car to mob Glory before we could take her out of the car-seat.  Didn't even phase her.  Last night, late night, was pretty rough, and we are all so tired, but today was so much fun giving the boys their new Chinese outfits with the dragons on them, and all getting to know Glory. She seems to like them all and loves climbing over Zeke and Reed, laughing at anything they try to do to entertain her. It has been a sweet day. Thank you again for posting Riann, while we were in China. What a blessing!  And thank you to all our friends and family who 'prayed us home'.  And now I will go to bed dreaming of a peaceful night's sleep!