Two letter Thursday!

Woohoo!!!  We are coming Caelyn!  Now to finish our dossier!!

The Story of Christmas

This a powerful video about how Christmas is the beginning but not the end of the story.

Here at Blessed Beyond Belief I am thankful....

This Thanksgiving I am going to share the top 11 (for 2011) things I am thankful for:

11. My family even though the milit*ry keeps us away from them most of the time I treasure the time we do have together!
10. My honey...God has blessed me with 20 years married to my best friend!

09. My kids...certainly been blessed more than I deserve!

08. Brianna...trying to treasure each moment knowing that all too soon she will be off to college. 

07. Nicholas...cannot believe how he has become a young man and is so tall.



06. Hunter...my miracle boy who continues to amaze the doctors and is my comic relief.

05. Claire...my super smart sign language speaking girl and most certainly momma's girl.

04. Caleb...my little snuggle bug.

03. Caelyn...our newest treasure waiting for a family in China.  Soon baby girl soon.

02. My great country that I was blessed to be born in.  Thankful for those in the milit*ry that fight to keep us free.
01. My Lord and Savior who has blessed me with these...

Happy Thanksgiving!  What are you thankful for?

Adoption update

Some of you may be wondering where we are in our adoption process.  Let me try to fill you in.  Last week, we submitted our LOI to China!  In the adoption world, that means we have submitted a letter of intent to adopt a particular child.  Now we are working on getting our home study completed and on getting all the items needed for our dossier.  While we work on this, we are waiting to recieve our PA which is a pre approval from China saying we can go forward in our pursuit of this child.  This is so exciting and I am thrilled to say that God has provided all the money we have needed so far!  God has brought us buyers for the things we have been selling and He has nudged people to support our puzzle fundraiser.  The puzzle fundraiser is still going on so if you want to sponsor some pieces you can use the ChipIn button on the blog sidebar.  However, we know that more funds will be needed.  We still have China program fees coming up among other fees.  So with that in mind, we have been selected to partner with 2 businesses that will walk alongside us and help us raise the funds that will be needed.

The first one is Ground to Cup Coffee.  This is how Ground to Cup Coffee explains who they are from their website.  "At Ground to Cup Coffee we are centered on creating an environment where each of us grasp the reality that coffee is so much more than just a cup of coffee. We are passionate about empowering those causes that have a direct impact in our community and across the globe such as the construction of youth camps, adoption and orphan care, cancer research, shelters supporting the homeless and the hungry and helping sustain the coffee farmers themselves. So, join us in making a difference by drinking a freshly roasted cup of coffee while “Bringing a Hope and a Future” one great cup at a time."  We are so excited to be working with them to raise funds for our adoption!  We have an online store and receive 40% of all sales in our store!  If you love coffee or would love to give the gift of coffee this Christmas would you consider checking out our store.  You can check it out by clicking the link below or by using the link on the side of our blog.
Click here to visit Ground to Cup Coffee.

The second one is Wild Olive tees.  So, if coffee isn't your thing maybe an awesome t-shirt would be!  Here is what Wild Olive tees has to say about their mission from their website "Wild Olive adoption tees have been created as a means to help families fundraise for their impending adoption. Our goal is to partner with adoptive families to help them gain support from friends and family to offset the cost of their adoption, and in turn, help bring children home to their forever families!"  Again, we are so excited to be partnering with them! Their shirts are so beautiful and each one has a verse on it.  Each time you wear the shirt you are proclaiming God's Word to the world.  You can check out the t-shirts by clicking on the link below or on the side of the blog.  If you purchase a shirt make sure you use our family code of HAINES1120.  Put this code in the coupon code section and the comments section of your order.  By doing this, you assure that our family gets credit for your purchase!
Click here to visit Wild Olive tees.

So, maybe this Christmas you will consider doing some of your shopping for gifts from Ground to Cup Coffee or Wild Olive tees.  What an awesome way to get some great gifts and help bring our daughter home at the same time!  Would you please share our blog with your friends and family and help us get the word out about our fundraisers?  We are blessed by each one of you and we are forever grateful for those of you who support our fundraising efforts.  To us you are Jesus with skin on and we thank you.

National Adoption Month continued...

I shared Claire's one year video so now I have to share Caleb's video! Enjoy!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday and I can't stop thinking about a certain orphan in China right now.  Today is her birthday.  Today she does not have a family to celebrate her and tell her that she is special and that God has big plans for her.  But this is not where her story ends.  She does have a family she just doesn't know it yet.  She does have a family that longs to tell her how special she is and that God loves her so very much.  She has a family that is working hard to raise the money to bring her home.  A family that is working hard on all of the paperwork that is required.  Soon very soon she will finally find out that it is her turn...her turn for a mommy and daddy.  So today, her birthday, I pray that God is holding her close and whispering to her inmost being that she is special, that she is loved, that someone cares.  I pray that God will continue to hold her close until we can be His hands and feet and do it for Him.

National Adoption month continued...

You know by us adopting we are not changing the world but we are changing the world for 1, 2 even 3 children.  In my last post, I posted the video that we made of our first year with Claire.  She loves to look at pictures of herself so I invited her over to take a look at the video.  When it started, she immediately became upset and wanted to leave.  If you watched the video then you know the first couple of pictures are of her at her orphanage.  However, as soon as the pictures changed to us in China getting her she immediately changed.  She cheered and wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed.  Friends, Claire has been home for over 3 years and she still cannot bear to look at pictures from her time at the orphanage nor does she want to talk about it.  So even though we are not changing the world, we changed her world.

Our adoption journeys have also opened my eyes more to my adoption.  God has lovingly opened his arms and invited me to come to Him and now I am an heir; a child of His.  Oh, how I cheer and long to wrap my arms around His neck!

And, "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughers, says the Lord Almighty."
2 Corinthians 6:18

National Adoption Month!!!

In honor of national adoption month, I thought I would share the video we made of our first year with Claire. Adoption is such a blessing, the bible tells us that children are a gift from God. I am so thankful that God is filling my quiver with His children!

Where we are at right now...

I have thought this post over in my head many times trying to figure out what just to say but no eloquent words came so here is what my heart is saying.  Gary and I are going to adopt again.  There I said it.  I know many of you won't understand why when we have 5 great kids already and our van is full and our schedule is full and we don't have the money and and and....  Believe me, those things have been brought up and talked about many times but that does not change the fact that God is calling us and we must be obedient.  Why God is calling us again I don't know but who am I to question his plan for us and for our future daughter.  Yes, daughter!  We have someone in mind but we have not been matched so nothing is official but trust me she is beautiful.  She is in China waiting for it to finally be her turn to get a family.  However, we lack the funds needed to complete an adoption.  This is our 3rd adoption in as many years and we just don't have extra money laying around; oh how I wish we did!  We are trusting God to provide and we pray that it will be obvious to everyone who hears our story that it was truly God who came up big in all of this!  We have started cleaning house and selling our treasures.  Our mind set is why keep things that just collect dust when we could raise the ransom needed to bring our girl home.  While the kids are gone I go through the house and snatch things up and take pictures of it and post it for sale.  Our next fundraiser idea is this beautiful puzzle.

Isn't this beautiful?  This is a 1000 piece puzzle that is almost 2ft by 3ft.  Would you consider sponsoring a piece or 2 or 3?  Just $5 a piece.  Once a piece is sponsored we will write your name on the back of the piece.  Or if you sponsor 5 pieces for your family, we will write each family member on a piece.  You can use the Chip-In button on the side of the blog if you would like.  Once all the pieces are sponsored we will put the puzzle together and have it framed with glass all around and hang it in her room.  This will forever be a reminder of those that came together to love her home and be a part of her journey.  We would appreciate it too if you helped to spread the word of our fundraiser.  This is a hard post to write because it is hard to be vulnerable and put yourself out there and ask for help but I really felt God telling me this morning that it is time because she is waiting and time is of the essence.  I am forever grateful for all of you!

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

Back to School

After our long summer, the kids headed back to school the day after Labor day.  Believe it or not, they were all ready to go.  I was ready too!  I love being with my kids; they are great kids but it is nice to have some time for myself.  My mornings are filled with laundry, dishes, prepping for dinner, and quiet!  I've started a new Bible study too and love my quiet mornings for study.  This start to my day just helps me be ready for when the kids come home and we start football, volleyball, karate, speech, gymnastics and homework!  See, why I cherish my mornings?!

Brianna - junior

 Nicholas - freshman

 How did I get 2 in high school already?

 Hunter - 5th grade

 This is his stop taking pictures look so I can go in!

 Claire - 1st grade

 She is so happy that school is starting again!

 Caleb - pre k

 This is all he cared about when we talked about school..he gets to ride the bus home!

 Sigh..he looks so grown up!

We are off to a good start with school.  Everyone is doing great and not wishing for summer again....yet!

Playing catch up...

Oh my, to say things have been busy around here would be an understatement!  Even though, I love to blog it tends to take a back seat when things get crazy busy.  Let's see if I can get you caught up on what has been going on around here.  Someday, I plan on finishing my Uganda stories so please be patient with me.

After celebrating Caleb's birthday, the rest of the month was spent driving
back and forth,
back and forth,
back and forth between home and the high school.

Brianna and Nicholas had 2 weeks of band camp in the August heat.  Plus Nicholas started football practice and Brianna volleyball practice.  Of course, they rarely were at the same time which meant more driving
back and forth,
back and forth,
You get the idea!  I had made the trip so many times that one time when I was not headed there I completely missed my turn because I was in automatic mode and heading to the school!

Here is Brianna warming up for a game..she is #7

 Here is Nicholas..#82

Sorry, I don't have any action shots but my camera just doesn't get the best shots from far away.

Labor day weekend, our neice, Alisha, and her family came to visit us from Georgia.  We had a great time and did a lot of fun things.  First, they got to go with us to watch Nicholas' first game of the season.  It was a lot of fun.  Their little guy, Noah, is a hoot.  He danced and clapped the night away!

Here Noah is with Claire and Caleb

 Noah is cheering..notice his shirt...Nicholas has the best fans!!

Next, we went and visited the Arch in St Louis.  We have driven by it several times on our way to appointments but this was the first time we actually took Claire and Caleb into it.

At the top!

Should be illegal to be this cute!

Turner, Alisha and Noah

The Arch

 What happens after a day of sightseeing...

Here is the fab 5 at the base of the arch!

The next fun thing we did was go to our local orchard and pick apples.  It was a very hot day but the apples were ripe for picking.  In fact, it was the last weekend to pick honeycrisp apples.

Boy, these apples are good!

 See the sweaty head...told you it was a hot day!

Noah ate his apple to the core!

The next day was much cooler and the little ones enjoyed playing outside together.

Such cute boys!!

Caleb trying to catch a ride from Noah

Caleb "talked" on the cb for a long time..not sure who he was talking to!

We were lucky enough to be able to celebrate Hunter's 11th birthday while Turner and Alisha were visiting!  Not sure how 11 years have gone by already?

Celebrating at Red Robin

All he wanted for his birthday was an Ipod touch...we agreed to pay for part of it and the rest he had to save for.

Brianna and I made him a cake..he went with his school colors this year!

 He is so cute!

 School colors...purple and white!

This is getting to be a really long post and I am running out of time!  I guess I will share first day of schools pics another time!  Not sure when I will have time considering we have 2 football games, a volleyball tournament, a marching competition and a parade to march in (and that is all before Sunday).  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  I am enjoying every minute of this time in our lives because I know that all too soon the house will be quiet and the activities few.

Caleb is the big 4!!

I just can't believe that our sweet boy is 4 already.  That just sounds so old.  He will be starting preschool very soon and that makes me feel old!  His actual birthday was on the 18th and I am so behind on blogging.  My life lately exists of driving back and forth between home and school (and school hasn't even started yet!).  With 2 in high school this year it is never ending!  Marching band X 2, freshman football, volleyball, karate and gymnastics just to name a few of our activities.  However, this post is about Caleb and his birthday.  I will let his pictures speak for themselves!  Behold the cuteness!  I just love this boy..all 25 pounds of him!!

 At his first Cardinal baseball game!

 Thanks to big brother, Nicholas, Caleb loves the Eagles!

 Really, could he be any cuter?

 His first birthday present!

 Birthday ice cream!

 More presents!

He loves his books from Aunt Teresa and Uncle Wayne!

Happy  birthday, Caleb!  We love you to the moon and back!