Merry Christmas

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Happy Birthday, Mason!

Today is a bitter-sweet day. It's the day that Mason entered the world. For that, we rejoice. We thank God for making him! We also are thankful that we received some updated photos of Mason on Thanksgiving Day. These are his official 2 year pictures! Check them out!

 You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Your workmanship is marvelous--and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Psalm 139:13-16

How we wish you were home with us on your special day, Mason. We've been thinking about you and praying for you. We even made you a cake. Zachary volunteered to blow out the candles since you weren't able to be here;)

Although you're not here for this birthday, we can rest assured that God has his hand on you. We trust that he is guiding you and supporting you. For that, we are truly thankful.

You both precede and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Psalm 139:5   

What We'd Say To You, Mason

No, we don't have any updates......still waiting for our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China. We can't really do much until that comes in. Once we get that document, we will have a better idea of when we may travel. We are guessing maybe Feb or March 2012??? What we do know is that Mason will soon be turning 2 years old. Nov 27 is his given birthdate. We are sad that we can't celebrate face-to-face, but we will be celebrating here! We'll be dreaming about those birthdays to come.
Until then we continue to pray for our Mason. Daily we thank God for providing for his needs through the orphanage staff. We pray that his physical and emotional needs are getting met. We pray that he would somehow, someway be getting 1:1 attention and love from the workers. We pray that he would have peace that surpasses all understanding.
This song plays on the radio a lot. It makes me think of the boys each time I listen to it. Although we can't tell Mason what we are thinking right now, we can pray for him. We can dream about all the things we WILL be telling him one day...

Sidewalk Prophets - The Words I Would Say 

Three in the morning,
And I'm still awake,
So I picked up a pen and a page,
And I started writing,
Just what I'd say,
If we were face to face,
I'd tell you just what you mean to me,
I'd tell you these simple truths.

Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
Thank God for each day,
His love will find a way,
These are the words I would say..............

Fortune Teller?

I cleaned out some of my old texts in my phone this week. You will never guess what I found! On 10/13/2010 (1 year ago yesterday) I sent Lonnie a text telling him that Zach said we should go to China to get a baby. It was something Zachary thought up all on his own, as Lonnie and I had not been talking about the next adoption with Zach yet.
One year later to the exact day, our agency has our dossier in their hands. They will be sending it to China today!

Where in the world is Mason?

I was never very good with geography or history. Luckily google and wikipedia can help me out! I did some researching today and found out some info about where Mason is living. He's currently at an orphanage at the Social  General Welfare Huiyang District, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, China. I found this picture of the orphanage:



Huizhou is located at the northeast end of Pearl River Delta, southeast part of Guangdong Province, and facing Daya Bay in China South Sea. The coordinates of Huizhou is 23°05′N  114°22′E. Huizhou borders Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Except Shenzhen, Huizhou is the nearest city from Hong Kong among cities in Mainland China.

 


Here's a little history for you about Huizhou City: Huizhou (Chinese: 惠州; pinyin: Hùizhōu; Cantonese: Wai⁶zau¹) , historically known as Waichow, is a city located in central Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China.  Administered as a prefecture-level city, it has 4,60 million residents in its area of jurisdiction. Its southern part made of Huiyang district is now part off guangzhou-Shenzhen built up area, the biggest built up area in the world with more than 40 million inhabitants encompassing the whole Shenzhen, Dongguan cities and main part of Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongsghan and small parts of Jiangmen and Huizhou cities. There are two main dialects spoken by local people in Huizhou: Hakka (客家话/客家話) and a Cantonese dialect which is Huizhouhua (惠州话/惠州話). The two dialects are somewhat interrelated and similar so people can easily understand each other. As more newcomers from the other provinces come to work in Huizhou, Mandarin has become the other popular language in Huizhou.

Information about their economy: Huizhou gained benefit from the Chinese economic reform of the late 1980s. The blossoming of the real estate market attracted capital investment from Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the provincial economic development strategy, Huizhou is regarded as a site for a world-class petrochemical industry, as well as a hub for developing information technology, and expanding exports and trade.TCL Corporation is a multinational electronics company headquartered in the city.
Other foreign investors / manufacturing companies:
Desay; Viasystems; WalMart; AEON