Long Road to China - Our Adoption Story


Trustmark National Bank account set up:

Donations can be made nation wide at any Trustmark National Bank through the account:
Phillip Smith or Niki J. Smith's Adoption Account

If you would like to mail a donation, please mail it to
Phil or Niki Smith
P.O. Box 332
Rienzi, MS 38865




Thursday, August 23, 2012

Wishing.................Creaking Step

Wow - Some days, I just wish  life could just be paused everywhere & I could go in fast-forward mode until I was ready to hit play again!  
Fast-forward all the work I'm behind on & need to do -
 -get the house spotless & organized
-all the dishes washed & put up
-all the clothes gone through (get rid of all the ones we do not need/do not fit) 
-wash & fold up all the others, get rid of all the things we do not need
-strip Macy & GiGi's dresser & repaint it (so they would actually have one)
-get all the yard work done & our outside looking all pretty
-get the basement sealed so it could possible be used as another room
-get doors put on the garage as a room & not a garage
-bring the kids trampoline over here (which would require taking it apart & putting it back together)
-bring the kid's playground over here - they really need a place to play with slides/swings/etc (also requires taking it apart, moving it, & assembling it
{and it's huge - Thanks Joey D.; it's awesome, but you never built it to move! lol} )
-clean out our storage  building & get it fixed where we never finished - including bathroom 
-clean inside & out of the vehicles
-grow a garden {I said fast-forward time while it's paused}& put up veggies so we could have good foods without the high prices & additives
-message all the people i need to contact
-fill out all the forms I need to fill out (which is a ton)
-Go through ALL the mail from the month we were gone
-write out all my bills (and magically make all the money be there when life went back on play - hey I'm wishing anyway)
-get all GiGi's paperwork together (all post adoption stuff, forms filled out, medical insurance ready for go when we get her SS, etc.)
-research all about deafness
-learn sign language
-find ALL outlets possible for Eliza
-build an extra room for her (she will be 14y/o but as of now does not have her on room)
- research & get fundraisers organized & ready for go
-get caught up on all my business (ordering, questions answered, orders packed & shipped, etc.)
-write thank you notes to many people that helped in the last adoption
-Get John S.'s family there shirts that have been hanging around forever & I need to get to them
-Get my wonderful friend Dawn S. her items she ordered & do something special for all she has done for me
-send card out & drop food off for some
-downsize, downsize, downsize to ONLY the things we need
-remember who else I owe something too or need to do something for
-get all the items made, organized, & an awesome display for my market items
- finish many blogs I've started but not finished
-write that book Phil & I are wanting to write (yeah he could be on fast-forward too)
-organize pictures
-cook supper - a GOOD supper
-get some sleep & get rested (not sure what that is anymore)
-pray, pray, pray & take time to stop & listen - listen intensely
-etc., etc. etc.  

Doing all these things would only get me caught up to where I need to be! Sigh!  
Sounds more like a job for Ty Pennington & crew! LOL

Wowza, that was a selfish list full of I's & me, me, me!  As you can probably tell I'm feeling overwhelmed today!  Yes, all the above & more needs to be done & No, they will not get finished!  Not today, tomorrow, next week & many will still be here in a month & years ahead!  Sometimes I just feel insufficient in what I accomplish!  I get just a few hours sleep and run in circles most days (or so it seems).  

I'm sure you are thinking "Well, get off the computer & do something!"  But I feel I am doing something when I blog!  I get to sit down for a few minutes (even if it includes a monkey crawling on me saying "Momma" & constantly wanting me to open something, get something out, do something - a dog using my hand as a chew toy as I try to type & keep her from jumping on the computer {this would be the smaller of the 2} & another big ol' baby standing at the couch with his jabber jaws hanging on my knee as slobber drips & his most pitiful eyes looking at me as if "are  you ever going to play with me?").  I blog because it is what I feel God has led me to do to share with others.  Maybe today He wanted me to share the above to say "No one gets caught up", to show we are real people with real problems too, or to get someone to give me some info on how to "Get'er all done"?  I don't know but all I know is that I'm not one that has openly opened the door to our lives. God has wanted us to open our doors & God is showing out & I need to brag!  

We are walking up the steps & all we see is one step at a time. We can see a haze of what appears to be unending steps ahead of us as we continue up.  As we proceed some steps are dark, some are broken, some have holes in them, a few are painted others are stained, some creek & are scary, some are everyday steps, some are stone while others are wood, some steps are only tiny and you can barely even tell there is a step, others appear really easy but are so shaky when you place a foot on it, & others you think are too steep to walk and are the easiest once you get there.  Each step is different & even though we do not see the end, we cannot worry about that because we need to focus on the step we are at now.  We find assurance, strength & endurance that there is the most enormous &  sturdiest handrail right beside us at every step.  Some steps we have to heavily lean on the rail to hold us up & others we simply hold on.  Even if we cannot see the step ahead we can always see the handrail & it gives us the encouragement to continue to the top.

So even though I'm wishing today, I'm really at a creaking step. And to be completely honest I've not looked down so it may be a firm sturdy step and only my knees I hear creaking as my leg quiver.
 I find strength that I can hold on tight to the handrail & it will not leave me stranded! 

I pray you will take the challenge to climb the steps ahead of you with perseverance & comfort knowing you are not alone & the prize is at the top........even if you cannot see it!




And then the curves


 These steps look easy but it's not all black & white....
You turn the corner only to be at the bottom of this....

Sometimes you may even have valleys before you reach the top

Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

I don't have to understand!  My God's got it!  He is the all-knowing & not I!









Tuesday, August 21, 2012

OH MAN!

We have posted various things alluding to an adoption. So yes, we are excited to be adopting a 13 year old girl from China! Oh man, I have a teenage daughter! LoL. So, I'm gonna need advice from dads who have survived! She is deaf and I know that will present some challenges, but nothing compared to what she would have faced if she had "aged out" of her orphanage on March 9th and been deaf, alone, and on the streets. I can't have my daughter live that life. I can't wait to get her home. Pray for me! We are having to really push the paperwork through and we will have to raise all the money prior to traveling (before March) We'll need lots of help to bring our daughter home! Phil

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Difference In a Month

I've been kinda emotional the last day & really feeling the need to be a voice for the children we left behind in China.  I've started 2 blogs that I've not been able to finish since yesterday.  One was a letter to GiGi's biological mom & the other is filled with information/stats/facts about GiGi's orphanage & other orphans. 

I hope to get atleast one blog out tomorrow or the next day.  The blogs have been very difficult to write because GiGi is my daughter PERIOD THE END!  I do not want to think of her as an orphaned child as she is not that to me!  That is why it is hard for me to revisit the images permanently embedded in my mind & the pics from her orphanage!  
I do not want to think about my baby being there!  
I do not want to remember my child was
"ONE OF THOSE KIDS" or an "ORPHAN"!  

I do not want to think & wonder
"What if I had not followed God's plan & she was still there waiting on someone to Love her & give her a forever home?"

I want to know her as the HAPPY, SILLY, GIGGLY girl I know now!  Granted she IS that girl, but I do not need to forget that the orphanage & her past is part of who she is! I do not need to forget those children we left behind!  

We left part of our heart in China when we left!  Tears rolled down my face the day we rode away to Hong Kong!  It was that very day that Phil said to me "GiGi is special to us but NO MORE deserving to have love & a forever home than any other child in that orphanage!"  He is absolutely right!  Every child deserves a home & love!  They NEED us and these children will bless your life!  GiGi could still be in that orphanage looking at each adoptive family that passes through with the looks of terror, hopelessness, abandonment we saw in these poor children!  The look on these children's face would tear the heart out of anyone with a pulse! 

 That WAS my child!  We cannot change the world, but we can change one life at a time!  We are not finished & will speak out until EVERY orphan has a forever home & love!  For this post I will leave you with before & after pics of our angel.  You can see in pictures alone what a difference a family will make in a child.  GiGi was placed in our arms 7/16/2012.  ONE month ago today, we signed the final papers making her our daughter forever & not an orphan!  See the difference for yourselves

Pictures of GiGi from orphanage:













 
These last 2 pics were the last we had gotten prior to heading to China.  They are about 5 weeks prior to adoption completion. 


Do you recognize this child????  
I can see the same features, but I know a different child than these pics show!  She is no different than all the other orphans except she was the lucky one that got a forever home!  Some of the children will never have a home & will go out to the streets around age 15-16y/o with NO ONE & Nothing~


Click the link below to see:

We cannot turn our backs on these precious children & simply go away or forget as they look for hope, love, help, and a forever family:


Rather we must take them by the hand 
& walk with them!






Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The problem with Little Purple Loveseats......


 



Maybe if I look at it I can find the problem..........

 Let's try it this way..........

 Hummmm...........

And Again..........

Maybe if I look at it while I'm on here I can figure out the prob.........


Moved & tried again...........

 Can you tell by the face how happy she is that this seat will not let her SIT on it?????

Let me just take it somewhere else......

Oh yes, this looks like a good spot to try again........

Here I go........




What???  That didn't seem to work either......

Trying again.......

And again................


 And again...............
 And again...............

 And let me look at this one more time.......
The face says it all.............
 I'll just rock it............
 Fingers for comfort.......


 Mommmmmmm.......would you please just hold me?  It doesn't work!
 And that's the problem with little purple loveseats..........


How many times do we stress over things as small as this little purple loveseat????