October

God has given us some beautiful weather in October - and we seized the moments for some great field trips and family memories!

Met some friends at a park for a fun morning of play -
and creatively making a "party for the squirrels!"

Homeschooler field trip at a pumpkin patch with a maze, hayride, and petting zoo. Abigail loved the animals but wasn't too sure about petting and feeding them!

A hayride with some other homeschool families in our area -
another first for Abby :)

A visit to the Pumpkin Storybook Village at the Dallas Arboretum.


A day at the zoo - Abby loved the crocodiles!

A night with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Abby told us she wants to learn to play the piano, violin, and guitar!

The Ambucs of Mesquite gave Abby an Amtryke!


Abby was given the opportunity to participate in a fishing tournament
sponsored by Turning Point.

As October comes to a close, we are getting ready for Abigail to have another surgery to repair her cleft lip. It will require a one night stay in the hospital again. Please keep her in your prayers. The LORD has blessed her with more peace and knowledge of her security with her family this time - but we know she is still that tender-hearted precious girl that has been through so much uncertainty in her short life. Thank you for your prayers!

Wordless Wednesday

Labor Day Getaway 2010

We spent Labor Day Weekend at Timber Lodge Ranch near Amity, Arkansas with the Weaver side of the family. It reminded me (Missy) of the trips my family took each year to a place called Thousand Trails at Lake Texoma with cousins, aunts, and uncles. It has been years since we've gone there. Timber Lodge Ranch may just become an annual getaway for us. Abby wanted to live there. She couldn't understand why we had to leave. There was a little bit of everything - beautiful indoor swimming pool, gameroom, playground, outdoor basketball court, volleyball court, lake for fishing, paddle boats, trails to hike or ride an ATV, and all kinds of animals (like zebras, buffalo, llamas, sheep, goats, chickens, peacock, donkeys, etc). We absolutely LOVED it and can't wait to go back!

Grandma and Abby blowing bubbles off of the dock. Abby loved to watch them float on the lake.

Evening fishing...Abby caught her second fish of the trip that night.

More bubble blowing...one of our girl's favorite things to do!

Waking up early. Coloring in her room with cousins
so as not to wake up other sleeping adults just yet.

There was a water balloon war on our last morning.
Not sure why there is such a sad face in this pic
because she really did have great time :)

Wordless Wednesday

Unexpected Blessing

For some time now Abby has been saying prayers that include thanking God for all of her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc. Often she even names them...and there are many to name :) She loves having a family, and we love that she is part of our family. It wasn't long until her prayers began including a request for brothers and sisters - and then thanking God in advance for those brothers and sisters He would give her.

Back in the early Spring we discovered from conversations with Abigail that she had lived with a foster family before the spinal cord stroke. She lost this family because they could no longer care for her, and she returned to the orphanage after 2-3 months in the hospital. The foster family was also caring for a little girl close to Abby's age - and Abby would call her "my sister." We began inquiring about this little girl through our adoption agency - only to find that she was being and is now adopted by a family. We were able to make contact with this family, and hopefully when the little girl is ready she and Abby will be able to keep in touch.

The Father has given us a great love - a passion for the orphan and especially those sons and daughters in China. Our prayer has always been and continues to be that He would provide for us to return to China and bring home another daughter - a sister for Abigail. We were hopeful to complete that long paperwork process by the year marker of having Abby at the end of this year, and possibly travel to China again in late 2011.

However, God often has a different schedule. What is that line from the movie Bella? Something like, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." We have found this to be so true! He continues to amaze us. Our current unexpected blessing is a child growing in my belly - as Abby proudly tells everyone. The Father has heard her (and our) prayer for brothers and sisters...and He has chosen to act very swiftly...come March 2011 there will be a new addition to this Weaver family :)

At Home Recovering

Abby had a visit from Uncle Sonny and Aunt Nell on Friday.
She still wasn't very talkative, but had some smiles!

Today we woke to a much more energized little girl.
Our Abby is almost back to normal.

Abby wanted to walk in her chair today, color, and even play a little.

That smile appears to be back!

Abigail is on a 10 day liquid diet - today is day 3. She is going to lose some serious weight because she only eats about 3 tbsp at time maybe 3 times a day.
She does drink lots of juice and water though.
After 10 days she can move up to soft foods, but still no utensils or straws in the mouth.

It sure is nice to see her smile and hear her laugh again :)

In the Hospital

After many tears, Abby got her hospital pjs on and the long wait began. Her new kitty Marmie and Little Mermaid were her companions. She was scheduled to go back to surgery at
12:30 p.m. - but the surgery before her lasted a lot longer than expected.
She went back at about 3:00 p.m. and "silly juice"
was administered about 30 minutes before that.

Abby returned from surgery with Marmie still masked!

Settling into her room for the night Nannie and Gami told her goodnight :)

Thursday morning we learned that we could go home!
Abby enjoyed 2 early movies and all of her gifts.

Revision Palate Surgery

We will be heading to Children's Medical Center of Dallas for Abigail to have corrective surgery on her palate. Apparently the surgery was done incorrectly when she was 2-3 yrs old - which has limited her ability to speak many consonants clearly.

This will be her first overnight stay in a hospital since a year ago in China when she was hospitalized for her paralysis. She was hospitalized for 2-3 months. And we have recently learned that she had a foster family prior to becoming paralyzed. She was only with them for a short time, but they are one of her strongest memories. When she was hospitalized for the paralysis she lost them because they could no longer care for her. As you can see, she associates much fear and loss with both doctors and hospitals.

We have seen such new confidence in her at doctor visits. She is no longer afraid and even likes seeing many of them very much : ) We pray that this surgery will not be a setback for her.

The surgery is at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday June 23rd. It should last about 2 1/2 hours. We will have to stay at least one night in the hospital. Please be in prayer for her:
- that her fears would be calmed
- that she would understand that we are her forever family
- that she would rest and heal from the surgery
Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Day 2 of Summer

It was time for some fun with water on this 2nd day of Summer!

Abby was yelling "I love it...I love it!!!"

Abby received this little animal pool set a while back from Gami, and we are finally putting it to use. Last night we told her that she would get to play in it today and she said, "I want to get Mommy and Daddy wet a lot. " And she did just that. On this 2nd day of Summer 2010 we had a lot of fun with water!

Coming indoors was a little chilly!
Thanks to Bear and Rhonda she had a great big princess towel to wrap up in :)

Last Day of Spring

It has been feeling like summer for a while now, but today it is officially the last day of Spring.

A Year Ago

A year ago today we "locked down" our Abigail's file with the request to adopt her. At that time, we did not know that the happy girl we saw in the photo below was in a hospital struck by some sort of stroke of the spinal cord that had left her paralyzed from the waist down. We saw a healthy five year old that had some minor care needs - perhaps only some speech therapy for her repaired cleft palate. We are so grateful to God that we did NOT see the reality of her condition, because sadly we most likely would have thought that her care needs were beyond our ability to care for. And we would have missed the greatest blessing the LORD has ever given us! On May 11, 2009 she became our daughter in our hearts and minds. And the Father used that time of waiting to go get her to prepare us for what is now our daily life.

That same happy healthy girl we saw in the referral picture now lives in our home. Sure there are challenging times. And the LORD has proved Himself faithful in all areas. Our faith was so small. How grateful we are to call her our Abby!

She is a priceless treasure.

A Couple of Things That We See More Clearly

Life is precious. Life is a gift.

Abigail's life has made such an enormous impression upon us. Don't misunderstand, we have always valued life because God is the Creator of life. But there is something about watching a child that really makes you thankful for life - thankful for her life and thankful for your own as you experience life together. Her life was fragile from the beginning - as that precious newborn baby girl that was placed in an orphanage. Only a few short months ago, Abby laid in a bed in a room of an orphanage. And now we enjoy her smile and her laughter. Her tender heart inspires us. She is vibrant and full of life! What a blessing and a privilege it is to raise her. We often wonder why God chose us to parent her. But oh, how grateful we are that He did in fact choose us!


A family is a gift that we often take for granted.

God did a wonderful thing when He designed the family! We all need one and we all want one. Watching Abby grow in understanding of her family is amazing. There is indescribable joy in her face as she identifies grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins and all of the greats among those. She absolutely LOVES having a family. I remember conversations before she came home in which people would ask if we knew whether she had been asked if she wanted to be adopted and if she knew the longing for a family. I can say without a doubt now that she most assuredly wanted to be adopted - she longed for a family. And as I think about that, I realize that there are millions more sons and daughters that are longing for their families - and that thought breaks my heart. As I see the pure joy in Abby's smile and the glow in her eyes as she talks about different family members that she has already come to love, I realize the gift of a family.

I Have a Family...

There is a song on the Signing Time dvd Family, Feelings & Fun that the 3 of us have come to love. It is all about having a family - a "family full of people who love me and take care of me." What a precious gift a family really is! We hope you enjoy a few glimpses of our family.

Abby with her Aunt Crystal at a Christmas party.

Abigail with her Uncle Casey just a day after they had met.

Abby and her BaBa on the day that they completely bonded:)

Abigail sharing raisins with her great-great-grandma (we call her Mimmie)
on the day they first met.

There are so many things that the LORD has taught us so far through Abby - so many things that we see so much more clearly now. We know that there are so many more things for us to learn, and we wait expectantly with great JOY!