It's A Wonderful Life

Yesterday we got an email from the USCIS. We were informed that they had received our application and it would be sent on within 7 days. I wasn't sure what to think of it because I didn't receive the notifications on the last adoption. I had no idea the normal time table. I sent it on to our agency just in case they had not received it. Myriam, at Agape Adoptions, replied back with "This is a good sign". She would know. This is what she does all day. Now we send another check. Normally I would be a little nervous about sending a check this size but I am grateful the money is available and needed so soon.

Malia, who is 6, came home from school on a 25 degree day. It's been on the cold side here, at least for my liking. With enthusiasm for her new found knowledge she says, "Mom, if you run really fast at recess you will get warmer." Me, "That's a great idea". I love to watch their minds grow!

I woke up yesterday morning a little concerned about how I was going to juggle appointments for the afternoon. I figured things out knowing that I was on a very tight schedule. At 2:20 the fun began. I put my coat on grabbed my purse and reached for my phone. No phone. I asked  Bria and Hyrum where it was and Hyrum said my phone was in the bathroom. Not a good sign! I went to the bathroom to find a large puddle on the floor with soggy toilet paper everywhere. The toilet was full of toilet paper and I couldn't see anything good in there. I was not about to reach my hand in and find out if the phone was in there either or not. Hyrum still was insistent that my phone was in the bathroom. I ran through the house looking in all the obvious places and couldn't find my phone. My assumption at that moment was that we may have a clogged toilet coming up. I was now running late and my best laid plans were even tighter than before. I drove to the hig...

I walk in after bringing children to school and notice there is orange juice on the table. I said "Who had orange juice?" Hyrum replies "Me". I said "Daddy loves you". Hyrum "I know". Hyrum with a mouth full of cookie. 

No words can express my feelings towards my Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason for my happiness and joy. I wish that I were eloquent and could express my deepest feelings for Him who saves. But I am far from eloquent as you have all noticed. Please enjoy this video as an expression of my testimony of the Savior of the World.

Our family Nativity in pictures.  Cast Baby Jesus - Doll Mary - Hannah Joseph - Clayson Donkey - Malia Shephard - Marshall Sheep - Pierce and Bria Angel - Niya Inn Keeper - Hyrum Wise Men - Creed, Casey, Olivia Camera Man - Deanne, video that is Narrator - Doug Audience - Emma We had a great time and it will be remembered for years to come. It's better on film.

I have referenced a talk given in General Conference several times now but this talk comes back to haunt me on a regular basis. I think the Lord is keeping my thoughts and desires where he wants them. At times I feel like I just want to forget all the heart ache and trauma that so many innocent children face on a daily basis. It's not an easy place to be. Last Friday Doug and I went out to dinner and ended up in a restaurant that had average prices. When I saw the bill I just thought what a waste that money was. Mediocre food and not a great atmosphere. I realized that with that money we could be sponsoring a child that has nothing. Doug and I decided that we were going to alter a date a month and sponsor a child in China instead. On that night every month we will be creative with what we eat and remember why we are doing this. We are going to make it somewhat of a game or adventure.  Tonight we got on the computer and looked at some children from the same healing home as our new...

We got word today that our homestudy and I800a application have been overnighted to the USCIS. Just to explain, there is a process a family must go through in the US to prove that a family does in fact fit the requirements set forth by our government to adopt a child from overseas. This application goes to the USCIS. The USCIS is the immigration arm. They require a copy of the homestudy and an application along with some other documents. All the paperwork is read over and an appointment to get fingerprinted is issued. If the homestudy has all the information needed and the fingerprints come back clear the family is then issued their approval. That is called the I-171. It is this process that we are now starting. Normally it is taking 6-8 weeks to complete but we are hoping to be done in just a couple of weeks. We are finally making progress and depending on if the USCIS officer decides that our son's life is in danger or not will determine when we travel and how fa...

Last night we had the opportunity to go see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra with Alfie Boe and Tom Brokaw. It was fantastic!!! Tyler and Jessica were honored to be dancers in it. I think I was the proudest Mama there. Doug and I just smiled the whole time they were on stage. One dance Jessica was right in front but we couldn't see Tyler. That was fine we could watch Jessica the whole time without splitting our attention  She is so graceful and beautiful. We sure love her. Then part way through the song a couple came out dressed in a gold gown and tails. They danced up and down the stairs reminiscent of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It didn't take long to notice it was Tyler. He was graceful. They danced beautifully! Seeing Alfie Boe perform was great. He has a beautiful voice and is very unassuming. After his first song he took a couple of minutes to speak. One thing he said was that being there was a dream come true. My heart almost burs...

 I heard some very strange noises coming from the direction of Hyrum's room. I couldn't decide if it was someone crying or a cat dying.  I had to investigate and this is what I found. Hyrum barricading Pierce in the cabinet. If I had to barricade someone out I don't think I would use pillows. Pretty smart to start with the truck first.

Today Hyrum, Bria and I were in the car when this cute conversation took place. It went something  like this. Bria, "Hyrum need friend, we need nudder one brudder. We need go Chnia." Mom, "Well, you need to talk to Dad and Heavenly Father about that. We need money to get another         brother." Pause..  Bria, "I got  great  idea. At dark we tell Jesus we money and get nudder brudder then we be happy." The faith and innocence of a child.

As Clayson, Creed and I all stayed home from church not feeling well, we watched a Veggie Tales movie, "It's a Meaningful Life". This story is a spin off of "It's a Wonderful Life". Of course, the main character goes on a journey to see what his life would have been like if his regrets of life had been avoided. It illustrates the change in who he is and how different his life would be.  The main theme was that God is in charge of our lives and places the people and experiences there for us to grow into who He would have us be. I still struggle at moments with giving up some dreams I have had over the years but God is mindful of me and has not given up on me yet. He is still teaching me the importance of giving my life for Him and the showing me the blessing that come from it. This song by  Steven Curtis Chapman "You Were Meant To Be" , is one of those moments that our Father In Heaven reminds us of who we are and that He has a plan for us. I rec...

We are still waiting on getting our homestudy approved by two different agencies. The homestudy finally made it to the placing agency this week and is now back in the hands of our social worker for some revisions. She has had to put another 4 hours of work into it. It seems the placing agency is being "nit picky". Our social worker isn't too happy about that. I find it amazing that all the agencies have different requirements for the same country. Our homestudy made it through one China adoption. Why all the changes this time? Every agency says that what they need is required by China but I know for sure that is not the case. Maybe at some point the agencies will realize that we parents talk online and know what is going on in the adoption world. They really make themselves look silly at times. Hopefully I can write that our USCIS application is submitted soon. It should have been done last week. Oh well, it's all in the Lord's hands.

The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied, only a little while. The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish. The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life." The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger b...

Doug got a rocket from his brother for his birthday a couple months back. We have LOVED it!  I highly recommend this as a Christmas gift if you don't know what to get someone. It's called an Air Burst and not expensive. It uses air pressure to launch the rocket. There are bladders in a tube that  is connected up to a bike pump. You pump the air and pressure builds up behind the bladder. At maximum pressure for that particular bladder it bursts and the rocket takes off. The rocket has a foam tip so when it comes down it bounces on the ground. There are no parachutes to get tangled up or cause it to fly in the wind. It can even go up to 1000 feet. Our first try at the rocket was at dusk. It started to get to dark too see so we taped a glow stick to it. It worked great so the next time we bought finger lights and taped them to it. That was our favorite. You could see the rocket all the way up and down. Here are some pictures of the fun.           ...

The last time we adopted from China I swore I would never do it again unless it was the perfect circumstances. In October we had a post placement visit with our social worker that is required by China. At that time I told her we wouldn't be going back to China because we didn't want to start over with a new social worker. For those of you that have not had to get a homestudy, just know that it is very invasive. The questions asked, information needed and paperwork to be done is outrageous. We are required to allow someone that went to school for 4 years and may have no other experience in life than just that pry into every aspect of our lives so they can decide if we are fit parents and then pay them exorbitant fees for it. Whoever came up with this system in crazy. Anyway, back to the point. China had changed the rules after we were in process of the last adoption. The social workers now have to have a specific license that is very costly. Our social worker does not have...

Not so long ago in a very distant place a baby was born. A sweet little boy that looked perfect. His mother and father were so happy for this precious child. As they cuddled him in their arms and talked about their joy and his future they noticed that his little puckered lips began to turn a blue. This worried them but after a while the color came back and they didn't think much of it. Over the next couple of weeks they learned to feed, bath and love their little boy. They fell more and more in love with him every passing day. This mother and father would notice though, that their sons lips turned blue more and more often and they began to get very concerned. With fear they took him to see the doctor. After a few tests it was determined that this perfect child had a sever heart problem. With very heavy hearts this mother and father took their little baby home. What were they to do? They had no money to get the help that he would need. It was far too costly and they lived on a ...

The changes we have seen in just one year are incredible. Hyrum is now starting to act in a few ways like children his age. We got him and he was developmentally in the young two's. Still far behind in some ways but miraculous growth has taken place. In some ways he is 4 in others he is 3 but he left the two's behind. Bria is now a happy little girl with a bit of spice to her. She now writes her letters and knows the names and sounds to most of them. She has learned this by watching Leap Frog movies. Hyrum too is learning letters. They both are doing great. Hyrum the week we got back from China. Hyrum, in October with cousin Jessica. Bria not wanting to let anyone love her just days after getting home. Malia was trying so hard One year later on Bria's birthday. She is feeling happy more and more often. This was pure joy. Thanks Jared.

Though we have a rather large house, there are some areas that were not planned out well for a large family. It kind of surprises me because the family who originally built this house had 8 children. One of the areas that has been lacking is our dinning room. When we first moved in we did some remodeling on the kitchen. We took out the island and made it shorter so we could fit our table. The table we have is pretty narrow as it is so we have no idea what kind of table the previous family had. We knew then that this arrangement would not last forever. We only had 12 kids then with plans of only adding 2 more, HA. We have talked about knocking out a wall between the dinning room and  a room the previous owners used as their school room. We just couldn't decide how to use it so it went through a transformation 3 times in 8 years. Last Saturday we knocked out the wall. At first I wasn't sure what I thought of it. The house looks even bigger than it did before. We now have a grea...

"The most powerful teaching of children is by the example of their parents." —Dallin H. Oaks This quote is from a talk at the last general conference for our church.  I recommend everyone read it. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/protect-the-children?lang=eng

We are so pleased to announce that Ressa is now engaged to one of the Lord's most valiant. Jason has asked Ressa to marry him and she said YES! We are beyond thrilled and could not ask for a better man for her. We are honored to have both of them as part of our family. Jason and Ressa will be married January 25th in the Brigham City Temple and the reception will be held January 26th. Just 2 weeks later they will be traveling to China to teach English for almost 5 months. We love these two and couldn't be happier. I don't think they could be happier either. :)

I love quotes! I love to think deeply and  learn new things.Last week I thought it would be neat to post a thought once a week on the blog. I have a great one just waiting and since the first idea I have now seen many great quotes and thoughts that I would love to share Now I have a way to justify the time to look up quotes. I will use random thoughts, quotes and scripture as it touches me or that I just like. If anyone wants to join me in this I would love to know and link up.  Now for the first Thoughtful Thursday. "Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think is a much greater hunger.  A much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."                                                 ...

Potty training this child was pretty funny we had to get pictures of him. a picture speaks a thousand words.  SUCCESS!                               Now for the not so cute. Helping traumatized children can be a roller coaster ride. They have many ups and downs in the process of healing and growth. Right now we have a few in the challenging stage. It seems like one likes to live his life there but that is a novel that will never be written. How these downs look and act are not so bad, it's just that it gets tiring especially when you live dancing on egg shells. One of the children cries at the top of their lungs when they don't get their way. They will stomp off waving their arms up and down hitting their sides, hides in the corner and cries the cry of a deep mourn or falls asleep. Sadly the falling asleep hap...

I woke up this morning to none other than SNOW! I heard a weather report a month or so ago that meteorologists expect it to be a colder than normal fall and warmer than normal winter. Yesterday I looked out at the mountains and was so grateful to see snow. We really need the moisture. But when I saw the snow on my own front lawn and realized the snow was still falling I wasn't as grateful. I brought Clayson in from catching snow flakes on his tongue and said "This is incredible." Clayson responds in awe, "I know, I love the snow". Not quite what I meant. :)

What do 16 year old boys do? Tease their siblings, beg to drive, forget to do their chores and so forth. The best thing 16 year old boys do is gross us out and make us laugh. Hannah (12) was eating some Skittles and Creed decided he wanted some. She only had 3 and put them all in her mouth.  I heard "Wow Hannah this is a really good Skittle". I assumed he took it out of her hands and I told him not to steal. He said "I didn't steal it out of her hands".  No, it was not out of her hand it was worse. He stole it right out of her mouth. I really did teach him about germs. Creed is on the right. Every bit as mischievous as he looks. Handsome boys.

OK, so I am talking about Hyrum and Bria again. I think it is the same phenomenon as when you have a two year old that shows up in all you pictures because they are so cute and after months and months you realize you have no pictures of your other kids. That is just where I am right now. Bria's birthday was September 10th. We bought her a tricycle because all she wanted was a bike and a Barbie. The bike we got her was pretty flimsy so a week or so later we took it back and got a new one. At the same time we bought Hyrum a bike for his birthday and were going to save it until November for his birthday. We hid Hyrum's bike in our closet behind some clothes so he wouldn't see. I put Bria's bike together and let Bria have it. She was so excited and loved her bike. She rode her bike for quite a while then got off to do something else. Hyrum was dancing around in excitement because of the new bike. He ran to Bria and asked if he could ride it. Sadly Bria said no. Hyrum was ...

This child is so incredibly precious. I have never experienced a person filled with more gratitude. Hyrum thanks Doug and I for everything. He thanks me for taking him to the toilet. He thanks me for food. He thanks me for giving him a bath, holding him, reading him a story, watching him on his bike and everything else you could think of. Today he was playing and I walked in the room where he was. He turned to me with a big grin and said "Thank you mom." I asked why he would thank me and he said "Cuz you came by me". These thank yous are not the run of the mill "thank you because I need to be polite". These words are filled with true feeling and sincere smiles.  For the last two weeks I hear the words "I'm happy" at least 10 times a day. Hyrum is truly happy and you can feel it just by being with him. He attracts people wherever he goes. I am sure his happiness is tied to his sincere gratitude for life and all that he has. Most i...

We were invited to record a music video with a family that we know. The took the song "Safe and Sound" from hunger games and redid it as a family project over the summer. The father, 16 year old son and teenage cousin did all the instrumental and the 13 year old daughter sang the song. The 13 year old girl was Pierce's best friend in 6th grade and her 11 year old brother is friends with Casey. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the song but when I heard it I was impressed. They had a movie director hear them sing and wanted to make a music video for the song. This director won a national prize for a film he made last year while at BYU. We gathered at an apple orchard about an hour away and got to be extras in the end of the video. The video should be ready by the end of October. The kids did great and were well behaved and cooperative. Everyone had a good time even though it was hot and took 2 hours longer than expected. There is something about actors and being o...

OK, so this may not be coming from a place of charity but sometimes life can be pretty funny. Poor Doug was put in one of those situations that would win the grand prize on America's Funniest Home Videos if only we had a camera going. Who would have thought to have a camera going while working in the sewer, right? A little background. Most homes have their sewage hooked directly up to pipes that run under the street. Where we live the pipes are too shallow to go directly to the street so we have what is called a sewer pump. There is a big bucket that collects the black water then when the bucket gets full the pump will shoot it up the pipes to go to the street pipes. This is all well and good until the pump breaks down and the alarm quits working. This is what we faced over the last few days. If you have ever seen a pump function it is pretty cool. We have a water feature in the front yard and when we clean it someone hoses the rocks down to clean the dirt out. The pool at...

Last night Tyler was showing me a blog he set up and I realized that he was in a place in Blogger that my computer wouldn't let me go. Even last week I couldn't get in. I had gotten to the point that I was going to take my computer to the Geek Squad to see what was wrong. I had pretty much resigned myself to not blogging anymore. I have no idea what happened but I am back. So much has happened in the last couple of months so I will have to catch up over time. Here are the basics. Our oldest son got married in the Timpanogos Temple in August to an awesome girl named Jessica. In the middle of taking pictures we looked down and Hyrum was carrying the train of Jessicas dress. Hyrum had never been to a wedding before and so had not seen this tradition. It was so cute! All the Walker children so far. What a handsome group this is.  They really are as cute, awesome and in love as they look. Here is the link for the wedding pictures. If you need a great photograp...