Ladybugs, ladybugs...everywhere!... And a cute Drew story...

Oh my stars... Have you seen them? Ladybugs are everywhere!! Now, I'm sure this is the case every year, but this year is different for us!

 

I think it was sometime in September when I learned about the story of ladybugs and international adoptions in China. As many of you know, China loves symbols and it seems as if every object, animal, etc. has significance and meaning. The same is true of the ladybug. I might be mixed up with some of my facts, but the story goes that shortly after China opened its country for international adoptions, the ladybug (Chinese beetle) population grew exponentially in the Guangzhou province. The Guangzhou province is where every adoptive family has to travel to complete their adoption process. So, it is said that the ladybug is the good luck symbol for Chinese adoptions.

Now, I don't believe in all the good luck/bad luck/lucky kind of stuff when it comes to life's events...I just believe in God, period!

Having said that, it has been fun for us to think of the ladybug as a symbol for the adoption of our little girl!

The other day our boys were playing out front on the slip n slide. Drew found a ladybug and played with it for over 20 minutes!! Now, if you have boys, you know that is no small feat! They like to smash and demolish every bug in site, but there is something different about a ladybug. It captures their attention! There is something calming and soothing about having a ladybug crawl on you. The ladybug Drew found simply would not leave him. He laid on the ground with it and let it crawl on his hands and was captivated!!

We have used the ladybug as a symbol to personally remind us of "baby sister." When we find them, we take a brief moment to pray for her!

I have soooo many more "ladybug" moments, but I will share two more fun ones...

In late October when I recorded my CD's for the adoption, my friends Malee, Tammy, Myrna and I went into a woodsy area of Oakhurst (after women's retreat) to take some pictures for the CD's. While we were walking to the river, we happened upon thousands of ladybugs!! I couldn't believe it! I had never seen anything so crazy in my life!! Malee captured some great photos of me with them (see above)!

Since last October, it seems as if I find ladybugs and ladybug girly things everywhere, but it was a sweet night a few weeks ago, that I truly thanked God for this season in our life where ladybugs are everywhere and I am continually reminded to pray for our sweet girl...

It was a Thursday night and we were in So Cal for a conference for Tim. The boys had stayed the night before with my family in San Diego, and I was at Downtown Disney to meet my mom there with the boys. They were all stuck in traffic so I had a little over an hour by myself at Downtown Disney.

At first I was just excited to just have some alone time (a rarity for a mom of young kids!!)! As I began browsing through the stores, I found myself longing for our little girl. I longed for the fun "Very, Merry, Unbirthday Tea Parties" we will have, and times of dressing up like a princess! I looked at all the adorable girly things there, and I just wished she was with me to share in all the fun!!

I had received a phone call that day that I needed to return, so I looked for a "quiet" place to make the call. Now, if you've ever been to Disney you know there are speakers everywhere blasting Disney music! I managed to find a place next to a tall bush, but I had to have my face practically in the bush and my back towards everything else in order to hear.

As I made the phone call, a little ladybug began to crawl right on the leaf in front of my face. I examined the bush and could not find a single ladybug anywhere else. The ladybug stayed there the whole time, and brought a big smile to my face!

It was that beautiful reminder that brought me to pray for my little girl and reminded me that "He makes all things beautiful in His time!"

Some say that when an adoptive family sees a ladybug, they will soon receive their referral. I certainly hoped that would be true last October when I happened upon thousands of them, but God's timing has been far different than our own and has always proven to be the best :-)!

We continue to wait on Him and find joy in the simplicity of His creation, the ladybug. Perhaps when you see one, you might be reminded to pray for our little girl as well!

Now, for a cute little Drew story...

The other night Drew and I were in the bathroom while he was "doing his business." I have often found that the best conversations I have had with my boys have been during those moments of undivided attention as I sit with them in the bathroom :-)...

He asked, "Mommy, when is baby sister coming home?"

I answered, "I don't know, but I hope it's soon! Do you want her to come home soon?"

Drew responded, "No, well, like do you think she could come at like 7:00?"

Gotta love it!!!

Thanks for your continued prayer and support!!

1 Year Ago Today...

1 year ago today, on Monday April 16, I headed to the "UPS" store (the first of many trips to come) with an application and check all filled out to our adoption agency AWAA.

We had finally decided to walk the journey towards adopting our daughter from China!

In some ways this past year has gone by so fast, and in other ways it seems to have dragged on forever. As I sat this morning pondering over this last year, I was extremely blessed to look back and see the amazing journey we have been on and continue on.

I remember the weekend before that Monday... Tim was having a blast figuring out how much we were "worth." You see, in order to adopt from China, there are so many criteria, and one is that you have to have at least a certain $ amount of net worth. Since we no longer own a home, we had fun being creative and going through our house looking at all the items we own and finding how much we were actually  "worth."

I remember us both in tears as we prayed for the first time that weekend not whether or not we should adopt, and not where we should adopt from, but for "our daughter!" It all became so real 1 year ago! I remember being so filled with emotion as I realized the amazing gift that God had given us to be able to pray for our daughter before we ever held her in our arms, just like we had prayed for our boys while they were in my womb.

As we prayed then, we were unsure as to whether or not she was even born, or in her mother's womb, or even conceived yet. We saw her then, as we do now, as "our daughter" that God has graciously allowed us the priviledge of having.

1 year ago today we didn't know who she was,  or where in China she was, and today we still don't know those answers. Yet I can tell you that God has allowed us the blessing of forming a bond with this "unknown" (to us) child that we can't hardly explain!

I take great comfort in knowing that the God of the universe knew then and knows now who she is! More importantly, I find peace in knowing that God perfectly hand knit her to be our daughter!!

While she may not physically resemble us, I often wonder what "traits" God has given her in order to resemble us...

As we continue to wait patiently for her, I have no choice but to place "my control" of the situation in the loving hands of the only One who should be in control! I have to remind myself daily to "trust and obey." I trust our Heavenly Father, and I chose to obey the call and be obedient to His Word by being a faithful follower and disciple of my Lord, Jesus Christ!

How Long?????

It seems like a day doesn't pass by without at least a few people asking when we will get our daughter... I think probably the hardest for me is when I get little kids asking because I know they so desperately want to see her come home and see the girl that they have all helped to give a forever family!!

Many will ask if we are just waiting to have the money...the truth is, once you go down the road to adoption, you have had to show that you will have the money when needed (one way or another)...for many, that means taking out a loan. Thankfully for us, the Lord has provided each step along the way, and we have not had to take out a loan!!

We continue to be in this loooooooooong "Wait" stage... What are we waiting for?... We are waiting to be matched with our daughter (this is done by our agency). How long is the wait???? I have no clue. Based on some of the trends that I have seen on our agency's blog, it could be another several months...

The fact that we have made this adoption so public for the purpose of gaining awareness of the needs here and around the world, and seeing the body of Christ come together in such tangible ways,  makes my heart break knowing that it is not just us that feel this burden and strain of waiting, but all of you as well!!

I know that just as much as I long to know and hold my daughter in my loving arms, you all long to know and hold her as well!!! She has been and will be one blessed girl!!!

It has been just about a year since we started the whole process, and there has not been a day that has gone by that I don't think about where our little girl is and pray that she is somehow being held in loving arms until we can get to her and hold her ourselves.

Please continue to persevere through this wait stage along with us!! Continue to pray for endurance and the whole process (from the little details of our paperwork somewhere in China, to the big details of our daughter and preparing all of us for each other).

We love you and continue to thank you for joining on this crazy journey with us!!

A Fun and Profitable Bake Sale!!

In March, several of our youth group girls decided to host a bake sale to raise money for our daughter!!! Their hearts were not only in the right place (as they wanted to do something tangible to help someone else), but they managed to pull off an AMAZING bake sale!!!

THANK YOU!!!

The girls raised a total of $336...WOW!!!!

Thank you to all of you who helped bake, support, and buy goodies!!! And a special thank you to you girls who worked so hard to do something so great!! We love you!!!

Today's the last day to order!!!!

If you were hoping to order some Pampered Chef items to help support our adoption, make sure you shop today!!!

Here's the info:

Go to http://www.pamperedchef.biz/elisehamel

Then you click on Shop Now

Then you enter in my name as the host: Tiffinie Nielsen

Then you shop J… All the proceeds will go towards Baby Nielsen… How awesome!!!

Last days to order!!! An easy way to support our adoption...

If you haven't already heard, Elise, one of our former youth group students and friend, is a Pampered chef consultant. She wants to help raise $ for baby Nielsen and here is how...

*Pampered chef will donate 10% of sales up to $600
                                            15% of sales if $600 or more
*Elise will be donating 100% of her commission which is 15% of sales
*An additional $3 for every future party booked through this party (online fundraiser/online party/catalog shows)

What an easy way for all of us to profit!!! All you have to do is shop :-)...

Simply click on this link:

Go to http://www.pamperedchef.biz/elisehamel

Then you click on Shop Now

Then you enter in my name as the host: Tiffinie Nielsen

Then you shop J… All the proceeds will go towards Baby Nielsen… How awesome!!!

The show will end this Thursday (the 28th), so do your shopping now :-)!!!

Thank you in advance!!!

Our last e-mail

 

 

Dear friends and family,

Before reading further… STOP!!!

Go to our blog www.tntadoption.blogspot.com scroll down and on the bottom right you will find a place where you can subscribe to receive our blogs via e-mail… PLEASE sign up to do this!!! Each time we write on our blog, you will receive that post in an e-mail format (not a link to click on…it will be written as an e-mail).

Our e-mail group has become quite large, and because we can only send a certain amount of e-mails in a day, it takes us a couple of days to send out our adoption e-mails. If you subscribe to our blog, you will simply receive our e-mails when we post them on our blog and we don’t have to send them directly to you…amazing how far technology has come J!!

So for now, we are just going to use our blog as a way of doing our e-mails for the adoption…

Here are some exciting things coming up to help raise money for baby Nielsen:

1. This Sunday, March 10… Our Jr. High students came to us wanting to do a bake sale J… They are doing this on their own, and we hope that you will help support them in their efforts to do something tangible to help… They will be selling homemade goodies at church all morning.

2. A former youth group student and friend of ours (from our Granada Heights days) is a Pampered Chef consultant. She is hosting an online party where Pampered Chef will donate a portion of the sales, and she is donating her percentage of sales as well for baby Nielsen…AWESOME!!! And who doesn’t LOVE Pampered Chef?? The online party begins today and will go until the end of the month.

All you have to do is go to http://www.pamperedchef.biz/elisehamel

Then you click on Shop Now

Then you enter in my name as the host: Tiffinie Nielsen

Then you shop J… All the proceeds will go towards Baby Nielsen… How awesome!!!

You can check out our blog for more ways to pray and updates on the adoption!!

We love you all!!!

With much love and thanks,

Tim, Tiff, Jeremy, Drew, and Baby Nielsen