4/29 Smiling faces from the east

That smile on Jen's face means that Mumzy and Papa have come to town! What a great time we had when my parents drove all the way out to Texas from the beach in North Carolina to spend Easter with us. No spring trip would be complete without a ride looking for Texas bluebonnets and a stop at the Blue Bell Creamery.

We spent a relaxing weekend sharing Jen with my parents. We felt blessed that they showed her such love and made her feel so special. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Downtown Brenham -- Jen and her well loved grandparents

As the Blue Bell folks say "eat all we can, sell the rest"


We celebrated Jen's 3 month anniversary with the cake from her adoption shower. There were lots of presents to give Mumzy and Papa from our trip to China


My mother gave Jen a precious gift...the Easter basket that belonged to her older sister who died in childhood in the 1920s. I am sure Jen will treasure that in the years to come


Learning to ride her bike...it's goodbye training wheels and hello adventure!

I told a friend in the spring of 2007 that we would have Jen with us before the bluebonnets bloomed again.


Papa enjoying the day in Brenham...it's a nice place to spend a day

4/28 The just shall live

by faith....



On Jen's first Easter, she learned about the cross. Whenever she sees a cross now she calls it "Easter"...that is OK with us

Another Zhuhai family's blog referred to a passage in the Book of Habakkuk and that caused me to sit down one Sunday afternoon and read. It was an important time for us as Kristy and I had been struggling to find a dentist for Jen. With no dental care during her first 10 years, we expected some problems and we were concerned. We wanted to spare her from pain and from any unnecessary things that could wait until she was older. We should have taken her sooner but were trying to find that ideal time when she could understand what was happening. We didn't want her to be afraid of the dentist and we didn't want her to resent us for taking her. We investigated several and felt no peace about where to go.

Finally, a friend gave us a recommendation and it was time to make a decision. And so it was that I read Habakkuk on that afternoon about the just living by faith. I was nervous about sending Jen to a stranger and we had no idea how she would respond. I decided that I had to trust and let her go. Here is what happened...

It was a Tuesday and Jen complaining of pain in one of her teeth. The dentist saw her and found 7 cavities. We were all concerned about how she would react in the dental chair but she did fine. They scheduled her for 2 more sessions -- round 1 at the dentist had come off without a hitch.

The following week, Jen went back for work on the first set of cavities. The dentist explained that the one tooth had some significant decay and he ended up doing a kind of root canal and put on a crown. Jen was very brave and the staff was surprised by how well she did. The tooth was a baby tooth but the dentist was trying to keep it if possible. All seemed well enough.

That night Jen began to have a lot of pain and it lasted all night. She didn't sleep a wink. We put her in the bed with us but it didn't help. With the language barrier it was hard to tell how much it hurt but we could tell that it hurt quite a bit.

By the next day it was beginning to subside and we thought she was over the worst of it. No one had expected the pain but she gritted it out. Then we watched to see if it would heal OK and by the third day, it had gotten infected. That did not bode well for the future of the tooth. I was concerned that Jen was going to have to endure having it pulled after the pain of the first procedure. We watched and waited but it did not get better. The first antibiotic didn't seem to work so she received a stronger one with some side effects and a really nasty taste. It was difficult to get her to take it and it took all our best parental psychology to get her to take it. She wasn't just putting on...it was awful.

Okay, this is running long but the story gets better. After close to 2 weeks on antibiotics, there was no improvement and we were prepared for her to lose the tooth. I began to pray for her dentist -- that he would have divine wisdom and hoped he would not pull the tooth if it wasn't absolutely necessary. A phone call the day before her next appointment confirmed that the tooth would likely be pulled the next day. I prayed for him and for wisdom. To our eye, the infection seemed no better.

On the next day, Jen saw the dentist and he decided not to pull it. We were happily surprised. He worked on her gum to make a way for the fluid to drain and then fixed the rest of her cavities. Then he asked if he could pray for her. There in the dental chair he prayed over our daughter, asking for God to bless her and that God would use her for great things. He reminded her that God's heart was tender toward the orphan and that Moses had been orphaned for God's purposes.

And so it came to me again...the just shall live by faith...We had to entrust our daughter to a stranger. We had to have faith that God was leading us to the right person although he was a stranger to us. And in the end, not only did he have the wisdom to wait the tooth out to save it, but his heart was stirred to pray over her and bless her.

With Jen's dental work behind her, we felt a burden lifted. It was one more evidence that God is at work in Jen's life for His glory.


Jen and Momma using a pocket translator on Easter morning. If you adopt an older child, a translator can be very helpful.

4/5 What a difference a few months make

December 17, 2007 in Guangzhou, China in the first 5 minutes of our first day with Jen
March 23, 2008 at home after 3 months

As I consider what our daughter has been through in the years leading up to now, I am reminded of God's promise to restore what has been lost. Jen has suffered a great loss and we believe that God can and will restore her to a life of purpose, full of love and joy. The days of the locust are now past for her and by the grace of God she will spend many years walking through green fields in pursuit of God's great purpose for her life. Onward and upward until eternity...


21Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For the LORD has done great things.
22Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
23So rejoice, O sons of Zion,
And be glad in the LORD your God;
For He has given you the early rain for your vindication
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The early and latter rain as before.
24The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.
25"Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
26"You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the name of the LORD your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.
27"Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the LORD your God,
And there is no other;
And My people will never be put to shame.

Joel 2:21-27 (KJV from www.biblegateway.com)

4/1 A special message

Jen Hope:
Momma and Daddy love you !!

海贞
妈妈和爸爸爱您 !!