Levi video take 2

Levi from Tracy Senior on Vimeo.

Thanks to my friend Sarah who I was blessed to meet at a Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman concert, you can now see the video that I tried to post the other day. Enjoy! I can't get enough of watching my precious son! Check out the two front teeth and the way he pushes himself with those feet.

Levi video

I have this really great video of Levi that I would like to post but can't get it to go on blogger. If anyone has some help they can offer, please send it my way. Otherwise, if you would like to see it, just let me know and I'll try to email it. Hopefully you'll be able to open it.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone! I found out too late about a Tet celebration nearby that I would have liked to attend. Perhaps next year we will get there. Then we will have Levi with us! I can't wait! I wish I had received a gift for Tet, like pictures or news about DNA testing being complete but that was not the case. There's always hope for tomorrow.

I have to send some congratulations out to my daughter and my nephew Jadin. Rachel got a part in the play our church is doing for Easter this year. It is called The Carpenter. She plays a 12-year old girl who is crippled. She loves to act and this is her first big part in any play. Last year she had some small parts in several school plays. I think she is pretty excited! Since coming home yesterday from practice, she has been seen walking around the house with her script quite often.

My nephew Jadin participated in a regional free throw shoot contest sponsored by the Elks Club. After missing 5, he made 14 baskets in a row to win the contest for his age group. He now moves onto the state competition. We are very proud of him! He is quite the athlete! Way to go Jadin!

Family Description

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, He leads forth the prisoners with singing;

Psalm 68:5,6
I am always so thankful that my daughter received Jesus as her Savior and Lord at a young age and has continued to be more and more open to the Spirit's leading in her life. Often she will share things that she feels God has showed her during her quiet times with Him. The other night, Rachel and I were preparing to have our prayer time before bed and she shared that she had read this verse in her devotional time and that this verse described our family well. She said that in this verse, she is the fatherless, I am the widow, Levi is the lonely who is being set in our family, and the people in our family that have never repented of their sins and confessed Jesus as their Savior and Lord are the prisoners that God longs to lead forth with singing. Wow! She is exactly right. It is our prayer that everyone reading this blog would not just recognize God in their heads but would experience the freedom that comes of living their lives completely sold out for Him. I know that a lot of people think that if you give your lives completely over to Christ, that you won't have any fun. But they are so wrong! All around me I see people who are living their lives for themselves and acknowledging God only when they are in desperate need. They are living in bondage and are so unhappy. They may not think they are but if you really look at them, they are. Then I see the people who have decided to give their lives completely over to Christ and I see a joy and a peace coming from them that nothing in the world can give. I am learning that the more I give my life over to Christ, the richer my life becomes. I pray that the same is true for all of you today.

Birthday Party Pictures

On Monday we were off of school for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so we had Rachel's 16th birthday party. I finally got around to downloading the pictures. I think they had a great time!

Prayers

Tonight I have a special prayer request, not for me but for some friends of my family. This morning my mom called me to tell me that her good friend's daughter-in-law had a baby girl this morning that was born with Epidrmolysis Bullosa. This is a rare genetic disease that is characterized by the presence of extremely fragile skin and recurrent blister formation, resulting from minor mechanical friction or trauma. Only an estimated 1 out of every 50,000 live births are affected with some type of Epidermolysis Bullosa. She has it on her hands, feet and one thigh. She will need to stay in the hospital for at least 5 days. They have the affected parts covered with bandages so that she will not get an infection. Please pray that she doesn't get any infection. Please pray for the parents and grandparents as they come to terms with the implications of this disease. Pray that God's peace will flood over them tonight and that they will be able to leave this precious baby girl in the hands of her Creator God who is able to cuddle her in His loving arms. He is Jehovah Rophe, the God our Healer so pray that He will heal her completely. He is a miracle-working God!!

Thank you in advance for your prayers!

DNA Samples Have Arrived...

at the lab that is. We got the update this afternoon from Dillon that they had heard from the lab and they had received the DNA samples. Praise God! I was hoping they would get there by tomorrow. Let's hope that it keeps moving quickly! I might get my birthday wish after all. Maybe it will happen before then!

DNA Update

DNA testing has been completed and everything went fine. The Dillon staff will let us know when the results are received at the lab here in the States. The testing can take anywhere from 3-10 business days and we will receive notice of the result documentation when it is sent on to the consulate in HCMC. Thank you all for praying and I ask that you continue to pray for the remainder of this process that everything goes smoothly.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for my daughter Rachel. Happy Sweet "16th" birthday! Where has the time gone? I am thankful that she got her birthday wish - a day off of school for her birthday. We had a snow day yesterday and one today for bitter cold as well. So, she had 2 friends spend the night and today we will go out to eat for lunch, while the sun is still shining and it is just a little warmer, instead of for supper.

I will never forget the day she was born. It was a teacher's inservice day at school and I was to begin my weekly trips to the doctor that day. When the alarm went off, I was going to hit the snooze and sleep a little longer because I didn't have the kids, but I had to go to the bathroom (surprise, surprise). So, I headed off to the bathroom, but when I finished, the water just kept coming out of me. Well, being the first time I was pregnant, I wasn't sure but I thought that my water had just broke. Seeing that my husband wasn't home from work yet, I got in the shower. As I was getting out, he came home. Boy was he surprised to find out that after working all night he now had to take me to the hospital. But he was such a trooper. He stayed with me the entire day! I wasn't having any contractions when I arrived at the hospital so they put me on Pitocin. I was on Pitocin all day. By 8:00 in the evening, I still had not dilated past 2. We waited a little longer, seeing that Rachel was not in any distress, but my 8:30 we decided to have a C-section. By 9:18 p.m. our precious little 5 lb. 13 oz. beauty was born. I have some of the most precious pictures of her and her daddy who was as proud as proud could be. I wish he was here to see the beautiful young woman she has become.

Over the years, I have such precious memories of her. Here are a few of my favorite:
1. For her first birthday, we bought her her very first baby doll. It was all soft parts. Right away she named her baby "baby Rachel" or as she used to say her name "Dachel". After that, she took baby Rachel with her everywhere she could. When she was getting sleepy, she would suck her thumb and rub the little sock of baby Rachel between her two fingers. It was soooo cute! That sock area got pretty worn out.
2. On her second birthday, we had moved into a tiny apartment but still managed to have both sets of grandparents, 4 great-grandparents, my brother and now sister-in-law, and her sister at the apartment for her birthday party. We all squished into the livingroom for the gift opening. One of the presents was in a rectangular clothes box. Before she opened it up, she said, "Dis(this) is cwothes(clothes)!" And she was right!! How funny!! We all laughed!
3. When she was 2-1/2 we started her in dance and tumbling at a dance studio called, "Toes, Taps and Tumbles". Her class was early enough that the babysitter would have to put her leotard on so that we could go right there after I picked her up. She was always excited about dance cwass(class) but one day she was squirming around and the babysitter asked her what was wrong. She replied, "My weotard(leotard) is aw(all) squey(screwy)!" Obviously, we hadn't gotten are r's and l's yet!
4. She loved to wear hats when she was little. She was really good about leaving them on and always looked so adorable!
5. She loved to watch and dance to Barney. She had her own Barney and would hold him as she danced along to the show or video. There was a teddy bear song where a little girl on the show would dance with her teddy bear. Rachel would get her teddy bear and try to imitate the girl on the show.
6. She loved to read books. Earlier this year, she asked me for her favorite book from when she was little so she could do a project for speech class. I couldn't tell her what her favorite was because she just liked to read. She would sit in her little rocking chair that came from her great grandpa and read to her stuffed animals and dolls. I can still picture it as if it was yesterday.

I love you, Rachel! Thanks for being the best daughter a mother could ever ask for. I hope and pray that God will bless you with another wonderful year of life filled with precious memories with the people you love and a great adventure as you continue to seek God for His direction in your life!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Levi

Today Levi turned 7 months old. Thanks to my friend Natasha I have a little bit more information on him that makes me long for him even more. She shared that he is very mobile and scoots all around. He does the downward dog pose, hands and feet on the ground with his bottom in the air. He is also very proficient at backbends. Twice they saw him with his head and feet on the ground and his tummy in the air. Sounds like he is going to keep us on our toes! We can't wait!!

We also got a height and weight update while I was away from blogging. Levi is now up to 15.8 lbs. and 27.2 inches.

Just want to remind everyone to pray tomorrow evening as that will be Friday morning in Vietnam - the date for the DNA appointment. I am not sure what time exactly it will occur so I am asking people to pray around 7:00 tomorrow night, as they are 13 hours ahead of us. Thanks again for your support!

Time Away

For the past several years our church has always taken the month of January for a time of fasting and prayer. In the past I have focused on fasting food and using that time to spend more time seeking God in prayer and in His Word. Today I was reading my friend Stephanie's blog and she posted that she felt God was calling her to take a week away from the blogging world so that she could focus on seeking Him in their adoption situation. I thought what a great thing that was to do. Well, little did I know that when I went to church tonight, during the time of prayer and worship, I would feel God telling me that I was to follow her lead and do the same. So, for the next week, I will not be posting or checking in on anyone else's blogs. I am going to use the time to pray and to delve into the Word and to maybe even memorize some pertinent Scriptures. I will be checking my email once a day as this is the way that most of my communication comes regarding our adoption but I will not be posting anything. I will post any new news when I return next week Thursday. I know that I will definitely miss checking up on all of you but I feel that this is important for me to do at this time. I need to get my heart right before the Lord and prepare myself for what He wants to do in me and through me.

I would ask everyone reading to please remember to pray next week Thursday evening for Levi and his birthmother as they will be going through the DNA testing then (which is Friday morning in Vietnam). I ask that you especially remember his birthmother as I can imagine that it was difficult for her to give him up for adoption in the first place. I'm sure this will not be an easy day for her. My heart aches for her.

While I'm Waiting

This morning in my quiet time I was reading a devotional titled When God Says No. Now I know that He has not said "no" to us adopting but He has certainly had us wait longer than I would like to. I was thinking about that because one of my adoption friends and I have prayed often throughout this process that God would do what is best for us. That has not always been what I thought was best but I know because He has an infinite viewpoint whereas mine is finite, He truly does know what's best. So, this morning I read the following in my devotional:

Sometimes we think God hasn't answered our prayers unless we receive what we want. But God answers all our prayers-sometimes yes, sometimes wait, and sometimes no. When God says no or answers differently than we expect, most of us grow frustrated or angry. But whil we see life from a limite, finite viewpoint, God sees the beginning and ending of all things and everything in between. When we thank Him for closing a door, we can discover the window He wants to open for our best.

And so I wait, patiently at times and not so patiently at other times, for the day I will get to hold my precious son in my arms for the first time. I know it will be an incredible day! It is a day that I am longing for as well as for the day that I bring him home and Rachel and Levi and I are finally altogether as one family under one roof. What a day of rejoicing that will be!

A Treasure from A Friend

Late last night I opened my email to find a message from my friend Natasha who is in Vietnam getting her son, who happens to be in the same orphanage as Levi. She got to spend some time holding and playing with and loving on Levi and she sent me the following message:

He is perfect Tracy. Smiley, happy, and was climbing all over N and moving around in his stroller thing. I kissed him and loved on him and know he is your perfect gift from God.

I have to say that this is such sweetness to my ears. I just had to put it down here so that I can come back and read it over and over again when I'm feeling frustrated about waiting and having to jump through all kinds of hoops to bring my son home. It was especially meaningful yesterday as I was feeling a little down seeing some of the new babies at church and not having my own at home to love on and cuddle.

I say that it feels like in this process there are a lot of hoops to jump through because on Friday we had to have a home study update, physicals, and more fingerprinting at the police station for another background check so that we can have our I-600A renewed for free. At least it is free! I keep reminding myself that God is a good God who knows exactly what is best for me and though I can't see it at the moment, through the process He is definitely causing me to grow in my faith and in the end I will be a stronger and better person for it! I have really had to learn to depend on Him and trust Him to work out all the details! But who better to trust than the almighty Creator of the universe!

How Do You Explain God?

Recently I have been reading a book called When Families Pray by Cheri Fuller. It is meant to be a family devotional book but I have been reading during my own devotional time. I am hoping to incorporate some of the ideas into our family life when I am finished reading it and have processed everything through. The other day I read the devotional that was titled what I titled this post. I have to share what was written because I think it is so precious. It was written by an eight year old boy named Danny Dutton, who was asked by his teacher to write an essay explaining what they thought about God. Of course, working with 7 and 8 year olds most days I can certainly see one of my second graders saying this. So, sit back and enjoy and ponder!


"One of God's main jobs is making people to replace the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grown-ups, just babies I think, because they are smaller and easier to make. That way, He doesn't have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk; He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears unless He has thought of a way to turn it off. God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.

Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father, and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them, and God said okay.

His Dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth, so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So He did! And now He helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary only more important.

You can pray anytime you want, and they are SURE to hear you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.
If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared in the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.

But you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here, and He can take me back anytime He pleases. And that's why I believe in God."

So, how about you? How do you define God?