Breakthroughs

We are experiencing so many breakthroughs with Collins. Her english in the last few weeks has made huge strides. Now she's saying sentences which is pretty amazing since we brought her home from China less than 3 months ago. She calls herself "Cowwins" and seems to want to add an "a" to many of her words. So she says things like ice-a-cream, and when she's claiming something for herself she'll say, "Its a Cowwins." She almost always wants to be the one to pray at meals and bedtime, and even asks to pray at random times like riding in the car or in the middle of mealtime. She always prays the same thing, something she came up with on her own. "Jesus loves-a me Daddy. Jesus loves-a me Mommy. Jesus loves-a me Tonna (Conner). Jesus loves-a me Saspensah (Spencer)......". I guess she heard us pray to Jesus and she knew the song, so thats how she put it together in her mind. She's also made huge strides in her behavior. I cannot believe what 3 months of love and nutrition and instruction can do for a child. Its really been miraculous to watch. Christmas has been great for her. She has loved having Gran Jan and Spencer here. Spencer had a party with all his friends and yes she was literally the life of the party and ended up with 4 or 5 of the white elephant gifts that night. As they were leaving one of the girls told me that she wanted to have kids as a result of Collins. That makes me smile and made me realize that maybe some of these college kids will adopt unwanted children one day as a result of Collins. When you can get to know a child that was an orphan then adoption doesn't seem so scarey or far out. I can see God using this spunky little girl already. One of the highlights of Christmas was having her hand out candy to women prisoners and kids from children's homes. They were at our church for a dinner in early December. Collins wore her santa dress and went down aisle after aisle, handing out peppermints, all the while taking her job very seriously. The women prisoners especially just glowed meeting her and hearing about her recent adoption. We had a HUGE snow Christmas day, biggest snow in Asheville on Dec. 25th since 1969. She was a little unnerved at playing in the snow at first, but soon got into it. She and her brothers and dad made a huge snowman. But the best part was sledding and shoveling the driveway. The snow kept my brother and his family unable to drive here, so we met them today in Atlanta. It was love at first sight as Collins' understanding of "her" family grew by 6 today! She took right to them and when it was time to go she wanted to go home with them. So nice for this little one who had no family to jump all the way to extended family. Seeing her giggling in her aunt's arms, and playing with her cousins....good, good stuff. On the way home from Atlanta she kept wanting to count all 6 of them, and so we went through their names over and over. I was telling her that Gran Jan was Uncle Kyle's mommy. She shook her head and said, "No! Uncle Kyle is Cowwins!" No trouble with bonding with this one....Tonight I was getting her into bed. She was putting things in her new princess purse and had just taken off her wig from the "Bippity Boppity Boutique" at Disney. She was twirling around with a pink scarf Savannah had given her and all of a sudden she said, "Mommy. Cowwins SO happy." I nearly fell over. Her english is just now at the point where she can tell us her thoughts. Her cousin Abby made her a book of their family and all of us together. We read that book and turned out the lights. She prayed and then we both laid there for awhile in silence. Then came one of those moments. Collins whispered in the dark, "Mommy. Cowwins so glad you Mommy." That is a breakthrough I will never ever forget.

IHOP and MOSES

The best Christmas present for me is having all my chicks back in the nest. Today the five of us went to eat breakfast at IHOP. We were sitting next to a very nice older couple, and they enjoyed meeting Collins and hearing about our recent adoption. About halfway through our meal, with tears in his eyes this gentleman looked at me said, “This child is like Moses.” He went on to say that Moses was born into a hostile environment (death of baby boys because of the large population of the Israelites and the threat that was to Pharaoh). God preserved his life by putting him into the palace as a result of Pharaoh’s daughter’s “adoption” of Moses. Pharaoh wasn’t going to say no to his little girl….So the deliverer of Israel was supernaturally rescued and preserved because there was a great work for him to do. Wow…Collins was born into a wonderful country but because of their enormous population, most couples can only have one child. Families prefer boys to carry on the family name, and so the orphanages in China are full of little girls. Hostile environment. God has sovereignly chosen this little girl to be preserved and taken out of that. Our little house is not a palace, but compared to what she came from it’s the Biltmore Estate. She has been rescued out of a life without a mom or dad, brothers and grandmothers. Most importantly she has been taken from spiritual darkness to a place where she can know the one true God in a personal way. Preserved. I believe she will be used in a mighty way. I believe there is a great purpose for her life. This encounter today reminded me again that her story is and will be pretty miraculous. He is up to something…

Thanksgiving and December Shots

Perfect Days

Perfect days don't come along often, but today was pretty close. I'm sitting here listening to Aaron Keyes, reflecting on this Monday, December 13th. We had a big snow, and Conner was home because school was out. Tonight we had the fire going, a Christmas movie playing, and somehow we ended up eating cobb salad on the couch. Collins looked at me like this was about as good as it gets. She smiled up at me, then put her hand on my back and starting rubbing just as a way of thanking me and loving on me, I guess. This morning this strong willed little girl had gotten in trouble AGAIN. She climbed in my bed while I was putting on my make-up. A few minutes later I heard a little husky voice say, "I sowwy Mommy". So many sweet moments in the midst of the hard parts of teaching her how to live in this new life she's come into.

The most perfect day I can remember recently was a few weeks ago. It was a Sunday, and in our Connect Group (Sunday School), we had an african pastor and his wife as our special guests. They had their little girl with them who wasn't supposed to make it to her first birthday. Baby Grace was born with her intestines outside her body. Her parents were told to throw her away. They had no $, no transportation to the closest hospital in Monrovia, Liberia. Yet God made a way for them to get there, and a Chinese doctor just happened to be there visiting. He was able to do the initial surgery but told them she wouldn't live to her first birthday without a second surgery. Enter our Connect Group. Lorie Newman in our class had planned a mission trip to Liberia to do women's ministry there. (Lorie has adopted from Liberia and Haiti, and is waiting to adopt 2 more from Liberia. We are adopting sisters. YES, we were matched with a 6 year old from Liberia about 18 months ago named Rebecca, but the country is letting very few of these children out. We don't know if we will ever get them. Hope so. The poverty these children are living in is indescribable, and I so want Collins to have Rebecca as her sister.) Anyway...Lorie planned the trip but couldn't go because of a pregnancy. Enter Leah Gillen from our class who went on the trip, and met this pastor and his wife. That led to Leah and another woman getting Vanderbilt Hospital to offer to do the surgery for free. Another friend in our class, Rebecca Norton was able to get Delta to donate the flights. This baby came, had the surgery and then came to our class to celebrate her first birthday! As the father spoke to our class about his life's story, my mouth was hanging open. The atrocities of living in a war-torn country ! It's mind boggling to think of the orphans and the broken and the poor in Africa. And yet...God saved this baby's life and used these 3 women to help in that. At the end of the class I saw Baby Grace's mom go over to meet Rebecca for the first time. This was a serious hug with many, many tears! Can you imagine, coming over to meet someone who had gone out of their way to help save your baby's life on the other side of the country? I'm telling you...a perfect day. It doesn't get better than that. After church we rushed down to South Carolina for a wedding. Our friend Cheryl was getting married. Her husband Andy died suddenly 18 months ago leaving her with 2 sons, 15 and 7. Andy was such a fun person and its been so hard to lose him. We were rejoicing with Cheryl that there would be joy after so much pain. It was one of the most beautiful weddings I've been to. It was on top of a mountain in a chapel with gorgeous views. They had Michael O'Brien as their singer, which was over the top amazing! At the reception Collins went right to the microphone, climbed in his lap and sang. Everyone stopped to listen and gave her a big applause! So that was even more perfection to add to the day. We raced home, and Carl kept Collins in the lobby so I could go to our church service since I had missed the message that morning. As a pastor's wife for almost 23 years I have spent alot of time in church. But I can honestly say, I have never loved being there as much as I do now. Our church is just so alive. I'm just so grateful that we are in a church like that since we don't have a choice like most people! It's like this feast has been prepared for me each week. But that night it was just the perfect message for somebody I love, someone I had been praying for, and they were there that night. I LOVE it when God does that. He met this person and gave them the answers they needed. It changed everything for them! The perfect ending to a perfect day. Here are some photos of Collins and Michael O'Brien, Baby Grace and her parents with Lorie, Leah and Rebecca.

More of Disney

DISNEY

Okay, life is very good for little Collins Mei Toth. We are at Disney World this week, and she will meet Grandma from Florida for the first time on Friday. She has ridden lots of rides and seemed to love every minute of it. The dinosaur ride scared her a little, and she went to bed talking about the it and woke up this morning talking about it. Apparently, it made a big impression. Probably the most excited I have ever seen her in the 10-11 weeks since we got her was tonight. We stood in line to see Rapunzel and Flynn. As we moved up to be the next ones to meet them, she kept covering her mouth and grinning as if she was about to meet the President of the United States. She and Lily were able to chat with the happy couple, hug them and get their picture made together. Afterward, she was talking as fast as she could in Cantonese, telling me over and over about the experience, showing me the hug, and looking as if it was the biggest moment of her life. It was just plain cute. I think she thought she had just met a real prince and princess. She is learning so much english these days, saying phrases and words all the time. Its coming rapidly.... so fast its hard for me to keep up with all her new words. It's been such a good thing this week to see her interacting with Catherine Grace, Maggie and Lily. I know she misses being around kids and it does my heart good to see her playing and laughing with these girls....and of all places - at Disneyworld!