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Frosting Christmas Cookies

Every year at our house we have a tradition of making and decorating rolled sugar cookies from scratch. This year I made an extra large batch and it took Paige, Paris, Josiah and me three hours to frost and decorate. Whew!! We each frosted and decorated 32 and by the time we were done we didn't want to look at another Christmas cookie. Thankfully we got over that pretty quick and started gobbling them up. The first video is of Josiah frosting one of his cookies this year. The second video is of him frosting a cookie last year just in case you missed it ( it is pretty cute and funny). You can also see the difference in his feet as the video from last year was before any corrections.

So Thankful

Brian and I are just ordinary people and we are just so blessed to have been called by God to do something extraordinary. It was God’s plan for our lives and Josiah’s life. It was God who put love in our hearts for Josiah and called us to bring him home because God is love. He loves Josiah more than we ever could. We are so thankful for the plans that He has for us because they are for good and not for evil. Following Him is an adventure and we can’t wait to see what He has planned next!!!

Josiah....Dancing Machine

So the other day at church we had a worship night and Josiah danced for the first time. It was amazing. He has only been walking for a few months and to see him dancing...what a miracle!!! I didn't have a video camera at the time but I finally got the chance to get him on video today.

We are adopting again!

For those of you who don't already know, we began the process of adopting another special needs child from China back in early September. This little boy is 8 years old and had spastic cerebral palsy, which effects the way he walks and the use of his right arm and hand. His English name will be Judah. Once again we are stepping out in faith to fully depend upon the Lord to provide what is necessary to bring Judah home. While we are starting out this adoption with more money than we began Josiah's adoption, we are still a long way from having everything we need. Just as with Josiah's adoption, we know that the Lord will provide precisely when He needs to and we trust in Him with all our heart. I have included a picture of Judah for your viewing pleasure, and I look forward to updating you as to our progress. Currently we are waiting for our social worker to contact us to do the homestudy. It is my hope that I will be going to China sometime in the fall of next year to bring this new addition to our family.

In His service,

Brian

Josiah is Walking by Himself!!!

Josiah has been working hard in physical therapy. We are still working on stairs, running, and jumping but he pretty much has the walking down and doing it by himself!!! He is doing so fantastic and he knows where his help comes from. We pray every day that God would help him to get stronger, that all his muscles would be working exactly as they are supposed to be working, and that he would do it all as fast as possible. I am pretty sure God is answering all those prayers. Praise the Lord!!! Here is a video of him walking fast by himself.

GOTCHA DAY!!!

If you can believe it we got Josiah one year ago today in China!! I can't believe how fast it has gone and how much we have done and overcome in the last year. Yesterday Josiah walked into our church for the first time instead of using his wheelchair. It was amazing the impact that made and he was so proud to be able to show everyone that after six years of being on this earth he is finally walking. I did have to hold his shirt to help him with his balance so he is not totally on his own with it yet. But he has only actually been walking for six weeks in the power of his own strength, with no help except to balance him.

Here is a video of Josiah enjoying one of his presents that he received for Gotcha Day. He laughed and yelled and played exactly like he did in this video for almost two hours with this present. I think we picked a good one. By the way in the video he is saying, "I'm fast. I'm fast. I'm really fast!!"

Josiah is Walking!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!

In the videos posted below, the physical therapist is holding onto Josiah's hips for balance only, however he is holding his own weight and doing all the work!! Josiah has progressed very fast from not being able to move his left leg at all, after his spica cast was removed on 6-1, to starting physical therapy after he was cast free on 6-27. "...God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27) Our son, through this weakness, has shown such courage and determination that it is hard for me to imagine that someone who is mighty could possibly outshine him. Every day he prays with us that God would strengthen him and every day he gets a little bit stronger.

During Jesus's ministry He passed by a man who was blind from birth. "And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.'" (John 9:2-3) This was the verse that God gave us about Josiah before we even brought him home. The Lord told us that He created Josiah the way he was "that the works of God should be revealed in him." Josiah gives glory to God because he knows he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him. Josiah knows where his strength comes from,  do you?

Harmony Reunion

Here are some pictures from the Harmony Reunion in Chicago July 19-21 2012.

Short update

 As some of you may know, Josiah had surgery to repair his club feet and to put his hip back in the socket on his left side. I would be lying if I didn't say it was a little rough on all of us, without being able to use his arms and with his feet in casts since February 22, 2012 Josiah couldn't do anything. We were his only source of entertainment. He watched a lot of TV and every week I took him down to the Mississippi River, only a mile or so from our house. On June 1st Josiah had his big hip spica cast taken off. He couldn't use his left leg at all and had very little strength in his right leg. However, day by day he has been getting stronger and stronger. He started physical therapy late June and has been able to stand up by himself for about a minute or so. We have so much to tell, but below are a few pictures of Josiah with his casts on, Rachel did the artwork.

Google Chrome

Hello everybody. Well I finally bit the bullet and downloaded google chrome. I have used internet explorer ever since I started using the internet in 1995, but I couldn't update my blog with ie9 so I switched. I hope to have some updates on here soon including pictures.

Brian

Long time no post

Hello everybody. I know I haven't been keeping this blog up to date, however,  I want to give you a quick update on Josiah. We started casting his legs a few weeks ago for his club feet and things are going very well. He is scheduled for surgery on 4/5/12. Josiah's left hip is out of the socket and will require him to be in a cast from his chest down for 2-3 months. Also at this surgery, the doctors will be cutting Josiah's achilles tendon to turn his feet in the right direction. His tendon is way too tight for the doctors to correct this with castings. He will have to stay overnight at the hospital, which is kind of scary, but to see him walk will truly be a miracle. The little boy who can't walk or use his arms, abandoned somewhere in Hunan China, now with a family in Ameria on the brink of walking for the first time. Only the Lord is cabable of orchestrating such miracles. Josiah's English is prgressing nicely, he spends every school day doing 100 math problems and learning how to read. Please pray for both Josiah's surgery and for a speedy recovery. Josiah's case is unique in that he can't use his arms, so with his feet out of commission he can't do anything for himself. But he is still Josiah, and he is happy as can be.

Brian

Josiah's sledding adventures

Sorry again that I haven't been posting very much, but as you can expect we are pretty busy. This last weekend I took Josiah for his first sledding experience, that I know of. He laughed pretty much the whole time. If you don't know, we have a big hill in front of our house that goes down around the back of the house. It takes about 5 minutes to walk up the hill and 30 seconds to come down...needless to say I was tired after a while.

Josiah's first Christmas Cookie frosting...Funny

I know we haven't been doing a good job of keeping up the blog lately, but here is a little treat...make sure you watch all the way to the end. You will need to mute the songs at the bottom of the screen first.

Brian

More Pictures @ Home

Here are some more pictures of Josiah at home. Rememeber, he has 2 older sisters, I'm sure his face will be painted with more than this before it is all said and done. I have asked Paris to paint his face as she is a very good artist and the last time she painted her face as a cat, it was perfect.

Some Pictures of Josiah at Home

I am really sorry if you are looking for more posts from us, since getting home I have had zero time to update things. I hope to have some time this weekend to update things but I can't assure you of that. I do want to say again, thank you to everyone who prayed, donated, and gave us advice. I realized today that I actually miss being in China. Being at harmony house was amazing and I would love to go back to China on a vacation. I know, probably not the #1 hotspot, but I liked the culture and the people very much. I don't know if the pictures will show up at the top or bottom, but here, or there, they are.

We are home!

I realized a few days ago that I never updated the blog to inform everyone that we are home. We didn't have any issues, save 1, coming home from Hong Kong. Josiah's name was backwards on his ticket and the guy behind the ticket counter said "we have a problem". However, his supervisor looked at hime like he was crazy and printed our tickets. When we got home, Josiah went all over the house looking around and checking it out. We had people over Thurday, Friday, and Saturday, which in hindsight was probably too much considering that I also spoke at church on Saturday night and Sunday 2 services. However, everything seems to be going well. Josiah has been fitting right in with us. I have been sick pretty much since Friday morning and I am still sick. I will be going back to work tomorrow morning, which will be hard, but I don't have any time off. Josiah and I took about a 6 hour nap today 1-7:30, and he is still sleeping. Since I am sick...I am hoping to be able to get back to sleep. It is crazy how we are all tired at different times. We can just be sitting there and the next thing you know....out. Well I would love to write more, and I will, but I need to get some dinner and figure out how I am going to sleep again.

Brian

We are on our way to Hong Kong

In about 2 hours we leave to catch our train. This sounds like it is going to be another adventure. 4 escalators up and 4 back down with a wheel chair = no fun. Please be thinking about us as we make this last part of our journey. When I am on the plane from Hong Kong to Detroit....I will be a happy man. Even more so when we are on the plane to Detroit. Not so much that I want to leave China, I am just ready to be done with the nerve racking travel. If I could speak more languauges it would be easier, but I don't so I have to struggle through it. My next post should be from home...I leave you with a great picture...thanks everyone.

 

Brian