Another picture!

Yay! Here is one more updated picture of our little Leah! It was taken about three weeks ago. Poor girl! Looks like she got a boo boo on her cheek!


Oh oh! I hope our LOA comes tomorrow! Please pray that it does!!!


~The Hughes Clan

Still alive!

Hello, family and friends!! I have been a bad blogger :( We are all well. We celebrated Christmas and enjoyed watching Johanna experience it for the first time. It was such a blessing. Got to celebrate Cole's and  Ameila's birthday in Jan (she turned 5). Then in Feb. we sent our dossier to China. Got our login date a month later in March (it is 2/24 in case you were wondering). It took them 20 days from DTC to giving me a LID. For those that know what I am talking about you can see that it took a long time! So now we are on our wait for our LOA. That is our next step. Lots of people with later LID's have gotten theirs already. Trying to be patient here! Also, in March we celebrated Felicia, Mikaela, Erin, Nathaniel, Skyler, Zackariah (even though he is still in China) Elijah, and Johanna's birthday's. We have gotten some baby chick's and look forward to maybe some runner ducks! We also have painted most of our downstairs and we are working our way to the upstairs. We did manage to paint Nathaniel's and Zackariah's room. Also, we bought some bunk beds for them on Craigslist.
    Our Lord and Savior is to be given the glory for His work in our lives! We continue to learn and grow at our  church and at home.
     The post of pics are just of the past few months! We will try to update more often :)

                In His blessed love~

Someone got a picture of our little girl while visiting the orphanage! She walking!!!!! :) 

                

Here is our newest addition! Her name is Rosy! 

Ben's great creation during one of our many snow days in February.

*Smile*

Three of the birthday girls! 

We painted Nathaniel room. Cool green!

These ones are of the kids playing "House" one day. They were just so cute I had to take a picture of them!

It was actually Johanna's birthday that day! She turned nine.

We painted the downstairs living room and the kitchen a pretty mellow yellow.

Dad showing off his beautiful work!

                                            Lauri

~Introducing Our Newest Member~

                                   Zackariah Ming Hughes!

            

           I wanted to take a moment to tell the story of our newest  

little one. When we were searching for this next one we have had a lot  

of "bumps" on the way. I think this also adds to the amazing way God  

works. We were seriously considering two little ones. A boy that had  

bilateral wrist and ankle joint deformity and a girl with lower leg  

deformity.It was hard to get any Ortho. to look at the files. Mikaela,  

decided one evening to look up different China blogs out there on the  

web. We enjoy looking at families unite or soon to be united with  

their children. Mikaela came across one. The family is in the process  

of adopting a child with deformities of the hands and feet. I told her  

it would be nice to talk with her and find out what she has been told  

about treatment. Well, this lady had her email on her blog and it said  

"feel free to email me". So, I did. I told her  about the 2 little  

ones . She emailed me back quick. Told me she is a therapist  and  

worked with the top 2 ortho. doctors in Chicago! She said she would be  

happy to look at their files. So, I sent them. She got back to me. We  

prayed and kept looking. The little girl was the one that seemed to be  

the one we were most drawn to. In the meantime, Kelsey ( she works at my adoption agency ) found a little  

guy that seemed perfect. I did not know much about his SN so we waited  

to get more info. We decided to lock him that evening and called the  

first thing in the morning. He was locked though!!! Another  

disappointment! On Dec. 23rd Kelsey sent me the file of this sweet boy  

in Shanghai. Since his SN is a limb deformity we felt confident we  

could lock him. I had gotten such wonderful information from Amanda  

(the therapist). I have been "studying" this issue for a little while  

now.We decided to lock him right away! So, that night I emailed her to  

let her know about this little boy we locked. I sent her his file to  

look at. I told her no hurry getting back to me because we already  

locked him. She emailed me that night. Told me to "sit down". She had  

been praying for this little guy for sometime now. Both her and her  

friend that have adopted 2 girls with the same SN. She told me she was  

crying as she was writing! He has been with a agency for some time now  

( I believe since Aug 23). The day he showed up on the shared list  

Kelsey saw him! Not so sure he would've been there if all the agencies  

were open that day. Thanks to Faith International Adoptions  for working that day! Isn't it  

amazing how God works? How he connected all of this together? How He  

uses us to further His kingdom. That He desires to move mountains on  

behalf of the orphan!

          I felt I needed to share how amazing God is. How many times  

I wanted to give up the "search" for the second child. I couldn't seem  

to stop looking. Not sure why. Was it me? Was it God? I was so puzzled  

by this. I spent many days and many sleepless nights. I had no peace.  

It has been very hard.

         My Lord has been good. He knew the little boy He had for us.  

His timing is everything.

                   Thanks for letting me share!

                                                        ~ Lauri

It's Christmas time!

Christmas time is here! Oh, there is so many things to be thankful for this festive season. First and foremost, the birth of our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ.  The time to spend with our family. The wonderful county we live in, and the freedom we have here. And for us this season, having our dear Johanna here for Christmas! God is so good! And His mercy is overwhelming~

Here are some pictures of the season so far. I'll be adding more as the month goes on too.

~The red coat lady's~

Amelia and her big sister Felicia.

"Smile"!

I'm not really sure what Johanna is doing... Ummm ;)

Me with my amazing brother!

Okay, I know. The family picture is not so good, but really it was the only decent one!

Felicia and Clint with their Christmas tree.

Now for the decorating! 

First Nathaniel gave it a try, but was just to short.

So Johanna had a go!

~Miss Mikaela

Snow day!

 We awoke this morning to about two inches of SNOW! Amelia woke up very early also saying, "Momma I looked out my window and there was snow"!  Johanna was also very excited. It had snowed ( well it was more like hail)  a month after we brought her home. So today was a very big day! We all played in it ( yes I did too!) for about 2 hours this morning. Fun fun fun!

OooO!

                                                                                                

We're so happy cause she's so happy!

 ~Miss Mikaela

Pumpkin Carving!

On pumpkin day, we let the kids crack open their pumpkins and take a look. Of course Johanna was very excited  (and some what confused). It was so fun to see her face, when she pulled out the first of the pumpkin guts! We had a great time.

!!Cheese!!

Excited faces!

~ Miss Mikaela