Baby Hannah was born on July 18, 2008. We are having so much fun having a little newborn around the house. John-Paul just loves his new little sister as does her other siblings, Jenna and Eric. We are so blessed to have four children now!
Our Log In Date is 4-13-07
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Baby Hannah
Baby Hannah was born on July 18, 2008. We are having so much fun having a little newborn around the house. John-Paul just loves his new little sister as does her other siblings, Jenna and Eric. We are so blessed to have four children now!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
One Year Log In Date Anniversary
Today is our one year log in anniversary date. It has now been two years since we started the process to adopt our little girl from China. A lot of things have happened in this last year. We have lost three people in our family, my grandmother, Bob's mom and our cousin Paul. The biggest news of the year is that we are expecting a baby girl in July 2008! I hope to start a new blog for Baby Hannah soon. I am just too busy right now with work and being pregnant. For those reading this blog, please keep us in your prayers.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, December 13, 2007
8th Month LID Anniversary
Today is our 8th month log in date anniversary. Even though it is still a long time before we bring home our daughter, I have to say that these last eight months have gone by pretty quickly.
Our little guy turned 3 1/2 just recently and we are enjoying him immensely He is so excited about St. Nicholas coming to our home. What would he like for Christmas? A garbage truck and dump truck of course!
Our little guy turned 3 1/2 just recently and we are enjoying him immensely He is so excited about St. Nicholas coming to our home. What would he like for Christmas? A garbage truck and dump truck of course!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Tribute to Mom-Mom
My grandmother that we affectionately call Mom-Mom passed away today. She will be greatly missed by all of us. We hope and pray that she is now resting eternally with our Heavenly Father.
7 Month LID
Today is our 7 month Log In Date Anniversary. Unfortunately, we still have a long was to go to bring home our Elizabeth. We pray for her and her family every day and hope that the wait time will go quickly. Families who had Log in Dates up to Dec. 8, 2005 just got their referrals. That is almost two years after they were logged in. It is taking several months to get through one month of Log in Dates at this time. There have been rumors of the time getting longer and other that it will shorten after the first of the year. Who knows!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Halloween 2007
John-Paul was an alligator for Halloween. He was very generous when he went "Trick or Treating" as he tried to give some of the candy back to the people as he went house to house in our neighborhood!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Trip to St. Louis
John-Paul and I traveled to St. Louis for a few days to visit with Jenna. She moved to a new convent in the Town and Country area. The weather was wonderful and John-Paul enjoyed visiting the pumpkin patches with his sister. We also had a great time at the St. Louis Zoo! Enjoy the pictures!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
6 Month LID
I found this graphic for our 6 month LID (Log in date) and posted it a few days early! We are now at the six month point which a few months ago I would have been really excited about. However, someone on my March/April Yahoo list got an email from CCAI and basically it said that the wait for adopting from China is much longer than we have all anticipated (how long? nobody really knows.) I actually found this out just before our 5 month LID anniversary. That is part of the reason that I didn't post anything last month. The wait has been very hard. It will be two years in January that we started this process. It could go another two years if things don't speed up soon. So for now, we hope, pray and trust in God that His timing is perfect.
On a positive note, the fall is my favorite season. Unfortunately, living in Florida we don't get much of a fall. My little guy and I are traveling to St. Louis to visit with my daughter and hope that there will be more fall-like weather there.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Friday, August 31, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
4 Month LID Anniversary and Miscellaneous
Today is our 4 month LID anniversary! Overall, the time has gone by pretty quickly. It has been a busy month with vacation and getting back to work. Unfortunately, the pile of work at my job didn't go on vacation permanently!
John-Paul has learned to pray some of his prayers including grace at meal time and can say the Hail Mary prayer all by himself. If I can figure out how to upload video on this website, I will. It is so cute to hear him pray!
John-Paul can't wait to go to fly on an airplane and go to China to get his siter, Elizabeth. A few weeks ago, he said with a big sigh that all his sisters are far away.
Eric traveled with us on our vacation and to my conference at the Franciscan University. I think both he and his little brother are getting more attached to each other as they spent so much time together this summer. Eric left for Ave Maria yesterday. John-Paul is really going to miss him.
Check out the new link to Ave Maria University. They just opened their new campus a few weeks ago. Eric is down there helping move the library from the old campus to the new.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Three Month LID Annivesary!
Today is our three month anniversary of our LID! So we are now three months closer to bringing Elizabeth home with our family. Overall, the last three months have gone by pretty quickly. I just hope the the rest of them pass just as quickly or better yet, that the wait time speeds up.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Squishes that I sent Out
I finally sent out all my squishes last week. A squish a a quilt square and a wish for the family that you are sending it to. I belong to a group of people who have LID's in March and April. They put together a group that wanted to exchange quilt squares and wishes with each other. Here is a copy of my squish.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
November 2005 Referrals
Families that have been logged in (LID) up to November 14, 2005 are finally getting their referrals. Many of these families have waited 19 - 20 months for their referrals and will travel in the next 6-8 weeks to bring home their babies. We are still hoping that the wait time does not increase much more. Actually, we have been praying that things will speed up!
John-Paul wants to go on a big jet to China to bring home his sister, Elizabeth. The other day he said that all his sisters are far away (his older sister is in St. Louis.)
John-Paul wants to go on a big jet to China to bring home his sister, Elizabeth. The other day he said that all his sisters are far away (his older sister is in St. Louis.)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
2 Month LID Anniversary!
We have now waited two months since our LID! That means that we are two months closer to bringing Elizabeth home to our family. Yesterday, John-Paul said he wanted to go get his sister from China now! He also said that all my sisters are far away.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Fr. Tom Reports From China
Human Life International President, Fr. Tom Euteneuer is currently in China. He wrote an interesting article about some things that are going on in China that probably many Americans are not aware of. Click on the title for this blog for the link to Fr. Tom's report or read it below.
Spirit & Life
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 71 | Friday, June 08, 2007
................................................................................... www.hli.org
Fr. Tom Reports from China
This message comes to you today from China where I am on the pro-life mission trail. For security purposes I am not able to disclose the names of the people or places that I am visiting, but suffice it to say, HLI's mission of life finds many willing ears in this vast country so infamous for its coercive abortion policy. I can honestly say that I have never seen people so hungry or grateful for the pro-life message than the Chinese. Our network of pro-life support in this country is the Catholic Church, those who recognize the authority of the Vicar of Christ in Rome; and although they are a small flock relative to the massive population, they are tested in their faith like few others I have seen.
Heroes
Certain people in every culture stand out as icons of the goodness and heroism of their people, and China certainly has many of these. This week I met a bishop who had been in Communist prisons for over 20 years. This man has a permanent smile and a look of serenity on his face and just exudes holiness. He constantly thanks God for those very difficult years because he sees how they strengthened his faith and even protected the Church. He was allowed no communication with his family at all - for more than twenty years - except for rare visits where the family members were only allowed to see him at a distance to know that he was alive. The prison guards often put him and the other priests on a stage wearing dunce caps or mock bishops' miters with blasphemous sayings on them and taunted then to publicly denounce the pope. Of course they refused and paid the price for it. Some were suspended by a rope from the ceiling with their arms tied behind their backs for a whole day; others were beaten, had their feet frozen in ice and various creative forms of torture that their captors dreamed up. Many died from their mistreatment.
Humility
Finally, after the government policy changed in the 80s, this bishop was released from prison and they apologized to him for the "mistake" of imprisoning him for close to a quarter of a century! They expected him to demand compensation, but he and his people said that they would not ask for anything but would forgive their captors. This is the core of the suffering Church in China today.
As Providence would have it, he and many other priests were in prison during the entire time of the Cultural Revolution in China which saw a brutal persecution of the Catholic Church and the murder of many clergy and religious. It was actually safer for priests to be inside the prisons than outside during those years. This bishop told me that "God kept His Church alive in the prisons in those years." I then understood why this humble man of the Church is grateful for his two decades in prison.
Horrors
Now the Church in China struggles with another ungodly persecution of their most innocent citizens, the unborn. In certain areas, women have to undergo gynecological exams every three months to assure that they are not pregnant with any "excess pregnancies" (meaning more than one child.) The law is strictly enforced in some places and others not, but every family fears this policy. I was told by many of the people here that Catholics and non-Catholics alike know that abortion is wrong, but the policy's overwhelming and often coercive nature puts the consciences of good people in between a rock and a hard place with regard to family and childbearing issues.
Hope
Please pray for the Church in China which, despite its poverty and diminutive status, is strong in many ways. Its clergy and religious have zeal and orthodoxy and its people love Christ and His most holy Mother fervently. These tried and true Catholics are actually growing in number and from them the Lord may well bring about the conversion of this whole marvelous civilization.
SL Links
About the Author
SL Archives
Donate
Blog Spirit & Life
Tell Us About Yourself
SL Action Items
Chinese Martyrs
China's War on Children
Past Trip Reports
Q & A Archive
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
Spirit & Life
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 71 | Friday, June 08, 2007
................................................................................... www.hli.org
Fr. Tom Reports from China
This message comes to you today from China where I am on the pro-life mission trail. For security purposes I am not able to disclose the names of the people or places that I am visiting, but suffice it to say, HLI's mission of life finds many willing ears in this vast country so infamous for its coercive abortion policy. I can honestly say that I have never seen people so hungry or grateful for the pro-life message than the Chinese. Our network of pro-life support in this country is the Catholic Church, those who recognize the authority of the Vicar of Christ in Rome; and although they are a small flock relative to the massive population, they are tested in their faith like few others I have seen.
Heroes
Certain people in every culture stand out as icons of the goodness and heroism of their people, and China certainly has many of these. This week I met a bishop who had been in Communist prisons for over 20 years. This man has a permanent smile and a look of serenity on his face and just exudes holiness. He constantly thanks God for those very difficult years because he sees how they strengthened his faith and even protected the Church. He was allowed no communication with his family at all - for more than twenty years - except for rare visits where the family members were only allowed to see him at a distance to know that he was alive. The prison guards often put him and the other priests on a stage wearing dunce caps or mock bishops' miters with blasphemous sayings on them and taunted then to publicly denounce the pope. Of course they refused and paid the price for it. Some were suspended by a rope from the ceiling with their arms tied behind their backs for a whole day; others were beaten, had their feet frozen in ice and various creative forms of torture that their captors dreamed up. Many died from their mistreatment.
Humility
Finally, after the government policy changed in the 80s, this bishop was released from prison and they apologized to him for the "mistake" of imprisoning him for close to a quarter of a century! They expected him to demand compensation, but he and his people said that they would not ask for anything but would forgive their captors. This is the core of the suffering Church in China today.
As Providence would have it, he and many other priests were in prison during the entire time of the Cultural Revolution in China which saw a brutal persecution of the Catholic Church and the murder of many clergy and religious. It was actually safer for priests to be inside the prisons than outside during those years. This bishop told me that "God kept His Church alive in the prisons in those years." I then understood why this humble man of the Church is grateful for his two decades in prison.
Horrors
Now the Church in China struggles with another ungodly persecution of their most innocent citizens, the unborn. In certain areas, women have to undergo gynecological exams every three months to assure that they are not pregnant with any "excess pregnancies" (meaning more than one child.) The law is strictly enforced in some places and others not, but every family fears this policy. I was told by many of the people here that Catholics and non-Catholics alike know that abortion is wrong, but the policy's overwhelming and often coercive nature puts the consciences of good people in between a rock and a hard place with regard to family and childbearing issues.
Hope
Please pray for the Church in China which, despite its poverty and diminutive status, is strong in many ways. Its clergy and religious have zeal and orthodoxy and its people love Christ and His most holy Mother fervently. These tried and true Catholics are actually growing in number and from them the Lord may well bring about the conversion of this whole marvelous civilization.
SL Links
About the Author
SL Archives
Donate
Blog Spirit & Life
Tell Us About Yourself
SL Action Items
Chinese Martyrs
China's War on Children
Past Trip Reports
Q & A Archive
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International
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