Updates...

Us: We just got home from our wonderful vacation! We have a ton of pictures, but have no fear, you will be subjected to them we will gladly share them with you!

Mama: It was one year ago today that we learned my miracle mama had cancer. While I am grateful that she is doing so well after almost dying, I am scared of her cancer returning. I am especially feeling weird because one of our friends from the Twin Cities Chinese adoption community just lost her mom to the same kind of cancer. Her mom was diagnosed one month before my mom was and she was diagnosed with the same stage - Ovarian, Stage 3c. It rocks my world a bit, along with simply feeling so sad for Amy and her family. Cancer stinks. We all know that. But we hear the word so often I think we get numb to it. Until it is you. Or your mom. Or dad. Or in my case, BOTH your mom and dad. Please, if you know anyone who has a family member fighting cancer, send them a card and tell them you are praying for them. The cards I got meant so much. Of course emails are great, but there is something about getting a card in the mail that touches people. I can't be alone in that! Ok, so I am being reminded to trust the Lord and not worry...it is hanging on my wall right in front of me..."Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers." Phil. 4:6. I know. I know. Just. gotta. stop. Please pray for Amy and her family! Thanks.

China: Three years ago today we decided to adopt from China. I have nothing else to say about this because you can already imagine what Lee and I think about that as we still sit here without Olivia.

Haiti: The third tropical storm in three weeks is really taking its toll on this small, desperate country. The world has gotten so much smaller since our children are so far away.... Here is a very short video from the BBC. Here is a report bringing some hope!

GONAIVES, Haiti — A ship carrying 33 tons of U.N. relief supplies managed to dock Friday, the first significant aid delivery after four days without food or water for thousands of survivors from Tropical Storm Hanna. Soldiers with assault rifles stood guard in the crumbling port while dockworkers offloaded 15 metric tons of relief supplies from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The container ship was loaded with bottled water, 36,000 water-purification tablets, 16 metric tons of high-energy biscuits and two metric tons of rice, along with cooking oil and other supplies managed by the U.N.'s World Food Program.

Belching white smoke from its stack, the Tres Rivieres ship was able to dock after the Argentine soldiers worked through the night with heavy equipment to drop boulders into a gap in the pier left by the storm. They aimed to distribute the biscuits and water within hours to emergency shelters where 40,000 people were marooned and increasingly desperate.

For more of the article and photos, click here. Please pray for our children, whose orphanage is in Port-au-Prince, and please pray for Haiti.