Remembering Gotcha Day!

This picture reminds me of how her heart was aching.

Look at her now...God is so good!
So full of joy!

2009

2007 Withing hours of arriving home....I just love her face.

Now

Then

Gotcha Day 2009
Gotcha Day 2007

Gotcha Day 2009

Gotcha Day 2007

Oh she was not happy

Seeing Emily for the first time

My re-entry into the computer world this week has resulted in somewhat of an unproductive week but I have enjoyed catching up. It has been nice to re-connect with my blogging friends and their families as I have loved seeing what you all have been up too as well as soaked up the wisdom of what God is doing in your lives. WOW! God is so good and I am continually amazed at His creativity in revealing Himself to us and thank all of you for sharing about the places He is taking you in your walks as well as all the fun things that you are doing with your families.

Well, before I take a little break from my marathon computer immersion I did want to share more than just a sentence or two about our 2ND year anniversary of Emily's Gotcha Day! For those of us in the adoption world Gotcha Day is so special and significant in the life of our son's and daughters. It is that day when the waiting was over and we held our children for the first time. A day filled with such a myriad of emotions that is often difficult to describe but nonetheless etched so deeply in our hearts that we will never forget the details of it. On Feb. 25 we celebrated 2 years of receiving Emily and how I loved remembering that special day of seeing her for the very first time but more than recalling the details of the day I have loved being awe-struck by seeing how much my little china girl has grown. Not a physical growth but emotional growth that is the result of healing. I have been reminded of how wounded my baby girl was when she came to us and how broken her little heart was when she was stripped of all that she knew. How scary it must have been to lose all that was familiar and be forced into a world that was so strange. She was strong, she was brave and she let us love her. Our love was unconditional even when she didn't know how to love us back. It healed the open wounds of her heart and allowed her to grow into the amazing little girl she is today. Her capacity to now love us back is incredible. 2 years ago I could have never imagined the beauty of what lay inside of a frightened little girl. I couldn't see it but God did and I am humbled today that despite all of my imperfections as a mom He would have enough confidence in me to grant me the joy having Emily as my daughter. As I have thought about her healing and the confidence and security that fills her along with the joy that now springs from her spirit. I am reminded of the fact that we are all broken in some way. We have wounds that are open and festering or we have battle scars from being beaten up by life in a fallen world. Underneath all the hurt and pain that we work so hard to mask is beauty that God sees so clearly. I know we often think that we have to live with the wounds and battle scars but it is through the unconditional love of a God who desperately wants to bind up those wounds we can grown into amazing men and women who display joy for all to see. Healing can transform us in our brokenness just like we have witnessed such a visible change in the life of our daughter through our willingness to let our Father lavish His great love upon us. We can be testimonies of His love and draw others out of their brokenness and into the beautiful life which God has prepared for us.

2 years have passed since I held Emily for the first time and ALL of us Minot's have undergone healing through loving. It has been the most amazing 2 years and I am overwhelmed with gratefulness to a God who called us out of complacency and comfort and changed us through a precious little girl from Kunming, China. HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!!

Family

Sailing

Cody's Baptism

Finding Balance

Well, it has been such a long time since I have blogged. I know that you all can relate to how sometimes life just swallows you up leaving little time for the extras in life. That has been the case with me in the recent months and as I was pondering many things over the weekend the words of my precious friend Amy rang through my ears. Amy is ALWAYS so wonderful at reminding me that I need to allow myself some enjoyment amidst the responsibilities and that does not include grocery shopping by myself. Don't we all need a good friend who can look us straight in the face and say "it is OK to do something for yourself." I think that as mom's we don't give ourselves permission to sit back and love the simple things in life that do nothing more than give us pleasure but oh how we NEED that. How difficult it is to find the right balance? In thinking about how severely unbalanced my life has become I came to the realization that when I am taking the time to do the things that I love I am more settled, more calm and much happier and amazingly more productive. One of the things that I love is my connection with other mom's through the computer. So here I am back from being MIA...and hopefully I can find a nice spot of balance that allows me the enjoyment I receive from connecting with my computer friends while staying on top of my responsibilities to my kiddos and husband.

I know that to recount the events our family during the past couple of months would be impossible so I will just hit a few high lights and I am going to try to put together a collage of pictures. I am still not proficient at doing those but I am going to give it a try again.

*We thoroughly enjoyed our time in FL as we spent lots of time with family, caught up with some wonderful friends, spent a day sailing on the Indian River and had the opportunity to absorb the beauty of God's creation by watching some magnificent sunrises.

*Happiness filled our hearts as we had the joy of seeing Cody testify to our friends and family a decision that he made 6 years ago of accepting Jesus as his Lord and Savior through Baptism.

*We were thrilled to return to Colorado and have been pleasantly surprised with fabulous spring-like weather. (Mike hasn't shoveled snow since being back to CO)

*We are playing catch-up with school given that we took about 6 weeks off while in FL.

*Mike and I were VIP guests at a Marriage Conference hosted by Focus on the Family where I was able to see Beth Moore speak in person. (Was hoping to have the opportunity to chat with her over lunch but she had to leave the conference right after speaking)

*Mike attended the Christian Writer's Guild Conference and had a chance to meet with a couple of publishing companies and receive some insights as to the aspects of bringing a book to print.

*We celebrated Emily's 2ND year of coming into our family.

*We are continuing to fine-tune the management of Cody's Diabetes which at times can be exhausting and frustrating but were thankful to locate a great pediatric endocrinologist who opened our eyes to some new insights.

*Grace began reading. HOORAY!!!!

*I am juggling lots of things which included schooling Grace and getting her ready for 1st Grade, editing Mike's book, being a book-keeper as well as the normal duties of taking care of our home and family. Whew!!!!

*We are looking forward to making Colorado a more permanent home and hopefully will be able to move the remainder of our belongings to CO soon.

Soooo, that is about it for now. I am looking forward to checking in with all of my favorite blogs and my chatty girls and see what I have been missing.

As always love and hugs to you all,

Nichole