Leaving today to get some sand between my toes. I'm taking four of the kids to the beach with my Sister-in-law. Just the moms and the kids. Can't wait!! Hopefully I'll get some good pics to share.

Hope you are having a GREAT SUMMER and don't forget to check out our blog:

www.beapieceofthepuzzle.blogspot.com

Are you amazed at the internet?? Sometimes I take for granted how easy it is to get information and pictures of things off the internet. Case in point....

I Googled our newest daughters town, city and province name and hit images. Wanting only to see what her surroundings are like and what type of enviroment she was coming from. But what I found really surprised me. I found 3 pictures of our daughter. An organization called Hope 4 China founded by an adoptive family in Scotland started the organization to help provide necessities and foster care to children in our daughters orphanage. In February they donated supplies and posted some pictures on their blog. In the picture our daughter is modeling some of the clothes that were donated. Only an adoptive parent knows how exciting this is. I can remember joining Lily's orphanages Yahoo! group and searching through all the many pictures trying to catch a glimpse of Lily other than the referral picture we had.
This glimpse into our daughters life is priceless. I look at this picture everyday. I have memorized her lips, her little fingers and studied every little detail about her. I sure hope the next 4-6 months flies by til we travel to see those little lips and hold those little fingers in my hand.

Yesterday Bobo (Wyatt) turned six. His wish was to have all his BFF's to the pool for a pool party.
That is my favorite kind of party. Easy entertainment, no mess at home and cool in this hot,hot Spring we are having.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends that came to help us celebrate.

 The kids all came up with this game. I love to see them all holding hands, even my 13 yr old!

Ok so we got something that started with a 'P' this weekend though not what I really wanted and something I cannot believe we got. 


Meet the newest member of the O'Cain Crew:


 

Busy, busy we have been.
Three field days, one 8th grade cookout, a soccer party, 4th grade
American Days, 100 Book Club Celebration, Poetry reading, 8th grade awards and presentation and 3 end of the year class parties. Throw in work, drum lessons, a day at the lake with friends, and you can see why I am ready for
SUMMER!!!

So ready to sleep in everyday and just spend time with the kids.
We are going to have a great summer, even if the kids don't think cleaning out
the entire house for a massive garage sale is fun. ;0)
Seriously we do have some fun things planned.
And today we will start with a day at the pool right after school!

And I am so hoping to share some good news soon people!! Just waiting on a little thing the starts with P! (Woo Hoo)

We have been on a referral roller coaster these last two weeks with
many ups and downs. We have been LID since late April. Chi*na just failed to let our agency know and we didn't find out until I inquired (not just once) and when they contacted Chi*na they found out we had been LID for a while. We missed the last matching by just 6 days. There have been days I have felt confused, frustrated, sad, happy and sometimes all those emotions all in one day. But I knew in my heart that our child would be revealed to us in God's timing and that is what got me through it all. Faith.


So our Faith got us through and we hope to have a BIG announcement very soon...stay tuned.

Kelly and her husband are the brainchild behind The Sparrow Fund. I just recently learned of this
organization and its purpose. The Sparrow Fund was founded to provide grants to families that have received referrals and need to have financial assistance to have these files reviewed by medical professionals. It can be very costly for these files to be reviewed and there are times you may have more than one file reviewed. That cost on top of the cost of adoption adds up. What a great way for Kelly and her husband to give back. Right now they are having a Sparrow Fund Fundraising Blitz. They have some adorable shops that have gotten on board and are donating a portion of their proceeds this month to The Sparrow Fund. There are some great finds so check it out! Everything from clothes, jewerly and hair accessories.

Two years ago today I met the little girl behind the picture I'd been staring at for 6 months.
Not only was she our first adoption, she was 7. I had no idea what it would be like when we walked
into the Civil Affairs office that day.

But that day we met a little girl who was no doubt scared, she was meeting two strangers who looked
nothing like her, didn't speak the same language and they were taking her far, far away from everything she has ever known.


And she was brave. She never let on that she was scared and didn't want us to know. In those first
days in China I would hear her crying softly in her sleep.


In China she rejected us, preferring to hang out with other kids in our travel group and holding hands and talking to our guide. Thankfully, I had read enough and knew that she would come around and told John to just be patient with her.

I can still remember the moment she let go. Our guide took us to the airport to depart home for the US. Lily held his hand all the way to the last gate. They had grown fond of each other over the last 10 days and our guide had actually been a huge help to us with her. She was hanging on to the last familiar
thing around her. As he bid us farewell and we walked across the line, just the three of us, she reached over and grabbed my hand and never let it go. While traveling home over the next 23 hours we started to see signs that she was ready to start attaching to us. From that moment she allowed herself to become our daughter.


Things haven't always been easy, but they have always been worth it. Over the last two years she
has fallen in love with her family and her family has fallen in love with her.

For Mothers Day Lily made me a book. She is the most thoughtful child I have ever known.
In it she wrote...

"the most important thing about my mom is that she loves me"

People I cried, no bawled when I read that.

She just wanted a family and to be loved.

Lily Kate O'Cain,
You are the most amazing blessing and God sent us the most perfect daughter ever!
We love you, Happy Gotcha Day!
Your Family

You may remember a while back when I posted this about Lily. Well right before Spring Break we found
out Wyatt had been nominated and was selected as the Leader for his class for the 3rd Nine weeks.
We are so proud of him. Wyatt received the award for being a leader in his classroom by always working hard and finishing his work and staying on task.

We spent our entire Spring Break minus Easter Day camping. We are relatively new to camping as a family. I grew up camping quite often as a little girl. You know the real kind, a tent, a blow up pool float and a sleeping bag. My kids are doing the less roughing it kind of camping that momma prefers these days. A Pop-up, mattresses, blankets and ac/heat. We normally prefer to camp in the mountains but we shook things up this time and went to the coast. We are fortunate enough to live in a location about 2.5 hours from either. I just usually go away from the heat but this time of year the whether on the coast was PERFECT!!





And I tried hard to get a picture of all 5 kiddos in a huge Oak Tree but some little people would not
cooperate so I had to settle for this....




And this...


We spent time on a replica ship from the early Charleston settlement days...and a picture that I am actually in.




Somebody tolerated the picture taking well.




While waiting for something I started playing around with the kids and gave them an emotion or situation and asked for them to make the appropriate facial reaction, it was so funny. These are a few of my favorites.