Sarah's Words and Phrases

Most people who will read this know that I am an ESL teacher. Therefore, I am absolutely fascinated by the language development happening in my household presently.

Here are some of my favorite Sarah phrases - all in English!

1. That's enough - I wonder why she knows that?
2. I go outside
3. Nee sit down. (nee means you in Chinese)
4. Wash your body
5. Aaron did it
6. butter
7. cookie
8. candy
9. mine
10 No
11. No
12. No and
13. No!
14. Mommy
15. Daddy
16. color
17. Backpack
18. car
19. cat
20. woof
21. dog

Response to Comment

To the anonymous posted response that told me It wasn't God who brought Sarah to my life.

Who are you and what makes you think that God can't work through people. And no, the donations that were given were all by Christians following God's lead. Not one nonchristian gave to her adoption. The God loving and following Christians gave small amounts that they were led to give and we were given so much more than we needed.

Who else can know all the ins and outs of what was needed for our family but God. Who else could have put the timing together like it was. Who else could have knitted together our family in a time span that allowed me to be okay with all of this.

My strength comes from God, alone. Left to my own devices I could not mother or have the strength to mother these children. Yes, Miracles do happen and they have happened more than once in my life and are key markers that God is real, God cares, and he is active in our lives. He would like to be active in your life as well, all you have to do is admit that you have fallen short and can't live without him. Believe that Jesus is God's son and that he came to die for you because he loves us more than anyone ever could. And then choose to believe and have faith. Choose to learn and follow his lead.

I love my family and friends, but I must say that nothing they could have done would have gotten us to China if God wasn't with us.

Response to

A Not So Little Miracle

During the course of adopting Sarah, we experienced many little miracles. However, in the midst of working to get her, life was too tumultous to sit and ponder these amazing showings of splendor made by our Creator.


One of them was gathering the money we needed to travel. Anyone who knows me well understands that I worry all the time about money. This is a constant struggle for me and, as usual, I didn't feel monetarily prepared for Sarah.

We needed to take 7,000.00 U.S. currency with us to make our donation to her Chinese Orphanage and to pay all the fees we would need while in China. This was quite a bit more than we had available. At the very beginning, I told Nathan that we couldn't get her without that money and I wasn't putting it on a credit card. Even so, without the money, we stepped out in faith and started our preparation to get our youngest.

We wrote friends and family requesting prayer and a donation if possible. We hoped for something to help us along, and we waited prayerfully and, yes, sometimes panic striken at the thought that we had committed to going to China without all the funds in place. I hoped to just make it to China with enough to survive and get back home safely.

Funds began to trickle in little by little. I kept a running saga in my head of different ways we could scrounge out the money if we needed to, but none of my schemes were needed. Our family and friends honored God with their donations to little Sarah. Finally, 24 hours before our departure date we had 7,600 in our Sarah account! That was 600 more than was needed and gave us a buffer of comfort in case we ran into unexpected expenses. In addition to that we somehow managed to find a little more money for buying gifts. I am still in awe thinking about how the money came together when it was impossible for us to do on our own.

The amount God gave us /was generous and the timing was perfect. God said he would not forsake his people. He remembered our family's dream and He brought a forgotten child half way around the world to a new family who had been longing for a little girl for years.

One month later....

Sept 15 was gotcha day. Now we are a month away from that momentous occasion that changed 5 lives - definitely for the better!

Our days have been crazy, tumultous and exhausting in general. I have had many good intentions to write our successes and trials, but have been overwhelmed by the needs of three children and no time left for anything.

Sarah, I believe is adjusting well to life in the U.S. She has learned several words in English. These include dinosaur, circle, flower, giraffe, sit down, and her favorite - no. She combines this word with her brother's names frequently. She loves to play with her dolls and organize her favorite things. She lovingly takes care of her clothes and thankfully has gotten used to the dogs. She even kissed Harriet's nose last night.

She transitioned well to day care, thankfully and we are now in our second week of regular schedule. Which is all too hurried for me, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. I will persevere

Isaac has certainly has mastered the role as big brother to her. I found him teaching her about legos Friday evening and he loves to help her get into her car seat.

Aaron - He is not adjusting so well and needs prayer. He is struggling in school and at home with authority and personal responsibility.

As for the parents, we see each other in passing. And now that I have made the jump from car to minivan, our car rides are much calmer. Each child now has personal space again, whew!

A Story of Church in China

At church each Sunday, we go to worship and sing our praises to God. Driving the easy 5 minutes to church, sometimes with screaming kids doesn’t always put me in the mood to worship. But it should. In the U.S. there is literally a church on every corner and any denomination may profess their faith in their own unique way.

China has as many Christians as the U.S. just based on size alone, but they can’t choose a church. If they want to worship legally they must attend a church ran by an atheist government official. A government official literally sits in the service to make sure Jesus isn't elevated above the state. The Government is tolerant of internationals worshipping in their own way, however. Sunday morning in Beijing, the adopting families showed our passports to get into the Beijing International Christian Church. It was a mega church with many different services. Due to schedule, we woke up early and went to a smaller service. We entered a small auditorium and the power of God hit me square in my chest.

In this room alone, there were approximately two hundred foreigners in Beijing worshiping the Creator of the Universe. Race, creed, ethnicity were all meshed together and Christians were raising their voices in praise.

The song “Our God, Is an Awesome God” took on new meaning as I my eyes took in a room where every color in the world was represented and believing in Christ’s sacrifice.

After all I have lived and struggled through in my Christian walk, nothing came close to showing me God’s real size and strength as seeing people half way across the world lift up their hands to praise The One True God, twelve hours before my own home church service even began for the week.

Remember to Pray for the churches in China and for the Christians as they live their lives for Jesus.

Becoming a Stevens

Sarah is becoming more and more like a Stevens each and every day. I can see her trust in us grow each day by way of her demeanor, talkativeness and willingness to try English words.

Today I went to run an errand at the back of the hotel lobby while Nathan showed her ivory carvings in the front cases. As I rounded the corner to find them, she saw me and began to tug on Nathan’s arm yelling Mama in her exuberantly loud voice. She broke from him and came running to me with great delight – giggles and all. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around me and held me like I was the best person in the whole world.

She also makes her wishes known a little more often and is more relaxed. This morning she climbed on my lap spontaneously. She also gets very excited about our daily routines, especially if they involve some type of personal grooming for her.

She still carries her backpack around all the time and still stuffs it full of what is important to her. Mostly this includes wipes, hair clips, her tiger (our pictures are in the LCD screen on its belly), pullups, clothing, socks, and recently used napkins. In looking at the list, all these items are things we have given her to keep her clean or take care of her. At night and during nap, the backpack and her socks and shoes come off and are laid next to her in a neat and orderly fashion. She is very proud of her abilities to organize her things, open the hotel room door with the key (Daddy and Mommy can never get it to work) and clothes folding. I can’t wait to get her to help me tackle my continous laundry pile problem.