The Good News Is ...

That it melts with the appropriate measure of moisture, properly administered, though it may take several hours. The bad news is that a Twizzler is somewhere in size between a Tic Tac and a mini Marshmallow. A tic tac on steroids, if you will. See where this is going? She'll probably never leave me alone with her again now! Connie and her mom decided to take a road trip to Nashville to see some rocker from yesteryear, er oops, sorry - they went to see Bon Jovi and left me alone with Lily Grace. One night, surely he can handle that, right. Granny'll come over and help him. Austin will be there if needed. No problem, right?

During the day, Lily had come into possession of a little bag of candy called Twizzlers. Not the sticks like you've seen, but little balls of sour candy larger than a bee bee, but smaller than a marble. Soft candy with lots of sugar and probably the quickest ticket to sugar addiction that I've ever seen. She probably got it from that little street peddler I've seen stalking the neighborhood. The day's intake had stoked her to the point of bouncing off walls and she simply had to have some more. Addicted to Twizzlers in a single day at the ripe old age of three. So after a day of work (and a month of Mondays at work), I had no energy left to do battle with the candy-demanding, sweet baby girl. "Pleeeeeeeseee, Dad (notice the Dad), can I have some more candy. I need it."



Rather than draw a line in the sand, I figured the best thing to do was to reach a compromise. Actually, that was the lazy thing to do, I should have drawn that line and dared her to cross it! So I decided to give her two more Twizzlers. "Two more Lily Grace, that's all. Watch a little bit of Dora while I fix dinner." See all the bad decisions here - candy before dinner, TV as a baby sitter, appeasing the demands, .... She'll probably never leave me alone with her again!

So after dinner, Lily admitted in a quiet moment "I can't get it out Dad." And she was tugging at her nose and sniffling. She'd been sniffling from allergies all afternoon and evening, so I thought she was stuffy. We blew the snout and I thought that'd take care of it. A few minutes later, again "Dad, I can't get it out." What sweet baby girl? "The candy." Where is it? "It's in my nose." "What, Lily, please tell me you didn't put that candy up your nose!" Oops, wrong tone of voice. Waterworks. Fear. I felt terrible. So I calmed down and asked her again. "Yes, I ate one and put the other one in my nose." Why did you do that? "Because I'm scared!" (Me too, I didn't add).

So, we cleared a table for the exploratory, non-intrusive surgery, about to be performed by a newly self-annointed expert at nose problems. Tweezers, flashlight, moist rag, OK, let's move out! After a few short minutes of nose compresses, nose wipes, and flashlight excursions, I had to conclude there was nothing in there. "Lily, are you sure you put the candy in your nose?" "No, sniffle, sniffle, it's in my belly." "Whew, sweet baby girl, we don't put things up our nose, OK?" "OK, daddy (back to daddy)."

Comforted by the success of our medical foray, we prepared for bed, read a story, and turned out the lights. Looks like everything's well that end's well, right? Now, fast forward to mid day Friday. Phone rings at work and it's Granny. "Lily just blew a big pink ball out of her nose!" "Do you know anything about that?" Not a thing, Granny. What'd it look like?

I feel terrible! With my tone of voice and my concern, I scared the poor sweet baby girl into lying to me! So if you have some of those Twizzlers in your house and a toddler around, you might want to get rid of them. Or at least go down to your local clinic and learn how to do exploratory, non-intrusive nose surgery. And the good news is that Lily learned that we don't put things up our nose. In fact, as soon as I arrived home from work today, she announced "We don't put candy up our nose, do we daddy!"

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace (and Lia Faith out there somewhere)
Green, Party of Five

The Sounds of Music ... and Distant Drums!

When we got her referral, we were told that Xing Xing liked music alot and would "wriggle" her body when she heard something that she liked. Well, that's certainly been the case. So we know God had our family picked out for her since we like music alot ourselves. Here, Lily poses with a drum bigger than she is, but that didn't stop her from begging Austin to let her play it. More about that later. Of course, he couldn't, but she would have taken part in the concert herself if she could.

Austin has been in the band at East Limestone since the 6th grade. Actually, he participated a little in elementary school, but didn't become a regular until middle school. This past season, he marched during halftime of the high school football games for the first time and really enjoyed the experience. Since he plays the drums for our praise band at church, the drums seemed like a natural instrument for him for marching band and now jazz band. With the praise band at Isom's Chapel, he has become steadfast and solid, keeping the beat for all manner of Christian music from Casting Crown's "All Because of Jesus," which he taught us, to old staples such as Beulah Land. We're very proud of him for taking on such an important part of our worship service. Of course, every Sunday after services, Lily Grace has to take her turn at the drums or piano.

Now, about that drum. East Limestone held their annual early spring band concert last month and apparently Austin has become the jack of all trades when it comes to drums for the jazz band. He played several different drums during the concert, including the one shown here. He really enjoys the band and does his best to make every note, er beat, count. Lily begged and begged, even taking the sticks away from Austin after the concert, for a chance to play this drum. Maybe in a few years sweet baby girl, but for now, the drums are Austin's domain!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace (and Lia Faith, out there somewhere)
Green, Party of Five

An Afternoon with the President ...

No, not that one. It would be an honor though. Uh oh! Hope I don't ruffle any political feathers. My mom and her husband, Billy (Lily Grace calls him 'my Billy') once got an invitation to the White House to dine with President Bush and Laura because of her lifelong support of the Republican Party. Problem is, not once in her voting history has she cast a single ballot in favor of a member of the Republican Party. And so, she didn't go to the dinner! Oh well, a missed opportunity for a minute of fame I guess. I wonder how much Billy had to pony up to get that invitation (and I wonder if Mom ever found out!).

No, this president was Dr. David Williams, newly annointed leader of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, or as it is now known "UAHuntsville." I had the honor of being selected to represent the class of 1986 as a delegate to the inauguration. Of course, unlike my fickle mom, I accepted the invitation and convinced her to come along with me to see this president. We had a great afternoon and got to hear everybody who is somebody in Huntsville and Alabama extoll the greatness of UAHuntsville and its new president. Turns out the chap is from Cambridge University (yes, that one) and is quite humorous, but even moreso the genius at science and engineering. Check out the pictures below of me in my cap and gown - never thought I'd see that again! Austin and Lily Grace - I expect to see both of you in one of these one day (no pressure there kidos). The other picture is of me and mom with the new president.




Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace (and Lia Faith, out there somewhere)
Green, Party of Five

One Day Later ...

Wow, God is really working here! One day after we got the news from Lifeline (read yesterday's post) that they were now "online" with CCAA and posted the fingerprint photo, we received another piece to the puzzle. It's funny I decided to post the fingerprint photo, some would even say coincidence based on what happened today.

Here's the story behind that one. About 3 weeks ago we got a strange letter from Dept of Homeland Security saying that they couldn't process our application because there were some inconsistencies with our paperwork. Without going into details, it was a rather strange letter, so we presented it to Lifeline and they advised us to answer their questions, even though they seemed odd. So, a little over two weeks ago, I sent a letter to DHS to address their "odd" concerns. The letter they had sent us indicated a response deadline of June 12th! We didn't expect to hear back from them until at least mid summer if not later.

So, today Connie walked in from the mailbox and said Happy Birthday, here's your present (tomorrow, I get to add one to the number that describes how young I am!). And there it was - our I-797 announcing that we were approved to travel abroad and bring a new U.S. citizen, a new member of the Green family back with us!!! This is the last piece of the puzzle that is our dossier.

As Christians, we know that coincidence is just a term that we, as secular humans, have created to explain things we can't or won't believe. Truth is, there are no coincidences, only a mighty God working to shape each of our lives as He chooses and to give us a choice in believing in Him, or calling it coincidence. I choose to believe in Him and I hope you do too!

It's All Because of Jesus.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace (and Lia Faith, out there somewhere)
Green, Party of Five

A Lifeline for a Life Time ... and an Answered Prayer

"Guess what Lily, God's Working on Our Little Sister!"

This past Sunday, during our Sunday School prayer request time, I felt compelled to ask those in my class if they would pray for the process of adoption for Chinese children with special needs. I hadn't mentioned it before or requested prayer, because there are always so many requests that seem to far outweigh our desire to increase the size of our household by one angel. So I remained quiet about the difficulties we were encountering this time around versus what we experienced with Lily Grace. In a nutshell, God brought Lily Grace into our lives in merely 8 months. With Lia Faith, we're already at 9 months and no prospects yet. I should note that there are many, many families who have waited much longer and who continue to wait. And I am in awe of their faith and their perseverance. And for them I wish there were words to express how much we love them for their willingness to pursue the adoption of these children in the face of so many obstacles and delays. I pray their wait is shortened and that they get to hold one of God's little treasures as a parent soon.

But on Sunday, when my time came, I sat there, for what seemed like several minutes, quiet. I suspect my classmates thought I was about to lay something really heavy on them and so they waited patiently. Just to be sure, I have the most wonderful classmates anyone could ask for. They are incredibly supportive. Joe, Tracie, Scott, Angie, Joey, Cindy, Randy, Teresa, Yvonne, Bill, Larry, Dwight. Everyone should be blessed with friends like these. They are good Christians. They are faithful. I know when I go there, I will see their smiling faces. I just know in my heart that Jesus is smiling when he sees this group together. There is nothing about them that is not genuine and I know that they love my family as they do their own. And we pray for each other.

So after a while, I finally spoke up. "We're having some difficulties in our adoption. Would you please pray for us and pray that the Chinese are able to figure things out so that our Lia Faith can come home to play with Lily Grace. Would you please pray that the Chinese are able to have a good Olympics so that they will be proud of their country and gain stature with the rest of the world and be compelled to reach out to join the world community by sharing their amazingly beautiful and precious orphaned children with those who would love them and provide for them with God's guiding hand."

Three days later, we get a letter in the mail from our agency, Lifeline Children's Services. With initial curiosity, Connie opened the letter and her curiosity turned to joy with the first sentence:

"We are so excited to announce that we have been officially approved for the Special Needs Online Process through the CCAA. We are thankful to be able to continue to assist the CCAA in finding loving, Christian homes for these precious children!"

"He is Working on Lia, Austin!"

Wow! Talk about answered prayers! I know that God answers prayers in His way, in His time. And sometimes the answers aren't to our liking, but they are always what's best for us. God knows that because He created us. God was already working on this, He just wanted to hear from our hearts. And He wanted me to open up and acknowledge that I can't do this without Him. He knows that Connie is not blessed with a lot of patience and that I have only slightly more than she. So maybe He dropped this little nugget for us to keep our hopes alive and to keep us diligently pursuing a sister for Austin and Lily Grace. It's funny that for the first time in several weeks, this weekend I laid out all the paperwork for our dossier on the dining room table to take stock and see if there was something we needed to be doing. Well, there was something. Pray. Pray. And Pray some more. Humble yourself, therefore, before the Lord and wait patiently for His plans to unfold.

We're certainly not there yet and there are many who will go before us, but at least now, things are looking up. Who knows? Lia Faith in 2008? It does have a nice ring, you have to admit.

Oh, and did I mention that He also provided all the financial resources needed for the adoption. It just so happened that a financial transaction from three years ago matured this week and the value well exceeds that which is required to complete the adoption. I had forgotten about this instrument, filed away somewhere under a few years worth of income taxes and refinance paperwork. I know, Dave Ramsey would not approve of my inattention to certain financial matters! But at least this time around, there will be no home equity loan or lifting the seat cushions on the sofa to fund our travel to China!

Our God is an Awesome God, He Reigns from Heaven Above with Wisdom, Power, and Love. Our God is an Awesome God!

Getting Fingerprinted Back in February

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace (and Lia Faith out there somewhere)
Green, Party of Five