Yordy and Mai make Five

...girls, that is. We have unofficially adopted two more girls into our family. If you haven't already noticed Mai in some of our pictures, allow me to introduce you! Mai (she goes by Diana at school) is our niece who has been living with us since June. She just turned 14 (on Thanksgiving Day, actually) and she has been a BIG help and addition to our family. She's great with the girls, and will most certainly make a good mommy one day. She's a positive role model for them- very responsible, a great student, loves to cook and read, obliges when we ask her to help clean, and most importantly, she loves the Lord. We've been waiting on either her mom or dad to come into town to help us finalize the paperwork so that we can become her official guardians. Regardless of the official status, we are blessed to have her in our family.

Back in September Miller took Eliana and Addie out for a father-daughter date night. They went to see Veggie Tales "live" in concert and Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. The girls were super excited and were thrilled to see their beloved characters up on stage singing and dancing. During the intermission, Miller and the girls went to the lobby area for a restroom break, and there was a table set up by World Vision where people could sign up to sponsor a child. Miller was getting ready to pass by the table, when Eliana asked, "Daddy, what are those people doing?" Miller briefly explained how people were signing up to help needy children and then was getting ready to go back to the concert and Eliana asked, "Daddy, why aren't we going over there?" (SO proud of this girl!) So Miller lead the girls over and asked them to find the name of a child who's birthday was close to Eliana's as possible. They handed Miller the information for Yordy, an 8-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic. Miller signed Eliana up to be a monthly sponsor for Yordy, and we've already received one letter from her. Eliana was excited to learn that she has 2 sisters (just like her) as well as 2 brothers, and loves to paint. I am very excited that Eliana took the initiative to sponsor Yordy, because it serves as a wonderful opportunity for us to teach Eliana to put others before herself, especially as we approach Christmas and the kids are bombarded by ads and images of toys on sale. I'm so proud of Eliana when I hear her make comments like, "Mommy I don't need two paint sets. Can I give one to Yordy?" or "I wonder if Yordy will like to have.... " I've been trying to teach both her and Addie what it means to be Christ-like, and Addie really impressed my the other day when she offered Eliana her Sleeping Beauty coloring page that she picked out from the dollar store. Poor thing handed it to her sister and then broke out in tears because she really wanted it for herself, but wanted to make Eliana happy. I explained to them that that's how it must have been for God when He sent His Son for us. It must have been heart breaking, but that's how much He loves us. That He would come and die for us. All these girls are so special to us, and we are thankful that the Lord has entrusted us with them for a short while.


Mai


Yordy