Merry Christmas 2011 and Happy New Year 2012
from our home to yours!
As you can see from our family photo above, we have a bit of news to share. Lord willing, our family of 4 will become a family of 5 by the middle of next year! We began this new adoption June 1st, and by the end of August we had been "pre-approved" to bring home another precious boy! Here he is with such a great grin. We just LOVE him already!
And we are incredibly grateful that many have loved him and cared for him and continue to do so at a place very dear to our hearts, Maria's Big House of Hope. If you are one of those precious people, we thank you and pray we can express our gratitude to you in person one day!
Below is our son seeing his family (albeit upside down, as John-Nathan likes to point out) for the very first time! How cool is that to get pictures of him opening our care package?!
Big sister and big brother are on board and very excited about their new brother!
Our John-Nathan Sheng is growing up! He turned 6 this past September. He enjoys life and activity--our Energizer Panda, as we affectionately refer to him! He loves being outside; riding his bike and driving his jeep are some of his favorite activities. He likes to learn and can play 20 questions pretty well! He is still taking piano lessons. He really wants to keep up with sister and play some stringed instruments, too. For those who have followed our yearly posts, you may remember that John-Nathan brought an orthopedic "trophy" home from Illinois last year. Would you believe he did so again this year? Indeed, it was the exact same Sunday on the calendar...the same arm...yes, the same orthopedic doctor and nurses in Heyworth...You should have heard their laughter over this! We have decided that we will NOT travel to Illinois on the same dates as the last two years :).
Enjoy the "many faces of Sheng" as we like to say... Pretty cute, we think!
We love this brother-sister love!
Our "sweet fifteen" Julianna, but sixteen is just around the corner! That is hard to believe! Her parents haven't aged that much, have they? Indeed, Julianna is a sophomore in high school and she is learning to drive! She is still very musical and has added to piano, guitar, and mandolin a ukulele and some percussion (namely a homemade cajon!). Home studio recording still holds her interest along with photography. She is doing well in school. She has added Mandarin to her languages and has enjoyed opportunities to interact with native speakers. Her desire to learn it might have something to do with a big blue house (see above picture) that she would like to stay at someday. She does have a heart for the orphan and orphan care. We are just laying these thoughts and leanings before the Lord and asking him to make her pathway clear. As for now, she is working on starting a Movement club in our area (high schoolers becoming aware of and getting involved in orphan care in practical ways) and volunteering at our local adoption agency and with Show Hope (parent organization of said club). She enjoys her social life and has some very dear friends.
Her Taylor guitar...her favorite birthday present this past year!
Peter and Celinda keep the household running--Peter with the job we are still grateful to have, and Celinda with home schooling the children. As if we weren't busy enough, we decided to take on a re-model project "on a dime." Interpretation: lots of learning and grunt work of our own that takes a LOT longer than any 30 minute HGTV show! You know, most expectant parents work on the nursery as that "nesting" instinct kicks in, but Celinda thought, "let's go for the kitchen!" We are seeing a dim light at the end of the long tunnel and do hope to be back up and running soon for hospitality's sake (we would love a visit!), for our new addition to the family, and for our sanity--life is interesting without a sink and countertops!
We all enjoy visiting with our friends and family both here and afar. We traveled to Illinois to visit the Sanders and Peter's family. Always fun! We had a quick weekend with Celinda's brother and family in Georgia...too quick! We had a winter trip (with dear friends) and summer trip (with Celinda's parents) to the beach. John-Nathan does love the sand, whether he is in a coat or a swimsuit! And a highlight trip was to Colorado for Peter's 20th USAFA reunion.
For this year, with all four passports in hand, we are China bound again. We are ready and appreciate prayer for the rest of the process. Our main part is done. Now we just wait on the various steps to be accomplished which culminate in uniting us as a family. But as we have said before, the journey has only just begun. We look forward to getting to know our little one!
And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and compassion to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” (Zechariah 7:8-10) |
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Our love,
The Rosboroughs
The paper chain on the door is getting very short. This is good. This is sobering. This is exhilerating! We have yet to weigh the suitcases. Life has kind of gotten in the way of taking preparations too seriously -- or at least as diligently as last time. In fact, tonight, I just started tossing things into the suitcases willy nilly -- which, for those of you who know me well, is so not me. I figured that things would look like that AFTER the voyage, so why fight it now?
