Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!!
Hard to believe that in a week, we will have had Maiah in our family for 2 years. We are reminded everyday of the gift that God has given us in her. She has had quite a Christmas season...participating in a school play, a church play, a You Tube debut, much baking and cookie decorating and many parties...even in the midst of the busyness.....Maiah truly understands the Reason for the Season:) We have posted some photos in the photo section...hope you enjoy and we pray you have had a blessed Christmas surrounded by family, friends and the love of Christ and we wish you a Happy and Healthy new year.

Maiah in December 2008

 

 

 

MAIAHS HOPE

How time flies........

Wow, I did not realize how long it has been since our last update. All is very well here expect for the fact that Daddy is deployed and we miss him very much. Maiah is just one of the kids now..... We forget that she has only been home for 18 months, seems like forever. She is still growing like a weed. She is 42.5 inches tall and weighs about 46 lbs. Lets just say she is all caught up:) She is a little stubborn but cute as can be. She also has a desire to learn like neither of our other 2 kids at 4. She just graduated from her preschool class and will start school with Nathan and Kaytlin in the fall. She is very excited about attending the same school as her brother and sister. Her favorite show on TV is Discovery Health....Birthday!! She wakes up and asks to watch babies being born....this is the only show she ever asks to watch. She is now doing c-sections on her dolls and me. We have multiple births all the time.....and Kaytlin gets sick to her stomach over breakfast quite often. Maiah is into all the bloody details......poor Kate:(
Maiah lets us know all the time that she is a big girl now......she will do gymnastics in the fall and is enjoying the family pool, Busch Gardens and Water Country for the summer. She is still swimming like a fish.....she has had swimmers ear 4 times now but nothing will stop her from getting in the water.....

Our princess is very excited about a brother or sister coming home and sharing her room, she would not have it any other way. She wants to share everything, her dolls, barbies and dresses too.......I pray for the little boy that comes to our family:) God Bless him and he better like to play with dolls:)

Well, I am also posting some new photos....so I hope you take a look and enjoy....
Thank you for "still" sharing in the blessing of our adoption journey.

Happy New Year/1st Anniversary Home

Happy New Year!!! It was great to celebrate New Years this year as a family in the United States with some dear friends....but we will never forget New Years in Seoul, South Korea last year, on our way to Mongolia!!! God is so awesome and we look forward to all that He has for us in 2008. Hopefully, another trip to Mongolia:) It was certainly an amazing year and if you would like to share in our first year with Maiah....please click on the video in the links section. I wish that the song was longer as there are so many friends and family that did not make the video, however each one of you has contributed to the love and affection that Maiah has felt since joining our family. We pray blessings to you and yours in 2008!!! We love you all.

Petrins
xoxoxox

Merry Christmas Maiah!!!!

December has been full of fun and learning all about the birth of baby Jesus. Whether at school or church, Maiah actively participated. She was a grandchild in the school play and she was the star in the church play......see the photo section if you want to see the most precious Christmas star....I am biased!! Well,our morning started a little before 8am with stomping feet coming down the hallway with much excitement and anticipation. Every present was the best one she got. She loved the smallest present as much as the biggest. Everything was special and just what she wanted. Tonight we sang Happy Birthday to baby Jesus and it all came full cirlce for Maiah......we get presents because it is Baby Jesus's birthday. We had to explain that He is the present. All in all, Maiah had a great 1st Christmas. She was beyond blessed by family and friends and blessed all who came into our home today. We love you Maiah and Merry Christmas!!!

July - Present & Happy Birthday Maiah

Well, it has been a while since our last post but all is well. We have been very busy, busy, busy!!! We are in the midst of doing Maiah's post placement visits and new home study visits as we are on the adoption train again. We believe God has another child for us in Mongolia. Derek is in the midst of transferring to his new duty station as well as taking a class and I am home schooling Nathan, Kaytlin and Maiah..........thank you for the grace!

We have had a busy summer.......started with a huge 4th of July celebration/pool party. We celebrated Maiah being a US citizen. She wore red, white and blue and a smile all day.......she was the star of the day. Check out the photos, so cute if I don't say so myself:) (We posted 2 new albums from the summer and birthday).

We visited Massachusetts in August, spent much of the week visiting with my friend Amy and her family. Maiah just loved playing with the girls all week. We also enjoyed Memere Mads beach house. We played in the sand and flew kites.....Nate, Kaytlin and Maiah all love the beach. Our little Mongolian princess just loves anything to do with water. You would not know that she spent the first 3 years of her life land locked in Mongolia.

On August 8th, Derek and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with much to be thankful for. We have an amazing son who is 13 and still likes us so we are doing something right. Then we have our 2 beautiful princesses. We are beyond blessed.

Well, September brought preschool for Maiah. She has missed having all her little friends to play with so we decided to let her play 2 days a week and she just loves it. We knew she would as she loves attending her little class on Sunday mornings as well. She never wants to leave. Maiah received her first progress report for preschool and the overall theme was how well rounded she is and that you would never know she has only been here for 9 months........God is good:) This month we also had the countdown to Maiahs 4th birthday. I think she thought it was never coming.........everyday she would wake up and say "Is today Maiah's birthday?" Well, it finally came and we had a big bash......really for us it was her first birthday:)

Maiahs birthday party was quite the event. She woke up with a smile on her face that lasted the whole day, right down to tucking her in that night. She was thrilled to have it be her day, finally. She had 20 some of her little friends and families here to celebrate with her. Kaytlin and her friends did face painting for Maiah and her friends and then we some dear friends from church come as clowns to make animal balloons for all the kids. We could not have asked for better weather, it was beautiful and so was her little smile. We hope you enjoy the photos.

As for our family as a whole........we all have found our place in Maiahs heart and world. It is as though she has always been here with us. We can't imagine life without her. We look back to the start of our journey to Maiah and it is so amazing how God planned it all out......and now we have this little precious treasure that keeps growing and shining and amazing all who meet her.

All of us are excited about adding to our family, especially Maiah. She says she wants to go with Mommy on the big plane to Mongolia so we can get a brother or sister........she is still asking for a particular little boy but now with things moving again in Mongolia, we are praying that he would be adopted quickly. Even though our paperwork is almost ready to go, we still have a long wait ahead of us. Please continue to pray for us and for the finances for this next adoption........ we know that Gods provision is awesome but we also know how powerful prayer is. God Bless all who read this............ and may your heart be touched and your life be changed. You too can make a difference in the life of a child, just start by praying for them.

Time flies when you're having fun!!!

Well let me just start with how very blessed we are to have Maiah in our family. She was born a Petrin, it just took us a while to realize that she was out there waiting for us. We have had so much fun and have really seen her true personality come out. We believe the flower is now in full bloom as you will see when you look at the photos. Now that the weather has warmed up, we have been doing some fun outdoor activities!! May started with some amazing friends of ours (Carol & Ben)coming for a 30 day visit from Mongolia. Maiah so enjoyed seeing her friend and we did lots of fun things with them. Maiah especially enjoyed riding all the rides with Ben at Busch Gardens. I don't think they missed one ride. It was a long day for the Mommies!! Maiah just loves the outdoors and the water. I have to pull her out of the pool everyday and she cried when we left the waterpark. I think she thought we would never go back. Little does she know that we have season passes:) She kept saying "I want more slides and more water!!" I think Mongolia needs a waterpark even if it would only be open for 6 weeks a year:) Maiah has a best little friend as you have probably seen in some photos over the past couple of months. Every morning she wakes up and asks for Vannah. Her little friends name is Savannah but Maiah has given her a nickname. They are so cute togehter, it warms my heart to see her in new little friendships as that was the most heartwrenching part of this. She still asks about her closest friends from the Childrens Place and is now asking for them to come to her house!! It's very sad but watching her grow and now with friends to call her own brings so many smiles and joy. Our family cannot explain what adopting Maiah has done for our family, it has changed all of us in so many ways. We have given her hope and she has brought us so much more........So much, that we are starting the process all over again. Roller Coaster ride here we come!! We believe God has another child for us in Mongolia. It's the best ride we have ever taken. We need prayer for the following: a new lady has taken over adoptions in Mongolia and is learning her job and moving very slow and it seems that adoptions are not really a priority. We are praying that her heart would change and that the children of Mongolia would be set free to families in country or internationally. We need things to open up and move so that these waiting kids can be set in families. Several of Maiahs friends are now 4& 5. Please pray that we can get our paperwork done and submitted quickly as Derek is up for orders and any moving could hinder another adoption. We also challenge you to pray and consider opening up your home to a child. It's not for everyone but it may be for you. We pray that by sharing this journey, it has helped bridge gaps between families and waiting children..........