Harder Family

Harder Family

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Summer & Surgery

Psalm 74:17 "You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter."

The Harder household has been very busy these last few weeks. Between finishing up our school year, doctor appointments, swimming lessons, the boys learning English, and us learning Chinese, it has been a little crazy. I am excited to say that our "official" school year is over today. The bad news is that we will be doing math all summer and the boys will continue to learn English. We have plenty of fun events lined up for June. We didn't have a chance to take many field trips this year with our busy schedule. Now that the boys are home, we are trying to introduce them to all the amazing places we can visit in Chicago. Our June is now jam packed full of fun. Today we visited the Morton Arboretum so the boys could hold and learn about tadpoles. It was a beautiful day to be outside in God's creation. The arboretum has a fun exhibit right now with origami, something we learned about this year in school. The kids loved seeing all the origami around. 




















We even caught and saved a dragonfly. Naomi and Sophia loved doing this. Naomi LOVES science.



We also had fun in the maze!! Everyone had to have a buddy so we didn't lose anyone.


We missed Abigail. She decided to skip this year because she has been a few times and didn't feel like playing with tadpoles (a sign she is growing up too fast?)


You can be praying for our family. We found out last week that Shan Chen will be having surgery on his leg July 6th. That means for 8 weeks, we will have to hang around the house and not do too much while he recuperates. Everyone is more then willing to do anything to help him out, but we could use prayer as we navigate hospital and rehab stays. Wayne and I will be with Shan Chen at all times. It is vital for him to have us with him during his surgery and recuperation. It breaks my heart when he tells me about other surgeries and no mom or dad to take care of him while he was in the hospital. I cannot imagine the pain and anguish he had to suffer alone. Please pray that surgery goes smoothly and that they are able to get more of the tumor then they have told us they can get. Unfortunately, the fatty tumor is intwined in his muscles, nerves, and veins, so they cannot get it all. This means that the tumor will grow back. We just don't know how fast it will grow. 

We appreciate all of you and all of your prayer support for our family!!! Since we will be having a lot of "adventures" the next few weeks, I will try to do better posting updates. It is hard to believe that the boys have been home 2.5 months. They are doing so well and have done a great job adjusting. Please pray for all of us as we navigate bumps in the road and handle them appropriately.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Both Hands Project

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

On Saturday, a team of about 40 people joined us in working on my friend Jan's house. Jan lost her husband Terry to GBM brain cancer in October of last year. Jan has been an amazing friend, prayer warrior, and encourager throughout our adoption process. When Wayne and I decided last year to pursue a Both Hands project to help adopt our two sons, Jan came to our mind. Because of circumstances and paperwork moving quickly in China, we were blessed to have the boys join us on our Both Hands project yesterday. It was such an amazing experience to work along side them and see them helping out on the project that is helping support what we paid to adopt them. It was beautiful to see Shan Chen and DJ meet Jan for the first time. Yesterday truly was both hands meeting and working together for a common cause! The video will show so much more of what was done and the amazing experience that we had yesterday. 

A HUGE thank you to all of our volunteers!!! We couldn't have done yesterday without you!!