Updated Family Photos

Psalm 127:3-5 "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate."

Before I left for China, I started contacting photographers in our area. I knew that I wanted to get an updated family photo as soon as we could to help make the boys feel part of the family. Since summer is wedding and graduation time, I wanted to make sure that we could get a photographer. Through friends on Facebook, I found Gen.One.Three Photography. They did a great job with all the kids. They kept them involved in the session and moved things quickly. When they sent us the pictures, we were more then pleased with the results. They were able to capture most of our kid's personalities and the kids had fun. Let me know what pictures are your favorite. We have to pick our favorite one to hang in our living room.

Please pray for us as Shan Chen's surgery approaches. We are just over two weeks away. We keep talking to him about it to prepare him. But, it is hard to completely prepare him when we are not 100% sure what recovery is going to look like either. Thank you for your continued prayers for our family. We are so blessed to have family and friends support us in prayer through our journey of life.

Summer Fun & Countdown

Isaiah 41:10 " So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Summer is in full swing around the Harder house. To celebrate our last day of school last Thursday, we went to Great America with some of our homeschool friends. It was bring a friend free day for season pass holders. Our friends invited us along. It was such a blessing to be able to spend the day with friends and introduce the boys to some American fun. DJ told me that his foster grandpa took him when he was 7 to some rollercoasters in Jinan. He was so excited for the day at the park. He woke up Thursday morning at 6am and was dressed and in my room asking when we were leaving. Both boys LOVED rollercoasters. Shan Chen was sad that he wasn't tall enough for a lot of the "big" rollercoasters. The girls also had a blast and Abigail, our chicken, even went on X-Flight and the demon.

Shan Chen had to keep taking off his leg, so after lunch, we just removed it for the day. We took turns carrying him around on our backs. I carried his leg around in my backpack. Wayne laughed when I told him that...not too many people can say they have their son's leg in their backpack.

We got soaked!

Wayne and I have been trying to figure out what to do with the kids this summer since we will be home bound for 8 weeks while Shan Chen recovers from surgery. While we were at Costco, we found a pool that we could set up in our yard. We decided that would be the best way to keep the kids busy this summer. The last few days we have been working hard to set up the pool. DJ prays every night that Papa can work faster to get the pool done. He cannot wait to have Mama teach him how to swim and spend hours in the pool. According to his summer host mom from last year, he can stay hours in the pool. 

Last night we met with some local photographers who took our family pictures. We wanted to make sure that we get a new picture in our living room with our entire family. Here are two sample shots that they sent us last night. We spend over an hour taking different pictures, so I cannot wait to see them! Here is their website if you want to check them out: http://www.genonethreephotography.com

We are down to 31 days until Shan Chen's surgery. Our June calendar is filling up with fun activities. Today we are going strawberry picking and tomorrow we are going to the aquarium (thank you free museum days!). Friday we will be going to the Adler Planetarium (free!!). I should have lots of fun pictures to post of the boys experiencing things for the first time. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare Shan Chen for surgery.

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.

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!!