Love never fails to inspire us.

Hi to everybody. I'm not online much during the week and I'm inconveniently having writer's block when I am.

Things are progressing well with the family in the precious eyes of our Savior. The view from my eyes is a little blurred at the moment... but you know, life is like that. It's good to know that although in this world the only constant is change... our God never changes and He is unphased by the world. His faithfulness in leading and encouraging us through rough waters and uneven terrain sustains and inspires us beyond our own feelings and fears for the future. I have tremendous hope for what lies ahead and beyond... my hope is alive and his name is Jesus.

We are celebrating some wonderful victories this week and look forward to more next week!

Beautiful Little Marie had her first day of school yesterday... ever. Miraculous that our merciful God made a way for her to enjoy the opportunity of a formal education in the hands of uniquely trained/experienced professionals in an exceptional learning program here in Lee Co. for the remainder of her stay in the U.S. We are all just so thrilled for her.

Bridger had a wonderful birthday time! He was delighted with his gifts and the outpouring of love in his mailbox. He saved every card in the top drawer of his dresser and gets them out to admire them each day.

He continues to grow in the truth of God's plan for his life. Bridger has asked for Jesus to be his Lord and his Savior from sin and eternal seperation from his Creator. Even after decades of ministry to children I am completely in awe of the journey of a child to the one who loved him first. God leads and I am blessed to follow. Bridger was lying down for his afternoon nap, I was reading a magazine nearby and he asked aloud, "Mamma, why did Jesus have to die?" I was unaware that the gospel of Christ had been shared with him although he daily hears of his ministry and sustaining love in our lives. Somewhere along the way he had heard God's still small voice and his heart was responding to God's sweet call to join him on his lap. God chose to draw Bridger to himself without a Bible lesson and was unhindered by my being way too distracted in the past year with goings on rather than being as attentive as I should have been to the growing spiritual awareness of my first born Son.

I answered the questions on Bridger's heart and watched with barely restrained emotion as he accepted the truth. "Mamma it's like Jesus took my punnishment when I was bad on purpose. Like if Gates was in trouble 'cause he hit me and scratched me again and I said that you should put me in time out 'stead of him. Is that right?" "Yes, that's right. Jesus took the punnishment but he did no wrong. He loves us that much." His brown eyes reflected the weight of this injustice to Jesus and in tears he shouted, "That's not FAIR!" Within seconds he was thanking Jesus and praying his own precious prayer of devotion to the first real Hero he ever met. God honored me with the gift of witnessing this intimate moment between the two of them. I stand in awe of God's gentle and irrestistable love.

I will tell you that when a five year old boy becomes a Christian, he's not much different than grown ups. The very next day, he messed up big time and looked at me unashamed and said,
"Jesus already took my punnishment." We prayed for forgiveness and wisdom together. But no, he didn't get in trouble that time:-) I'll save the scripture, "Should sin abound so that grace can more abound? God forbid." for a later time. God means his word for a mirror in our own lives not for a magnifying glass in the hands of others observing us. Thanks Jesus, I'm so grateful for the mirror of your word and for the way you keep it between us what I see.

Birthday Boy Bridger and Mamma Love

Five years ago I was praying for my baby boy in Korea. I didn't know yet if he'd been born but I knew he existed 'somewhere' and I thought of him constantly. I wondered if he had the hands of a musician, the heart of a poet... he was born into the hands of God on August 20, 2005 we learned of him on Oct. 5, 2005.

The first time we ever saw his beautiful face we were immediately in love. As I recall just waiting for the social worker to arrive at the restaurant in Bradenton with the Fed Ex from Korea we were overwhelmed, one of the girls was near fainting as the precious drama unfolded. The anticipation after fifteen months in process and then waiting for our child to be born was beyond description.

When Tracy Brady LCSW finally slid those photos across the table, (She had to go over the other paperwork details first because she said no one listens once they have the pictures... they're gone) we beheld the face of our firstborn Son. His serious little expression, the depth of his stare, the length of his fingers... it all soaked in. The next seven months waiting for his plane was beyond painful. At sixteen weeks, he had his first Christmas and we missed him so as we wrapped his gifts and put them under the tree in love. His Baby's First Valentines Day card and then finally, his Easter Basket were prepared in hopes that he would be home to open them. He made it home one week before Easter 2005.

In the past five years we've enjoyed making 'buebewry nuffins', countless fingerpaintings and playdough sculptures. I've received boquets of tiny flowers in the back yard from the grubbly little hand of a sweaty faced urchin who owns me heart and soul. I've wiped his face with a cool washcloth as he wimpered, "Mamma, help me" through the stomach flu. When he hurts I hurt, when he laughs he makes the music that I always knew he would and as for poetry? How's this?
"Mamma my deepest heart inside feels like your face is in it."

He will be five tomorrow. He will be delighted with his gifts and much to his eldest Sisters chagrin he will have a pink cake. He likes strawberry cake with strawberry icing and the ice cream too will be strawberry. I'm going to try to find a red truck for the top of it to "Man it Up" a little for the pictures. lol He really is a man's man and all about the trucks, sports and adventure but hey, "Strawberries are good." I'm glad he's too little to care if it's pink or not. At least for one more year.

Love y'all. Please pray for Birthday Blessings and a lifetime of favor for our "Bridger the Bold" tomorrow. Thank you Jesus!

Chari Granstra here

Hi all,


My mom asked me to write a few words for the blog, as the internet in their house is temporarily down.

Things are going well, the boys are having a lot of fun together. Whenever Brian and I go to the house for dinner or to stop by and say hi, there is a lot of running, car sounds and bike riding going on. Gates is a little monkey, he likes to swing upside down and hang all over me, I ask him ''are you a monkey?'' he nods and nuzzles his cheek next to mine, saying ''monkey!'' He's the cutest little thing, always smiling... always running! Bridger is a great big brother, he is always keeping his eye on Gates. Just the other day, he was building a kitchen chair/sheet tent in the living room, making sure to leave a 'sky light' gap so that he could poke his head out and ''check on Gates'' as he was sitting on the couch, playing with one of those little hand held alphabet toys for babies, that say the sounds of the letters when you push them. - Gates is speaking many English words, he makes cute little faces and jumps up and down in excitement... all the time. : )

My little baby brother will be 5 next Thursday! What?!? I can't believe it! Well, yes I can. He is actually acting very '5' right now. The other day, we had 'Chari and Bridger day'... where we went to Bass Pro Shops and out to lunch... it was awesome. Anyway, when he got in my car, he said ''let's hit the road... because Bass Pro Shops is my name, and hitting the road is my game!'' lol, how can you respond to that? Once we got there, he was talking the whole time, and at one point I was like ''Bridger, I am tired of telling you to watch where you're going.'' He looked at me and sweetly said ''I'm tired of you telling me to watch where I'm going too.'' lol. At least we're on the same page!

I hope all is well with your families too, life's fun!

Chari Granstra
for Karrie Rudd

Cuteness and Attitude!

Cute Stuff:
Before rolling over to sleep at nap time today the boys 'clinked' their sippy cups and said, "Sippy Cup Cheers!"

When Gates had a beetle on his shirt outside Bridger shouted, "Mom save my Brother he has a bug on him!"(NOT a bug guy our Bridger)

While playing with playdough together Bridger made an "Ace of Cakes" three tier cake and put a playdough star on top of it. He said, "Look Gates!" and Gates responded with genuine appreciation, "Wow."

Gates playfully ran into Bridger from behind and Gates shouted, "He pushed me!" I guess he figured since Bridger yelled it everytime that it was part of the game. What a great addition to his first few sentences! lol

Gates can call Bridger's puppy, Hendrick. He will call out the back door like a farmers wife, "Heeennn Driiiick!"

When Bridger was having trouble with patience this morning he walked over to me and asked, "Mamma? Can you go into the bedroom with me and talk about God?" He was ready for some divine intervention.

I'm crazy about these kids ya know?

Funny Guys.

It's raining and the boys are napping. It's a great time for me to visit with you all. We're all doing really well. Gates is back up at night but much eaiser to comfort, no night terrors like with Bridger thankfully, such awful suffering our baby B. went through with those. Lasted over two years almost nightly. He sleeps like a rock now though:-)

Gates is using a lot more English with his "la la language." as we call it. He will just point and say, "La la la la la la la!" I nod and follow him so he can't see me laughing. I wonder if he thinks we made up the English so he will just make up something too? Oh well, by the time he can explain it he won't remember what we're talking about. (smile).

Bridger set up a great construction site outside this morning. He set up caution cones (were originally bought as soccer goals) and he outlined a patch of dirt in the 'quarry' with strips of wood Daddy gives him after he saws something, then he proceeded to dig a hole in the middle of it. Pretty cute. as so often workers dig the hole first and then have to do all of that other stuff when their arms are already tired. My genius.

You can really hear the five year old on the horizon in Bridger lately. He likes to establish rules for others, he tells creative and long winded stories. He takes his role playing very seriously.

Bridger made me think of Chari so much earlier today when Gates kept pushing the wrong button on an electronic learning toy that teaches the alphabet, the voice was prompting "Can you find the letter G?" Gates would push button after button after button and it would say, "Oops. Try again. " over and over until Bridger walked over to him and pushed the button for him saying in a less than patient tone, "Push the 'G'!". He couldn't take it anymore. When Chari was little she couldn't watch someone else struggle with something she could do either. Aimee and I think it's funny because Gates can now say, "Oops. Try again." Yes, of course I've played it with Gates but he gets annoyed by unrequested help. Often. (Laugh).

One of the rewards for good choices that has been very effective with Gates is a small gumball from one of those little gum ball machines children sometimes get as gifts. (Thanks Uncle Dave and fam). I usually initiate this as a reward when I observe a positive response in him. Gates is a very fast learner, now Gates will come to me and say, "Bubble Gum Please." and pull my hand to get up. Then I ask him, "Did you make a good choice?" at that, he looks around for something to do. He might pick up a toy or walk over and pet the dog nicely or something like that. This afternoon he looked around and shrugged his shoulders with his hands palm up and just said it louder. "BUBBLE GUM PLEASE!"

Families not Barriers.

http://www.gopetiti on.com/petitions /build-families- not-barriers. html

Families are being delayed in-country due to the confused implementation of new tb requirement. This does nothing to 'protect' anybody as business people and tourists travel all over and never have to be bothered with these 'checks'. These little ones are no threat. Even after children have been treated and recovered, even after U.S. Pediatricians guarantee in writing that the child in question is not contagious after two weeks on medication... the uscis says it will take them SIX MONTHS to process the paperwork for the children to come home! Meanwhile, adoption is final in China and family has family, job and other children back home and cannot leave their newly adopted child alone in country... it's devastating for adopting families and absolutley short sightned/misinformed government spaghetti! So many little one's like Gates will lose their hope of a family and life and a future because people will abandon the abandoned feeling helpless to navigate the 'risks' created by the U. S. Government alone!

Please go to the link above and read the petition for the sake of the children this barrier must be removed!

Happy Monday!

We are very happy to report that Mr. William Gates Rudd just received his Certificate of Citizenship in the mail. Next step Social Security Number and Updated Passport(mostly for ID purposes).

We're having a good day and after some heart to heart time with Jesus, Mamma is encouraged that we can go the distance. Adjustment stage is work and wonderful, wonderful and work. I am so thankful to be so relevant in Christ. Anytime I start seeing my nothingness bigger in the window than My God's all sufficiency I get tired. When I refocus on His ability and sovereign Lordship in my life and in the lives of our precious family I am rejuvenated.

Bridger is doing beautifully and his patience is evident and abundant in regards to his new brother. Gates has woken up without nightmares and hours of whimpering the past few times. Once he came out of a bad dream wake up fog yesterday after naps it was as if he accepted that he is far away from what he fears. He started chattering like a little squirrel and smiling all over the place. He is hugging and snuggling again and seems as if a weight has lifted from his tiny shoulders. I am hopeful that he has turned a corner!

Busy Saturday of chores and home improvements. Gates was running full speed outside as usual and after getting good and sweaty/moderately dirty he enjoyed a long soaking tubby with his toys and I washed his hair. His hair isn't really 'growing' per se but it seems to be filling in a little more. A wash rag and a teaspoon of kids shampoo/conditioner still does the job. Boy does he get annoyed about it though. This is my fourth child and I watched my Mom raise three I'm really swift and efficient when it comes to hair washing, little muss lotta fuss with Gates. Maybe his previous experiences with this chore didn't come with the blessings of a dry wash rag over his forehead and no more tears shampoo. Anyway, he smells better and he liked brushing his hair afterward.

He's sitting next to me now with a push button sound effects book. We only have two or three of these (some inherited from yard sale fundraiser left overs) because it's not really reading to my Kipling-Twain-Silverstein mind. He really likes playing with them though so toy or book... who cares? His feet are barely visible with the book in his lap but he's tapping them adorably to the clinky sounding music. We took both of the little ones out to run errands this morning and Gates saw a woman walk by with a cart full of preschool toys in it and he flipped out into full two year old meltdown mode wanting them. His developmental milestone skill gaps are filling in nicely too. Sometimes he responds like an infant and another time like a two year old and another time right on target developmentally. This is exactly what is expected and normal as he was so deprived during early neurological growth networking. It's wonderful that Paul and I can share in the victory of these moments. During Gates's toy tantrum Dad said, "Isn't that great? That's the first time he has cried because he was upset emotionally!" It's good to see them cry at anything as they often introvert such feelings so effectively beginning in infancy in orphanage.
Gates weighs twenty six pounds now and still in twelve months clothes but the eighteen months don't fall to his feet anymore so we're seeing some change there. In early July he was skin and bones only but we can clearly see that the plastic wrap look to his skin clinging to his bones is being replaced with smoother skin and maybe some subcutaneous body fat. We are very blessed.
Anyway, the little ones are wearing their backpacks and bike helmets in the house. Bridger is on a rescue mission of some kind and Gates is his enthusiastic sidekick! Paul is out in this sweltering heat trying to complete the siding installation. I'm going to go fix him something cold to drink and let the boys 'rescue' Daddy from thirst.