Joy

Wishing you a season filled
with JOY
as we celebrate the birth
of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

love & aloha,

mark, stacey, naomi ardyza & kalea kaura

My heart is full

It would seem that this beautiful red thread

is pulling our hearts to China.

From early on in our marriage, Mark and I have felt drawn to China. We had hopes of traveling there to bring a daughter home while we were living in Oregon, but with Mark in grad school, the timing was just not right.

A few years later, after moving to Hawaii, our Indonesian-Chinese daughter came to us, followed 2 years later by Kalea Kaura, putting all thoughts of China out of my mind.

When Naomi was born we had plans to name her Mayzi after my grandma Maza and call her Mei (pronounced "May") for short. However, when we were with her in the nursery just after her birth, Mark looked at me and said, "You know what her name is, don't you." "Yes," I said, reluctant to let go of the name. It was Naomi. We knew.

Though, somewhere in my heart I've always felt that a little Mayzi would one day come.

I "stumbled upon" the link to this video on facebook and wouldn't have given it a second thought... but then her name called to me... and then her eyes and little nose and hands... and something happened to my heart...

Our red thread journey leads here...  View and fall in love with her!

Living in an orphanage in China is a little 2 year old girl named Mayzee. She was born just days before my Grandma Maza's passing. Mei Mei ("little sister" in Chinese) is 10 months younger than Kalea and has the same strong will and little nose as both of the girls. (I think we're in for quite a ride!) She has been waiting for a family, and from the moment I stumbled upon her photo, I knew in my heart. Maybe I should clarify. My heart beat so intensely that the next day I went in for an EKG! That first night I did not sleep. At all. Suddenly I felt myself being drawn, physically, spiritually, emotionally... to China. To her.

Perhaps the clarity with which the Lord let us know this is right is proportionate to the mountain we must climb to get her home. Adoption is not for the faint of heart - I know that, but what I'm realizing is that international adoption is so far beyond what I imagined! I feel very grateful for the powerful and yet very peaceful answers to prayer we've received to guide us forward!

Mayzee (we can't share her beautiful Chinese name with you online until her adoption is finalized) has a history of seizures and needs to come home as soon as possible to get the care she needs. We would be grateful for your prayers on her behalf. Our daughters' pediatrician is also a pediatric neurologist at the Children's hospital in Honolulu. Go figure. It's amazing how the Lord often sets things in place years before we realize what is happening. I still have no idea how we will pull this together financially, but everything else is falling into place beautifully!

We were selected by the agency out of three families all hoping to adopt Mayzee and our file was pre-approved and "locked to Mayzee" by the CCCWA (China Centre for Children's Welfare and Adoption) this week! We have a long road still ahead of us, but hope to have her home with us in 8-11 months.

Naomi and Kalea are delighted to have a little sister and talk about her constantly! Kalea pulls her photo down from the bookshelf anytime someone comes to the door to show them little Mayzee and tell them all about our red thread story and her soon to be little mei mei. I can't wait for them to be together.

My heart is full on this Thanksgiving day.

My loves.

Mahalo for the beautiful photo Amy!!

Autumn on the Island

It's subtle, but I can feel the change in the seasons. The tradewinds are back (Thank the heavens! The @#! dark poisonous VOG nearly did us in a few weeks ago). The sun has shifted in the sky and there's somehow an autumn crispness in the air - without the actual crispness. Perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me because I long for crisp fall days with sweaters and brilliantly painted leaves.

We made the trek across the island to the pumpkin patch and the girls picked out and adopted a "pumpkin family" that they cart all around the back yard and even give thanks for in their nightly prayers.

Beautiful autumn day on the island with my favorite people.

Kalea named her pumpkin "Shadey"

Shine on, my love.

my loves

I had a birthday

And you know, it turned out to be a really nice day.

Naomi and I were both sick... but the stars (or rather events of the semester) aligned miraculously so that Mark was able to take the day off of work to play with/take care of us. That was the Best.Birthday.Present.E.V.E.R ... well, except for the email we received 5 birthdays ago... an email that changed my life and changed my heart. Discovering you are soon to be a mother after nearly a decade of waiting is something pretty special. I guess that tops all. Yes, that was definitely the best birthday present ever.





Having Mark to help and celebrate the entire day with us was exactly what I needed. Best gift he could have given me this week. I slept in until 9. We cleaned up the house. Mark took care of our not-feeling-so-well-whining-girls and let me shower in peace. The girls drew birthday cards and gave me a tickets to a piano concert "date" with them next week and Mark gave me tickets to WICKED! The production doesn't come to Honolulu for another 10 months, but I am SO EXCITED!





We spent the afternoon on the North shore eating shave ice at Matsumoto's and enjoying the sun and sand at Waimea. Oh, the sun - it was such a beautiful day. We picked up fresh shrimp and Mark cooked up mouth-watering numminess for dinner.

















It was a delightful day with my three favorite people.

Feeling blessed

to be a part of this...

photo thanks: amber mozo

Wishing you Joy

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love and aloha,
Mark, Stacey, Naomi Ardyza and Kalea Kaura

Sunday walk

I do not like to write a lot. The process of organizing my scrambled thoughts into coherent sentences is exhausting, time consuming and rather intimidating. It's a weakness that from time to time I work on, but it doesn't get any easier!

Luckily for everyone in my life (and sometimes to their dismay), I have a camera. I am learning how to wield it. And so I'll let the photos tell the story of our Sunday walk. It was a nice evening and it involved my three favorite people.

summertime

And we're off gallivanting across the country.
Our feet will be back in the sand in approximately 5 weeks!

I'm not sure I would want to give up this professor lifestyle with summer vacations... even if it meant more money and owning our own home.

It's so nice to be together. All.Summer.Long.

summer days: together

summer days: on the beach

with Kimi
































We love Kimi.
And she's a great photographer too :)



lovin' summer days.