Gracie and Hannah

Gracie and Hannah Cyphers only get to play together a few times a year, but they sure have a great time. Hannah is just a year older than Gracie, and was also adopted from China by our great friends in Denver.

Gracie and Liam

Here's Gracie with her newest 2nd cousin Liam. Liam is 6 weeks old and is Nina's baby (Kirk's niece). She is enthralled with little babies, and of course, wants then to be a baby herself!

Merrry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Yamaguchi Family

Goose Hunting

Kirk and Joey have been going goose hunting alot lately- having a blast, but COLD! Gracie always runs out to them when they get back and asks if they caught any gooses! She loves petting them!

Lots of snow in Grand Junction!

We've enjoyed lots of snow here these past couple of weeks! Gracie loves playing in it by playing on her playground and building snow men and forts. The boys made a huge snow man on Christmas and had a blast - just like old times!

Wade cut his dreds!

THe dreds finally came out. Pretty gross- I won't go into any details! Wade looks nice and clean cut now! Chelsea and her folks love it!

Gracie's new songs

Just this past week, Gracie is singing 2 songs - all of the song - in her way of course! (used to just be a line or a couple of words). Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle Little Star. She loves to entertain, so of course, now she really has an audience. She was walking down the steps yesterday and starting counting the steps- she counted all the way to 10 (just missed 3 and 4). She continues to surprise us and entertain us- every day, all day!

Chelsea and Wade's Engagement Photos

To view their photos, go to this link
www.pictage.com/589295
sign the guest book and view the event.

The pictures came out great! A pretty cute couple- what do you think!!!

The end of a week of vacation at home!

Tomorrow marks the end of a week of vacation for me, at home, without most of my family! Kirk and Joey are ending their trip to Japan and Thailand, Gracie is in Colorado Springs with my mom and 3 sisters and many cousins, and Wade is here, but is in and out alot! So, needless to say, those who know me, know that "vacation" for me doesn't mean lots of sitting around reading books and relaxing! Nope. It means lots of biking, running, working out and working on the house and staying up late! I've tackled many projects that just can't be done with a 3 year old around. I've painted a few walls, put up pictures (yes it took me over a year), deep cleaned, put up some Christmas things, gone through Gracie's toys and clothes, .......... I also have had some great times of spontaneous worship and prayer and fasting.

Kirk and Joey have had a great time on their missions trip. It has been grueling and intense at times, but they've seen the power of God move in great ways. They are both a little sick as they fly home and are ready to be home.

Gracie has had a vacation of her own. The cousins are fighting over how to divide the time with her- they all have to have even amount of time! She has had a blast there- I also took down her crib and put up a toddler bed for her and re-arranged her room. She'll be so surprised, but we had talked about getting a bed when daddy comes home. She had started to wake up, crawl out of her crib, turn on the light, then go back in her crib until I came to get her! One time she made a huge mess of her room and got into trouble, so hasn't done that again!

Dad will be happy to have many shirts ironed when he gets home and JOey will be surprised to see a new home-school area for him!

So, thanks to wonderful family, I've so enjoyed and needed this time. But, I am excited to see my whole family tomorrow night!

We'll stay here for THanksgiving - help serve a meal at a school with our church and go to dinner with Chelsea's family.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Gymnastics

Started Gracie in a tots gymnastics since she's such a monkey, so flexible, and is so strong. She loves it- no more mom and tots one. She goes in on her own and loves it!

Precious of Joey and Gracie

What good friends!

Update from last weekend

We had a fantastic weekend highlighting the "Plight of the Orphan". We had over 125 people fill out response cards that they wanted to be involved in some way with orphans. Over 50 families came forward to be prayed over, as they sensed God moving them to adopt! Wow! We also raised $17,000 for seed money for the adoption assistance fund. There were some awesome videos shown of testimonials of people in our church who have adopted- it was a very moving service. Kirk shared our story of Gracie- he barely made it through the first service- I thought I may have to go up and finish his sermon!

So, now the work really begins for our Miracle 1:27 Adoption Team. We've got monthly adoption support meetings planned, planning a trip to Haiti in the summer for an outreach to the orphanage, setting up people to help mentor those wanting to adopt, working with Project 127 to help with foster care, and finding out what the needs are here locally for material supplies and clothing for foster kids and group homes. I think I'm working myself into a job again! I have never been able just to be at home, without having some involvement in the church, community, or schools.

But, this has truly been a time for me of feeling like I've found my purpose here in Grand Junction. It's taken 15 months for me to final settle into being here. For the first time, I can actually say that I am enjoying being here and that Canyon View is my church. That is a big deal for me! I could have never envisioned what God had planned for an adoption ministry here, much less my involvement in it! I tell Gracie it's all HER fault- ha!

Now Kirk thinks that I should start my own adoption agency! Boy, he sure is a man of vision huh! Don't know about that one.

The Yamo Kids

Children in Crisis

For the last 10 months, I have gathered together a team of 4-5 couples to meet together to brainstorm and create vision for a new adoption/orphan ministry. We've set up our mission statement, short term and long term goals. We've talked to various churches, ministries, organizations, agencies etc. to help us form what we believe God wants us to do here at Canyon View Vineyard Church. And we've prayed! We also invited some folks from an orphanage in Haiti to come and talk to the church. (We raised over $18,000 that weekend to give to their orphanage!) God is on the move! We have an exciting weekend ahead of us! We will be having a Children in Crisis" expo to showcase 15 organizations to help people find their place in caring for orphans. Kirk has been doing a series on Social Justice and the people are GETTING IT! People are hungry and excited to do something about the injustices in the world and here at home. The staff has spearheaded a "Backpack Program" to feed children and their families on the weekends. We as a church have adopted 3 elementary schools and are giving backpacks full of food to over 600 kids each weekend. We will be partnering with the orphanage in Haiti (For His Glory Orphanage) and sending teams there to help them, as well as encouraging people to adopt kids. My vision has been to see many kids come to the same community from the same orphange- so they can continue to see each other and build community here. Our goal as a church is to adopt 100 orphans (domestically and internationally) by the end of 2010.

So, my heart is excited to see how God has used our heart for orphans (because of Gracie) to start something that could turn out to be so huge here! Praise God! Stay Tuned.

Trip to Japan and Thailand

Kirk and Joey leave on Sunday for Japan and Thailand. Here's an itinerary of their trip, if you'd like to follow them and pray for them. It's a really exciting time for both of them!

Nov 9-11 traveling from the states to Japan (leave 7 am Nov 10)
Nov 12 – go to a park to see Japanese houses, catch up on sleep, watch the Gospel Choir practice, and go out to eat with them (over ½ non Christians) By the way, these missionaries we are visiting are using black gospel music to evangelize the youth in Japan!
Nov 13 - see Tokyo, emperor's palace, Ginza, and a major youth hangout
Nov 14 – See Mt Fuji, prayer walk and Worship, prayer and Ministry time
Nov 15 – shopping, seminars on missions, servant evangelism, go to a Japanese-Brazilian meeting on that evening at a YMCA, Kirk to share at the service
Nov. 16 - we will be doing three services. in the afternoon will try to get in another seminar on Kingdom Ministry, hopefully the "Sunday Funday "program with games and bible time
Nov 17 - Prayer walk, Outreach, meeting on a church plant they are planning.
Nov 18 we will leave for Thailand. (Chang Mai)
Nov 19 we will travel to Ben Den and do the Evening service.
Nov. 20 travels to Hui Gai Pa and the School Assembly of games, skit and ministry time
Nov. 21 traveling to Burma and Worship with the Brumish people.
Nov 22. we will be doing a Seminar Day, prayer walking
Nov 23 we will be at a Local Church service, ministry time
Nov 25-26 travel back home – arrive at noon Nov 26

Lots more Pictures

Check out our gallery of pictures at http://gallery.me.com/janeyamo
I'll be uploading all of our pictures to this web site, so you can see lots more pictures of the family. You can email, download, or save any of these pictures if you'd like to. They will be in various folders that I will continue to add to. Enjoy!

Gracie's many trips to China!

Went into Gracie's room one evening and she is busy packing a backpack. She has changed into her "party" high heeled shoes and put on a dress. Her backpack is full of panties, swim suits and of course her cell phone. She proceeds to tell me that she is going to China! She takes off to the door and tells everyone she'll be back in "2 days". I asked her how she was going to get there, and she told us she will drive. She has quite a creative and imaginative mind- she's probably taken 100 trips to China already and she's only been in the U.S. for 2 years!

Joey's Braces OFF today!

Joey had a surprise when he went to the orthodontist this morning and they took his braces off! Yipee! First thing Gracie said was "Joey eat gum now"! He knew it was close and thought they'd schedule an appointment in the next couple of weeks. But, he is thrilled and has to wear a temporary retainer all the time for a week, then only at night. His teeth and smile are beautiful- has a rich mouth now!

2nd Anniversary of Gotcha Day

Here's a great comparison of 2006, 2007 and 2008





I reminisced alot today as a recounted this day 2 years ago when we first met our little girl! I took Gracie for a long bike ride today and told her the story as we rode. After she took a short nap in the trailer, she asked that I keep telling her the story. (It's amazing the things she remembers from our stories! Now, not only does she say she was born in China and that she cried alot in China, she talks about how her ears hurt when she was on the plane!) As I told the story, my voice would crackle a bit and tears would stream down my face remembering this incredible day. (I wonder what the oncoming bikes and cars must have thought!).

The day in Nanchang, CHina started after a restless night of sleep. There was so much anticipation in our spirits! Eleven o'clock seemed like a long time to wait to walk across the street to the government building! Finally the time came and our group (7 families) walked across the very busy street, took the elevator up a few floors and walked into a room of mass chaos! We expected to be seated in a conference type room and be called one by one to go up and receive our child. But no, there were people everywhere and lot of screaming babies- it was like an oven in the room. Another group was in there also receiving their children and so we wandered around, getting our cameras ready, looking for our girls. We thought for sure that we saw Gracie across the room and began to get pictures and watch her closely. Soon, she was being placed in her families arms- oops wrong girl! Then finally someone heard our name amidst the loud chaos and here they came with Gracie and placed her in my arms. She was screaming and was ticked! But, we were all bawling and couldn't believe this incredible moment! It took hours for her to settle down- we had lots of waiting that day and just tried to soothe her and try to get her cooled down. She was so sweaty from screaming. She slowly warmed up to us and we became a family of 5 overnight!

I could go on and on, but if you want to recount the story, go to our China blog- http://www.journeystochina.net

It was an amazing day, to see the beginning of a transformed little girl- from scared and mad and shy and timid (so they had told us), to an outgoing, social, gregarious little girl! God has been so good to our family- we can't thank Him enough for using us to bring life and hope to a little Chinese orphan girl.

Ballerina, Princess, Model

We've got a budding ballerina on our hands- as well as a princess, and a model! She is such a ham and loves to entertain!

Pink Dance Party

Gracie wanted a pink dance party for her birthday. Yes, that came directly from her! SO, we had people dress in pink, we decorated in pink, Wade got her a pink Princess dress, and we let her dance! What a fun time to celebrate with her favorite friends here in Grand Junction. She lots of cute gifts- even Barbies that she calls barbicue!

Gracie is 3 today!

Fun day celebrating Gracie's 3rd birthday. She got to eat a cupcake for breakfast and proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to herself! Then she had her water play time in the sink and wanted to get In the sink this time. Then we met the family at the park for a picnic. We were waiting till a week or so later to have people over to celebrate. We are blessed to have such a wonderful, gregarious, silly, cute little girl!

Beautiful Aspens

Joey, Kirk and I enjoyed a great day on the Grand Mesa today. We rode a mountain bike trail that went passed the top of the Powderhorn ski area. Joey and I rode down the ski area, while Kirk rode the trail back and got the truck. The colors were incredible! WE are so blessed to live in such a beautiful state!