Danielle is 2

This has been a very busy week at our house. First, it was extra special because we were able to celebrate Danielle's 2nd birthday with her! We had a big party for her on Saturday with lots of friends, cake and ice cream. She gets a little overwhelmed if she is the center of attention, so we decided to have her party at a "play house". We went to Miss Jamie's House and had a lot of fun. Miss Jamie's House is an actual house that has been converted into play rooms for kids (no one actually lives in the house). They have a room that is play house, a stage with dress up clothes, a ship with fishing poles, a camping room with tents, and then a big outdoor playground. My girls love to play there - and I do to...less mess for me to clean up. This was the first time that we had a party away from our home, and I must say that I liked it! It was nice not having to clean the house before AND after a party. All I had to do this time was get the paper products, snacks, party favors and make the cake!! Hopefully everyone had a good time - Danielle did, and that is what counts!

Also this week I went back to work....ugh!! I am going to be an assistant teacher at my girls' preschool! All 3 of our girls are going to be going to preschool this year, and instead of doing private speech therapy while they are in school, I decided to work where they are! I am really looking forward to it! I have been a little nervous about leaving Danielle, but God is once again looking out for her! My best friend, Cynthia, is going to be her teacher!! Danielle loves and adores her, so hopefully this transistion will be relatively easy. Danielle has been doing better with me leaving - she has done great with a teen babysitter,and she now goes to Sunday school with Elizabeth (only a few tears initially) - I love being able to worship without my "little distraction"!

Today was another special day for us. We went to court to finalize our re-adoption! Basically, this will give her a Gwinnett County birth certificate, instead of using her Chinese one. We are excited to have completed this process. We hired a great attorney, and she didn't charge nearly as much as some do. We were friends with Crystal before all of us got married and started having children, so we were more than happy to send some business her way. We had no issues at all with any of our paperwork - her fees were worth it for me to not have to worry about doing things right. Besides, if I had done it myself, chances are we wouldn't have even filed our papers yet - it can be difficult to get things done with 3 little ones! The only problem we encountered today was....I left my purse in the Judge's chambers! Steve said that was probably the safest place to have left it - hopefully! We got it back and all was well - just a little embarrassing!!

We are all doing great - keeping very busy with friends, family and life in general. The week before Danielle's birthday party was Ally's party. Ally, Shelby, Frannie and Danielle were all on the same Waiting Child list....and we all live in Atlanta - amazing! See the picture of them below titled "Digit Friends". It is great to have such good friends who are going through the same things that we are. Parenting is hard at times, and great support is so hard to find! Thank you to all of our friends who help us out along the way - we couldn't do it without you!!