Update and EXCITING news!

Okay - I know that I haven't posted in 2 months...we have been busy!!! I had foot surgery on Dec. 18th, and therefore, had to have all of our Christmas shopping and wrapping all done before that, since I was going to be immobile for 2 weeks! So, that is what I did in my "spare" time. Christmas was great! The girls enjoyed performing at church and in their school Christmas programs. I must say, they were the cutest ones in both groups (no, I am not biased). My mom and dad were able to come to our house for a week to celebrate Christmas and to help out with the kids (while I recovered). The girls had SO much fun spending the week with Momma and Bumpa - lots of fun was had by all! After my parents left, we spent a week at Steve's mom's house. This was not planned and she only lives about 45 minutes away, but we had to have some work done at our house and we couldn't stay at our house while it was being done. It was a little inconvenient (since I was still on crutches), but the girls and Nana enjoyed the time that we all got to spend together. Steve liked it since I couldn't have him work on my honey-do list! We all had a great time together celebrating Jesus and His birth with all of our family.

I will definitely be updating more frequently (although not daily since I am certain that you don't want to hear about our daily adventures). Having said that, I have to confess that it is discouraging to post and not get comments. I know that people are following our blog, but I want to hear from you! When you are silent, I get silent! I will probably only be posting through the summer, because after that I will be just too busy to keep up with blog-land. Why would I be more busy after the summer? Well, it is because we are adding one more child to our family! We have just received our PA (pre-approval) for a little BOY!! Yes, we are adding a son to our family of girls! I am not sure what info I can technically share, but just know that he is adorable! He turned 2 in Nov which makes him 3 months younger than Danielle. So you see, I will be even busier with 4 kids under the age of 5! UGH!! I know that we are a little insane, but hopefully God will sustain us and give us the strength and patience that we need to survive. Our dossier (adoption paperwork) is done and shoule be sent to China next week. We are hoping and praying to travel in June. We would love to travel earlier and not in July - we want to beat the bad heat, but June is probably a safe bet. Please keep us in your prayers. We are excited to bring our son home!

One Year Anniversary!!

I cannot believe that Danielle has been with us for one year! In some ways it seems like she has been with us forever, and in some ways it seems like I just held her in my arms for the very first time! Last year at this time was the beginning of the hardest few days of my life. We were so excited to see our little Lai Fu Tao - we had been waiting for her for so long, but she wasn't exactly excited to be with us. We had heard people talk about grieving, and we thought that we were prepared for it....well, we weren't. Danielle grieved so hard for her losses. She sobbed for her foster mama, and tried to get out of the hotel room at every opportunity. It is amazing at how much things have changed. She is such a happy, vibrant part of our family. She has attached to all of us, and often points to our family portrait and says "Family". She loves to sing, dance and play with her sisters. Danielle continues to amaze us with her "smarts". She learns so quickly that it is scary. We are so grateful that God has blessed us with 3 amazing little girls - God is so good. We owe our family to God - He has grown our family beautifully...whether by birth or adoption, God has given us an incredible family, and for that I am eternally grateful. Please help me by wishing Danielle a Happy Adoption Day!!

Here is our little one last year at the Civil Affairs Office in Nanning....





And here is a current picture of Danielle and her sisters...



We love you, our little angel!

Halloween Fun

Zoo, pumkins and choir...oh my!

Apple picking and friends

We have been having a great fall! The girls continue to enjoy school. We went on a field trip with Stephanie's pre-k class to a fire station last week and Liz got bored. In front of the captain, she said, "I don't like this place". Nice. I am just glad that this station is not responsible for protecting our house!

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to NC to pick apples! We left on Friday afternoon and came back Sunday evening. It was a great weekend! Steve's mom (aka Nana) was able to come along, and the girls were overjoyed. Danielle is still talking to her on her toy cell phone! We met some friends at the apple orchard on Sat. and picked a whole bushel of apples! Needless to say, we don't need to buy any other fruit for a while! The girls took apples to their teachers and clasmates on Tuesday and everybody enjoyed them. And yes, we still have some left!

Yesterday we spent the morning at St. Mtn park hiking with Frannie and her mom Ellen. We had such a good time hiking on one of the islands. The girls fed some ducks and collected leaves and rocks - yippee. We then had a nice picnic lunch together. I love fall and the cool weather! Enjoy some pictures of our weekend adventures!!

First Day of Preschool

Today was the first day of preschool for all 3 of our girls! Stephanie had a blast in pre-k! She loves her teacher and has a lot of her girlfriends in her class. In fact, one of the girls in her class is Su Su...one of the little girls that was on the same Waiting Child list as Danielle. Both of these girls are from the same province in China and lived about 2 hours away from each other. Things like this make me realize how small our world is and how big our God is! Elizabeth enjoyed her first day in the 3 year-old class with Ms. Jackie as her teacher. Stephanie had Ms. Jackie last year and absolutely loves her - now Liz is the lucky one, and she had a wonderful day and can't wait until school on Thursday! Danielle went to class today, too!!! Once again, God was at work...my dear friend, Cynthia is one of Danielle's teachers! According to Cynthia (who never lies), Danielle did the best out of all of the little 2 year-olds! She cried for a minute when I dropped her off, and cried when she caught a glimpse of me in the hallway, but other than that she did great!! I was so worried about this day, but she handled it like a trooper! Oh, and I started school today, too.....I am an assistant teacher at the girls' school! I am teaching in the Young 3's class. I decided to work here so that I could be close to my girls during the day...and to help pay the tuition for 3 kiddos!!! All in all, it was a great day for all of us - hopefully it is a great beginning to a fantastic school year!