VERY Productive Spring Break

Well, Danielle is potty trained!! YIPPEEE!!! Don't ask why, but Monday morning (the first official day of spring break), I thought, "Hey, we have a week off from school, why not potty train Danielle?" Crazy, huh? I knew that we were going to be stuck at home for a couple of days (since the weather was going to be cold - 40s), so what better way to pass the time? We had tried to casually train her a couple of times before, but after sitting on the potty for a while, she would get up and promptly wet her pants - UGH!! So, Monday morning, we tried it again. I put her in panties (and rubber pants), and what did she do? Wet herself - 3 times. But, on the 4th try, she actually went in the potty! Major party time! After she realized that going on the potty wasn't so scary, she kept her pants dry. On Wednesday, we had some friends over for a playdate, and right in the middle of playing, Danielle came up to me and said, "I have to go pee-pee really bad!"...and she did - in the potty!!! We have been golden ever since. I took all the girls to the playground on Thursday...Danielle stayed dry! I took the girls to a local bounce house on Friday...and Danielle stayed dry! And yes, she has been in panties every day since Monday...including all outings! Now, she was doing great with #1, but #2 was going to be tricky...or so I thought. Well, yesterday she went #2 in the potty and hasn't had any trouble! She is still sleeping in diapers, but tonight before bed, she said she had to go potty, and she did...in the potty, not her diaper! Praise God! She was my easiest child to potty train yet! Sorry for all the "potty talk", but I am just so proud of her - and she is too! So maybe we didn't get to go on a fancy spring break trip, but we sure accomplished a lot!!!

How Awesome is God?!

God is absolutely amazing! Let me tell you just one reason why...Meg! For those of you who followed our trip to Danielle in Nov. 07, you may recall what a God-send Meg was. Meg is Steve's step-sister (really, she is our true sister by heart) who has lived and studied in China...and is perfectly fluent in Mandarin. When we went to adopt Danielle, Meg (by the grace of God) was already in China and was able to be with us for half of our trip. Because she was able to come with us, we were able visit Danielle's hometown and experience "real" China. It was amazing! Well, when we started the process to adopt Michael, Steve had said that we need/want Meg to go with us again. We had no idea if that would work out or not, but it has been our secret prayer for months. Last night we found out that God has answered our prayers! Meg is going to be in China from June through Dec of this year. Not only will she be in China, but this time she will be living in Beijing!!!! Let's just say, that will work out perfectly for us! We are hoping to go to get our son some time this June or July...and Meg will be available! She offered to let us stay in her apartment, while that would save us money, it might scare her away! So we will probably stay somewhere else and hang with Meg during the day. Hey, we may save money anyway - we may not need a guide as often! I would much rather see Beijing with Meg - she translates for us exactly, not what people may want us to know! Plus, she is a ton of fun! Meg knows the city of Beijing well, so we would be in great hands! Steve and I got off the phone last night and thanked God for this answered prayer! Everything seems to be falling into place so well. Another thing that we discussed was possibly taking a side-trip to Danielle's hometown. With Meg, we would be able to do this. In order to go to Laibin, we really would need a guide 24/7, and Meg is more than willing to do this. Now we just need to see if we would be able to meet Danielle's foster mother - wouldn't that be cool? God is good! Now just to get our LOA and TA....come on, let's go get our son!!!!!

Patriotic Practice

I received a Flip Video camera for Christmas (Thanks Mom and Dad!), and I have been thoroughly enjoying it! It is great - it fits in my pocket so that I can use it whenever something "video worthy" happens. We are looking forward to using it in China this summer. It will be great for those unexpected video-ops when we don't have our camcorder available! So, I decided that I need to try and post a video, since I have never done it before! All 3 of our girls have learned the Pledge of Alligence at school...I am so proud of how well they know this (especially Danielle who is only 2 1/2)! Enjoy!

Friends, New Ride and Snow

Six beautiful girls...all brought home within the past 2 years!









Add 2 more fair-haired sisters...


On Saturday, we spent the evening at Ellen and Frannie's house for another "digit" get-together. This was the first time that we have been all been together since Faith and Alaina have been united with their forever families. We are so glad to have them home! However, there are still 2 children missing...our little Michael (who, by the way, will obviously have his pick of lovely girls) and Frannie's little sister, Grace. Hopefully we will be able to travel together to pick up our children this summer - God willing.

It is consignment sale time here, and I have been slowly stocking up on clothes, books and toys for all of the girls, and especially Michael. We are trying to get some "boy toys" so that Michael won't have to play with Barbies and princesses. Get a load of the ride that is waiting for him!!!



I will leave you with a couple of pictures of our "snow adventures" from last weekend. Yes, we even get an occasional snowfall in Georgia! Note that since my poor snow deprived kiddos don't quite know what to do in snow, so they tried eating it...off of various surfaces...slides, swings, playhouses, mittens, etc. Enjoy!!!

Snow Pictures

Recent pictures of the girls

A little info about our son

Okay, I know that you may want to know a little bit more about our son. I cannot give too many details, but I will give you some! He is from a LARGE city in China, where we will probably have to spend close to 2 weeks before we go to Guangzhou to finalize the US portion of our adoption. Unfortunately, that means close to a 3 week trip. While I LOVE China, it is going to be so hard to be away from Stephanie and Liz!!! But I digress. Michael (the name that we will give him) turned 2 in Nov. That means that he will only be 3 months younger than Danielle! It is hard to imagine that he is already that big! We have missed out on so much of his life already. We did find him on the SN (special needs) list. He has "cleft spine", which could be a form of spina bifidia. We will not know for sure what this all means until we get him home. I will say, that earlier this week we received updated pictures, measurements and answers to 10 questions from an organization called Ladybugs N Love and everything sounds good! He is growing appropriately and walking well! He is absolutely adorable (I will post pictures as soon as I am able). On his medical reports, it says that he is an extroverted boy, bright, active and talkative. Apparently he loves music, and loves to play with balls and cars. Oh, it also says that he is sometimes impatient and obstinate...huh, does that sound like anyone else we know (all 3 of our girls fit these descriptions). So, when I read about his personality, I knew that we had found our son. I would be lying if I said that we are not a little concerned about his SN, but we are totally trusting God on this!! We have been researching worst case scenarious, but praying that he will be okay. This adoption has been a lot harder than Danielle's. Paperwork, changes in processes and in the economy have made this a challenge. Please pray for quick travels to China so that we can bring our son home. Also, with the economy the way it is, we are also praying that there will be no changes in employment or income that would make this adoption impossible. We know that God is giving us this boy and we are so grateful! Thank you all for your love, prayers and support!!