Girl Time..

As Jordan had a basketball tourney in Chicago this weekend it gave Gabriella and I a chance to have some girl time:) Daniel also stayed in town and we had a great time with him as well. We took Gabriella out for Chinese, went to see Daniel's new apartment he will be moving to next week and enjoyed an evening sitting out on the deck and watching some of the neighbors fish. Today Gabriella and I went shopping for a couple of things for her wardrobe as well as grocery shopping for Jordan's family birthday party tomorrow...let me tell you this girl LOVES to shop!!

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Last night when I was giving Gabriella her bath I had complimented her on how well she gives herself a bath...she has actually done this since we have had her and though I am proud of her it makes me sad in some ways that she had to be so independent and truly knows how to completely bathe herself at such a young age. I've complimented her many times however last night when I told he she was doing such a good job she looked at me, smiled and then leaped towards me and wrapped her wet little arms around my neck as tight as she could and gave me a BIG kiss with a smile!! Talk about totally melting my heart! She repeated it again and was very cuddly last night!! While I'll never know exactly what has gone on in her little mind over the last few weeks I do know that her actions are beginning to show that she is accepting us as her family and for that we are incredibly thankful!

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We also had another great thing happen last night! As I held my sleeping baby girl in my arms I completed my last class for my MSN degree! I still have a little work to do on my thesis however all of my classes are now officially completed...the thesis should be done within the next month:) When I began my MSN program I knew we would be starting the adoption process. I prayed that our daughter would be home by the time I completed my degree. It was a wonderful moment last night when I could look down into her beautiful little face and know that I was holding the perfect little girl God had already chosen for our family over two years ago.

A Very Special Little Girl...Dani Rain!

Many of you may remember our vacation to Myrtle Beach last summer with some of our dearest friends. During that trip we shared and asked for prayer request for a very special little girl and it was Dani Rain. Curtis had walked by a pool when a man was asking for help for a little girl who was not breathing. At that time Curtis and another gentleman laid Dani Rain down and began to help remove the fluid from her little lungs and then began CPR. Dani Rain was quite a little trooper as she began to come around and started to cough up quite a bit of the water she had taken in. The ambulance took her to the hospital where she spent the night and was monitored. Her family was always very near and dear to our hearts; understandably they decided to return home after being released from the hospital and we continued to pray for them. This week we opened our email and there were pictures of this precious baby girl!! We were thrilled to learn that she is doing remarkable and she is sooooo full of life!!! We're hoping that our paths may cross again next summer at Myrtle Beach and we can spend some time with this precious little one that has always been so near and dear to our hearts:)

Life is Good!!!

It is amazing that when we answers God's calling, perserve through trials and tribulations to complete His calling how he can bless us beyond belief and give us the desires of our heart! I feel so incredibly blessed at this time in my life:) A wonderful and supportive husband. Three incredible and very handsome boys! A beautiful daughter that was sooo worth the wait and a very loving and supportive family:) Life is good and God is great:)

You know you love your children...

You know you love your children dearly when there have been countless days without sunshine..

and when it's the weekend, sunny and in the 80's you spend your entire weekend in a gym.... and you wouldn't change a thing:)

Gabriella even made some new friends!



We were blessed to spend a little bit of time outside in the sunshine and we enjoyed every bit of it:) The great news is Jordan's travel team qualified for the tourney in July and it will be held where there is lots of sunshine and where "the mouse" lives...yep were going to Orlando!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Happy Girl!

I love this picture of Gabriella as it reflects the happy little girl that she has truly become in such a short time with her forever family! I could tell you about how animated she is when she is trying to get her point across or how she squeals with excitement when Daniel walks in the house and she yells "Naniel, Naniel, Naniel" and runs to greet him and he picks her up and gives her hugs and she is grinning form ear to ear. We could tell you how precious it is when she folds her little hands together to say her prayers each evening and how sweet she sounds when she asks God to bless each of her family members, friends and yes the cats and dog as well. At dinner she reaches her little hands out and is trying so hard to learn our family prayer and just smiles and exclaims "Aaaaaaaamen" when we get to the end. Gabriella LOVES to get dressed up and then look at herself in the full length mirror; she smiles from ear to ear and then just starts to giggle! She is totally girly girl and has her routine before leaving which includes having her hair done (Daddy is even learning how to do this:), putting lotion on her arms and legs and when she is getting ready with mommy she needs to have some of mommy's perfume sprayed on her as well; she is just precious as she will pat her little chest and rub the perfume in. I could continue on and tell you how perfectly she fits into our family and how each day we are blessed beyond measure as we get to experience the miracle of adoption each and everyday through this beautiful little girl that God created for our family!

Mother's Day...

We had a VERY special Mother's Day this year as Gabriella was home with our family:) We had Gabriella dedicated at church with many of our family in attendance and it was wonderful! As we knew that Emily was being dedicated at the same time only two states away it made the morning even more special:) We have some pictures however with the lighting they didn't turn out too well...I'll be asking around to see if anyone may have some pictures that we can get copies of and post:) We then went out for a special lunch that was quite yummy, home to spend time with family and our new neighbors next door who don't have any family members who live close by at all. Later that evening we went up to the lake, threw down some blankets and had a picnic at the same place we did last year at Mother's Day just after receiving Gabriella's referral. We then went over to visit Papa, Grandma and Gaga and had a beautiful evening and visit with them to close out a very special Mother's Day:)

17 Years Ago Today...

Seventeen years ago today Jordan made his arrival into the world...it was exactly 8:00 a.m. and as we were watching Sports Center he was born to the music that begins the show...we should have known then that he was going to be our little athlete! Jordan's two passions in life are God and basketball ~ we love it that he puts 110% effort into everything he does and couldn't be more proud of him! We know God has an incredible plan for his life and we feel very blessed that God chose us to help lead and direct him:)

A year ago today we had given Jordan his gifts for his birthday and we then went out to eat...we told him he could open his last gift at the restaurant yet he did have to share it with all of his family. We had accepted Gabriella's referral earlier that day... he opened a picture frame that said 3 Brothers and a Little Sister and saw a picture of his little sister. Tears filled his eyes and he said "It's really happening, I AM going to have a little sister". This year she is here to celebrate his birthday with us and for that we are all very thankful!!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today, an ordinary day became an extrodinary day!

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Years of prayers were answered when we saw this precious little girl.





A couple of states away this families prayers were answered on the very same day!

This is Emily's referal picture ~ what a beautiful little girl! If you look at the girls referral pictures you can see they were taken on the same date and just a couple of minutes apart!




Many prayers were said by several family members asking God to keep our girls safe until we could bring them home.




Gabriella and Emily's lives began together in China. Their foster parents loved and cared for them very much and for that we will always be thankful! The girls were "Mei Mei's" from the begining...



and we are ever so thankful that God has allowed our families to grow through Emily and Gabriella! They will continue to have each other as sisters for the rest of their lives...even 8000 miles away from where their life first began:)

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One year ago today two families in the Midwest and two little girls being raised as sisters in a small China town, lives changed forever! It was one year ago today that our family received the call and first saw Gabriella's sweet little picture. I will never forget the feelings of excitement, wonder, a million questions and looking at her sweet little face hundreds of times on my blackberry:)

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The very same day Robert and Mary who live just two states away and were using an adoption agency several states away from our agency, had their very first look at the picture of their beautiful baby girl Emily. At the time our families did not have the pleasure of knowing each other, however God made sure that we would meet through divine intervention later that summer:)

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Both of our families could not have asked for a better Mothers Day gift in 2009! This year on Mother's Day, without each of us discussing it, both of our families wanted to give our thanks to God and asked that our girls be dedicated at church; imagine my surprise when I not only found out that Emily was being dedicated the same day as Gabriella but that both of the girls will be dedicated, two states away from each other at 11:00 am.

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God has given us such a precious gift with our daughters and we want dedicate our lives to raising them to follow Him and help guide them down the path that they can be everything God has planned for their lives to be.

Grammie's Birthday!

We spent Saturday evening at Cr*cker Barrel celebrating Grammies birthday. The food was wonderful and the fellowship was very nice as well:) We won't tell you how old Grammie is as she has been checking the blog regularly however I will say we had a very nice time. As Gabriella LOVES sweet tea I chose not to crop the iced tea out of the picture as it's one of her favorite beverages...gotta love my southern China girl!

Girl Time....we're lovin it!

Gabriella and I have been blessed to spend some "girl time" with Emme and her mom Beth the last couple of weeks:) Emme came home from China a year ago in January and the girls are three weeks apart in age. Both the girls have older brothers that keep us all busy with sporting events so having girl time is very special:) We have had picnic lunches at the local parks and have had a great time:) During our picnic last week Gabriella was a little on the grumpy side to begin with however Emme was very patient with her and in time she came around and the girls ended up playing for over three hours:) I have to also say it's been a true blessing to have some girl time with Beth as well...slowly but surely central IN may be starting to feel a little more like home:)