Wow! How time flies!

We are celebrating Anna's gotcha day. I can't believe a year has passed. We celebrated Sunday by eating Chinese food and cake and ice cream. As we look back over this past year, we see how faithful God has been to transition our family of five. Anna has changed so much in such a short time. What we are learning about her personality- It is big and she is usually joyful.
Here's a few things she loves to do:
- dance and sing
- play dress up
- take care of her babies
- eat most anything
- going to preschool and staying for lunch with her friends
- loves her brothers
- is becoming more of a daddy's girl ( she know how to work it) haha
- love shoes and purses

Well she's a girly girl with lots of personality and a sense of humor a blessing to us.
We are so privileged to called to be parents to two sweet boys and one precious girl. We thank the Lord daily for each one. We can't wait to see how much Anna grows and changes over the next year.

Anna4

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Three China Girls

This past Friday night, we welcomed home our sweet friends and their new baby girl Lane from China. Here we are- three mommas with our sweet girls! We are so happy the Rapers are home and now trying to recover from jet lag. I followed their journey while they were in china. Oh what sweet memories!  I can't wait for. Our girls to become sweet BFF's. 

Re-adoption Day

Ok, we have had a busy,eventful week. On Thursday we met in front of this sweet judge to readopt Anna. This helps with getting a US birth certificate. Which will make life easier in the future for school and such. This precious lady was so sweet and wanted to take pictures afterwards. She said adoptions made her job enjoyable. Thank you to our sweet friend - Craig Robertson who was our lawyer to help us walk through all the steps of making this official.
Craig started 200 million flowers an adoption agency to help others with adoption. Check them out- www.200millionflowers.org. Thank you Craig!!!!

Sweet Day!

Sunday we dedicated Anna to the Lord!
Our church had a ceremony that was so precious. Jeff our campus pastor has prayed over and dedicated 2 of our children. All three have been dedicated in the same church just different buildings. We stood down front and as Jeff prayed for us, tears streamed down my face. We are so blessed to be parents to all 3 of our precious children. We pray daily that God will guide us and help us to be Godly parents.

Lil Slugger

Ethan is also playing baseball. He loves it! He's a great hitter and catcher. Coach has him playing first base. Wow. He had his first game last Saturday. He was the only player that didn't hit off the T. We love that our boys are having fun playing baseball way to go Ethan!!
What a cutie!! Love this age.

Our Slugger

We have been very busy with baseball season. Matthew has had a great time playing this year. He is really into the game. He's playing third base and loves it. He even caught a line drive in a game and got one of friends boy out. We are proud of him for doing his best in the game. We only have a few more games. :( I LOVE baseball, it's my favorite sport. I could sit and watch the Braves daily.

Two months home!

Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 months home. Actually today is ten weeks since gotcha day. That day was full of emotions- anxiety, nervousness, joy!! So neat to reflect back and see how much Anna has grown and changed with our family. This week we have had a few milestones- Anna has slept through the night for four nights in a row- what a blessing. She has woken up every night since we got her at least once crying out for me. So happy she is finally getting more peaceful sleep and feeling more comfortable in her home. She has a BFF - Claire our neighbors 2 yr old. They love each other, she had a play date at her house without mom or dad. So happy she has a good friend to play with. We started officially potty training last week. She has done amazingly well. She gets rewarded with jelly beans. Let me say she goes a lot. I think it's just for the candy. So proud of her. We have been very busy with baseball for the boys among lots of end of the school activities. I have a lot of pictures to post. Will do that soon. Keep praying for Anna and our family. It has started to feel like the new normal. A lot less chaotic, a lot less melt downs - from all the kids and mom.

Easter pictures

Be warned this is long-

Ok, I meant to post 1 month from Gotcha day and Easter so I will tell you all about it now. Last week we went to the International adoption clinic in Birmingham. Anna saw a team of physicians. she got a great report- developmentally she is right on target for her age.
She is a little under weight but had gained a pound since we got her. We learned more about her bonding and attachment.
She is very friendly to strangers, our friends and our neighbors, which we didn't realize was a bad thing. We are trying to
teach her she needs to depend on Mom and Dad, to trust us and not seek out others. (you wouldn't want your little one to
be overly friendly to a stranger and neither do we). She does need ear tubes and we plan to have that done here at home.
Overall we were pleased with her evaluation. She is very attached to mama and is learning more about dada. She loves to play with
Mike and the boys. She is really picking up our language- she can say mama, dada, more, water- comes out wa, up, down, Matt
Efan (Ethan) Mimi, Grammy, papa, no no, yes, milk, anna, nitenite, bye bye, ut oh, scram cat. She even repeated have a good day yesterday.
Wow!
The boys are having fun playing and teaching her new things and even teasing her!! Oh how that drives me crazy. Brotherly love.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. My sister in law and nephew came to see us a few days before Easter. We enjoyed our visit!
Easter day we had family here for an egg hunt and a nice meal. Great day! Praise the Lord. He is Risen. Thank you Jesus. I am reminded every day - it was hard for Jesus to be obedient to His calling- to die for our sins even though he was blameless. When I start thinking something is too hard for me to do, get through. I just think of the cross. Thankful Jesus didn't think it was too hard.

I want to again thank all our friends and family for continuing to pray for our family as we are grafted and bonded together. God is kniting our family together day by day. Some days are easier than others, lots of laughs, smiles and new adventures for us, but we also have some tears, anger and frustration from learning about each other. I am learning to talk more to my kids and explain why things happen. Like why Anna cries when she thinks we are going to take something from her. It's funny she will whimper right before she cries and the boys say here she goes!! They know when she is about to cry over something. Sometimes it's just lack of understanding and our language.
Oh how I love all the kiddos! I will post a picture from Easter. I'll say its not the best but best I could get.

A Busy Week

Anna had a busy week of meeting lots of friends and family. On Wednesday, we made our first trip to Target for a few necessities then drove through chickfila for nuggets and fries. Girl loves the nuggets. We then had lunch with Matthews class and spent a few minutes talking with the class about our trip. She was curious about all the little kids at school. She even met the principle and librarian. They all just loved her.
On Thursday we made our first trip to Walley World. She did great! She just rides and talks to me.
Over the weekend, Anna met and played with all the neighbors kids. We have lots of kids ranging from age 2-10 in the homes next to us. There's 12 kids to 5 houses. The adults are out numbered! We all meet up in the front yards and watch the kids ride bikes and play. Anna fit right in with all the kiddos. Sophia, who is 3 even gave Anna her old radio flyer tricycle. How sweet!
Saturday was just as busy. Anna and I went to my friend Gingers house for a mentoring meeting. Anna had lots of fun playing with all the ladies and eating brunch. After a nap I took her to buy her first pair of sandals. Oh, she picked out a bright pink pair! She's definitely a girly girl
Sunday we all went to church. It was a bittersweet day at church. It was our last day to meet at RHS, we are moving to our new location next Sunday. I was so happy to go and worship there one last time. Lots of memories in that building. Ethan had his baby dedication there and Matthew was baptized there and now it was Anna's first worship service with us. AHhhh.
After church we met our precious friends, ( mike and I feel like they are our mentors) Bill and Becky for lunch to share about our travels and for them to meet Anna. We are so blessed!!!
Like I said we had a busy week and I know I left out lots of details and others she met on the way.
I think we are all finally over jet lag and are starting to get into a new routine that works for all of us.

Sweet Sisters in Christ

Last Tuesday morning, I took Ethan to school and introduced Anna to his class. He was so excited for everyone to meet her. Once we were done I decided to go upstairs to MOMs in Christ and visit all the sweet ladies that have walked this journey with me. Oh how sweet my precious friends in Christ have been to me. Before we left for China, Pam (my small group leader) called and told me they were making a prayer blanket for Anna and our family and would be praying over it while we were on our trip. Y'all this is the most special gift I've every gotten. Well, I surprised the ladies with Anna and of course they all just loved on her. She ate her first chickin biscuit from Chick-fila while we were there visiting. These sweet friends presented us with her blanket and a generous love offering to buy some things for Anna. My heart is so overwhelmed at how God has blessed me with such sweet friends that have prayed for me, cried with me and now rejoiced with me. I can not tell each one of them enough how thankful I am for each one of them. I can't wait until I am able to join you guys on a regular basis again. Oh how I've missed you all.

2 weeks with us

I can't believe we have only had Anna 2 weeks. She fit right into our family. Since we have been home she's met the cat- Max. We were worried about this because while we were in china she saw a small cat and screamed like crazy. She has actually been petting the cat cautiously. She's played with our neighbors kids, rode on a scooter and took a ride in her car seat.
She's exploring a little bit in the house trying to figure out what she can and can't play with and where the snacks are kept. Ha! I think she's a goat! Haha. Eats just like the boys do.
I am trying to transition her to her crib, tonight was the first time she slept in it more than 3 hours. Ethan showed her yesterday that her crib was okay by getting in it and laying down and holding my hand through the slats. That's what she did last night to go to sleep held my hand. So sweet.
I guess the honeymoon phase for the boys is pretty much over they have begun to treat her like they treat each other with a bit of brotherly harassment. She gives it right back to them. It's funny. They love her so much.
We are so happy to be a family of 5. There have been some tough times with the adjustment but we are just praising the Lord for all his provisions and pressing forward.
Keep praying for all of us to get well from our colds/ respiratory gunk. It makes a grouchy birdsong house.

Pictures

The Princess

We're Home

What a sweet welcome home gathering at the airport. I was overwhelmed with tears to see our family and sweet friends. I can't say it enough. We are SO happy to be home the last 24 hours were long and seemed like forever. Anna did awesome on all the flights especially the 14 hour flight from Hong Kong. The boys are extremely tired from all the travels and busyness. Matthew and Mike are coming down with colds but at least it's on the way home and not the entire trip. Ethan woke up this morning with fever and a sore throat. I think we are all run down. I can't believe the boys and I are actually awake at 7:30 am. I thought they would sleep really late, guess we will all take a nap today.
Anna had a hard night, this baby girl has just endured 3 flights, a car seat ride and a new environment to sleep and live in. She was fussy crying on and off through the night. Fortunately, Mike and Anna are still asleep. Can I say, AHhhh my bed never felt better. Thank you mom for nice clean sheets and a frig with food inside. Thank you Aunt Susan for the LSU blankets and notes to the boys, they love them!
Thank you sweet friends for all the prayers words of encouragement, sweet gifts at the airport, but most of all your friendships and blessing of prayers you poured out on our family while we were gone. Your prayers were felt and carried us through the last 2 weeks. We still need prayers as we recuperate from all the travel and sickness and for Anna as she transitions to her new home.
We are praising the Lord for all the great things he has done and is doing for us! We want to bring HIM glory and praise!

I promise to post more pictures once I download them.
The boys ate yogurt and goldfish for breakfast. Ha! I guess that's better than bacon and donuts they ate the last 2 weeks. So, glad to drink water from the tap. So grateful for all the blessing God has poured out on us.
Love you all! Can't wait for many of you to meet our girl!

Zoo pictures

Two monkeys!

Homecoming

We would love to see you guys at the airport on Thursday night. We are on delta flight 731. Arrives Jackson 7:58pm. If we get delayed I will try to post again to the blog.
Thank you all for all the prayers. Pray for safe travels!
Love to all

Sent from my

Zoo pictures

Two monkeys!

Consulate appointment

Yay! We are done with all the paperwork! Our appointment went as planned we will have Anna's visa tomorrow afternoon and head to Hong Kong around 4pm. We will spend one night in Hong Kong then board our long flight home at 930am Thursday (Wednesday night for you guys). When we land in Detroit, Anna will officially be a US citizen.
Pray for us all and the long flight. She is VERY busy and doesn't sit still much. It should be interesting. Pray we all get some sleep on the plane. We are anxious to get home and mike and I are getting tired!!! Pray for patience with all the kids and safe travels. We praise the Lord for all he has done for us while we have been here. We have all been safe, well and had a wonderful time. The Lord has connected our family in such a special way over the last 9 days. We are now
Family of 5!!
Love to all

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