Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! The girls are so excited to celebrate Christmas. Emma loves a good birthday party, so Jesus should be excited for His special day. She has Happy Birthday, Jesus! cups that she brought home to share with Darya and Jesse. I imagine we'll also have cake or pie for Jesus. She isn't too keen on Santa. She refused to sit on his lap, so mommy got to hold her in the picture. She hasn't really tried to get into the gifts. I have caught Darya shaking a few boxes. She also caught a peek at something in the garage. I told her that she better act surprised! We'll be home for the holidays. We're looking forward to getting a little rest and playing lots of Wii! We hope your family has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Fall 2008

We've been having fun this fall at our house. The girls had fun on Halloween. Emma wasn't too sure about wearing the costume, but she sure loved the candy! We are having Indian Summer weather this week. The girls have enjoyed being outside playing in the leaves. We are getting ready to go to Denver for Thanksgiving to visit with my brother, Timmy, and his wife, Katy. We are looking forward to seeing their new home. During this time of giving thanks, we want to praise God for all of the blessings in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!

We LOVE Summer!

We can't believe that it is actually summer. We have been busy since school let out for summer break. We left to go see my Granny in Michigan on May 23. We had a nice visit over Memorial Day weekend. She seemed to be in good spirits. She did just get over a spell with pneumonia. Cheri says that she seems to be getting better because she is asking for her beer! We left for a vacation in Tennessee on June 7. We visited the Longaberger and Hickman families and went to the Zoo in Nashville. We spent a quiet evening in Knoxville before heading to Gatlinburg. We spent 5 days with several of the families from our China Travel Group. We had a great time watching the girls play with each other. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium, Dollywood, and Cade's Cove. We really enjoyed our time with our extended family. We're looking forward to another great week next June at Lake Tahoe! Darya was sick last week with a sinus infection. She spent a lot of time resting on the couch with her cats. We left early this morning for Preschool Summer Program and Girl Scout Camp. This is the first week of my Preschool Summer Program so Emma and I spent our day at the church. Darya began her third year at Camp Rocky Ledges in Milton. She really enjoys going to this camp each summer. I'll be spending Tuesday and Thursday with her. She said that I picked some great days because we get to cook our lunch and go in the canoes on Tuesday. We are also starting the digging for our garage on Satuday. It will be so nice to have all of the junk out of the other garage and attic! I'll try to upload some recent pictures within the next few days. The girls seem to grow more and more each day!

Does time really fly?!

It has been too long since my last post. Our days just seem to get busier and busier each week. I guess we must be having too much time because time really does go by too quick for us. This is my last week of school for the 2007-08 school year. I will have to work 3 weeks this summer because we are launching a new Preschool Summer Program. Emma started going to my school on May 2. It is really nice having her in the same building. I do try to avoid having her see me during the day because she thinks she can come back to my office to play rather than staying with her class. Darya has just completed her WESTEST. This is a standardized performance test for student in West Virginia. It begins in the third grade. She was actually excited to take the tests. She told me yesterday that she would miss those few hours of testing each day. LOL! Curtis has been busy with work and keeping up with the yardwork. He has had several fun experiences mowing the lawn. He has encountered poison ivy, snakes, and a tumble with the 4-wheeler! I am posting some pictures from Easter, Carolina Beach, Emma's Birthday, Stonewall Jackson Lake, and Circus.

Winter Days

Happy Chinese New Year! February 7 marked the start of the Year of the Rat.

Darya, Emma, Lauren, Hannah

Emma playing with her Chinese New Year balloon

Klaire listening to a story with her mommy

Maya admiring the Chinese dragon

We celebrated Chinese New Year on February 9 with our local Chinese adoption group. We had fun seeing all of the children dressed in their traditional Chinese clothing and eating lots of yummy Chinese food. It wasn't quite the same as being in China for Chinese New Year. I miss seeing the orange trees in the hotels and restaurants as well as being surrounded by the Chinese culture.

We also had our last post-placement adoption visit last week. It is so hard to believe that we were busy packing our bags this time last year. It has been a fun year adjusting to having another child in our home. Emma truly is a perfect fit for our family. She adds lots of excitement to our lives. She has really grown into her own personality. She is going to be our strong-willed child. Emma's way or else.....

We are growning tired of this cold, snowy weather. We can't wait to play outside. I think we are all having a little cabin fever. Hopefully, it won't be too long until we can run around in the yard. We hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day. We are anxious to get ready to get our Easter dresses and pictures with the Easter Bunny. It's hard to think about hiding eggs when all you can see is a blanket of snow on your grass!!

We're looking forward to seeing the Kinders and McFees tomorrow evening for Mexican food and a Disney On Ice showing of Finding Nemo.

Referral Anniversary

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary of seeing Emma's picture for the first time on January 4. She has grown so much since we first received this picture. She is such a beautiful child. She is so full of life. We thank God each day for sending this special baby to our family.

Moving, Christmas, Snow Days, Best Wishes for 2008

The past month has been a speedy blur. We closed on our old and new house on December 7. We began moving into our new house on December 13. We finally have everything from both houses either in storage or at our new house. We still have LOTS of boxes to unpack, but we are finally done packing and moving so much stuff!

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. Curt and I celebrated 12 years of marital bliss on December 23. We went to the mall to finish our shopping and had a slice of pizza for dinner. LOL. My brother, Tim, and his wife, Katy, came home from Colorado for a visit. We really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with both of them. The time just went too quickly! We were once again blessed with a wonderful Christmas. It was such a delight to watch the girls open thier gifts. Christmas brings magic alive in a child's eyes.

We got two extra days of vacation due to a big snow. The girls spent some time outside playing in the snow. Emma wasn't really sure what to expect when she went down the hill with me on the sled. She didn't like the snow blowing back in her face. Darya had a great time especially when Curt brought home a new sleek sled. We had a couple of near death experiences zooming down the big hill!

We hope everyone has a blessed new year in 2008. While we never know what will happen at any moment, we trust in God's grace. We thank Him for His abundant love. Happy New Year!