Happy 5th Birthday MiMi!!

My friend Reese!

The morning of my 5th b'day! My first party is at school.....

Mt. Paran school party!

My dad loves me BIG

Sisters forever! and Cool presents....

My second cake, first one was cookie cake at school

I am officially 5 years old!

A tea party ....

My friend Analiese, our birthdays are one day apart!

Ashley looks so tall! She's been 5 for awhile... My friend Abby, she is so beautiful in her pink dress

My sweet friend Shay Lu, I may be a little bigger than her!

That's it ...wonder what we will do next year?

Life is moving so fast lately that I've decided not to catch up on what I haven't posted and to just begin with "right now"! MiMi is now officially 5 and Dan is 50 and well, I'm just a few years younger than Dan.... ! haha My days are full and we have been so blessed with everything coming up with First Fridays and Blessed Journey Mentoring program ....stay tuned.

Buried!!

We are still here , but just buried with the girls school, Chinese school, moving the Frist Friday next month and two full weeks of birthday's and anniversary celebrations! I will post pictures soon of Dan's 50th party, lots of fun! So many old friends we haven't seen in a very long time!

CHINA SAYS YES!

We are Logged-in to China as of today which is MiMi's "Gotcha Day"! So now the clock begins to tick ........

MiMi - Gotcha Day and Beyond!

Nanny at hotel on "Gotcha Day"

Our sweet one year old!

I love my life!

Flying my kite!

Cute!

Love the beach....

Looking forward to a First Friday!!

My last day of PreK 3!

Do you think Santa will bring me something wonderful!

I wish I had hours to put some pictures together, but...... well, tonight is MiMi's Gotch Day eve and we always feel this emotional ache as we celebrate her "gotcha day" and think of her birthmom and dad. To be honest we don't make a huge deal about "gotcha day", as her birthday is in a few weeks, but we have certainly had some great talks about this special day, she now has lots of questions and is beginning to ask and need much detail! So, this is good we love to see her begin unfolding these beginning days and months of her life. We want to say a BIG prayer for her birthparents, as this time of the year can be so difficult for them. We hope God will comfort them as only He can do as they wonder and possibly grieve over the loss of this precious angel. We love you all the way to the moon MiMi and are so proud of you. Happy "Gotcha Day"!!

We made it to China! Well, our dossier made it and we hope to be "Logged In" very soon. Of course this is MiMi's "gotcha day" week, so that just makes it more exciting!

More soon, we hope ....Dan's quickly approaching the "50 mark", so we need China to move fast!!

First Day of School

First day of school

Carpool - MiMi and Mrs Vinson (my teacher last year)

So far so good ....we had a great first day and Grace and MiMi both have terrific teachers, know lots of kids, so it's starting to feel like a family! Both of our girls go to Mt. Paran Christian school and we say a prayer every morning before we walk out the door and thank God for this spirit-filled place and the teachers who are so committed to walking with the Lord as they teach "our" children. Grace said wow 1st grade is alot of work, but continues to love bible study and sharing her love for the Lord with her classmates. She recites Isaiah 58:11 on a regular basis "The Lord will guide you always: He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." She has grown so much this past summer, both in size and maturity!

MiMi is in preK4 with a great teacher, MiMi says, "Mrs. Laton can really get things done"! MiMi's favorite thing continues to be crafts and painting or coloring. That girl could definitly head up the "cut and color" club. She knows many of the kids now and really knows her way around the school! Go MiMi!!

We had some tears (only me) on the first day of school. I really enjoy being with my girls, we talk and laugh, and just have such a good time. So now, when I pick them up from school we really have alot to talk about!!

On an adoption note, our dossier should be in China and we are waiting for our LID! The last two weeks we really pushed the paperwork, which I credit CCAI for doing an amazing job, as usual, to get the documents reviewed, translated and then out the door! These guys are good!!

So now we pray for Hope who is waiting, unknowingly, in China for us to come get her. We asked China for a 4 year old, which would make her about two years old right now! I wonder if she can feel our prayers for her? I wonder if they have ladybugs in China? Our prayer is that she be a little light for those who work around her and care for her, for her to touch any missionary teams who come through, and for her to help others to know Christ as she acts just a little different. We believe as we pray for her she can can also plant a seed in some of the lives she touches, we may never know, probably won't, but we do know God will use this little child to plant a seed in someone or many as she waits for us and we wait for her!

We've been on VACATION!

Can we eat this?


Paintin' pottery

Surfing the waves was "the bomb"!

Why not sit on these buckets?

I'm a babe!!

I am so happy!

The" donut hole" near Seaside!

Beach house steps ....

In the past, we were big vacationers, but over the last two years, we have spent less and less time just relaxing. This past week was awesome for all of us and everyone got something out of the trip! Dan and I had great talks, read two books together, Rock Solid Marriage and Five Love Languages, two great books that were so insightful and helpful to continue our journey together and build strength in our marriage. Thank you Tammy N. for being such an amazing sister in Christ and introducing us to these two books, the timing was perfect!

Grace and Mimi each found their own" wow" moments on this trip... Grace continues to grow closer to Jesus as her heart is changing, we are beginning to see God show her himself and the cool part is that she knows it! MiMi is just too cute and as only MiMi can do so well, she discovers all the unique things we wouldn't ever see! The unusual crabs, the rainbow after the storm, the jellyfish that washed up on the beach, the biggest crab claw ever ....

On an adoption note .... we got our I-797 back just before we left and when we came home we had almost all the other documents back from "out there" in paperchase world, so now it's finish up the final few Consulate packs and then get everything to Jaime, hopefully before August 10th! This is our goal and our timeline is really getting close, but we feel confident everything should be to China before the end of August! yea!

School starts in a week and a half! We all feel ready, rested and excited to get the school year started! As MiMi says, let's get this party started!!