Cole, Alex, & Anna Grace

Monday, May 31, 2010

Home Sweet Home!

We made it home late Saturday night. Once we made it to Hong Kong, we did not have any delays or difficulties. The airport in Guangzhou was a different story though. The flight from Hong Kong to Guangzhou was only about 45 minutes, but going through all of the security checkpoints and immigration was really exhausting. Then after our flight was delayed, we did not make it to the Hong Kong hotel until 1:00 a.m. for us to get a few hours of sleep and then head back to the airport for our early morning flight. Anna Grace did great throughout all of the flights. None of us slept very much on the plane, but she was very good considering the number of hours we traveled. The best sight of all was when we found our family waiting for us after security in Atlanta. It was so great to finally be able to give Cole & Alex a hug! Mike's dad had a van with a driver ready to take us all home. It was Anna Grace's first time riding in a car seat, so she fussed a lot on the way home. When we got home several of our neighbors came over to meet Anna Grace. Our mailbox had a pink ribbon and the boys and Elizabeth had made signs to welcome us home. Anna Grace was excited to see all of her toys and explore her room before we finally put her to bed.
Adjusting to the time zone has been hard (I am typing this at 4:00 a.m.), and Mike is sick. We think he has a sinus infection that has gone to his chest. He spent most of yesterday in bed. I really hope he is feeling better when he wakes up this morning. Anna Grace has been pretty sleepy, but I am trying to keep her on a schedule. We are having a hard time because she does not like her crib, and I don't want to put her in our bed while Mike is sick. She and I slept in her twin bed in her room for most of the night, but she moves around a lot in her sleep and wakes me up a lot. My mom stayed most of the day yesterday to help out with some of the cooking. If Mike is still sick when he wakes up this morning, it is going to be a hard day keeping everyone happy while my head is feeling foggy from jet-lag and lack of sleep. Mike has to go back to work tomorrow, so he really needs to get well.

Cole and Alex have been great with Anna Grace. Cole has not been quite as hands-on as Alex, but he is enjoying watching her. He is happy she is not a tiny baby and can play with toys and talk. Alex has really enjoyed playing with Anna Grace. I think he is happy to finally be a big brother. They helped my mom plan a little birthday party with a ladybug cake and presents. They kept it simple so that Anna Grace did not get overwhelmed. Alex spent part of his birthday money buying Anna Grace some blocks and a boat for the bathtub.

I promise to post pictures as soon as I finish going through all of the luggage that is strewn through the dining room. I have to find the cord for the camera. I will also post an update after Anna Grace's cardiology appointment tomorrow morning. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us to have safe travels home.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Last Post From Guangzhou

We are finally getting ready to leave tomorrow evening! We have really enjoyed our time here in Guangzhou, but we are more than ready to get home to see our boys. The last 2 days have been fairly slow paced but productive. Yesterday, Anna Grace finally decided that the pool was not going to hurt her, and she cautiously played in the water for about an hour. When we came back to the room she actually got into the bathtub without screaming. She was eager to take a bath again this evening. That is a lot of progress from the screaming baby that we had a few days ago!

We had our consulate appointment today. We had to take a bus to the consulate office about 40 minutes away. The room was filled with 40 kids and families all getting ready to travel to the United States. It was really noisy and we had to listen closely to hear them call Anna Grace's Chinese name over a speaker to finalize our paperwork. Then all the families had to take an oath. Once Anna Grace lands on U.S. soil, she will officially become a U.S. citizen.

I am teary eyed as I type this message tonight. This has been such a long road for us, and we are finally ready to go home with our little girl. We have waited so long for this precious child. I already can not imagine life without her. God has chosen such a perfect child for our family. She is so loving, sweet, outgoing, and sassy all at the same time. She does have some minor delays that we will work on, but she is so smart and quick to learn. Tonight as I was tucking her into bed, I was singing "Jesus Loves Me," and she was doing the motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" while I sang! Then she started a round of "Jesus Loves Me" in her own little baby babble. Sometimes she will spend an hour or more babbling what we think is a mixture of Chinese and baby babble. She is going to fit right in with Alex's love to talk! We feel so blessed to have Anna Grace a part of our family.

Since I don't know if I will get to post again once we make it to Hong Kong, I want to be sure to thank all of the people who have supported us. My mom has been amazing in her willingness to sacrific her vacation time to take care of Cole & Alex. Kevin & Elizabeth have also been so giving in their time babysitting (and getting teeth repaired!). Ronnie & Dena are keeping the boys for us tonight and have been so great about the time that Mike has taken off of work. We are also so thankful for everyone that has helped out behind the scenes and for those who have prayed for us. We hope that everyone will continue to pray for us as we travel home and then try to adjust to the time zone and life with another child in the house. I will try to post in the next few days and add some more pictures.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Monday & Tuesday in Guangzhou

We have not had any appointments or planned trips during the last two days, so we have just been hanging out with friends and spending time walking on the streets. We are staying on a small island surrounded by the Pearl River. The entire island is under construction right now, but the gardens are still kept up and the buildings here have a European look to them. Yesterday we ventured off the island with another family to find the market where they sell all sorts of things used for medicine. After we crossed over the bridge, the streets were lined with small shops selling huge mounds of dried mushrooms and roots, piles of starfish, stacks of dried lizards and snakes, and tons of things that we could not identify. There were several roads and a huge building all selling the same types of dried creatures and plants.

Today as we were passing the park, we noticed that at least a hundred people young and old had gathered together to play a game that is kind of like hackysack. They were gathered together in small groups kicking back and forth these weights with feathers attached. As we were watching, a man came up and kicked one to Mike. Soon there were several other people gathered around and Mike was playing the game! He said that it was a very good workout, and the people playing all seemed to be in very good shape.

Anna Grace made some progress today at the pool. She has been screaming every time we get near the water, but today I brought mini M & M's. She finally let me get close to the pool while she whimpered and ate her chocolate. Finally, after a while she stopped whimpering and let me get close enough to put her feet in (for some more M & M's of course). Before we left the pool, she was happily splashing her feet in the water. Maybe we will be able to get into the pool soon.

We have been enjoying eating at Lucy's each evening with our travel group. The restaurant serves a mix of American and Chinese food, they play American music, and you can eat outside in an area connected with the park. Tonight Anna Grace had a great time eating noodles with one of the older children in our group. She is 8 years old, and she really adores Anna Grace. Anna Grace was so cute copying her as she slurped up her noodles. The rest of our travel group was laughing tonight about how much Anna Grace's personality is coming out. We have decided that it is a good thing that she does not speak English, because she would be in big trouble if we knew what she was saying. The way she points her finger at you and narrows her eyes as she babbles lets you know that she means business! We really are working on manners and we have already had quite a few time-outs from her little attitude. Our travel group says that we better hold on because she is going to give us a run for our money!!

We just have 3 more days left before we can come home. We are really looking forward to hugs from our boys, sweet tea with ice, and a soft bed!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

2010-05-23

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Saturday & Sunday in Guangzhou

We finally had a day of good weather today in Guangzhou. We went to the pool (although Anna Grace screams if she gets too close to the water) and had supper in the park with some of the families in our travel group. Anna Grace also enjoyed her first Happy Meal today from McDonalds. She acted as if she had been eating chicken nuggets and French fries her whole life and refused to eat the corn that came with her meal!

Yesterday was filled with paperwork, a trip back to the medical exam office, and a traditional Chinese supper with our entire travel group. Anna Grace had to go back to the medical exam office to have her tuberculosis test read, and thankfully it came back negative. Then, our guide took us to a yummy Chinese restaurant and ordered traditional food for us. He promised to keep the food "tame" and he did. Although, the entrance to the restaurant had big tubs and pools where you could select what you wanted to bring into the restaurant (still living) and have killed and cooked right in front of you. You could chose from a variety of fish, turtles & silk worms! Thank goodness our guide knows American tastes and did not order any of those things for us!

We will be here until Friday evening (Friday morning your time) and then we will fly to Hong Kong. We will leave early in the morning on Saturday to come back home. Until then, we will just hang out here in Guangzhou and hope that the weather is nice enough to go out for a while each day. We have our consulate appointment this week and we have to wait for Anna Grace's visa to be able to come home. Anna Grace has been enjoying the playroom here in the hotel and she also enjoys walking around looking at the fish in all of the ponds and birds in the hotel lobby areas.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Guangzhou Day 3

We took a tour of the city yesterday that included a Buddhist temple, an art museum, and a little shopping. The Buddhist temple was extremely busy and crowded. Our guide said that it was not normally so busy, but people were coming to celebrate a Buddha's birthday. People were bringing gifts of money, apples and drinks. There was one area that had a bunch of live animals for the Buddha- including fish, eels, turtles, snakes, and even baby chickens. We were told that these animals would be blessed and then released into the Pearl River and surrounding areas. While we were there one of the eels decided that it was ready to be released, and it flung itself out of the bucket and started slithering all over the ground! And of course, everyone there was staring, pointing, and trying to crowd around all of Americans with Chinese babies! The temple was quite an experience!!

The store that our guide took us to had a lot of beautiful artwork, jade, porcelain, and silk. We did not buy much since the prices seemed really high, but we did buy some paintings for our bathroom. There was a man doing what he called "finger painting" with black ink on white paper. He was creating very intricate, detailed pictures with his fingers, knuckles, and palms of his hands. We bought 3 of his paintings for about $45.

Anna Grace continues to bond more and more with Mike and me. One of the shop keepers tried to hold her yesterday, and Anna Grace looked at her and said, "Boo Ya" (sp??) with a very serious look on her face and her eyebrows furrowed together. That means "don't want to." The shop keeper said, "Did you know she speaks Chinese?" I thought that was so funny because of course she speaks Chinese! Anna Grace had a full conversation with the lady, and I have no idea what she said. The shop keeper said that Anna Grace is very smart, but maybe she was just trying to get us to buy more from her. At any rate, I was very pleased that Anna Grace did not want to be held by this stranger, and she wanted to stay in my arms. While we were there, Anna Grace picked out yet another pair of shoes. She now has 5 pairs of new shoes! Most of them are squeeky shoes, so wherever she walks she goes "squeek, squeek, squeek!"

Today I have to complete a bunch of paperwork in our guide's room, and then tonight we are supposed to eat at traditional Chinese restaurant with our group. It is supposed to rain- again. The climate here is very tropical and this is the rainy season. Our hotel room is on the 17th floor (out of 49 floors!) and all we can see is fog this morning. Hopefully it will dry out enough for us to talk another walk in the park this afternoon.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Medical Exam

We have joined up with another CCAI travel group already here in Guangzhou. I think there are now 9 families in our group including our little group of special needs 2 year olds and a bunch of non-special needs babies. We all walked to the medical exam office yesterday. The doctor took a long time going through Anna Grace's records from her orphanage and looking her over. He said her heart sounds really good and he did not even hear a murmer. We have an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist when we get home to get further testing, but we feel relieved that her heart sounds ok so far. The doctor also said he thinks she was labled as delayed development because she is tiny. Anna Grace also had to get a tuberculosis test on her arm. We will have to go back to have it read in a few days.

Today we are going on a city tour with our new guide. We will visit the Six Banyan's Buddhist Temple, go to an art museum, and visit some local craft stores.

We are finally able to Skype with the boys again. Somehow we lost our electrical converter in our packing to come here, and it took a while to get the hotel to understand what we needed to borrow. I will try to send some more pictures for Courtney to post for us soon.

Guangzhou

We finally made it to our hotel at midnight last night! Our flight was delayed and we were stuck on the plane for several hours. Anna Grace did great though. She fell asleep as we were going towards the runway and then slept the entire flight, through the airport, and all the way to the hotel. She did not wake up until this morning. This girl can sleep!! Right now she is napping before we go for our medical exam.

Our hotel is very nice. There are tons of adoptive families here in the hotel and there are lots of shops close by. The hotel even gave us a Barbie doll called the "Going Home Barbie" with an American mommy and a Chinese baby. The streets here are not nearly as busy as in Zhengzhou. We feel much safer walking down the streets by our hotel and looking in the little shops. We already bought Anna Grace a little bracelet, a Chinese baby doll, and a pair of squeeky shoes this morning.

On the home front, Cole broke a piece of his tooth off at Alex's end of season soccer party, and Uncle Kevin had to take him to get a crown yesterday! I feel bad that we were not there for him, but Kevin did a great job. Of course we now have a dentist bill sitting on the kitchen counter at home. We had hoped to replace our broken camera here in Guangzhou where prices are a lot cheaper, but now that might not happen. Still, we are so thankful that we have such great family members looking afer our boys while we are away.

I have to go pack up our papers for our medical appointment. I will post again soon!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Anna Grace's Birthday

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Leaving Zhengzhou

Today we are traveling to Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a city close to Hong Kong where all American adoptive families must go before we can come back to the U.S. We are excited to be moving on to the next stage of our trip, but we are worried about how Anna Grace will do on the airplane, and we are sad for her that we are leaving her birthplace. We have taken lots of pictures for her so that we can create a special photo album when we get home. Still, we are looking forward to Guangzhou where there is a better selection of places to eat and more for us to do. Please pray for us to have safe travels this evening (morning your time).

Monday, May 17, 2010

Happy Belated Birthday, Anna Grace!

We were so excited when our agency gave us our travel dates because we were going to have our "gotcha day" on Anna Grace's birthday. But then we lost our luggage and Anna Grace was grieving so much for her foster mother that we decided to wait to celebrate her birthday. Yesterday she was finally ready to celebrate. At breakfast we ordered a chocolate cake from the hotel for her and our guides arranged for a special candle that is like a flower. When you light each petal it will spin around and play a happy birthday tune followed by a little explosion of flames (we were very startled by the explosion in our hotel room!). While we waited for our cake we wrote invitations to the party on hotel stationary and Anna Grace helped to deliver them to the other 2 families in our travel group. We went to Walmart to look for party plates and napkins, but no one seemed to understand what we were looking for. Then we walked to the park with one of the other families in our travel group. We were quite the spectacle for all of the Chinese people there if you can picture 2 sets of white parents and 4 Chinese children (the other family brought their older 2 adopted Chinese girls and they came to get their little boy). Still, we walked around the lake and then rode the merry-go-round. Anna Grace thought it was so funny that she could see Mommy each time her horse went around the circle. Finally it was time for the party. The 2 other families and our guide all piled into our hotel room. One of the other families brought bubbles and the older girls took turns blowing them for the little kids. Anna Grace really enjoyed everyone singing to her. She laughed her deep belly laugh and clapped her hands over and over. The older girls made her cards and gave her stickers for her birthday. The family with the other little girl Anna Grace's age gave her a toy cell phone, which was a great hit. They even wrapped the gift using the back of hotel stationary and a found glue stick. We finally ended our day with a yummy supper at the noddle restaurant next door.
Anna Grace still prefers her daddy over me, but she does give me hugs and kisses and likes for me to hold her and carry her. We started a little game where Mike will give her something when I am across the room and say "Bring this to Mommy," and she will carry it to me. She is picking up English really fast. Yesterday Mike was snapping his fingers at her trying to get her attention and she turned to him, flicked her little fingers, and made a little snapping sound with her mouth trying to snap also! Each day she finds a new way to make us laugh. I will email birthday pictures to Courtney so that you can see her in her birthday outfit that my mom gave her.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Just hanging out in Zhengzhou

Anna Grace's little personality is coming out more and more each day. She loves to laugh and play little games with us. You know she is done eating when she reaches for a napkin, wipes her mouth, and then blows her nose. She uses the potty just like a big girl and rarely has a wet diaper- even if it has been several hours since she has been to the potty. Even though she is almost potty trained, she is still on a bottle and takes a pacifier- which is fine with us. She loves to be cuddled while she takes her bottle and when she is falling asleep. She is still a baby in many ways.
Anna Grace has the cutest little facial expressions. She will wrinkle her forehead when she is trying to concentrate and make a grimace when she can't open her snack. She has a sparkle in her eyes when she is laughing her deep belly laugh, and she narrows her eyes at you and puckers her mouth when she is saying "no!" (She says no in Chinese of course). She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger already!
Anna Grace's province does not have much to do for tourists, so we have been hanging out at the hotel alot. We did go to a museum yesterday though. Anna Grace fell asleep in the taxi on the way there and slept through most of the exhibits. That is, she slept in my arms until I sat down to rest on a bench and became surrounded by curious Chinese families who wanted to try to find out why an American was sitting there holding a sleeping Chinese baby! Before I knew it, I was surrounded by at least 15 people all pointing and talking loudly. Our guide tells us that the Chinese people are happy for the children who get adopted and are given a better life than the orphanage can give.
Last night we went to the little Italian restaurant in our hotel. We ate there several nights ago and it was very small and quiet. This time we went with another family in our travel group. As we were ordering our meal, the other travel group starting coming in. They just arrived at the hotel yesterday, and they have 15 families in their group. Before we knew it, the entire little restaurant was full of American adoptive families! Everyone wanted to meet Anna Grace and ask how she is doing. I know how excited they are to prepare to meet their children today.
We are hoping that it will stop raining today so that we can walk down to the park just down the road. We have 2 more days here in Zhengzhou before we will leave for Guangzhou. Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for our family. We can definately tell that God has chosen this special little girl to be a part of our family, and we feel so blessed that we have so much support from our family and friends.

More pictures of Anna Grace



Saturday, May 15, 2010

Day 3 with Anna Grace

We have had a very busy day today. This morning we went to visit her orphanage. When we pulled in through the gate of the orphanage the director ran out to meet us and Anna Grace was very happy to see him. It was obvious that they had a special connection. We were able to get pictures of the room she stayed in before she went to her foster home and we dropped off bags of diapers for the babies. There was one little baby in an incubator. Anna Grace kept pointing at it and when we would over to see the baby, Anna Grace would cry. After the second time of her wanting to see the baby, Mike took her out of the room so would not be upset anymore. Then we toured the rest of the orphanage (the part that is not sponsered by our agency). Most of the children there were either very handicapped or much older than Anna Grace. We were told that the healthy children Anna Grace's age were mostly in foster care. We brought suckers to pass our to all of the children. They were so happy to see us and were excited to get a sucker. One little boy stole a pack of Gerber fruit chews out of Mike's back pack as he was surrounded by children reaching to shake our hand and get a sucker! At first I was upset that he would take Anna Grace's snack, but then I thought about how little these children have. We saw some children helping others unwrap suckers and helping them eat them. You could tell that the caretakers in the orphanage cared about the children, but I feel really sad for all of the children that we saw who will never have a family.

Next we were able to visit Anna Grace's finding spot. The area where she was born is extremely poor. It made us realize how selfless her biological parents were to allow her to go to the orphanage to have her heart surgery and be adopted. We also took pictures of the police station where Anna Grace was taken after she was found.

When we got back from our trip we went out to lunch and did some shopping with our guide. The traffic is incredible. The lines on the road are just a suggestion in China and the road is crowded with cars, busses, pedestrians, motorcycles, and sometimes the occassional cart pulled by a mule! It is amazing that we have not seen any accidents.

Speaking of roads, we took a taxi to Walmart last night. After we shopped for the diapers to take to the orphanage we got another taxi to return us to the hotel. After we had gotten settled into the car, Mike handed the driver a card with the name of our hotel on it. He did not speak English and he indicated that his eye sight was too poor to read the card! After several minutes of trying to explain where we needed to go, the driver got out of the car and started asking for help from the people walking by. I really thought we would never make it back to our hotel!

Anna Grace is doing great. Her little personality is shining through more and more. She loves to sing little songs and laugh. She is very bubbly and likes to be the center of attention. You can really tell that her foster mom spent a lot of time with her. She doesn't like to walk much. I think she has been carried a lot because she does not run around like most 2 year olds. She is happy to have one of us carry her all of the time. We are going to have to encourage her to walk more. Still her vocabulary seems to be really big and her fine motor skills are good. Oh, and she has another new word. She calls her new daddy "Mike!"

We are now at the hotel room for the evening. We are really tired from staying up late last night. Anna Grace did not want to go to sleep, and she kept pretending to wash my hair as I was trying to sleep!

I will try to send more pictures to Courtney soon.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Day 2 with Anna Grace

Anna Grace has had a really great day so far. She has been crying a lot less and is much more interactive with us. She really loves her new daddy. She will let me hold her and do things for her, but she would prefer for Mike to hold her. Amazingly, she is already speaking some English in the less than 24 hours that we have had her. She will say "more", "bye, bye" and "shoes". She is definately a "shoe girl" and she loves to eat. When we came into the hotel lobby this morning after going to register for the adoption papers, she kept pointing at the hotel restaraunt trying to get us to go in there to eat again. Another thing that she loves is Mike's ipod. She loves to hold it and dance to the songs! When the song is over she will look at us and say "more!" We got our luggage last night and it felt like Christmas. We are so grateful to get a change of clothes and the things that we packed for Anna Grace. Anna Grace is taking a nap right now and then we will go to Walmart to buy some supplies for the orphanage. The orphanage director will allow us to visit there tomorrow morning. I have mixed feelings about going there tomorrow. I would love to see where Anna Grace spent about 10 months of her life and have that information to share with her when she gets older, but I am afraid that I will be so sad after I see all of the other precious children needing families. We are still trying to post some pictures, but the blog is blocked in China and we are using a special website to give us partial access to our blog. We have emailed pictures to our neighbors, but the email keeps getting lost. We promise to keep trying because I know you all want to see her.

Anna Grace is here!

I know that most of all you want to see pictures, but the server that I am using will not allow me to post them. I did email some to Courtney and she will post them soon. We traveled to the Civil Affairs office this morning, and the children were already there waiting for us. It was so exciting to walk into the building and see Anna Grace playing with toys in the little play room. She got really upset when we picked her up. She had just left her foster family and she is still really missing them. Even though she has been grieving for them today, she is willing to let us hold her and wants us to be right by her side. She talks quite a bit, but we have no idea what she is saying since she does not speak English! She ate a good lunch this afternoon of congee, watermelon, fried egg, and even some French fries! The other adoptive families have been so helpful and giving. They have given us a few outfits, snacks, some toys, and a blanket. We are really hoping to get our luggage back tonight. Thank you so much to everyone that has been praying for us

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

We get Anna Grace in 1 hour!!

We made it safely to our hotel in Zhengzhou, China, but our suitcases didn't make it. We think they are still in Hong Kong! In only 45 minutes we will meet up with our travel group in the hotel lobby, and then we will all travel to the office where we will meet the children. My stomach is doing flips right now as we wait!! This is the longest baby labor ever! We were happy to meet a few other families downstairs at breakfast a few minutes ago. Most of them already have their children, and they will be leaving in just a few days. One family just adopted a 13 year old! We found one family whose daughter is only a little smaller than Anna Grace and they gave us a few wipes and diapers. After all of the packing and planning for this day, I was feeling a little panicked that we have nothing that we need for our daughter! We don't have any clothes, toys, nothing... She is going to think we are bad parents from the start!! Just kidding. Sometime this afternoon we will take a trip to Walmart (yes, a Chinese Walmart!) to buy what we need until our luggage gets here. In the meantime, we will just make do! Maybe God is trying to teach us a lesson that material things are not that important. We know He has a plan and He will help us through this.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

We made it to Hong Kong!




We are finally in China and we are waiting in the Hong Kong airport for our final flight. We will meet our guide when we arrive in Zhengzhou. Cole and Alex, we miss you already! Alex, the picture of the plane is the biggest plane we have ever been on. We hope everythings going ok back at home!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Leaving Tomorrow!!


I can not believe that we are less than 24 hours away from leaving to get Anna Grace. We still have a lot of packing to do, but we are getting closer to being ready. Alex made a paper chain so that he can count down the days until we get home. We will be gone 19 nights!


My friends at work were so supportive and generous as I finished my last week of school. The 7th grade teachers gave me a babyshower Thursday, and so many teachers and students stopped me to wish me good luck. I am sad to be finished with the school year, and I will miss my students as they move on to the 8th grade.


Today is Mother's Day and tomorrow is Mike's birthday. We will finish packing tonight and I will give the house a good cleaning in the morning. Please pray for Mike and I to have safe travels. Our first flight leaves tomorrow evening and we will not arrive in Anna Grace's province until Wednesday. Also, please pray for all three of our kids. Cole and Alex will leave for school in the morning and we will not be home when they get back. Anna Grace is about to have another huge change in her life. I pray that she quickly learns that we love her and that she can trust us.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Thank you!

Thank you so much, Orie, Ramona, and Ginny for such a beautiful shower yesterday! It was so much fun to be able to celebrate our newest family member. Thank you to all of the family and friends who came. I know some of you had to drive a long way to get there. All of your gifts are so wonderful and definately needed. I also want to thank the people who put money on the "dollar tree." We raised $45 to buy needed supplies for Anna Grace's orphanage. I know the children in Zhengzhou Children's Welfare Institute appreciate each of you.