Mother's Day

I am so immensely blessed that these precious children call me "Mom"!

Happy Birthday, Hope!

9 years ago in Pingdingshan, Henan Province, China our little princess was born. Happiest of Birthday wishes to our precious Hope Gracelyn 💝🌺🎁🌸🎈.

A daughter for good!

It's a BIG DAY for HOPE! Today dawns with a new understanding of permanency, love, acceptance, and belonging for Hope. Today, Hope has been a daughter longer than she was an orphan in an orphanage! ❤️

Spreading her wings

Today, Hope joined the world of traditional school.

She was excited to spread her wings and fly!

We hope she excels at school

and loves her new learning environment!

Summer 2017a

So, now that summer school break is behind us, I will post some special pictures from our summer. (I tried to "live in the moment" with my family, so I didn't post very much.)

The first trip we made was to see Derek's great aunt in Tennessee and then on to Georgia to get together with my family.

In order to make the trip more comfortable and to help Sammy sleep in different beds during the journey, I made my first weighted blanket. It was quite successful! I was extremely happy!

All together with Derek's great aunt:

While we were visiting Derek's great aunt, she became ill and needed a day of rest. So, we took the children to a hands-on museum in the area, and they had a fabulous time!

News anchors:

The boys "lost" their shirts due to a water incident involving toy boats. The workers let us take their shirts back to the car to dry them in the heat.

Aw. Shirts again: 

 The banker:

After visiting Derek's great aunt, we went to visit my family--who had rented a cabin in the mountains for several days. It was so nice to reconnect with the family again!

The girls snuggled up reading:

Look at how the boys are snuggled up for a nap! 💗

Sweet Aunt Teaya:

Madison and Sammy (with Andrew pushing the pedal):

 Hope:

 Daniel:

 Sammy:

 Daniel:

 Yay, Andrew!

 Super, Hope!

 Look at the fishing pole Sammy chose:

 Uncle Pedro and Mason:

 Daniel and Madison: "My dad is stronger than your dad!"

 Uncle Jon to the rescue with the bubbles:

 Cousins:

 Jon and Madison, Jen and Sammy, Pedro and Sebastian:

 Outside fireplace:

This was the perfect ending to each evening

as the adults stayed up late bonding

around the outside fireplace. LOVED it!

Big Week

This week, our finished dossier (adoption paperwork) reached our agency. How wonderful it felt leaving our hands!

Little did we realize that one of the papers had an electronic signature instead of a live signature, so it was rejected. Gulp. At least it was caught on this side of the ocean!

Also, we began the 2017-2018 school year. We are homeschooling again with Cherish in the 5th grade, and Hope and Andrew in the 2nd grade.

Happy schooling everyone!!

Investors

Our family has had so many families pour themselves into our lives. We are grateful beyond words!

Cherish and Hope were given dance lessons again this year as a gift from a family who has asked to remain anonymous. Our girls have grown in their femininity over the year, and we are so very grateful for their opportunity to continue to learn and grow in many different ways!

Also, Cherish was once again gifted with piano lessons by her teacher, Miss Shirley. We are so thankful for Miss Shirley's godly influence in Cherish's life and for her constant encouragement to keep playing for Jesus.

"Thank You" to all the sweet ladies who have invested in our girls and for all those who took pictures of our girls so we would have a record of their special day. (All the recitals were on the same day 😊.)

"Lord Jesus, please bless these 'investors' in our girls' lives with blessings overflowing!"