Has it REALLY been 5 MONTHS??????

It is really hard to believe that it has been 5 months since our beautiful Princess came home. There are no words to describe how precious she is to us, and how blessed we feel to have been given this priviledge of being her family.

October has been a very busy month! We went to the Renaissance Festival, to the Blue Ridge Mountains and had Olivia dedicated at Church. A year ago on October 25, 2006 we received Pre-Approval from China to adopt Livi so we had her dedicated on October 27, 2007. It was a very special day. And we were blessed to have Pastor Randy Davis help us dedicate her to God.

When we were taking pictures for our dossier last year we went over to the Blue Ridge and took a picture of our family at one of our favorite spots. That was on October 14, 2006. Well this year we went to the mountains on October 20th and had a picture taken in almost the same spot!







One of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen!



Waiting for Olivia



With Olivia



From Grandfather Mountain going up.



From Grandfather Mountain another view coming down.



Ken's sister, brother-in-law and our niece and nephew were there with us and Pastor Randy.



Micah has been praying for her for 3 years and continues to pray for her every day!


She hasn't learned to KEEP her eyes closed yet. :o)

She is learning so much every day. She has learned how to whine the "why". And says "nope" and "WHAT". But the best is still "I love you, Mommy/Daddy"! Her two word phrases are turning into 3 word phrases and everything is just getting better and we are loving her more and more everyday(if that's possible)! She adores music and loves to sing. When we arrive back home and pull into the driveway, she states very loudly "Vivia OME"!!!!

Four wonderful months!

Wow does time fly! Vivia as she now calls herself has been home for 4 months. She is doing so well. She is a normal 2 year old, getting into mischief and saying that all favorite word "NO". But she is also a lot of fun.

This last weekend we had the wonderful opportunity to go Charleston, SC and spend some time at the beach for the very "low" cost of nothing (except a tank of gas)! Both kids LOVED the beach. While there we also got to meet our wonderful case worker from our adoption agency. We spent about an hour to and hour and a half with her. It was so special. We really love her and are so thankful that we got to work with her to bring Olivia home. Here are some pictures of the trip.


Sunrise




First Morning Stroll



Our WONDERFUL Case Worker



Sand Sculptures




Sand Princess ...Watch out for those waves...



True Concentration!



Oh man the waves washed away all my work...



All smiles



Awesome big brother



Sunset with Daddy



And Mommy



A beautiful end to a great day.

Just Simple Cute~ness

We are just the luckiest family in the world. Dear God thank you for this precious gift. She is learning more and more english every day. The other day she woke up and I brought her into our room to lay in bed next to me to watch TV for a little bit. She turned and tapped me on the shoulder and said "Mommy...I lough ewe" which is how she says I love you. Now I still don't know if she really understands what that means, but is was completely unsolicited and that is what made it such a special moment. Anyway here are some more pictures to enjoy.

Home 2 months and 1 week!!!

SOOOOO much has happened since I last posted. Each day that I wake up with this precious girl in my house I thank God and am in awe that we have the honor of spending our lives with her. She's funny, cute, amazing, smart, adorable, and has her "pistol" moments too (as any two year old does), but those are by far overshadowed by everything else. She loves her brother and playing with him. They have a great time together. She has adjusted amazingly well and is thriving. I am so blessed and privileged to have her call me mommy!
Here are just a few pictures to enjoy:









She has an glorious smile that is so priceless! Thank you God for letting us share her life.

Thank God for Guardian Angels!

Yesterday was quite the heart pounding day! We just stayed home so you wouldn't think it would be so exciting would you? Especially when we were just working in the yard and in the house. Well while we were working in the yard, Ken decided to weed the flower bed on the side of our house. It REALLY needed it as you couldn't really tell what was supposed to be there and what wasn't. He was half way through, when he reached down for this really big raspberry plant and gasped, jerked his hand up and exclaimed "what in the world was that?". I ran over a little nervous, because it takes a lot to rattle him. I asked what was wrong and he said "there's something moving in there!". So I asked him to carefully pull back the plants (since he had gloves on). Then it was my turn to gasp, because this is what we saw:



I said "that's poisoness" (or as my husband keeps correcting me "venemous)! That's a Copperhead!" He didn't think so, but thankfully he erred on the side of caution. I kept watch while he went to get both of our shovels from the garage. And then he proceeded to herd the snake out of the flower bed and I went to get an old garbage can.






For some reason we could not bring ourselves to kill him, so we got him in the garbage can and called animal control. Well they only come out of the snake is in your house. I said to Ken "bring it in the house and tell them to come and get it!" He laughed and said "yeah like if it's in the back yard it won't bite us!" So we decided to just take him out to a nature preserve about 15 minutes from our house and let him go.

I am just so thankful that Ken was not bitten when he reached down to pull the weeds! And the kids were right there within 8 feet, because they were helping to haul the pulled weeds away! I am also thankful that we got the snake out of our yard before we had let the dogs out, because they always go over there to sniff and check out what has been there overnight!

Thank you God for keeping us safe!

Fireworks and Computers~

are both a lot of fun!






Micah likes to play computer games and he has been doing that a lot the last few days. Well Olivia has been trying to get in his chair and play his games too, so I looked for an old game of Micah's that is for toddlers. She is enjoying it as you can see.

Happy Birthday America!!!!

We are thrilled that, all though we were not able to celebrate Olivia's birthday with her, she is home with us and can celebrate America's birthday. We are so blessed to live in this great country, for even though it is not perfect, it is our home and we are PROUD TO BE AMERICANS!!!! And we are proud that our daughter is a Chinese American.

12 Years Ago Today~

I went to a church, I walked down an isle, and took the hand of the very tall red head waiting for me and I married my best friend. We have had so much fun I can't imagine what the future holds, but I can't wait to find out!!!




Thank you Ken for everything you do. For being my best friend, for comforting me, for making me laugh, for providing for me and for loving me. I look forward to the rest of our lives together. I love you now and FOREVER!

Five weeks together ~ Four weeks home

WOW are we the luckiest family on earth? God blessed us with one special girl. She is so healthy and doing really well.



The only issues that we are dealing with right now are sleep and sharing. She takes about an hour to go to sleep and wants both Mama and Baba in the room. The problems she is having with sharing could just be because she is 2.



She still seems to be a little more bonded to Mama than Baba because she goes easily to other men and will call them Baba, but does not easily go to other women, and only calls me Mama.



Micah just celebrated his 6th birthday. Boy does time fly. He is a wonderful son and a great big brother we are so proud of him.




Micah and Olivia are having a great time together. The play pretty well and seem to be bonding well. They love to make each other laugh, and us too.
We are just so blessed and very thankful to have her in our family. We may be a little biased but we think she is just precious, and her brother is pretty awesome too!