Elise's Birthday Package Arrived!!

I recieved a confirmation today that Elise did get her birthday package on February 16th and her cake was delivered on February 18th!! Yippee! It somehow makes me feel a little better about missing her first birthday to know that she recieved a cake! Her present from us was a soft photo album with 6 pictures of her new mommy, daddy, 2 brothers and sister. That also gives me a little bit of peace. Knowing she is playing, chewing and drooling all over pictures of us makes me happy! I'm excited to think about her looking at our pictures, maybe she will recognize me when she is finally placed in my arms forever!

We also asked for an updated digital picture and measurments of her. I am praying those come soon! I just want to see how she's grown, does she have more hair, is she fatter, skinnier, longer, bigger?.... oh the questions I have!!

Lastly, we asked for the contact person who delivered the package to retrieve the digital camera that was included, develop the photos and mail them to us. That could take several more weeks, but I'm praying this also happens quickly!! I would love to see pictures of Elise with her cake and photo album!

Based on pictures I've seen from other people who have sent birthday cakes to their daughters in China, the above picture is a typical birthday cake delivery! Looks pretty yummy to me, however not a typical American birthday cake!!

Travel Paperwork!!!

     Well, I spent the last several days going through a new set of "paperwork"!! This was more exciting to me than the last several stacks of paperwork because it is all of our travel papers. Making sure we have everything we need to travel to China!! WooHoo, it finally feels like its getting closer and really going to happen. I can finally see the peak of the mountian I've been climbing for the last 5 years!! We sent off passports to get the Visa on them, we sent travel paperwork back to America World! It's exciting to have all of this stuff happening. It's definitely a stage in the process that is all new, we've never been this close to travel. In fact it was amuzing to me today as I made copies of our passports and realized that I've never even signed my passport! Ha! I got the passport in January of 2006 just for this adoption, and now I'm actually going to use it..... 5 years later!

Birthdays!!!!

Wow!! January and February have been long but exciting months in our house! We celebrated Emmie's second birthday with a party fit for a princess! (because of course, she is OUR princess) She had a pink and brown tutu with matching shirt & hair bows, a beautiful pink & brown cake, and lots of toys! It was a great night to celebrate! We were also celebrating the fact that she is officially one year out form heart surgery number 1, which took place on 2/4/2010 (if you haven't noticed that is also Elise's B-day!!)

Another big event in our house is the fact that Tom is now working form home!! YIPPEE!! He's been working in Orlando for almost a year, while it was very hard on the family, I'm very proud of him for taking on that responsibility in order to provide for his family! We are extremely grateful to God for providing Tom with that job. We are also very blessed to have such a wonderful extended family & church family who helped us out during the last year!

The final big event for our family is that Elise also celebrated a birthday. She turned 1 on February 4th. While our hearts are breaking that she isn't here to celebrate, we are thankful that we were able to send her a birthday package! She should have recieved a birthday cake from a local bakery & 6 pictures of her new family in a soft photo album for her to play with. (we've already sent her toys & a blankie a few months ago) Also included in the packet was a letter to the orphanage and a disposable camera. We are hoping that the preson who delivered the package will also be able to retrieve the camera and send us pictures of her with her cake! I will post as soon as I get them!!

I keep thinking about Elise and how different her life will be next year on her birthday! She will have a party full of presents, bows, cakes and tutu's! A party fit for a princess, becuase she too will be OUR littlest princess!
....I'm also thinking of the great sacrifice her birth mother made in order for her (and me) to recieve this wonderful blessing. Having 3 biological children myself, I can't imagine giving one of them up. The pain she must have endured is overwhelming to me at times. I would love to thank her for that sacrifice, although I'm sure I will never get that opportunity. I'm sure she thinks of her baby that she left at the orphanage gate. I wonder if she walks by the orphange in hopes of catching a glimpse of her baby. I wonder if she still cries herself to sleep thinking about that beautiful baby girl whom she could not keep....... A mother's love doesn't end at that orphanage gate, in fact I'd say its just the beginning of the love she had for Elise. My heart breaks for her and for my sweet baby who has also suffered a loss..... the loss of the mother she will never know!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELISE!!! I'm dreaming of the day I get to hold you in my arms and you get to feel the love of a mother again!

Happy Chinese New Year! .... & it really was for us, read on to see why!

FINALLY, our finger print approval came in the mail today! Praise God! The last step for us is now under way! We overnighted (within hours of recieving the I-797C in the mail) the last packet of information to the USCIS! This final packet has everything about Elise in it! It is time for the USCIS to approve her to come to the USA and become an American citizen!! We are soooo excited to be in the final phase of this very lengthy process, but we also know God's timing is perfect and Elise is worth waiting for!!!

So HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!  Elise we are coming!!!!!!

Christmas 2010

   Sorry, the Christmas post is VERY late! Christmas 2010 was great for our family! We celebrated being together as a family and rejoiced in the birth of our savior.
    2010 was a big year for us, but through it all, we saw God working in our lives and our family in a BIG way......
    Tom worked the entier year in Florida without the rest of the family. That was a really hard time for everyone. Once a month visits became harder as the year progressed! But, we are thankful that he had a well paying job that provided for our needs.
    Emmie had 2 heart surgeries in the beginning of 2010, while it was a very stressful time for us, we are thankful she is on the road to recovery! She is a normal, happy, and relatively healthy almost 2 year old! Still taking lots of medication, but doing very well with all of it!
    Blake continues to thrive in school and in Taekwondo. He is now a blue belt! He's also having a great year in school as a 5th grader. Brandon is a 7th grader this year! I can't believe he is in junior high! He played starting corner back for the 7th grade football team this year & did a great job. He was also back-up wide reciever!
    We also recived the wonderful news of our newest & youngest child, Bo Jia Qun!! She was born on Feb 4th 2010. We are excited to have the opportunity to adopt this beautiful baby! We only wish she had been with us on Christmas this year... but she was definitely in our hearts all day (and everyday!).

    Thanks again to all of our family and friends who supported us during one of the most challenging years of our lives! May God bless you in the coming year!!