Merry Christmas 2008 Pictures!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Well here we are just a couple of days away from Christmas and excitment is filling the house!!!!

All of the trees are up! Santa visit has been made! Cookies are baked! It has been fun to watch Hope get more excited about Christmas as she gets older! She actually sang in the children's program this year! But...she did spend a lot of time trying to make the little girl that was standing beside her to turn around and watch the teacher. It got quite funny at times!

She has helped wrap gifts! She was in charge of the taping, the picking out of paper and sometimes writing the gift tags! She is doing great on her writing!

She has enjoyed seeing all of the Christmas lights around town this year! She just gets excited about it all! She is really excited because grandparents will be here this year for Christmas! No traveling for our family this Christmas as school got out tooo late to make it!

She has really taken to singing Christmas songs as well! She LOVES Santa Clause is coming to town! She is really having a fun time dancing through the house and singing! She is quite the little Christmas girl!

This year at our annual pilgramage to Bass Pro to see Santa...the boys asked her if she was going to talk to Santa..she said NOPE! She didn't...she did shake her head when asked a question..but that is progress! The boys asked her if she was going to sit on Santa's lap...she said NO I'M NOT!!! But she did. Poor Santa...Stephen had to sit on the other leg so that Hope would sit on his leg. When Hope realized that there was no where for Phillip to sit, she might as well give in and sit on his lap. She did!!! She even smiled for the picture!!!!!

So as we get ready in the next few days to celebrate Christmas...from our house to yours...Merry Christmas and may your new year be richly blessed!!!!

I'll try to get some pictures up...but the computer is having a hard time today!!! :o)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!!!

Well it has been awhile since I have posted on the blog! Things have been a little nuts around here.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have eaten the last of our turkey! We went today to Branson to see the play Noah. It was wonderful! We were truly blessed to have great seats right near the aisle. So when the animals came in to go to the ark...they walked right by where we were sitting! That just thrilled Hope beyond all measure! She was sooooo excited!

We have started to put up our many Christmas trees in the house. Hope was the first one to get hers up! She turned off her light and squeeled and said:"Now, Santas Quause" can come and bring my gifts and put them under my tree!!! I said..well, no Santa doesn't come for 3 more weeks. She said OOOOO..ok. So when we put the family tree up in the family room...she just clapped and said...NOW Santa has the tree he can put the gifts under! She had taken a nap when I put the kitchen one up. Fred and I had gone out to do a little shopping. When she woke up and walked into the kitchen, she screamed..PHILLIP!!!! Come Look!!! There is another tree in the kitchen! She is really getting into the decorating!!!!

But as we have just celebrated Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a few things that I'm truly thankful for!
1. My daughter's birth mom. I know that it was not an easy decision to give this precious girl away.
2. Fuling SWI. This was Hope's first home for the first 11 1/2 months. Hope was loved and taken care of.
3. My husband: We are getting ready to celebrate 18 years together. I'm truly thankful that God confirmed to his heart that a China adoption was the way to go for our family.
4. My amazing sons: They were very supportive of having a little sister in the house. They truly love her!
5. Our Spicy Fulinger! What joy she has brought into our home with her wacky sense of humor! She is a joy to be with (most days... :o) )
6. My wacky family! They have welcomed Hope with open arms and hearts from the very start!
7. Last but surely not least: God, for bringing our precious daughter into our family! He knew what he was doing when he brought this sweet little girl into the world and bringing her half way around the world to join our family!

I pray that each of you will have a wonderful holiday season! And I'll be posting pictures soon!

I need SLEEP!!!!

I discovered last night that it is harder to get people to sleep when there is no power than if the power is on! Our power went out last night from about 8:30pm to about 11:30pm or so. Phillip and I came in from band practice and the lights were still out. Stephen was laying in the living room floor just talking!!! Hope was the one who opened up the front door and welcomed us into the party!!!! Needless to say I thought it would end quickly....NOT!!!

I finally took Hope to our room to see if that would help. I layed down with her. She tossed, turned, did a potty run, got back in the bed, played with my hair, played with my face, held my hand, wanted to know why I couldn't read her a story, did I know that power was out???, it went on and on! Finally just when I thought she was asleep, the power comes back on!! So we got up to close the windows, turn off the lights that people had left on and here she came...wanting to know if it was time to get up!!! I told her that I was just helping to get things ready for bed.

I don't know what time she and I finally went to sleep...but at 5:45 am this morning...I started to get up so that I can spend a few minutes with Phillip before he leaves for school. Thinking that she was very asleep....I made my way down the hall. At 6:15 AM!!!!...Here comes Little Britches...Mom is it time to get up??? No...lay back down here on your sleeping bag. So I layed down on the couch, she was on the sleeping bag and then at 6:30!!!!! Stephens alarm went off 1/2 hour early!!! She said...well his clock went off...it's time to get up!!! I told her to lay back down we still had a little bit of time! So we went back to sleep for a few minutes.

I'm hoping for a good nap time today!! But I guess my posing question would be..."Can you ride a bike at the gym and sleep at the same time?????"

I don't want chool to tart today!!!

After a good summer break hanging out with her big brothers. Hope proclaimed this morning from the breakfast table (still half asleep!) I DON'T WANT CHOOL TO TART TODAY!!!! She either didn't want to get up early because school started back to school today or she didn't want to see her brothers leave her for the next several months! Phillip had already left this morning before she got up. So she will be excited to have everyone back this afternoon!!!!!!

My little Band Girl!!!!

Just thought I would share a couple of pictures of our little band girl!!! It is fun when your big brother is on the drumline in marching band and you get to hang out with everyone in the band because you are cute!!!!

Hope got to hang out at the last band camp a few days! She had a great time! They are doing a show this year featuring music from the Rise of the Samurai Warrior. They are calling the show the Year of the Dragon! So in celebration of all of that, the color guard girls made Hope an honorary color guard this year! The gave her a flag for her birthday and everything!

She has her outfit all ready and wanted to go to band when it was finished today!!! Needless to say she was a little sad when we told her that there is no band today!!! So she is really looking forward to the season getting a great start next week!!!!!

CHI Reunion 08

More Pictures coming!!!!

Well I still have a few more days of pictures to add to the blog! We have been very busy trying to get ready to go to St. Louis this weekend for the Children's Hope International annual reunion! It is a chance for every family that has worked with Children's Hope to all come together together! We are excited about going because 2 of our travel families to Fuling are coming and we all enjoy getting together! We wish that more of our Fuling family could come this year, but we will miss them and hopefully next year they will be able to make it!

We will be posting pictures of the weekend hopefully not long after we get home!! But may be a little slow in doing so as we will be back on the road a few days after headed to SC! Hope will be spending some one on one time with her Maw Maw Ruth. It is hard when we live here in the Mid west and the rest of our family lives back East. So Hope is looking forward to going!!!!

Hershey Chocolate World

Gettysburg Party!

Another birthday party and a vacation!!!!

Well now all of the birthday parties are over for Miss Hope! She had her last party with Fred's Mom and family while we were on our vacation! I'm not sure if the retirement village knew what hit it!

On that Saturday, our family arrived a little early to have a visit with Grandma Bubbles (I'll share how she got that name later!). Then a little later Fred's two sisters and 8 year old niece Hannah came. Uncle Jeff came a little later. I think we had enough food to feed a small army!!!! We also had cake!!!!

After lunch, Hope opened her gifts. She got some very cute clothes that she has already worn and is enjoying! She really loved the Hannah Montana PJ's from Aunt Sherry and Uncle Ray!!!!

After cake and clean up, it was off to the movies! Our family went to see Prince Caspian. It was a great movie. Hope didn't make it to the end. It was dark and cool and somewhat quiet! The perfect combination for Nap taking!!!! So for the last 35 minutes of the movie Hope took a nap! After the movie was over she was awake! After we got outside, they spotted a pet store! So off go Aunt Joyce, Hannah, Hope and Stephen to check out the pet store! We saw strollers for doggies and thought of Jackie and Gracie (two very special dogs in Hope's life!!) But we sent Debbie a message and she said that the dogs didn't need a stroller!!! So no stroller!

Then it was off to dinner! It was a great day! A good time was had by all!

I'll get a slide show up with some of the pictures hopefully soon!

The Party's over......

Well the partying is almost done for the birthday girl!!!! She has had a busy couple of weeks! She had her birthday party a couple of weeks with some of her friends. Then we went to Silver Dollar City, the at church her Sunday school class had a party because all of the children in there all has their birthday's just a few days apart. Then on Sunday night our Life Group from church had a party for everyone who has birthdays at the end of June first part of July.....So she was partying again!

Then on her actual birthday she got a color guard flag from the color guard in the band! She was thrilled! Then she went and had her nails done! A friend of ours owns a nail salon, so she treated Hope to a manicure! Then after that we met a friend whose birthday is also the same as Hopes for Chinese food! Then Fred cooked up a wonderful meal of grilled pork chops for the birthday girl!

We are getting ready to head out to Pennsylvania to visit Fred's family and have a birthday celebration with Grandma Bubbles!!! Hope is very excited about that!!!!

I'll be posting pictures when I can of that trip!!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Hope!

Gotcha Day...3 year anniversary part 2

Three years ago today, we left the hotel in Chongqing, made our way through an arriving wedding party to the bus that would take us to Fuling. We made the drive through the beautiful countryside and across the bridge that I learned to recognize from pictures that would take us to the orphanage!

We arrived at the orphanage a little early and were informed that we were there a little early so the girls weren't ready just yet. So that gave us a chance to look around a little bit. Then we were told that the girls were ready. They all came out in matching pink outfits with flowers on it and squeeker shoes. There were many tears shed that day, some by the parents, some by the girls as they were leaving the only life they have ever known going with people that didn't look nor smell familiar to them!

It is amazing to see the girls now and see how much they have changed, to see the things that they have learned to do and to see how much they have grown!

We are all truly blessed to have this group of Spicy Girls in our lives!!!

We love each of the girls and their families! They each hold a special place in our hearts! I wouldn't have wanted to have that experience with any other people!!!

Gotcha Day...3 Yr Anniversary!

Happy Birthday...almost part 2

Happy Birthday.....Almost!!!!

It is hard to believe that Hope has been with us for (just a few days shy) three years! Today, we celebrated Hope's 4th birthday! We had her party at Living Memorial Park! We like the park, plenty of room to play and the playground is very close to the picnic shelter.

The theme of the party...HANNAH MONTANA!!!! Hope enjoys watching her show! So there was a singing balloon....cake, plates, cups...almost everything Hannah!!!

We had several of Hope's friends to come and join us and I do believe that a fun time was had by all. Hope didn't want to take a nap today because she was afraid that she was going to miss her party!!! She did great considering that she didn't have a nap!!!! She even lasted until 10:00!!!

She came in and proceeded to look at each and every gift over again. She said...AWWWW my fiends (friends) are so nice!!! When we said our bedtime prayers and we asked her what she was thankful for...she said....My fiends and my nice Hannah Nontana (she doesn't call her Montana) party.

She was thrilled to have a couple of the girls from our International playgroup there. She always calls them her sisters! So she talked all the way home how she had 2 of her China sisters there and her fiends!

It is hard to believe that she is growing up so fast!!!!

I'll put more pictures up soon...I'm just very sleepy and Hope has passed out....

3 years ago!!!!!

What a difference 3 years makes!!! We just celebrated 3 years from the day that we recieved our call!!! On April 18, 2005 we got a phone call that would change our life forever!!!!!! Then on April 20, 2005, we got the first pictures that would totally melt our hearts!!!

3 years ago, we had never heard of Fuling, China! Now it is a place that we hold very dear in our hearts! It is now a place that holds a lot of history and questions for our family!

We love our Fuling SPICY girl with all of our hearts and are truly honored that God would bring her into our family to make it complete! She has gone from a small little girl that was quiet and who couldn't walk to a beautiful girl who is very rarely quiet and if you can't skip or run...it's just not worth going! I enjoy watching her so full of life everyday!

As I write this post, she is outside in the backyard swinging (where I can see her) with a handful of dandelion flowers! She enjoys being outside and playing full on all of the time! She loves being from China! She will proudly tell everyone that she is from China, but now she lives here with her Mom and dad and brudders! She has her mama's love for reading!!! We read every afternoon before nap and we read every night before bed! It may be the same book over and over, but then it is great to listen to her say...Mom...I'm reading tonight...and she will go get Green Eggs and Ham! Or Ameila Bedilia and the Surprise Shower!!! Those are the favorites right now!!!!

She loves taking care of her baby dolls! She makes sure that they are wrapped in blankets and in buckled in the stroller!!! She loved to cook!!! She loves to clean!!! She just LOVES LIFE!!!! And we love having her in our life!

The first picture you see is the first picture that we ever saw!!! The picture at the bottom was taken just a few weeks ago!!! Enjoy!!!

I would yike a pumpkin ride!!!!

We were watching TV yesterday during our "inclement weather" day from school. And a commercial came on for Disney World! It is the one that has the mom on the computer and the children are asleep and the parents are amazed at how inexpensive they can do a week at Disney and the Cinderella Coach pulls up in front of the house and the children are now looking at the window!!!

Hope, dressed in her Cinderella dress, claps her hands and looks at me and says..."MOM, I would yike (like) a pumpkin ride like Cinderella!!! PEESE!!! (Please). Oh that just makes me want to go book a trip to Disney World now!!!! We would like to wait until she is just a little older before we go so that she will remember a little more, but I do believe that our little princess would be thrilled beyond ALL the world if we would just take her to Cinderella's house!!!

Hopefully soon!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Well Happy 2008!!!!

The picture says it all!!!! We had just come in from 2 days worth of driving back from SC! The boys were determined to make it to 12:01...to welcome in the new year! Well Miss Hope didn't want to be out done! She quickly went down the hallway to her room and got her party shoes on! You really can't see them in this picture, but they are pink fuzzy plastic dress up shoes! She had those on and was doing quite well on her way to welcome in the new year!!!

The next thing we knew, we heard this soft snoring...looked over in her direction and low and behold Hope was asleep! We then tried to convince the boys that we saw Dick Clark ring in the new year in the Eastern Time Zone...surely since we had just gotten out of the Eastern Time Zone that should work....NOT!!! They wanted to stay awake until 12:00 Central Time!!! So the did and right after 12:01....off we went to bed!!!

We hope that each of you have a wonderful new years filled with God's richest blessings!

Happy 2008...may it be Great!!!!