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....