My life for 2 weeks...

I was debating on whether or not to potty train Emma over Christmas break. I knew she was ready, but I am pretty lazy and a 2 week break would be much more relaxing in diapers. But, she woke up the first Monday of break and refused diapers. She would NOT wear them. I took that as my sign and ran with it. After almost 2 weeks I think we are well on our way to a potty trained little girl.

For the first few days she held her pee all day long. Who does that? She woke up and would not pee for 6 hours. Then it was nap where she let it all go. Then she would not pee for the rest of the day. Then it was bed, where she filled every inch of that diaper with pee. It was FRUSTRATING because we spent all day on the potty singing songs, reading books, eating dinner... we pretty much lived there.

Then, she would sit for a little bit and then pee 5 minutes after getting up. She would scream and cry if she peed or pooped on her Dora underwear.... or her beloved HO HO pajamas. A few days of peeing and pooping on herself (and major tears) we made progress. She would finally pee after sitting for 45 minutes. At this point, I was ready to give up because I had spent one solid week sitting next to a toilet.

I put her in underwear one morning but didn't force her or ask one time if she wanted to sit on the potty. The most wonderful thing happened- she came to me and said "Mama, peepee!" and she sat down and went!!! That was our turning point. We still had a few more accidents but I could see a lot of improvement.

But, today was the day! She told me EVERY time she had to pee or poop.... NO ACCIDENTS!!!! We were out and about running errands all day and she stayed dry. Now, she did announce POOP while hitting her butt several times in a crowded waiting room at the doctor's office but I'll take it. When I put her to bed tonight she did not want a diaper, only a princess pull-up. I have 2 more days before I go back to work so that will be the test if we got lucky today or if we have a BIG GIRL on our hands!!!

This is where we spent our Christmas break. She even opened presents at the family Christmas while sitting on the potty!

And since I was sitting next to her on the potty. Timothy was doing this to my floors:

The joys of toddlers!! 3 down and 1 to go. This summer our house SHOULD be diaper free for the first time in over 7 years. Can't wait!!!!

Thanksgiving Feast

Matthew had his Thanksgiving Feast at his preschool this week. Since I was off work for a doctor appointment, I was able to go! All the kids were dressed up and looked so adorable. Matthew's name was "funny blue zebra." We had to send in an adjective that described him, then he picked his favorite color and animal. A zebra????? Now that is funny. Of all the animals, he picked a zebra. We had a great lunch together. I loved seeing him in front of the crowd saying the prayer "God our Father." It was so sweet.

Matthew's class

Matthew with his best friend, Jacob. They have been friends since they were babies.

Adopted... again

Emma Grace was adopted in China and that adoption is recognized in our state. She became a US citizen upon landing in New Jersey on our way home from China. We decided, however, to adopt her again within our own state guidelines. Our friend is an attorney and highly recommended this to us. Our social worker gave us the same advice. By adopting her in our state, she will be given a REAL birth certificate, adoption papers in English, and if anything should happen to Rick or myself, she is legally one of our heirs and nothing could be withheld from her. On November 10, we went to the courthouse for the final adoption hearing. Of course, Emma made quite an impression on everyone she met. Her attorney adored her and the judge also thought she was the cutest thing EVER. This was my favorite line of the petition...

"The child shall be deemed the child of the petitioners and shall be considered for purposes of inheritance and succession and for all other legal consideration, the natural, legitimate child and heir-at-law of the Petitioners, the same as if born of their bodies with all the obligations, rights, and privileges of such a natural child and heir."

When the judged said this to us I wanted to burst into tears! I love this girl so much and I am so lucky and thankful that I was chosen to be her mommy!!!

Such a big girl... she insists on carrying my purse when we go out.

A big "cheese" for the camera

Here we are with Emma's attorney, our attorney and the Judge.

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we had our family pictures taken by Hollie Colwick. She did an amazing job! It was a treat for us to have so many family shots. It can be a little tricky getting pictures of a 2 year old which makes our family extra difficult since we have two of them! Timmy and Emma were stuck to us like glue (which is why we have so many family pictures...) but we were able to get a few individual shots. I had so many favorites that I put them in a slideshow because it was faster than uploading them. You can go here to see them.

Shepherd's Field Children's Village

http://vimeo.com/30912132

Here is a link to an amazing video about Emma's China Home. We love this place and the people who started it. I want to go volunteer next summer for a week... who wants to go with me?

GOTCHA!!!

Wow. One year. I can't believe that one year ago we met this amazing and beautiful little girl.

It was a long drive from Beijing to Tianjin due to the fog and closing of the highways. Our driver was lost and because we didn't know the language, we had no clue if it would be 30 minutes or 2 hours until we reached Emma Grace. Finally, we recognized the gates of the children's village and saw Sara waiting to greet us. We came in, said our good-byes to Shirley (our Beijing guide), dropped off our luggage in our room and Clay and Sara told us we were going to meet Emma Grace.

We walked into the House of Peace and climbed the stairs to the second floor. There was our precious little girl, sitting in a chair. Little did she know at that very moment her life would never be the same. Emma Grace woke up as an orphan that morning and the routines of her life started just like they always did. But, a few hours later 2 people walked in that would change her life forever.

We were so thankful for the opportunity to meet Emma Grace in her home. She was happy and calm. It made our GOTCHA day special and memorable. We got to see the true personality of our daughter in a place where she felt safe. It was a day I will never forget. The next several days brought many challenges and fear took over our sweet girl. Thankfully, she bonded quickly and today she is very attached to her mommy and daddy.

Emma Grace in the House of Peace 10-23-2010

The first time was saw Emma Grace 10-23-2010

She just can't believe she has a mommy and a daddy! 10-23-2010

I love this girl as if she had grown inside me. I feel connected to her in ways that I never thought were possible. She is my own, she is my daughter and our family and lives are more complete because of her. The "what-ifs" of her story are scary. What-if her parents made a different choice (to not give her life...) what if she was not found quickly and died on the street... what if she was not loved and nourished the first year of her life, what if we SAID NO... what if we lived in fear of the financial commitment and fear of bringing in a child with a haunting beginning. Thankfully, God pulled at our hearts and brought us this precious child to raise as our daughter. I will never be the same. She has changed me forever. In China, many people would say "lucky girl" but truly, we are the ones that are blessed and lucky. We get to see the face of Jesus everyday in our little girl.

I want to thank everyone who has loved and cherished our daughter in the past year. She has been accepted in every part of our community. NOT ONCE have we heard a racial comment, an inappropriate question or comment (so, how much did she cost?) or anything else that would make her feel like she did not belong or that she was different. Thank you for loving our girl as much as we do!

My precious daughter (with her baby) 10-23-2011

Emma Grace 10-23-2011

Tim Baker, founder of the Philip Hayden Foundation (where Emma Grace lived in China) said it best, "God has a specific plan for every child's life. He sees them as being something very valuable. Maybe when they were abandoned they were considered as trash, they were thrown away. But God sees them as being the treasure found in a field. He values their life."

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY to our precious, beautiful little girl!!!

Baby Fever

Um, but not for me. Emma Grace is obsessed with her baby dolls right now. Having only experienced boys, I am quite amused by this! She treats her babies like real little people. A lot of this is from her babysitter, Gaga. Gaga also takes care of 3 little babies in addition to my 2 wild toddlers. Gaga says that Emma imitates everything she does with the babies. Melody (gaga) has to give Emma a bottle during feeding time so she can feed her babies. She is such a good mommy! Here are some things she has done recently with her babies:

*changes diapers AND wipes the little bums of her babies. She also takes a wipe to clean the nose when she is done (we do this sometimes during runny nose season!) After changing the diaper, she wraps the wipe in the diaper and closes it with the tape (just like we do!)

*she sat her baby on the stool to clip her finger nails. This is exactly the place and way we clip nails for our kiddos!

*she gets the bottle ready by putting a finger over the nipple and shaking it... she will then feed her baby, pause to burp her and continue feeding her.

*I was folding laundry the other day and heard Emma coming up the stairs saying "Up" over and over again. I went to see what she was doing, and she was helping her baby walk up the stairs and she was saying UP every time she need to climb a step.

*Emma shares her snacks/food/sippee cup with her babies

*we were watching a fish night light that Timmy got for his birthday. Emma went to get her baby and then held her up so she could see.

*Emma will sit down on the trampoline so her baby can have a turn to jump

*Baby must sit on the potty to go pee pee.

*she puts her babies night-night in all our beds and then shuts the doors. A few minutes later, she walks around waking up all her babies.

It has so precious to me how she treats these dolls. I love it!!!! Here are a few pictures of her with her beloved babies:

Emma just changed her diaper and was loving her baby

Here she is clipping the nails of her baby.

Birthday Fun

The kids were so excited to eat cupcakes and brownies for Timmy's birthday. (as if they don't eat enough junk every day) They were cracking me up!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Timmy!

My baby boy is now 2! (and I am officially the mother of TWO 2 year olds...) We celebrated his birthday party a few weeks ago with family so it was just us on his birthday. I took him to play in the church playroom, he got a yummy lifesaver gummy treat after lunch and we went out to eat at his favorite restaurant for dinner. We topped it all off with brownies and cupcakes...YUM! We recycled Andrew's old trains for Timmy's birthday. They have been packed away for all of Timmy's life, so it was something new for him. He LOVED his new trains!!!!! Why go buy something when you have something that cool packed away? He loved it when we sang "happy birthday" to him... big smiles from my handsome little man! Here are some things I don't want to forget about my 2 year old:

*he has crazy curly hair and I must figure out what to do with it... it's a mess!

*he has a special Winnie the Pooh blanket he sleeps with every night. There is a pooh bear on 2 of the corners and he has basically chewed them off. He loves to suck on his blanket!

*he climbs on anything and everything

*he LOVES to jump on the trampoline

*he is an outdoor boy, he could play outside all day if we let him

*he loves his sister, but doesn't show it well. When other kids are around, he makes sure Emma has all her toys and will take stuff out of the hands of other children to give it to his sister. BUT, when it is just the two of them, he takes all her toys and throws them so she can't get them.

*he has to take a book and other little "treasures" to bed with him every night. He sits up in his bed and reads the books until he falls asleep. When he wakes up in the morning, you can always find him reading books again!

*he loves books and puzzles

*he does not like me to wear shoes. He will grab my shoes (while screaming) and say OFF! When I take them off, he runs and throws them over the baby gate. In his mind, if he can't reach them, neither can I. No shoes means I can't leave :) Smart boy, huh???

*feeding time is a nightmare... Timmy and Emma constantly steal food from each other and scream their little hearts out.

This is my handsome little man on his 2nd birthday, October 19, 2011.

On his first birthday, October 19, 2010. I had to leave my baby boy the very next day to fly to China!

Happy Birthday, Timothy! October 19, 2009.

So cute...

Some news to celebrate...

See this handsome little guy? This is a special little boy who shares a big part of my daughter's past. Actually, he is the one person that remained constant in her life since he entered the orphanage in Fuzhou City late 2009.

On May 21, 2010 we were matched with our Emma Grace. We had no idea that she was living at Shepherd's Field or that she had gone through heart surgery to repair her VSD. Within days of accepting our referral, Betty emailed to tell us she was living at PHF near Beijing. I was on it... and emailed Tim Baker (he and his wife founded PHF) immediately.

Within hours, I get this response:

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for your email. I am happy to say that Liu Rongjia is with us at Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village. She joined the Shepherd’s Field family on April 23rd along with a one year-old boy named Liu Minli also from the Fuzhou Orphanage. Both Rongjia and Minli came to us via the Taida Hospital in Tianjin where they both received surgery for their heart conditions. Taida is a very good hospital in close proximity to Shepherd’s Field that is part of the Tomorrow Plan, helping orphans like Minli and Rongjia receive corrective surgery for their heart conditions. Minli received surgery for his PDA and Rongjia for her VSD. I am copying this email to the head of our medical team, Dr Bill Moody. Dr Moody can help answer any questions you may have about Rongjia’s post op recovery as well as her cleft lip and palate. Please feel free to communicate directly with him with your questions. Should you have any questions for me, please feel free to email or call me at *****. I will be heading back to China on Thursday.

Blessings,

Tim

It turns out that my Emma lived with this precious boy, Minli, in Fuzhou City. They were taken to the hospital near Beijing where they went through heart surgery together. They were both discharged and taken to live at Shepherd's Field, where they lived together in the House of Peace. I have been told by volunteers of SFCV that Minli and Emma played together often. I have a picture of them together on the floor and even one short video clip.

From the moment I received this email from Tim, my heart was split in two. This little boy shares a past with my daughter that I will never know. When we went to pick up Emma, I took her over to say good-bye to Minli. It was hard moment for me, but I know they will never remember it and at the time had no clue what was going on.

Rick and I talked about Minli often. We wanted to go back for him, but he is the same age as Emma and Timmy. His needs are a little greater, and not that we couldn't handle it, but with three 1 year olds it would be too big of a challenge. A family posted on our SFCV yahoo site saying they were interested in him... I was so happy! But once this family learned about his back, they felt they were not the family for him. Several others viewed his file, but he always came back to the shared list... his mild scoliosis scared families away.

This summer I had an adoption friend that traveled to SFCV for a family mission trip. I emailed her and asked her to spend some good, quality time with Minli. I was determined to find this little guy a family and I wanted someone to give me details about his life. I trusted my friend's observations... she is a mom to 2 boys. When she got back from Ch*na, she emailed me a lengthy email with her observations. It was everything I already knew... he was sweet, loving, interactive, typical boy!!!! But on paper, it seemed that only one thing stuck out... and that was the issue with his back.

I posted her observations on my Fuzhou City yahoo group. Well, someone read it. Meanwhile, there was a family in Indiana who saw a picture on their agency list and fell in love with a precious little boy. They wanted to lock his file. The mother of this sweet family mentioned it to her friend... and her friend said, "oh my goodness, someone just posted about him on my yahoo group!" WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!!!!!

So, Minli has a family. A family that knows about his back, but sees him for the sweet, precious, loving little boy that he is. He is not defined by his special need because the only need we truly have is to be in a family!!!! I can't wait for this little guy to come home!

Did I mention the best part????? He lives only a few hours from us. Again, what are the chances?!?!?! Rongjia and Minli, who started a relationship in an orphanage in southern Ch*na will be raised half way across the world only a few hours from each other.

In looking at all the details, it is obvious that God had His hand in this. I know that Minli and Emma will never remember each other. I don't know all of the details of their time together. BUT, I know they were together... and as her mother, I can't wait to share this part of her story with her!

Our Labor Day

One of our favorite places to go is hiking in a local forest. We all love it! This year Timmy and Emma were able to walk most of the trail. Emma had a good time, but Timmy really enjoyed it. He is an outdoor boy just like his big brother, Andrew. Rick's parents came along today, too.

Here is Timmy, leading the way down the trail

We have this exact same picture taken last year when Emma first got home. I have it framed on my desk. I can't believe how much Emma has grown in the last year.

Emma 2 year and Matthew 4 year

Here are some birthday pictures...

Recent pictures...

We have been so busy! We have been in school for almost a month now... I can't believe that! We are very thankful that all of our kids have adjusted and we now have a good routine going. Timmy and Emma go to Melody's house, who they call ga-ga. They love her and when Rick drops them off in the morning, they run right in and go get their favorite toys. Melody is a sweet, loving lady who takes such good care of them. We are lucky! Matthew has adjusted much better to his new school. This time next year he will be in Kindergarten and going to school with mommy everyday. Andrew is my school boy, so starting back was no big deal for him. Andrew begins soccer next week, so we will have 10 weeks of a busy soccer schedule. Both Timmy and Emma are in speech, so we have to get home for that 2 days a week. I am stepping up as team leader for the third grade teachers and running a chess club at school.... so as you can see, we are BUSY! By Friday evenings, I want to collapse on the couch :)

Timmy has really come a long way in the last few months. We went through a stage that lasted about 6 months where he screamed constantly. It was exhausting!!!! He was always so grumpy. Looking back, it was probably his teeth because they all came in at the same time. Now, his speech is growing and he is actually TALKING and communicating with us and generally very happy. He loves to play and is starting to take a big interest in trucks (go figure). He is a really fun little boy who loves to play, play, play. He is always climbing and getting himself into the worst situations. As his father says, "he will end up on you-tube one day!"

Emma is still a sweet and laid back little girl. Her speech is coming along to, but her vocabulary hasn't grown much recently. The sounds that require you to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth (t and d) are hard for her because she has only had the roof of her mouth for a few months now. She makes a lot of sounds in the back of her throat. She is obsessed with babies right now and loves to rock them and feed her little dolls a bottle. Timmy loves to steal her doll and run as fast as his little legs will carry him... and then throw them over the baby gate. It happens at least 10 times a day. She does the same thing to him though. The other day Timmy was trying to play with his garbage truck, but Emma wouldn't let him have it. So, he went to get her doll and stood right in front of her making eye contact. Emma got upset, wanted her doll, so Timmy threw the doll at her and took his truck and ran. I was so impressed with his problem solving in that situation :)

There isn't much to update on Matthew... he is still a laid back, sweet little guy. There really isn't much to update on Andrew either. He is still stuttering and that gives us a little bit of worry. It started last April, so it has been about 5 months. Everything I read says that if it lasts longer than 6 months, it might be something that sticks around. It is normal for young children to stutter as their vocab increases and their little mouths can't keep up with their growing brains. Andrew was a late talker, so his stuttering stage came a little later. His speech therapist at school thinks it is because he is learning so much and his mouth can't keep up. When it first started, it was BAD. I cried and cried because it was difficult to see him struggle. It got better and then it would come and go. We are told that the pattern of stuttering he is showing is actually progressing... and he is moving in the right direction. At first, he stuttered the beginning sound... then it was the whole word... now he just draws out the words. Just recently he has started blinking when stuttering and showing signs of what they call a "block" where the word doesn't come out. Obviously, we don't want to see him struggle with talking. We know that socially this is way more destructive than other things. However, we also realize that there are parents with children who have deadly illnesses and diseases.... so if this is the worst thing we ever have to face with him, we should consider ourselves lucky. I am putting all my trust and faith in God to heal him from this. In the last 3 days, his stuttering has decreased dramatically... and I am very encouraged. Last weekend, however, it was so bad that I could hardly understand him and he couldn't get anything out. I hope these "good" days continue and that we will one day soon be rid of this! Many parents have told me that their children stuttered and that one day it was gone. Andrew's speech therapist has a son who stuttered like Andrew. She know exactly what I feel as a mother, but feels confident it will go away.

Finally, I have found a treatment that works for my Crohn's disease. I was diagnosed just over 10 years ago. I have only flared a few times and was always able to get it back in control with a dose of steroids. Since January of this year I have been getting progressively worse and by June I was so miserable that I turned back to steroids. In the scope of my stomach in June, it showed a great deal of damage. My doctor said that I have to find a maintenance drug to keep it under control or I will one day soon end up with surgery... a major gastric bypass surgery. The problem is that my type of Crohn's is so rare that there are no proven meds to keep it in remission. I just recently switched to a new specialist and he felt encouraged that remicade would do the trick. Every 8 weeks I get a 2 hour IV infusion of the drug. So far, I am feeling great. The side effects are a little scary... but I know it is a risk I need to take.

I know I am biased, but I think my daughter is the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen.

I can't even begin to tell you how destructive my babies are. We have a lock on every door of our house. When I found my laundry all over the place, dirty and clean mixed together, I reached my breaking point!!!! I don't know if it is because I have two of them, or if they are just extra naughty... but I don't remember my older boys giving me this much trouble!

When the boys play baseball, he runs to the garage to get his helmet on. He wants to do everything the big boys do!

First days...

We are back in the school routine again. Matthew started a new school and we are very thankful for the change. It is a lot more money (unfortunately) but so far it has been well worth it. We love the community of the school and the care that he receives. There are only 9 kids in his class and he is surrounded by a Christian curriculum. They pray before meals, read scripture and incorporate Bible stories into their lessons. Not that we had a problem with his other school, we just feel much more comfortable here! This is his last year of preschool before Kindergarten and then he will be with ME!!!!

Andrew had an easy transition to 1st grade. He loves his school and has the sweetest little friends. When school first started, I was told not to kiss or hug him at school. But, all his friends love me... and when they see me in the hall, they scream my name and want to hug me. That's all it took... and now I am allowed to hug and kiss him again :) He just had to realize how cool his mama was! I am so happy with his friends, they are the sweetest group of boys and girls. I hope they stick together because it is a rough world out there :)

Matthew with his teacher, Mrs. Stephanie

Andrew on the 1st day of 1st grade

Andrew with his sweet teacher, Mrs. Phillips

Let the catch-up begin

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog- YIKES! That is not like me :) So, I am backing up and covering some of our big end of summer events. Life is super busy these days, but really great! OK- on to the pictures, since that is all people care about!

Here is the princess on her actual birthday. She got a new pink and purple bike for her big day and she LOVES it!

Timmy and Emma have the sweetest relationship. They fight like cats and dogs 50% of the time and are completely in love the other 50%. They were having a serious conversation on the front porch.

Emma was getting some birthday kisses from her big brothers.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It makes me laugh every time I look at it! Our future is so bright... we gotta wear shades!

This summer, our wonderful agency hosted a reunion picnic. This gives families a chance to reunite with those they traveled with to China. We traveled alone, but we still wanted to go. Here we are with Betty, our coordinator. She did everything for us! She answered all our questions, walked us through every step and planned our entire trip. She is one of the very special people that brought Emma Grace to our family. She is an important part of Emma's journey home!!

Here I am with a very special family (well, 2 of the members of the family!) Janet and her family have 4 children, 3 adopted from Ch*na. Soon after we were matched with Emma and I found out she was living at PHF, I remembered a family posting on our yahoo site about their experience with PHF. I contacted Janet about her experience with PHF and that is how our "adoption friendship" started! She offered words of encouragement and advice through our journey (her son had cleft lip/palate as well). In this picture, Janet and I are holding our two treasures from PHF or shepherd's field children's village.

The adoption community is connected through this wonderful blog/email world. Right before we left for Ch*na, Betty called me and said that a family was very interested in the file of Lexi, a child living at PHF, and she wanted to know if I could get pictures and video while I was there. Of course I would! She also asked for my permission to give my email to the family interested in adopting her. While I was in Ch*na, and staying at PHF, a sweet lady emailed me and said that they had locked her file and were interested in any information we could give her. So, we spent some time with sweet Lexi, loving her, kissing her, taking her picture and video.

The Brady family just got home with this sweet little girl and her name is now Susi. My friend, Janet (in the picture above) also just got home from Ch*na where they adopted their 4th child. These 2 wonderful families got to meet each other and actually travel together! Isn't a small world? We are all connected in some way!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet Emma Grace!

It could have been the day before. Or maybe even the day after. We will never know for sure the exact day of her birth, but the orphanage assigned July 26, 2009 as her birthday.

What we do know is that our baby girl was found on a busy street outside of a popular hospital in Fuzhou City. Abandoned. She was found on July 27, 2009 and she was a newborn... estimated to be a day old.

It is so easy for our western minds to judge... we are not aware of their laws, customs, and culture. I often wonder about her birth family and if they question how she ended up. Do they know she spent 8 months in an orphanage where she probably never saw beyond those walls? Do they know she was sent to a hospital near Beijing where she went through open heart surgery alone? Do they know she was adopted? I always wonder what their story is. Were they truly a poor family? Was Emma Grace a second sister? Was she a first born and they could not handle her medical conditions or were they afraid to raise a baby with cleft lip and palate because of what others might think? We will never know that part of Emma's story.

But what I do know is that I am raising a little girl that radiates joy. She is affectionate, sweet, funny, loving... I could go on and on. She gives the best hugs and puckers up her lips to get a kiss. She has the best facial expressions of any 2 year old I have ever met. She is so stinkin' smart. She is absolutely beautiful and everyone that meets her loves her. I am so thankful that we are here to experience this part of her story. Now that I know my Emma Grace my heart breaks for what she went through the first year of her life. I wish I was there the moment she became an orphan so that she never had to live through the hard part. I know that is all part of her story and makes her who she is today, but it hurts this mama's heart! I spend a little extra time at night rocking her, trying to make up for all the nights there wasn't anyone to cuddle with her. I tell her how much I love her and that I will always be her mommy and that I will never leave her. The way she looks me in the eye when I talk to her makes me feel like she really understands what I am saying.

It is really hard not to think of the birth family on a birthday. I have to believe that they loved her. They left her in a place where she would be found quickly... and there are many other choices they could have made the day she was born. They chose life and because of that, we are being blessed with a daughter and a sister. We will always be grateful for their sacrifice and I hope there is a day when we can meet them and they can see what a beautiful, loving little girl Emma Grace is.

I am so thankful we are able to celebrate Emma's 2nd (but first for us!) birthday. She is our miracle baby. We love you, Emma Grace and we are so thankful that God chose us to be your family!!!

"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten..." Joel 2:25

My beautiful baby girl

This picture was taken at her foster village. She is wearing the outfit and sitting by the toys we sent her on her first birthday. I am not sure when this picture was taken, but I am almost certain it was not on her birthday:

This is the closet picture I have to her first birthday. It was taken 2 days after, on July 28, 2010:

We celebrated her first birthday last year with a cake. We even sang happy birthday to her!