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!

Final stop... Aunt JuJu and Uncle T

We finished out our week at Rick's sister's house. When we got there she had it decorated for the kids' birthdays. Since Julie is out of town she misses the parties... so she decided to have her own party for all 4 of them! There were tons of balloons, spiderman cake, gifts and a pinata. It was quite the par-tay! Christa (Rick's sister), Bill and Eden were also able to join in the fun since they only live an hour away!!! On Saturday we went to Annapolis. We took a boat ride and then had lunch in the park. That night, the boys got to play at the coolest park their little eyes had ever seen. Sunday we went for a ride on the trains which was a big hit for my boys. It was a fun-packed weekend and we were all worn out by Sunday!!! Thanks for everything, Julie and Travis... we had SO MUCH FUN!!!

I love this picture (even though EG's eyes are closed)

In Annapolis

We had to include J & T's baby... sock monkey. As you can see, Emma was not a fan of the dog. Timmy, however, LOVED him!!! One morning we found them laying in bed together. Later that day, Timmy was chasing him around the house trying to cover him up with his special blanket. It was so cute!

My kiddos with their cousin Eden.

Beach Bums

One of my favorite pictures of all time...

Stop #2... Rehoboth Beach

When we left my cousin's house in PA, we had a quick 2.5 hour drive to the beach in DE. It was actually wonderful... the kids ate lunch in the car (thanks for the packed lunches Carrie and Chris!) and then slept until we reached the beach. I got a little worried because the forecast was all thunderstorms for the 3 days we were at the beach. It was pouring down rain and storming when we got to our hotel. But, by the time we checked in and unpacked the car the rain had stopped! We went for a walk on the boardwalk and about 30 minutes later, the beaches opened again. From then on we were blessed with PERFECT weather. (thank you, Lord!!!!)

We spent a lot of time at the beach, a few hours at the pool, did some outlet shopping, went out to eat, went for a walk and ice cream on the boardwalk... we had tons of fun!!!

Here is a picture of the boardwalk where we stayed. It was really cute with a lot of fun places to eat and little shops. Maybe when our kids are older we can actually enjoy some of those things! For now, we just had fun going on little walks.

The boys could hardly wait to get in the ocean! They had a BLAST. They chased the waves, pretended to surf, collected rocks and shells.... they were in heaven. It was so much fun to see them enjoy the water and the beach this much!!! Andrew never wanted to leave the beach and begged and begged to go back to play in the waves.

Here is EG experiencing the ocean for the first time. This is priceless to me!!!! This sweet little girl was abandoned as a newborn on a busy street... raised the first year of her life in an orphanage... and here she stands, holding her daddy's hand and staring at the ocean. I am so thankful we were called to be her parents!

Timmy's first time to see the ocean... also priceless to me. There is something very special about witnessing this for the first time.

The best picture I got of my 4 kids together. A shot on the beach was not going to happen!

Vacation stop #1

We just returned from a wonderful family vacation! We knew we wanted to visit Rick's sister, Julie in the D.C. area and we went back and forth on whether we should make it just a weekend trip or plan a week long adventure out of it. We decided on the week long adventure and I am so glad we did. I guess our first official stop would be the Fischer's house on 4th of July. We spent the night and got up at 3 am to make the 9 hour drive to my cousin's house in PA. I haven't seen my cousin in 9 years and I have never met her husband or kids. I am so glad we decided to stop in and see them! Her kids are the same age as mine and they all hit it off. They had fun playing together and seemed to share a lot of the same interests. It was great being able to relax and catch up with family we haven't seen in awhile. Thanks for taking us in, Carrie and Chris, and for feeding our very large crew. We just might be back again next year, LOL :)

Here I am with my cousin, Carrie and all of our kids. Austin is 4 (same as Matthew) and Lexi is 16 months so a little younger than my babes.

They had a sleepover... very cute. Look at Emma Grace, she thinks she is SO BIG! She always has to do what the big kids do.

Emma and Lexi. They are almost exactly the same size (Emma was just a little taller)

The kiddos

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Northern Kentucky for the annual 4th of July parade at Rick's parents house. These pictures are my favorites of each of my babes. I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July!

Where's Timmy?

Surely he isn't hiding in the pantry...

yep, look at that... getting a little quiet time in the pantry with his all time favorite thing, food.

So we have learned that when Timmy goes missing, he is in one of three places. Under the kitchen table, in the pantry, or in the hall closet. He can now open every door in our house so the exterior doors have to stay locked. Because I just might find him in the backyard playing with the pooper scooper and a bag of dog poop. I really am an involved, observant mother... these little boogers just get away from me every once in awhile.