Xin Hue News Broadcast at Sophie's Orphanage

The Xin Hue news station is doing a special in China about Hearts and Hands International while Ken is in China. Our little Sophie is in the end of the video as she is leaving to get her cleft lip repaired. They are going to finish the special on April 30th. We heard they followed Sophie to the hospital and filmed there as well. They were filming at the orphanage again on the 30th and we can't wait until Ken posts it on You Tube and we are hoping for new pictures soon!!!! We received our I 171 and the Assistant Stork is sending it to our agency this week. We are praying we will be DTC next week and be able to bring Sophie home sometime in Aug. or Sept. The waiting is the hardest, we want to jump through the screen and hug Sophie everytime we get a new picture. We are so blessed to be getting these pictures,updates and videos, it makes the wait a little easier.

Our Sophie had her lip surgery

We are praising God for the wonderful news. Sophie had her surgery on Thursday and we got the report that it went very well and she should be released from the hospital in the next few days. We are so grateful to Ken for being able to be there with Sophie and send us the update and photos of our cutie. It was so hard knowing she was going to have this surgery and we would not be there to hold and comfort her. We are so thankful for these pictures and for Ken's ministry, Hearts and Hands International that provivded the surgery.


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We found out about Hearts and Hands ministry through a lady who was on the Xin Hui Yahoo group. Her daughter had been in the orphanage there and they live in the same home town as Ken and his wife Nita. They had wonderful information to share with us and got us in touch with Ken. He saw Sophie's picture and knew this was the baby he had scheduled and funded the surgery for. He has given us updates and pictures and it has been such a blessing.
Sophie is beautiful and we were surprised at how chubby she looks in the pictures, especially since she was only a little over 3lbs at 10 days old.
Mrs Feng is the orphanage director at Xin Hui, she seems like a wonderful lady who has such a heart for all the children in her care. She went to visit Sophie in the hospital and arranged for an Auntie to be with Sophie 24 hours around the clock while she was in the hospital.

My baby boy is 9!!

Eamon had his birthday celebration this week. We had a family party on the actual day and he opened family gifts and had an icecream cake. We were in China last year for his birthday, so he really wanted to have all his friends here for a sleepover. We all went to the Monte Mare pool and the kids had a great time on the slides and going off the high dive. Then we had everyone back to our house for dinner and a bunch of boys spent the night. Rylan made a fancy and very yummy 4 layer oreo cookie chocolate cake with chocolate and sour cream frosting. After cake all the boys wanted to run off all that sugar in the backyard. It was sooo wet outside from all the rain we've had, but this isn't a concern when your a boy. They had a lot of weapons they can't use inside and so they had to go out to the woods behind our house. It's really not a party for boys if there are not weapons involved. They were soooo muddy when they were done, but I was told this was the highlight of the night. I got in bed around 1am and it sounded quiet upstairs, but at 6am they were all awake and I could hear them playing the Wii boxing. I'm so glad Eamon had his last birthday in Germany with all his friends before we move back to the States. We are all going to miss the great families and friendships we have had here. It is going to be sad to leave, but I'm glad we have all the memories.

Happy 9th Birthday Eamon !!!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Playing In The Rain

We had just gotten back from the Commissary that's grocery store for you non military people. It had been raining all morning so Hadyn just scooped Grace out of the car and they ran and jumped in every puddle in the driveway. We unloaded all the groceries and they were still out there having a great time. It was such great joy to just sit by the window and watch them.

Family Day April 2, 2008

WOW!! I can't believe it's been an entire year since we were in China and held Grace for the first time. It seems like the months have flown by,but it also seems like I can't remember a time that Grace wasn't with us. She has grown and changed so much since that day. She is such a joy and we are so thankful God has given us this precious child. We celebrated the day by all going out for Chinese food, which we all love and then Grace opened a few gifts. At the restaurant Grace sat between the boys and sampled all of their food. It is great to just sit and watch the boys love and care for their sister. She always gets us all laughing. She loved all the spicy food and when we would say chinese food she would associate this with China and she would say Sophie, China. She thinks the only place to travel by plane is to China. One of her friends who is 2 flew to the States and I was telling Grace we wouldn't see her at church, because she had flown on an airplane to the States. When we got to church on Sunday she looked for her friend and said her name and then said, she flew on an airplane to China. I just smiled and thought it's OK if she thinks everyone goes to China. I can't believe in a few months we will be traveling again to China and this time with Grace to bring her sister home. The journey of adoption and knowing God has had these babies chosen to be in our family since the beginning of time and that He would have us travel across the world to bring them home is just so amazing.