HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE AND HOPE

Hope turned one and we are praising God we are able to spend this special day with her in our family. As we celebrate both Grace and Hope's birthdays we are so thankful to God for blessing us with His beautiful children, whom we have the privilege of raising. We pray both Grace and Hope will bring glory to God with their lives. We also think about their birth mothers and give thanks that they chose life for their children. We wonder what they think about each year, as I'm sure they must think about where their children are and what life they have. I feel so inadequate to be raising 6 children and giving them all they need both physically and spiritually,but I now by God's grace he always gives His children what they need, despite all of my shortcomings and sinfulness.

Grace is turning 3 in a few days and she is doing so well. She struggled with attachment issues since coming home and we have been working with her daily and building her trust, so she is not so afraid of the world. She will begin neuro reorganization in January, which will take her back through some of the early steps she missed in her development. She is really doing fabulous and we are so proud of her for the progress she has made. She has overcome so much in her short life. She is bright and is full of energy. She loves playing with her brothers and is very compassionate when anyone gets hurt. She is such a blessing to our family and we are so in love with her.

We took the girls to Friendly's for ice cream and then went back to my sister's to open presents. Hope had her first ice cream and Grace ordered a sundae. It was great to celebrate their birthdays with family. Hope had no idea what was going on, but Grace was so excited about her special day.

Rylan geting Hope to laugh

Opa.Oma and Mema watching Grace and Hope open gifts

Maguire and Grace

Grace opening gifts

Hope getting lots of help opening gifts

Hope

Grace eating her Sundae

Kendall and Grace were so cute at dinner coloring pictures together

Hope's first Sundae

Grace showing Curran her new shirt

Hope sharing her ice cream with mommy

Mema

Eating at Friendly's

16 of us went out for dinner

OUR TRIP TO NEW JERSEY

We have been home a few days from China now and we packed up again for N.J. so we could visit my family for Thanksgiving. Our Mema had celebrated her 90th birthday while we were in China and it was so good to see her. My sister and brother in law are always so gracious and open their home to our clan. It is always great to get the cousins together and everyone enjoyed their time hanging out at my sisters, going to the playground across the street from their house, going bowling, and piling into 3 cars so we could all go out for the day The new dynamic was Grace and Macguire. They had a love hate relationship going and were still working on sharing when we left. They really did love being together and it was so fun to watch them. Poor Macquire had to share all of his toys and Grace thought they were all hers. My parents stayed over a few nights and we all had Thanksgiving together. We all have so much to be thankful for and God has richly blessed our families. It always amazes me the path God chooses for each family and how he lovingly gives us gifts that we are so undeserving of. We are so grateful for His love and mercy and continue to daily seek His wisdom for our lives.

Hope's first time bowling

Eamon and Hadyn

Hope with Daddy

Everyone checking out the scores

Hope cheering everyone on

Cousins, Kendall,Eamon,Macguire and Grace

Cousins

Gracie

Macguire and Grace riding in the jeep.Grace crashed into almost everything in the yard


Macguire and Grace doing some painting

Hannah

Hope and Kendall

Macguire and Grace ready for another meal

Opa watching the game

Eamon banging on Macguires drum set

Happy 90th Birthday Mema

Oma working in the kitchen

Grace on the swings

Grace,Kendall and Macguire

Hope all bundled up


Hope loves the stroller


The boys playing basketball with Hannah

Eamon and Hadyn

Hannah and Hadyn

Opa with Macguire

Macguire and Grace playing nicely together

Hope loves to play in the dog food

Grace getting ready for bed

Home and Our First Stop Wal- Mart

Hope has only been in the States a few short hours and has already made her first trip to Wal- Mart. Hope loved riding in the cart and we shopped and quickly got out of there,so we could all go home and try to go to sleep. The girls slept great on the flight, they actually layed on blankets on the floor as we had bulk head seats. God was so gracious to allow all of our flights to go smoothly and allow us to also sit together. I am expecting a long night as the girls think it is 8am not 8pm.

Last Days In Guangzhou

We have spent the last few days in Guangzhou walking around the island talking with the locals and finishing up our shopping. We had our swearing in cerimony at the U.S. consulate yesterday afternoon with 53 other families all waiting to get our new babies their visas, so we can all travel home. When Hope touches U.S. soil she will be an American citizen. We leave for the U.S. in a few hours and we have enjoyed our time in China, but after 2 weeks in the same hotel room and living out of suitcases we are anxious to get home and be on a normal routine. It is sad to leave as we know this is where life began for our daughters and you feel a connection to this country and the culture and people.




There are lots of couples taking their wedding pictures here on the island because it is so beautiful. They rent the wedding dresses twice, once for the wedding day and once for the pictures.

People in China hanging out at the park playing cards

Hopie

Grace was a big help at lunch

Grace thought this was great fun

We pushed Mr Bean around in the stroller with the girls and all the Chinese people like him and know the show. Several people wanted to buy him from us, but the boys wouldn't bargin.

Hope is a happy baby and seems to just go with the flow. We are praying she will enjoy the long flight home and do some sleeping.

Hadyn enjoying some ribs at Lucy's

Curran hanging out at Lucy's

Eamon was playing hacky sack in the park and this man came up and played with him for a long time. The people here have been great with the boys and everyone loves to go up to Eamon's hair and touch it.