Referral Day Plus Six Years!

I can hardly believe it has been six years but it has.  We got the call about eleven am that morning.  The first thing the social worker from CCAI said was.  “Congratulations you have a beautiful daughter”

She then sent us an email with this picture attached.

 

She was beautiful then and gets more beautiful all the time.  She looked a little scared to me in this picture then and now when I look at it I realize she really was.  I know all her expressions and what they represent about how she is feeling.  Love that girl so much.  She has brought tons of Joy and Happiness into this home. She is a sweet child, compassionate and loving all the time.   Her little world has changed so much since this picture was taken.  Next week she will be on the team representing her school in the UIL spelling contest.  She loves basketball, and music and is learning to play the violin. She is in an archery class and will be participating in a 4-H cooking class later this month.   She is busy busy busy and loves it.

Hope, we love you to the moon and back…so thankful for hearing those words six years ago today. 

Canton, County Fair, & Happy Halloween!

October went by in a

FLASH !

We have been busy busy busy.  I am really excited about the holiday season.  Practice has already started for our church Christmas Play and Hope actually agreed to a one line speaking part this year.  That makes us so proud.  She has always been so content to sing with the group of kids in our church plays and never wanted to be featured in any way.  She is really growing up and becoming more confident in so many ways.  We are so excited for her.

This month started out with our annual shopping trip to Canton Trade Days and ended last night with our Halloween fun times. Here is a photo version of October here on Wolfhill.

First Monday Shopping Canton Texas,

Sunnie, John and Ronnie washing chickens before the County Fair

 

Hopie feeding her prized chicken!

 

Fifth place ribbon…yeah Hope.  I refuse to comment on exactly how many chickens were in her category….uh a thousand  or was it five?

 

Cousin Tristan showing his First place goat.  Awesome job Tristan!

Cousin Lexington second runner up for Little Miss Fannin County.

Yeah Lexi!

 

And we had a bunch of beautiful fall days that called for races with Heath and Audrey on the patio.  I somehow missed getting a picture of Audrey.  Sorry Miss A I will do better next time.

 

Drum roll please Officer Hope keeping the peace on Wolfhill!  When we were shopping for a costume I kept trying to get her to look at the really girly ruffled stuff but she had her mind made up and Wow was she cute a “Cop” !Heath as Darth Vader and Tan Tan the Police DogMisty and Nanny giving out candy at the Trunk or Treat.  Thank you New Zion Baptist, Ector Baptist, & Ector Methodist Churches.  It was a beautiful community event.The three cuties in their costumes minus the Darth Vader mask that hurt Heath’s nose.

 

Isn’t she beautiful!   Love you Miss A.And the LOOT!  All in all I would say Hope Marie enjoyed her Halloween Fun.  By the way there is a lot more candy-a LOT!

Looking forward to a wonderful November.  Ronnie’s birthday coming up then my favorite holiday…Thanksgiving.

I am so very Thankful for my FAMILY.

Catching Up

The school year is going great!  Hope loves her teachers Mrs. V and Ms. Brittany. We have a tiny new creature living at our house.  Over the last year our sweet dogs Timber and Abby both died of old age.  Daddy promised Hope a puppy and she has arrived!  She is a tiny little thing right now (we have absolutely no idea how big or little she will eventually be)  We got her from a city facility in a neighboring town.  She is so cute and sweet.  We are in love.  Seriously.

Her name is Tan Tan.  Hope was called Tan Tan at the orphanage in China and decided her adopted pet should have that name.  They told us she was part beagle and part terrier.  The Vet at first said no I think she is part Spitz, but at her last visit she said she is definitely part Pomeranian.  We looked up images of Pom Terrier mix puppies and think she is right.  Her face is certainly a match.  She was 4 pounds when we got and and is now 5.5 pounds.  She has gotten a little taller and worked her way into our family just fine.  We have never had a house pet, accept  some of our kittens when they were little, but then they moved outside.  Tan Tan will hopefully get big enough to stay outside in good weather, but if not well I suppose we may have our first house pet! 

Oh and she gets a bath VERY OFTEN!!!

Family Vacation 2013

Hope really enjoyed herself on this trip.  We rented a “cabin”…more like a beautiful log home close to Beavers Bend State Park in Oklahoma. All the girls and their families were able to get away and join us.  Also my brother Billy and his family were able to rent a cabin close by.  We got to meet the newest member of the family. It was wonderful.  

 

Cabin living room.Hope in the kitchen

Misty, Caleb, and TylerHope and AudreyTwo bathing beauties with Superman on July 4thThe outdoor firepit was a hit.  This is the only picture I have of Jeff.  He had to leave a day early to go back to work. Hope and her Aunt Janet.  (there were 2 hammocks and believe me they were very popular with EVERYONE!)The little ones fav place was the hot tub deck.  It had a big hot tub a patio set and a porch swing and was on the upper deck…beautiful.  All you could see from the deck was trees……………sigh………….I want to go back!Bethany and AudreyTylerAudreyOur Girls…we are so proud of themHeath aka SupermanBenBradley
CalebSunnie KayRonnie Becky and HopeCarmen and John with their children Bradley Ben Sunnie and Heath

A few pictures of the cabin.  Misty has some better pics.. I will post them later.

 

We love our family…! When my sister in law Janet said they were thinking about going to Beaver’s Bend (they went there on their honeymoon)  I could not believe the luck when they were also able to get a cabin close by.  We are hoping next year Sharon Jackie Vicki and Joe may be able to join us.  Next year we will plan ahead not at the last minute.  Looking forward to that!!!!  Hey everyone send me some ideas of where we might go!  Somewhere in the middle maybe. 

 

Here is a cute pic of Billy…he needed some glasses…and borrowed mine…notice the rhinestones.  Looking good !

January 2013

We enjoyed ourselves on New Years Eve.   Our older girls and some of the grandchildren always come over and we play games.  We really had a great time and our friend Sabrina and her three beautiful children are always here on New Years … it’s a tradition that we cherish.  Carmen and Sabrina were in nursery class together when they were babies and have been the best of friends ever since.  Our families are friends and it is a really special relationship.  Carmen and Sabrina were actually each others Maid of Honor at their weddings.  Actually Carmen was Sabrina’s Matron of Honor but that just sounds old doesn’t it.

January here on Wolfhill was cold and a we got some rain.  We need rain.  Hope is enjoying second grade and has gotten all A’s this year so far.  She loves to read and that really makes most other subjects so much easier.  She does struggle with math…I think she got that from me, but she does very well and tries hard.  This girl really wants to succeed at what ever she tries.  January was also the month for Little Dribblers Basketball and Hope LOVES basketball. Her team did really well.   She played hard and scored points for the team several times.   We were all so tickled whenever it was time for the game to start, Hope always started jumping …I mean JUMPING and JUMPING and JUMPING.  She reminded me of Tigger in Winnie the Pooh. 

January also is time for Hopie’s yearly checkup.  Her Dr is a family friend it really feels good when you know your daughter’s wonderful pediatrician also loves her.(He loves all his patients…he is just that kind of man)  He is so special to us.  He saved her life when we first brought her home from China.  She was very ill,  dehydrated, and had pneumonia.  We were so scared, exhausted, jet lagged and had spent about  twenty four more hours traveling than was planned, with an unexpected layover in San Francisco where we spent the entire night in the ER with Hope getting IV’s and antibiotics so when I saw Dr. Tim I finally just turned loose and cried. Now she loves him too…that first day in 2008 she was not so sure.

Enough about January… now on to February…I still have most of 2012 to catch up on, just thought that might never happen so I started with 2013.