China Hope

Four Years Ago Today…

2012-01-14T18:18:00.001-08:00

After about 10 minutes of quiet…she started to cry… no scream! The nannies from the orphanage helped us calm her and soon had her saying mamma and baba (daddy in Chinese). After signing a few papers, we left the Civil Affairs office with our sweet baby girl and went back to the hotel. It was a magical wonderful day. The adoption process takes two days and the next day we went back to the same office for more paperwork and fees. By the next day she only wanted us and clung tightly to us and that was just fine by us.

When we got her back to the hotel we introduced her to her sisters and other family members via a set of web cams Misty had set up for us to use before we left. Then it was time for a bath. It may have been her first bath…honestly…I think they mostly just wipe them off. That set off another round of crying and screaming but soon she was calm again and took a nap while Ronnie went out to buy bottles and other supplies we did not know we needed. Hope was still taking formula and in diapers at age three. I believe the formula was the only thing that kept her going back then she was so very skinny (19 pounds). After we started removing the layers of clothing we were shocked at her size. Sleeping safe and sound with her new doll and the blanket her grandma sent with us to keep her all snug and warm.

We are so blessed to have this precious little girl in our lives. If you have ever considered adoption and think God might be leading you in that direction…just go for it… ! Hope has been a joy and beautiful presence in our family for the past four years and we are so very thankful we listened to that still small voice that led us to China.

We love you Hopie…with all our hearts!!!

Sunday Snapshot

2011-10-02T08:42:00.001-07:00

I really wish I had gotten down on her level to get this shot but alas I did not…we were in a hurry running late for Sunday School. Anyway these are the prettiest Morning Glories on the place this year with the drought these have survived only because they are close to the pan where we water the dogs, oh and the reason the have grown up the wall there is because someone left the rake propped up there. I told everyone do not move that rake until after the first frost!!!. Next year I plan to put some chicken wire up to encourage more growth on this side of the house. I just love these flowers. They are kinda like me very perky early in the day and very tired by sunset! It’s finally cool enough to break out Hope’s favorite fall dress…Zebras ... one is a girl and one is a boy. How do we know that? The one on her left is wearing a pink bow!!! She thinks they must be in love. Have a wonderful Sunday, enjoy your family today.

To see a lot of cute Sunday Snapshots visit the blog below. Enjoy!

First Grade

2011-09-27T09:11:00.001-07:00

Hope is in First Grade. It seems like just yesterday we brought her home. I suppose when you miss the first three years of a child’s life the next three just fly by. She is so precious. She is very sweet and kind. She has packed a lot into the past three and one half years. She mastered the English language without any structured teaching, we worked with her but mostly it was just her curiosity and life with her nephews and nieces. Being an Aunt at age three is full of fun. Our grandchildren love her so much and have been blessed by her presence in our family just as her sisters and parents have. We love you Hope Marie. By the way she has already been chosen “Best Citizen” of the week by her teachers this year actually the first one of the year. Last year she was Citizen of the Year for her class. Listen to the song I have on the playlist here on this blog. It is the perfect song for this sweet little girl. I am so very thankful God decided to bless me with the pleasure of being Mom to this precious angel. I’m so glad we heard His voice when He asked us to begin this journey.

A Visit With Cousins

2011-08-11T21:08:00.001-07:00

We visited with my cousin Ben earlier this summer. Ben and his wife Carla adopted a little baby girl from China and brought her home about two months before we brought Hope home. She is a cutie pie and the girls acted like they had known each other forever even though they have only met a few times. Lily is now four years old and will be five soon. Hope is six. Lily is very outgoing and sweet. Here are a few pictures from the visit.

Hope and Lily had lots of fun. We enjoyed our time with the whole family Ben, Carla, Marley, Luke and Lily. We just cannot wait until the next time!!!!!!!!!

Summertime Fun 2011/Haircut/July 4th

2011-07-28T09:13:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of some of our summer fun. Busy Busy Busy this time of year. I love it. Hope has really had a good time during her first summer vacation from school. I’m so proud of her for the way she took to school and then right back into summer freedom without a pause. I love my girl.

I should have made a separate post for each these but I’m so far behind now so here goes…Before During…

After…

Hope really did need a haircut and she wanted to send her hair to “Pink Heart Funds” so that is what we did. It meant a little bit shorter cut than I wanted but it was what she wanted that mattered. We sent TEN inches of hair that will help to make a wig for a child who needs it because of medical treatment for cancer. I’m proud of my girl and she really looks cute in shorter hair and I just keep telling myself “it will grow…it will grow.”

The 4th of July was busy and fun as usual.

Even Malcolm got in on the fun.Heath and Audrey enjoyed the little pool and put on a show with their sunglasses and smiles!READY…SET…GO !!!

Bradley having a little fun on the scooter…hey Mom and Dad this guy need some real wheels!

I have a lot more Summer Fun to share, when time allows.

Becky

Princess Hope At The Dallas Arboretum

2011-07-02T08:05:00.001-07:00

We recently took a short trip and visited the Dallas Arboretum. Ronnie bought me a membership for my birthday last year…I love this place and treasure each visit, it is beautiful no matter what season of the year you are there. Isn’t Ronnie the most thoughtful husband in the world!!

Hope has been in sort of a princess mode lately. She wants a tiara and loves to read the collection of princess stories I recently bought her, anyway the theme of some of the displays at the Arboretum is the Fairytale Castles and she loved it.

Hey Princess your driver and coach are waiting !!

She’s a cutie pie. Thanks Hope for being so cooperative …after all I only said “smile Hopie” about a ten thousand times that day.

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-07-01T09:36:00.001-07:00

I loved it! It was so cute. They walked down the isle in their caps and gowns cute as they could be and smiles on their faces. I will not post a group shot since I’m trying to be so careful about the other kiddos privacy. Anyway here is what I can post…Hope with Nanny. (Nanny is really Bradley Ben Sunnie and Heath’s grandmother but she loves Hopie like one of her own…and Hope really loves Nanny)Hope and her Grandma…I’ve got to start checking for blinks and take better pictures…sorry Grandma but Hope would not like it if I left off a picture of you and her together. Sunnie Kay and Hope MarieHope and her sisters…Bethany, Carmen and Misty Audrey Hope and Heath… aren’t they cute.

Kindergarten graduation is only symbolic but it’s lots of fun and we all really enjoyed the day!

Becky

Celebrating Easter

2011-05-23T10:10:00.001-07:00

We always try to put the emphasis on the true meaning in each of the religious holidays we celebrate as a family. Attending church on Easter Sunday as a family is precious…especially when your entire immediate family is able to be with you. Hope was blessed this year to have all her sisters and their families with her in church. We were blessed to have her… with us! This time last year was tough and we will never forget what we went through and we will always remember Wade who is missed even more on special occasions. When I consider that he went home to be with the One who died for us and was raised again on that first Easter Sunday, it sheds a fresh light and peace on our celebrations.

We are blessed…

These three girls will almost always smile for the camera!

I’m sure Carmen has a better picture but he was just to busy opening up every egg he found to look at the camera!!

Of course the older guys opted out of the photos. I did sneak a few though.

Yes that is paper plates on the table ON A HOLIDAY…but the girls insisted and I was so very tired!! A family reunion and a holiday on the same weekend kept me so busy.

Somehow they just prefer to not get in the way of my camera.

Hey, candy is candy … even when you are ten…I hope she keeps hunting eggs till she is twenty!

Some hiding places required a little creative stance to get them picked up without getting muddy.

Isn’t that hair gorgeous? Soon we will be getting it cut…sending it to “Pink Heart Funds” to be made into a wig for a child with cancer. I keep telling myself…it will grow again!!

Sunday Snapshot

2011-04-17T20:58:00.001-07:00

A little shopping…a lotta smiling!! We went shopping yesterday to get a few things for warmer weather and for Easter. It was so much fun. Hope loves shopping until she gets tired then it is time to go home!! Carmen sang in our Church Easter Cantata tonight (by the way it was wonderful) and after we got home Miss Hopie agreed to a few poses for the camera.

She really looks cute in yellow. I was so surprised yesterday when I would show her clothes to see if they passed the Hopie test. Number 1 requirement to being something she would consider is the fact that it is NOT a skirt. Not real sure where that came from but she hates to wear them. The surprise was that she wanted not only this very very cute tutu type dress she also asked for another one a little bit similar to wear for hunting eggs with the family on Easter Sunday. I get so happy when she tries on something at the store that she loves…it reminds me of the day we got her with only the clothes she had on her back and the fact that we know that in the orphanage nothing is really yours. It is yours for the day if you wear it. She will laugh and giggle and do a little dance if she really loves something and it is always “Mommy can we get it ? Can we? Please?” ( That is why we do not try on anything unless we do plan to purchase something) She is not good at window shopping.

Becky

Check This Out

2011-04-13T08:26:00.001-07:00

With a big heart and a love for the abandoned children in China this couple is going above and beyond!! I was so happy to donate to their effort to bring home two more sweet little girls from China. Check out their website and ask God if you should help them out too.

Here is a link to their family website

http://nihaoyall.com/

Becky

Fire Town

2011-03-17T23:19:00.001-07:00

Recently Hope’s Class went on a field trip to Fire Town. It was such a fun time for them and for the parents who were able to attend. They have created a child sized town and have all sorts of safety programs available. The Kindergarten class participated in the 911 education program and the traffic safety program. They also got to climb all over and in a fire truck…Hope loved that! Here she is checking out the bell. This was by far the most fun of the entire day. Driving a jeep around the little town. They have stop lights and crosswalks as well as all types of building…a bank a church…its just like a little town! As you can see in the pictures below I could hardly keep up with this little speedster… she spent a little time running into the curbs and going across the center line before she got the hang of driving but when she did oh my… did she have fun! The class took turns some were drivers and some were pedestrians. When it was Hopes turn to be a pedestrian she literally ran from one intersection to the next to try and be the first one there to push the crosswalk button. You can tell how much fun she had…just look at that smile on her cute little face!!!!

Becky

Gary Contact Us…Leave A Comment Here

2011-03-12T06:46:00.001-08:00

Gary we have been watching the news and hope to hear from you. We are concerned about your family and Asako’s family. We will keep the comment unpublished for your privacy. We are praying for you all.

Love

Ronnie and Becky

Our School Girl…Learning So Much

2011-02-22T09:34:00.001-08:00

We are amazed once again by Hope. She loves school and is really learning so much. The school system is wonderful and so good for the children. The focus in grade K seems to be getting a good foundation in phonics and sight reading also they do learn a lot of math skills. Hope can sound out almost any word. She just blows me away. I am so very proud of her. She tries very hard and she understands the necessity of learning and loves loves loves reading books. I read to her a lot and she is starting to want to read to me (which I love!!)

This project is about the 100th day of school and learning to count to 100. Hope worked very hard on the project. She did it all except the hot glue. I used the glue gun and she pushed all the beads into place. It was really cute and my baby girl can count to 100!

One proud mom,

Becky

Sunday Snapshot “Valentines”

2011-02-12T20:33:00.001-08:00

This dress is actually Hope’s Christmas dress but was so very pretty and RED that I decided she should wear it again on the Sunday before Valentine’s Day….(I would send her to school in it Monday but she would not be happy about that…not much fun on the playground!!) Her necklace is a rhinestone heart. As you can tell she was not very excited about taking time out of her day for picture taking after all a girl’s got things to do…I think she looks very cute and she is such a very special little Valentine to our whole family.

We love you Hope !! Happy Valentines Day!!

Another Snow Day!!! Yeah!!!

2011-02-09T08:24:00.001-08:00

Last week we had four snow days and now another one this week. Hope and I really enjoyed our time together. Since Audrey and Heath’s moms work in the school system it was just me and my baby girl hanging out and enjoying the beautiful snow. Actually on Friday morning I defied all odds and successfully drove my car to pick up Sunnie Kay, Ben, Bethany and Audrey so they could all play in the snow together. Funny thing, during the three years that Hope has been home every time it has snowed it did not work out for Hope and Sunnie to get to play in the snow together…so we changed that. They really had some fun and hopefully Miss Hope Marie and I will get out a little later today and have a little more fun.

Hope was all smiles:)

Sweet little Audrey!

Ben “busted it” and Hope and Audrey thought it was real funny.

They even look like they are warm enough.

What A Difference Three Years Makes!!

2011-01-14T03:46:00.001-08:00

Wow has is been three years? In some ways it seems like Hope has always been with us, in other ways I cannot believe it has been three years since we brought her home! She is a joy and is so very much loved by this big happy family of ours. She has definitely made her own place in this world! We love you Hope Marie … Happy Gotcha Day … !! We are thankful God chose us to be your family. Our first moments together. She stole our hearts!When we started taking off the layers and layers of clothes…she seemed a even smallerDaddy holding her after her first bath which by the way she screamed and cried through.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

Heath and Audrey dressed for bed !Sunnie got a make up kit for Christmas and she tried it out on Hope who has decided she loves make-up. (I think it can wait about ten years…) What a blessed family we are…despite the loss of our precious Wade we are blessed. Our faith and the faithfulness of our Lord has helped us heal and given us the strength to face this first Christmas without him. It was not easy especially for Misty and the boys, we all struggled some but the joy of celebrating the birth of Jesus was even more precious this year.
We spent Christmas Eve with our family and attended Christmas Eve service at our Church.

Christmas Sunday

2010-12-22T07:44:00.001-08:00

The last Sunday before Christmas has always been a special day in our family. When the older girls were young our church always had a Christmas Play or program of some sort on the Sunday prior to Christmas. Our family always attends church together if at all possible. Here are a few pictures…you will notice that one little girl not very cooperative when it ca me to the photo shoot in their pretty dresses but she is just so cute….that makes up for her antics

Can you tell they were enjoying the day!!Beautiful girls The candy cane was our secret weapon…she would only pose with it in her mouth though.

They really love each other and it shows in these two pictures

Audrey was just full of fun…she smiled but was always doing silly things…we really love this baby girl!!

Hope Marie I think red is your color!!

Referral Day Memories

2010-12-07T00:30:00.000-08:00

Three years ago today was referral day. It is hard to describe the emotions when you are about to down load a photo of a child that you have never seen but which will be your child just as surely as if you were in a hospital delivery room after nine months of pregnancy. We had been pregnant for three years and nine months. We didn't sleep too well the night before. We waited that morning for the call and finally the phone rang. Our agency rep greeted us and began telling us who our daughter was, her Chinese name, place of birth, age, weight, health, etc. I was being very business like, taking notes, asking questions and then the rep said that she was emailing a photo. She asked if we saw the attachment, we said yes and the picture started to fill the screeen slowly from the top of her head and down. Her forehead seemed like it went on forever. Then I saw her eyes and once again I was a choked up Dad, trying not cry like a baby.

Thankful…

2010-11-24T07:05:00.001-08:00

I’m fixin’ to get busy with all the cooking and just wanted to take a moment to say how Thankful I am for our family. I am so blessed to be mom to four wonderful daughters. Sweet little Hope has changed so much over the past almost three years now and has blessed our entire family with her love and laughter, I love you Hopie. Misty, Carmen, and Bethany…you will never know how much I love you and how very proud I am to be your mom, you are all women who love the Lord and it shows in the way you mother your children. I am thankful for John and Jeff and miss Wade terribly during the holiday season…but to know that he is celebrating with his Heavenly Father this year takes away a little of the sadness. Our grandchildren are a priceless treasure …

And Ronnie…I love you and am so thankful to be blessed with such a wonderful Christian man to share my life with….

I am BLESSED…

This picture is of our entire family except Heath but he is waiting patiently to join this bunch in mom’s tummy so I really feel like this is a complete family picture….

Halloween

2010-11-18T06:59:00.001-08:00

It was a BLAST. We really had fun. Friday night was Halloween on the square where Hope, Audrey and Heath were of course the cutest little Bumble Bee, Lady Bug, and Monkey ever!! Saturday we spent the day at the Dallas Arboretum and although they were not dressed up they did “Trick or Treat”… it was so very beautiful. If you have never been please go…that’s all I can say…just GO! Sunday night found us at the First Baptist Church Festival. We really got the best out of this years holiday. The only thing missing was the traditional Wolfhill wiener roast and hayride we will just have to remedy that soon!

I plan to do another post with lots of pictures from the Arboretum but here is one cute one. They really enjoyed the day…really really enjoyed it and so did we.

Texas Tither

2010-11-13T10:36:00.000-08:00

Sat. morning Hope asked me to help her count her money. She arranged the quarters in groups of four, pointing out that one was a Texas quarter. After counting all the money Mom reminded her that she needed to take out 2 quarters to pay her tithe to the Lord on the 5 dollars that Aunt Vicki gave her last week. Hope said, "OK, but I'm not giving Him my Texas quarter."

Ready and Waiting…

2010-10-29T09:17:00.001-07:00

All that is needed is one little beautiful Chinese American girl to make the cutest bumble bee EVER!!!!!!

“Halloween On The Square” here we come….look out you might get stung by all the cuteness…I hear a rumor that you might also see the cutest little ladybug on the planet tonight and a tiny monkey who will just tickle your socks off!!!

Fun On The Farm

2010-10-29T08:31:00.001-07:00

Hope, Tyler, and the moon. A girl’s gotta have fun!

I may be a little short but I can sure climb up on this big tractor!

Hope loving Dad’s new (used) toy… I know that I just bored you with all these tractor pictures but Hope was just getting all into this photo shoot…she kept saying “Hey mom, take one of me backing up or take one with me driving”. I was laughing so hard I could not hold the camera still…just to explain all the blurry pics.

Becky

Awards!

2010-10-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Recently Hope’s school hosted the awards assembly for the first six weeks. We are so very proud of Hope. She got several awards the one we are so tickled about is Citizen of the six weeks for Kindergarten. Good job Hope!! This is the only picture I will post because I want to be careful about the other kiddos privacy.

My how time flies…

Becky

Sunday Snapshot

2010-10-04T04:41:00.001-07:00

Pretty In Pink…

Sunday Snapshot

2010-09-26T08:29:00.001-07:00

It was just a little bit cool this morning as we were getting ready for church and so I was finally able to let Hope wear this cute little (cheap) dress I found on sale at Belk’s back in the summer. She loves green and just had to take the backpack she loves and the two greens are just ~~awful~~ perfect (according to Hopie) together.
…and in the backpack, well that is a post for another day. It is filled with snacks…she is afraid she might get hungry… a bit sad…and yes we are working on that.

Becky

I’m Adjusting….Sort of

2010-09-24T08:07:00.001-07:00

Hope still loves school. This mamma is so very happy about that. She is learning so very much. I am learning too…I am learning that our daughter is amazing. She has an ability to adapt to new situations when she is prepared for them ahead of time. She still struggles with the unexpected, so do I. Ronnie recently said that he believes that some things about her life in the orphanage surface and cause her to accept things that she is unable to change. Believe me though she is a thinker and will consider all options before she accepts. I love that about her. For instance if it is time for bed she wants to be assured about her morning. Is it a school day? What will she wear? I am so thankful for her. How I wish I could have been her mom when she was a young baby, but I realize that all the situations of her life and people in her life have help to make her who she is. I am blessed to be a part of that. This precious relationship between Sunnie Kay and Hope tops it all. She love you too Sunnie….

Becky

Student Of The Week

2010-09-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

We are so very proud of Hope. Not only did she start school without any problem…she was also named “Student of the Week” for her class. Yeah!!

She is really doing great. Each night she has “homework” and we can see such progress already. She is reading little books and has learned so many other new things. The school system is great and the elementary program just cannot be beat. Can you nominate a school for some type of award? I’ll have to Google that!

Congratulations Hopie !!!!!!!!!!!!

Week Two…And She Still Loves School

2010-09-03T20:15:00.001-07:00

This has been emotionally exhausting for me. Hope is doing great. I on the other hand am doing just ok. I have prayed for her to be content, happy, independent, a good student and a good citizen. Well my prayers have been answered and our sweet Hope is all that and more. I suppose the hard part for me has been that two years and eight months is not the usual time a mom has with her babies before they go off to Kindergarten. It seems like just yesterday we boarded that flight to China and brought home this precious gift from God. Our family has been so very wonderful over the past couple of years and Hope has really packed five years of growing up an American Girl successfully into that time frame. I was emotional when our older girls started school too. So one thing I know is, she will continue to be just fine and my emotions will soon fade to a wonderful enjoyment of this new phase of growing up.

I am so very thankful to be Hope’s mom. I want the best for her and know that she is in a wonderful classroom environment with a couple of great teachers and she is so very smart. I know that the stimulation of her mind by trained professionals will produce awesome results.

But….still….I miss my baby!

Our School GirlWe are so very very proud of you Hopie Marie!

By the way has anyone noticed the white arm band? Want to know what is it and what it is for?

Hope loves to snuggle with me in the rocking chair and smell the freshness of my T-shirts. That arm band is made from one of my softest shirts and smells just like mom…she also carries a kiss on her hands that she can rub on her cheek at anytime she needs to be near me…may sound silly to some but it works for our Hope.

January 14, 2008 in a very cold town called Hefei in Anhui province in China an orphanage nanny walk a scared three year old Huai, Dong Tan over to us and as soon as I felt it was safe to touch her without scaring her I kissed her tiny little hand…she loved it then and still does today. Then I whispered into her ear the words I had planned to say to her for over two years. “Jesus loves you and He sent me halfway around the world to be your Mommy forever”…I think this is the first time I have shared this but I think it is time…

A word to anyone who is reading this and is considering adoption.

“If you know that God has touched your heart with a desire to adopt…just do it…He will walk with you every step of the way.”

Hope Always Amazes Us

2010-08-24T12:31:00.001-07:00

(You really should click on the song at the right below and listen while you read this post)

Thank you everyone who has been praying with us. Once again our Heavenly Father has heard and answered our prayers.

She did it! Hope started school yesterday and it was amazing. We planned earlier after much discussion that I should NOT be the one to take her to school on that first day. Carmen and Sunnie came over and Hope rode to school with them. Hope has never stayed with anyone else but me, Ronnie, Misty, Carmen, Bethany, and Grandma (just a couple of times while Ronnie went out to the barn). It is not that we have tried to shelter her or limit her potential but we all just felt right about not leaving her. I believe that her experiences at Church helped so very much. I used to go to Sunday School and sit in her class with her but we felt she was ready to go alone and just told her she could either go to her class or she could go with me to my class where she would be sitting quietly and listening. She chose to go to her class and I secretly knew she would. Miss Kathy her teacher is wonderful and always walks Hope over to my class. Small steps and helping her build confidence in lots of other ways helped to make yesterday’s big event in a little girl’s life go so smoothly. I’m sure there are other adoptive parents who would think that we should have put her in day care or some other program to help her with her separation anxiety but you know we did what we felt was best for our Hope with her unique personality. It worked…She loves school.Ready to go! SMILING A little bit nervous as she was heading to the car. She decided again to be very Brave! Lunch was a success!

Hope is so blessed to have Carmen working at the school she attends and her very best friend in the world her niece Sunnie Kay as a mentor.

Ms Sherry and Ms J. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! THIS IS HOW SHE LOOKED AT THE END OF THE DAY!Bethany brought cupcakes to celebrate the big dayThe whole family came over for supper.. And she topped off the day with a swim with BFF Sunnie Kay.

We love you Hopie Marie and are so very very proud of you.

Mom

School…It Just Cannot Be…I’m Not Ready…

2010-08-22T21:33:00.001-07:00

Hope IS ready though!! I think my baby’s gonna do just fine tomorrow. Mamma may crumble once she goes out the door but I think Hope is ready…That’s all I have time to say now. Check back tomorrow for an update…she just can’t be starting school…I needed a couple more years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is really that cute!!

Please pray for Hope and Hope’s Mom…

Becky

Hope’s Vacation Fun

2010-08-14T08:53:00.001-07:00

We took Hopie, Caleb, Tyler, Bradley, Ben, and Sunnie to Port Aransas last week. Here are a few photo’s to share her fun times!Everyone loved their first experience at the beach. Cute aren’t they…

Oh how I love them all!! Best Friends Forever… Hope playing in the sand.They really had a lot of fun! Hope loves those green shorts and thought she should wear them whenever she wore her yellow swimsuit which by the way had ruffles around the bottom and created quite a bubble underneath those shorts…sometimes the ruffle hung out and looked like a tail…that’s my girl…creating new styles everywhere she goes!! Sunrise at the beach was so enjoyable.

The underwater viewing area for the dolphin show at the Texas State Aquarium. It was beautiful and it was COOL!! Hope loved the dolphins and loved being so very close.

To be continued…

Becky

Hope

2010-07-22T15:17:00.001-07:00

We decided to make a book of this blog for Hope to have. This post will be the last one in the book. We love you Hope Marie and we are so very thankful that Jesus put you in our Hearts and then made it possible for you to be our daughter … forever and ever…

Love

Mommy and Daddy

The Pool

2010-07-16T10:22:00.001-07:00

Our niece Sarah’s friends gave away this little backyard pool last winter and we were the recipients. When the older grandchildren were little we had a pool this same size and they all learned to swim in it and the whole family enjoyed it so much. So when this one became available we were thrilled, of course Ronnie pulled out the big old sand filter and ordered a salt water system for it and now it’s perfect. It’s really the perfect size for now. Hope learned to swim in it easily and can touch bottom except after a big rain. The grandchildren were really hoping for a larger deeper pool but hey it was free and maybe someday we’ll get that bigger pool. Here a couple of pictures of Ronnie and Hope enjoying it. Ronnie tickled me when he said, “Hey let me suck in my stomach before you start snapping pictures…”

What Guest Room?

2010-07-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally did it…I surrendered! The toys were overtaking our house. There was no longer enough room in the living room or in Hope’s room for everything. When we built this house we thought three bedrooms would be enough. The master bedroom is really a nice size, but the other two bedrooms are just average anyway we had no idea we would be making room for a sweet little girl who needed lots of toys. So for now my beautiful antique bed which belonged to my great grandmother will reside in the attic and the former guest room (we rarely have guests but it did come in handy a few times) will become a playroom. I do plan to take over a little area for our computer and my sewing machine but it will be mostly devoted to toys. Since Christmas this past year our living room has been home to a large six foot basketball goal, and a doll house with all the stuff that goes with it. Remember that cute rocking horse Hope got for her birthday in December it lives in my living room too!! Hope’s big red barn with all the horses, cows, trucks, and fences had already found a home in the guest room but it was to crowded to spread out a good farm in there. Needless to say I think we will enjoy the room as much as Hope does. Just one thing if anyone wants to come visit we will try to hook you up with that classy hotel in town.

The SNAKE!

2010-07-07T12:43:00.001-07:00

When everyone was leaving after the fireworks on July 4th someone saw a chicken snake on the driveway. The next morning Ronnie heard the scissortail’s that lived our oak tree very upset. He ran out and found the sad scene below. That sorry old snake had climbed the tree and was after the eggs in the nest. A couple of shotgun shells later the snake lay dead on the ground (along with a couple of the branches from our oak tree!) but we were not in time and all the eggs were gone…

Now we live in the country and realize all snakes are not bad but when you are raising a few chickens…you really hate to see chicken snakes around. We also lost a couple of baby chicks this year and this snake could have been the culprit.

One interesting thing we observed was that the birds had called for reinforcements…another pair of scissortail flycatchers and a couple of mockingbirds were flying around and making noise trying to help our resident pair.

You can imagine the excitement for Hope. She helped Daddy dig the hole (well she watched while he dug) and then she covered up that old snake. Anyway we do hope our birds will try again next year to raise some babies in our oak tree.

Becky

Happy Fourth Of July !!

2010-07-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hope had a wonderful day. She really looks forward to all holidays...she looks for any reason to celebrate...anything! Our family came over and my nephew Mike worked hard preparing a couple of smoked briskets and all the trimmings to share. Thanks Mike.

This was Hopie's third July 4th celebration. We have always enjoyed celebrating July 4th...when the older girls were little they usually made a "firecracker cake". That is what they called it anyway. This year Carmen really made one... a chocolate cake with chocolate dipped strawberries... we've come a long way!!!!!

Carmen and Heath

Our Precious Hope Marie

Hope, we are so proud that you are here to celebrete July 4th with us, in a free wonderful country. I think sometimes we tend to forget all the sacrifices that gave us this freedom. Last evening one of Caleb's friends stopped by with another friend we had not met before and the young man was soon to be leaving for Afghanastan...that made me pause and be thankful.

Becky

Audrey aka "Miss America"

Sunnie Kay beautiful as always!!

Seems Red White and Blue were the colors of the day!!

Grandma's Flowers

2010-06-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

Grandma's yard is a beautiful place almost all the time but in the springtime it is especially pretty. Hope loves to smell the flowers. She loves the smell of clean clothes...her sense of smell is keen and I smile when I hold her and see her close her eyes and inhale. She wants me to wear a cotton T shirt style nightgown because it smells good to her and is soft. I really really love all the little things that make up her precious personality.

These pictures were taken earlier in the spring but I'm just now getting around to posting them.

She is very fond of her little frog and of the color green.

Becky

I CAME from China

2010-05-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

We were sitting together watching the China Central TV network which was showing some beautiful scenery. I said to Hope,"China is really pretty, have you ever been there?"

Her response; "I CAME from China. I was in a lady's tummy and she couldn't take care of me and you came to adopt me! Don't you remember?"

It is a challenge to help her process who she is and where she came from. Right now she seems to be at peace with what has been told.

Easter 2010

2010-05-10T05:53:00.000-07:00

Our Easter celebration this year was difficult. Good Friday is the day that Wade passed away and our family was dealing with shock and terrible grief. When a child is dealing with a stressful situation I think they need a bit of escape back to normal as often as can be arranged. Easter morning Hope found her basket full of goodies out in the yard...just like normal. That has been a tradition in our family from the time our girls were little. They would find a jelly bean trail that led them to their baskets or sometimes they would just stumble upon them gently guided by us.

Someone (I am not sure who it was...our friends and family were so precious during our grief) told me Becky...you need to take Hope to church if you can. She needs to get to wear her new dress and that cute little hat. (Hope really really wanted a hat...of course I knew this was probably the last year she would even consider wearing one...needless to say...we got one) I know the Lord just carried me through that morning because I hardly remember anything except the dear friends at church who hugged me and whispered kind words to me, but Hope really needed to go.

Later in the day we went over to Grandma's for our annual family Easter Egg Hunt. It was a success for the children and gave us all even Misty a reason to smile a little. I remember how much Wade loved to hide the eggs. When a family loses someone the memories just seem to come flooding back...little things...that mean so very much.

Tough Times For Hope & Family

2010-05-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hope and Wade last year on our family vacation to Roaring River State Park in Missouri. Below is a picture taken the same day of our immediate family having supper at the lodge.

Many of you know our family. We are very close and our immediate family is by some standards large. Our three older daughters have families and so Hope has five nephews and two nieces who are actually more like siblings or cousins. Recently our oldest daughter Misty's husband Wade passed away unexpectedly. It has been a very tough time for our whole family especially Misty Caleb and Tyler and also for Hope. Dealing with grief is difficult even for adults. Our family's strength through this past month has come from Jesus...the Comforter. I just wanted to make any of you aware who did not know and to ask you to pray for us. Since this blog is mostly to document Hope's life I felt it appropriate to post some pictures of her and Wade. She loved him very much. He would often come over to pick her up when she was planning to go to Misty's house, those were fun times. He would always say "Whatcha doin Hopie". She loved her brother-in-law and now is learning to live with only his memories and the blessed hope we have in Jesus Christ that we will see Wade again.

I would appreciate any comments and suggestions from any of you especially those of you who have an adopted child or have a child who has suffered a similar loss in their young life.

Becky

Wolfhill Daycare...

2010-03-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been very interesting around here. Hope and I with the help of Grandma have been taking care of Audrey and Heath while their Moms are at work. Wow... have we ever been busy!! Hope really loves her niece and nephew. I consider it a privilage to be able to care for them and it has been such a good thing for Hope to share me with them. She is really really attached to me and I think that the introduction of a couple of sweeties to our daily routine has been good for her. Sometimes at the end of the day when babies and moms head out the door for home I take a few deep breaths and give thanks...not that they are gone...but that I am blessed to be able to care for them

We Are Back And So Is Spring!

2010-03-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Not that we actually went anywhere ... our internet radio...(whatever that is...I think it is the thing that makes our internet work) quit working. We could not upload any pictures or even at times get on the internet to check our email. Today the guy came and lowered our tower and put up a new radio and now I can blog again.

It is SPRINGTIME here on Wolfhill so Hope and I went to take some pictures in Grandma's yard, which is especially beautiful this time of year. Hope was a little reluctant posing today but I did manage to get a few good pictures.

Our five year old beauty!!

I do have a lot of catching up to do and now that our "radio" is fixed I'll try to do just that.

Becky

Another B&W Photo

2010-02-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

Ronnie took this photo looking through the window of his truck..so I really wish it was a little clearer, but I just thought it was so very pretty....this much snow is rare around here!

Check out the beautiful post at The Long Road to China this week.

Becky

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I was wishing for a beautiful snowfall that would stick around long enough for Hope to be able to play in it. Here on Wolfhill we do not get snow very often and when we do it usually melts very quickly. Last week it did snow...a lot, about 12 inches and it lasted a couple of days. Even though Hope had a cold I bundled her up in lots of layers and we built a big snowman. Our snowman fell by the next morning and Wade built a small one for Hope on the picnic table. Misty took her out to play again. She had a wonderful time and it was so beautiful around here...and I will do a post later on with more pictures.

Black and White Wednesday

2010-02-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

Lisa from The Long Road To China hosts a Black and White Wednesday spot on her blog. If you enjoy looking at B&W photos as I do check out her blog. There are lots of links to great B&W photos.

My contribution for this week is one I took of Hope at the end of last summer. She loves to go out each morning to see which color of morning glories have bloomed. I tried using my photo shop to add back a little color and you can tell I'm for sure an amateur. Enjoy!

Becky

Our Beautiful Hope

2010-02-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

This time of year brings back so many memories of 2008. Hope has changed so much in the last 2 years. I love to remember referral day and the day we left for China but especially the day Hope became a part of our family. Every day is new and exciting with this precious child. We are blessed and we are so thankful for her presence in our lives.

Recent pictures show just how beautiful she is and how much she has changed.

Black and White Wednesday

2010-01-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

This picture shows an expression we sometimes see when Hope is a little scared. She still to this day does not like standing on uneven ground. I wonder how many times she looked scared before she came home to be with her family. It just makes me want to hold her and tell her she is safe.

Gotcha Day (2 years later)

2010-01-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

January 14 2008 was a wonderful day. Hope was very scared and upset for a while, she learned quickly that we loved her and had us wrapped around her little finger before we knew what was happening. I will never forget the moment I first got a glimpse of her.

Ronnie's expression tells it all. I could not take my eyes off of her. We actually saw her across the room toddling around before they walked her over to us...we have a video I'll post someday where you can hear me crying at the sight of her. Happy tears!!

Hope wearing her "Gotcha Day" clothes (well one layer of them). The outfit was quite big as you can see in the photos, both the top and bottom were rolled up quite a bit. The photos here were some that we took for our Christmas card this year. We were afraid she would not put the clothes back on but she did for the first time wear them again...I think we may go have some photos taken if I can get her back into it.

One happy little girl...Our precious Hope Marie...almost 2 years later!

" Thank you Lord for bringing her into our lives"

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

2010-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Click Here to read about Hopie's very special Christmas Eve with her family.

We had to wake her up Christmas morning..

When Ronnie carried her into the living room on Christmas morning this is what she saw. A lot of STUFF!!

When we would ask Hope what she really wanted for Christmas she would say, "you know that flippin' race car!!" Or as we found out it is really called the "Tonka Bounce Back Racer". See that smile? If anyone wonders whether the commercials on Dora, Kai Lan, and Max and Ruby reach their target audience....yes they do!

Black and White Wednesday

2010-01-13T07:09:00.000-08:00

Hope and I went for a walk yesterday. This is one of my favorite photos of the day.

My Daughter the Anarchist

2010-01-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

One afternoon before Christmas I dropped Becky off at a shop and Hope and I waited in the car in a no parking zone. Becky came back out to tell me that the shop owner said that the police often gave tickets to people parking there, even while waiting in the car. I agreed to drive around the block a few times until Becky was finished. This turn of events raised a lot of questions for Hope and here is kind of how it went:

Hope: “Dad, What is a ticket”?

Me: “It’s a piece of paper saying that you have violated the law.”

Hope: “Dad, what does violate mean”?

Me: “It means that you did something wrong, something that was against the rules”.

Hope: “Dad, what happens if you get ticket”?

Me: “Well, you have to go to the city hall and pay a fine, or mail the money for the fine to city hall.”

Hope: “Dad, if the policeman gives us a ticket I will just tear it up and stomp on it, and say we don’t want any tickets”! (She is making fierce faces and motions when she says this.)

Me: “Well Hope, that wouldn’t be a wise thing because the policeman would then probably take me to jail”.

Hope: “Do they take daughters to jail too”? (With some concern)

Me: “No, only dads or moms.”

Hope: “Who would take care of me”? (With real concern)

Me: “First of all Hope, it’s not going to happen, but if it did they would wait until Mom came out to stay with you. They don’t leave little children alone”.

Hope: “Would you have any food in jail, how you eat”? (Always concerned about food)

Me: “Yes, they feed people that are in jail, there is plenty of food”.

Hope: “Dad, if they put you in jail, I get Mama and my sisters and we go bust in the jail and say turn my Daddy loose”! (Again with the fierce faces and swinging her arms and fists)

Me: “Hope, you don’t have to worry, I am not going to jail because I plan on obeying the law. I am not going to tear up a ticket if the policeman gave me one and you are not either).

Hope: “I might.” ( Followed by low key muttering and vague threats)

I swear I don't know why she comes up with stuff like this. It may be that orphanage life made her feel helpless and now she wants to exert strength. A few weeks ago she answered the phone and told a telemarketer to stop calling us and to take us off their calling list. She had heard Becky do that once and repeated it almost verbatim with a little more firmness. She continually amazes and amuses us.

Ronnie

Christmas Sunday

2009-12-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

The last Sunday before Christmas is always a special day for our family. This year we were blessed to be able to attend Church together. It was also John-Christian Heath's first church service...how special.

Hope gets very excited about every aspect of Christmas...even the special Christmas dress. This year we did something cute cute cute...Sunnie, Hope, even little Audrey had dresses alike. Sunnie's was a little different since she is in a larger size but the girls were tickled with the matching dresses. Needless to say so was I.

I have a closet full of Sunnie's previous Christmas (and Easter) dresses which Hope also wears each year as the different sizes fit. Here are a few pictures of the girls...for shots of the families visit the Wolfhill Site.

One of Sunnie's Christmas dresses.

Happy Birthday Hope Marie

2009-12-26T07:17:00.000-08:00

Hope meets Ivy. Daddy and Hope checking out the dolls at the American Girl Store

Caleb and Tyler did not know they would be visiting a DOLL store...Caleb called a friend (girl) on the phone and said "You will never guess where I am" Thanks guys...you helped make this day very special for Hope even though you were a bit embarrassed while we roamed around this fun girl store!

We can't wait to get down there and skate around that BIG tree.

That tree really is big mom

Three beautiful sisters... Misty Hope and Bethany.
A sleepy little Audrey...to little to skate so she just rested!! Beautiful birthday cakes for a beautiful little girl.

One top of everything else ... PRESENTS!

Not long after we brought Hope home from China we celebrated a couple of family birthdays. That started an excitement for birthday parties in her world. She really LOVES them...it doesn't matter if it is her party or a party for someone else.

December 12 was Hope Marie's fifth birthday. How can that be? My baby already 5 years old! Anyway Hope was true to form with her excitement. The build up to the day was a lot of fun. She talked about every aspect of our plans over and over and over.

The day started out with a trip to the Galleria in Dallas to Ice Skate around the Big Tree...even though we knew it would be very crowded we decided to go on her birthday to make it more special for her. Another bit of excitement planned for the day was a trip to the American Girl Store for our little American girl. Hope had a wonderful day and then that evening we had a family party for her which she loved loved loved.

We love you Hopie and wish you many many Happy Birthdays...

A Big Sack Of Canny...

2009-12-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

On December 7th of 2007 we received our adoption referral and saw a picture of Hope for the first time. In the weeks up to that Christmas we had a sense of sadness, knowing that we had a daughter in China and wishing that she could be with us. We wondered if she would have any knowledge that it was Christmas time or if the Chinese observed the season at all, even less likely we thought, in an orphanage.

Last year around the first of November we began to ask Hope what she would like for Christmas. She didn’t really grasp the fact that she was about to be showered with gifts and her response was puzzling. She didn’t ask for much, but the one thing that she was insistent upon was that she wanted a big sack of candy. She would hold her hands apart about six inches and say, ‘a big sack of canny Daddy”. I thought it was odd that she asked for the candy. It reminded me of how my Dad would tell of Christmas when he was a boy, and the brightest memory he had was of the candy and fruit. He loved hard Christmas candy all of his life.

Well, we made certain that Hope found a good sized sack of various kinds of candy on Christmas morning and she approved with glee. Of course she was also a bit overwhelmed with all of the toys. It was a Christmas that will stand out in our memories, the first one for our little Hope Marie.

Later in the year, Becky was surfing the net, looking for people who might have visited Hope’s orphanage. We have tried to piece together all we can of Hope’s past. Becky found a lady who had been in Hope’s orphanage during Christmas of 2007 She worked with a group called “Love Without Boundaries” and she was kind enough to send us a DVD that might have Hope on it.

We watched the video intently. It was a Christmas party for the kids of the orphanage put on by the “Love Without Boundaries” folks. We watched for a long time and we saw dozens of kids, but they seemed to be mostly in older age brackets than Hope would have been. It was a great party with some songs in English and most in Chinese. The kids were having a blast.

After about fourteen minutes and several songs and dances by various kids the camera began to pan around the room. All of the kids were wearing Santa hats and many were sitting at low tables. All of the kids had little red sacks of candy that they were showing off and eating. Finally the camera reached two very little girls in big Santa hats. There was Hope with a sack of candy in front of her, her lips glistening from the candy she was eating.

It touched our hearts to know that someone was willing to spend their Christmas in China to show unconditional love to those orphans, one of which was our daughter. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Our Lord left the comfort of Heaven to give us that unconditional love.

Introducing John-Christian Heath

2009-12-10T20:58:00.000-08:00

The Proud Aunt Just look at that sweet face!!!

Hope would like for you to meet our newest family member.

John-Christian Heath.

Isn't he just beautiful. We are blessed .... so very blessed. Thank you Lord for this precious gift to our family.

We have been so very busy lately and we really will catch up soon. Wishing everyone who reads our blog...a very Merry and Blessed Christmas.

Becky

We Are So Thankful For Hope

2009-11-30T07:17:00.000-08:00

Hope helping unload pumpkins or our church pumpkin patch.

Our camera was broken and I kept meaning to download some of the girls Thanksgiving photos which never happened...so here is my Thanksgiving post minus the pictures... so I am posting just a couple of random Hope photos...

We are so blessed as a family. One certain little brown eyed girl makes us thankful every day for Chinese Children Adoption International our agency and the wonderful work they have done over the years to bring children and their families together. Several of our family members donated money to send to Hope's orphanage in China. The place where Hope spent the first three years of her life will always be close in our thoughts and prayers especially this time of year.

Hope is a sweet precious little girl who has progressed so very much in the past couple of years. We are thankful that her transition into our family has been easy and wonderful. Our whole family has welcomed her with open arms and she loves them all. We are so thankful to have such a warm welcoming family.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Becky

Hope's Sister Is Having A Baby

2009-11-18T09:17:00.000-08:00

And Hope helped give her baby shower...read all about it here...

The View From Wolfhill

Halloween 2009 - The Cutest Little Ladybug In Texas

2009-11-03T08:44:00.001-08:00

She really was the "Cutest Little Ladybug In Texas" this halloween...I'm sure there may be other moms who would disagree with me...
Hope had great fun this year. She loved getting dressed up and instead of saying "Trick or Treat" She insisted on saying "Thank you for some candy please" Isn't that just too cute!

Ronnie bought her this halloween costume at Cracker Barrel. Funny, last year's costume was also from Cracker Barrel, we may just make that a tradition.

These pictures were taken at Bethany's on Halloween. The big question now is can I stand it until all that CANDY is gone? I think the best way to handle it is just let her go for it and eat as much as she wants until it is gone...I do try to limit it close to meal time. The sooner it is gone ...the better. Probably most parents feel the same way!

Becky

Check out the Wolfhill Site for other Halloween pictures we had a family party. Hot dogs and a hayride combined with smores and lots of candy was a recipe for fun!

2009-10-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

County Fair time again and Hope enjoyed every aspect of the week of activities. Waiting on the fair parade to start Hope and baby Audrey got a little impatient looking for Sunnie who was riding on the back of a pretty red convertible! None of the pictures of took of Sunnie came out...they were blurred due to my broken camera............

Becky

She's Got Him Wrapped Around Her Little Finger

2009-10-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Of course she does...all of our daughters did. Ronnie is a wonderful father and Hope really really loves her Daddy or Dad as she has recently been saying. Actually it depends on what she is talking to him about. If it has anything to do with bringing her home some candy from work then she usually uses a very sweet southern drawl and makes sure Daddy is listening.

My rosebush is out of control and a summer storm really tore up our gate arbor. Ronnie promises to fix it...he will probably have lots of help from his sidekick...Hopie Marie

Becky

PS if anyone notices the blur in the upper left of these pictures...I broke another camera...yes camera number three bit the dust so to speak. It is no wonder when I keep hinting for a really really good camera (translated as an expensive Cannon with multiple lenses) I get nothing but this look from him...maybe I should get Hope to ask for me...she seems to get whatever she wants when she uses that "Daddy could you bring me home some candy" voice of hers!!

The View From Wolfhill

2009-10-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to check out "The View From Wolfhill" from time to time.

"Cowboy Girl"

2009-09-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

We are still having issues getting pictures to upload and hope to have that resolved soon. I did manage to get a couple more from last summer loaded. We went to the Rodeo again and once again Hope loved, loved, loved it. She looked really cute too. Sunnie, her friend Peyton and Tyler went with us.

Our little "Cowgirl" or as Hopie puts it "Cowboy Girl".....

What do you think about these boots?Notice the powdered sugar on her shirt and the fact that she is licking her finger....well a trip to the rodeo certainly calls for a FUNNEL CAKE.

Becky

A Few More Pictures

2009-09-16T00:35:00.000-07:00

What is Caleb thinking................he knows I have this camera in my hand and that means look this way and smile.

Happy Happy Baby....Happy Happy Mom!

Sunnie Kay always has such a beautiful smile.

Hope making us laugh...

Sometimes now she even poses...........

Really Cute

Our family vacation this past summer was wonderful. I have several hunderd pictures........I promise not to bore you with all of them.

This Girl Loves Hiking

2009-09-16T00:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a few more summer pictures. Summer has come and gone and my computer is still slow slow slow. I have trouble uploading pictures. Ronnie swears it has something to do with me having THOUSANDS of pictures saved on it. Gotta do something about that. My 80 gig external hard drive is getting pretty full too! I thought I would try uploading pictures to blogger in the middle of the night hoping that it would work faster. Yeah they just uploaded.

Thought this series of pictures of Ronnie and Hope hiking in Missouri were just very cute. She will run and play all day...that is if either of us can keep up!! What a joy she is to have in our lives. We are so very thankful for our family.

Becky

Hope's Long Awaited Vacation

2009-08-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Audrey, Ben, Sunnie, Caleb, Tyler, and Hope. Where's Bradley?

Waiting for the Pizza in Eureka Springs

Here I am, in Roaring River.

Roaring River State Park 2009

2009-08-04T22:47:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful trip to Missouri. We love Roaring River and have wanted to take Miss Hope Marie there since long before we knew her. In 2006 we went and I bought a T Shirt for a little girl who I did not even know yet...it said someone who loves me very much went to Roaring River and bought me this shirt. Hope really loves the shirt and Roaring River as you can tell by the picture above. We are having some problems with picture uploads and that is part of the reason we have not been very good bloggers lately. I'll try again to add more pictures tomorrow. Our whole immediate family was able to make the trip this year and we had so much fun. Hiking with a 4 year old and a baby was a little different but we managed just fine and actually Hope LOVES hiking....she is very hard to keep up with.

More photos later.

Hope is having a health issue we would love to see resolved...extreme outbreaks of hives. We will share more later but she has had to make one trip to the ER and we now carry an Epi Pen Jr with us where ever we go...more later on that.

Becky

Cutie Pie's

2009-06-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

A cute picture of Hope, her sister Bethany and her little niece Audrey. Three sweet beauties.

Sunnie and Hope

2009-06-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

What a blessing these two girls are...to each other...and to us.
Hope idolizes Sunnie...yes she does.

They have so very much fun together...sisters for sure...

Becky

2009-05-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of the outfits Hope calls comfy... please note the shirt below says "My Parents Are Exhausted" !!! TRUE

This is the shirt we bought for Hope in 2006 when we took a family vacation to Roaring River State Park in Missouri. If you have never been there you should go!!!! We are going back this year ... this time Hope gets to pick out her own shirt... in 2006 we did not even know her name...wow... we are so blessed.

Now this is one of my favorite dresses...Thank you Sabrina...Our friend Sabrina bought it for Hope while we were in China and we had to wait until this year for it to fit just right. Hope did wear it once last year but it was really a little big then. I LOVE IT.

Has anyone noticed that Hope now smiles and poses...........YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

I love dresses for little girls...........................and BOWS!!!

Becky

Sunnie's Pictures...Finally

2009-05-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

Isn't she Beautiful...

A Day In The Texas Bluebonnets

2009-05-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

These beauties had a lot of fun in the bluebonnets. I have some really cute pictures of Sunnie which I have been trying to upload and am having trouble with the process right now. I'll try again later.

They smell good too!!

Hope Is Going To Be An Aunt Again!!!

2009-04-17T16:48:00.001-07:00

Click here for the news!!

Easter 2009 Continued...

2009-04-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

A few more pictures of Hope in her Easter Dress. It was really pretty. These pictures do not really show how pretty it was. It was very early as you can tell by the sleepy pic below. Her little white shoes had tiny pink flowers on them. (I ordered the purse I thought matched from Children's Place...it did not.)

Already dressed before 8:00 AM and not very excited about the day!!

I love SALES...

Check out The View From Wolfhill for more Easter Fun with the family.

Easter 2009

2009-04-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

A few pictures of Hope. We had a wonderful Easter this year. It was so much fun. Hope really enjoyed ever aspect of the day and the week leading up to the big day. I have some better pictures of her Easter dress on my camera and will get those posted later. By the way I have enjoyed that dress for almost an entire year. I bought it on sale last May or June at Dillards for about $14.00...so every now and then I would take it out of the closet and think about how pretty our little Hopie would look in it on Easter. More later.........

Hope's Choice For Salsa In China Challenge

2009-04-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hope was really into PINK when she picked her clothes today!! I love the pink bow! The first smile we ever got from her was because of an identical pink bow. We had just gotten back to the hotel with her and she was sitting in my lap looking at the computer which was sitting on the desk and there was a mirror behind it. We had the web cam on and were letting our older daughters see their little sister for the first time and one of them said " hey Mom I can't believe you haven't put a bow in her hair yet"...so I grabbed a pink one and when she saw it in her hair she smiled for the very first time...I just LOVE that memory!! She thought the pink sunglasses upside down were very very funny!! Me too!! Notice the hot pink socks...she really pushed the pink a little far don't you think?

She is finally smiling for the camera...

Ronnie liked this pose...isn't she cute!!

The Many Faces Of Hope

2009-04-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

She finally smiled for the camera...she smiles a lot...when there is no camera around!!

And dances...at the basketball game sitting with Sissy.

Hope is very difficult to photograph. She is doing better though. Yesterday she said "Can we take a picture ...I will smile" Thought I would just post a few of our recent attempts to take photos.

2009-04-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

Show Off!

Just finished picking up a basket full of toys

Mothering her neice Audry

Happy Birthday Ben!

Hope is so much fun, and kinda smart too. She is intrigued with words and letters. When she hears us say a word that is new to her she will ask us what it means and actually remember it! Yesterday she was digging holes with Sunnie while I worked on the chicken pen. Hope was waist deep in the hole and wanted Sunnie to pull her out. Sunnie was amazed when Hope asked her in Spanish,"ayuda me"! Hope watches Dora the Explorer and Nihao Kailan. Maybe she will be tri-lingual.

Last week Hope and Becky brought home a Pinewood Derby car from church. Hope wanted to play with it and I told her that it wasn't ready, it needed to be sanded, painted, and the wheels attached securely. "Let's read the instructions first", I said. Hope grabbed the instructions and said, "I will read them". She looked intently at the paper and said,"It says that you don't have to paint it, and babies can hold it, and go Vroom, Vroom." I gave her the car.

Ronnie

A Fashion Challenge From Salsa In China

2009-03-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hope has a mind of her own when it comes to clothes and to smiling for pictures...this picture show one of her choices in dressing herself. One of the blogs I read is Salsa in China. The family has really really cute twin daughters and their mom recently spent a week letting the girls choose their own outfits and they really picked some cute stuff. The mom suggested links for other families to post pics of their kiddo's choices. Here is the first one for Hope. She really has some little pants that look so cute with the dress but I do believe I like the tights just as well...and those shoes well lets just say they have seen their better day. Does anyone know what you can use to glue the sole back to the shoe? Hope says those are comfy shoes!!

I think maybe Ro and Ree win this round!! Really cute outfits girls!!

A Wonderful Day

2009-03-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

Recently it rained a lot during the day and Misty came over to take Hope walking in the puddles. What a wonderful day... and a wonderful Sissy!!

Hope Visits The Zoo

2009-03-27T07:30:00.001-07:00

Click HERE to read about Hopie's first visit to the Zoo.

Helping Grandpa

2009-03-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been a whirlwind of travel for us. In caring for my stepfather we have made several trips to Oklahoma City to help him transition into his new home at a beautiful assisted living facility there. He is a doing so well and we are so very thankful to have found him such a good place to live...actually that credit goes to my brother Billy and his family who did the research and legwork to find the best possible location and facility for him.

Hope is doing so great now traveling!! A huge milestone for her. There were times when we thought any trips longer than about 20 to 30 minutes would never happen again. Now we are planning a VACATION...the first since CHINA. Our little Hopie is a treasure and every day we know that even more. Here is a picture of Grandpa in his new home. Hope has been such blessing ... his face lights up when he sees her come in. My brother Billy and his family have really been the stabilizing force for him since they spend hours each week with him helping him get settled in and taking care of any shopping for him. It takes a loving family working together to get this type of huge lifechanging event to go smoothly.

Christmas Morning 2008

2009-02-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

Hope asked for cows, pigs, and a big baby for Christmas...she was a bit excited when she found this cute pig in her stocking!!

Christmas Morning with Hope was so much fun. Everyone wanted to be around when Hope woke up to the surprises waiting for her under the tree. It was a wonderful time. She was a bit slow getting started but soon made up for that. We are so very thankful for her.

The Christmas Wedding

2009-02-19T07:10:00.001-08:00

Hope was asked to be the flower girl in a beautiful Christmas Wedding in December. Amanda and Matthew a precious couple from our church fell in love with Hope and wanted to share this special day with her. She was not the most cooperative flower girl ever ... but sweet Amanda said from the beginning "I don't care if you have to carry her down the aisle I just want her to be our flower girl" Well we did not have to carry her down the aisle but Ronnie did have to escort her down the aisle and then he had to carry her off the platform when she wanted to SIT right where the bride was supposed to stand. It was a beautiful precious wedding and we were so pleased that they wanted our little Hopie to be a part of it.

Best Wishes Matthew and Amanda...Thank you for letting Hope and her family share in this wonderful day.

Below are a few pictures of the reheresal, beautiful wedding, and reception.

This is where Hope was supposed to stand. ( note the cute little romper Hope is wearing I bought it from Jennifer at My Adoption Website )

She put on quite a show at the rehersal...it had us a little worried...we did not want her to do that during the wedding...

She managed to drop more petals at the rehersal than at the wedding.

This is where the Bride is supposed to stand Hope! ( photo actually taken before the wedding but she went right back there to sit after dropping petals and the crowd loved it...

Now at the reception...we let her have some fun!!

Decorations at the Wedding and the reception were absolutely beautiful. Amanda was even more beautiful...
Sort of dancing with dad...

Christmas 2008

2009-02-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

A China Hope Christmas...

This was such a special Christmas for our family. Last year we had a picture of Hope and were thrilled but she was still in China. This year was WONDERFUL. Hope enjoyed everthing about Christmas. She was in a Christmas wedding...a Christmas program at church...loved the shopping and wrapping...I think her favorite thing was the singing (well maybe after the presents)...she loved learning about Baby Jesus...spending time with family...to sum it all up this month was one continuous time of joy and thankfulness for this family who has been blessed beyond our wildest dreams by a daughter who had never known the love of a family before. Thank you Jesus for Christmas...and for this precious gift of Hope Marie...and for the miracle of our newest grandaughter Audrey Elizabeth who arrived the day after Christmas.

Watch for more pictures and more details about each event from this Special China Hope Christmas.

Are You Happy?

2009-02-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

Hope, Mom, and Odell on Odell's Birthday

Sunnie and Hope at Chili's After Church

Sunnie Is A Blessing to Hope

“Are you happy”? Hope asks me this usually within a few minutes after I have had to reprimand her for something. Right after she says “I’m sorry”, “I didn’t mean to”, or “I won’t do again, I promise”, with a bright, imploring little smile she asks, “Are you happy”?

Every day our hearts are touched by the multitude of little idiosyncrasies that living the first three years of her life in an orphanage has left Hope with. I want to hug her and tell her, and drill it into her psyche that it is not her job to make us happy. And that our disciplining of her in no way lessens our love and devotion to her. She is too young to understand that so I tell her, “It doesn’t matter if I’m happy, I will always love you. Even when I am sad because you have disobeyed, I will always love you.”

Now that Hope is getting more command of the English language she is beginning to voice some fears and worries that I suppose were there all the time. It may be also, that these worries are surfacing as she is getting over the trauma of leaving all that she had ever known and coming into a new culture, a new home, and family.

Often, out of the blue, she will say, “Momma gon’ leave me, Daddy gon’ leave me.” This is our cue to say, “No! No way! We will never leave our Hopie” and give her a big hug. She is then satisfied and we may not hear her say that for another day or two.

When we sit down to eat she will say, “Are you gon’ eat all that”, pointing to the noodles, or the chicken or something that she likes. We respond, “No, we’re just eating part of it”. Her next phrase is, “Save me some, save me whole, whole bunch.”

The vast majority of the time Hope is overflowing with joy and happiness. She loves play of all sorts. For a while it was her barn, farm animals, trucks and trailers. Now it is her babies, a collection of about six assorted baby dolls that she mothers and sometimes fathers. She will put them in her baby stroller which she has had me tie to her tricycle and transport them to school, to Walmart, etc.

She loves role playing and oftentimes she is “Daddy”, I am “Baby” or “Momma”, and Becky is “Grandma”. Becky is getting tired of being “Grandma”. Hope will sometimes act out in play some event that happened recently, including where the babies commit an offense that causes her to put them in timeout. She sets the imaginary timer and the baby has to sit on the couch until the timer dings a few seconds later.

I could go on and on, but time doesn’t permit. We share some of these things to record for our benefit and for the benefit of friends in the blogosphere who are working on adoption whether internationally or in country. These are things that you might have experienced or might prepare for. Words cannot express the joy that has come to us in this process. We wish that every orphan could experience adoption and that every family could know the joy that comes to those who are privileged to be an adoptive family.

Ronnie

Gotcha Day Anniversary

2009-01-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Wow, has it already been a year!! Time flies when you are having fun. I do not even know where to begin. Our lives have been changed...a wonderful blessed change. Hope came to us very small, scared, and quiet. She has really progressed this year, although she is still small she has gained about 6 lbs and has grown about 4 inches, but the scared and quite are mostly gone. She laughs, runs, plays, sings, dances and is pretty much like most 4 year olds. She does have a few hang ups...some that break our hearts. She wants to be sure we will have enough food. (we can leave Wal Mart without anything from the toy department but we must have some groceries in the cart).

We love her and are so very blessed to have her in our lives.

Becky

I'm working on converting our video of this wonderful day to a format that will play properly on the web and will post it once I figure that out.

One Year Ago Today

2009-01-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

What a difference a year makes!!

One year ago today we left for China. It seems like it was only yesterday. Really this past year has been a whirlwind of exciting times and precious family memories. I love to think back about how we felt as we were leaving on our Journey to Hope. Anyone who knows me knows that organization is not one of my strong points...I was still packing at 12:30 am on January 9th. We left for the DFW at 3:30 am. I did get about 1 hour of sleep. I was really much to excited to sleep much anyway.

One of the most important details about our trip that we seem to not talk about enough is our travel companion Jewel. Jewel, Ronnie's cousin volunteered to go with us and help us in any way she could. She took most of the pictures you have seen and was a wonderful source of fun and the perfect shopping buddy for me. Jewel we will never forget your unselfish gift to us and Hope will always always be reminded how precious it was to have you with us when she made our family complete. Thank you again...we love you.

A China Hope Christmas

2009-01-07T17:43:00.000-08:00

We had just finished a little Christmas Day nap

Just thinking

Hope had asked Santa for a "big baby"

If I had a dollar for every time one of us said, "this time last year" I could pay for next year's Christmas in advance. Last year at Christmas we knew who she was and what she looked like (sort of), and couldn't wait for the next few weeks to pass. The last year has seemed to fly by, and Hope has changed so much and so fast.

Her language skills are amazing and funny. She has a huge vocabulary but still has problems with her enunciation. Sometimes we have to get her to repeat something several times before we understand. She comes up with some of the most unusual phrases.

At bedtime she lays between Becky and me and likes to play "I'm Mama's baby, no I'm Daddy's baby" for a few minutes. When it's time to settle down she will say, " I go to sleep fast and you go to sleep slow". Usually she will be asleep within 4 or 5 minutes after that.

A few months ago one of her favorite expressions was "Yes, No?" when she asked us a question. It reminded me of the Mandarin expression "hao bu hao?" meaning "good or not good".

One of my favorites is "remember?" She says this when something that she enjoyed in the recent past is repeated. It may be something she ate, or something she saw in a movie, etc. Sometimes says " remember asterday" she is having a little trouble with Ys. She is so cute when she says it because she cuts her eyes to the left and acts like it is a secret.

Of course my favorite is "I love ooh" The Y problem persists. We get a lot of "I love oohs" and the most fun ones are spontaneous, not prompted. We also get some "I love oohs" that just happen to occur right before Hope asks to bring all of her toys at once into to the living room, or for me to make her a tent, etc.

We know that she looks like a little angel, and we wouldn't want to mislead anyone. We do experience times when she needs discipline just like any other four year old. We pray for special wisdom because we know that she still has struggles adapting and overcoming three tough years before coming into our home. We are thankful and amazed at how well she progressing.

Ronnie

Happy Birthday Hope Marie

2009-01-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

3 extra cakes to celebrate those 3 birthday's we missed.

Let's get this party started...I've waited a long time for this day!

First Birthday Cake.

Second Birthday Cake.

Third Birthday Cake What fun...Happy Birthday Hope

And PRESENTS on top of all the other fun.

December is so very busy...and with a special little girl around here having a birthday on December 12th it was extra busy and extra FUN!!

We had a family party on December 13th...on the 12th we took a small cake to Grandmas and then attended the homecoming game at the school. Two of Hope's nephews...our grandsons are on the Varsity Basketball team and that is so very much fun. The cake we took to Grandma's on the 12th was actually a very small layer of the cake I made last year on Hope's birthday which I froze so that she could have it this year on her birthday. It was pretty good...

Hope LOVES to sing Happy Birthday and it was really sweet when she sang Happy Birthday to herself at her family party...We really really love you Hope Marie..HAPPY BIRTHDAY we are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Audrey Elizabeth Has Arrived!!!!!!!

2008-12-27T20:41:00.000-08:00

Audrey Elizabeth

Click on her name for a little more info. Isn't she beautiful. We really really are blessed and very much in love.

Busy Busy Busy

2008-12-16T09:23:00.000-08:00

A visit with Aunt Dorothy.
A visit to the cemetery with Grandma to put fall arrangement on Pa Pa's headstone.
Sunnie and Hope having a little tea.
Hope helping Grandpa decorate his little tree.
Thought I would just post a few pictures of our busy time.

Referral Day December 7, 2007

2008-12-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

It has been one year since we received our first picture and other information about Hope. That is really hard to believe! I recently re-read our posts during that exciting time and realized we never really shared about that day. This is a video that captures most of that wonderful day. Just to warn you ahead of time I was very excited and could hardly be still as you will see ... also Ronnie was his usual cool, collected self which really bugs me!! ... oh well!!

Becky

I Don' Wan' Go Back China

2008-11-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

We are trying for an open, honest relationship with Hope concerning her past so that she can gradually be prepared for the difficult questions she will have in a few years. Therefore we mention China often and ask Hope if she remembers the time we spent in China together. We also look at pictures and some video with her, but have found that "Gotcha Day" video is troubling to her. Another thing that we have discovered is that all of Hope's memories of China are not fond memories.

This is to be expected, but we were surprised at the intensity of her feelings. At certain times, bedtime being one, Hope will get a worried look and in a woeful little voice say, "I don' wan' go back China." This just breaks our heart and we immediately reassure her that she will never have to go back to China. Apparently there is a fear in her little heart that she may be enjoying a temporary situation that will end with her being back in her old life.

We have planned to teach Hope about the culture and heritage of her homeland and help her be proud of her native land. As we come to realize some of the feelings that Hope is experiencing we have decided to back off a little on the talk about China, and ask the Lord for wisdom in this. It may be that children who were adopted as babies will not have these kind of issues but we suspect that any child that is adopted after two or more years in an orphanage might have similar feelings. Maybe if the child had been in a foster home there might be a difference.

Our job for now is to help Hope become secure enough in our love that all fear is banished and when the time is right we will reintroduce her to China.

There is no fear in love; but matured love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18

Hope at an outing at the Park

Happy girl

At the orphange we visited in Hefei

No heat in the orphanage, all bundled up.

Jewell,Becky, Hope, and I after the visit

Ronnie

Happy Birthday Daddy

2008-11-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Ronnie's birthday last weekend with a family picnic at the State Park. We had lots of fun and you know Hope really enjoys birthday parties. She gets so very excited and loves to sing "Happy Birthday." All of the girls and their families were able to be there with us and Hope got lots of attention. Click HERE for more details on Wolfhill site.

Daddy and Hope ... wow I love this picture...

Helping Daddy blow out his imaginary candles. We found them after we got home...

Ben and Hope

Grandma, Sunnie Kay, Hope, and Ben.

Halloween 2008 Hope's First

2008-11-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

The CUTEST little Black Cat in Texas

After visiting with Aunt Janice we headed to the square where the merchants have candy and balloons and lots of goodies...

Then home for fun with the family a Wolfhill Tradition a family weiner roast and hayride which Hope loved loved loved!!!

One tired little "Kitty"

Almost too tired to say "Trick or Treat" at Grandma's...but she said it anyway!!Now I'll just be glad when all that candy is gone. Hope has really had a lot of fun opening candy up and trying it...some she liked...some she just walked to the trash can!!

This is just the beginning of the excitement and fun she will experience during the upcoming weeks...up next Daddy's birthday...then Thanksgiving ( my favorite holiday )...then Tyler's birthday...then HOPIE'S BIRTHDAY just in time to start off a wonderful time of Celebrating the Birth of our Saviour Jesus.

Becky
:)

A Walk In The Park

2008-10-31T07:41:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Hope at the park. Grandma went to get a flu shot and Hope and I took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and the beautiful park.

To share a little insight into Hope's growth progress. The clothes she is wearing in these photos are size 2T. I purchased them to take with us to China. I remember looking at them and thinking of taking them back to get size 3T.........I am so very glad I didn't. These were the only clothes that came close to fitting her while we were in China. Now she fills them out perfectly, in fact when I buy her anything new now I do get 3T. Isn't she just a CUTIE PIE!!

Its A Dream

2008-10-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Life comes at us so fast that we rarely realize when one chapter is closing and another is opening. Maybe I think too much, but in the past few years I have become more attuned to these turning pages of my life and the closing of its chapters.

In 1989 we lived in Hawaii for six months. I was temporarily sent there by my employer, and Becky and the girls came too. Misty was preparing to start her senior year of High School and chose to come back to Texas and stay with my parents when school started that year. The day before she left Hawaii our family rode around the island to some favorite spots. We went up on Round Top and enjoyed the view of Honolulu below us. It was cloudy and damp up on the mountain and one of the girls, for some reason, had a helium balloon. I don’t remember if it was accidental or on purpose but they released the balloon and as I watched it swirl up and away into the mist, I was almost overcome with the feeling that a chapter was closing in our family, and a new one opening for Misty.

At the end of the year my company offered us another six month contract to stay in Hawaii with the possibility of other offers for a longer period. Becky and I talked about it privately and agreed that we both wanted to stay another six months, but we wanted the girls, Carmen and Bethany, to be part of the decision making. We realized that we would probably never get to return to Hawaii again. When we broached the subject with the girls, we became aware of just how much they wanted to get back home. We remembered that six months seemed like a long time to us when we were just fourteen or fifteen. With some degree of sadness we agreed that for the girl’s sake, and for Misty already back home that we should decline the offer and go back to Texas.

In the remaining three weeks that I worked there I made a determination to try to burn into my brain and seal in my memory the beautiful things that I loved about Hawaii before that chapter closed. As hard as tried, I was not as successful as I wished. Only a few of those memories remain as bright and clear as I intended. One event in particular that still stands out though was the morning that I drove away from our work center in my little Mazda pickup. I headed east, (or Diamond Head as they say on Oahu), up King Street. The sun had just gotten up above the city and the air was damp from the usual nightly showers. As I passed the King Street bakery the smell of Plumeria and Shower trees was overcome by that of fresh baking bread and rolls. I said to myself, “I am determined to remember this for the rest of my life”. I suppose I will.

Since then I have seen a good many chapters of my life close and pages turn. Sometimes I could see it coming and sometimes it happened in an instant with no warning. Since we have adopted Hope I am amazed at how fast the pages are turning and the chapters closing and opening. Let me share with you a few wonderful chapters, for the sake of some of the soon to be adoptive parents out there and for anyone that has watched or is watching children grow up before their very eyes.

The first chapter was our time with Hope in China. I can’t describe how small and helpless she seemed, maybe the pictures come close. At first she just sat in the middle of the bed, watching and waiting for Becky to pick her up. In a few hours she had decided that Becky was who she could trust, and began to respond to Becky by holding her hand and walking with her. Within a couple of days she was sampling new foods while Becky held her and starting to smile and giggle at times. That snowy week in Hefei was a beautiful and amazing chapter in our life with Hope. We have related on the blog how that she transformed day by day while we were there, finally getting to where she would ride in the stroller and sometimes allow me to carry her.

There were several mini chapters after we got home, getting acquainted with her sisters, and all the family, gaining trust in me and her sisters, and becoming at ease in her new home. At first she wouldn’t leave the room we were in. Soon she was exploring cautiously.

A wonderful new chapter started for me during this time when Becky went back to work and I began working evening shift and staying home with Hope during the day. It was sad for Becky, because a special chapter for her was closing. I was pleasantly surprised at how Hope made the adjustment. I had the baby monitor on and kept it close to me in the kitchen or living room. I would hear Hope stirring in the bed and then she would yell, “Mama”! For the first few days, she would cry until I had picked her up and comforted her. She would ask, “fer Mama”? I would tell her that Mama was at work and she was OK. Then she wanted a “bissakit”, which she would eat cold.

In about a week, Hope would yell DaDa when she woke up. She no longer wanted the biscuit, and usually wouldn’t eat for about an hour after she was awake. We listened to Sixties music on the TV and one of Hope’s favorites was “My Baby Does the Hanky Panky”, she would sing along a little with me while I held her and we danced.

A favorite routine every morning for about three weeks was wrestling with “Tigey”, her white and black striped tiger handbag. Tigey would sneak up on her and pounce and Hope would fall back on the floor or the bed, fighting valiantly and saying, “Hep me DaDa”! One morning I noticed that Hope hadn’t begun to look for Tigey and I kept him out of sight to see if she would think of him. Three days later Tigey was still out of sight and Hope hadn’t said anything, another page had turned.

Almost every day, after Hope had been up for a while and had eaten breakfast we would walk over to “Gemma’s” house. Hope would ring the doorbell, and Mom would invite us in. Mom always had something to give Hope to interest her. One of Hope’s favorites was an orange Tupperware bowl with some plastic spoons, small cups, and assorted odds and ends. Hope would make imaginary cakes which I would taste for her. Sometimes I would entice Hope to wear the bowl on her head like a helmet. The bowl is square with rounded corners and fit Hope’s head almost perfectly. ( Hope’s head is very flat in back, due to laying on her back too much as an infant in the orphanage.)

When leaving “Gemma’s”, Hope usually had something in hand to take home. It became tradition for Hope to say, “I take it Home?” When we reached our door, Hope would proclaim loudly, “we’re home!” On more than one occasion Hope became very sad after we had gotten back in the house after returning from “Gemma’s”. I could never figure out why, but it would pass after ten or fifteen minutes. I wondered at those times if she felt lonely with just the two of us in the house or if she was experiencing some sad memory of her past.

After lunch, which we sometimes had with Gemma, I would get out the ice cream. Hope calls it “ice a cream” with three syllables. There were several days that Hope went to sleep in my lap after the ice cream, and once she fell asleep with the spoon halfway to her mouth. If she didn’t go to sleep in my lap, sometimes she would as I held her and walked around the house, and a time or two as I pushed her round and round the kitchen, dining room, and living room in her stroller.

Time went by fast during those days. I kept Hope during the days from March through May. In late May my boss called to tell me that a co-worker was resigning and I needed to prepare to go back on day shift. It just happened that school was almost out for the summer and Carmen would be able to keep Hope. That first morning that I went in to kiss a sleeping Hope goodbye as I headed out to work it hit me. Another chapter had closed in my relationship with my little girl. It had been a precious time, more precious than I had realized while the pages were turning, and I will never be able to go back and do it again.

It's A Dream

"In the morning when I wake up and listen to the sound
Of the birds outside on the roof
I try to ignore what the paper says
And I try not to read all the news
And I'll hold you if you had a bad dream
And I hope it never comes true
'Cause you and I been through so many things together
And the sun starts climbing the roof
It's a dream Only a dream
And it's fading now Fading away
It's only a dream
Just a memory without anywhere to stay"

Neil Young

A portion of a song from a favorite singer/songwriter, take a listen.

Ronnie

Computer Issues...............

2008-10-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Please don't give up on us. We are having some trouble with our computer and also I broke my camera. The girls are taking pictures for us until we get our camera replaced but the computer troubles are making it difficult to even post text. Ronnie and John are working on getting all our info transfered to an external hard drive so they can fix the computer. Hope is growing and entertaining us all around here. She is so much fun and such a joy. She is getting more and more secure and even cuter (if that is possible...)! We are so very thankful that she is our daughter!

Check back soon...please

Becky