Another Snow Day!!! Yeah!!!

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!!

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

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

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

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.