Gotcha Day FIVE Years Later!!

I can not even imagine that it has been FIVE years.  Time flies when you are having fun!  Our sweet little girl is now eight years old and such a wonderful part of our lives.  I cannot imagine how boring it would have been around here without this little Asian Princess to spice things up.  Of course Audrey and Heath coming along after Hope came home just really made our lives so perfect.  Hope loves those little ones as well as the older grandchildren and they all are in love with Hope too.  Ronnie and I are constantly challenged by being parents of an eight year old.  The new way they teach MATH is maddening to us old school fans but we are learning right along with our sweetie.  She is so smart and kind.  We love hearing her rattle along about her day at school and her friends.  Right now her only extra curricular activity is basketball.  I actually tried to encourage her a little to join coach pitch baseball this year but she insists that her only love is basketball.  Our little girl will be the best little(probably somewhere around four foot ten when she get to varsity) basketball player our little school has ever seen! She is tiny but that does not dampen her spirits at all.  Ronnie put her up a basketball goal this year and she will probably wear it out practicing. 

Our first glimpse of our sweet daughter.

I could not wait to scoop her into my arms…just had to hold myself back from squeezing her and scaring her even more than she already was.Those EYES told the whole story.  Her world as she knew it was changing.Just look at the grin on Ronnie’s face…what a treasure…I will never ever forget how we felt those first few moments…and the moments just get better all the time.

We are so thankful for Hope Marie, for her incredible spirit that has helped her to transition from the scared little baby she was on January 14, 2008 to the beautiful, articulate, fun, smart, loving daughter she is today.  We love you Hopie…forever and ever! We are so glad we listened to that still small voice that made us a family.

IF God has ever spoken to your heart about adoption  please just listen…it will change your life in miraculous ways!

Five Years Ago Today! Yes It’s Been Five Years!

This is the view from our computer when the Agency sent us her first picture during THE CALL.  December 7, 2007 is a day our family will never ever forget.  Our older girls were all at work anxiously waiting for us to call them with the information about their “little sister”.  I love hearing them say that.   When we first saw the picture I cried and Ronnie almost did.  This morning I asked Ronnie if he remembered what happened five years ago today and he of course he did. I also said remember my house was perfectly clean and already decorated for Christmas that morning….he said yeah you also didn’t have those two little grandbabies who are sleeping on the couch!!

Hope is a joy and such a blessing.  If we were only younger we would definitely adopt again.  We just hope that we might inspire someone who already has been  prompted by the Lord to go ahead and take the plunge.  There are orphans all over the world who need forever families, my heart is centered on those still left behind in Hope’s orphanage in Huainan.  

Hope’s referral day came one day shy of two years since our dossier was logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs.  Now the families who are getting referrals in the “non special needs” program from China are waiting about six years!  That is almost unbelievable…but true.  I pray that those in charge in China will make some changes and those children waiting ( I’ve seen estimates as high as one million) for families will be placed more quickly in the future.  Please remember to pray for orphans all over the world and if you are able and God has not asked you to become a forever family there is still so much you can do.  There are numerous charities and outreach programs.  Here is a link to one.

 http://pearlriveroutreach.blogspot.com/

You will be blessed…open your heart just a little and see what God has in store for your family!!!  Just look at that face in the picture above and then take a look at this.

A smiling happy little girl waiting patiently for Disney on Ice.  We love you Hopie Marie and are so Thankful we saw your sweet little face on our computer that morning five years ago today.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for.  I could write pages and pages recounting all the blessings in our lives, but I’ll just condense it a little by saying I am Thankful for:

Jesus

Our family

Our church

Our friends

Our Health

Our Home

and for Ronnie’s good job.  A lot of people do not have a good job in this economy and that is one of my prayers that good good jobs will be plentiful again in our county.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone…

Our beautiful daughter…just one more blessing in our world.

 

Hope aka Pocahontas with two more blessings Grandma and our sweet little cowgirl Audrey Elizabeth.

Heath and Audrey

Sunnie Kay at her first Pep Rally as a Cheerleader for the Eagles…Go Eagles!

Caleb is working working working…we are so proud of him.

Tyler is busy with getting ready for The Fort Worth Stock Show.

Bradley is playing basketball for Austin College and getting the hang of college life…studying, studying, studying.

Ben in his Senior year is busy managing the Eagle Basketball Team, studying for a college course he is taking as a Senior in High School as well as all his other activities somehow finds time to play that latest game that just came out…something about a Halo?

Our older girls are doing wonderful working working working, loving and raising their families, and making Mom and Dad proud and feeling so blessed every day. 

Grandma is still cooking and blessing our entire extended family every day! 

Oh yes and Ivy Joy is getting better… see post below. If you have not yet read about this little miracle child you will be blessed just reading her story.  Since I posted the request for prayer she has undergone another open heart surgery. 

Thank you Jesus … Thank you.

 

Becky

Ivy Joy

Please pray again for Ivy Joy.

http://sammonsfamily7.blogspot.com/ 

She is a little one adopted from China earlier this year and is having some real problems waking up from her two recent  major heart surgeries.  Her mom is so inspiring and needs our prayers right now as well. 

Thank you

Becky

Fall 2012

Can not sleep!  I have a headache…I was not sure why, I never have headaches, then I remembered we have been out of coffee for two days and I have been drinking decaf.  Oh MY now I know where that headache is coming from.  Anyway after waking up with that darn headache for the tenth time I just got up and remembered a couple of packets of instant coffee and heated up some water…the rest is history.  Although it tasted terrible, I am a brewed Folgers girl it seems to be working except that now I will probably not sleep again tonight so a good time to update since I have been so neglectful lately.

Hope is doing good in school this year.  Loves her friends and her teachers and again for the third year in a row got best citizen of her class for the first six weeks.  Is that not an awesome accomplishment?

We are so very proud of you Hope!

Other things keeping us busy have been birthdays, Carmen and Bethany’s are a week apart in September.  This year we planned a trip to Canton to celebrate.  All I can say is it was fun and WET.  So glad they have the pavilions!  Everyone went except Jeff who had to work.  You should have seen us sloshing around in the water in our hastily bought rain ponchos.  Hope’s only other trip to Canton was when she had only been home with us for a few months.   She loved it!  So did I.  Planning another trip soon…as in NOVEMBER!  Below is a picture of Hope and her prized Canton purchase. Not sure if we looked like a bunch of candy corn or a bunch of ducks in a row?

Halloween is upon us and Miss Hopie Marie has chosen to be Pocahontas…I was pulling for Mulan but what do I know! I broke out the sewing machine and even if I say so myself it’s pretty cute.  Maybe next year I can talk her into Mulan. No picture yet…

Can anyone say SPOILED!  We went to the airport to pick up Misty after a trip to Vegas of all places to visit a friend and stopped by Bass Pro.  Daddy sprung for the archery set but Hope decided against the Davy Crockett hat. 

This pic is blurry but shows the sweetness of their relationship.  We are so blessed with four such wonderful beautiful daughters.

While we were waiting for Misty to arrive Hope and Dad had to do a little escalator riding for fun!  This was the first time Hope had been back to DFW since the day we brought her home from China.

Boy were we ever tired in this pic…before our flight from San Francisco we had spent the night with Hope hooked up to IVs in some hospital there. Believe me we were so happy to see DFW.  Oh yes Hope has grown a bit since then don’t ya think. Correction most of us have grown a bit especially those boys…has anyone seen Tyler recently he is six one and a half in his sock feet! …he had to have some knee x-rays done and the Doc said he is not yet through growing. WHAT???