5 Years

I can't believe that 5 years ago today, we were standing in a civil affairs office on the other side of the world anxiously awaiting to be handed a child, a gift greater than any other, my daughter. I knew I loved her before I ever saw her. My heart hurt with a longing to meet her. I had prayed for her for so long, and the reality that we were going to finally be together was so overwhelming. The moment the nanny turned the corner with the most precious cargo in her arms, my heart leapt. At that moment LeeLee and I locked eyes....at that moment she was mine, and I was hers. She dove out of her nanny's arms directly into mine....she was home.

When we first got her home I took this picture. I loved it so much that every year I take a picture in the same spot. It is my comparison picture.

Five years has changed so much. It's not only the height, weight, hair length, and teeth that have changed. So much more has. LeeLee has always been strong willed, stubborn, and what you might call a pistol. I so naively tried to raise her like I did my other children. I overlooked the fact that she had a tender heart full of little wholes that needed to be mended. By looking at her from the outside she seemed so strong, physically and mentally. Strong enough to manipulate all those around her, even when they didn't realize they were being manipulated. I had to do a one eighty and change my tactics with her, and when I did, we started truly enjoying each other. Her emotional strength has blossomed. She is still strong willed, but in every way, she is such a blessing. I so enjoy the spice of life that she brings to our family.

I am thankful that God called us when he did to adopt. I am thankful that he made it clear we were to go to China. I am thankful for all the snafus with our paperwork. I am thankful that the Chinese Government slowed down their referrals so that our paperwork and LeeLee's would hit the desk at the same time. I am thankful that my husband has a rounded head that matched LeeLee's referral picture. I am thankful that she maintained stable health that until we arrived. Can you tell? I am thankful! My precious girl is an amazing blessing in every way....I remind myself of this as a walk by a new wall that has been hit by our phantom artist....no need to clean it, she may be famous someday. I love you my precious girl! Thanks for coming home!

It's Hope's Birthday!

Today is Hope's birthday. Today she is 7 years old. Unfortunately for Hope, she has no clue that today is her birthday. One reason is Hope has no clue when her birthday is. It has never been celebrated before, so it isn't something she counts down to. The other reason that Hope has no clue that her birthday is today is because she looked like this on Wednesday.

When we first got Hope it didn't take long for us to realize that she needed to have her tonsils removed. She snored like a 220 pound man.....I know this because I already listen to one of those. She also made a horrible sound when she swallowed liquid. It was the sound of her gulping to try and get the liquid around her tonsils. To us it was like fingernails on the chalkboard. She appeared to also have sleep apnea, as she never fell into a deep sleep. When we learned of the extensive dental work that needed to be done, I asked if it would be possible to do it while she was under for the tonsils. We were blessed to have our preferred ENT make a special trip to the hospital to do her surgery, and then our pediatric dentist stepped in to do his part. She is doing better than we expected, but she is not her smiley little self.

Don't worry, we had a party for her. We just celebrated on Monday. She planned her own party. She didn't hesitate when she asked for a Barbie party. She told me exactly who she wanted to attend too. She wanted pizza, her favorite food since coming to America. So, we followed all her instructions and gave her the party of her dreams.

She doesn't like cake, and is not a huge fan of ice cream cakes, so I was at a bit of a loss as to what to make for her. I brain stormed with my good friend Kim at lunch and she suggested this. It is a rice krispie treat covered with icing and melted chocolate. We also made brownies so people would have an option. She was ready to get the cake over with so she could move onto gifts.

This probably seems like the most insignificant gift that she got, but really it is the most special. This gift is from Hunter. While Hunter can be such a pest of a big brother, his heart is so in love with his new sister. Hunter has to go to tutoring because of his continual struggles at school. He earns tokens at tutoring and gets to buy things from the store with his tokens. As soon as he saw the Barbie bucket was in the store, he started intently trying to collect enough tokens to buy this for Hope. I have seen some of the cool things in the store, so I am impressed that he sacrificed something for himself, just to make her smile.

Hope racked up the Barbie gifts and got some other great stuff too. Her smiles were huge with each gift. We then had one last surprise for her......

....a Barbie bike. She was so thrilled to get this. She started asking us for a bike when we were in China. We would pass them and she would be so animated, and give us the "please" look and say "NaNa's?" We would repeatedly say, "No, not now."

I don't think I have ever had more fun watching a child at a birthday party. She was overly animated and oh so excited. It is precious to watch a child take in every moment of something they have only dreamed about. I missed catching the best part of the night. She had been saying that she wanted to sing and she wanted everyone else to dance. I almost forgot about it, but remembered at the last minute. She got up and sang the Barbie girl song and her siblings and I danced. I can not tell you how blessed I am to be this special little girl's mom....it just doesn't get any better than this.

Our Final Disney Day

So, for our final Disney day, the girls woke up to Princess Ariel dresses, shoes, and tiaras. Last time we were at Disney, LeeLee had a special day at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. I watched closely as they made her up, and thought to myself, "I can't believe I just paid $80 for this." So, I brought along everything I needed to recreate the look for the girls. So, they got their princess dresses on, and I did their makeup, and hair. I put their tiaras in and sprinkled their hair with glitter, then off to the land of princesses we went. There is a new exciting play area outside of the Pooh ride, and the girls loved it. Here they are pulling a rope trying to get gopher out of the hole. That gopher is really strong, because they could not do it on their own. I had to help. We got to ride everything multiple times because Wednesdays are down days at the park. I think one of Hope's favorites were the carousel and Peter Pan's flight. Hope changed so much from the first day in the park to the last. She was very excited but reserved in the beginning, but by the end, she was jumping up and down and bouncing like Tigger from one ride to another. My two princesses were troopers. They went non stop all day. I was so proud of them. I am looking forward to our next Disney adventure! I believe our kids are all truly Disney kids.

Animal Kingdom

The girls woke up and immediately headed to the kitchen table where they had found their outfits and surprises the day before. I had laid out new outfits for the day, and added pins to their lanyards, so they would have new ones to trade. I am a self proclaimed, over the top, Disney mom. I know that in a land of lots of kids, you have to be a little eccentric so that they will stand out and get the extra little bits of attention from the cast members. I love Animal Kingdom......maybe it has something to do with all the animals, or, maybe it is because it is just a slower paced park, and I love that. When we arrived, we were headed for the Dinosaur ride (my favorite) when we got side tracked by my favorite bear of all times. Hope didn't really know who the Pooh characters were, but LeeLee does and Hope picked up on that excitement. While stopping to pin trade with the cast members in front of the character trail, the girls got a little more attention than we expected. We were asked if we would be willing to be in Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade. Of course we said yes..... .....so that lead to us riding on this float for 30 minutes and waving and smiling at all the guests. Who knew that waving for thirty minutes would be as difficult as it is. Being a part of the parade was really neat. We got to go behind the scenes, and have a costumer fit us with hats and vests. We got to see all the parade characters too. After the parade, we caught up with a few more Disney characters, then headed to downtown Disney to do some souvenir shopping. Eleenah was funny, she got so tired the day before telling people that they weren't twins. So, by this point when someone would walk up to them and comment on how adorable they were, LeeLee would automatically say, "And we are not twins."

Making Dreams Come True

While in China, we had our guide ask Hope what her favorite cartoon was. She didn't hesitate one bit when she answered MICKEY MOUSE. She wasn't lying either, she loves him. She will watch Mickey Mouse Club House as many times as I will let her. So, I decided that a quick trip to Disney was in order, so she could experience all the same things as her siblings. I am a bit of an over the top Disney mom, so it took me about a month to plan everything out and make and gather special outfits and surprises for the trip. My mom wanted to go watch the excitement too, so she decided to join us. Since Hope is having surgery two days before her birthday, we decided we would turn this into a Birthday trip. We decided to celebrate her birthday on our first day in Disney since that would be the day she met Mickey Mouse. She first spotted Mickey during a parade. She started jumping up and down and screaming. He heard her, and pointed at her and started making great gestures her way. She was beaming with excitement. A little later, we went to get in line to meet the famous mouse, and she was moving along with the line when it moved. She and LeeLee actually sat down at one point and played while we were in line. I had just commented to my mom that I thought she didn't know what we were in line for, when all of a sudden, Hope caught a glimpse of Mickey. She squealed, "MICKEY." Everyone in line looked at her and started laughing. At that point the line couldn't move fast enough. Her dream came true......she got to give Mickey a kiss! I had planned Chef Mickey's for her to end her special day. She loved getting to eat with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald. To end her special day, she was presented with a cupcake, while the characters danced around. I don't think she could have had a more perfect day.

Daddy Daughter Dance

The Daddy Daughter Dance is always an exciting time at our house. The excitement of getting all dressed up, hair done, make-up, and nails painted, leads to lots of giggles and grins. Hope was so excited when she saw her dress. She talked about the dance, and kept showing us how she was going to dance when she got there. If you have ever seen Hope dance, you would know that really it is more of a comedy act than actual dancing. I asked Noelle if she was going to be embarrassed by her sister, and she said, "no, I think I will be laughing at her too." The laughing doesn't seem to bother Hope, as she is laughing the whole time too.

We gave Noelle the option of going on a different night without her little sisters, but she wanted to go with them. She enjoys watching Hope experience new things as much as we do. Paul had fun with his three girls. He said LeeLee did her usual, and did her own thing. Noelle and Hope stayed together, and danced. Noelle reported that it was fun to watch Hope and that Hope just loved being a part of everything. At the end of the night I asked Hope how things went, and she answered so simply, "I can't dance." She seemed so disappointed to finally learn that what she thought was dancing, simply isn't. We will work on that, and hopefully by next year, she will have some smooth moves.

Associational Race

Hunter was so excited to go to the big race. He gets to see some of his best friends that attend other churches. I prepared him that his car might not do well. It was so much slower than Noelle's at our race, so I was thinking he would get blown away. We thought wrong. Hunter placed 2nd in his age group. He was so excited. He also got 1st for most unique car. That is always what he wants, so he was so excited again to here his name called. We are so proud of him. He really loves this. Noelle's car ran slower than Hunter's for some reason. So, she didn't place. We had prepared her that since she was running in the open class, that she would be going against a bunch of dads who were professional race car builders. Sure enough, she came in 4th place behind 3 dads. She was disappointed, but not discouraged. I believe she will try again next year.