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o For Nadia and her cute little self turning into a crawling speed racer.
o For Jeanette keeping Nadia so that I could mentor. (It was Nadia’s first time to be babysat and she did great)
o For the people of my church who continue to volunteer for the KIDS HOPE USA program this year. It’s AWESOME!
o For the staff at the school being so excited that we are coming back to continue the KIDS HOPE program.
o For the little guy that I mentor. We got to catch up yesterday and I am so grateful to be a part of his life.
o For the new Child Ambassadors in Texas that I was able to chat with this weekend. I am so glad that you have become part of the team and for your willingness to care for children around the world.
o For my sister Michelle who turns 23 this Saturday. I LOVE YOU!!!!!
o For copy machines and white out.
o For having enough time to get the KIDS HOPE program up and still play constantly with Nadia.
o For Terri and Pamela ordering from Lil Sugarplum and mentioning me.
o For baby monitors. Great invention for 2 story houses


These are the last of the shots from Mike’s camera from Labor Day. She is just so cute I had to keep uploading!!!

The dress on the left is the one we had made for Nadia in Jiangxi…after I looked at all the fabric choices in the shop. The dress on the right is the one that my sister Michelle bought in San Francisco’s Chinatown shortly before we left for China. She also got Nadia some pink silk jammies that are adorable. Michelle said when she saw the “Red Couch Incident” photos on the blog while we were in China she said, “NO WAY!” We got the package this week and Mike said, “That’s pretty freaky that you guys picked the same dress.” We must have had a sister wavelength going. I would also like to point out that there were MANY red fabric choices in Jiangxi…it’s just that I liked that one best. Cool, huh?

The photos above are of my sister Bayli and Nadia playing that Mike took with his camera during the visit last weekend. Click on it to see the rest on the photos page.

Nadia has lots of Grandmas to love her. She has met Louanne’s mom “Nonni”, Louanne’s Grammie who is the “Great Grammie”, Mike’s Aunt Joy who is “Aunt Grandma” and Kaye Jordan from church who is her “God Grandma”. She met Grandma Linda (Mike’s mom) on our August Road trip and she met Grandma Brooke on Labor Day. Eventually we are going to Albuquerque to meet her Great Grandma Johns. Lot of love for this baby!

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
Proverbs 13:12

I came across this verse on another woman’s blog and I know I have read it before, but it really touched me yesterday when thinking about Nadia. The wait extended so much longer than we ever would have thought. And there were many times during that wait that my heart hurt so much that I thought I couldn’t stand it…hurt for a child I had never even seen. Hurt for a child as I wondered where she was and when she was born. Hurt that she was going to be in an orphanage until we arrived in China on Gotcha Day.

Now we have the perfect child for our family and every day is a blessing and I could just watch her all day. She is so inquisitive and curious about the world around her. Being parents is such a change of life, but it’s so wonderful….we just can’t get enough of her. In many ways the wait has melted away, but the fact of the matter is that we would have waited even longer for Nadia….she is the child that God meant for us.

o For the KIDS HOPE USA training last night and the people in my church willing to reach out to hurting children.
o For the 22 mentors going to the school EVERY WEEK this year!
o For my Super Subs who will be available to meet with the children if their regular mentor can’t make it.
o For Marla laying down the Texas gauntlet to all the Child Ambassadors nationwide to each get 2 more children sponsored by the end of September.
o For the child I already got sponsored in that challenge.
o For the photos we got of our sponsored child from Peru with his Texas t-shirts that another Child Ambassador took for us.
o For my friend Terri and all the other waiting families who got to see the faces of their sweet babies for the first time on Tuesday.
o For the other families that we have gotten to know who are in China now or are leaving this week - enjoy the adventure.

P.S. The photos in the slideshow above (click on it to go to photo page) were all taken by Mike

Nadia’s Grandpa Greg, Grandma Brooke and Aunt Bayli came up from Houston this weekend to meet the lovely and cute thing! On Sunday Grandma Brooke cooked a fabulous Tuscan dinner including a yummy asparagus appetizer and lasagna with crusty bread. Grammie, Uncle Roger and Aunt Paula joined us for dinner and “Nadia Watching”. My dad asked if I just played with her all day and I said, “Yeah, when she’s not sleeping ” Nadia showed everyone how well she can crawl and pull up on the furniture and her mastery of the Curiosity Cube which Aunt Bayli gave her. That is really the coolest toy and it’s perfect for Nadia because she is so inquisitive and likes to figure out her toys. She plays with it everyday and has figured out how to work all 6 sides.

Sunday marked our 6th week with Nadia and Mike and I just feel that we are so blessed. It is surreal to us sometimes that this sweet baby really is a part of our family. Yesterday I told Mike that it seems like she has been with us forever and it’s really hard to believe that we waited so long and then travelled half way around the world to get her. I have continued to take her on my KIDS HOPE interviews this week and she just has fun playing and checking out new people.

Nadia cruised all along the couch last Thursday to get to Daddy and she made really good time. She waved and said, “Ba ba” to Shirley and Grammie on Thursday also. She seems to get the idea of bye bye, but uses it sporadically. She continues to say Ma ma and Da da, but hasn’t quite put together that we are Momma and Dada. I really think she is on the edge though by how she reacts when you say, “Where is Dada?” or things like that. When Mike got home from work last night, I said, “There’s Dada.” and she immediately turned for the door to the pantry. And of course she got SO EXCITED to see Mike and started her little breathing heavy laughing thing that she does. It’s really cute!