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Thankful Thursday

Nadia in Blue
Nadia in Blue

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!!!

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Sisters…on the same wavelength

Matching Dresses

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 of the album.

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Lots of Grandmas, part 2

with Grandma Linda

with Grandma Brooke

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!

with Nonnie

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Thankful Thursday

Playing in Purple
Playing in Purple (click to see album)

“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 album above were all taken by Mike 🙂