One Year Ago Today..................

We got the long awaited call that forever changed our families. After almost two years of waiting we we saw our precious daughters for the very first time. Through that long wait God showed us again and again that He is so good, so faithful and so amazing!!! Here we all were one year ago so full of joy and excitement and the best was still yet to come.......

Fast forward one whole year and here she is and we can't even imagine our lives without her. Clara Beth has truly been a blessing to this family. She is funny and sweet and constantly amazes us with her antics. I knew from the first time I saw this sweet face that she was made just for us.

Clara Beth is holding one candle to celebrate the one year anniversary of her referral.

Now to be able to hold this precious girl and kiss that sweet face day after day is so wonderful.

My serious, sweet, funny girl.

Our hearts are bursting with love for you........To anyone who reads this that may be thinking and praying about adoption all I can say is take that step of faith you'll never look back and you will be blessed beyond measure.

Clowning Around.............

This girl can make a toy out of anything. Home made skates courtesy of a box top and bottom!!


A better view of her skates. They were a perfect fit!!!


Driving my Bubbie around in the Purple Princess Cozy Coupe.


How wide can you open your mouth Bubbie??


Enough of this, time to move on to something else, excuse me Bubbie!!!!

Signs of Spring

See What We've Been Up to............

Anyone who's ever gone through the paperchase for an adoption can take one look at our dining room table and guess what we're up to! Yes, we are working on bringing home another blessing from China!!!


This was a VERY exciting weekend for us. We celebrated Chinese New Year! Clara Beth had a little too much pre-party fun and konked out right on the kitchen floor. Don't worry I didn't leave her there, I put her somewhere a little more comfy after we snapped several pictures. Too Cute!!


I'm really not very crafty at all but I loved making these fortune cookies out of felt for our Chinese New Year party. Our guests thought they were real!!


Here's another glimpse of our decorations. We are ready to welcome the new year with quince blossoms, oranges and tangerines.


Two of my sweeties waiting for our guests to arrive. Take a look at our slide show below to see more of our celebration.

Happy Chinese New Year

Fun in the Snow

Glimpses of Christmas 2007

That face says it all......... This is Clara Beth seeing our Christmas tree for the very first time. She loved it!


Clara Beth and her Bubbie in front of one of the Christmas trees at church.


The "Santa Baby" all ready to go. I should say Santaca, that's what Clara Beth calls him.


Clara Beth with a beautiful hand made cradle that a sweet lady that Paul works with brought her a few days before Christmas. She loves putting her babies in it.


Christmas morning tea party. Clara Beth loves her new table and chairs and numerous tea sets. We have already had dozens of tea parties together!!! Christmas with little ones in the house is sooooooooooooo much fun. We can hardly wait to see what God has in store for us in 2008.

But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing, and shall have wonderful peace.
Psalm 37:11

May 2008 be a year of blessings and peace for all of you................

My Room, Dancing and My First Parade

We finally rearranged Clara Beth's room so that it's all hers now since her big sissy is married and has a house of her own!!!!



Our girl loves to dance. Here she is dancing a little jig in the dining room waiting for lunch one Sunday after church. Notice her mouth, when she dances every body part is involved.



Here's Clara Beth and Bekah Grace with their Dads waiting for the Christmas parade. It's a first for both of them. Neither one of them quite knew what to expect.


There's who we've been waiting for, Clara Beth's bubbie, Land passes by with the Honors Chorus. Clara Beth waved like she was in the parade!!


Clara Beth and daddy waiting for Santa to come by......She doesn't mind him at all as long as he stays far away!

The Pumpkin Patch Express!

Climbing Clara Beth

Birthday Slide Show

We finally got to celebrate Clara Beth's first birthday with friends and family. I was so sick for her actual birthday we had to wait to have her party. What was supposed to be a pool party in August turned in to a fall celebration in September. All the China girls were able to be there. It's so wonderful when we can all be together. Fun was had by all. The birthday girl didn't mind at all having to wait to celebrate!!!

Things that have been happening at our house.....

For some reason Clara Beth loves poles, lamp posts, light poles, table legs.....She just loves them. Here she is in our front yard beside the lamp post. She didn't even mind standing in the pine straw as long as she could hold on to the pole.


This picture was taken right before we left for our court date to domesticate Clara Beth's adoption. Only three of our China families were able to go to court on the same day. Afterwards we celebrated at our favorite Chinese Restaurant. It was a great day!!!


Here are the proud dads before going into court for our adoption domestication. First is Rebekah Grace and her dad, next of course is Clara Beth and her happy dad, and then we have Geordyn and her dad. All three of these girls have their daddy's completely smitten!!!


And here are the happy mommies!!!! Clara Beth is first and I'm just beaming, Rebekah Grace and her happy Mommy are next and Geordyn and her happy Mommy.


This last picture is just one of the many Chinese outfits I bought while we were in Guangzhou. I think she looks adorable in it, but then again, she looks adorable to me in anything!!!

Birthdays, Biltmore House and Boots

Three of the China girls have celebrated their first birthdays! Here they all are at Geordyn's birthday party. You can not even imagine how many times we tried to get a good picture of all five of the girls. This was about as good as possible. We probably should not have waited until the end of the party to try and take pictures! Lean your head to the left and the girls look like they are sitting up straight! From left to right is Geordyn(the birthday girl), Cooper, Clara Beth, Bekah Grace and Barbee Ruth. It was so much fun getting together with everyone.


Two weeks later we did it again to celebrate Barbee Ruth and Bekah Grace's birthdays. They had their party together. Once again we tried to get a good picture of the girls. Cooper couldn't make it to this party so we have Geordyn, Clara Beth, Bekah Grace and Barbee Ruth all looking in different directions!


This weekend we took Clara Beth to the mountains for the first time. We visited Biltmore House. Here is Paul, Land and Clara Beth after we had taken in all the sights. We had a great time.

These boots are made for walking!! I know many of you have ladybug overload but these boots were just too cute to pass up. Clara Beth loved it when we put them on her feet. She is definitely going to be a shoe girl just like her mom and big sister!!! Our big girl is pulling up, standing on her own and trying to take steps!!! It's hard to believe how much she has learned since April. Everyday she shows us something new. We are having sooooooo much fun!!!

Aren't these the cutest little legs and feet you have ever seen!!!