Old Friends Together

Jumping beans!
Daddies and girls... big girls and little girls!

On Saturday Gwen was reunited with her oldest friend. Seems funny to say that for a child who is coming up on only her third birthday, but this friend is one who has known Gwen longer than anyone else in her life, including us!

Alia and her parents came to our house Saturday for visit... this is the first time we've been together since we adopted the girls 14 months ago. As you know if you are a regular reader, we've been able to spend time with two other families we were with in China, but only Alia is from the same orphanage and is the same age (only 2 weeks apart) as Gwen, meaning that they were in the same room together at the orphanage and would have been together all the time.

When we were in China, it was very clear that Gwen and Alia knew each other well. They seemed to communicate with each other and liked to be together. They were happy to see each other each morning when we'd meet in the hotel lobby.

Alia's mom told me that after we had all returned home and I would email them pictures of Gwen, Alia would point at the computer and say something in Chinese, probably Gwen's Chinese name. The name "Gwen" held no meaning for her, but she knew the face!

I wondered if Gwen would remember Alia. It's hard to know if she did, but the girls definitely connected. This age usually brings a fair amount of "I had it first" and "Mine, mine!" when kids play together... I have to say there was none of that on Saturday. They spent a long time taking turns pulling each other around in a little wagon we have, and at one point when Alia was pulling Gwen, Gwen turned around and said to me, "She a nice girl." I have never heard Gwen make a comment like that! It was just so neat to see the girls enjoying each other... I loved how willingly they posed for pictures together~ it just seemed that they were glad to be together. As my sister said when I described the day to her, it was like the girls' hearts knew each other!
Is this priceless, or what? They stayed in this close hug for a good couple of minutes, just so happy to be together! Our princesses!

Bad Picture...

The Family Fun Foto Challenge this week is for a bad photo! This one had potential, and I thought it was going to be a really cute one of the girls snuggling Daddy, wearing the new matching jammies they had just gotten for Christmas. Madelyn and Scott look pretty good, but Gwen is a little intense... just not quite what I had in mind! Unfortunately, a second pose never happened as Gwen was at her limit for pictures that day. That's why I still have this one, I guess. Usually I delete bad pictures pretty soon after taking them... the beauty of digital photography!

Same Rock, Next Season

This rock is in a nearby park with a lake. We enjoy this park in every season... it has a bike trail around the entire lake, trails through the woods, and a huge hill! The top of the hill affords a wonderful panoramic view of the surrounding area, and of course it is great fun to either run or sled down, depending on the weather! The kids and I have enjoyed breakfast next to the rock on a couple of special occasions, although not in the snow. :-)

Here is Gwen rather precariously perched on top of the rock early last spring.

And here she is confidently perched on the rock last Saturday, during Seth's sledding party!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Madelyn had been waiting a long time for the Daddy Daughter Dance, which took place this last Saturday. For her birthday last month we had picked out a special dress for her to wear for the dance, and she had been itching to wear it! On the day of this special event, she was wanting to start getting ready hours ahead. Finally we began our preparations... getting all ready is half the fun! She looked so lovely, and of course Gwen had to get in on it a little, too! She got to wear a fancy dress and I put a little baby's breath in her hair too, but when it was time to walk out the door, the night belonged to Madelyn and her Daddy!

Two favorite girls!
A special flower!
All dressed up and ready to go!

Snow Day!

Gwen and I had fun playing in the snow today before her nap... it was clear and sunny and the snow in our tree lawn had been piled up very high by the plow... perfect for playing Queen of the Mountain!

We sledded on the little hill in the backyard. Gwen was thrilled to be doing it all by herself!

It was a sledding birthday...

Seth's 10th birthday party was this last Saturday. Yes, he turned ten nearly two months ago, but he really wanted to have a sledding party this year and we had to wait for the right weather! Saturday turned out to be the perfect day for sledding. After a frigid week, we had a sunny, nearly 20 degree day with no wind. The boys had a ball! They enjoyed the sledding so much that we stayed at the hill much longer than we intended and hadn't even had cake or presents yet when their parents arrived to pick them up!

Here Seth and Scott go for a double down the hill!

See the sledding hill in the background? The boys took a short break from sledding to check out the frozen lake where an ice fisherman (no, we don't live in the Arctic... it really is the midwest!) was drilling for a new fishing hole. Facinating!
Cheering for a great run down the hill!

I love this picture... Seth is literally flying right out of it! Can you tell how much fun he's having?! You've got to admit you're jealous, you Floridians... you know who you are! :-)

Back at home... for lunch and a treasure hunt, then Seth's choice of a fruity rice krispie treat cake! Here he is, ready to blow out the candles!

It really was a fun party... Seth declared it the best ever. I felt even in the midst of it that it might just be one of those experiences that the memories of it will live with him forever, reminding him of how very much he is loved. I pray that it is so!

Morning in the Mirror

"I see Gwen!" she says, with obvious joy in her voice.
I just love this!

Indulgence

Can anyone ever really enjoy two pacifiers at once? I came into the girls' room this morning to find Gwen attempting it. Seth, who happened to have gotten into the crib with her, had a telling grin on his face... obviously he had put her up to it!

Weekend

It might be cold outside (about -3 right now, without the wind chill), and the Bears may have lost the Super Bowl, but our hearts are warm because we spent the weekend with dear friends!

Only children could enjoy being outside in weather like we're having now... Madelyn and Emma Grace had bright red cheeks and lots of laughs in the snow on Saturday afternoon!
Taken after church and breakfast at IHOP today...So Very Good to have all of us together. It had been nearly two years... Now We Are Eleven!

Chipper Kangaroos

When Caleb (now a 7th grader) was Very Young, I dressed him and his baby brother alike occasionally. For some reason, he called this state of being dressed in matching outfits being "Chipper Kangaroos". It has always cracked me up... to my knowledge that name came completely out of his own imagination. Does anyone else have a name for this condition that they would like to share?!

Here are my "Chipper Kangaroo" girls!

Profiles

Profiles is the Family Fun Foto Challenge at Donna's Double Happiness blog this week. I had fun collecting these profile shots of the girls (and one of Daddy), taken over the last 13 months. Enjoy!

Madelyn's profile... Fall 2006
Gwen last spring overlooking the lake at a park near our house.
A recent profile shot of Gwen decorating the tree, December 2006.
Girls in the tub together... this one was taken last summer.
This birthday breakfast profile is from January 2006.
This Gwen and Daddy profile was taken the week after we returned from China, in December 2005.
I know I have posted this picture fairly recently, but it's my favorite profile shot of Gwen. It was taken on the one year anniversary of her Gotcha Day!

Our Beautiful Girls

My friend Carol put together this collage of our four girls from Yibin who were adopted on the same day! You can click on the image to make it larger. Incidently, the red background behind the photos is from the outfit that Carol's daughter Kimberly was wearing the day we all met our girls!

A Light For the Way

This past summer my mom introduced Gwen to the idea of adoption in what I thought was a very gentle way. She pointed out an airplane passing overhead and suggested that perhaps the people on that plane were going to China to get their little girl. Gwen picked up on this pretty quickly and would point to every plane with the comment, "China? Girl?"

She has continued to do this from time to time, and we have also told her from time to time that we came to China to get her. I was never sure how much of this was registering.

Yesterday she and I were in the car together, and out of the blue, with no airplane in sight, she said, "Go China, get girl? Go China, get Gwen?" I was so pleased! I answered affirmatively right away. One more little step in understanding the miraculous way she joined our family.

It's a little like picking my way up a rocky cliff in the pitch darkness, this parenting thing is. Throw in an international adoption and you've got another little element to navigate. There is One who says He will be a light to my path... I am So Grateful.

Family Foto Fun Challenge #15... Shoes!

My friend Donna at http://2happy.typepad.com has continued her Family Fun Foto Challenge, with a new topic every week. I haven't participated in a while (although I read her blog faithfully!) but I think I have a great picture for this week's topic of SHOES! Lots of other folks have posted pictures of their daughters' adorable shoes, but I'm taking a different track on this one.

Here is Gwen trying diligently to put a couple of different pairs of shoes onto her friend Kate's feet. Patient Kate sat through these repeated attempts very graciously!

Gwen Faces

The following are a few attempts at a close-up of Gwen for our friend Carol, whom we were with in China. She is putting together a collage of our four girls from Yibin Social Welfare Institute. The latest version she sent me is so cool... but I was trying to get a better picture of Gwen for her to use. Taking a posed picture of Gwen is rather tricky... she's just all over the place! The smiling ones tend to be blurry because of her wiggles... but she sure is cute. :-) I'll post Carol's collage soon!

Kate and Gwen Again...

Sitting with Mommies...
...and escaping from Daddies!

It's Called A....

This morning I was hanging something on the wall in my bedroom. Gwen saw the hammer on my bed and said, "Mommy, what is that banger?" Just a little word recall issue!

Kate and Gwen, Now and Then

Here are our beautiful girls last weekend.
Here are our beautiful girls thirteen months ago, just about a week after we met them for the first time.
What a difference a year makes!

Floss, Anyone?

Gwen came down the stairs last night, carrying the box of dental floss and trailing about a six foot piece of it behind her. She calls to me, "Mom, floss please?" I don't know about you, but I don't know any other almost three year old that requests flossing.

Then again, Gwen is unique in a lot of ways. :-)

Daddies and Daughters

In the last three weeks, we have had the joy of getting to visit (on seperate occassions) with two of the families we met last year in China when we were all getting our daughters. It was so amazing to be together again... when you meet someone on the other side of the world on such a surreal errand as we were all on, you don't suppose that you will see ever them in your "real" life at home!

Scott and Gwen the week after Christmas with Matt and Emma, and one of Matt's other three daughters (!!), Ava.

Steve and Kate with Scott and Gwen last weekend. More pictures of these two reunions will follow!

Oh, No!

Gwen has this game where she pretends a tiger is coming to get her, then she needs someone to save her. My friend Jennifer caught this picture of her mid-scream of "Oh, no, Tiger!" on Saturday night.

Our Girl is SEVEN!

I can't even believe it! Yep, she's seven years old now. In a way I'm not surprised. Madelyn has been a part of my heart for quite a while now. She is the daughter I prayed for so long ago when I had two boys. I loved them like crazy and wouldn't have traded them for anything, but a part of my heart longed for a girl to share my heart with. I remember saying to God, "I know You don't have to do this for me, but the desire of my heart is to have a little girl." Well, He wanted that for me too, and now she is SEVEN! Wow! She has learned to be a big sister this last year, after being the little sister for so long, and she has done it so well. I pray that God will make Himself more and more real to her this year... I know His plans for her are good!

Trying on new birthday roller blades, and wearing new birthday sweater from Pa and Nanny!
Caleb checks out the gift he gave Madelyn while she waits patiently!
Got those candles on my banana split!
Madelyn got a new princess costume (with a hoop skirt!) for her birthday, so Gwen had to get one on too... notice that they have their jammies on underneath!