Gwen is 2!

Can't believe our girl has been with us only three months now. Today we celebrated her second birthday. I couldn't help thinking of the new Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas song as we sang to her, the one with the little boy singing of his wish for a family, a family who will "sing me Happy Birthday for the next one hundred years." Well, we sang Happy Birthday to Gwen at least ten times tonight. We sang, and she danced. Every time we came to the end of the song, she'd start nodding her head "yes" for us to do it again. We did, and she danced again. Here she is loving Daddy's singing and moving to the music!
We did some loud cheering tonight, the kind where we all yell "Yeah!" and put our hands in the air. Gwen loves this game!
New bike! She doesn't quite have the hang of pedaling yet, but she is so coordinated in other areas, I think she will figure it out quickly. She was very excited to try it!

It has been an amazing thing to have God add Gwen to our family. It has been an amazing journey~ spiritually, emotionally, and geographically. It has been an amazing adjustment to have a toddler in the house... an amazing amount of work! It continues to amaze us as we watch our older children care for Gwen so unselfishly. It is amazing how God worked out the finances of her adoption. It is amazing how well Gwen has settled into our family. Amazing how she is learning to speak English, how she has learned to play in the playpen, how she sleeps so well and plays so hard. We are amazed that God chose us to be her parents, that He gave us this privilege of knowing and loving her. And somewhere in China, there is another mother who gave birth to her two years ago... she did an amazingly courageous thing, to give her daughter the chance for a different life.

Thank you. I want you to know that our girl had a very Happy Birthday.