More birthday celebrations. :)

This is a bit delayed but finally downloaded these pics and wanted to get them on here. :)

Grandma came to help us celebrate Meisi's third birthday (she was with us in China for the second birthday too). :)

As many times as we've been to Disney.. we had never stopped with the kids to see Mickey Mouse.  News flash- Mickey Mouse actually TALKS now - WITH a moving mouth!  It was so very cool!

 Our girl LOVES Micke Mouse. I wish I could've caught the excitement leading up to this....

 At the end of every disney attraction is a...STORE! lol  Ian was being the entertainer here.

 So happy to love on a life sized Minnie doll. :)

A couple days later we had another little birthday party with Grandma.  We made homemade cupcakes and icing which turned out better than I expected. :)

I think she is almost tired of getting pictures taken, what do you think??
Sassy...

 Sweet..

 Silly Meisi.

 Aili, enjoying our creation...she was pleased with the outcome. :)

 Pin the eye on Muno... So.Much.Fun... watching Meisi jump up and down, laughing, cheering... Priceless!

 She was very proud to show Daddy how well he did!

 Waiting patently for her packages...

 :)

 Such a little copycat - she adores her Jie Jie. Can you tell??

Blessings..over and over again!  

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Sweetness...

She certainly has made so much progress since this time last year.

Our hotel and sweet guide in Anhui made arrangements for us to have a cake (Chinese version) and Hello Kitty plates and balloons in our room when we returned from Civil Affairs on her birthday...

Such a special day it was - her 2nd Birthday and the day she legally became our daughter...God's timing is always perfect. :)

She wasn't completely happy about the birthday song, or the candle or the hat... She did like the cake though. :)

This year - totally different!  She loved it ALL...

She is such a ham too.  As we sang, "Happy Birthday dear Meisi."  She says, "I'm right here."  :)

Happy Birthday baby girl! :)

One year ago today...

I remember clearly checking and rechecking the bag before leaving the hotel to Civil Affairs.  We could not wait to hold our baby girl.  I fully expected to have time to set down our bags, get out the camera and wait for them to bring her in...

Nope...she was there waiting for us.  

 When her daddy scooped her up - immediate smile. :) Thank you Jesus for grafting her into our family.

 Our first family photo as a family of 5. :)

One year later...

Riding four wheelers ;)

 Shooting up all the bad guys because she IS a super hero (or so she says). :)

 Fighting hard with the Monkey King...

 Umm...not sure what she is doing here aside from being part of a very silly family..

 Enjoying magical moments with her favorite characters - Mickey and Minnie...

I still stand amazed.  All the fears and anxieties leading up to a year ago have been filled with beautiful truths and love.  This year our family has grown by more than just one person... we've grown in love, we've grown in Christ and we've grown in trust.  

Our little princess - she is the bravest, strongest person I know.  We do not forget the tragedy and heartbreak that led to her being ours.  Yet, I can't praise my Lord enough for calling us to adopt, for helping us be obedient - overcoming all the reasons/doubts, for choosing us for her and her for us and for making beauty out of ashes.  

It has been a truly happy, joy filled year for our family - and this is just the beginning! :)

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy Chinese New Year!

I am seriously behind on blogs and someday I may catch up...

but instead of thinking on what I haven't done, I will focus on today. 

Happy Chinese New Year! This is just a quick snapshot of our eve.  Do you do anything to celebrate CNY?  As followers of Christ, we don't celebrate most of the Chinese traditions.  However, our family enjoys learning about the culture and traditions, implementing what we can.  

This year we received over 30 Christmas cards from friends in our Chinese adoption community.  I have kept them up to pray over these precious families through CNY.  You can get a glimpse of some behind our sweet girls. :)

The kids put on their silks and colored some fun pictures 

Time for some fireworks!  Meisi likes the lights but not a fan of the noise. :) She kept saying, "It is LOUD!!"

And well...doing a few at a time was taking too long...so ready or not...

Of course, it wouldn't be Florida without a little rain.
Her sweet smile melts my heart.  :)

Haha...still not a fan of "loud" though!

 Dinner time!  Nothing fancy, just some rice, dumplings and steamed buns.

In my mind I thought we'd end the night doing our version of a dragon dance - haha - I'm such a dreamer!  The kids wore their masks for about 3 seconds, I snapped a picture and masks were off. :)

Aww...just realized Meisi and Ian holding hands. :)  

I sure do love these kiddos and feel so blessed and grateful to be their Mama. :)

Hoping you have a blessed New Year full of joy and unending love!

Merry Christmas!

Joy

Unspeakable Joy...

Merry Christmas friends and family!!

Another first for us! This was Meisi's first year at home for Christmas. :)

Ok guys, she is precious all the time but oh how I wish I could have bottled up her sweet voice, words and excitement today. :)  Of course, we couldn't find the plug for the camcorder so short videos on phones were best we could do.

Last year we started a new tradition of only giving three gifts for each person as the kids get so much from grandparents.

The Gold gift (wrapped in gold paper) is something you really want.
The Frankincense Gift (wrapped in white) is something that can help you grow closer to Jesus or be used for personal worship.
The Myrrh gift (wrapped in brown paper) is something for your body (clothes, shoes, jewelry, perfume, etc).

They do still get a stocking filled with a few special candies like juicy drops and bottle pops and necessities like undies, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste.  Sounds boring for our electronic world but it is so fun to hear their excitement over their toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Our kids are also fully aware we fill those stockings. :)  We do visit Santa, often multiple times,  but it is a tradition like visiting Mickey Mouse at Disney.

Here is Meisi equally excited over Daddy's new toothbrush.  She was jumping up and down, cheering as he pulled it out of his stocking. :)

After stockings we read Luke 2 and talk about the reason we celebrate Christmas.  "...The Savior has been born, He is Christ the Lord".  

What love God must have for us to send His Son to be born humbly in a manger as a human baby...  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." John 1:14 

What mercy Jesus had to die for us, all of us, so we can have forgiveness by making Him Lord of our life.

Joy to the World the Lord has come!

As we watched each other open presents, Meisi would get a present the big kids handed her and  she'd say, "For me?"
We'd say, "Yes."
And as if to make sure she hadn't heard us wrong, she'd ask again, "For Meisi?!"
We'd say, "Yes, princess, for you."
She'd jump up and down, and rip them open.
Repeating with nearly every present.

I'm not sure how kids learn to rip paper off presents so quickly!  Apparently Brian wasn't ripping fast enough, so Meisi was explaining here, "Rip it Daddy, like this," using hand motions.  haha

While it has been a busy, exhausting month for our family with traveling, baking, a house that I'm certain a tornado must've hit... it has been joy filled.

Spending time with Grandma in Virginia

Spending time with Nana and Papa when they came to visit us here then having the privilege of worshipping with them at our church.

Thinking back to this time last year, I was so sad to not be with our baby girl.  Oh the longing we had to be with her.  We are so very thankful that today she is home.  Although, it seems she always has been. :)  

The best gifts aren't bought in stores.   

My cup overflows.  

And as I'm finishing this post I hear this conversation...

Aili, "Ian when we get our little brother from China these dolls would be perfect!"

...as she shows him the Bitty Twins in the American Girl catalog.  ;)  hahaha

Merry Christmas!