ellie updates

We're 2 months into the LOA wait, while also working on renewing our i800a! We were fingerprinted last week, so we are getting there! We are ready to bring home our sweet girl! Every night at dinner, AnnaClaire and Kate alternate praying. And every night, the prayer goes something like this,

"Dear God, thank you for this food and our family. Please watch over Ellie as she waits in China. Please don't let her cry when Mommy and Daddy fly on the big airplane to China and she goes into their arms. Please keep her safe. In Jesus name I pray, amen."

Needless to say, they are very excited.

All three girls really are. They talk about her all the time. They tell people about her. They have her pictures in their rooms.

I don't know if Charlie quite gets it. :)

Just look at this sweet girl...

What's not to love?!

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. I just got back from a missions trip to Costa Rica (which was AMAZING!!!!) and have been so very busy with getting ready for college and trying to enjoy every last moment of my summer before I go! I leave on SATURDAY... a week from today. Which is just crazy!!! But we're having a great summer! Lots of time has been spent at the pool and swimming beach, and Mom has been loving doing Ellie shopping, too! Hopefully it won't be too much longer...

4th of july weekend

On Saturday, the the day was spent back at the mountains! The mountains are always a hit with our crew and thankfully, they are not too far away! When they were leaving, they saw a flier for fireworks so stopped by and had a nice firework show before coming home! Good thing, because we had a huge storm on the 4th (power went out and everything...) so there were no fireworks until late! On the 4th, the whole afternoon was spent at the pool. Charlie is becoming quite the swimmer, which exciting! He used to be incredibly fearful of the water and would just latch himself on to people in it, but not he is putting his face under and swimming for rings! I'm so proud of my boy! Gracie has been in swim lessons the past 2 weeks and is really getting her strokes down! A ton of time is spent at the pool, so it's good that they are starting to swim so much! They really are quite the fish and all 4 absolutely love going to the pool! The kids and Dad worked on making ice cream (that ended up more like milkshakes!) and after dinner, we all had that. It was delicious! So the 4th was a very fun day for all :)

Just posted a bunch of pics below, too, so make sure to scroll :)

pictures, pictures, pictures

I was looking through pictures and realized there are SO many I haven't posted... so here are a bunch of them!!!

 The two 5 year olds in our house... they are almost the exact same size now!!

 Back in May, a bunch of friends who have adopted and live in the area met for a picnic at the park. It was a fun day for everyone! Nothing like a day at the park with all of their friends! I think we'd all agree to say that the community of adoptive families here is absolutely amazing and something we are so very thankful for! 

 On Memorial Day, Grandma and Dad took the kids to the train museum. The train museum is a favorite activity and they had so much fun!!! There was homemade ice cream, of course, to top the day off! 

At the end of May, Charlie finally got his casts off!!!!! That was an exciting day, although I have to say that he was becoming pretty amazing with his casts and was even walking around in them. The leg braces are much better/easier though and it was good to finally start giving him real baths! He has been such a trooper with his feet and they look great! 

 While I was in Orlando, Mom, Dad, and the kids drove up to Blowing Rock to visit some very dear friends who were there for the week. We traveled to China together when we adopted AnnaClaire and they adopted their sweet Claire and we hadn't seen them since our last reunion that was a year and a half ago! They've now added Lily, who we met last year in Chongqing!! and their sweet baby Jack! I was SO sad to miss out, but Mom and Dad said they had such a fun day playing in Blowing Rock and eating Kilwins ice cream-- our favorite! I know I say this all the time, but there is just nothing like the miracle of adoption. We went into it never knowing the lifelong friends we would have as a result. These families are like relatives to us and time spent with them is always so very special.

 And finally, here are some pictures from the gotcha/father's day celebration! I was sad to miss this, too, as I was in Orlando. Lunch was at PF Chang's of course! It worked out perfectly because the Sunday was right in between Charlie's day and Gracie's day! It's hard to believe they've been home for a year already!