YES! WE ARE!!! Hoping to have our letter of approval in April!

More from Christmas!

Since its still January, can I post another Christmas post?? I've still got Christmas pictures that are too cute not to share!

Anna Grace sharing tea with her Great Grandma

Daddy and Lauren reading a book together on Christmas morning

Anna Grace taking care of her baby

My two big girls! I love this picture!

All the grandchildren singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Anna Grace on her first Christmas at home--- I LOVE this girl!

The Mansfield Family(missing our Avery)

I can't say it any better than this....

Found this post on a friend's blog. It will give you something to think about.

The Gingerbread House

As a homeschool mom I came home from Christmas and had to jump right into life which is why it has taken 2 weeks for me to update our blog. We spent 11 days in NC over Christmas and New Year's. Everyone had a wonderful time and no one got sick...not a one of the 10 grandchildren! We spent one afternoon decorating a gingerbread house. It is always fun for my girls to be able to do things like this with their cousins since we don't live nearby. And of course, this was Anna Grace's first Christmas so she had never done a gingerbread house. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Everyone is working hard to decorate...


...well, everyone but Anna!


No, Anna Grace has found something much better than sticking candy into the sugary icing.


"Hey! It's fun decorating gingerbread houses, huh?"




"Have I missed any?"


"Oh yeah, right there!"


And look who has the biggest smile when all is said and done...yep, the one with all the sugar in her little body! I should have known she was going to love sugar when the 4th sign she learned was "candy."

SNOW---Lots of it!!

As most of you know, the DC area got a huge snowfall this weekend. We measured 17" in our yard as you will see in one of the pictures. All four girls had a marvelous time, although the big girls enjoyed it the most. It was actually a bit too deep for Lauren and Anna to really enjoy it. They could not walk through it without help. They did enjoy sliding down a snow slide that the neighbors made. It was a fun weekend with us being together as a family...although we did talk about and miss our girl who is waiting for us in China! Next winter she will be here to enjoy the snow with us! Merry Christmas everyone.



Sarah walking through the front yard--the snow was up to her knees.


Emily coming down the snow slide that the neighbors made.




Look at this sweet face! I LOVE this picture!!


And well, look at this sweet face too!




Yes, the snow plow got stuck on our street and the neighbors had to help dig him out!



This is how our yard looked in the middle of the storm. That is our black lab in the front yard. You really couldn't even see across our street very well.


The official Mansfield measurement!

Anna Grace's first snow

Wow! Two posts in 3 days! But it is snowing and this is the first time Anna Grace has ever played in snow so I had to post! We have been surprised at how much snow we are getting today. The big girls have been outside most of the day. They come in briefly to warm up and then go right back outside. Anna went out with Daddy earlier and I was able to get some cute photos. Hopefully it will stop snowing so that she has a chance to actually go out and play for longer than 5 minutes. Enjoy the pictures of our little one. I love watching her experience new things.

Yes, Shawn gives all our children a taste of the snow.

Anna Grace wasn't too sure what to think of that snow on her lips.

Throwing snowballs at mommy!!

I love this girl so much! I can't believe we've only had her for 9 months. What a precious, precious blessing she is.

November re-cap

I'm a bad blogger, I know! Life just gets away from me. On November 10th Emily turned 12! I cannot believe that my oldest daughter is 12 years old! Holy Cow! When did that happen? What you can't see from her picture is that she was sick on her birthday. She began running a fever at dinnertime that night. And yes, three of my four girls had the dreaded H1N1 that week! Which is my only excuse for not posting pictures of her birthday that week!
Emily is such a blessing to our family. She is a wonderful big sister and is a huge help to me. I am enjoying watching her grow into the young lady that God created her to be.
At the end of Emily's "birthday week" we left home for Disney. Yes, LOTS of praying for her to recover by Sunday! On our way to Florida we stopped off in NC to get my mom and dad. While there we made time for a visit to get my hair cut. We also got the back of Anna's trimmed. You can see CLEARLY from the picture what she thought. Now you should know, we have seen Melanie three times previously with Anna Grace so she wasn't a complete stranger. As a matter of fact, Anna knew exactly who she was. When we walked into her studio and she said hello, Anna immediately began saying "bye bye" to her. But we really needed to trim the back as Anna was growing a mullet and well, we just couldn't have that! So Melanie was very quick!! Very!! I don't think the torture went on for more than 90 seconds. And I have to say, it looks so cute in the back!


So after the hair cut trauma, we departed for Disney! What a fun trip we had. Anna Grace absolutely loved everything about Disney! She especially liked the SpectroMagic Parade. The lights on all the floats were mesmerizing to her! And quite honestly, I just had fun watching Anna! Emily and Sarah were thrilled to be back in Florida and tall enough to ride the big rides. Sarah loved the Rock N Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios while Emily loved Kraken at SeaWorld. Mama?? I loved all the roller coasters! : ) Daddy and Lauren preferred to stroll through the parks and people watch. We are thankful that we were able to take this trip with our girls. And quite honestly, the only reason we were able to go this year was because Disney was offering free tickets to active duty and deeply discounted tickets to military family members. We are thankful that Disney was honoring military in this way; our family certainly enjoyed it!

Anna Grace saw these balloons and had to have one....and sucker that I am...I paid the crazy price for it! But look at that smile. You would have too!

We returned home just in time to get things ready for Thanksgiving. We began the day at church. I love that our church does a Thanksgiving service. It is always the nicest way to start the day. Later, we ate dinner with friends from church. The food was good, the company even better. God has given us very special friends at every duty station He has put us in.

This past weekend we decorated our Christmas tree. I was keenly aware that this would be Anna Grace's first Christmas tree. What fun we had with her. When Shawn brought the tree inside and set it down, she stretched her arms out and wrapped them around the tree as best she could and gave the tree a hug. And that was BEFORE it had lights on it! I just knew she would be enthralled when we lit it. No....not really! She just looked at it from Emily's lap. So I guess lights didn't trump a tree being in the living room. That is just how life is with children, isn't it?? I think one thing will be exciting for my children and its something entirely different that lights their eyes! Lauren has reacted to the tree exactly as she did last year. She really likes the left side and brushes her hands across it EVERY SINGLE DAY knocking off ornaments and pulling strands of lights. I have quit putting them back on and now just lay them under the tree. Yeah, I gave up quicker this year! We think she must like the way the tree feels so it is hard to fuss at her too much.

Yes, both of the little girls were trying to escape this picture session and were being held in place by their big sisters. Sometimes you just can't get the perfect shot!

The hug!

We are still preparing our paperwork for the adoption of Xiao Li. We have all the necessary documents except for immigration approval. We are hoping to hear from them next week about fingerprints. We continue to be able to e-mail her and are so thankful for that gift. Please pray with us that God will prepare her heart for our family. It is going to be such a tremendous change for her. One adoptive mom has told me that she thinks the prayers of many have made all the difference in her daughter's adjustment. So know that we covet your prayers for our family.

This was taken over the summer when Xiao Li attended a camp. This was the first time she had ever eaten cotten candy. I can't wait to experience all the firsts with her next year!

Thanks for sticking with our blog even though it rarely gets update. I looked back over the past year and realized it takes an adoption or surgery to get daily posts out of me! So, one adoption and no surgeries for the coming year. You'll get one good month, for sure!

I hope as you go through the Christmas season that you will remember why we celebrate. It really isn't about lights on trees or how many presents we have left to buy. It is ALL about God coming to earth in the form of man to rescue us from our sins. How thankful I am that He gave the greatest gift EVER 2000 years ago! Merry Christmas to you all...(just in case this is the only December post!) : )