We adopted our beautiful daughter Olivia in Feb/07 at 11months old. She is the absolute pride and joy of our lives. We are thankful that God blessed us with miscarriages and fertility issues, or we wouldn't have the beautiful daughter that we can't imagine life without. Just look at her, she was meant to be.
Thanks for stopping by to share our life with us.
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference
We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”
Katie tagged me to talk about 10 childhood memories! (hope they all didn't have to be good ones......)
1. Falling off a monkey bar and smacking my head open on CEMENT ( no joke they had cement under playgrounds back in the 70's)
2. Playing niki niki nine doors with friends and feeling really guilty and nervous but wanted to "fit in"
3. Learning how to ride a 2 wheeler with my father. I can still hear myself saying "don't leg go, don't let go" When I couldn't hear him say "I won't" anymore, I turned my head and fell off.
4. Going to the race track with my dad. He would buy me a hot dog and a ice cream and tell me not to tell my mother how much he spent ( I thought it was a big secret.....little did I know at the time....mothers know all)
5. Playing one of the orpans in Orphan Annie - I swear I thought I was going to be famous one day.
6. Playing Ringette for the first time and telling all my friends about it at school ( I thought I was "cool")
7. Hanging out with my mom at her beauty salon. I always got to dig into her stash of lollipops she had for all the kids.
8. Going shopping with my mother ALOT!!! (yes I'm now addicted and yes Olivia has now shopped more than many teens - that one will come back to bite me in the ass)
9. Having sleepovers at my house with all my girlfriends. We would stay up all night long talking about "boys" and then get up and cook breakfast in the mornings.
10. Learning French when I was 3 and 4 from a neighbour. I can remember going over to their house and only speaking to them in French. I remember it but CANNOT for the life of me speak french now. My mother tells me that I would come home and just break out into french. I guess kids are little sponges. I remember loving that I knew another language.
Is tomorrow really the day mom?? Do I really get to go see Hailey if I go to bed? Maybe she'll like my piggy!
Oh I'm so excited, put this car in drive mom. Let's GO.
Hey Hailey, that's cool. You have a door and everything.
These are really cool balls.
You're mom sure does make a good lunch. You get grilled chicken, cheese , fruit and yogurt all for lunch. You are so lucky! I don't know how the heck you eat that avocado stuff though.
Oh Hailey, do you think we could break out of here and get your dog?
Good Job Hailey! We make a good team.
I had so much fun today Hailey. I can't wait to go home and try out my new bubbles. See you soon.
I went out to dinner with 23 girls. We have all either adopted from China or awaiting our precious children. It was an awesome night and so great to show Olivia off. When I came home Kirk surprised me and had the entire house cleaned from top to bottom and all the laundry done. I then woke up Sunday morning with Pankakes, bacon and orange juice. He had 2 carnations, one for me and one for Olivia's birth mother (carnations represent mother in China) He also had an Oriental Lilly plant for me and Olivia to plant in our new garden. Olivia was found in a flower market that was surrounded by Oriental Lilly's. In the afternoon we bought a helium red balloon and put a card on it that said "Happy Mother's day to my birthmother, you will always be in my heart, Love Olivia. I then wrapped it around Olivia's hand and just let her hold it until it floated up into the sky. I woke up this morning and thought I have to be the luckies mom in the world. I've added a little video clip from today.
With mother's day coming tomorrow, I pulled out all the pictures from China to look at how much my little angel has changed. Here's a picture of us on her legal adoption day in China (day 2). I can't believe how much she has changed. It's just unreal how much 3 months makes. The time passes so quickly. I just soak up every ounce of her little personality. Every minute is a precious gift.
And yesterday, we're out for a stroll. What a difference 3 months makes.
They had a mother's day party at play school today and look what I got. They helped my little angel make this stepping stone with her hand print in it. I was so happy that I couldn't help crying right in front of all the teachers. Oh man, all these first's are just so special I could just melt at every thought. Kirk is going to seal it for me so it will keep forever.
I had fun playing with Gillian at the park on Tuesday. She's so big and gets to go on all kinds of neat things. One day she'll show me how they all work.