Pumpkin Decorating

The kids carved their pumpkins a few nights before Halloween. Claire drew the face she wanted on her pumpkin and James carved it for her. Chase designed his own after a favorite video game and Laura did her own with a pattern. Unfortunately, Connor had strep and didn't feel like participating and then he had school activities that kept him from doing one the next couple of nights. I did include a picture of Connor with Claire. We had decorated pumpkin shaped brownies and cupcakes last week and Claire decorated one for her Connor.

Claire's 4th Birthday Party!

Claire had a wonderful gymnastics party. She loves being 4 and she keeps telling me so! She got lots of great toys and had tons of fun playing with her friends. The first picture with her friend is Kendall and the second one is her friend Jiali. The last picture of Claire with a little girl is of course her sister, Laura! We got her a kitchen and after spending hours putting it together last night, we have been treated to some delicious meals.

More Birthday Pictures!

Claire had a Tinkerbell cake and she was super-excited about blowing out the candles. The cake was chocolate, of course! In the second-from-last picture, Claire is demonstrating the importance of sticking a landing!

Our Birthday Girl!

I can't believe Claire is 4 years old today. She is growing up so fast. She is so mature for her age and she uses words that stop me in my tracks most days. Her vocabulary is so vast! The other day we were driving in the rain and she saw some cows in the fields we were passing and she commented that they were getting wet. I told her that it wasn't raining that hard and the cows probably didn't mind the rain very much or they would go into their barn. She said, "People don't like to get wet in the rain. We wear raincoats and use umbrellas for protection." Huh? Where did she learn the word protection and how did she know to use it in that context?
Her party isn't until Sunday, but I didn't want to wait until then to post and wish our "baby" a "Very Happy Birthday!" She has truly brought so much joy and laughter into our home. She is the most perfect fit that God could have ever engineered for our family. She is truly sent from Heaven.
Here are two pictures of our girl that I took today. In the second one she is showing us how old she is!

Claire Gets Political

James was watching Nickelodeon with Claire (Max and Ruby, her favorite), and their "Kids Pick the President" came on. They first have Obama say a few words and then McCain. When Obama came on Claire said, "That's the one I like. Barack Obama. I don't like John Cain." James and I looked at each other quite shocked at our little political crusader and said "Why, don't you like John McCain, Claire?" She said, "Because he is a BAD man!" (At this point I am wondering what Nick has shown when we aren't watching?!?) James said, "Claire, John McCain isn't a bad man. That isn't a nice thing to say. Why are you saying that?" She said, "He is too a bad man. He killed his brother with a rock!"

Anybody heard of Cain and Able? I heard the campaign was getting nasty, but having 3 year olds stumping with these tales is a little over the top for me!

We Will Never Forget

A tribute to the heroes and the ones who lost their loved ones. Also, to the ones who are still fighting to keep us safe.

Two Years Ago...

Two years ago today, I saw this face for the first time. I had gotten on the A Helping Hand website to pay our home study update fee when I just happened to check on the "Special Delivery" link. We were clients of America World with AHH doing our home study. We were on the NSN route, but 3 months prior we had filled out a check-list for SN. When I saw Claire's face I instantly knew that she was our daughter. I recognized her for a lack of a better term. I immediately called James and told him to look at the website and to pray about her and to please not let her SN scare him away. Claire had been diagnosed at less than 5 months with a tumor in her mediastinal cavity. He called me back in just a few minutes and said let's go get her! It was too late to call AHH and I couldn't sleep that night worrying about her! I called first thing the next morning and got the ball rolling on us being able to be considered to adopt her. The committee at AHH allowed us to submit our LOI and we were one of the last families that China allowed to have two agencies work together to bring our child home. When we got home with Claire, we saw her doctor one week later. They did a chest x-ray and we waited in the office while her doctor was on the phone with the pediatric radiologist. She was talking to the radiologist and smiling and giving us the "thumbs up" sign. Claire's x-ray was 100% clear and she is 100% healthy. We have been blessed beyond measure!