6 mo Anniversary!!

Hello and Happy 6 month Anniversary to US!!!!!!! 6 months ago today Jeffrey and I received a wonderful special delivery to our hotel in Jinan, China. We still cannot believe 6 months have passed since Megan came into our lives. I remember it like yesterday. A day neither of us will ever forget.  Megan weighed in at 21.8 lbs and now weighs 27.2. She measured 33.2 inches and now is 33.5 inches. Ha! I think we'll have a little shorty on our hands. She is doing very well! Still so very funny and "slightly" stubborn... Famous last words from the orphanage - she is "slightly" stubborn. Well, we are here to tell you that is the biggest  understatement we have ever heard. Holy smokes!! Sleep still seems to be an issue - gets worse at times but then is better at times, too. English is still lacking.  She says a lot of single words but does not say more than 1 together. This makes things extremely difficult when she wants something and none of us can tell what in the heck she is saying. Both of us were hoping that language would have been much better at this point. We've been told not to worry that it will come soon. Her receptive language is amazing and has been since shortly after we got home. She comprehends everything we tell her and will do what is asked - or should I say she'll do it when she isn't being slightly stubborn.

Last night we sent an email to Megan's orphanage to give them an update on how Megan is doing and we sent some pictures, too. This morning we received a very sweet message back. They were very happy that we sent them pictures and they know that Megan is happy and healthy. Jeffrey and I got a chuckle when reading the email as conversion doesn't always work out well when translating. Ha!! Below is the note.

We are very excited for receiving your letter and photo . Megan is a pleasing girl when she was in the children's welfare in china, so there were a lot of our staff here love her except for her her volunteer family. Now we all miss her very much. From the letter and photo, we know that Megan is very healthy and happy, and becoming more beautiful . Thank you for giving her a family and taking good care of her . Please convey our yearning for Megan, telling her we love her for ever . We are eager to know her news so we hope you can often contact with us.  The Christmas is coming, wishing your family a merry christmas.

I was so excited to read their response but after I read it I was sad. I know how loved Megan was there and to know they are sad they do not get to see her any more. She was there for 2 yrs before we came to get her. I love that we will be able to keep in contact with the orphanage. They even sent us a couple of pictures of Megan that we had not seen before. We will definitely take Megan back to visit when she is ready.

Many people have asked how our adoption travel buddies are doing. We miss seeing them and talking with them each day. We do send updates via email which is nice but seeing them would be so much better! We've all had little struggles along the way but all are doing amazing. We wish them all the best!!!!

Speaking of our adoption buddies: in October our family was invited by Bethany to have dinner with some delegates from a couple of orphanages in China and the head of all the Chinese adoptions. It was a great dinner but that is not what I want to tell you. Bethany had created 2 pictures boards: 1 showed families that have adopted from China and 1 showed children along with their new forever family that will have their adoptions completed in 2014. I noticed a little boy on the board as one of Megan's volunteer family siblings. We have quite a few pictures and videos of him. I mentioned to a Bethany adoption specialist how we knew this little boy. She said she'd get in contact with that family and pass on our information. This family lives in Virginia roughly 10 mins from our close friends we did all our travel within China (Brandi and Michael). Brandi and Michael got in contact with Jon and Janalee who are adopting Megan's volunteer sibling. Well, Brandi and Michael's little boy, Max mourned a good friend at the orphanage in China when he got to the US and you got it, it is Jon and Janalee's to be son!!! Amazing enough for us to be in contact with Megan's "sibling" but for Max and to be able to grow up with his buddy from China! God wants those boys to be together!

We want to wish you all an amazing and blessed holiday season. Count all you blessing and be truly thankful for them. I know we will never be able to say thank you to God enough for our family.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!



She loves her Papa!!





Bring on the snow!

Megan's Baptism