Look Who's 9!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Nicholas!!

A "Reel" Fun Day!

FISHING....not just a first for Eva, but our whole family.  The boys have been asking to go for quite some time and you would think living in "Sportsman's Paradise" we'd do this often but we don't.  We decided to take advantage of the cooler temps, mid 80's, and drive about 45 minutes to a catfish pond.  We had such a good time...not hard to do when you cast and catch!!

Nicholas got us started with the first catch...

 

Noah quickly followed... 

 

Not to be outdone, us girls got in on the action... 

 

 

 

The cutest moment was when David was putting a fish into the ice chest, Eva says "Get in there fishy, time to go night night".

Our 28.10 pound catch for the day started out looking like this... 

 then turned to this...

 and finally ended like this!!

Topped off with delicious chocolate cake...it was a perfect meal!!

 

I just had to throw in this cute picture of Eva.  She loves lizards, but will never hold them.  I guess this baby one seemed little enough and she let David put it on her hand.  It stayed still for a little while but when it moved, Eva quickly tossed it!

China Connection

This summer we had the wonderful opportunity to spend the weekend with my online friend Shannan, her husband Bill, and their son Carsen.  We met over in Fort Worth Texas the weekend of July 15th.

Our connection with this family is extremely unique for several reasons...

Shannan & Bill currently reside in Suzhou, China...Eva's birthplace!  They both have family in the Fort Worth area and were back in the states visiting with them.  They even invited us to join them for a family lunch!

Their beautiful son Carsen was adopted from the same orphanage as Eva.  He's a year older and a head taller.

AND, Shannan has been a volunteer at the orphanage for five years...she knew our girl before we did!!

I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time.  Although it's been really wonderful to communicate with Shannan on-line there is nothing like meeting in person!!
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I was quite curious to see what Eva's reaction would be to seeing Shannan, but honestly there was no hint that Eva knew who she was and Shannan certainly didn't recognize Eva as the child she knew from a year ago.  No longer is Eva the little girl who prefers to sit against the wall, playing alone, not interacting with anyone as Shannan has described.  It still makes me so sad to think of Eva as being that way, but I'm so thankful for volunteers like Shannan who continued to try and interact with her.  I know it is because of them that an example was set with Eva that made her adjustment with us so much easier. 

I will forever be grateful to Shannan for sharing these glimpses of what Eva was once like, where she comes from and how she was cared for before she became ours.  Even though we were able to spend a day in Suzhou while we were in China we spent most of it at the orphanage so I had no idea until Shannan told me that Suzhou is home to two large industrial parks with companies like Bosch and Smith-Kline or that there are homes there with backyards!  I know that sounds strange but all we saw of China was lots of concrete with little grass.  More than all I'm grateful to know that our daughter was well cared for the two years that she lived in China.  It was always our impression that she was, but having that confirmed by someone who knows the orphanage is really comforting. 

Shannan, thank you SO much for taking the time away from your family visit to spend with us.  We so enjoyed meeting you and your precious family in person. You all hold a very special place in our hearts and I hope it's the first of many weekends that we share!! 

Since our visit to Texas, Eva has packed her bags several times and when I ask her where she's going, she tells me that she's going to China to see her new friend.  Think she enjoyed meeting Carsen as much as we did! Fortunately when I tell her that I'll miss her while she's gone, she always reassures with "Mommy, I'll be right back!!