ReUnited!

Today began very early when I literally plucked Eva out of her bed at 6 am and put her in the car for an early morning road trip.  After picking up our friend Mar Mar (Mary) we hit the road to New Orleans. 

Why the rush East you ask??!!  To reunite two precious little girls who began their lives together in Suzhou, China....

Eva & Quinn

Janet (Quinn's Mommy) and I met in an online yahoo group of families with children from the same orphanage that Eva is from.  Quinn came home about 5 months after Eva did in 2010, and I was thrilled when Janet shared this picture with me of Quinn and Eva (in the yellow) that she found in Quinn's lifebook:

Quinn and her family live in Los Angeles, but were in New Orleans for this weekend's Jazz Festival.  We were able to meet up today in City Park's Story Land and watch the girl's play together once again!

Pitching pennies into the fountain/pool quickly turned into feeding goldfish crackers to these two ducks that swooped in right as we were taking photos!  This was truly the highlight of the park!!

The mommies and our princesses (we were in Cinderella's pumpkin carriage)!

After playing at the park, we headed out and enjoyed a nice Italian lunch together.  Quinn really loved her spaghetti & meatballs and Baba's hat!!

Unfortunately our visit was much too short and we had to part ways so that the Quattrocchi's could catch their flight home on time.

We have been so blessed to get to know some great families through their blogs.  To meet in person is really a very neat thing!  Having followed their family blog for almost two years now, I would have recognized Janet, Al and Quinn anywhere and it was really more like catching up with old friends than a first time meet because we knew so much about one another already.  

Eva may never have the opportunity to know any of her biological family, but I hope to always be able to give her a connection to her "Suzhou Sisters", like Quinn, who knew her before we did!

Easter Weekend

What a beautiful Easter weekend we had...celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior with incredible weather, family and friends!

Friday evening we enjoyed a very tasty fish fry with great friends!  Unfortunately I was too busy stuffing my face and didn't take any pictures :(  The food was terrific and the fellowship awesome!  Thank you to the Drouilhet's for having us over!!

Saturday morning I took the kids to our church's annual Easter festival.  There were games, fun jumps and of course an Easter egg hunt!

After their baskets were full, we all met for lunch at David's brothers house and enjoyed time spent with family. It's so fun for Eva to have cousins her age to play with when we get together.

As if we weren't full enough from all the good eats at lunch, we headed to my mom's for dinner.

Back at home, we made our traditional Resurrection cookies.  I have to admit that sometimes I wonder if these traditions I've started mean as much to the kids as they do me.  A few days after Christmas, Nicholas came to me quite upset saying that we forgot to make these cookies. He was so relieved when I reminded him that we make them at Easter and it was nice for me to know that our traditions are just as important to them as they are to us.

Easter morning, after discovering all the loot the Easter Bunny left (he's as good as Santa!), we pulled our cookies out of the oven.  Taking a bite into them, we discovered they were hollow, just as Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty that first Easter morning.  "He is not here; He has RISEN" Matthew 28:6

After worshiping at our church Easter service, and having the rest of the day free, we loaded up bikes and headed to a local state park.  We were thrilled to find the deer out of the woods and so close that we could feed them; discovered an alligator, lots of turtles and other beautiful wildlife.

  Such a wonderful way to end our incredible Easter weekend, enjoying all of God's creations!

Surgery Update

As I stated in an earlier post, Eva was originally scheduled to have her first surgical procedure on her eyes this Thursday, March 8th but due to insurance issues we have had to postpone that surgery until Thursday, May 3rd.

At first insurance was telling us, the hospital, our insurance agent, etc. that Eva's condition was not covered and that NONE of her surgeries would be paid for by them!  Fortunately, with a lot of prayer and continued effort by our agent and the hospital, one small loophole was found and we received preapproval on Friday.  It just wasn't soon enough to be able to move forward this Thursday.

I usually hate prolonging the inevitable but in this case I'm relieved to have some more time.  Please continue to keep her, the doctors and us in your prayers!

Cruisin

With the boys having a few days off school last week for President's Day and Mardi Gras, we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go on a little vacation aboard the Carnival Triumph and cruise to Mexico!

We had a blast traveling with our friends Jack, Monette and their youngest son, Sam!  Sam and Noah are only a few months apart in age and have pretty much been friends since they were born, so it was fun for all the boys to have someone to hang out with.

We left behind the cold and dreary for the warm and sunny!! Eva loved being on the "big boat", eating all the ice cream she wanted and playing at the beach.  As a matter of fact, when she woke up at home Friday morning to the yucky weather, she looked at me and said "when we going on that big boat again, I want to go back to the beach?"    My thoughts exactly sweet girl...can't wait to do it again!!

OnBoard Fun:

    

Future Headliner!

Progeso, Mexico:

Cozumel, Mexico:

Paradise Beach, Cozumel

The Ladies on the Beach Loved Eva...Beaded her Jewelry and Braided her Hair

A Beautiful Sunset on a Wonderful 5 Days!!