The Park

Our Girls
HG

SH

We have heard that fresh air and sunshine are good for jet lag. So, we have been outside a good bit. We took the girls to the park. It was so much fun!! They both love being outside!

Praising God!

SH and Maggie
These are amazing pictures!
The orphanage director told us that SH was scared of dogs and cats. I asked her if something happened to cause the fear. She stated (through an interpreter), "She is just scared."
Well, apparently something happened. Every time SH saw our dogs she would scream, cry, and clutch onto us for dear life! She would find a blanket and cover her body completely. We started noticing that it was their paws and mouth that scared her. She would pet the dogs if they were laying down, not facing her. She would even sit by them.
We prayed and had friends praying about this! We love Maggie and Allie (our 2 miniature schnauzers)! But we love our daughter MORE! We wanted her to feel safe and secure in her home!
By Sunday, SH was walking around the house with the dogs. She is over her fear of our dogs!
We are so grateful!

Lovely Jet Lag

SH and HG

Well, we are still dealing with jet lag. Our nights and days are flipped. This picture was taken at 2:30 AM. We are having a wonderful time! We are just ready to be on Alabama time! LOL!

Please pray for us!

We are HOME!

We are HOME!

We are thrilled!

We stayed up until 6AM, unpacking and playing. We are still on China time!

I must share all of the wonderful things that occurred when we arrived home.

Our house was soooo clean! My mother cleaned our house while we were in China. She also painted our master bathroom! She is so great!

We were met by Norman (Greg's Dad), Nikki (Greg's sister), KayCee (our niece), and my parents! It was so good to see them!

We have missed our family!

Notice anything special about this picture?

Anything different about SH?

HMMMM!

Within 30 minutes of arriving home, SH found scissors and cut her bangs.

She did an incredible job! There is NO way to fix it, but to let it grow.

Then, the girls covered HG's carpet with powder.

And to top it off, they decided that the dogs needed their food and water combined in both bowls.

These are only a few of the adventures we have experienced since arriving home. I will not share the other stories, but they all involve the potty. You can only imagine! LOL!

Our life will NEVER be boring again!

The Red Couch

The Hurricanados!

Yes, that is what we are calling these 2!

I am not sure where this tradition started.

But, most families have their children pose on the red couch in the White Swan Hotel.

It took a lot of work to get these pictures!

The girls were having so much fun that they did not want to stop playing.

I am thankful that they humored me for a few minutes.

HG

SH

To God Be The Glory

This is what it is all about. Two little
angels sleeping next to each other. This is what I looked
forward to the most. It is my prayer that they will always
be close and love each other unconditionally. I know they
will have their battles (because they already have),

but I hope they will always trust each other and

know they can can count on each other. I hope
they have a bond that cannot be broken and will stand up for
each other, no matter what the cost. I hope that when one hurts,
the other hurts and when one is full of joy, it brings the other
one joy. I pray that they will both love the Lord more than
anything else and always take their stand as Christians, no
matter what. I pray they will love their family and have the
values that are taught to them. It is my prayer that these
two little girls will always be everything that God wants them
to be and that Steph and I will be the loving parents that God
has called us to be. To God Be The Glory!!!!

The Medical Exam

Today was SH's medical exam. We didn't know how
she was going to take it because HG screamed through
a lot of hers. SH did AWESOME!! No tears or whining.
What a blessing. And I must say again that Thomas is incredible!
We have heard that a lot of people take 3 or more hours for their
exam, but we were out of there in 20 minutes.


SH and Mommy. I love this picture!!

HG patiently waits as her sister completes her exam.

Such a sweet girl!!!

A Day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo on Sunday. The title is "A Day at the Zoo", but a more
appropriate title would have been a couple of hours at the zoo.
This picture shows how much fun they had. It was hot and humid
and these two little princesses did not want to walk at all.
I carried SH most of the time and I was truly worn out.
Too bad they didn't have strollers to rent because we would
have been pushing them around in it. We still had fun, but
it was defintely a reminder that everything is not perfect.

We did get a couple of smiles.

And a little bit of sillyness.


They loved the bears.

And the elephant. Imagine that.
Bears and elephants. What do they have in common?
Bear Bryant and Big Al. Roll Tide!!!

And the Lion was beautiful!!!

Old Friends

We visited one of our favorite shops on our first night
in Guangzhou - Susan's Place. We had tea with them and visited for
a couple of hours. It was really nice and they enjoyed seeing the girls!

Italian Food!!!

Last night, we went out to eat for the first
time without Thomas. We went into one restaurant and sat down.
They handed us a menu ad there were no pics and no English.
No one in there knew English, so we had to get up and leave.
You definitely do not want to order something over here if you
don't what it is. So, we had to get up and leave. It was
pretty funny. We walked around and looked at the menues outside
of each restaurant and found an Italian place. The girl that
greeted us knew English. An answered prayer. This is Vivian in
the picture with the girls. She was so sweet! She is a college
student and her major is English. She was such a wonderful
waitress. You are not supposed to leave tips here, but we had to
and we gave her 2o dollars. The food was excellent and I wish
that we would have found it earlier so we cold have eaten there
more than once.

HG eating her noodles.


There is no doubt what SH's favorite food is...NOODLES!!!

Daddy and his pumpkin pie.

That is what I call HG.

What a wonderful smile!

Just Pictures

I know that you love seeing the pictures.

This post is just pics.

This picture is SH playing with her Polly Pockets.

She loves them. Steph did GREAT by bringing

things to entertain the girls!!! I love you, Steph!!!!

There was supposed to be a dance here. Nothing ever happened,

so this guy got out there and started doing his own thing.

It was pretty funny!!!

Taking a break and relaxing for a minute.


What else can I say???

Thomas and SH.

We still cannot say enough good things about Thomas!

Our little angels.

I love this picture!!

We Are Back!!!

We are back!!!

Our computer crashed on Wednesay and we haven't been able to use
it at all. Praise the Lord and thank you to Michael Parr for helping
us get it fixed from the other side of the world!!
We will be leaving Nanning today to go to Guangzhou.
It is so hard to believe that we have been here for more than a week.
SH is doing awesome. She is saying more and more in English.
Her first English phrase was "No Buttons!"
I was on the computer and she got in my lap and started
trying to push buttons. I pulled her hands away and said, "No Buttons!"
She just giggled and said it back to me. Now everytime she gets
around the computer, she will look at me with that mischievious
little smile and say, "No Buttons!".
She has also perfected "I Love You" and of course, she can
say "Roll Tide!" We are so blessed that everything has went
so well. Not much crying and lots of laughing. Praise the Lord!!
We have bunny wars every night in the room. Daddy gets on one
side of the bed and the girls get on the other and the battle is on!
We throw stuffed bunnies at each other. It is so funny to watch
them and listen to them laugh. SH also loves dressing up in her
princess dress. She always has to look at herself in th mirror.
She is so beautiful, just like HG!! HG is doing great and
she is a great sister. SH does everything that she does.
Jealousy has already kicked in...on both sides. Imagine that!!
Whatever one has, the other has to have. If you touch one, you
have to touch the other. I love it!!! They love to dance!
Steph was hoping that SH would have a more calm personality
like hers. Wishful thinking. I think SH may be more wide open
than HG. It is amazing to us how comfortable that she has been.
Imagine being in her position. Two strangers that are a different
race and speak a different language come and take you away from
everythng and everybody that you know. They take you to a room.
They have a daughter that looks like you, but doesn't talk like you.
You are only four years old. You must be terrified. Confused.
It would be so hard. We don't like to get out of our comfort zones
as adults. This is WAY out of her comfort zone, but she just jumps
right in and seems to be very happy! Don't get me wrong, that could
change any minute or when we get home. But I am going to count my
blessings right now and give God the praise that He deserves for
delivering us such a beautiful little daughter and giving us so
much peace this first week.
God, You are so good, ALL THE TIME!!!

Having fun with Daddy!!!

Mommy and SH. She loves her Mommy!!!

Two Little Princesses

HG and SH

We pulled out the Aurora dresses for the girls. SH was not so sure about this. At first, she did not seem to enjoy dressing up. I decided to change her back to regular clothes, but she refused! Now I have to hide the dresses from her. If we are in the room very long, she wants to change into the princess dress.
HG performing her ballet.

Looking at herself in the mirror.

She loves to see how things look on her!

More pictures!!

SH and Mommy

I know y'all just want to see pictures, but I have to share how everything is going!

This morning (on the way to breakfast), SH looked at me, smiled, and gave me the biggest kiss! It was the sweetest thing! I just cried!

She is such a delight!

We have found a few things she likes. She LOVES pink, lotion, flowers, playing dress up, and washing her hands. She does NOT like to be dirty or have crumbs on her clothes. She loves for me to play with her hair and insists on wearing bows! Of course, that does not bother me a bit! We love our bows!

This is SH and HG at the park, feeding fish. They had so much fun! SH has started calling HG "Mei Mei." Little sister in Chinese. She came to us calling Greg, "Daddy" and me, "Mommy."

These are a few of the fish. NO JOKING! ONLY A FEW!



One of their favorite past times! Jumping on the bed!
So, now we realize we need a trampoline and swing set in the backyard. HG has taught SH to do a front roll. They haven't gotten to the cartwheel, yet.

Sleepy Town

At the Park

We went to a park today on the mountain.
It was very pretty. The girls had a good time.
This is a the tower that was at the top of the mountain.
While we were there, this nice man came up to us and
wanted to have his picture taken with us.
(I guess because he doesn't see very many Americans)
We took our picture with him and he smiled and
thanked us and went on his way. He was very nice
and I really enjoyed meeting him.
He even gave us each a cigarette as a gift of appreciation.

Neither one of us smoke, but it was still a nice gesture.

Two of the silliest girls in China!!

Sarah hope started holding up one foot and
HG joined in. Too funny!