Three birthdays in a row!

Olivia, Eliza and Zachary's Birthdays are all between the 3rd week of November and the first of December.  It feels like a non-stop party!  Especially considering Thanksgiving and then Christmas right after.  I really love this time of year and it's even more fun with my three birthday girls and boy!


Mike had to travel to New York for work most of the month of November but came back just in time for Olivia's birthday.  Unfortunately, he missed Eliza's but we compensated for that by dragging her birthday out a few extra days.  She took full advantage of the situation of course! 


Olivia's birthday was on a Saturday, so we went to the mall for a little shopping and lunch.  For Eliza's birthday we went to see the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point.  Zachary mostly looked forward to a quick lunch at Thai Drift followed by dinner that night at a noodle house.  We are lucky to have so many international restaurants so close to our home!  Zach was in heaven!

Zach chose the noodle house for his birthday meal.  We all loved it!

Those iPhones sure are interesting ;)

Grace, Cami and Grandma at Olivia's birthday party

Why We Miss China!

Three Years Ago in China...

I can't believe it's been three years since our trip to China to adopt Grace! It's easy to remember because we were flying into Beijing on Zachary's birthday, which happens to be tomorrow!

Zachary has grown just a bit since then...now he looks down at me from his lofty 5'9' :) Of course, Kirk at 6'4" towers over me now! We all have so many memories of China and since we've been there twice around Christmas time, those feelings are always strong during December.

Several times over the last week Kirk or Zach would say to me..."I miss China!" A song we heard playing over and over (I Saw Three Ships) or the bitter, dry air will remind of us our time there and makes us wish we could go back soon. Mike was lucky to have a business trip there this summer, so he has some new memories of China.

China to me, and I think our whole family, is more than just an interesting place to travel. It holds dear memories for us of our first moments and days with both Eliza and Grace. Lives have been changed and required not a little bit of courage, bodies healed and grown in miraculous ways, and love has been given and received.

I am so grateful for the direction our lives have taken and to be blessed with my beautiful family!

Now that I'm back to the blog, I hope to add a few more entries from the last few months and a few more memories and pictures of China.

Grace was SO tiny! She looked more like 7 years old than 10! ( Yes, Zach and I just had to have our eyes closed for this picture.)