Caught Red Handed!!

I usually don't post this often in one week, but I just had to share this........

HUMMMM..... What have we here?????????

Stop! Stick'em up lady!!

Hands on the hood of the "potty" lady!! We're going to have to pat you down!

** She cracked me up when I caught her this morning. She's obviously found the F-U-N in unrolling the toilet paper!! What cracks me up the most, is the way she backed off of it as quick as possible when I caught her (hand up pose) and then put her hands on the toilet w/ that look on her face as if to say "Me? OH No..... Shoot, I'm busted!"

So I have to tell you all, I don't think I've laughed this hard in a long time, and so did dad when I showed him these pictures when he got home from work!!

Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie

A Week of Fun @ Our House

There wasn't much that went on this week. Mike worked quite a bit -- either @ his job or down in the basement sanding & sanding (and sanding). When we did have some family time, we made sure we did what we could to have some F-U-N! We just thought we'd share some fun pictures of our week.

Dad reading to his little girl .. can you see all the drool on her shirt?? She's cutting 2 more teeth. That's going to be 8 teeth!!!

Back yard fun w/ bubbles -- She loved them!

Fun @ the park. We only live about 10 minutes (walk) from our local city park - she loves a ride in the stroller, so we took a stroll to the park.

Learning to walk -- she cruises all over the house with her Fisher Price Hippo. She's going to take off without it very soon, but for now she pulls up on it by herself, and walks everywhere.

Mike & Melissa & Anne Marie

3 Things In Need of Prayer

Dear Friends,

Today I've come across two things that have broke my heart and I feel that we need to lift these things up in prayer. Most of you read this blog because you are now interested in Anne Marie -- and I hope that you have a new understanding of adoption and a soft spot in your heart for it's issues.

1st Prayer:

Today one of our travel mates sent out an e-mail regarding an issue that has recently been reported in China regarding a family being forced to abort their child (without consent) in the 7th month. They are reporting that this is an issue now in China to stop the population growth. I have a link if you have the stomach to read, but please be in prayer tonight for these families who don't have a choice to have these children. (Even if they are at their 1 child limit, most of these areas are set up for international adoption.) Please pray that this will stop and more children will be able to be born, if not to stay with their families, at least to be adopted by loving families like ours.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9766870


2nd Prayer:

Another travel mate of ours -- who adopted a daughter from the same area that Anne Marie came from is dealing with a serious issue of a sick child. This poor little girl has been sick off and on since coming home from China. The Dr.'s are not totally sure what is wrong at this point, but they have put a label on it for now. She can not keep anything down for days at a time, and has already been in the hospital at least 2-3 times since coming home. The little girls name is Gracie, and Mike and I just think the world of this family, and would appreciate if you would please pray for this little girl!

3rd Prayer:

A friend of mine (locally) has a niece that was recently in a very bad school bus accident and she was seriously hurt. She has quite a few injuries, and is in and out of consciousness. Please pray that she recovers, and that there is no damage to her brain or any other life threatening issues.

Sorry no pictures today, but I felt these things needed to be prayed for.. I'm sure we'll have more pictures very soon!!

Mike & Melissa & Anne Marie

Wonderful Saturday

This was a very exciting day for us! Mike, Anne Marie and I drove to Roanoke to meet up with the Shartzer's (Scott, Jennifer & daughter Maggie). For those of you who don't know who they are, they are a family that we met through our adoption agency and happened to also adopt their daughter the same time we adopted Anne Marie. We stayed in touch with them through the whole adoption process, and were so excited when we found out that we would travel together to bring our daughters home.

They live about 2 hours away from us and today was the 1st time we've seen each other since we came home from China.

It was so great to see them again. I just can't believe how much Maggie has gown -- and her hair, she has SO much hair! Such sweet girls! We just kept commenting on how much they talked, and smiled. Wow! They've come such a long way since our time in China. Mike and I feel that we are just so blessed to have them in our lives, and can't wait to see the girls grow together.

We met in Roanoke, VA because it's about 1/2 way for each of us. We met for lunch and then went to the Roanoke Star - which is a huge star (electrical) lit up on a mountain above the city of Roanoke - they have a park, zoo, walking trails, and nature center. We spent our time walking around, taking pictures, and visiting. It was a wonderful day.

We hope that some day we'll be able to meet up with many of our travel mates from our journey in China!

Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie

Another Weekend / Another Milestone

Well, I won't say that it happened this weekend, but it did happen this past week, the picture was just taken this weekend.

She's now CRAWLING! Walking and crawling all w/ in a couple weeks of each other!! WOW! Now she'll crawl over to something in the house, pull up on a piece of furniture, walk around it & then take a few steps to grab on to a different piece of furniture.

It's just awesome to see these BIG steps in her development!

This was a "stay at home" weekend for us. We had some friends come in on Saturday to have a visit and dinner, but we stayed in the house most of the day because it has been raining all weekend!

Mike decided since there was not much to do outside he would work on the basement this weekend. We started finishing our basement a few months before our trip to China and he's in a rush to get it finished since it will be our family room, 2nd bathroom and Anne Marie's playroom. He probably would kill me for posting these pictures, but I find it quite funny! So I'm going to anyway.... This is a picture of him sanding the drywall & the aftermath!!

Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie

Happy Easter

Well, dad is finally home after a 4 day business trip to Tennessee. He returned late Thursday night. I think she was just so lost without him last week!! She seem to come alive today and I think it was because we were able to spend the whole weekend as a family and we were able to have some great "alone" time after he'd been gone!

The weather was a little on the chilly side today; I would LOVE to have the 70/80 deg. weather we had the last couple of weeks. (That's when the picture was taken with her and her bunny in the yard .. the weather had been great, until we got snow on Friday -- YUCK! -- I am not fond of the cold weather!)

We went to Church, came home and tried to take some family Easter pictures, and after 15-20 pictures (you have to do that so that she, Mike and I are all looking at the camera, at the same time - haa) it was to bed for a much needed nap. After "our" nap, Grandma and Grandpa "H" came over for a visit and brought an adorable Hello Kitty Easter basket full of cute little Easter items. How funny!!!

It's just so exciting for us that we finally get to celebrate those "1st" with Anne Marie that we've been talking about for years. Her 1st b-day, her 1st Easter - and many more to come -- it's wonderful!

We hope you all had a blessed Easter!

Mike, Melissa & Anne Marie

Birthday Party

This weekend was Anne Marie's birthday party with our family. Mike thought that it would be funny if we did everything for her birthday in Hello Kitty since one of her referral pictures was her sitting in a Hello Kitty chair. Then, I actually found Hello Kitty b-day party supplies at our local K-Mart, so I went ahead and made Mike happy. (Even though I really wanted something else.)

It actually ended up being quite cute. A friend of mine makes cakes, so I gave her one of the plates and she made a cake for Anne -- it was really cute. It also ended up that the birthday dress my mother bought her MANY months ago matched the party decorations as well. (Maybe it was meant to be after all -- Ha!)

We bought her a princess crown to wear on her birthday. She didn't leave it on a long time, but long enough for me to get a few pictures.

We gave her the "ever-so-popular" ball popper on her actual birthday (3/27) so for her party, she got the books we bought her, a few outfits, and her doll we bought in China. That's the picture of her giving her doll a *hug* -- this is a new thing for her. She will, ONCE IN A WHILE -- and I mean, once in a while, give hugs -- and most of the time she gives them to her doll or bunny. She will give her dad and I a hug when she's in a really good mood. (Usually in the morning.) I absolutely cherish those moments. (She also let us put a bow from one of her gifts in her hair -- it was so funny!)

She didn't really like digging in the cake much. She loved to eat it, but didn't seem very interested in getting her fingers dirty. How funny -- the one time that we want her to make a mess, and she didn't! (ha)

She received wonderful gifts from everyone, and she seemed to enjoy herself. I think it was a little overwhelming at a certain point, but she was able to take a nap, and all was "normal" again.

Wow! I just can not believe that our little girl is 1 !!! I was not sure that this time in my life would ever come. Over a year ago I remember sitting here wondering if I was crazy or it God was making me wait for a good reason! I must say now, it was for a GREAT reason ..... I can not imagine my life without her, and I can not imagine any other child than her in my life -- God had the perfect child picked for us, and I must say it's an amazing feeling to think about that!!!

Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie