2 Months Home

Cooper arrived in the USA on May 29, 2014!  He is such a blessing to our family.  His transition has smoother than we anticipated.  Much to our surprise, he was a momma's boy the morning after he arrived.  Cooper is sweet, smart and never stops!  Our biggest struggle is food.  He wants it all the time, but is very picky!  He loves to go "bye, bye".  He loves playing outside and water-play.  He is fearless.  The only shows he like are "Boonie Bears" (in Chinese on y*utube) and Froz*n.  Watching him try to sing the songs is priceless!!!!!!!!!!  He likes to eat hotdogs, chicken nuggets, ice cream, fruit snacks and chocolate.

 

We have had a lot of fun since he has arrived home!  Daddy and Spencer had birthdays.  We have been bowling, visited a couple of parks, had a picnic and went on a boat ride on the lake.

 

 

 

Chris, Ethan and Devin left for 10 days for scout camp at Bartle! We visited them on "Visitor's Saturday".  Ethan spent a week at Boy's State.  Ethan also received his driver's license and had his senior photo taken.  Where has the time gone?

Spencer had surgery on June 7th to have a plate placed in his knee.  His recovery has been smooth.

We have enjoyed being a family of 10!  We are so blessed. 

 

 

Gotcha!

I first saw his precious face in December of 2012!  In June, we decided we should pursue his adoption.  Yesterday, he met his Daddy and oldest brother!!

He was born December 14, 2011 in Nanning City, China.  He has been with a foster family for over a year.  He came to Chris without tears; however, at bedtime he grieved.  After a couple hours of this, he fell asleep and slept through the night.
His caretakers describe him as busy!!! Chris says he has a lot of personality, and I think he is adorable!! 

His nickname is Bing Bing.  Yesterday when they got back to the hotel, Chris and Ethan took off their shoes.  A few moments went by, and here came Cooper with their shoes - he wanted to go "bye bye".

Introducing our baby boy, Cooper!!!

Christmas Vacation!!!

Over the holidays we went to Florida.  Grandpa and Grandma M. recently bought a home near Ft. Myers, Florida, and we decided to go for a visit.


The kids were very excited when Santa surprised them with tickets to Disn*y World!!  FYI - Santa came to our house early this year.  We drove straight through to Orlando.  We left at 9 pm on Thursday and arrived at around 10:00 pm Friday.  It was an extremely tough drive, but we were trying to stay ahead of the bad weather tailing us.


*Side Note - On the way there, we stopped at Crack*r Barrel for breakfast in Tennessee.  As we were leaving, a lady stopped me and said that she had something for our family.  She said she was waiting for God to tell her who to give a certain gift to.  She ran out to her RV and grabbed a package.  She asked me not to open it until we got to the car.  Once in the car, we opened it up.  Inside was a mason jar filled with money (over $100).  What a blessing she was to our family.*

We didn't get to Disn*y until about 1:00 pm, because we slept in.  We thought the kids would tucker out around 8-9 pm.  However, they closed the park down.  We didn't get out of the park until about 1:30 am!!!!!!!!!!!  Crazy kids.


The next day, we drove a few hours to Grandpa and Grandma's house.  We were so very excited to see them.  We just relaxed that day!  The following day we all went to the beach.  It was wonderful weather.  The next day we visited the Shell Museum and went to Christmas Eve service.  We also enjoyed a nice seafood dinner.  Christmas Day was nice and relaxing, and we enjoyed a yummy dinner and dessert.  It seemed like we had just arrived when it was time to go again.  We left early the next morning and drove through Atlanta and rested for the night.  We drove all day the next day and finally arrived home. Home Sweet Home!

Now it is time for photos!

                                          Christmas Program!
                They all did great, and Riley and Ruth had a solo!