It is hard to believe at this time last year Vivian was spending the majority of her days in a crib in a cold orphanage in China.  No Christmas joy in her life. We were waiting for her and feeling her absence in our lives. This year we are all together and I don't think any of us could have imagined the joy she would bring into our world. I am so excited to watch her experience her first Christmas.  I have to share these few "out-takes" from the day we tried to take our Christmas card picture. They make me smile so big.  We had a hard time getting a good picture and the main ..read more

  That is Vivian and I these days:  attached at the hip.  Like, literally.  This child does not let me out of her sight.   To be honest, I am exhausted.   Girlfriend follows me EVERWHERE.  If I walk in one room, she follows. If I sit at my computer, she crawls up on the chair with me.  If I run downstairs to try and quickly change over the laundry, she is right behind me. If I try to unload the dishwasher, she crawls up on it and tries to unload it with me.  If I shower, she gets in (like EVERY TIME I shower).  She even follows me when I go to ..read more

In early November a team of therapists (from the organization TEAMworks), who specialize in caring for special needs orphans, traveled to China to work for a week in Vivian's orphanage.  Their goal was to help the children there (in particular the special needs children) and train the nannies to better provide for these children.  They were able to spend several days working with and changing the lives of the sweet children living in Vivian's orphanage. I was lucky enough to make contact with one of the women in this group prior to their trip.  She reached out to ..read more

It's been 5 months since we met. It is hard to believe how far she has come in 5 short months. She is such an awesome kid.  She is so full of joy and, given all that she has been through, that amazes me. I am amazed at the way she has gracefully left one life behind and embraced a new one I am thankful this Thanksgiving for the gift of adoption in our lives.  Thankful for the way it has completed our family and changed us all. “I didn’t give you the gift of life, life gave me the gift of you”       Linking up here thi ..read more

"Break my heart for what  breaks Yours" -Psalm 28:7 I came home from China with some wonderful things.  I came home with a beautiful, wonderful daughter.  I came home with a new appreciation for all that I have.  I came home with amazing new friendships and a taste of life halfway across the world. I also came home with a broken heart.  And this is one thing I did not anticipate coming home with. I can't seem to forget.  I can't seem to just "move one". I can't seem to stop thinking about what Vivian's life was like before we brought her home.  Mostl ..read more

Today is Orphan Sunday. November is National Adoption Month. I happened to finish this video last night and it seemed like a good time to share it. There are so many orphans in this world.  Too many. Today, I am grateful that there is a little girl in my house who is an orphan no more.  Today, and every day, I am heartbroken for those who will never know the love of a family. I have cried a lot of tears, and had a lot of fun making this video.  When I watch it, and I see the image of the plane flying across the world, I still can't believe I WAS ON THAT PLANE.  I stil ..read more

We celebrated 4 years with Vivian on July 1st and I made a short video to take a look back over our 4 years together.  I thought I would share it here ..read more

I am a little last posting, but in July we celebrated 2 years with Vivian.  It is hard to believe it has been two years since this happened. We didn't do much of a celebration actually.  It was more like we remembered the day. Oh, that day. The day we met was such an emotional day.  It was such an incredibly hard day for Vivian.   On that day Vivian lost everything she had known for almost 3 years suddenly and without any explanation. To Rob and I,  it felt more like a kidnapping at moments than it did the making of a family.  Rob and I will always reme ..read more

How is Vivian?  That is a question I keep getting and so I thought it was about time to do a quick update.  Get ready for tons of pictures:) Vivian is great.  In January we celebrated 18 months together.  Hard to believe it has been 18 months. The last 6 months have been much different than the first 12 months.  The first year with Vivian was so packed full of "firsts" it was quite the roller coaster of emotions.  Some of those firsts brought so much joy, while others brought fear and anxiety.  The last few months have been much different.  We see a muc ..read more

I was having a conversation the other day with one of my friends who has a daughter from China and I mentioned that it was Vivian's birthday this month.  We talked a bit about our plans to celebrate her birthday and my friend said to me, "I always think about my daughter's birth mother so much around her birthday.  Do you do that?  And I answered, "yes". But, then I thought about it and thought that really, the answer was no.  I don't think about Vivian's birth mother on her birthday, I think of her almost every day. Some days I just can't believe the word "birth mother ..read more