Sunday Snapshot! 6months today!

Photo taken Feb 28, 2011...Daddy is the baby whisperer...she calmed down when he held her.

It's been 6 months today since Jolie was placed in our arms. In that short time, it seems as if she's always been here with us. She says more and more English words, understands everything we say and still says a few Chinese words. She loves, loves, loves, her siblings, parents, grandparents and great-granny.

 She's grown a lot taller in 6 months too. This photo was taken in Guangzhou. 

Shek and Jolie play in the playroom 6 months ago.

5 months later...joking around with Zach

6 months later...Jolie received mail and she is excited to share with Sis!

Great-Granny (aka Honey) love

the kids and the grands

 She loves SHOES and new Clothes...she loves to sing and dance. She loves to sing along with that country hit "Remind Me" and Jamie Grace's new Christian hit "Hold Me"...she is also partial to Rascal Flats.  It's especially heart warming when she sings "Jesus loves me". I love it when she brings the books to read with Jesus in them and she always points him out and calls him Jesus. She even points at the cross at church and says Jesus. She winks like me (we wink like a pirate ~one eye squinted and our mouth open). We've come along way in 6 months, but not with our winks!;)

This week I met a lady who kept telling me that we did such a marvelous thing in adopting her, and that we were compassionate and we should be commended. I always like to turn these conversations back around to the fact that our girl has far blessed us more. BUT this lady went on to tell me that she was adopted when she was a toddler. So I listened intently, I knew she had a different perspective, one of an adoptee. She even told me that as a toddler she remembered much of her life before being adopted. I was amazed at her memory. She told me that one traumatic event stuck out in her little girl memory and that was when she had to be transferred from one home to another group home in the middle of the night. She said she remembered arriving in a large dark room with bunk beds and that she was very upset and crying. She said the other children there were nice and told her that if she just rocked herself back and forth she would go to sleep. THIS. BROKE. MY. HEART!

I think of all my babies: my almost 19 year old, my 15 year old, and my 9 year old and my 2 year old. I would hate to think of them having to rock themselves and comfort themselves when they were babies because there was no lap or no arms to comfort them.

All my babies!

There are approximately 143 million orphans in the world...with no parents to comfort them, no lap for them to sit in, no arms to rock them...

So if you have ever toyed with the idea of adoption, felt compassion about the orphans, maybe even said I would adopt BUT....get past the BUT and just do it. There's a lot of paperwork to do, but it's well worth it. Check out our timeline on the left, it took us about a year from adoption application till travel. It's a journey you won't want to miss.

I am glad we heard HIS call and did it...I would have hated missing out on Jolie.

Jolie and me at the beach.

Jolie loving life!

Borrowed this quote from a friend's facebook status:

 "By adopting a child and helping them reach their potential, they help us reach ours. An adopted child is not an unwanted child; to the contrary. They are a child who was searched for, prayed for, cried for, begged for; received by arms that ached, making empty hearts full. Love is meant to be shared" - Author Unknown

I am participating in Ni Hao Y'all's Sunday Snapshot....check out other  snapshots at  Stefanie's blog:  Ni Hao Y'all