The Past Week....The Past Year

My intent was to post on Thursday, May 22, our 1-year Forever Family Day with Savannah, but instead I awoke to an email from my friend Jeanette regarding the tragic death of the Chapman family's 5-year old little China doll named Maria Sue. The news was very shocking and it affected me deeply to the point of tears...my heart is absolutely aching for the entire Chapman family. It is amazing to me how deeply I feel their loss and I do not even know them personally, but I still feel close to them in a way that cannot be explained...I feel like I share a piece of their heart now that we've experienced our very own adoption miracle. Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth founded Shaohannah's Hope Ministry, named after their first daughter whom they adopted from China. They have 6 children, Emily, Caleb, & Will Franklin who are biological and then they adopted 3 little ones from China...Shaohannah Hope, Stevey Joy & Maria Sue. Shaohannah's Hope played a HUGE part in our adoption journey and it is through their resources page that we found our adoption agency.

Please continue to pray for the Chapman's, they have experienced great joy in the past week with the engagement of their daughter, Emily and the graduation of one of their sons from high school, and in the very same week, they experienced the most heart wrenching pain by losing their daughter in a tragic accident. I simply cannot imagine, but I trust that God has an even more amazing plan that will be revealed in time and that through Maria's life and even through her death, many more families will be blessed and many more children will be united with their forever families.

I need to take a deep sigh before I move on....

My mom flew in to visit us on Wednesday night and we just dropped her off at the airport this afternoon. We had a great week together and of course, it went WAY too fast! The girls absolutely LOVED having their grandma here (and so did I). We went shopping (a lot), had the girl's pictures taken, Mackenzie got her first "professional" haircut at a fun children's salon, we went to church, out to lunch & dinner, planted flowers and installed a new trellis in our backyard (it is gorgeous!! I cannot wait for our flowering vines to grow!!), we went to Savannah's 2-year check-up (she weighed 23 pounds and was 32 inches tall...10th percentile for both!!), and last, but not least, we celebrated Savannah's 2nd Birthday yesterday!!! We had a very BUSY, but FUN week with my mom!! WE MISS YOU ALREADY GRANDMA!!!

I really cannot believe that Savannah is 2 years old! This past year has flown by and she has grown and changed so much! She is talking up a storm and is now using full sentences most of the time!! I think having a big sister to watch is a big motivator for Savannah to try and learn things faster...she really wants to be a big girl like Mackenzie. Next thing will be potty training...did I mention that I loathe potty training?? I am HOPING beyond HOPE that Savannah is a fast learner when it comes to potty training and that she'll teach herself quickly without much prompting from us. Mackenzie was not very easy to potty train and that is probably why I am DREADING having to do it again!

More birthday details....Savannah has a new found love for Elmo, so I made her an Elmo cake this year! It turned out really cute and I was quite surprised that it actually resembled Elmo...even Savannah could recognize him! Savannah received some wonderful gifts this year...she loves her new baby Elmo which she can feed a bottle and it even burps! She had great fun when she discovered that last night! It was adorable! And, yes, Elmo does say, "Excuse Me!" She also got a My Little Pony that has a stethoscope and thermometer so she can take care of it like a little nurse! And, she got a little riding Dora princess toy...it lights up and is very musical and fun and she is already riding it all over the house! All in all, she had a wonderful birthday and it was fun this year because she actually understood what was going on and she LOVED to unwrap the presents! Last year, she was only home with us for 5 days before we celebrated her first birthday, so everything was brand new to her and a little confusing. This year was completely different! She has really blossomed!

Savannah, we love you so much and are so thankful that God brought you to our family! You are our girl and we are so happy to be called your mommy & daddy! Happy Birthday Lovie!

Here are a few fun pictures from the last couple of weeks...I had to include the one of Savannah with a bucket ("hat") on her head, she wore that for the longest time! It was hilarious! There is also a picture of Kenzie posing with our dog. And, we celebrated Savannah's birthday early with Trevor's parents so there are some pics of them with the girls too, and a picture of Savannah enjoying her new birthday gifts from nana & papa!









The rest of the pictures are from Savannah's mini Birthday party we had yesterday! Enjoy!