Celebrating Life

Many of you know where my passion lies in regards to the orphans in this world.  Once you are truly awakened by the complete and shattering brokenness of the orphan, your life really is never the same.

I have laid awake many a nights brainstorming for a "BIG" plan that would enable me to be a better voice for the orphan.  A plan that would make the most impact.  A plan that would help the most children.  A plan that would make the most difference.  In the end, all I can do is act.  I can act small, act big, act financially, act in prayer.  But the simple fact is I HAVE to do something, because doing nothing is not a voice for the orphans.  And God is pretty clear on the role, we as Christians, are to play in their lives.  Pretty simple, we are to be a part of their lives.  We are to care.  

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." ~ James 1:27

And when I make my acts "pure and undefiled," I am blessed beyond measure.  I am blessed with cuteness like this, smiles that stay with you forever.  

I am so excited to be baking sweetness for these children for one of the local Children's Homes here in Atenas.  My art and creating in the kitchen to celebrate life = PERFECT for me.  I will keep you posted with their celebrations throughout the year.  This sweet boy turned 5 last week and celebrated Sunday.  I figured a 5 year old boy would love to dig into some butter cake, topped with chocolate buttercream, with some Oreo dirt, and construction signs.  

Right now I know so many people who are in the beginning, middle, and end of the adoption process, and starting the lifelong journey of loving those little ones.  There are so many, too many to list, THANK YOU LORD, but I ask that you pray for them, for anyone who is in this journey or thinking about entering this journey.  They need it.  That precious child needs it.  And, we, the parents need it.  

Everyday I am amazed at the blessings I have witnessed through adoption.  The webs that have been intermingled, friendships and lifelong bonds created, just bring me speechless.  I have been so blessed by this amazing thing called ADOPTION.  

A little over two years ago, an old childhood friend was in Chick Fil A in Little Rock and saw my mom.  She and my mom talked.  She told me her and her husband were thinking about adopting.  We exchanged many facebook messages.  She prayed for us throughout our adoption with Leia.  They soon started their journey to their Peruvian Princess.  And, she wrote a book.  WOW!!   She recorded their brokenness, their love, and the harsh reality of so many children in the world.  

{Picture used by Calley's permission}

If you are curious about adoption, what it does to your heart, and how it can turn it inside out and then be mended with a gift sent from the Lord, then read this book.  All proceeds go to the construction of The Jessica House in Iquitos, Peru.  You can purchase her book here.

Thanks for Family

I have been reading all the daily "Thanksgiving" posts since the beginning of November.  There has not been a day go by that I have not read from multiple people their thankfulness for their family.  I read these, I think the same thought of being so thankful for my family, and so thankful that God blessed my family with our 2 children.  I am so thankful that He decided to bless me with our two children through adoption.  So many people say, "Oh, they are so blessed to have you."  No, I AM BLESSED to have them.

So, during this month of thankfulness, my heart hurts for all those who have no family and especially the ones who are voiceless and only have a small population of the world crying their plea for them.  These children don't have anything.  They do not have the pleasures of this world that are ruining so many children (Yeah, I did just say that, because it is true.  I see more and more clearly how the youth is corrupted by all the "things and activities" that dominate their existence).  But not only do they not have things, they lack the most important things, Love and, for so many, the very knowledge of God.

But for some orphans, they became One Less and we are so thankful they are our family.  We are thankful to say we are blessed because of them, not that they are blessed because of us.  Through the next couple weeks I want to share with you true life stories that added to families, started families, and completed families.

Leia and so many others were and are so blessed by the Love they received from the wonderful staff of His Hands Taiwan.  These babies had a blessed beginning in this home.  The staff at His Hands wants their babies to learn about God and our wonderful Savior.  We are so thankful for this.  Most of the orphans in the world, do not have a beginning, middle, or ending as these babies.  No, they remain part of the 163 million who have no family, no love, and no future of knowing the Lord.

There are so many things you gain and learn through adoptions and my favorite is the awesome friends I have made and continue to make.  This comes from one of those sweet friends.

We were blessed with 2 amazing biological sons Dayne in 1992 and Keagan a short 10 months later in 1993.  We had struggled with infertility before Dayne so we were thrilled to be pregnant again so quickly.   We love being parents and always thought we would have at least 4 children.  

In 1996 we got pregnant a 3rd time--again we were ecstatic, but only 12 weeks later we lost that baby---we were devastated!  But we also knew we would try again and we would have more children.   

It took until 1998 to get pregnant again...this time all seemed to be going great until a routine ultrasound revealed our baby had passed away.   Our son Trevor Daniel was stillborn May 5, 1998.  We were beyond devastated.   Still we knew we wouldn't give up. We were sure God wanted us to have more children.  During this period of years  I had recurrent dreams of a baby girl we would have, always telling Tim that  she is beautiful but that I didn't  understand because she has black hair and black eyes (she looked nothing like us). We  got pregnant 3 more times  between 1999 and 2004.   We prayed and prayed and we finally had Peace that we were not having more children.  We went on enjoying the boys we have and loving life.   We were thrilled God had finally showed us that our family was complete. 

Spring Break 2005 we went to Disney World with the Peach family.  They also have 2 boys and all the boys had a great time!   

June 2005 Paula calls and says "hey guess where we are ALL going next year for Spring break".  She then tells us how ALL of us are going to China and adopt baby girls!  We thought she was nuts!  I mean good for them...but we have been done for over a year thinking about having more kids, we are happy, we thought we were complete.  God had other plans;)

She invited us to come to an informational meeting that an adoptive family was giving at their church it was on Sunday night...ummm I work weekends, no one will work for me...Tim would never adopt....our family is compete....so many excuses I could come up with!    The closer it got to the meeting the more we felt we might like to go.   I asked a couple people at work if they would be interested  in working...nope, not surprising its impossible to get someone to work a Sunday for me....NOT gonna happen.  So I give up!    I get a call...it's from a fellow coworker(someone I hadn't asked...or even considered  This person NEVER works extra!  NEVER!)   She says I hear you would like to go to a meeting Sunday and I'd like to work for you! WHAT???   

So we get to go to the meeting---we are gonna go to hush Paula, but that's it!  Our family is complete!  

We get there and the other people that are in the process of adopting are there, they are all normal ordinary people like we are.  Not super rich or super stars they are just ordinary people that are going to adopt!  Really?  That's possible?  I went to the restroom and saw Jackie there with her little 2 year old from China..they were at the sink and I suddenly felt this overwhelming urge I hadn't felt before...I couldn't look at them, because if I did I would have cried  right there in the bathroom.  

We are sitting in the meeting and hearing all the testimonies of these "ordinary" people   Then Jackie stands up....she brought some visual aids----her children from Guatemala and China!   She tells her story and shows us her beautiful children.   I cried through this whole meeting.  I had never felt anything like this before.  God had put all these things together so that we could be here with these people!  So we could learn about this wonderful thing called adoption---He had even taken care of finding someone to work for me!!  

We left and I asked Tim what he thought.   I'm nervous at this point I'm thinking I would like to do this but we both have to want it!   He says we should talk with the boys, we should decide as a family.   We sat the boys down when we got home and asked what they would think if we decided to adopt them a sister...they both said "we aren't sure why that is even a question. There are babies that need homes and we want a baby...we should do it!"    

That was Sunday night....Monday morning we called a homestudy agency, filled out the application with FTIA for China and called all our family and friends and told them we were expecting a baby!;)   We started the crazy paper-chase and decided on a name!  Ava Christine would be our daughter!   

On November 17, 2005 we were officially LID (log in date) for China!  we thought it would be a 6 month wait....but Gods plan is perfect and our daughter was born January 14, 2007 in China.   We got THE CALL August 2, 2007.    Ava's Gotcha day was October 14, 2007  what a blessing she is!  

We are thrilled!  Our family is COMPLETE!  People ask us if we will adopt again, we say no we are done....,.well God is in control, He knows best!  

 

August 2010...we hear about His Hands Taiwan!  Some Friends of ours Donnie and Gina have just been home a short time with their little girl from there. The Dunns from Mt Carmel are working with them and we start reading about their ministry.   We contact them and just inquire if we can adopt from there.  We are told there is a waiting list.  But we are put on the waiting for an application list. 

On November 17, 2010 we are given an application to fill out!   This is 5 years to the day we were LID with Ava;) 

On February  9, 2011 we were accepted officially into their program.  Now the real wait begins!   

We thought the wait would be short, we are impatient and sometimes forget that Gods plan is perfect.

  On February 9,2012---yes one year to the day of acceptance with His Hands we got an amazing email telling us that we have a beautiful daughter born January 12, 2012 in Taiwan!   We click on her picture and we instantly know she is our daughter.  She is what we have been waiting for!  We are instantly in love!  

On September 7, 2012 in a train station in Taiwan we are handed our beautiful daughter Kerrigan Jayne!  What a blessing!

                                                    

                                                   

As we look at these 2 beautiful

Blessings, Praise God that when we said we are complete as a family...He said "no you aren't".  

So again we think we are complete;). We are happy and thrilled with the family God has given us!   We will see what the future holds and if God calls on us again then we will say yes! 

 

The journey wasn't always easy! But when we look back  we see God always had the perfect plan for us! 

"Justice to the Fatherless"

I could spend days, weeks, and months pleading for the orphan.  I could preach of all the verses that pertain to the poor, oppressed, widows, and orphans.  But I won't, I will simply share with you the four that stand out TO ME more than any of the others.  There are many more than four, but these are the ones that were seared to my heart and caused me to become broken for the orphan.

James 1:27

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."  

Isaiah 1:17

"Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."  

Proverbs 31:8-9

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."

And even more than the three scriptures above that seared me with a brokenness was this...

Matthew 25:40-45

⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,^[a] you did it to me.’
⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

Something so simple brought sparkles in

his little eyes.

He will probably never remember me, but maybe that 

is one less day of lonliness that he will remember.

There are 163 million more pairs of these eyes that 

are begging you to pull them in.

Wow!  To ignore the fact that there are 163 million children without a mother or father, no one to love them, some with no one to feed them or clothe them, millions of people starving and naked in tattered rags, people sick with diseases that leave them in isolation, men and women imprisoned (some guilty of their charge and some innocent) who have never even heard of Jesus and what He did for them.  To think that I once lived my life in complete ignorance to the outside world around me, the world that so many never see or acknowledge that it exists.  How could I continue and ignore such things? Because by ignoring these things, I was ignoring Jesus.  Guys, he is everywhere.  Is your heart not broken?  Does it not break your heart to know that daily we ignore Jesus.  Daily!!!  We live in isolated worlds where days go by without acknowledging the dire NEEDS of others.  

People say, "I can't adopt."  You don't have to adopt.

Logan and Olivia can't adopt but they can

 be a voice for them.

 pray for them.

 love them.

You can become broken without adopting, before adopting, while adopting, and maybe it doesn't even happen for some until after they adopt.  But if we are not broken for "the least of these," then we are not living the path Jesus set before us.  We have to be broken.

Some may know what today is, it is any other day.  But some have come to know this day as a day to come together and be a HUGE voice TOGETHER for the ORPHAN.  It is ORPHAN SUNDAY and November is Orphan Awareness Month.  A month that Americans cherish as the month of Thanksgiving and family.  So, as you journey through this month and the blessings that are being poured on you and all around you, I beg you to please think about the ones who have no voice.  They have no one to turn to, no one to hear them.  It is simple, WE ARE THEIR VOICE.



My family is so blessed to have been able to be a part of the miracle of adoption.  And I say miracle, because it is just as miraculous as giving birth to your own child by blood.  God gives many miracles and adoption, I believe, is one of them.

CARSON THANH RABOIN

A woman who gave the gift of life and chose us to

be Carson's family.  I love you, Molly!  And we love 

Carson so much!!!

Proud Daddy

Big sister assessing her new brother.

I think she is quite smitten.

Big brother checking him out.

Nothing like holding your baby for the first time : )

Family of 5....one more to come ; )

And then God blessed us with another miracle.  Leia (Sin Xio) Liu Raboin our second little princess.  We waited, I can't say that it was patiently, to hold you in our arms.  And the day finally came....

Snuggled right up to Daddy

Nothing quite like this moment.

She's holding on to my shirt, and I'm not 

letting go either : )

She laid her head down and kept it that 

way for hours.

Loving with her big brother.

Everybody wants to play with me.

Oh, how he loves her and still adores her every whim.

Sweet Kisses X 2!

Such a WONDERFUL big sister.

MY RABOINS

Really????????

David sent me this article that he came across this morning.  Try and imagine his "subject" title in the heading of the email this morning.  I think it read "Idiot article about adoption."  That is about right.  Whether you are pro adoption or not, this article beats all I have ever seen.  Take a look for yourself and read the article here.

                                       
To think this child will be better off in a boarding school with no loving interaction is pure insanity in my mind.  A child not loved will not thrive.  A child not loved will not know the hope of Jesus.  A child not loved will not know the about the love that Jesus gives.  I mean, people really think that you don't need love????  I will have to make the assumption that the writer of this article was not loved as a child and this is their way of saying "I made it and had better advantages than others who were loved and dirt poor."  How sad that people think they do not need love, don't need to be loved, don't need to show love.  It is a necessity of life.  It is a proven fact that people who are loved and love have better outcomes after surgery, when diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses, and so many other things.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  1 Corinthians 13:13

Shop for Mother's Day

I will have to say that I have met some amazing people through Adoption, and this family is no different.  Tiffany and I became friends through Facebook and have chatted hours on the phone and have an amazing connection.  They adopted their first child from Taiwan and have started the journey to their second child that they hope to adopt from the same orphanage as their son. 
You can read all about their journeys here.  But I will give the short rundown. 
Richard was a preacher at a church in California and Tiffany was a school teacher.  Several things happened that led them to have the opportunity to move to Kosovo for 6 months where they did mission work.  Tiffany helped set up a school there.  They returned back to the states after living abroad for 6 months and moved back to their home state of Missouri.  They moved back in December and Richard has been actively looking for a full time job all while doing odd jobs to pay the bills.  Tiffany was unable to find a teaching job during the middle of the school year, but does have some prospects for this next fall.  They have all this uncertainty in this world we live in day to day but yet they follow God's call to proceed with their second adoption and have FAITH that HE will PROVIDE!!!!!  So many wait for the funds to be there before they ever start the process.  If we all did that then A LOT of orphans would never make it home.
All this said, Richard and Tiffany are starting an Adoption Auction tonight at midnight!!!  I cannot wait to see all the goodies they are going to have.  Start your Mother's Day shopping a little early and help an orphan while doing so.  You will see lots of items up for auction that have been donated by Adoptive Families.  Add their button to your blog and help spread the word...and get to bidding!!
                                                            

Got Love? Adopt!

There is an awesome family who is adopting a little girl from South Korea and they have some awesome Orphan Awareness gear that they are selling as their fundraiser.  I purchased one of the original Got Love? shirts and I LOVE IT!!!  I will be ordering a tye dye one soon.  Oh, and they have the coolest beverage mugs.  I think I may need one of those too....hmmm...Valentine's Day...Mother's Day...we shall see. 
You can check out their stuff here.  They are also having a giveaway that I believe will end sometime tomorrow, so hurry on over and help spread the word about their gear.  And most of all lets pray for this family who is making it ONE LESS!!
I finally got all the new pieces up on the Making Footprints site.  Mom and I have been really busy the past 2 days making jewelry while we have been snowed in.  I am going to try and take pictures of the new pieces tomorrow and get them up as soon as possible. 
GOOD NEWS.......One of our fellow His Hands families finally is seeing light at the end of the tunnel and will be able to get their precious little boy soon.  Some of you may have been following on facebook or know the story already, but they have had a nightmare of an adoption.  AIT in Taiwan never would give sweet Owen a visa to leave the country to come home.  The courts granted The Smith's to be his parents but then AIT would not issue a visa.  They have been trying for 8 months all avenues to find a way to bring him home.  All avenues failed.  But thank you God that they will be able to move to Australia (Mark's job transferred him) and will be united with their son soon.  So, we should see some amazing happy...tearful....cheerful...pictures soon of  three families, the two of have cared for and taken Owen in and the other of the family finally being ONE and together.  I love good news and wanted to share.  I, personally, cannot wait to see those pictures.  So, Christine if you are reading this you better share those pictures as soon as they are taken.

One Less, One Less, One Less, Lets Keep Going

I think I have blogged about this song before, but I love it, and so here it is again.  147 Million Orphans plus is a huge, impossible number to our mind.  My human mind thinks it is impossible to find families for that many orphans.  But then, God reminds me it isn't impossible because with Him all things are possible, Phil 4:13.  I become a puddle every time I read a blog or hear of a family adopting a child, because that is One Less.  We have to become bigger than the Orphan Crisis.  We, together, have to do something.  Everyone can do something.  You say there is nothing that I can do...I'm too old to adopt, I don't have the money to adopt...and the story goes on.  But there are others that need your help.  They need your help raising the funds to bring God's precious child home.  There has to  be more of us than THEM (orphans).  We have to speak for them, cry for them, because they can't.  We are their VOICE. 

Isaiha 1:17

Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor,

Defend the fatherless,

Plead for the widow.

So we cry out for them so that we can keep saying One Less, One Less, One Less, One Less.....until it is 0.

Learn to do good;

Others Follow Him

I have been following a blog for a while now. This family is amazing. They have 4 biological children and 5 adopted children and she homeschools, I believe. After I read her post today, I had dejavu. It was amazing. Some of the exact same things she wrote and has experience have happened to us during the past year as well, and I wanted to share with you what she wrote. You can read her blog post here. If you feel as strongly about spreading the Gospel, serving the poor, widows, and orphans, teaching to all nations, and simply doing what God has commanded us, then please drop by her blog and leave her an encouraging word. I know she would love to hear positive words and know that people around the world are praying for her family.

Tax Returns and The Orphan

So, it is that time of year.  You either dread tax season because you owe the government money or you look forward to it because the government will be sending you money.  Hopefully, it is the second reason.  I know so many people who have their tax money spent before they even get it.  One might have a vacation planned, a new car they are going to purchase, a shopping trip for lots of new clothes, and the list could go on. 
But, just think that money could bring an orphan to a forever family.  You say, but I need that money.  Do you?  Or do you just want that money?  Do you want to hoard it in the bank or buy things that you don't really need?  I don't know what your story is, only you and God know your heart. 
If you are thinking about adopting, what better time than when you get that tax return.  It is enough to get you started.  God can handle it.  If it is God's will, then the funds will be there when you need them.  I have heard more people say that they would adopt if they had the money, or they don't want to start until they have more money in the bank?  Really?  You are leaving faith behind when you think like that.  I can honestly say when we started the process to adopt from Vietnam, we did not have a dime saved for it.  People told us we would never be able to do it.  We would never be able to raise the thousands of dollars that would be needed.  And I am hear to tell you that not only did God provide the funds once but twice for us.  He funded two adoptions, two orphans, two of my miracles. 
If we had said, we can't start until we have more money in the bank, then I might not have 4 children right now.  You have to Let Go and Let God!!!
Maybe you can't adopt, but you can help someone else bring an orphan home.  We can't change the world, but we can change the world for an orphan and we can do it one at a time.  So, help me spread the word and make it ONE LESS.  I personally know lots of families who are in various stages of the adoption
process, and if you would like to help, please email me at footprintsincostarica@gmail.com. 
For those who do not know this, there is a $13,109 tax credit for adoptions.  That is a federal credit, and whatever state you may live in may have a tax credit as well.  Oklahoma, I believe, has a $20,000 credit.  Wow that would pay for an adoption!!  Children From All Nations just launched an Ugandan Adoption program that costs $13,000 plus your travel expenses.  When you take your credits off you have basically brought a child home for almost nothing.  Please, don't let the money stop you from What God has called us to do.

Princess Leia's Birthday Party

We have been super busy the last few weeks. It seems as if everything has happened in a blur since Thanksgiving. I never even got those pictures posted from Thanksgiving. We are going from celebration to another. We ended Thanksgiving with the attack of the stomach bug. It was horrible and went through everyone but Carson and only touched Leia lightly. All I can say is it is GONE. And it needs to stay away forever. We had barely recuperated from the stomach bug and begin preparations for Leia's first birthday party.

She had a wonderful birthDAY from morning til night. As you will see.

                                     

 Leia's birthday breakfast started with

homemade donuts.  "Yum Yum," she said.

 Logan trying to sneak one.

 Carson cleaning his plate.

 She seemed pretty satisfied with the

choice we made for her birthday breakfast. 

That smile says her tummy was super content.

 Her cake!

And macthing cupcakes.

 She had a Red Velvet Cake with

matching cupcakes.

 With a Little Asian flare and some

chopsticks to match.

 Wouldn't be a complete Asian Princess birthday

without Fortune Cookies.

 We also had Chinese Rice Cookies

and Chocolate Coffee Chinese Cookies.

 DELICIOUS!!

 ONE candle for the

PRINCESS.

A money tree to help

Caysen's brother or sister home.

Caysen's Note
(click on image to enlarge and read)

 Everyone had a fortune or two.

 Leia with her birthmother before we

left Taiwan.

 Nana and Leia

 Pappaw and Leia

 Mammaw and Leia

 Our Chinese Princess

 About to Release our Orphan Balloons

 We had 115 balloons to release.

You can read the card that we attached to her balloon

on this post.

 The wind was blowing like crazy.

Right before releasing these balloons David

led a prayer for all the orphans in the world

and that these balloons might reach someone

that would be touched by God to hear the

cry of the ORPHANS.

 There they go. 

 We saved Leia's balloon for last.

 And we watched it go up the sky all alone like

the little orphan that is all alone in the world

with anyone to call their own.

 Papa and Leia

 Getting ready for some cake.

 Ready...Set...Go.....

 There she goes!

 Mmmmmmm!

Not quite sure what to do next...

Leia loves her new car.

Opening her new backpack and checking

out the goodies Mammaw stuffed in it.

Yes...she HAD to have a bath at the church before

we could go home.

So cute!!!!

She finally got the hang of it.

She had an amazing party.  We had a beautiful balloon release that I pray touched someone somewhere.  it was so windy.  Who knows where those balloons could have reached.  As I watched Leia's balloon that we released last, all I could think about was that there was a single balloon flying all alone in the sky, getting farther and father away, til it was a small speck that you weren't even sure you could see.  And then it was gone.  That is so similar to that of an Orphan.  There are all alone in the world.  They don't have a Dad or Mom flying with them.  They are that balloon flying up in the sky alone.  They are far away and out of reality to most people.  They are forgotten and their cry is not heard. 

I thank God that mine and David's hearts heard the cry.  And we are so blessed to have the children we do, all 4 of them.  Leia is our 4th beautiful blessing.  The day before her birthday (as so many other days), I thought of Xio Chi all day.  I wondered what she was doing and what she was feeling.  Xio Chi is Leia's birthmother.  Taiwan is 14 hours ahead of us right now, so Leia's birthday happened almost a day earlier there.  I prayed that she felt peace on that day and that her heart knew that Leia was a happy little girl loved by so many. 

I have been telling everyone that Leia is not one, she is 12 months.  I am having a hard time that my baby is already a year old.  The time has flown by since she has been home.  It seems like just yesterday I was counting the days and packing like crazy to fly to the other side of the world.  And, no here we are her birthday come and gone.  She is such an amazing little girl.  From the moment I held her in my arms she conformed to my body.  She snuggled right it and it never changed.  She always acted as if she had been with me from the start.  She is a Momma's girl, and I will have to say I LOVE IT!!!!  That is an understatement. 

At 12months Leia can do all these things and so much more:

1. crawl all over the house as fast as your siblings run

2. smile, laugh, jabber

3. say Momma, Dadda, Nana, Bye, Love You, Night Night, Mammaw

4. wave Bye Bye

5. drink from a sippie cup with no problem

6. eat table food, well you never ate baby food

7. pull up on everything

8. splash like a grown child in the tub

9. scream as loud as the other children when you are happy and when you are not

10. sleeps 12-14hrs at night

11. takes 1-2 naps a day

13.snuggle right up in mine and Daddy's neck

14. love on your brothers and sister

15. Turn everyone's heart into a big PUDDLE

As Olivia would say, "Happy Birthday to our Chinese Princess Doll!"