half dozen cuties

September Milestones

I love September. The cold mornings and warm afternoons, back to school, routines, the harvest, college football. For me it's more of a new beginning than January and as a result I've been reflecting on all the good things that have happened in my life in September: (I have tried to add pictures but it is not working).

September 1997--Moved to Spokane

In September 1997 we moved to Spokane, WA from Portland, OR. We were such a little family then just Jason & I and Eli (age 2) and Jonah (age 2 mos.). Jason's parents fixed up Jason's grandpa's house for us and even put in the same carpet and paint colors as we had in our first cute house in Portland. They even had potted mums waiting for us on the front porch when we arrived. We lived just down the street from them and Eli loved to go visit grandma and grandpa everyday. I long for those simple days. Now it is such a challenge to find time to visit grandma and grandpa. Moving to Spokane is one of the best decisions we've ever made. Jason has a great job and we love living close to our grandma and grandpa, aunts, uncles and cousins. We've made so many great friends over the past 9 years.

September 2003--Decided to adopt Lily

Three years ago Jason and I were minding our own business, shopping in Costco, when we met a woman who had just returned from China a few days earlier with her little girl. After talking to this woman for 10 minutes we knew we had a daughter waiting for us in China. We went straight home from that conversation and started researching Chinese adoption. Nine months later we had Lily in our arms.

September 2005--Trip to China

Last year at this time I was in China with my friends Betsy and Kelly as volunteers on a medical mission to repair cleft lips/palates. This was a life-changing experience as we worked 6 days at an orphanage in Luoyang. This is truly one of the most adventurous things I've ever done as we also traveled to a remote mountain village to visit Betsy's adopted son, Yuhua's birth family. I can't believe it's already been a year.

September 2005--Met Jack for the first time

In April 2005, Jason and I decided to add one more child to our family. Jack was from the same orphanage as Lily and they are only 6 months apart. Even though we didn't adopt Jack until November 2005 I got to meet him while in China on the medical mission trip. I flew to Shantou, Guangdong Province China, with a friend who was also in the process of adopting a little boy from Shantou. This was a once in a lifetime experience. When I met Jack he was screaming because he had been taken from his room and was very unsure of what was happening. They took him back to his room and I watched him for a while not wanting to upset him. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer and I grabbed him and gave him the biggest hug. Leaving him at the orphanage was one of the hardest things I've ever done.