Merry Christmas!!!

Emma at the Hoh River.













Emma and her little friend Anna, who came home from China just 2 months after Emma arrived from Vietnam.













Ken and Emma at the Hoh River.








Emma turns one!!!
Camping in the Hoh Rain Forest.




Capernwray 2007

Amie - she has watched Jalena, Alysha and Becca since they were babies at Capernwray - we love her!!!

Mt. Baker from Mallahat Drive heading north on Vancouver Island on the way to Capernwary.

Brenna and Michaela on the Blackball Ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria.

Goofing off at the Fountain Park in downtown Bremerton.

For the first time in 3 years I was able to get Christmas cards out!! I wasn't too happy with how dark the picture turned out. I'm going to post it here again and see if it will come out lighter - it's of the girls at Capernwray this past summer. As you can imagine, it's hard to get a picture of all 6 girls smiling and this one mangaged to capture all of them smiling. I'm also adding some more of some things we've done over the past few months (mostly this summer).

We had some great trips to the beach, a wonderful camping trip to the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula, a crazy camping trip down to the Columbia River Gorge (let's just say that Emma doesn't like the car). But this horrific camping trip ended at the PLAN picnic in McMinnville, OR where we were able to meet all the wonderful people at the agency that placed Emma in our family. Of course, the highlight of the summer is always our week spent at family camp at Capernwray Harbour on Thetis Island.

A Heartfelt Thank You!!

I want to thank everyone for your prayers for our journey to Emma . . . God's faithfulness was evident during our entire trip . . . everything from our flights to Hanoi, our quick and seamless paperwork process in Vietnam (one of the quickest ever), our health (a few minor ailments, but nothing major), our absolutely enjoyable time meeting other adoptive families and sightseeing to our easy trip home was a testimony to God's participation in this whole process. I know that many of you were praying during our trip and I want you to know that your prayers were heard and answered and meant the world to us. Your comments on the blog and the encouraging emails I received while in Vietnam were a huge blessing to me so even if I was not able to answer you please know I appreciated each and every one.

Emma is adjusting very well to being home. She almost has her days and nights figured out and has almost made it through the last two nights - just a quick waking up and right back to sleep. She had her first doctors appointment yesterday and Dr. Chow was quite impressed by her development and her personality. She is right on target (or ahead) in all developmental areas and her doctor had no concerns at all. She weighs 16 #s 9 oz so is only in the 10th %ile for weight but 50th %ile for length. She had 3 immunizations since they have to start at square one for babies from Vietnam. She tolerated the injections OK, but was not happy about the blood draw. They run a myriad of tests on new adoptees and they took 5 vials of blood. As soon as it was over she was back to her normal, happy self.

All the girls are doing well with Emma - they love her!! I am especially happy with how well Becca is doing. She had a rough weekend which was to be expected but has adjusted quite well to having a baby sister. Yesterday she told Ken, "I like Emma!!"

We have laid low this week and not done anything as Michaela and I both

got some horrible cold/flu upon arriving home . . . forgot to take our Airborne before the flight home. Hopefully as we start to feel better I'll have more pictures to post.

Emma is HOME!!!

We had a very uneventful trip home - exactly what we hoped for!! Both flights were on time and Emma did great during both take-offs and landings - not a peep about her ears or anything. She cried a little after about an hour on the first flight and then slept the rest of the way. At the Taipei airport we let her crawl around and get her wiggles out. She also had 2 poopy diapers which was great because then I didn't have to deal with it on the plane. We had the best seats on the plane for our long leg - Taipei to Seattle - 10 1/2 hours. Shortly after take-off Emma fell asleep and I was able to lay her in the bassinet (took about 4 tries but she finally went in it) and she slept the entire way to Seattle. I had to wake her up about 30 minutes before landing to get her dressed and give a bottle for the descent.

In Seattle we were the only ones in the new immigrant line and the officer processed Emma's visa papers very quickly. Once downstairs we had to wait forever for our luggage - must have been one of the last ones to come out - funny how things can go sooooo slowly when you're dying to be somewhere else. All I could think about was the crowd of people waiting for us in another part of the airport. Straight through customs - no questions - and then an officer was nice enough to let us get a picture of Emma next to the American flag. She is now officially a US Citizen!! Since Ken came to Vietnam for the first part of the adoption Emma was able to come home on an IR3 Visa which grants her immediate citizenship upon hitting US soil.

A quick ride on the subway and we were ready to head up the escalator to the waiting crowd. I spotted Becca first and thought she must have grown a foot while I was gone. It was such a joy to introduce Emma to her sisters and I can't describe the feeling of having my girls in my arms again. Poor things, they are all sick with something - coughing, Jalena has double ear infections, etc. I woke up this morning with a horrible sore throat (forgot to take my Airborne on the plane) so we're laying low for a while to get Emma transitioned and everyone healthy and back to our normal routine.

The girls think the world of Emma. They cannot keep their hands off her, but Emma needs her space so she only puts up with it for a few minutes at a time. I think Emma is still a bit overwhelmed by all her sisters but I'm sure in a few days she'll be laughing like crazy with them.

She has done great sleep-wise . . . She feel asleep at 10 on the way home from the aiport and didn't even wake up when we got home and slept till about 2 AM and was only up for an hour and then slept till 8 or so. We let her take 2 naps but woke her up after 2 hours each time. Last night she went to bed at 7 and slept till 9 this morning waking at 1:30 for a bottle. She's had one short and one long nap today and we were only able to hold her off till 7:30 tonight for bed. I'm just so happy that she seems to have her days and nights switched around already.

Emma is still quite congested though I'm sure the pneumonia is gone since her lungs sounded clear at her visa check-up. She has her first check-up here on Wednesday so it will be interesting to see how she checks out. I'm sure her doctor will be quite impressed with her development. She is right on target or ahead in all areas as far as I can tell.