The Best is Yet to Come

Blessed are those who give without remembering. And blessed are those who take without forgetting.
Bernard Meltzer

I really have not had very much time for reflection with all that is going on since we have gotten back from China. I had a moment of inspiration today as I was thinking back on our time in China. I can not thank the families that traveled with us enough for their love and compassion as we worked through the Hep C scare. I do not know if we could have made it though that difficult time without them. They rallied behind us and helped us in so many ways. They helped us stay in our hotel for the extended stay; they helped my Mom get home safely (to her door) and continued to check in on us after they left.
I then think about all of the email of love and support for our daughter and our family. How could we ever thank everyone? Most of these people I still have not had the opportunity to email back. We can not express gratitude to those that helped us through this ordeal without mentioning the staff at WIAA and Sabrina and our guide Jo Jo and even though we never met her Judy Wu. They all worked hard to see that we received all the assistance we needed to make it through.
So why did I suddenly have time for reflection? Let us just say I couldn’t sleep. It has to do with a couple we met in the Little Swan Room at the White Swan Hotel. It was on Thursday and the other families had left. We had no desire to tour or see China with all of the Chinese New Year celebrations. I took the girls down to the toy room so they wouldn’t bounce off the room walls any longer. I do not remember the names of this couple, but I remember what they told us. “She will be OK. There is something special about that little girl. We just know this to be true.” I had so many doubts that I dismissed it at first. Last night as I lay in bed I was almost asleep when the words came back and washed over me like a huge wave. It was at that moment I realized that they really did know! How fortunate are we! This could have played out in so many different ways! God is truly great and good in all his works.
I am so thankful for our little piece of Heaven on Earth. The girls are changing so rapidly right now and it is so fun to watch. As time passes I see that it will not be long before the parents will no longer be the center of their universe. We need to hang onto these moments and never let them go.
Elainea continues to amaze us with her progress. She is a very fun girl who loves to tease people. She is smart and very active. She can not sit still for a minute. She is starting to show signs of frustration with not being able to speak clearly. She no longer wants to use sign to communicate. She wants to speak English like the rest of us. She tries to form the words and gets frustrated when everything comes out “Baa”. She can say many words, but she seems to be losing her momentum with learning any new words. She just recently started to enjoy singing. We put a kids CD on in the van and the next thing you know she is singing in her car seat.Hannah is getting so mature. Her friends are starting to become so important to her. She is such a wonderful big sister. She is kind and generous and loves her to a fault. She smothers her sister with hugs and kisses until she can not stand it anymore. I look at them and feels a sense of hope and joy. They will always have each other….life is good!

Gotta keep looking on the bright side.

Swimming is better with a sister.

Award winning smile!

I finally got a bow in her hair!

Having fun running through Sponge Bob.

Elainea has been taking cheesy grin lessons from her big sister.

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

Henry David Thoreau

Life never ceases to amaze us. It was such a wonderful Mother's Day this weekend. We have two beautiful daughters and our family feels complete. There is so much going on, but together we can do anything. The girls are so happy with each other and they love to play with each other. I look at them together and I think "this is perfection". We are amazed at the gifts we have received and we feel so blessed. Little Elainea has just fit into our family and we can not imagine life without her. She is getting very attached to her Dad. We went looking for used cars this last weekend and Joe went for a test drive and I stayed back with the girls. Elainea cried when her Dad left. I just held her close and told her she was a good girl.We are selling the truck to help out with the immediate need for funds to fix the stucco on our home. We found out that the builders insurance company does not cover his workmanship. This is very disappointing and our prospects of getting money from him are not promising. We have discussed other options than stripping the entire house and reinstalling the stucco. We will have to see how they pan out.We have learned exactly what a small world we live in. We went to look at a minivan last night and the sellers recognized us but could not figure out where he knew us from. Come to find out he recognized us from the Cummings blog. The Cumming's were one of the wonderful families we met in China. Apparently they are very good friends with them. What a cooincidene! We are going to purchase the van next month after we sell the truck.Elainea got her root canal and cap on her tooth. Her smile looks awesome. The dentist still thinks that she will lose the tooth before her permanent tooth comes in, but the proceedure will probably extend the life of the tooth for several years. She is progressing nicely with the potty training. I am really not pursuing it as hard as I should, but it will happen in its own time.We look forward to spending a fun summer together. Here are some great photos of the girls.