A couple months before we received the photos, I left an anonymous comment on a blog of someone who was in China getting their daughter from the same orphanage that Eliza was from. Through the URL attached to that comment I was contacted by a gal in Florida, Hillary, who told me they also were adopting a little girl from Eliza’s orphanage as well!! Gotta love technology sometimes!!

We chatted back and forth through e-mail, and shared photos of our little girls.

In March we sent Eliza a birthday party, and in return were expecting photos and a short video of Eliza. When Blake and I opened our e-mail early on the morning of Eliza’s birthday and saw that the photos and video were already there, we were thrilled!! It wasn’t but a minute after we started looking at the photos that we realized that Hillary’s daughter was at Eliza’s birthday party!! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES???

The best part of those photos and video that day were sharing them with Hillary and her husband Caleb. Photos and video of THEIR daughter, that were TOTALLY a surprise to them that day!! It was awesome. You can read her story of that day here.

In April Hillary and her family headed to China to bring their precious daughter home. While they were there, they asked their guide if they could see Eliza for us. YES, THEY DID. Their guide knew Eliza’s foster parents! WOW. So in one day they visited the orphanage, and visited their daughter’s foster parents – which is where Eliza’s foster Mom brought her to meet them. Be still my heart!! Eliza was prayed over (silently, of course) and photos and video were taken of her and then sent to us that same day. Such a gift for us as we waited to travel to China! Still such a gift to have those photos and video of Eliza with her foster Mom.

Hillary contacted me again last week to tell me she was traveling to Kenosha to stay for the weekend this weekend. That was TOO close – we had to meet!! So Addie Mae, Eliza, Lane and I drove to Johnson Creek (about three hours away) to meet Hillary and her new daughter!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Getting a photo of the girls both looking the right direction was pretty impossible!

Isn’t Reese just precious? She will be two years old in October.

Eliza was very taken by the video Hillary had from her orphanage of some children doing a dance routine together!

Before long, it was time to say goodbye.

The connections you make through adoption are like no other. There is such an immediate bond. With both of our adoptions, not only have we gained a son and a daughter, but some of the dearest friends we will ever have.

What a blessed day we had! Thank you Hillary and Reese for making the trip too! We miss you both already!!

The decorations were darling!

We played some games and then enjoyed special music and a devotional from a dear family we love!

We were so blessed with thoughtful and useful gifts!

There was yummy food too! Eliza loved the grapes! Her Mama ate the rest! Eliza did AMAZING (have you heard that she is AMAZING?)…..although we were wondering how things would go as she was so unhappy in her car seat on the way to church. On the way home this little pip squeak was a HOOT. Had us rolling with laughter! She is our night owl for sure.

As I came into the kitchen this morning and saw the heaping pile of gifts on the table, I was so overwhelmed! Thank you gals SO much for the beautiful shower, all the gifts, and most of all the prayer support you have blessed our family with!! We love you!!!

Blake and my day starts very early. Soon the three big kiddos are up for their day. The little boys sleep till they wake on their own (usually 7 a.m.). Grant heads outside for farm chores at 6:30 a.m. after his Bible time. We have breakfast at 7 a.m., do our inside chores, and then it is time to hit the books for the morning!

Eliza is a GREAT sleeper. I thank the Lord for this every single day. She sleeps from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. when I wake her for the day. She also takes a two to three hour nap. Our night time routine is going better! She still cries at bedtime, but it is not that fear filled, ear damaging scream anymore. It is more like the cry of every two year old who does not want all the action of the day to end to go to bed. Praising the Lord for all the progress being made!

Eliza is always SOUND asleep when I wake her in the morning!

Don’t you think this look says “Seriously, Mama! What are you doing waking me up?!”

Don’t judge! Within seconds she is bouncing around in her crib, singing her little songs, while I gather her clothes and straighten her room!

I feed Eliza breakfast while the others are working on school, or at least supposed to be working on school. This little Chinese wonder usually draws a crowd!!

After breakfast it is time to play! Have a mentioned we have a little climber? Yep. She can scale something in 2.1 seconds. But it is fun to play with Lane through the windows from the sun room to the living room!

I always have Eliza do some sensory work at the table too. Transitioning her often from thing to thing is our key to success!

While we are doing all this, Kayla is usually a blur running by! She blesses us SO much! Somehow in all she does each day, she still found time to tromp through the woods on our land to pick these-

And then made it into this- (We love you, KK!)

After school and lunch we are still taking care of things like this-

We have found our “canning groove” and are getting faster every time!

We had lots (and I mean LOTS) of rain over the weekend, but all that rain turned into temperatures like these-

Just too gorgeous! So we spend a lot of time outside! My amazing hubby found time over the weekend to trim our big ole pine tree in front of the house, and now we have the amazing view out the kitchen window back!! I love being able to see our cows while I work!!

During all that rain, some boys got out the window markers and now all of our windows look like this-

It has looked like a used car lot on the farm for awhile now, as we have sparrows who have taken over our garage and leave quite the mess on our vehicles!

We were all back together at church this week, for the first time since before leaving for China! So thankful for that! Eliza did amazing! I have been training her during our Bible time here at home. Making her sit on my lap, teaching her to be quiet, and using all the words to train her that I then used during church service. So worth the effort! She sat quietly and nicely for church service! Besides waving and smiling to others who had their eyes on her that is…..and I think she even told one sweet friend who was looking our way “shhhh!” with her finger over her lips! (sorry, Michelle!)

We just enjoyed baked yams for lunch, and now it is time to run Grant to the neighbor he is helping out for a few weeks, and then start chopping some more salsa before we run to town for our chiropractor appointments!

All in a day!!

This morning I sought out complete quiet (to pray fervently for a friend) by heading outside, and the Lord blessed me with this beautiful sunrise.

Couldn’t have had a better start to this amazing day.