Home Sweet Home! What we found out in China!

Leaving the White Swan!

New faces at our kitchen counter!!

Look at Emma's smile- that is a for real smile!! She loves to dress up and loves that doll she found in our house! They both love the dress up shoes!!

Everyones happy we are home!!

It feels so good to be home! Thank You Jesus!! I am so grateful that our travels were uneventful. It was exhausting but we made it!! The girls were giddy to be home! They both ran and hugged their Ge ge- Johnny!! We were surprised they were so affectionate to him. He was genuinely excited to meet them and show them their new home. After about 4 hours- he was getting tired of all the activity- that is understandable. We are going to move a few things around so that the older kids can have the basement and the younger kids can have all of their toys upstairs. Everybody need s little space to retreat too!! My shower and the computer are my two spots!

The girls are loving our toys- nothing new just stuff from Sarah and Anna, but to them it's all new! I like seeing it get used and so much joy coming from their playing!! Emma and Ellie are really into dress up!! They can't get enough of it- it is so cute. We have seen some wonderful natural smiles from Emma- which is good!! The dear girl had no idea how to deliberately smile - like for a pic! She needs more mirror time!!

Sorry to leave you hanging but I have had to think about this for awhile because I don't know what it means, or what to think.

When we were in China we found out that our girls have another sister. It is so wonderful to know that... I mean - I have often wondered about Sarah and Anna- do they have birth siblings in China or are they adopted somewhere. We love them so much we would want to give their siblings a home too if it could work out!

In this case we have heard that the little sister still lives with the parents. That's good... the children should live with their birth parents, if they can. Isn't that what we all want? I mean of course it is, but it does bring about confusing feelings and then twists the whole adoption thought process. I had to think this through a bit because my first thought was maybe we could adopt her, too! HOLD IT, she is where she should be- with her birth family. What am I thinking? She is not an orphan, she has a home. She is right where she is supposed to be.

Then I started thinking- oh my- of course most of our children have siblings- we just don't know who they are? That thought drives me crazy- it's a puzzle that can never be solved.

What are your thoughts?

(I'll add a few pics when I find my camera!)