And the good mail giveaway winner is....

Marisa B!

Congratulations Marisa! I'll be mailing you some good mail soon. I hope you too can continue the good mail and bless someone else. Check out Marisa and her family at http://brinksadventures.blogspot.com/

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Health update

Today Megan had her echocardiogram at DeVos Children's Hospital. She was a trooper! Our pediatric heart doctor recommended that she have a sedated echo due to the fact that she had such a hard time in his office with the ekg. She definately has some anxiety when it comes to doctors and procedures. But, she did well. Once the IV was in and she was able to sit with me and watch Dora, she was good.


The results of the test show that she has some medical "anomolies" meaning basically God created her super unique but none of them are associated with any medical issues or will require any special care in anyway. The heart looked great and the repair that was done in China was done well. Doctor said she has no restrictions and nothing needed. He wants to see her a few times during childhood just for follow-up. That's it! AWESOME - PRAISE GOD!


She also had an ultra sound of her kidneys done today so we'll get those results from our pediatrician. And, then we will see a geneticist too just to find out if there are any related syndromes which link all her little medical unquienesses together.

We are so happy that God has touched our little girl and she has received a great report!

Butterfly Kisses

Natalee had her dance recital this weekend. It was beautiful! I'm so very happy with our dance studio, she has really excelled this year. Her dance was to the song "Butterfly Kisses" and was very nicely cheorographed by her teacher. I wasn't able to get video of the dance on my camera but here are a few photos. Great job Natalee!

Good Mail Giveaway!

Today I received some good mail! My bloggy friend Sarah (http://www.davidandsarahb.blogspot.com/ had a "good mail giveaway" on her blog and I won! So...I too am going to carry on this fun tradition of blessing someone with good mail. All you have to do is leave a comment for me. I'll randomly draw a name from those who've commented that they'd like to receive good mail. Leave your comment by 10 am Saturday, May 23 and then I'll announce the winner. Hopefully the winner will continue the fun and send out more good mail.

Mom's 2 blessings

Natalee was in the Tulip Time kid's parade again this year and Megan dressed in her dutch costume to watch her big sister. I think for Megan's first parade she enjoyed the bands the best. Trying to get a good photo of the girls with the beautiful tulips wasn't so easy - as soon as I put the camera away Megan was all smiles. She loves to take the photos and play with my camera but I guess doesn't so much enjoy being the focus of the photo.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my Mom and Mother-in-law!! You are both such an encouragement and support to me. Thank you for showing me Christ and His love through you. Blessings to you both.

Show Hope volunteering & United Tour concert

Last night we were blessed to be a part of the Show Hope volunteers at the United Tour with Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W Smith. It was an amazing night....we have been so blessed by the ministries of these two men, especially SCC & Show Hope. We were able to see 122 people begin a sponsorship to help orphans find their forever families - what a true blessing! Brian & Sarah joined us in volunteering, it was fun minister for Show Hope with them. We had the best Show Hope staff - Nick - he rocks! Thanks for all you do Nick!

The Thompson family with Steven Curtis Chapman. His concerts are always full of great worship times and he shares so honestly and deeply from his heart. We always leave having been drawn closer to the Lord and filled with more love and compassion for doing kingdom work. It was a privilege to meet SCC and just thank him for being transparent and real, for his work with orphans and for his encouraging ministries.

We also got to meet Geoff Moore again. We had seen him this past summer at Worship on the Waterfront in Grand Haven and at that time he prayed for our adoption that we were still awaiting news on. He is an amazing man of God, very humble and real. So...it was neat to re-introduce ourselves and he remembered us. Being a part of the kingdom of God and fellowshipping with brothers and sisters in Christ is so much fun....can't wait 'till we get to "Big House" forever with our Lord.

Natalee & Megan had so much fun being together and passing out information about Show Hope. The girls were amazing as it was well after 11pm when we left the concert.

The next few photos are just some cute ones of Megan over the last few days. She continues to amaze us daily as she is adjusting and adding to her English vocab. Last night as it was 11:40 pm and we had the girls in their pj's ready for bed...we're all exhausted and our feet tired...but Megan puts her hands together and says in her sweetest broken English..."daddy, we pray". Of course, still learning how to understand her, we said "pink" as she was in the process of buttoning her pjs..."no", ok, what is she trying to say..."oh PRAY", of course. WOW - home only 3 weeks, just beginning to learn about the love of her heavenly Father, but she wanted to gather and say our prayers before she went to sleep. We have been so blessed!

The girls were having a tea party with their Chinese tea set. Then, because tea wasn't just what they wanted it turned into a "bing chi ling" party (ice cream). :)

Enjoying being together

Although we've been home now for about 12 days....we're just beginning to get back into the "swing of things". When we returned home, Kyle had caught whatever it was that Nat had in China - high fever, aches & also a bad congested cough. He was actually getting sick when we left and throughout the travel day. Megan was also getting sick just as we were leaving China and now she too was sick. We ended up taking Megan to see the Dr. on that first Saturday home and were relieved to learn that everyone had the good ole' INFLUENZA. I was concerned we had brought some unusual Chinese virus home or something but it was just Flu type A. Whew! So, plenty of fluids & rest for everyone. Thankfully, I did not get sick.

We had a wonderful group of church friends bring us dinner for several days and Kyle's mom came to help us get through the weekend. Thank you to all who helped us and fed us - we appreciate each one of you!!

Fortunately Nat had Spring Break right after we returned home so we had another full week to spend together before heading back to regular activities. Kyle went into the office for a few hours each day towards the end of the week but still wasn't feeling 100%. The girls were feeling better at the end of the week and we were able to enjoyour favorite Chinese restaurant, play outside (even though it's still cold) and do some errands. Here are some photos from our week.
Tulips from Kyle in celebration of our 16th wedding anniversary! He also surprised me with a beautiful necklace he bought in China. I am very blessed to have a husband who loves God and desires to serve Him, loves his family and is committed to our marriage & me. Thank you Heavenly Father for our 16 years together!

Megan could not wait to get outside and blow bubbles! Even though the sun has been out, it has been quite cold and windy. The kids had a great time playing outside!

She wakes up in the morning and says "good morning swingset" in the most adorable fashion! She is learning so much everyday adding lots of words to her vocabulary. Thank you to JieJie (big sister) who taught her some very "important" words - "ooh la la" and "no way". She loves to use them often. :)

Sorry these photos are small - I hit the wrong button. ooops.

Coloring Easter eggs - Megan loves to eat scrambled eggs and she had a hard time understanding that I wasn't going to cook them for her to eat. Eventually she got into it and had fun decorating her eggs.

The girls made door hangers for their door too. They really are getting along quite well. There is of course the occassional spat but I secretly like them (it reminds me that I have TWO blessings now) ;)

Megan has definately started to show her full personality more and more each day. She is quite the entertainer and loves to get a laugh or smile. What joy she brings to our home and our lives!

Daddy and his girls! He couldn't be happier!

Easter morning...While we were in China one of the ways we would try to calm and soothe Megan during her grieving or difficult times was to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World" along with a special personal song we made up for her. I would sing it to her at night while rocking her and anytime she was distressed. Well...she's a quick learner because when we were in Guangzhou one night at bedtime she just started singing these songs. We were so surprised she had picked them up so quickly. It so sweet to hear her sing these words....we pray that she will come to know the full meaning of these songs and that she will personally accept Christ into her life. It's such a blessing to introduce her to the love of her Heavenly Father!

Having fun dressing up while JieJie is at school.

JieJie is home and together they play well and are silly. I love the laughter & giggles!