It's Gotcha Day..........

Rachel was finally in my arms Four years ago today. Today is called Gotcha Day and i wanted to do something fun with Rachel, so I called my friend Rachel and we went to the aquarium in Seattle with her 5 kids. We all had so much fun and after we had dim sum for lunch. We feel so blessed to have such a sweet angel.

Gotcha Day party 2009

Gotcha Day travel group party

We had a great Gotcha Day party today with our Travel group. The girls all played so well together they had so much fun and so did the parents. Our Travel group friends are just amazing, I love spented time with them. I can't beleive 4 years ago we were all in China together and getting our sweet daughters.

Gotcha Day will be here in a few days, i am excited....

I am getting excited because Gotcha Day is going to be here in a few days and we are going to get together with our travel group for a reunion. Have I mentioned that I love our travel group, they have become like family. All the girls get on so well and so do all the parents. We are have a party with yummy home made Chinese food and a Gotcha Day cake, I just can't believe it has been four years. this is what Mark wrote on the day we got her. Rachel is with us: We met in the lobby with 7 other families Thursday afternoon to board a bus that would take us to the civil affairs office. We all were in different states of excitement and curiosity. Would we recognize our girls? Had their hair grown much since their pictures were taken? Would they cry? Will they want a bottle? The anxiety came to a climax as we arrived at the civil affairs building where we got off the bus and took the elevator to the 5th floor and were led to a room with couches. Within minutes of arrival our guide called out the first names (Steve & Alicia), who were presented with their daughter Catherine. After a few more names were called, we recognized it was our turn. Our names had been called and in comes a beautiful little girl - It's Rachel. She was handed to Dawn who immediately hugged and comforted her. I have to admit the next few minutes were a blur as 7 families were each experiencing their own very personal moments where dreams, hopes, and prayers were answered in a matter of 5 - 10 minutes I think. Cameras flashed and video cameras rolled as we each tried to capture this moment which is truly beyond words. Many of the babies started crying at one point including Rachel for all of about 30 seconds. Dawn quickly comforted her and grabbed a ring of plastic keys for her to play with. These were an instant hit and she hasn't cried since. I've got so much more to tell, but I will leave it to pictures to wrap up this post. I'll take lots of pictures here are some pictures of one of the most amazing days of my life.

Happy Mother's Day Mum

It's Mother's Day in England today, so I wanted to wish my Mum a Happy Mother's Day. We Love you!!! Hope you had a great day.

Sad and happy emotions

Today was a mixed of sad and happy emotions, we just got back from our dear family friends funeral. Rod has been like a Father to me for many many years, so saying good bye was hard. It's also very hard to see your close friends sad. I met up with some great friends from 27 years ago.... wow where did all those years go.

Tribute to a Man I looked up too as my Father, I will miss you Rod..

Last night my best friends Dad Sadly passed away. I will miss him so much. He always treated me with love and kindness. What can I say about Rod... He was always there when I needed a Father. He gave me away on my wedding day, we had our wedding at his house. He loved Rachel, she called him Grandpa Rod. I took this picture of him and Rachel a few weeks ago. I love you Rod and will miss you so much, for always loving me and for making me feel like your daughter.

I hear Spring is just around the corner......

Who is shaking the snow globe?

We are having ANOTHER snow storm, wow it's coming down really hard. checkout Sophies legs, I had to make her come back in, she loves playing in the snow.

The Love of a child........

So I have decided I haven't been writing enough of my feeling down in my blog, I know I am not the best of writes but I am going to try and write more anyway. so bear with me as I write something very personal. Yesterday we got snowed in and I couldn't go to church which made me quite upset, I really miss not being there. The day turned out to be a fun family day just staying home and playing outside and watching Rachel's adoption movie. If you know me at all you would know this made me very emotional and Very grateful for what I have in my life. Yesterday was Daylight saving and I knew it would be hard for Rachel to go to bed on time, but I decided to put her in bed at the same time as normal anyway 8:00pm, Well after Rachel calling me into her bedroom 5 or more times I decided to just stay in there for awhile. She looking so sad and said in her sweet voice "Mama I am scared and I can't sleep". Well this tugged on my heart strings so I laid down with her and song primary songs to her for about 20 mins and then song one of our favorite song from the sound of music, these are a few of my favorite things. After the songs she said again in her soft sweet voice" but mama I still don't feel better" so I asked her what she wants and she said" I just want you Mama" Well again if you know me that is music to my ears that my child needs me. So as we lay next to each other in her small little bed I as told her" You know, if I am scared I always say a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help me" and I asked her if she would like us to say a prayer together and she said yes. Well after the prayer I felt her body relax and within 2 mins she was sound asleep. I was so grateful I was patient with her, because we had a very special time together and I will hold these special memories for ever in my heart.

Clocks go forward, Snow comes back

Ok,so I wasn't very happy when i could get to church today because of the snow. but we made the best of it and we went outside and played for awhile. Rachel and the dogs had great fun. Rachel had a snow ball fight with Daddy

Rachel playing outside today

It turned out to be a nice day today so Rachel wanted to play outside, it was almost getting dark before she came in the house. She asked me to take some pictures of her with her bunny.