Happy Birthday Drew! Gracee is pleased to be in a big family--more birthdays mean lots of cake and ice cream throughout the year. 

Who wants to snuggle?

Stars, the cat, may have been in Daddy's chair first, but that gives Gracee all the more reason to lie down on her. While Stars (and her cat sister, Stripes) wiggle out of the pin as quick as they can--neither of them have reacted in anger. Good kitties! 

A REAL Chatty Cathy!

You'll never guess what Santa's little elves boxed up for us. Well, not really. She's such a little trickster! (Finding your 'forever family' is not that easy!) 

A Christmas blessing...

The celebration of Chrismas Day was even more special in 2005 as Gracee was introduced to the joy and wonder of the day in her home. While she didn't understand the life-changing spiritual meaning of the day, she discovered it was a fun day nonetheless.

Thoughout the holiday season, she didn't even touch the Christmas tree and started to unwrap only one present (it wasn't her's) before the big day. She seemed more surprised yesterday morning when she awoke to find that her crazy family had dragged the tree--that was in the family room--back outside where she knew it belonged.


Her big gift from Santa was her very own car! A friend of her's has a bigger model and she enjoyed it every time we visited their house. Now Gracee has her own set of wheels! Between the box her car came in and the car itself, she was a very happy girl. It didn't take long for her to catch on the unwrapping and was at the ready to help her brothers and sisters. Gracee seems to be changing by the day. Growing taller (more things are in her reach). Her vocabulary expanding (although it still takes decipering). Her personality growing richer (she can be a very demonstrative little girl). She is such a very special little girl and we are the better for her being a part of the family.

We recall waiting with anticipation last Christmas (2004) as our paperwork had been logged in by the Chinese government just over a month earlier. We knew we had several more months to ponder how our lives would change. But we never could have imagined how much it would change. It is a challenge at times having a toddler in the house again, but it is a challenge that we are glad to bear.

Everyone in the family has taken on part of the responsibility of having a little one in the house. Now we can't imagine it being any other way. We are so grateful to those who supported us in so many ways in Gracee's Big Adventure. We are anxious to see how God will bless in the New Year as Gracee looks toward her second birthday, Drew looks forward to graduation from college, Samuel works toward his high school graduation, and Anna and Niles move into high school. Wow! We're hanging on tight for the ride ahead!

Decorating Christmas cookies, Gracee seems to have more icing on her face than on her cookies. 

Gracee tries her hand at culinary design. Joining two other families in our old neighborhood at an annual tradition of decorating cookies, Gracee didn't come home with any of her cookies--she at them! Happy Birthday Jesus!