The Red Couch Revisited

It's been nearly a year since Gracee came into our lives and we came into her life. If you've been following Gracee's Big Adventure for the past year, you may recall that six families from Children's Hope International traveled to Hefei, Anhui to meet our new daughters. What a glorious year it has been. Mom and I have realized how much we forgot about being the parents of a toddler but we have been pleasantly surprised that most of what we knew before has come back to us. This past weekend all six families met in St. Louis (where two families reside) for an annual reunion. It was a very special time as we all were able to see how all the 'China sisters' have changed and to hear about some of the wonderful things that happened during the intervening months. In our final days last August in Guangzhou, China (where the American consultate is located), our group took the traditional China adoption photo on the red couch in the White Swan hotel there. To mark this memorable occasion again, the girls gathered again--on a red couch in the home of one St. Louis family who adopted from Anhui with us--for a photograph. this will give you the opportunity to see for yourself how these special little girls have changed. By the way, they are in the same order on the couch. (Gracee is on the far right.) While the girls weren't all that cooperative in their original sitting in China, they are far wiser and much more independent now. Those that weren't scrambling off the couch were crying. It took some ice cream (push-ups) to keep them in place for a few minutes. (That is what you see them all focusing on.)

Photo taken in St. Louis on July 8, 2006:

Photo taken in Guangzhou, China in August 2005: