So Far to Find You: One Year Later...

What a difference a year makes...

Our first family photo with three, April 9, 2012

Celebrating Gotcha Day, April 9, 2013

Wow! This past year has been an amazing journey. We are so thankful for our daughter, Lydia. She has brought so much joy to our life. I look back at our pictures from our first days in China and I can hardly believe that this scared, timid little baby is our confident, friendly little girl. She has grown so much and learned an amazing amount in this past year. I am so glad that the Lord brought Lydia into our lives.

We had a wonderful day celebrating our family. We started off with a lunch at McDonald's. I told Lydia while we were there that her first meal at McDonald's was ketchup. Now she barely touches the stuff. She loves McNuggets, fries and especially chocolate milk. : ) It was a fun lunch with Mama, Baba and Lydia's special friend, Miss Patti. (It is because of Patti's prayers and faithfulness to God in their own adoptions that we saw God leading us to adopt Lydia.)
Lydia really wanted to go to the zoo today, but it was pouring down rain and cold, so after some convincing, we got her to agree to go to the children's museum instead. We went downtown to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum and she had a blast. We closed the place down! She would have stayed a lot longer if she could.

We then went to "Bear Noodles" AKA Panda Express for some rice and noodles. Lydia loves that restaurant and can spot one whenever we drive by. She thinks it's so fun that there are pandas on the cups and decorations. She even got a stuffed panda while we were there.
On the way home, we stopped at some friends so Lydia could play for "5 minutes" which really turned into more like an hour. She had tons of fun with her China girl friends. : )
When we were in China we got Lydia a knitted Chinese doll with a silk outfit. We gave that to her when we got home. I think she likes it. She asked if she could sleep with it and she's snuggled up with her now. I also made her a Shutterfly book with pictures from the past year. She looked through it and asked us about all the pictures. She loves to look at pictures on the computer, so I'm sure that her book with get a lot of use. I saved the book online just in case we need to get another copy someday!

As we put her to bed tonight, I just wanted to snuggle her and kiss her. I am so amazed at God's faithfulness. He provided for us throughout the adoption process, brought us to her in China and helped us to bond, and has given us the strength and wisdom that we need to be the best parents we can be. I am so thankful for all that He has done throughout this past year...To God be the glory, great things He has done!!!!

Here are some pictures...just for fun. : )