“An invisible red thread connects those who

are destined to meet, regardless of time,

place, or circumstance. The thread may

stretch or tangle, but will never break.”

An ancient Chinese belief


Our family made the decision to adopt in June 2009. We pursued a special needs adoption, and we were blessed with a referral of the most beautiful girl on May 21, 2010. We originally started this website to fundraise for our adoption expenses by selling tutus and hair bows. Our fundraising efforts coupled with a grant from Lifesong for Orphans were a tremendous financial blessing. We traveled to China in late October 2010 to meet our daughter. Now, Emma Grace is home... forever.




Friday, April 8, 2011

Too busy!

Life is a little busy around here so I have decided to only update ONE blog... our family blog. I am not taking this one down, because it has documented her adoption story, but to see updates and pictures of EG with her family, you can visit us here: www.4mygreatkids.blogspot.com

No more posts on this blog (for awhile at least!)


Saturday, February 26, 2011

Emma Grace Update

We have been busy! I have been wanting to do a post for awhile, but the days keep slipping away from me. Emma Grace is doing great. She had her 18 month well checkup the other day (she was 19 months old, but that's the way we roll around here- about a month late on everything...) She weighed in at 18 lbs 10 ozs and was 29.25 inches. So, she has gained 1.5 pounds and grew 1/2 inch. I guess I will take it! They tested her for TB (we forgot to do that when we got home) and thankfully, it was negative. She eats like a little piggy and will pretty much eat anything she can chew up and put in her mouth. We were relieved to find a sippy cup she can actually use, so no more cleft palate bottles that we have to squeeze. For those cl/cp parents reading this- the soft nipple NUBY works great for Emma. She actually bites it to open up the spout and get the milk out. Unfortunately, she can't suck because of the huge gap in her mouth, so this is the only cup that works for her. She continues to have OT and PT once a week. She is getting stronger with her hands but is easily frustrated with fine motor skill activities. She gives her OT an ATTITUDE every week. It is really quite ridiculous the way she acts. She is better with the PT because I think walking is something that she is starting to feel more comfortable with. She will take up to 10 steps, but prefers to walk on her knees. She is starting to "start/stop" with her walking and also turning while she walks, so she has come a long way in the last 4 months. She can say mama, dog-dog, uh-oh, no (she only says this to her OT!) and "moe" for more, and she uses the sign with this. When we ask her where Timmy is, she will look all over the room and point him out immediately. She LOVES to be sung to and her favorite is the itsy bitsy spider and the wheels on the bus. She will do all the hand motions for both of them. She loves to climb into our lap and she starts dancing with her arms- that is her sign to tell us she wants to hear a song :) Enjoy the pictures!
Walking in her new big girl shoes
It looks like she is giving me attitude, but she was doing the motions to "wash the spider out" while I was singing :)

more pictures!


She has been practicing with the spoon and is doing well
Having a little too much fun with her beef stew
Emma with her "little" brother
3 of the 4- the 4th one was pouting

First haircut


Emma Grace had her first haircut a few weeks ago. She is anti-bow and will yank it out as soon as it goes in. Her bangs were so long and always in her face. Since the bow couldn't stay in long enough to keep the bangs out of her eyes, we had to chop away! I evened out the back (the sides were longer than the middle because she was bald there when we got her) and trimmed the front. It was a little shorter than I wanted to go, but she looked adorable.... and very Chinese :)

Little Valentines

Here is Emma Grace and her 3 brothers. We were very thankful to have her home for this "love" holiday!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

18 month pictures



My sweet baby girl... there are no words to say how much we love her! Home for over 3 months!!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

A few more pics...

I love this picture because 1)you can tell how naughty Timmy is and 2) look at Emma... staring at Timmy. She watches him and then a few days later she is doing the same 'ole thing! Monkey see, monkey do is lived out everyday in my house!
Emma is turning into quite the climber. She was very proud of herself for getting on top of these boxes!
Emma with her crew