September (and before)

Once again I find myself with some things to catch up on. Here are some short snipets of some of the things we've missed on the blog updates over the past couple of months. Remember that you can click on the photos to view them larger.

Hope has a special friend named Lucy who joined her family recently from Columbia. She is such a beautiful little girl...and seemingly always happy. We were finally able to get the girls together in August (18th). Get a glimpse of these brown-eyed beauties...
The Girls!



A couple family shots


Mommies too! Hope is signing DADDY in this shot because we were telling her to look at "Daddy" so we could get everyone pointed in the same direction.

Hope got to meet more of her cousins at the end of August (19th). Scott, Brenda, Kerstin, Austin, & Logan were in town for a quick visit. Here are the young ones at the end of a night of HARD playing. Hope would be the one with the slightly mussed up hair in the middle. Do ya' think she played hard? :) We don't see family enough! Thank you guys for stopping to see us. Hey Austin...I don't think Ella has been the same since you left. :)

Eric and Mandy are married! WELCOME to the family Mandy! We had so much fun celebrating with you. Hope is a dancer to her very core. What a fun day. The weather was gorgeous! The ceremony was beautiful! Mandy was glowing, and I've never seen Eric so happy. Congratulations to you. We love you very much! (Sidenote...to any family reading this, I could use some help with photos. We didn't get nearly enough that day. Does anyone have the cousin photo with Eric and Mandy in it? Apparently it didn't make it on our camera. How about some of Hope dancing??? Help?)


The sisters and their husbands ~

Hatcher cousins ~

Hope with Uncle Mark & Aunt Andria ~

Favorite Shot ~

Now for Hope's 15 mo. appointment update. Hope saw her Dr. on the 20th of Sept. She had 3 vaccinations, 2 in her left leg and 1 in her right. What a little trooper she was. For us, holding her still for 3 shots was nothing compared to the 5 hour blood draw appointment we had when we were first home.Officially, Hope has gained 2 lbs. and has grown almost 2 inches in the 3 months we've been home. I'm so thankful that she's helathy. On American growth charts, Hope is now in the 50th % for height and the 10th % for weight.

(Another update on her growth...as of last Thursday, Sept. 27th, Hope has 12 TEETH!)

Last weekend (on the 23rd) we were honored by the Heutmaker family with a "welcome home" shower. Hope has been home for almost 4 months. It is remarkable to think about how she's grown. We feel so blessed by this little girl and during the party it brought such joy to hear her laughing with her cousins and playing with her family. I am in awe of her every day. Not a moment passes that I am not In awe of her resiliance, in awe of her smile, in awe of her inquisitiveness, in awe of her brilliance, and in awe of how just when I feel my heart couldn't be more full, I take another look in her direction and feel a new surge of absolute love for my little daugher. Thank you so much to everyone who came to the shower last weekend and shared the day with us. And, thank you Lisa, Tami, and Jennifer for hosting such a special afternoon in Hope's honor. Here are my favorite photos from the afternoon.


I'd like to close this post with a couple more photos. Hope has been able to get together with her travelmate Olivia (who also shares her birthday!) a couple of times. They are so cute together! Hope even recognizes Olivia when she sees her photo. Sweet. Anyway, here they are the last time we were together...



Random hat photo - Uncle Brian & Aunt Tami were over one afternoon and Hope had all her hats out. We thought we'd have a little fun. I think we all thought this was way more funny than Hope did.

Well, you're a step closer to being updated on our lives. Watch soon for some geocaching photos and an update about our weekend in Arena. Sorry I can't keep going tonight. I'm off to bed. That 4:30 alarm seems to come so quickly!