Sharing Our Blessings: February 2011

When we as a family made the decision to adopt back in the fall of 2009, we then began to pray about where to adopt from. We filled a questionnaire from Loving Shepherd ministries as a first step. http://loving-shepherd.org/

They sent us back a summary of each country that we would be eligible to adopt from. It was a HUGE help to us. Laura and Ron had just brought Bella, our niece home from China in September of 2009. We prayed that whole fall, looked through the options and on Thanksgiving Day, we got our answer.

We were at Laura and Ron's house for Thanksgiving dinner and another family with two little girls who had been adopted from China were also there. John's Mom put Bella on a chair with the two little girls and as she took the picture, I knew. I knew it would be so amazing for Bella and her cousin to have a similar history and the same birth country.

Bella came home in September of 2009. I remember when I first met her, she touched my face and I was smitten. She has been such a fun little addition to the family ever since. Bella has also made it seem less scary to go back to the "baby stage". I have not carried a diaper bag in at least five years. I did get a cool one this time around though! As a side note, I will mention that baby equipment has come a long way in the last seven years.

We recently had the joy of watching Bella for nine days while rest of her family went on a mission's trip. We spoiled her rotten and God gave us a test run on what it was like to have a little one in the house again. It was such a blessing for our kids as well. They shared, helped, sacrificed, played and caught a glimpse of what's ahead.

These are some fun pictures we took of Bella for Laura and Ron to see what she was doing while they were away. They always call me the "Candy Aunt", so I thought we would make sure they knew Bella was at "Candy Camp"!