Here are a few highlights from 2008...
*Brea started preschool, Baker started 4th grade and Brooke started middle school
*Brea started taking tap and ballet lessons...she has come a long way from that tiny baby girl that couldn't even walk on her second birthday.
*Brooke played fast pitch softball for the first time
*Baker played coach pitch baseball for the first time
*Make A Wish granted Baker a wish and we set sail to Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, Labadee and Cozumel. Many wonderful memories were made!
*Mary and Baker appeared on the Make A Wish telethon to help raise money so other children with life threatening illnesses could be granted a wish. $5,000 was raised in the first 30 minutes! Baker returned to school the following Monday as a celebrity...he got a real kick out of that!
*Our family appeared in newspapers nationwide in hopes of bringing attention to the need for greater life time maximums of health insurance policies.
*We learned that Danny's company would be raising their lifetime maximum for ALL employees and their families to two million dollars!
*The Lord led our hearts to our beautiful daughter Bailey Faith who is waiting for us in Nanchang, China.
*Brea had two heart biopsies. The one if February showed slight rejection and the one in November showed NO rejection!
*We finally found a church home that we love and we are working to start an adoption ministry there in hopes of bringing awareness to the need for adoptive families for children world wide. Long term we hope to host informational seminars at our church, offer support groups for families who are in the process of adopting and for those who have already adopted and raise funds and give grants to families who have a heart for the homeless yet lack the funding to make their adoption dreams a reality.
*Our family grew by two crabs...yep, you read that right! Aunt Tammy and Uncle Tim brought the kids back two hermit crabs from the Outer Banks. They named them Popeye and Olive Oil.
*Baker participated in his first (and last) dance recital with an all male hip hop team.
*Brea learned to ride a tricycle!
*Brea was also granted a wish from Make A Wish and she met ALL of her favorite princess at Disney in October. I have yet to add the photos to the website but I made a New Years resolution to try to keep up with photos and important dates a little better this year.
I could go on and on but I'll simply sum things up by saying that God truly blessed us in 2008 with good health, lots of love and laughter and many opportunities to just be a family and enjoy each other.
As for 2009...well, it looks like it will be a busy year. Baker is currently playing basketball and will start baseball as soon as basketball ends. The girls are dancing and Brooke is attending confirmation classes. My job title hasn't change...family taxi driver! We have gathered the mountain of paperwork that China requires and are now waiting on immigration approval for our dossier to go to China. We'll then wait on China to look through everything and issue our LOA and TA. We hope to have Bailey home in time for a dip in the pool but we know that it will happen in God's timing, not ours. Yes, it looks like we will be busy, busy, busy but it is a good busy! Please keep our family in your prayers for good health, patience as we wait for our new arrival and safey as we travel to bring her home. May God bless each and every one of you in the new year.
Future updates will be added to the 2009 folder!
