Monday, August 24, 2009

Summer pic's

Michelle has been wanting a ponytail, and since her hair is a little too short in the back, we came up with this idea. I think the Cindy-Lou-Who look is pretty cute, don't you? (Thanks for the idea Renee.)
We had a fun time at Cape Cod. I don't have most of the beach pictures developed yet, but here are a couple of shots. She thought "putt-putt" was about the most fun a girl could have! I thought she would be impatient and loose interest, but she waited until it was her turn. Then, she would hit the ball a couple of times, pick it up and put it right beside the hole, then hit it in.

A couple of nights later we went out for ice cream. As we pulled up to the ice cream parlor, Michelle saw a mini-golf place close by. As we were getting out of the car she said,"No ice keem. (No ice cream) Putt-putt." You know it's fun when she would rather play than eat ice cream.
Daddy was able to join us for the weekend. We went to one of our family favorite restaurants for a seafood dinner. "Lobster" was quickly added to Michelle's vocabulary. (Gotta love those B words. We are working on B and P words in speech therapy.)
Another Cape Cod tradition is going to the Brewster General Store. The kids have a great time filling a bag with cheap candy, and Michelle enjoyed this tradition too. It was fun after years of visiting Cape Cod to see it through new eyes. She even warmed up to the beach after a few days. When we went to Virginia Beach she was knocked down by a big wave, so the first few days at the Cape she wasn't too sure about the water. But by the end of the week she was splashing in the tide pools and having a great time.
Michelle helped Dad out with a work presentation by modeling her "Army girl" t-shirt. She is growing so fast and such a joy to our family. She amazes us every day with the things she is learning. She knows all her colors, can count to 12 (although she often skips 3 for some reason), and to our surprise knows most of her letters. She walks around all the time, pointing to shirts and signs and points out the letters. Of course, her favorite one is "O" for ElmO.

Her speech is constantly improving. She is beginning to put together 2 and 3 word sentences. Just this weekend we were eating dinner, and we had one of her favorites, canteloupe. She had already finished hers and when she saw her Daddy serving big brother Josh some, she said, "Da-Da! My turn!"

This week is her last speech therapy with Ashley. Next week she ages out of Early Infant and Toddler, and will graduate into the Preschool Program. Ashley has done a wonderful job with her and we will miss her. It's been exciting to see Michelle make progress from week to week. I know that this is not always the case, that it's often 2 steps forward, one step back, so we are so encouraged and grateful for the progress she is making.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Referral Anniversary

Tomorrow we will be gone most of the day, so I wanted to post a short memory about 8-8-08. See the sweet picture to the right of this post? It was a year ago we first saw that precious face. I will never forget when the phone rang, and my son came upstairs to tell me, "Mom, it's Denise from CCAI." I somehow knew before I even answered the phone she was calling to tell us about our daughter. And I knew from the moment I saw that precious face she was meant to be ours. And now, I get to look at this sweet face every day. How blessed am I?

August 8, 2008 was a special day for China. It was the opening day of the Olympics, a day of pride for their nation. But August 8, 2008 was an even more special day for the Cole Family. It was the day I finally saw the face of the child I had prayed for, longed for, dreamed of, for so long.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

7 1/2 Months Later


Here is a picture taken December 19, 2008, next to one taken yesterday. The kids are really growing up fast!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Visitors

We have been pretty busy lately. Last week we were involved with VBS at our church, and my older teens played in the band. Michelle was in the nursery for part of each day, and I think she picked up some kind of "bug". So, this week we have been staying home, trying to get well. Yesterday was the first day she felt much like herself. I think this is the first time she has been sick since we have had her - of course we went through a lot of recovery with her surgery, but this was her first true cold.

Today we had some special visitors. Renee and her boys stopped by on their way north to visit family. Renee traveled with us to get Joshua Song when we went to China last year. It was great to see them after almost 8 months, to see our kids so happy and healthy with their new families. (Their blog is linked to our sidebar - A Thousand Reasons to Smile.)
And speaking of other blogs we follow, we are anxiously awaiting Molly's Gotcha Day this Monday, August 3 on Continuing the Journey. Molly and Michelle were not only in the same orphanage, but also in the same foster home for a while, so we are excited to see Molly join her forever family.

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