Happy Birthday Michelle

There will be more to come later - pictures of the big 3 year old! But for now, I just wanted everyone to know it's her birthday, and we plan to celebrate in style. I had wanted to keep things simple, but couldn't quite control myself at the party store when I saw all the cute Elmo things. And of course, we will have balloons. Michelle doesn't know exactly what this is all about, but she does know there will be balloons involved, so she's excited. She has been walking around the house for a few days saying,"My buh-day!" Today when I woke her I told her it was her "buh-day", and she got a huge grin and did a little happy dance. Priceless!

I have a personal tradition I do with each of my kids on their birthday. We sit and look through their baby pictures. I love going back and remembering the day they were born. I tell them the stories. It's more for me than for them.

I will have to start new traditions with Michelle. I wasn't there the day she was born. But I do know that even then, the red thread was beginning to wrap it's way around my heart and draw us together. Today I pray for the woman who gave birth to our daughter, that somehow she will know she is safe, healthy and happy. Mostly I will pray and thank God for the precious gift of Michelle!

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.

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.

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!

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.

Please watch

I urge each of you to click on the link below. Even if you have never considered adoption, hopefully it will encourage you to pray for these children. I found it very moving - of course, it's my heart's cry these days!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aa3ZN8Tyzc

Busy Summer

I thought once summer arrived and school was over things would slow down and we would have lots of time to hang out at the pool. So far that hasn't been the case - life seems to be continuing at warp speed. However, after the past weekend, several of our obligations are over, so perhaps more pool days are in our near future. I certainly hope so!

We had a fun July 4th celebration. We had a cookout with some of our neighbors and then they shot fireworks. Michelle wasn't such a big fan of the noise, so after a few minutes I brought her back inside the house.

One of her favorite summer activities is having an ice-pop. It's funny how she has mastered that word - she can certainly say things when they are important to her!

This past Friday she got her first taste of what it means to be an Army Brat. Her Daddy took over a Command, sort of a job change/promotion without the move that is usually involved in that sort of thing. We had a ceremony with a couple of hundred people attending and then a light reception with refreshments. Michelle was a big hit - she sat still through about half of the ceremony. Not bad for a 2 year old! We hired our neighbor to come be a "mothers-helper", so when it got to be too much for her, sweet Lauren took her into the other room to play. Michelle enjoyed the cake and all the excitement of the day.

Grammy Cole was able to fly down from Cape Cod for the special day. We are proud of Daddy - I know he will do a great job!