Crazy Sleeper!

I woke up this morning not from my dear little Sophie strangling me but from the flash of a camera...Greg could not resist this picture. At this point I'm used to Sophie being on top of me when she sleeps. She always has to have her arm around me too! Of course she does not sleep with us every night (thank goodness!!!). This morning she woke up at 6:30 (from a noisy Daddy) and started crying so I brought her back into my bed and we fell back asleep... She is definitely Momma's girl!!!

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NEW PICS OF ELLA

I was so excited to see a message from Christine when we arrived home from Enchanted Forest!!! As you may know, Christine went to China as a volunteer in the Siping orphanage with a group of admirable people!!! She met Ella last July and named her "Grace" (full story in previous blog) but now she was given the opportunity to go back and see "Grace" a year later!! This is what she wrote:

Hello,
Your daughter has grown up so much and she is the most beautiful little girl!!!!

We all fell in love with her. And knowing that she is soon going to be home soon is so exciting!!!

Let me tell you alittle about her....
The first day she was very shy. She would cry if anyone of us got near her. She would reach up for the Nannies. It was very cute and very understandable! It was wonderful to see she felt so comfortable with the nannies. And they are just wonderful and loving! By the second day she warmed up and I was able to hold her. She loves to look out the window! She is walking and has the best laugh! That is what I feel in love with a year ago was her smile.

I gave her your gift. The Nannies really liked it! They pulled the book out right away. They love to look at the pictures of the families too. One Nanny took Ella in her lap and read the book of your family with her saying "Mamma" and pointing to the pictures. Ella repeated it all so clearly! Mamma, Babba everyone. It was so cute! She is very smart! Even the nannies told me they thought she is so smart.

She loves to play with blocks. We used playdough containers for blocks and all the kids loved to stack them. We are going to send blocks over in our first care package!

I am still going through tons of pictures and I know I have video of her. I will send a few now and more later! If you have questions please let me know. I am still jet lagged so as I remember stories, I will let you know!

Blessings to you all!
christine

I get chills everytime I read it!!! My little girl now knows what her forever Mommy and Daddy looks like!! I can't believe how blessed we are to be in touch with these amazing people!!! God is amazing!!!

Enchanted Forest

On Tuesday we went to Enchanted Forest Water Safari in Old Forge. The forecast called for partly cloudy and the high of 77. They were a little off. It was very very cloudy (on and off showers) and the high of about 63! Very Very cold!!! But we still had fun anyway! Sophie loved the fairytale land and the petting zoo! But I think her favorite was the choo choo!! She loved it!!! We had a great time but it would of been much nicer if it was warmer!! We plan to go again at the end of August in hopes it will be warmer. Sophie's lips were blue at the end of our time in the water! Poor kid!

Been a while...

It's been quite a while since I posted...so much going on...it's amazing how quickly the summer goes...when I was a kid it felt like forever...now I feel like it's the 2 months you must cram as much as possible into before school starts again, which means work begins again!!!

Anyway...The Whitacre family has had some fun lately. Last week we went to Niagara Falls b/c Greg had a business trip and Sophie and I decided to tag along. Since the weather was kind of yucky mommy got some shopping done and then went to see the falls the last day. Sophie liked it but was too tired to really enjoy it (and too young!) I think next year the girls will have a good time!

Sophie's Big BooBoo...

Ouchie!!!

Cute pics!!!

Yesterday Sophie suffered her first big booboo...she was outside with Daddy and Bally, our puppy dog, and of course crazy Bally saw a bird and thought he could catch it so he took off after it...he was on a retractable leash and as he dashed toward the bird the leash caught Sophie's neck. According to Daddy Sophie was knocked off her feet and was quite upset...luckily I did not witness this b/c I would of probably went a little crazy. So here are pictures of Sophie's injury...poor baby! I ask her how her neck feels and she says, "Ow".... she's a trooper.



Tomorrow we have our mandatory travel meeting at our agency...can't wait!!!

New Pictures from our agency...

Here are several new pictures from our agency... the first one is too funny...no worries Ella mommy will never put you in anything like that!!! Well unless Gymboree adds it to one of their lines but I don't think we have to worry...:)

Then there are her "boy" pictures... oh my little Ella...soon enough my dear you will be dressed in pink from head to toe!!!

Despite the clothing...she is cutest thing I ever did see (besides her sissy!!)

Exciting news...

Well our dossier is off to China as of June 29th!!!! Yippeeeeee!!! We still have not received our Log in Date yet...I will post it as soon as I find out...the other exciting news is a ladybug landed on me in church on Sunday!!! For those of you who don't know...a lady bug is a sign of China adoption so I feel that particular ladybug was sent from God to tell me Ella will be ours soon!!!!

We also are going to be getting more video of Ella from this past May from a man who spent time in her orphanage through Packages of Hope! We are soooo excited about this!

So anyway that is my good news for now...and ofcourse I will include a picture of Sophie....

Keekee-I'm so excited you check my site and leave comments!!! Love you!! And Ella will love you too!!!

Happy 4th of July!

Feeding the fish






Our little "Beach bunny"!!!
We went to my Uncle Harry's and Debbie's for a 4th of July picnic and had a great time. Here are a couple pictures of Sophie (and others) from the picnic. Sophie got a new bathing suit from Grammy when she went to visit Keekee in New York City (thank you Grammy!!)...how cute is this bathing suit!!!! I love it! Grammy has good taste!!

And more good news...

Our dossier was sent to China on June 29th!!!!!!!! Yeah, now we wait for the Log-in-Date...and then we patiently wait...hopefully not too long...We pray that we have her for her birthday!!!!

Check out my Slide Show!

I love this picture!!

July 1, 2007

<-- Happy Birthday, Nick and Tony!

Sophie and her cousin, Emily!



Just a cute picture taken before church



Today we had a birthday party for our twin nephews who turned 12! Sophie had a good time playing with all of her cousins...and she got to jump on the trampoline!






As far as Ella...a man contacted me today and told me he has video of the Siping orphanage from April 2006...so I can see my baby girl when she was only 6 months...can't wait to see it!