Just An Update

A couple of posts ago I asked for prayer for our two younger children. This is how God has answered that prayer request. A couple of days ago we were eating dinner when out of the blue Nicholas announces, "We need to go to China to get another baby!" Then, today while our children were putting their allowances in their wallets, Nicholas asks, "Does Hannah have a wallet?" I said, "No, she's too little to have a wallet." To this, Nicholas replies, "We need to get another baby before she gets bigger! Then, we'll have two babies!" I am so grateful that God has been revealing Nicholas' heart to us in this way. We still pray for softened hearts. Based on the little things we see, we know that one day they'll be the best of friends! Watch out world!! 

Each week we see Hannah coming out of her shell more and more. She is becoming physically more sure of her steps. When we brought her home, if we walked by her, she'd fall down which would lead to an impressive display of emotion on her part. She now can spin, walk and change directions without falling, get on and off of the rocking horse without help, and run!! Running is new just in the past couple of days. Her verbal skills are catching up; she has lots of Chinese sounding words and some Chinese words that are pretty clear. Lots of baby signs. She now has three English words! Bird, Poppy, and the new one.....drum roll please......... NO. We think that it is really funny that every time we say dog (We have a dog next door) Hannah says dog in Chinese. We ask her, "Say dog" Hannah says dog again in Chinese. She is starting to wake up happy and ready for play! She knows that if Dan or I leave that we will be back. Big milestone because for awhile I couldn't leave her. She squeals with delight when we come home. Another huge milestone is the tantrums have become less and less. 

As I think of all our joy these last few weeks as we have welcomed Hannah home, I can't help but remember the grief and pain that Steven Curtis Chapman and his family have been facing. Please continue to pray comfort and peace on this family who lost their five year old daughter, Maria, to a tragic accident. The Chapman family founded Shao Hannah's Hope, named after one of their three Chinese daughters. Shao Hannah's Hope offers grants to families that are adopting children. They have helped more than 1600 families bring their children home. Because of their visibility, many other families have stepped out to adopt children. Their latest project is to come to completion this summer as they build an orphanage for special needs children in China. If you'd like to learn more about Shao Hannah's Hope, please visit www.shaohannahshope.org