We have been home for over 6 weeks now! Life has been so great with
Klaire! She is such a blessing to us! I am amazed at how well she has adjusted to our family and everyday life! Klaire is such a social happy baby! She loves people! She will go to just about anyone. The first Sunday we were home, she went to the nursery and loved it! We are around people all the time, so this is such a blessing that she is so social! We prayed that she would be and God answered our prayers with a wonderful blessing named Klaire!
Klaire had her first trip to Illinois to visit her grandparents! She had so much fun meeting all of her great aunt and uncles and cousins. We also got to meet some friends that I had been talking with for over a year on the internet who are waiting on their referral!
Her personality is really coming out more and more everyday! Klaire is pulling up on everything and walking around the furniture! She can stand alone for short periods of time but has only taken one step so far! I am sure in no time she will be running around the house!
I (Julie) had to go back to teaching on Oct. 16! It was VERY hard to go and leave her all day at the babysitter's house! Another blessing, our friend Becky, is babysitting Klaire! She is doing wonderful! I think it may have been harder on me than her! We are now into the full swing of everyday life and needless to say- it is CRAZY! Having a teenager , an 8 yr. old and 1 yr. old- things are a little hectic!
Klaire turned one on Oct. 21! She wasn't sure about the cake, but really dug into the icing! We took her to Build a Bear and the girls helped her make a bear for her birthday! We celebrated with it with Mama Carleen and Papa Jim. She got lots of toys and clothes!
Our church and my school had us showers when we got home. We are so
blessed to have such caring friends and family! Klaire will be decked out for the next several months and maybe the next year- if she doesn't put on too much weight! ha! She loves to eat and will eat about anything you put in front of her!
I am so amazed at how much God's hand was in this whole process and
continues to be! Everytime we look at Klaire, we are just overwhelmed at God's goodness to us! I am so glad that we answered God's call on our lives to adopt! So many people tell us that she is so lucky to have us for a family- we are the lucky ones! I wouldn't call it luck though- we are BLESSED!!!! Klaire is a perfect gift from God and we are so privileged to be chosen by God to be her family! It is like she has been with us forever- since birth- that is such a God thing! Only God can take a child half-way around the world and put her with a family from Missouri and make a perfect fit!
We have been so blessed to meet so many wonderful people through this
adoption process! I want to thank each of you that have e-mailed us,
prayed for us, gave gifts and money to our adoption and welcomed us home!
I thank you, Tina, for helping us put together our website to keep our family , friends and fellow adoptive families updated while we were in China! It is such a blessing to get to know you and your precious family!
If you are waiting on your referral or thinking about adopting, God will bless you more than you can ever ask or imagine if you choose to follow His call! Our verse throughout this whole adoption has been Ephesians 3:20- "Now to Him who is able to do more than we can ever ask or imagine!" We know now exactly why God put that verse in our hearts when we started this adoption almost 2 years ago! He has blessed us more than we could have ever asked or imagined! We can't wait to see what all He has in store for our family in the future!
One truly blessed family!
Joe, Julie, Karlee, Kassidy and Klaire
