Our Special Christmas Gift

We had a fabulous Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve at The Vickerman's - we opened presents, had dinner and then enjoyed the CandleLight service at church. As we sat at church, all i could think about was how grateful we are for the gift God had given us this year. (can you believe it! - i forgot to take pictures of the kids all dressed up:( Hayleigh was wearing a special Christmas dress that we had got in China...)

(Santa brought her a Fisher Price Doll house and she carried around this table from it for quite awhile:)) She also loved her Cabbage Patch baby - she gave it kisses:)

Christmas Day we had a fun time at my parent's house with more presents and dinner.

More Fun Times with my Brothers...

Brayden loves to read to me!
I can finally "Big Girl" crawl!
Cute hands:)
I LOVE to play XBOX with my brothers!!

Playing in Forts with my brothers!

Hayleigh's First Playdate

It was so much fun watching Hayleigh play with someone her own size:) Her little boy friend is Jake Rohrig from church - he is 13 months old and is a cutie pie! At the end of our playdate, Kara took some pictures - aren't they sooo cute:) It was quite the chore to get them both to look at the camera at the same time. We first tried Hayleigh sitting in a little rocking chair but before you know it she had leaned sooo far forward that she fell out - so, we decided to sit them next to each other. They are precious!

There she is...

Whoops...where did she go???

Happy Birthday Little Miss Hayleigh!

This was taken today!

Today is Hayleigh's birthday but i'm not sure if she'd think it was a "Happy" day - She had her well check visit with Dr. Endo today and had 4 SHOTS!! The Dr. seemed pleased with how well she is progressing. When looking at the American Growth Chart the Dr. uses, she is in the 48th % for Height at 29 inches and in the 49th % for Weight at 20 Lbs, 8 oz. However, while looking at the Asian growth chart she is in the 50th % for Height and the 75% for Weight!

This cheesy grin was on Monday:)

She has 4.5 teeth with 1 more almost there!

Party Time!!!

Sunday was a very busy day! Shortly after her baptism we headed over to good ol' Hubby's Pizza where our close family and friends gathered to help us celebrate Hayleigh's FIRST BIRTHDAY!

I think she had fun!?! She seemed to be in good spirits:) She finger painted with her frosting and didn't really care for the sweet taste. It wasn't long before she started to poke her fingers in the cupcake. All in all, she was somewhat "lady like", which was good because i really wasn't planning on giving her a bath at the restaurant:)

We then opened a few gifts at the Pizza joint before we headed home. She enjoyed the pretty paper - i was a little to impatient and helped her out a bit:) She had fun and is loving her new toys, adorable clothes, special quilt and jewelry!

Her actual birthday is tomorrow - December 8th. This week i've been constantly thinking about her birth mother. Wondering if and what she is thinking about Hayleigh. I just cannot imagine what she had to go through. We were told that she was abandoned on the day that she was born. My heart goes out to the mother but i am so thankful that Hayleigh is in our Forever Family.

Baptism

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13

This is the Life Verse that we have chosen for our precious daughter. We presented it to her at her baptism this morning.

What a wonderful sight it was seeing Hayleigh in the gown worn by myself, her brothers, her uncle and her cousins. What a wonderful sight it was watching our Pastor carry her down the aisle at church to present/introduce her to the congregation - she only whimpered a bit as soon as she saw me drawing near:). What a sight it was to see our Pastor sprinkle Holy Water on her head and Baptise her in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. What a sight is was to see our Associate Pastor lay hands on Hayleigh and pray for her. What a sight it was to see our special family and friends there to share in this special time.

God Bless You!