Fun with Uncle Dave!

Matt's brother David came from San Diego to visit. Emma had so much fun with him. It was really great having him here even if it was only for a couple of days.

Grandma Judy

On May 1, 2009, Matt's Grandma Judy went to be with the Lord. She was 95 years old. She spent much of her life living in Guatemala with her husband planting churches. Grandma Judy helped make Emma's adoption possible and we will forever be grateful to her for that. Matt was able to attend the memorial services in San Diego last week. He was given the opportunity to speak for a few minutes at the service. That was very special for him. It was a beautiful time to celebration!

Emma, Great-Grandma Judy, and Cousin Sophie (December 2008)

We have had a crazy couple of weeks. In mid-April we moved into a new condo across town to be closer to our church. Emma is loving the backyard and play ground. She also asks us everyday if we can go to the pool. I can't wait for it to open at the end of May. We spent this afternoon blowing bubbles and scooping dirt into the beach buckets. I recently reread the information that the orphanage gave us when we picked her up in China. They said that to make her happy...take her outside. They got that right!

We also celebrated Emma's first Easter! We had so much fun dying Easter eggs at my parents' house. Emma was so excited!

We also went to my cousin's wedding in Saginaw. My brother and his family were able to come from Rochester, NY. Emma went for her first swim in the pool! She was in Heaven!

Phewww! I think that get's us all caught up! Oh...and I had a birthday in there, too! Matt and Emma threw me a great surprise birthday party. Now, we are waiting for Uncle Dave to arrive from San Diego on Saturday!

Congrats Uncle David and Aunt Heidi!

A couple of weeks ago, Matt's brother, David, proposed to his girlfriend Heidi. We are so excited for them both! We have felt like Heidi is a part of our family for a long time already. It will be really fun to have her officially become a Nash. I remember when we all had lunch together almost 3 years ago and we told them that we were going to adopt a little girl from China. Heidi was so excited. It has been so great having her in our family through this whole process. Emma just loves her! She talks about her all the time. We are also excited that they asked Emma and Matt to be involved in the ceremony this September. Matt is going to be performing the ceremony and Emma will be the adorable flower girl. I can't wait to have a front row seat for THE WEDDING OF THE YEAR!!!

Colors

I don't know what the normal age is for kids to learn colors. Emma is 25 months old and already knows purple, pink, red, blue, yellow, green, and black. I like to think that she is brilliant! I know...I'm biased! It really does amaze me though how quickly she has caught up with the English language. She has been home for 10 months and it seems like she has been hearing English her whole life. She is just talking away. Last night she "read" a whole book to Matt by pointing to each picture and saying what is was and what was going on. We just looked at each other amazed. Our little one is growing up so fast.

One Year Ago Today!

One year ago today our lives were forever changed. After a two year wait, we finally received "The Call." It was a Thursday afternoon at about 3:30. Matt happened to be home because he was getting ready to go to softball practice for the team he was assistant coaching. When the phone rang and it was Beth, Holt's China Director, our hearts just skipped a beat. We new that this was it! We had only selected one condition and had always known that we would accept the referral when a call came. Matt turned on the speaker phone so that we could both hear the details. Beth told us that there was a little girl named Yu Cai Juan in Xinyu, Jiangxi province who needed a family. Her birthday is January 29, 2007. She told us that she enjoys music and is shy. She is a happy little girl in fostercare. She asked us if we would like to review her file. Of course, we said, "yes!" She emailed us Cai Juan's file and told us that we had 24hrs to make a decision. As soon as we saw her gorgeous little face and huge eyes and lips, we fell in love and knew that she was ours. We just sobbed. The whole thing was so surreal. We printed off all the info and got in the car. My parents were at their church practicing for the Easter Cantata. We made the 1hr drive and ran into the foyer. I asked a friend who I saw in the hall to go have my parents come out of practice. They came out and we just started to cry tears of joy and held up Emma's picture. I said, "We have a daughter." We all cried and word quickly spread back into the sanctuary where the choir (most of whom I have known my entire life) were cheering and clapping. It was such an incredible moment. I'm so glad that I was able to share the news with them in the church that I grew up in. It was very special. Next it was off to my brother's house. We walked in the door and they were really surprised to see us. I held up Emma's picture and they all started jumping up and down and screaming. Tressa, quickly took some photos of us to send with our LOI to China. Then we went to my grandparents' house to tell them. By this time, Matt's family in California was finally getting out of work. We called them and emailed them Emma's pictures. They were all just thrilled, too! Matt's mom went shopping that night! For the next 2 months our lives were pretty much chaos! We submitted our Letter of Intent to China on March 14. On May 20, we were on a plane heading for China. Five days later she was in our arms forever. When we were waiting, it seemed like the years just dragged and dragged. Now it seems like yesterday that the phone rang. How time flies when you are having fun!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jimmy!

Today is a great day! It's Uncle Jimmy's Birthday. Emma has also reached another great milestone in the life of a little girl...pig tails!!! Oh, Happy Day!