MERRY CHRISTMAS

What a wonderful morning it has already been. We woke up this morning and had a great time with our family opening gifts and hanging out with each other! We know that the gifts and presents are fun but we talked with the kids about the real meaning of Christmas and the fact that God loves us so much that he sent his SON to be born in a stable so that someday we may live with Him forever. May we celebrate his birth today and share the love that He has for us with those around us!

We are so thankful that we are able to celebrate this year with "all" of our children. Last year at this time we did not yet know of Anjali--only that God had a special child chosen for us somewhere in India and we were getting very excited to know who she was. God knew (when we didn't) that she would be here with us this year to celebrate the gift of His Son! We are so thankful and filled with excitement that God chose us to be her parents and siblings. We have been given a wonderful gift and are so thankful for all of our children!

May you feel God's love today and thank Him for the greatest gift of all--HIS SON!
Blessings to all of our friends and family on this special day!

God is so good!

One month ago today we arrived home with our new daughter and sister Anjali. The past month has brought many changes for our family but we have learned through this journey that God is good and that he doesn't make mistakes. This sweet girl just fits so well into our family and we think that our family is just right for her. She is really adjusting so well and has amazed us all with the new things that she learns each day and the love she shares with all of us. She is beginning to talk pretty well and understands much of what we say to her. We give God all the thanks and praise for his plan to have her a part of our family. We are so privileged to be her parents and brothers and sister and we know that we truly followed God's call.
We are so excited to share this Christmas with her. The other day she was helping mom wrap presents by getting tape ready and putting the wrapped gifts under the tree. She thinks most of the gifts are for her as she points to them and then to herself and says "for me." She seems excited to open the gifts!
We have been teaching her (along with Grandma Judy) who loves her more than anybody and she replies "baby Jesus." It is so precious and we are so excited to be telling her about the One who was born in a stable many years ago for her and all of us. We wish you all a blessed Christmas and may you celebrate too the birth of our Savior, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. May you be blessed by God's goodness this Christmas and in the year to come.

Home for 2 weeks

We can hardly believe that we have been home for 2 weeks already. We continue to be so thankful that we were not caught in the middle of the terrorist activity that occurred in Mumbai last week and that we have Anjali home with us. We thank and give God praise for his perfect timing and plan in this journey. Please continue to keep the people of Mumbai in your prayers as this came as a shock to them as well. Mumbai will always have a special place in our hearts as it is Anjali's birthplace and where we first met her.
Anjali is doing great. We were talking as a family the other night and we all said that it feels like she has been with us so much longer than 2 weeks and that we couldn't imagine life without this precious little girl. She has been an amazing blessing to our family and we are once again reminded that God knows all of the details and that our family was the perfect family for her. She is learning so much every day and is really picking up on English quickly. Every day she says new words and tries to tell us what she needs or wants. She is eating really well and tries new foods often. One of her favorite things to eat is Rice Krispie bars--she will go to the pantry and try to find them as I had to put them up out of her reach. She also loves to eat popcorn at night with Austin and even fell asleep the other night while she was eating it. One thing we have discovered is that she is so ticklish. She loves to play with the kids and has the best giggle when they are playing with her and tickling her. She loves to see them when they come home from school in the afternoon.
We had a great day his past Saturday when we went out to cut our Christmas tree. We missed Austin as he was invited by a friend to attend the high school football championship games that day. The weather was perfect for being outside and we had a great time looking for the perfect tree. Anjali seemed to have a good time on the wagon ride and walking in the field.
The hardest part for her continues to be bedtime. Please pray that this will become easier for her in the weeks to come. Once she is sleeping she sleeps well but it is getting her to that point that is hard.
This Christmas Season we have so much to be thankful for. We thank God each day for this beautiful new daughter/sister he has blessed our family with but more importantly we thank Him for the gift of his precious son Jesus Christ who was born in a stable so many years ago for you and for me so that we can have eternal life with Him. That is something to thank Him for!!

The first snow!!

Wow--we have some very excited kids at our house since they were able to play in the snow after school today. Many of the neighbor kids and Austin, Mariah, Nolan and even Anjali enjoyed playing in the snow. Anjali seemed to like it but the only thing that she wasn't sure about was wearing a hat. She wouldn't let me put it on her but I am sure she has no idea what it is for and has never had one on her head before.
We had a great day today. This afternoon she went to the store with me and was great the entire time. I would show her several items in the store that we were buying and would ask her in Marathi what it is. She would say the word and then I would tell her the English word for it. She is picking up new words quickly and tries to say many words. She was singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in English throughout the store--It was precious. After dinner tonight she was playing with Austin and tickling him and was giggling so much. She has the best laugh!
The nights are the most challenging right now as her body is still on India time. She was very tired tonight since she had no nap today and played out in the snow so hopefully she will sleep longer tonight without waking up.
We are all doing well and really enjoying getting to know this precious gift that God has blessed our family with. We thank God for the things we are learning from her and the many ways He has blessed us!

We are home!!

We returned home late on Thursday night around 11:30 pm. This was later than what we had planned as we missed the flight out of Amsterdam and had to rebook for the later afternoon flight. So after 36 hours of being in an airplane or waiting at airports we were home safely and completely exhausted. We had several friends and family who greeted us at the airport--it was so great to see all of you there even though it was late. Thanks so much for coming!!
We are doing well at home. Anjali loves the kids around has even spent time playing with some neighbor kids who came over to visit. She enjoys playing and is learning new words every day. She amazes us at how quickly she is picking up new words. She is eating lots of new foods and doing well with that. The sleeping is hard right now as she is still on her India time clock. Last night she woke up crying at 2:30am and pointed to her mouth indicating she was hungry. She then ate 2 bowls of cereal and some yogurt. It is just going to take some time for her to get used to the time change between here and India. Kevin and I are dealing with the time difference yet and trying to catch up on sleep that we missed the last few days.
It has been an incredible journey so far and appreciate all this things people did for us while we were gone and those of who loved and watched the kids. We are blessed and grateful for the blessing of loving friends and family.
Please continue to pray that Anjali will adjust to life here and continue to bond with mom and dad. This is different when lots of kids are around and she wants to be with them and play. Mom and dad don't seem as cool as her sister and brothers.
I'll post some pictures of her first days at home real soon!!

Our last day in India

We can hardly believe that this is our last day in India already. We have been here over a week and the time has really gone pretty fast. We have had a great time but are looking forward to coming home and seeing the kids. The flight ahead of us seems so long but we are praying that Anjali sleeps on the flight and that she is easily entertained. We are actually in the lobby of the Taj Hotel waiting to meet a woman who has adopted an 11 month old girl from the same agency that we used. We're heading out to dinner with her and then to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam. Today was a fun filled day--we did some sight seeing and quite a bit of shopping. It was fun going to the markets but after a while it gets really tiring having people want you (beg you) to buy what they are selling. Anjali did a good job shopping and loves to try on bangles and necklaces. She thought she would try standing up while we were riding in the car today and when I told her to sit down she didn't like that too much. We think the car seat at home may be a struggle for her as she doesn't like to be confined. We also visited McDonald's today while we were out and about and this little girl loves the french fries.
We have had a great time in India and the joy this little has brought to our lives already is amazing. She has a sassy/stubborn side to her but she is full of love. We are excited for you all to meet her. Thanks so much for all of your encouragement and support on our journey. We'll see you all at home real soon! Please pray for safe travels! Tataa form India!`

We have her visa!

We arrived at the Embassy this morning just as they were opening and turned in the rest of the paperwork for the visa. We waited for about a half an hour and then had the interview where they ask you a few questions about the adoption agency, the orphanage and our experience with the Embassy. After this we were told we could wait in the lobby and they would try to have it ready within a half an hour. We waited along with another family from New Jersey that we met who was adopting a 14 month old boy. After waiting about 20 minutes we received the visa and we headed off to do some sightseeing. We visited a Muslim mosque, a Buddhist temple and some other sights in Delhi and also did some shopping. We ate dinner tonight at Lodi, a wonderful restaurant in Delhi.
She definitely is opening up to us as we seen her laugh and giggle alot today and talk. It's amazing how quickly she is learning how to communicate with us. We are learning that she is not a little girl who likes to be told no-no. We said it to her a few times today when we were out and about and she said it to us tonight when she didn't want something. When heading back to the hotel room we asked her if she wanted to see Austin, Mariah and Nolan on the computer and she seemed excited about this and started blowing kisses which is what she does when she sees them on the computer. She loves to see the kids, Nana and Grandma Sherlene and Grandpa Jerry on the computer. We feel she is beginning to know who they are and we keep telling her she will see "bahu's" (brothers) and "akka" (sister) soon.
Throughout out the day we were once again reminded how blessed we are to live in the U.S.A. When driving through the city Kevin and I kept thinking that maybe the next mile will be better and less poverty and homeless people and kids and moms begging for food and money but this is not really the case. Today we were approached at one of the intersection by a one legged man begging for food. We didn't have any food to give him but Kevin did hand him a bottle of water. After he gave it to the man, the man threw it and asked for money. He was probably wanting money to go buy a drink.
Tonight we took a walk out side the hotel area and sat on the patio and Anjali had some chocolate candies. Kevin learned that having candy so close to bedtime for her was not the best to do. She had a hard time when we got back to the room and didn't want to go to sleep. When we told her "zoppa" (sleep) she shook her head no. She cried for a while but is resting quietly now. She ate really well today. She loved her yogurt with granola for breakfast, bananas and a granola bar this afternoon and fish and french fries for dinner. She likes her warm milk a couple times a day too.
Please continue to pray for a safe trip home. We are getting very excited to see the kids. We are sure that Anjali is excited to see them as well. She takes a little while to warm up to people she doesn't know but when she does she is irresistible. Thanks again for your prayers and comments on the blog. It has helped to made this a wonderful journey. It has been the trip of a lifetime that is for sure!

A relaxing afternoon

We had a nice afternoon after Anjali and dad took a nap. We hung out in our hotel room for a while and read books, colored, played with stickers and practiced counting. Anjali counted to 15 in English almost all by herself which we thought was pretty good. We are so proud of this girl and the things that she has already learned in 3 days with us. We know that she loves to watch videos as we brought some along and she enjoyed watching one tonight. We are off to bed now as we have a busy day tomorrow at the Embassy again and then some local sight seeing attractions that our driver would like to show us. We are looking forward to it. We'll post some pics of the fun we had on tomorrows post. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and comments so far and for the prayers you continue to lift up for us. We appreciate it so much!

More pictures

Sweet and a little sassy

You may be wondering what happened to us yesterday but we did not have time to write due to a busy day and our night flight to Delhi. We arrived very late last night in Delhi and went to bed when we arrived at our hotel. We are all doing great and are truly having a great time in India! Being here has made us even more thankful for the things that we have been blessed with.
Sunday was a great day with Anjali. We went for breakfast in the morning and then ventured out to the pool again for the afternoon. The weather in Mumbai was beautiful with sunny skies and warm (high 90's). When we took our her swimsuit she looked at both of us and shook her head no. It is very obvious to us when she doesn't care for something. We still went down to the pool (Anjali with her clothes on) and she took a nap in the shade. We see her little sassy side come out when she doesn't want something, doesn't want dad to help her or isn't interested in doing something. She kinda has this on/off switch for Kevin--sometimes he's Ok and other times she shakes her head no to him when he tries to help her or walk with her. She had french fries at the pool today and loved to dip them in the ketsup. After spending some time at the pool we packed, ate dinner and walked around Juhu beach for a while. It is amazing how many people are down there and how busy it is. Trying to cross the the street is about impossible and you are basically risking your life to do so. Before we left the hotel one of the receptionists who fell in love with her asked her when she was going to come back to see her and Anjali said "soon" in Marathi and then the girl asked her who she was going home with and she said "aa-ee" and "baba" which is mom and dad. It is just the best to hear her say this!
Anjali did great on her first plane ride as she slept the whole way there and did not wake up until we got to the hotel. She was roaring to go after sleeping the whole plane ride (about 2 hours) but I read her a few books, told her it was time to go "zoppa" and she laid right down and went to sleep. This girl is the best sleeper ever. We can see that she is used to sleeping with lots of noise and probably even lights on. She sleeps so good at night!
Monday morning we woke up and needed to be ready to go with our driver to the Embassy at 9:00. We arrived there and completed what we could complete today, had her medical exam done and need to return Tuesday morning at 9:00 to complete the visa immigration interview. She was awesome the whole morning and sticks pretty close to mom's side. Every now and then she'll say something in Marathi and then looks at me and just smiles.
We were going to go out for lunch but she was getting tired (so was dad) so we asked our driver to take us back to the hotel. Anjali and dad are sleeping right now!
We continue to learn so much about her every day. Kevin and I often look at each other and can't even believe how good she is. God's plan could not be more obvious to us and the fact that He placed her in our family is just more evidence that God doesn't make mistakes. We love this little chic to pieces already! She has been so much fun in 2 days that we can't wait to see what the next few bring! Red and yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight--Jesus loves the little children of the world and so do we!

A few more pics