What a difference 365 days can make....

One year ago today we arrived in Nanchang, China to meet a sweet girl who would change our lives forever. As we walked in to the freezing room, we saw a scared, tiny, bald little girl being held by a social welfare worker that had taken her from the only home she had ever known just hours before. Resilient doesn't begin to describe this little trooper.

Here are a few things she's conquered in a year:

• crawling


• walking


• running


• jumping (sort of - she jumps just like Makenzie used to)


• speaking English (this is our most frequently asked question - Does she speak English?)


• loving cheese -- all day long she says "I Mo' Cheese Mamma"


• playing a mean game of peek-a-boo (she's stays hidden for way longer than you'd expect)


• eating ALL-DAY-LONG!! (My girl can EAT)


• laughing - I remember her first laugh when Seth came running down the hall at the hotel. He can still get the best belly laughs from her without even trying


• Dora - she loves to watch Dora, and won't watch anything else


• body parts (even random things like forehead and eyebrow)


• the hearts of her Mommy, Daddy, sister and brother. It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord has knitted us together.

--I know it's a crazy picture - whenever the camera comes out she yells "CHEESE" she would only sit if she had Goldfish in her mouth. It is a good representation though!