Monday, August 13, 2018

St. Louis {PGA Championship}

School has started, but we are still having summer fun!  We picked the girls up from school on Friday and headed straight to St. Louis. We walked along the river and then ate dinner at a BBQ place downtown.  Across the street was a rolled ice cream place where we happened to meet a girl there from Houston who was adopted from China 15 years ago.
Half way to St. Louis, I remembered we had forgotten a stroller! We have 4 at home and didn't bring a single one! So we stopped at Target and picked up the cheapest one they had.
Overload of cuteness ♥♥

On Saturday, Alex took the big girls to the PGA Championship. They had a great day, despite how hot and humid it was!
Watching Rory McIlroy

Meanwhile...   I had contacted my friend Jaime late on Thursday night and mentioned that we would be in town and free on Saturday morning if she would want to meet up. Within a few hours, we had several other AAC mommas who were close by and interested in a last minute play date! Jaime and I have been friends since 2013 and both have 2 babies from Nanchang! The other moms I have met over the last couple of years because we all used the same adoption agency. We have prayed these babies home and it's so fun to meet them and their families in person!
It looks like Beilyn and Bria are just hanging out in the group without their mom. ☺
We all have a child from Nanchang, thanks to the partnership our agency had with the orphanage there. ♥

In the evening, we went down to the Arch and grabbed dinner from some food trucks. I've lost track, but I think it was the first time up in the Arch for the 3 littles. As many times as I've been up to the top, the view below is always changing! This was our first time seeing the new Arch entrance completed and fountain area below. 
We tried, but a family of 8 selfie is tough and you can barely see the Arch. ha!
Oh goodness, she's cute!
The difference a year makes!  August 2017 ~ August 2018
Juan's 1st sip of lemonade
Sometimes, we just don't know how things will affect this precious little soul. She can be perfectly fine one minute and inconsolable the next. I used to think that we adopted our girls young enough that the trauma wouldn't be remembered, but that was just me being naive. Some wounds never heal. We love her big and hope she finds comfort in knowing we are forever hers.


On Sunday, Tim picked up Alex and they went to the PGA championship together while I took all of the girls to The Magic House. The last time we were there, we only had 2 kids! ☺ The girls absolutely loved the little village area again.

It was a fun, hot weekend! Now it's back to school again!

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

First Day of School 2018

The first day of school arrived! I literally made myself sick with anxiety over Beilyn going to Kindergarten today but many prayers were answered! 💗
As we walked in, she yelled, "Hiiii, Krista!" 😄 So thankful my BFF is right across the hall from her!
The girls all looked happy as could be when I dropped them off at school, but Miss Beilyn came off the bus in tears. Her sweet teacher called to tell me Beilyn had a great day but was confused about getting on the bus at the end of the day. It didn't take long for us to get her smile back though and we loved hearing all about her day!
Our neighbor had dropped off a sweet treat this morning that we opened after school.
Zonked out at 8pm in Braylee's chair

It wasn't a perfect day, but I think it was a successful day!