2016 in review... A year of blessings

Little Blessing! In February our daughter and son in love brought our first grand baby in to the world! 
Henry is now almost 11 months old

We love him so much!!

In March we spent Spring break at our time share on the beach. It was a week of R&R and a great healthy time for little Ivy too! We love it when we can have a vacation without emergencies!! Ivy's heart loves the beach! It does not like the mountains, we have learned that the hard way a few times too many!

Ivy has now been on Tyvaso, her inhaled medication for her pulmonary hypertension, for 2 years. Sadly, it has not made a difference and we are looking in to new intervention. She continues to tire with exercise as simple as walking from the car to the shopping cart. The good news, she is stable and there is still much hope that she will still one day have healthy lungs. Her heart continues to work hard. There is a possibility she will need a new mitral valve within the year. She presses on with the same constant joy and never complains, just like the little girl you all came to love.

In May were were able to pay a visit to Disneyland. The characters remain the girls favorite part about it! Ivy's medications make her dizzy enough. So she rides very few rides but loves the parade and the shows. Lexi loves everything!

Ivy Joy turned 6 years old on May 6th!

And our newest Addition, Molly the poodle, turned ONE!

Summer 2016 was full of swimming and playing! 

We traveled to Las Vegas for Nationals with Lexi's dance company. We enjoyed some cool shows like Blue Man Group and O. The girls thought is was fantastic. 

In August our daughters Rylee and Cassidy moved in to their own home. It has been so sweet watching them grow up and learn to make it on their own but also a big adjustment. Not seeing them every single day has been sad for all of us. The girls have now adjusted but mommy will never stop missing saying good night to those girls each night. (my kitchen stays clean so much longer now....) But is miss them!

October is Ivy's favorite month! I don't know why but this little girl loves Halloween! This year she wanted to be Shirley Temple. She looked amazing! Best Chinese Shirley Ive ever seen! ( Also the only one! ) She loves watching Shirley Temple videos on you tube kids. Lexi had a hard time deciding what to dress like. In the end she chose Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony. Baby Henry was a lion!

 

  

In December our 1st China baby turned 8 years old!! How can that be? 

And in December we were matched with our newest daughter Charlotte Hope Anjuan Sammons. She is 5 years old and is currently living in Guangdong China. We hope to travel to bring her home in March. 

            “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”  

Isaiah 6:8