Two Years Ago Today..............................

Paul and I picked up a frightened little girl (almost 4 years old) from the Civil Affairs Office in Changsha, Hunan China. She didn't realize that her life to that point was not the ideal. She loved her caretakers and friends, and she did not know what it was like to be in a family. After a rocky two weeks getting to know her mama and baba in China, she decided that family was not all too bad. She loved her brothers and sister. She loved having toys and clothes to call her own. She loved American food (except cheese and milk). She learned a new language quickly. I still wonder where I would be with my mandarin if the situation was reversed!!!!! :) Ava Marie XiaoE Wetzel has grown up quite a bit in the past two years. She understands so much. She loves to learn to write letters. She memorizes her verses each week for cubbies. She plays soccer. She goes to preschool each morning. She is a favorite in her Sunday School class. They knew that they couldn't get by with watered down lessons in her class when she asked them "Who is God's wife?" :) We celebrate today as the day she joined our family and made it complete! After dinner we enjoyed a little cake. Then we got out her photo album of all the pictures we have of her in China and pictures of our adoption trip. She enjoyed going through each one and telling us what she remembers. Her memories are somewhat sketchy, but you can tell things come to her all of a sudden. As she continues to learn and grow, we realize what a privilege it is God gave us to raise this precious child.