Good-Bye

One of the hardest things for me while I was living in China, was the fact that there are always "good-byes" to say. Of course, we have a lot of "hellos" as well... but good-byes are always hard.

Lindsay was one of my roommates and also taught the English class while she was there working as an intern. We planned out activities, she taught, and I managed the classroom behavior :) If all else failed, we would watch a movie!

When it was time for Lindsay to leave, no one was happy about it. The kids all missed her very much. She did a great job and has so much love to share!

So in honor of her leaving, we had a party, which of course meant CAKE! They seemed pretty happy with it, don't you think????

Thanks for being such a great teacher Lindsay! 

My precious Jingle Bell...

If you have read this blog at all, you will know the one lady who stole my heart and is holding it in her perfect little hand--my girl, "Jingle Bell".

I am so in love with her I could just look at that precious face all day long. I miss so many of the kids at ND, but I especially miss her. The older kids understood that I was leaving and I know that most of them will remember me, should we meet again (and some of them, I will!!!!!).... but Jingle Bell will not remember, but I certainly cannot forget her. 

This picture makes me want to cry. This is right before I walked out of the foster home for the last time. Jingle Bell, who rarely likes to be held like this, let me cuddle her for a good bit while I sang songs to her. Oh, to kiss those cheeks again!!!! 

Sometimes a certain someone got a little (ahem) jealous of the attention I would give Jingle Bell--though he knows the rest of the day, my attention is on him. Thanks, Vincent! 

Believe it or not, I have over 100 pictures of just her. I like that she is a baby and can't tell me "No" like some of the other kids would do :) Ha! 

a look back...

I took a blog break while I was trying to make a life-changing decision. Most everyone knows by now, but I left China and returned to the States. I am really happy to be back. Nothing happened, but for personal reasons, I felt it was best to come back to America. China will always be a part of me and those kids still have my heart, but it is not where I am supposed to be right now. I don't have plans to go back right now, but I don't know what the future holds!

So I am going to take a "look back" at some of the last things we did in China--I took A TON of pictures that need to be shared :)

Stay tuned--I have some hilarious stories to tell, mainly my one about a Chinese hospital experience. Yeah, it is a good one!

Beautiful Claire

Emelia and Lucy Kate are big buds!

Joel and a silly Eliott