Forever A Family (Briana Day Anniversary)

Six years ago today, a tiny, sweaty, scared, beautiful, almost one year old baby girl was handed over to Doug and me at 4PM China time in the Chongqing Civil Affairs Office. Briana was terrified that day ~ and we were too. 

Briana was (and still is) the best gift that I have ever received in my entire life. She was a dream fulfilled and I am so incredibly blessed to have this amazing little girl in my life.

If you haven't seen our China journey (including our "Gotcha" moment), visit http://gotchadayvideo.com/.

 That day is forever etched in my mind...

Briana was hot, tired, full of bug bites and had a dress on that was way too big. She cried and cried and cried. (I had learned before coming to China that Briana had been in foster care. She was loved dearly by her foster family. I am forever grateful for that. I believe she had been brought back to the orphanage for a couple of days before she was brought to us. She had been through so much.)

She finally calmed when we got onto the bus and she fell asleep...

Once she woke from her nap, we gave her a sponge bath, put her in soft jammies and we finally saw a couple of real smiles...

She was so tired - she fell asleep and slept the whole night.

I remember that I couldn't stop looking at her that night. I couldn't believe she was with me. My sweet girl.

We had a long road ahead of us at that time - we needed to get to know each other. But as you can all see now, we are completely inseparable.

Happy Briana Day Anniversary, Forever Family Day Anniversary, Gotcha Day Anniversary to my sweet amazing daughter.

Week Of Fun!

 Whew! We had a full week last week I tell ya! I wanted to make Bri's last full week of summer vacation super fun! (She has the best smile, doesn't she?)

Sunday, we saw "Turbo." So cute! We have hit every single cartoon movie of the summer so far...

Monday, Bri's friend Taylor came over to play for a few hours...

And as you know, we went blueberry picking on Tuesday...

Wednesday Briana had speech therapy, and that is right near the town square. So we went over there for lunch and so Bri could play on the little train...

We had a super yummy lunch...

Then I got Bri some ice cream afterward...

B loves the train that goes around the top of the shop...

 Thursday, it was time for school shopping. We went to Bri's favorite store Justice and she picked out a few adorable outfits. I'm not sure if there is enough pink and purple - just sayin'. ;)


Friday, we finally got over for a swim at my friend Julie's house. She had a pool built in her backyard in May, and Bri and I have been dying to see it. But of course rain forced us to cancel plans a couple of weeks ago, so we rescheduled for Friday. Her pool is beautiful - a true oasis!

My girl - who has still been kind of afraid of the deep end - was jumping in without any inner tube assistance. And she was swimming with the strokes and breathing she learned this summer. Proud mama moment!!!

Bri swam for hours and hours. And in that pool, it is very easy to do. A huge thank you to Julie and Olivia for having us over!

And when I got home Friday afternoon, in my mailbox was Briana's classroom assignment. I guess summer vacation is officially winding down now for us. Open house on Tuesday!

Blueberry Pickin' - Year 6!

 We finally did it! We got to blueberry pick last Tuesday - and we were so happy Kathy and Chani could join us this year.

There are two patches in Georgia that Bri and I like to go to (there really aren't that many patches to chose from). One is a mom and pop type of patch with several rows of trees (we went there last year) and the other is a beautiful farm with rows of blueberry trees. This year, we went back to the farm (last year - a late frost killed off the farm's blueberries, so they were closed the whole summer).

To be honest, I wasn't sure we would get to blueberry pick at all. The weather in Georgia has been less than ideal for blueberry growth. Lots of rain and cool temps. Blueberries like heat and sun. We knew when going to the patch that there would probably be slim pickings (the blueberries are still trying to ripen), but with Bri going back to school soon, we were running out of time. We always pick around the beginning of July. We've never picked this late in the month ever!

We arrived at the farm and it was beautiful...

The girls befriended the farm dog...

As you can see, Bri was wearing her swim suit under her dress. We all had our suits on. The plan was to go to White Water after picking if the weather permitted. Unfortunately, it wasn't ideal at all for swimming, but it was still great for picking...

Cute photo opp...

When we first entered the patch, the sun was trying to peek out. The temps where quite cool for July though there was still some humidity in the air. And the mosquitoes were out in full force. I of course forgot my bug spray, so we did get bit up unfortunately. But we were determined to get some blueberries and still have fun!

You can see how a lot of the blueberries had not ripened quite yet...

We managed to find some though...

The girls found a perfect little covered spot that they spent a lot of time in...

 We picked for about an hour and I took a bunch of photos...

After we picked, the girls played for a little while and the moms were deciding what to do about White Water...

The longer we sat, the more the sky looked like this...

We decided that White Water would be too cold and it looked like rain. The water was never going to warm up enough for us or the girls. So we headed off to Kathy's house instead.

She had a little pool set up and though the water was chilly, the girls played outside for quite a while... 

Once back inside, they played and played for hours. They even made remote control walkie talkies out of pipe cleaners...

Bri and I got home around dinner time and washed the berries we had collected...

They were not super ripe, but I think I can definitely do something yummy with them.

To see our previous blueberry picking excursions...

Year 5

Year 4

Year 3

Year 2

Year 1

It is amazing how vastly different each year has been from the year before!!

I love this tradition (and so does Bri) and I am hoping to stick with it again next year!