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I really can not believe it has only been two months since we first held our little princess.  It seems as though she has been with us much longer.  She is fitting right into our family.  She is so enjoyable, has quite a humor, wakes up happy, all around pleasant, sweet, obedient, and precious little girl.  We are so amazed at our daughter, I do believe that she was grieving those first weeks home - she now seems to have settled in - and she seems very happy.  And this makes me happy!!!

You never know how things are going to go, how your child will handle all of these incredible changes in their life - you pray for the best, but you prepare for all the possibilities.  She has amazed us and I am so thankful for the ease of her transition.  


Elon and Harper have become great friends and, of course, typical sisters.

They fight...







In other news, I got a new camera!!!  It is actually a early Christmas present and an unexpected one at that!  Last week, we got the kid's completely ready to go out and try to take pictures for our Christmas card and my camera would not work!  I will not elaborate at how I was feeling at the moment - but the good thing was - I got a new camera and a new lens!!

Cole knew he had to give it to me early because it was Harpers first Christmas :)  I can not miss all of these memories!!

So I was figuring out my new camera and trying to get some pics of ALL the kid's.  Getting pictures of the girls is easy, they are still young, I remember when the boys were this age and I had SO many pictures of them.  It is not as easy to get two pre-teen boys to take pictures.  It was quite funny what I got...

Harper, who is just happy to smile:

Elon, wanting to show her favorite special ornament:

 Case, his silliness came out:

And Camden, wouldn't stop eating:

Harper had her Oncology appointment today.  I am so happy to say that her blood work looked great!!!  Her blood counts are exactly where they need to be - Praise God!!!

Even though I was not worried about this appointment, I have to admit that is was just awesome to hear this.  She is really doing amazing and...

She is such a brave girl!

She had already done a tour of the doctor's office with no poking - so this time they brought in a translator to speak to Harper in Mandarin so she would know exactly what was going to happen - it was such a blessing and very helpful to her!  I also have to say that...

CHILD LIFE SPECIALIST ROCK!

These wonderful ladies really get on a child's level, help them understand what is going to happen, show them what is going to happen, let them touch everything, I just can not say how wonderful our experience was - why they do not have Child Life Specialist at every doctor's office I will never know :)

There were times that she was scared but she attempted to be so brave and not cry.  Finally they came - those big, huge, alligator tears that make everyone in the room want to cry.  No screaming, just silent and absolutely pitiful.  When I see her like that it is all I can do to not cry with her.  Yet she seems so strong in those moments.  Her bravery is unlike anything I have ever seen.

After they showed her exactly what they were going to do, and she was able to use a REAL needle on their doll "Harry" - she was OK with them taking the blood needed.  She even helped them pull the syringe to take the blood out of her arm!  And it was painless!  They used a cream that numbed the spot on her arm so she felt nothing when the needle went in - Where has this cream been all my life???  (another thing they should have at every doctor's office!!)

We go back in a few months to do another check-up and to have an Echocardiogram.  This is routine and Harper will periodically have her heart checked for any heart muscle damage due to the treatment she received for her Leukemia.

After our appointment we went shopping :)  And guess who was at the mall???  Yes - Santa!  I really thought she would be afraid but not at all!  She was pointing and trying to pull me over to him - it was perfect timing, he was getting ready to go on break but they let her go ahead and see him.  She jumped right up in his lap and smiled for the camera as if she had done this before.  I was quite surprised, and of course, I had to buy the pictures of our first trip to see Santa.  Funny to have a picture with out her brothers and sisters but I am sure the boys would not want to and Elon would have screamed her head off - so this is most likely what the picture would have looked like anyway...



I have been seeing a change in my sweet little Harper the past two weeks.  She has always been a good girl, sweet, gentle, and funny - but this change is a change toward me.  She is really letting me in, and it feels so good!  She has never pushed me away but I really was not sure that she really wanted ME.  But I am seeing that now - in the way she lets me hold her and relax's in my arms and actually holds me back, she now wants me to hold her all the time, she tells me she loves me without me saying it first, she looks to hold my hand, she touches my face and pulls it to look at her and she just smiles and laughs, we laugh all the time!

She has been MY daughter before we even met but NOW I am becoming HER mother.

It is a beautiful thing to watch and experience!    

I love this little girl so much...







Pure joy!

Now for Thanksgiving day - it was delightful and amazingly easy!  I loved how it went from filling our tummy's, to birthday party for Ella, to a reunion!




 Now for the birthday girl...



I realize how old I am getting when I see these beautiful young ladies!  Hayden (holding Harper) was one of our flower girls in our wedding over 14 years ago!  Catherine (holding Elon) was just a toddler and Lizzy (in the middle) was not even born!  Wow, where does the time go???

There is nothing like family :)

Thankful, thankful, thankful for the one I was blessed with - ALL of them - even the one's I did not get to see today!