WEEKEND BLISS

I am actually sad that it is Sunday because I did not want this weekend to end. On Friday evening we visited Tony's dad. He is FINALLY home from the hospital...thank the Lord. It was a little crazy as he was getting a blood transfusion so we spent a couple of hours with him while he was receiving the blood. Afterwards, we drove him home than back to the clinic as he forgot his walker. It was a long evening and a little crazy but we are so thankful to have been able to spend time with dad outside of the hospital. Halainah was so cute! She wanted to be next to Grandpa. Grandpa felt bad because he couldn't pick Halainah up but he gently touched her cheek and he told her that she is very special to him. It was a very tender moment. It's going to be a little bit of a rough road of recovery for my father-in-law. But with the support of his family, he will fight this battle. Please keep praying.

Well we planned to spend Saturday cleaning up the yard and getting ready for all of the spring flowers to come in. But the wind was crazy and it was really chilly so we decided to spend the day out. It was a great day. We went to the Christmas Tree Shops, the mall and out for dinner at the Chinese buffet. It was so much fun to fill Halainah's Easter basket with goodies. We have always dreamed of that. Now I can't wait for Christmas. We have so many family traditions I can hardly wait to share them with Halainah. I found a new children's store in the mall that I absolutely love and I bought the most beautiful outfits for Halainah for next year at great prices. All weekend long Halainah was the center of attention. More so than any other day that I could remember. It started at the clinic with dad, she received tons of lollipops and stickers and compliments. Dad's Oncologist is Chinese and Dad told her we adopted from China. She seemed genuinely happy for us and asked where she's from. Once we told her that she is from Jiangxi province, she lit up and said "oh she's a spicy girl." I started to laugh. It's just something that everyone told us in China and it was nice to hear again. At the Chinese buffet she was a star and received royal treatment from the staff. They all loved her Chinese name. I will spare you more details of the evening as it's very repetitive as I explained in a prior post. Halainah enjoyed every minute of it, she loves being out and about. She waves and blows kisses to everyone she sees. It is very comical.

On Sunday we packed a lunch and headed to a nearby park. It was a beautiful day, a little breezy but the sun felt good. It was the first time we took Halainah to the park. Of course at first she didn't know what to do but she quickly caught on. First, we ate our lunch as a family which I have to say is one of Halainah's most favorite activities...eating. Then we played and played and played. At one point Tony turned to me and said, "can you believe that we are at the park with OUR daughter. Not someone else's children, not cousins, nieces or nephews but OUR daughter." It was really cute. Halainah had a smile from ear to ear the entire time. It was pure bliss. We were so sad to leave but we had a million and one things to do so we continued the day.

We spent the entire weekend as a family and it felt so good. We reminisced about China and talked about how big Halainah is getting. She takes about 4-5 steps by herself now. She's going to be walking in no time. We looked through all of our China photos and actually developed some. Looking through all of those photos made me so emotional. That was a trip of a lifetime and so hard to put into words how special and amazing it was.


Lainey and her Grandpa!

So curious about everything!
I love that beautiful face!
Halainah playing at the playground!
Lainey's first ride down the slide!
She laughed when she got to the bottom!
Mama and Lainey on the slide!
She loved the swing!
Such a happy little girl!
Lainey on the tire swing laughing at daddy taking the picture!
Lainey exploring on her own!
Daddy and his princess on the swing!
Mama and her China doll on the swing!
Walking a few steps on her own!
And down she goes!
Lainey peeking at Dada!
I see you!
Are you down there Dada?