Our Family Christmas Card

Susi Yue
Our precious girls!

Savannah and Alyx, the two that started it all!

The boys!

I thought I would just be able to share the card and be able to enlarge it but I guess not. I am a little disappointed. The print says Merry Christmas and Blessings for a Joyous New Year. The Brady Family, Lee, Tami, Savannah, Alyx, Graci, Dax, Thad, Kamby, and Susi. Since you can't really see the pictures on the inset I am posting them separately here.

Noir Stars Christmas

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One Year Ago....Gotcha Day....Thad and Kamby!

The doctor that sees the kids at the orphanage.

Thaddeus in his crib at the orphanage for the last time.

Kamby in her crib at the orphanage for the last time. Thad and Kamby, along with their friend, Amara had boxes right next to each other.

Saying goodbye to the orphanage (toukoul) forever! It definitely was not hard to take our babies away from this place. What was very difficult though, was leaving all the other babies behind.

Thad and Kamby with the nurse for their room.

With the toukoul director.

Kamby's first bath with us.

Thad's first bath with us.

We went visiting to the guest house.

In the garden at the guest house.

Our family.

Thad and Kamby's first night with us. Happy Gotcha Day Thaddeus Joel and Kambyri Senait!!!

Merry Christmas

We love you so much Susi and our hearts break that you are not home for Christmas. You will be home soon!

I Feel as Though I Have Done This Before...

Susannah Yue enjoying cake for her friend's birthday. Susi will turn four the day after Christmas.

Oh yeah, because I have. It was Christmas 2006 when we decorated the tree, preparing our hearts for Christmas, very excited but very sad at the same time. We held pictures of our babies that would not be home for Christmas. One, still in an orphanage in China and the other with his foster family in Guatemala. It was so hard to focus on the festivities and fun of the holidays because I just wanted to be in China. Well here we are again. It is Christmas time 4 years later and we are incomplete. Our Susi will not be with us for Christmas or her fourth birthday. There is such comfort in knowing that she is in a lovely place with caring people that serve Jesus by serving the orphans in China. Everyday is the same, I hop on the computer with a beating heart hoping to see new pictures of Susi or an update. I am so happy when they appear and I pray for her and I long for her to be with me. And although I am full of joy to gaze upon her beautiful face, my heart aches like nothing I can compare to, because I miss her!

I am so grateful to have pictures to share and to feel a little bit closer to my girl!

The Angel Said....

Tonight, while curled up on the couch with Graci and Dax, we were reading the Bible story of when the angel told Mary she would be with child. Graci and Dax were holding and playing with their toy angels and Mary from their nativity sets. When I was done reading and discussing with them what happened to Mary, Graci started doing a play with her angel. She held it up in the air and made it talk in an angel voice. Pointing to me the angel said,

"You will have a baby and her name is Susi, she lives in China."
"Thad and Kamby are already here and they are your babies too."
"You need to be a nice mommy and not spank your children."

With that the angel was done speaking and we were all rolling on the floor in laughter!