Feeling Reflective...the "Then" versus the "Now"

Cafe next to the White Swan Hotel....


Maybe it's because we recently passed our 2nd anniversary of our referral (August 24th--which is also Ed's birthday!!). Or maybe it's because they seem to be at the sheer pinnacle of what I think "thriving" is all about. Whatever the reason, I've been feeling unusually reflective lately so I dug-up some old China and Early-Days thereafter pictures.....just to kind of "compare" and jog my memory of the "Then" and the "Now".....

Forbidden City, of course.....



Um...guess what...I'm thinking this is Nicki 'cause I'm more sure the next pic is Sammi but....I think I may always be unsure on these two shots which is completely unusual for me!!


Wonderful Welcoming Committee at the airport when we returned from China...


Ooofff....we were so beyond-belief tired after 45-50 hours non-stop travel from White Swan to RDU...


Here is Colleen and me on our first evening home....Colleen and all our friends were just wonderful...Ed and I were so exhausted and our friends all rallied around us and helped us out for quite some time.....


Ah, I'll never ever forget what our team of pediatricians (who specialize in Chinese adoption ) said to us those throughout their first two months home: "Your daughters have quite a lot of issues going on right now." Whew, and were they ever right. They came home with double ear infections (both), exotic skin fungus problems (Sammi), severe bronchitis (both)...and oh yay, RSV (Nicki). On one of our practically daily doctor's visits (which happened to be Christmas Eve), Dr. Foster took one look at Nicki, slammed-on a pulse ox monitor and immediately called the EMS as Nicki's reading was right at 89-90%. Poor little thing and poor us. As the EMTs were whisking Nicki away, I overheard one of the nurses say to another nurse that RSV can absolutely be fatal. Oh my....there we are below in the ER waiting on her room as she had to be admitted for a few days. And, I'll never forget what Jeannette and the Ks did for us.....I called Jeannette crying and in need of immediate help to take care of Sammi and Jeannette dropped everything she was doing (on Christmas Eve!!) to swoop in and take care of Sammi while Ed and I stayed at the hospital with Nicki....wow, pretty awesome, huh! Ah, our dear friends are indeed our "family".....


A few weeks later, things started to get better....here we are at the Mall...


Oh, so tiny....they weighed 13 pounds when we came home....and gained just a whopping 8 pounds over the year. Now, at 3 yrs old, they still just weigh 26 pounds...Tee-nine-eey....



And....here they are now.....simply awesome, happy, fun, funny, capable, mostly pretty sweet, they play so very well together....and they are both just our bundles of joy....Wow, Then vs Now. What a journey.....


Hugs,
Cindy