Our first reunion with our travel group

It's been 16 months since we were together in China meeting our new children.  What we experienced together with these wonderful families will bond us for life.  We got to know each other first as strangers on the same loooong path with the same adoption agency, then as parents anxiously awaiting that moment when they can finally hold their newest child in their arms for the first time.  And then after the magic of adoption, we felt instantly glued to ALL of these precious children who have touched our hearts because we all met on the same day in the same way!

Two of these wonderful families were able to come to HH for our first reunion.  I have to tell you that as it got closer, I got more and more excited to SEE these special children again.  When I last saw them, they were so tiny and scared.   I needed to see them with their families even though I knew they were loved and cared for just as deeply as Chelsee has been.  We were so happy to come together to see each other's kids.  Any one of them could have been our own, that is the core of our glue, I believe!

For a week in July, we spent our time reminiscing, laughing, taking pictures, and mostly just staring at each other and the kids to be sure everyone was doing as well as we had been reporting to each other throughout the last 16 months!  It was the most amazing feeling to see sweet Sarah and Maeve so big and happy and completely at home with their new families.  I know it brought them the same joy to see Chelsee (who they all remember as Fu Mei) thriving with us!

 

We wished more of our March 2009 Great Wall families could have joined us but we promised to keep working on yearly reunions.  It is so important to us as the parents and even more so to the special little ones God has given us to raise!   Here are some pics from the week!   Thank you soooo much to both families for making more lasting memories together!  Miss you!