[Amysue1112]

Yep! Can you believe it? Hannah has been ours a year!

I will attach a few pictures along with my blog entry at From Russia With Love Only a few pictures aer small enough for me to post, so you can see more on our blog if you would like...

We are so proud of our little angel..what a blessing she is!

Here is the entry..

Well, I can hardly believe it...one year ago, May 25th, 2006, we were declared by the Russian judge Hannah's parents. I will never forget that moment...Judge Olga said (through the interpreter Elena) "at 5:05pm, your daughter has been born to you, Hannah Grace". THose were the most beautiful words we have ever heard..it still brings tears to my eyes thinking of that day. Our hearts were dancing with joy! On May 26, 2006 we spent the whole day literally running from office to office, getting all her paperwork ready so that we could go pick her up from the orphanage and leave for Moscow the next morning. It was crazy, but a glorious time in our lives...an amazing life-changing experience that we will cherish forever.


So here we are, 1 yr later..the little baby who couldn't crawl, could only say "DA" (yes in Russian) and loved to show us her "tricks" by wagging her tongue and making clicking noises, is now running, jumping, spinning, twirling and doing front rolls all over the place. She is speaking in amazingly clear sentences, some as many as six words long. She loves to talk to her friends on the phone..she loves to be tickled and loves to sing. She especially loves her family, Mommy, Daddy, Mommom (my mom) Papa John (my dad), Ordee (Lorrie, my sister), Uncle Shawn (whom she used to call Doggie!) Bandon (Brandon), Baydee (Bailey), Uncle Jay, Aunt Manda (Amanda), Gampa (Joe's dad), Gama (Joe's mom) and Uncle Mike...and 3 of her best buddies Sayka (Sarah), Emma, and Vava (Ava).

Hannah is the most amazing little girl...she knows no strangers and "expects" people to be as friendly as she is. She talks to everyone she sees in stores and restaurants..and so politely likes to remove the food from her mouth and hand it to the waitress with a bubbley "THANK YOU!". How could she not smile? Hannah makes everyone smile. She just grins and her face glows. She is like a ray of sunshine in our lives.

To celebrate her one year home we went to my dad's for Memorial Day weekend celebration. We had a wonderful time. He rented a bouncey house with a climbing wall and slide and a big water slide. Hannah mastered the climbing wall her first try, and then figured out how to climb the slide too...she is just too darn amazing! Even after playing for hours and hours she remained such a goo little girl. She kept saying "Hannah HAPPY!" Oh how I love to hear those words from her! She also loves to say "NO AT-TIT-TUDE"..hmm..wonder where she got that? Even on the 3 hr drive home she wa an angel, as she always in in the car. When Daddy is driving, she usually asks "Mommy hold Nanna's feet"..so I recline my seat and hold on to her little feet...how precious they are...and she usually gazes happily out the window or goes to sleep, content with the world.

After 1 yr home, I can barely remember how our lives were before her. In my mind I "know" she spent 11 months without us, but in my heart I know that she was always with us. She is my angel from above. Thank you Lord for blessing me with such precious gift! A few months before we got the "call" to go to Russia, Joe and I went to a Christian music concert. We bought a shirt for our "daugter-to-be" with a lyric from one of the band's songs..."When God made you...He must have been thinking about me". At the time we were just dreaming of the child that would be ours, but now I know that God was thinking about me, because He blessed me with my deepest heart's desire..my precious litle girl.

Here's to our sweet Hannah Grace, who has brightened the lives of all who know her (and even those that don't) whose little personality and soul is the as bright and as warm as the sun. We love you baby girl!