Good-bye to 2006 and hello to 2007. I hope you enjoy part 2 of some of my special memories I shared with Gracie in 2006.

In May Gracie celebrated her first Mother’s Day with mom. One year prior Gracie was only a dream and now she is a very special reality. What a wonderful Mother’s Day gift for my mom. The other thing I remembered about May was that summer break was just around the corner. One more month away and then I would be spending more time with Gracie. I really looked forward to that.

In June I prepared to go on a mission trip to War, West Virginia for one week. One of the highly suggested items my youth leaders told us to purchase was an inflatable mattress since I would be traveling on several more youth trips and missions trip in the years to come. Gracie thought this thing was the greatest toy and loved to just lie on as it was being inflated and sink into it when the air was let out. I sure missed Gracie that week but had an incredible experience working with the youth in West Virginia.

In July we dressed Gracie in red, white, and blue for the 4th of July. Since this was her first year in America we made sure we celebrated not only America’s independence but also Gracie’s independence from a country where little girls were often persecuted for just being born a female. My mom, Gracie and I went outside and took out the sidewalk chalk and wrote out “Happy 4th of July” and “God Bless the USA” on our driveway for everyone to see. This was a small way we could show our appreciation for our freedom. After it was dark Mom, Gracie and I watched the fireworks our neighbors were displaying. My dad was in Australia on a business trip and missed out on all the fun. A couple of weeks later my mom, dad, Gracie and I headed off for a long weekend with my Aunt Jo, Uncle Mikie and cousins Jack and Meleah. Three days were spent on my Uncle Mikie’s boat. Gracie was living it up with the wind blowing in her hair. My mom and I reflected back on what Gracie would have been doing on that particular day had she still been in China.

In August we celebrated Gracie’s second birthday. We had to celebrate it a few days late since I was on another mission trip and I would not have wanted to miss this for the world. This was our first birthday that we got to celebrate with her since we adopted her one-week past her first birthday. Another wonderful celebration took place and that was the celebration of Gracie’s “Gotcha Day”. In our families opinion this is Gracie’s “real birthday” and “Independence Day” all rolled into one. In a lot of ways Gracie’s “Gotcha Day” is the day she was born out of a life with very little future into a life of so much promise. We also believe it is her really Independence Day because she was being taken out of a country where many of the regions look down upon women. Her Gotcha Day began a new life where she would live in a country that would welcome her for who she was. We also enjoyed another family trip to the beach with my mom’s side of the family where many more memories were made.