Well the "excitement" never ends it seems. We have continued our problems with illness throughout the month and then last Monday we added an accident to the mix. We received the dreaded call from the Daycare last Monday that our precious child had been involved in an accident. It turns out that a daycare worker left a door open and took a couple of steps away from the door. Within a few seconds Ashley had gone over to the door to see what was going on and then another child saw the open door and assumed that it needed to be closed. Anyway it was closed on Ashley's "Pinky" finger on her right hand. It broke the very tip of her bone in the little finger and took the top of the finger off from just below the nail to the end and pealed it back. We had to rush to the hospital and hold her down while they did the work to repair the finger. We will not know for many months if the fingernail will hold and grow back. Needless to say it has been very hard on Ashley and Mommy and Daddy as well. Please keep her in your prayers that she will have a speedy recovery and that the nail will grow back as normal.

May God Bless you all,
Mike

Okay so we will keep the story going. Thank you to all who replied to the last posting, I did not know so many people cared.

The reason for the delay in posting this time has been illness in the family. Billie and Ashley have both been sick this past month with Billie getting the worst of the deal. So to say the least I have been busy caring for my girls.

This picture is of Ashley and her Niece Taylor who came by to visit the other day.

This one Ashley is riding her horse. Taylor is in the foreground and Nana is in the rocking chair.

Ashley and Mommy with her new "Elmo mo" that GiGi got her for Valentines Day.

I will try to post every week or so. Please keep the comments coming.

Love Mike

Finally a new post.

Sorry it has taken so long but we have had a lot going on and have been fighting the illness going around the area.

First of all I need to know how many people are still wanting to see updates to this blog. If you are then let me know by clicking on the comments below this posting and type in you comment. If I do not hear from anyone I can only assume people are not longer going to the sight and I will stop posting.

Please let me know if you want to keep this going or not.

Thanks,

Mike

Some Pictures for you now: Ashley's first day going to Daycare.

Ashley's older Sister Christy and Brother in Law Jeremy at Christmas Dinner.
The Family enjoying the holiday together. We had to set up in the living room this year to fit everyone. A great "problem" to have.
Ashley all dressed up.
She comes to see Daddy now a lot more than she did at the start.
Ashley with her sister Michelle and her niece Hayleigh.

Ashley and Mommy.
Ashley up close playing with Daddy.
Another shot of the family at Christmas.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year.

Love, Mike, Billie, & Ashley

Ashley is getting to know her niece Taylor when she stopped by to visit. They played and had a good time together.
Ashley with Mommy & Daddy getting ready to go out.
Ashley and her niece Hayleigh playing. Hayleigh and her mommy just got in from Germany.
Hayleigh and Gi Gi outside playing football.
We are so happy to have our younger daughter and granddaughter home from the Air Force for a little while. They have been gone for a year and a half so we have a lot of catching up to do. We will have over 20 family members here for Christmas this year, it just doesn't get any better than that !!!!
Love,
Mike & Billie

Just some pictures tonight. She loves her mommy in case you didn't know.

Well things are getting better everyday with Ashley. I spent the last three days at home with her while Billie went to work and that gave us some bonding time. She has now made a major step in that she has asked to get down from Mommy and then walked over to me and reached up for me to pick her up. She is playing a lot and trying new foods all the time. She has even gotten better when new people stop by to see her. She doesn't hide her face all of the time they are here now and she even played with her niece this evening. She still wants her mommy and won't go out of her sight when she is home.
Here are a few pictures from the trip that you haven't seen yet.

Thanksgiving Dinner
Ashley and mom at Thanksgiving
The Family in the White Swan Lobby

Sorry for not posting last week.
We had a very busy week of getting over major jet lag and getting use to being home again. Of course for Ashley it was getting home for the first time. This is where the Story of the rest of her life begins. She went backwards a little on bonding and a few other things the first few days but she is getting better and more happy and playful each day. We took her to the doctor on Monday and got some new meds for her and go back on Tuesday. We went to Church yesterday and she did great, she didn't cry once and looked around and watched everything going on. I will try to get on here more often this week and put up some more pictures. Here are a few to get you started.

Ashley talking on the phone.
Taking a nap.
She likes her room and the bear.

Eating out for the first time.

Love Mike & Billie

Just a quick note to say we are home. Thanks again for all of the prayers and thoughts for us during this time. I will post more in a couple of days when we get caught up from the Jet lag a little. Ashley LOVES her room and got all excited with the stuffed animals and all. I need to go fix a bottle now so I will do this later.

Love Mike & Billie

Just a few pictures tonight. We are madly getting ready to leave and try to sleep a little before our 4:30am wake up call. We can't wait to see you all and get back to our own home. We will however miss the wonderful people that we have now made part of our family here.

Ashley on the bus.
Daddy are you ready for Golf ?What do you mean I can't play through?
Monya on the Bus.Another shot of Monya.
See you all soon.
Love Mike & Billie

The Famous Red Couch Picture. Monya is in Wesley's arms just out of my view on the left. She should be in the "official" picture though.
Ashley and Daddy right after the picture above.
The Chinese Princess getting ready to go.
Isn't she lovely?
The Atha Family
Today was filled with shopping and sight seeing. We had a nice day and saw the sun for the second time since we have been in China. We had a beautiful river boat cruise tonight and it was quite a sight. Tomorrow we go to the final appointment and then we get ready for the trip home. We can't wait to see you all again and let you meet Ashley. The first few days we will need to let her get settled but we will have her out bragging shortly.
We love and miss you all.
Mike & Billie

This is the view out of our hotel room window at about noon. We have only seen the sun a couple of times during this trip. We do not know if this is normal for this time of year or just this way all of the time.

Even though this is out of focus you can see a very happy and playful Ashley cutting up with Daddy and the camera.
Another view of the beautiful Smile of Ashley.

This is our "Adoption Barbie" that is given to all the adoptive families by Mattel and the White Swan.

It is getting closer to time to go home and we cannot wait. We are all very tired and Ashley is running a fever again. Once again we are blessed by the Stanley family who let us have their medicine for Ashley since we had used all of ours. They have been a wonderful family and we are so thankful for them! Many have asked about the lady who fell and I have forgotten if I put in here about only one of them or both of them. The first lady who fell at the zoo is doing much better, but still sore. She has the local shopping to keep her going. The elderly lady who fell in her room ended up with a broken arm and flew home today to get it taken care of, we have had many prayers for her during this time and we hope all will heal quickly.
As we have feared the group has separated a lot since the move. Each couple or maybe one or two couples are going their own way, we are sadden by this as we enjoyed the time with all of them.
We have learned a lot for this trip and will treasure the time forever. I value the time learning from all of the other families more than anything. We have such a good group of Christian people here and they are not afraid to show it. We have prayed in public, held hands in prayer and worship together, comforted each other and attended to each other's needs.

By the way Billie and I found some white silk and bought enough to make Ashley a wedding dress when she grows up. Billie thought that this would be a nice thought to have the silk from the same trip as when we came to get her.
We hope that everyone at home is doing well and we look forward to seeing you all very soon.
Love to all,
Mike & Billie

Monya and Wesley hanging out at the front desk of the White Swan Hotel.
Ashley likes the crib here.
She really likes the Crib.
Dale, Billie, and Sharon doing over 2 hours of MORE paper work. This should be the final to get ready for the appointment on the 30th.
All in all a good day today, we just moved from one hotel to another. We like the hotel okay but the other one was much nicer. We don't have enough room here and we have already lost the group feeling in just a few short hours. Before we all would go together to do things and so far everyone is going their own way. We did set it up to meet at 8am for breakfast with a couple of other families tomorrow. We have a "free day" tomorrow so that will be nice not to have to rush to one place and then the next. We hope everyone is doing well at home, we sure do miss all of you.

Love,
Mike & Billie

The Atha Family having fun at supper.

Another shot of the Atha Family.
Ashley & Mommy at dinner.

Two Beautiful young ladies !!!!!!

God is so Good, God is so Good, God is so Good, He's so Good To Me !!!!