Being 3!

I was washing dishes yesterday and I saw Lauren pass me on her bike in her princess dress and pink glitter tennis shoes...had to catch the moment. :)

Preschool!

I enrolled Lauren in preschool yesterday! She starts in August... She'll being going 2 half days a week. I can't wait to volunteer in her class, go on field trips, and hear all her stories that she will come home with!

Have I said how much I love being a parent??! :)

Happy Spring!

We spent our weekend going for walks, having fun with friends at the park, and enjoying the beautiful spring weather as we put our flowers in the yard and gave our front yard a much needed spring makeover.

God continues to bless us so amazingly. Our girl is growing before our eyes and although it is difficult to know our "baby years" are now over, I am taken aback at how tender-hearted and special our Lauren is. She loves to meet new friends, has a sense of humor that keeps us laughing everyday. Her heart is so in tune with other's that she is touched to the point of full on sobbing when moment's like during the movie "Bolt" when Bolt finds himself alone or when I read "The Crippled Lamb" by Max Lucado the other night, and Joshua, the lamb, had a hurt leg...she is so tender to other's needs. I have been inspired by her to pray more too. Often something will happen and she will say, mommy can you pray for my knee, or lets pray for that person, etc. Then, I think, gosh why didn't I think to pray about that! :) I can see God working through her and am so thankful to Him that he put such an incredible little girl in my life and has allowed me to be her mommy.

Well, I hope you all have had a great weekend! I'm off to get dinner on! (aka, order take-out) :)

Happy Birthday Gramma!

Today we celebrated my Gramma's 84th birthday! I am so thankful she was able to visit from Michigan so we could celebrate her special day together. She is just an amazing woman, a woman after God's heart. Her influence in my life has been incredible. Her prayer's have impacted my life more than I will ever know. I am so thankful to God for allowing me to be her grandaughter. What an honor...


To celebrate, we walked through the beautiful Botanical Gardens, enjoyed lunch outside on the patio as a live band played, and we toasted our wine glasses to Gramma!



The 4 Generation's picture! What a long time coming this has been! :)

Parties!

Yesterday was a fun-filled day of parties! We started out at the Hanson's for our CNY party. The girls all dressed in their traditional Chinese dresses and we enjoyed yummy Chinese food! The girls had lot's of fun playing together. Thanks Suz, Dan, and Caroline for opening your home to us! We are so blessed to have met such amazing friends along our journey to Lauren.



We then did a dress change and swept Cinderella off to her ball! :) It was Holly's 3rd birthday and we had SO much fun dancing, laughing, playing, etc!


Just my type of princess...not afraid to get dirty :)



The Princes of the ball... :)



Daddy about fell over seeing Lauren in her Cinderella "Wedding" dress. :)



Happy Birthday Holly!! You are such a special girl! Thanks for inviting us to your party!!

Happy New Year~Year of the Rabbit!

We visited our friends at Tao* Kitchen Restaurant for dinner tonight and the girls all came over to wish Lauren a Happy New Year in Mandarin and then gave her this very special gift! It's a red envelope with $10 of "Lucky Money"! We have so much fun every time we visit this place and practice our Chinese as they practice their English with us.

Saturday we are celebrating CNY at the Hanson's, I'll post more pics then of all the girls together! Happy Year of the Rabbit everyone! I will be enjoying every second of the year with my little Fire Pig. :)

Off to Sunny Atlanta, Ga....waaaiit a minute

So, I have a work conference to go to this weekend in Atlanta and Dan and Lauren are coming with me! We had BIG plans to head over to see the aquarium there, it looks awesome! However, I was just checking out the weather to see how to pack...and the city is almost shut down due to snow! :) I don't think we'll be making it to the aquarium afterall! Dan is going to be REALLY sad when he finds out there's a World of Coca~Cola there too! :) Well at least the hotel has a really nice indoor pool! :)

Any travel tips of how to keep Lauren entertained on the plane are more than welcome! :)

Happy New Year!

Word of the Year: Discipline

Being an even number fan and my favorite number being #10, it has been a bit sad saying goodbye to 2010. However, I am starting the year with a drive toward higher discipline in my life. Discipline to lose the weight I gained during our infertility treatments, discipline to spend more time with God so I can be who He intended me to be, discipline to get my "bucket" filled by God, so I can give more freely to others.

Today we started the New Year playing in the park, with Bailey running like a puppy even though she is going to be 11 this year, and cherishing every minute of laughter from our wonderful daughter. Life is good... :)


Do you have a word you've chosen for this year?

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I love being mommy to this angel...




Lauren hanging her ornament. We have many that say, "Waiting for Lauren 2006", "In our Hearts Lauren 2008", this one says, "Adopted with Love 2009 ~Lauren 8/5/07".


My Grandma just arrived yesterday from Michigan and I just loved watching Lauren sit and talk with her great-gramma for the first time last night..what cherished memories.



My sweethearts...two gifts I never take for granted.


Merry Christmas everyone. May 2011 bring Peace, Love, and Joy to your family.

My Hero

Visit Katie at Amazima Ministries to be be inspired and encouraged. Please pray for this amazing young women who has left me speechless so often and feeling driven after reading her words to follow God closer and listen more intently for His will in my life.

Magical Times

The past month has been so wonder-filled for us. To say I am blessed, just does not do it justice. Last year at this time we in the Davenport home were in what we refer to as "survival mode". Money was tight, Lauren and I had the dreaded H1N1, I was looking at the mountain of schoolwork ahead and the finish line of graduate school that was so close yet seemed impossible to get to, and just home with our new precious daughter. This year is magical... as my patients at Mayo used to remind me of daily, THESE are our Golden Years. November 12-13th we headed up to the Polar Express where Mrs. Claus made us cookies to enjoy as we headed to the North Pole to see santa!



This is us on the Polar Express train! We listened to the story on the way up while sipping hot cocoa and eating the delicious cookies Mrs. Claus made for us, then we saw santa at the North Pole and, can you believe it, he rode back with us! We sang Christmas songs all the way home and Santa came by and gave a sleigh bell to each child. Then, if that wasn't enough, Santa was waiting for pictures when we got off the train and he signed Lauren's sleigh bell! :) It was soooo much fun!




Lauren ran up to the main conductor while we were waiting for the train and said, "mommy, take my picture!".



Lauren in the pretty hotel lobby, it was so cozy with a huge, blazing fireplace and tall Christmas tree. You instantly feel in the holiday spirit when you enter this lobby.


I'm a little behind in posting pics, so thought I would share with you Halloween as well. Lauren loved being Jesse from Toy Story 3, she often asks me to be Woody and we re-inact parts of the movie. This is Jesse with her cousins Princess Tiana and Wolverine of course. :)


Jesse never looked more beautiful... :)


Well, besides our Halloween fun and Polar Express trip,we have just enjoyed being together and creating memories together. Thanksgiving was full of Zoolights, Turkey Bowl fun, time with family, and lot's of laughter with my girl. My heart is so full of joy and I am so thankful to my Creator for all His abundant blessings.

First Family Portraits

Yesterday we went to our favorite walking spot near our home and had our first family portraits done! Suz did an amazing job and what made our experience even better was knowing she is doing this photography as a fundraiser for the adoption of her Ethiopian Princess :) Suz has started "Pictures With A Purpose" and though she says "I'm not a photographer..", she's a natural. :) Thanks Suz for such a fun time and letting us capture this time forever!!

Guizhou, China Reunion

Nihao!This past weekend we enjoyed our first Guizhou,China reunion! We danced, we played, we went to the zoo, we swam, we had a blast Guizhou Style!! It was awesome to see many of the families we went to China with. It felt so surreal to be sitting around the dinner table together again! What an amazing sight to see how much the girls have changed in just one short year. Everyone is so well adjusted. We missed those who were not able to make the trip this year and if any of you are reading this, just know we talked of you often and you were with us in Spirit. :)

Gymnastics Day One

My baby had her first official gymnastics class tonight. As I watched her, I was so proud of her and my heart tightened seeing her growing up before my very eyes. Thank you Lord for this beautiful girl who you have placed in my life. I am so grateful I listened to Your voice and did not give up during those years of doubt.

Olympics 2020 here we come! hehe! :)

Lots of Hiking!

We have been escaping the heat the past few weekends and heading up north.(to Lauren's dismay, "up north" was not the "north pole", we got to the trail and she said, where is Santa Clause!") :) These are a few pics of our Humphrey's Peak hike last weekend.