Kennedi Videos

Well, it has been a long week. Kennedi began the week with a nightmare on Sunday and then pretty much depressed somewhat the majority of the week. I think the videos and pictures were all too much for her. She kept asking "what's Gigi doing now" or "do you think Gigi likes horses"? She misses her so much and doesn't understand why she can't see her. So we have laid off showing her the pictures and videos for now. She is much better now, back to her old self. On top of that, we had to put my cat of 14 years to sleep. She was old and sick. So yesterday I took Katelyn and Kennedi to each pick out a kitten at the SPCA. Kennedi picked out a orange one and named it Pumpkin and Katelyn picked out a gray tiger striped one named Tinkerbell. I will get some pictures of them and get them on here this week sometime. The videos I posted today are ones Kennedi's foster mom sent me! What a treasure to have! I love the one the girls are singing John 3:16 in Chinese! Kennedi is so dramatic and really into the song! Too cute! She is going to put the videos on a disc for me to have, how great is she!??
Tuesday we go to Children's Hospital for Kennedi's consultation for her cleft. We'll see what they say. Please say a prayer for us on Tuesday but also say a prayer for one of AWAA's families, the Irwins, as their new daughter from China has open heart surgery on this same day. She just arrived home from China and is a very sick little girl. You can view their blog at www.roomforatleastonemore.blogspot.com . They are a strong family and this is a strong little girl fighting to live. Please say a prayer for them, they need all they can get.

**Hug your family tonight and thank God for them**

**BLESSINGS**

Be Sure To Mute The Music On The Left!

"Gigi" and "Aimee" (now Carrie and Kennedi) playing during the first day in their foster home, September 2007
The caption on this picture was that these girls love to color and they fill up both sides of the page! Kennedi definately does love to color!
Off to preschool. Look how little they look!
Making dessert!
Kennedi and Carrie (we still call her Gigi because Kennedi does so I may mention Gigi in some posts, she's the same girl) playing with their cat Dexter!
Kennedi and Gigi wearing their foster moms shoes and blowing bubbles!
Kennedi and Gigi
Making another dessert!
This is outside where they lived. They lived right next to the school so Kennedi said they had no car, they walked! Looks like a nice place to live.
This is outside the school. Kennedi said you turn to the right and there's the school. To the left is where they lived!
Decorating their Christmas tree!
Out for a fieldtrip!
On the field trip eating lunch. Doesn't Kennedi look cool in her sunglasses?
Play-Dough! Who knew they had play-dough?
Christmas morning! They were up at 6:40am ready to open gifts!
Jackpot!
Look at all those gifts!
Skates were one of their Christmas gifts. Here they're trying them out!

On Kennedi's way back to the orphanage, leaving Gigi behind.
Skating is going good!
Chinese New Year 2008


Making cookies for Christmas!

Wish I could get her to take a nap like that here!
Fun in the sun!
Kennedi and Dexter!
Bedhead!
Love these two pictures! How beautiful does our little girl look? That dress is adorable!

Silly girl still making cookies!

Kennedi having a great time in the sand in China with her foster moms and Gigi!

You'll never guess what happened yesterday! Okay, don't judge me for being like a teenager but I have a Facebook account (like MySpace for those who do not know) and I got a request from someone wanting to be my "friend". I had no clue who this person was but saw a Chinese girl as her photo on her page so I figured it had to be someone to do with adoption so I said yes to the request. I then got a note from this person saying that she has followed our blog since Gotcha day and has been praying for our family. She said to view and download as many photos and video as we could. I still had no idea what she was talking about. So I went to her page and looked around. Then remembered she talked about videos and photos. I went to her's on her page and there were tons of Kennedi and Gigi. Then I put two and two together, SHE WAS KENNEDI'S FOSTER MOM!!!! I could not believe it! I couldn't look at everything fast enough! Tears in my eyes looking at all the pictures and videos (some great videos that I can't figure out how to download from Facebook so I can have a copy)! There's a file that is titled "Goodbye Beautiful" with pictures of nothing but Kennedi! When I saw that, my heart sank for these 2 women who opened their home to these girls and treated them like their own children! They took them into their home September 2007 (a month before we knew Kennedi was our little girl) and Kennedi went back to the orphanage to wait for us March 2008. So they had them for 6 months, the same amount of time we have had Kennedi now. I can't imagine having to send her back to the orphanage. How heartbreaking that must have been. Her foster mom wrote to me that she couldn't bear to be a part of Gotcha Day because the grieving was too much but she found our blog the day after and was able to follow us in China, her first days with us, and still follows our blog today! Do we have an awesome God or what!!!! First finding Gigi and her new parents and now finding her foster parents! WOW!!!

Looking at those pictures and videos, seeing how much these women loved these girls and how much they gave them in just the short time they were with them, we are forever indebted to them. There are no words to thank them enough for all they did for Kennedi. She was obviously well taken care of and LOVED so much! They put on one of Kennedi's picture "Reserved yet a Sweetheart" and yes, those are the words I'd use to describe our daughter. Seeing these pictures and videos made Kennedi really miss Gigi and her home in China but it really helped her open up some about her life there and gave us a bigger picture into her life before becoming Kennedi Xin Mei Salvador. Thank you so much for finding me on Facebook (you know who you are) so that we could experience this. I am making books for Kennedi with all the information we can get about her life in China and this just makes the memories so much better for her.

So.... Sorry for all the many pictures. I want to share these with the world, as you can imagine! It's like getting an ultrasound picture after you've delivered a baby! :)

Praying God's Blessings on you this week; He sure blessed us!

We're all doing well, just busy!!

Hello everyone! Just a quick post to let you all know we are doing well. We are just super busy with school starting for the kids and now for me; as you can imagine! Mark is coaching Bradley's soccer team and took up being a youth group leader for 3rd and 4th grade boys on Tuesday nights! This latter part was an answer to my prayers because I've been praying for him to become involved somehow at church but it has been very busy for him. The kids are hard at it with their school work, even Kennedi who is learning letters, their sounds, and spelling a couple of words! Katelyn has taken up horseback riding on Saturdays and is busy with her honors classes and colorguard at school. I am finishing up my 1st class with oh about 43 more to go or so! This first one flew by and wasn't as bad as I thought it was so I'm praying the others go just as well! We just celebrated 6 months with Kennedi! Can you believe that? Kennedi went for her speech therapy evaluation this week and it was determined that she doesn't really need any help right now. She has problems pronouncing her "r" and "l" but she said that is common with all 6 year olds. She said with some more schooling she should be just fine. That's great news! Next week we go to Children's Hospital for an exam on her cleft lip/palate. So.... for those few of you that still check in on our blog, I'm so sorry I haven't been faithful in updating and adding pictures. I hope to add some more pictures soon!

Blessings

Help Collect Shoes For Orphans

I don't know how many of you have heard of Shoes for Orphan Souls (if you listen to KLOVE you probably have). Shoes for Orphan Souls is a ministry that provides new shoes and socks to orphans and at-risk children in the US and throughout the world. According to Unicef, there are 143 million orphans around the world. Orphanages (as all of my adopting friends know) do not receive enough funding to support the children in their care. Many of the children receive one pair of shoes to last the entire year, and some don't have shoes at all. Since 1999, 1.6 million pairs of new shoes and socks have been distributed to children in 55 countries.
As many of you know (and those who have adopted probably feel the same way), my heart overflows for these orphans and children in need. I want to help in any way that I can, and since we cannot afford to adopt again right now, Katelyn and I decided to sign up to at least do this. We have become a SoleMate. A SoleMate is someone who commits to collect at least 12 pairs of new shoes for these orphans. Of course I'm hoping we collect more, but it's a start. If you are still one of the few that follow our blog and live near us, please consider donating to our collection. If you are one of my adoption friends (or someone I don't even know), please think about being a SoleMate where you live. These kids need us. You can help. If you are interested and would like to check into this ministry some more, click here. Please don't sit back and think that there's nothing you can do! Thanks for listening, have a blessed week!