Our Chenzhou Reunion and a Birthday

We had such a wonderful time at Sarah Mei's family's farm. Thank you H. family for having us all! Here are all the siblings with Lilly, Lainie, and Sarah Mei. Adoption is so beautiful. To think that less than a year ago, these girls were orphans, the forgotten members of this world. Yet today, they are surrounded by loving families who cherish them. Now that is truly precious!

Lainie and Lilly having fun on the tricycle out in the barn. What cutie pies!

It didn't take long to figure out that Lilly and Sarah Mei are the "wild girls". Here they are zooming through the kitchen while Lainie, in the background, is content to stand with her mom.

Lainie, Lilly, and Sarah Mei reunited again. Aren't they precious? We sure think so!! All 3 girls were on the same Special Needs list with CWA back in December of 2006. They all had heart defects and lived together in the Chenzhou City Children's Welfare Institute in Hunan, China until the day they met their "forever families". Lilly is the oldest of the three. She turned 2 in October. Sarah Mei was 2 in January and Lainie is the baby of the group as she turned 2 in February. As you can see, they are all doing well now.

Fulton was celebrating his 7th birthday with his family. He had a great time and received lots of cool gifts. I must tell you the story of this cake. I tried and tried to make white icing red and forgot how difficult that is. That's why the icing is hot pink. Fulton was very kind and said that he was really glad that it was a family party and not a friend party. He said he would have been embarrassed had his friends seen his pink cake! Can't say I blame him!!! Things get worse. . .

I put the cake in the oven instead of covering it to preserve all the icing, but I forgot it was in there. I turned the oven on to have it ready to keep the pizzas warm. Well, needless to say, I didn't remember that the cake was in the oven until I opened the oven to put the pizzas in. Thus we had a "twice-baked cookie cake". That explains the flattened look of the baseballs! What a good laugh! And most importantly, it still tasted very yummy!

Fulton is thanking future-Uncle Nick and his Aunt Michelle for his present. Michelle and Nick got engaged a few months ago and are to be married next April. Michelle is my sister, and we are so happy for the two of them.

Ethan's slam-dunking already!!! Well, not really! Ethan's future Uncle Nick had the great idea of holding Ethan up and doing some "trick photography" so you couldn't tell. Ethan had fun!

As we wait for Ellie!

As we wait for Ellie, we have been very busy! Here is a glimpse of some of the fun we have all had over the last several weeks! Missing are pictures of David and the boys fishing- forgot to take the camera-oops! Also missing are pictures from baseball games. We have been out at the field quite a bit, but again we have forgotten the camera! We' ll do better, and yes, we have plenty of games left to capture Fulton doing his thing!


My dear friend Cyndi invited us to go along with her to the Casting Crowns concert. Cyndi rode with another friend so I don't have a picture of her. Here are my good friends Sharon and Kim.
It was a wonderful evening and and a very moving time of worship for me. Thank you, Cyndi!

Getting a hug from Katie before going to the concert.

David playing his role as the "strong" father! Here he is man-handeling Lilly and Ethan as we were attempting to get everybody in position for a picture with friends of ours who were visiting. They have 4 children so it was quite the task!

Lilly had quite a good time playing in a puddle on our patio. It was just the 2 of us at home, and it was so fun watching her delight in a simple puddle of water.

Have I ever mentioned that Lilly loves to climb? Well she does. Here she is taking a rest on Mimi's coffee table. Notice the Easter candy she is waiting ever so patiently for some sweet soul to open for her.

Shelby and Katie opened up "S & K Nail Salon" on a recent Friday night. I received a pedicure and manicure as well as a massage. I was treated marvelously I might add. When I was finished, little Miss Lilly had to be pampered as well!

Just minding her own business as her cute little footsies soak! Like they needed it! Feet don't get much cuter than her little size 4s!

Lilly really enjoyed soaking her feet in the tub. "This is the life, Mommy!" Too bad Ellie was not here to join in on the fun!

Now Lilly is all the way in the foot tub! Can you tell she had a blast at her first "nail salon"?

Happy Resurrection Day!

We had a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. Our church's sunrise service was beautiful. Each year it is held down by the pond, and it is so amazing to take in all of God's creation. We hope that you also had a special day with family remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross over 2,000 years ago, and that He lives today!


What a lovely little group except that we are missing Ellie. Next year there will be 6- WOW!

Ready to go to the sunrise service. Thankfully it started at 8:00 not 6:00, so we made it on time- no small feat for this group. Here Lilly is practicing showing that she is 2 years old. She has a little trouble holding down that other finger. Oh well, she will be ready when she turns 3!

Ethan and Lilly enjoying the candy from their eggs that they found at our church's Easter egg hunt.

Lilly looks a little confused, but she had lots of helpers who spotted the eggs and then led her straight to them. Thanks to Katie and Mary Francis for helping Lilly find her first Easter eggs.

It was quite a brisk morning since Easter was celebrated so early this year. Ethan also had a great time hunting for eggs.

Fulton showing off his loot. He found more than most children and with a little coaxing, he did share a few eggs with his siblings and others.

Katie and Lilly taking a break from finding eggs. Lilly sure enjoyed her first Easter Egg hunt.

Introducing. . .

Ellie Jean Yuanying (named for her special great- granddaddy, Gene)
Born: September 20, 2006 From: Yunnan Province, China


We are so excited to be on this journey again to a daughter who waits for us in China. Ellie's story begins quite differently than Lilly's. After living the miracle of Lilly's adoption and seeing God's fingerprints on so many aspects of our ordeal in China, David and I both knew that we would adopt a special needs child again from China. Quite frankly, how could we not? God had so clearly delivered us through probably the most difficult experience we had ever faced in our lives. We simply could not say "Thanks God for providing for our EVERY need, but we can't do that again so please find somebody else to take the next orphan." No, we both knew we would go back for another child, we just didn't know when. I really felt the pull on my heart to China during my friend Sharon's adoption trip last August. I knew then that there was another child waiting in China for us. I didn't know where she was or when I would find her, but I knew she was waiting.


Fast forward to October 15, this is the day that I first saw the beautiful face of Wu Yuan Ying. A lady posted on a Yahoo group (for families of SN children from China) that this little girl was listed with a small agency in Alabama and was still waiting for a family. As soon as I saw her face I said to myself "You might be Ellie!" David and I talked and prayed. We researched the agency, Children of the World, and found out that they are a wonderful Christian agency who does a tremendous amount of humanitarian work around the world. We researched cleft lip and palate. Initially David shared with me that he felt the timing was not right because he felt "something" was getting ready to happen to our family. On Friday, November 9, we had to give the agency an answer because another family had become interested in Ying Ying. We said YES and began paperwork the next day.

Sadly, on Monday, November 12, I was told that my grandfather had been diagnosed the Friday before with liver cancer. This was the "something" that David had felt was coming to our family. We tried to proceed with paperwork and attending Dr. visits with my grandfather. By Wednesday, I was an emotional wreck so David said we could not proceed with the adoption at this time. The other family accepted Ying Ying. I was elated for her and sad for us, but I also knew this must be the right decision as I am a nurse and my grandfather helped raise me so I knew I would be very involved in his care in the coming months.

Only God knew that Granddaddy would live just 3 1/2 weeks from his diagnosis. The aggressive cancer started in another area of his body and had spread to the liver. He died on December 5, 2007. We were distraught, but our life with 5 children continued. On December 10, the same lady posted again on the Yahoo group that Wu Yuan Ying was available again as the other family could not proceed with her adoption. Her file was to be returned to China the next week if a family did not come forward. David and I prayed for a week and decided on December 16 that God had given us a second chance to be her parents. Ying Ying was the rainbow after the storm for our family. God gives and He takes away. He took my grandfather earlier that any of us wanted, but He also gave us a new daughter. How good our God is.

Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year

Lilly enjoyed her first Valentine's Day party and ate lots and lots of candy!

Lilly had a wonderful time helping to decorate her cookie. Well, actually she just had fun eating all the M and M's.

Shelby, Katie, and Fulton decorating their bags at our homeschool Valentine's Day Party.

Celebrating Valentine's Day at Chuck E. Cheese. It was great fun for all of us!!!

Katie and Ethan having fun in the tunnels at Chuck E. Cheese.

Lilly was afraid of Clifford so here I am with Lilly. A tight squeeze for sure!

To celebrate CNY, we ate Chinese food with our good friends, the Millenders and then shot LOTS of fireworks. Lilly really liked the sparklers, but she was a little dangerous with it! No concept of fire!

Bailey, Lilly, and Brinley taking a break from the fireworks! What cutie pies!

Lilly and Lainie

Back in January (sorry, I'm not real good at posting current happenings), our family went to visit Lilly's friend and orphanage mate, Lainie and her family. We traveled together to get the girls and this was our second time visiting since our trip to China. We always have a great time with Lainie and her family. Thank you again for your hospitality- especially "Nannie" who had us over for lunch unexpectedly! Now it's your turn to come visit! Let's set a date!


Lilly and Lainie: two very serious and tired- looking litttle girls! Worn out from so much fun I guess.

Here are our special Chenzhou sisters again! They did well with one another and had lots of fun!

Here are some of Lilly and Lainie's siblings: Fulton, Will, Jillian, and Katie having a ball.

Shelby holding Lainie and Trey holding Lilly. Just swapping little sisters for a minute!

January 7: Happy Birthday Katie! We celebrated a second time with her extended family. We love you.

January 5- Katie celebrating her 9th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese with her friends.

Random thoughts and pictures

There is not too much to report on the ramblings of the Bryant bunch. We are busy with homeschooling and music lessons, cub scouts, and church activities. We did enjoy another great weekend up in Locust with Lainie and her family. I'll post pictures next time from our trip there.(Lainie was adopted at the same time as Lilly from the same orphanage, and our families have become great friends.) We were hoping to meet the Hortons who also adopted a little girl from Lilly's orphanage but they had the stomach bug at their house that weekend- bummer! We will try again soon.

I would like to congratulate my friend Kim on the referral of her precious daughter, Cate, from Anhui, China. We are so excited for you! Cate is precious, and we can not wait to meet her!

We plan on sprucing up our blog in the near future so check back soon. Enjoy the photos!

Here is my dear grandmother surrounded by her great- grandchildren on Christmas morning. This was her first Christmas in 50 years without my grandfather. Please keep her in your prayers.

This was Lilly on Christmas morning- her very first Christmas with our family. I remember last Christmas thinking of her and thinking that next year she would be with us. Christmas was bittersweet of course because of Granddaddy's death on Dec. 5. We were so grateful to have Lilly home but so sad not to have our GG with us to celebrate the birth of our saviour. He spent his first Christmas in heaven, and I know it had to be magnificent!

Another birthday and this time it was our Christmas Eve baby, Shelby. Shelby turned 11. Wow- that's hard to believe! Shelby is such a special girl, and we are so proud of her.

2 little helpers in the kitchen. Our Christmas baking was less than normal due to having just lost my grandfather. It was always a tradition to bake at Granny and GG's house. GG was our dishwasher and a mighty good one too. He never complained at the multitude of dishes that we messed up! I have such fond memories of sharing that time with my grandparents, and I am so thankful that my children also got to make those memories - for a little while at least.

We enjoyed a fun evening at the zoo for their annual Christmas lights. Everyone had a blast and then we went out for pizza. We weren't sure how this outing was going to turn out with our lively little Bryant bunch, but they all were great.

Here Lilly and her friend Kate are peering out the doors at church. We were waiting for the children's Christmas program to begin. 2 little cuties for sure!

Our first Cub scout! We are so proud of Fulton who is showing off his first badge- the Bobcat.

This is Ethan's absolute favorite thing to do at Granny's house. He rides around and around on her patio. Love that silly face Ethan!

Wow! Doesn't Lilly look like a big girl here on her tricycle? She can't actually pedal but she sure loves to try.

Katie and Lilly enjoying the beaters! I remember doing this when I was a little girl. Katie is such a wonderful daughter and a great big sister to Lilly. Lilly is learning to say Katie, but for now says "KK"- too cute.