Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam turned 11 in August 2017!

He was a trooper and agreed to celebrate a week early 

so we could move out of our MN house in August...

Ahhhh, yeah... the exact one we are moving back into!

That would be us...

move out of a house in MN

move into a house in Colorado

finish moving out of a house in MN

don't finish moving into the house in CO

move out of the house in CO

and move back into the house in MN...

This family sounds a bit indecisive, 

if you ask me!

So, some of you have asked where we are at with our move.

We leave Colorado on Wednesday/Thursday next week

and head to Minnesota!

(If it wasn't winter in MN- I'd have more exclamation marks!)

We are so beyond blessed to have this guy in our family!
When we saw his pic, we knew he was our son!

His special need concerned us and
it was more than we thought we could do...
but we proceeded because... well, he was ours!

It just so happens, that with surgeries and good health care...
he no longer has a special need!

Pretty amazing!

Sam is the life of the party!
He is outgoing, interested, smart and talkative!
He smiles and laughs most of the time!
Sam loves life and he does it in such a way that it's contagious!

He loves sports!
Especially, soccer, football and basketball!

He loves to play them and watch them!
He is an awesome fan!

Did I mention he loves presents, too!

His first pair of roller blades!

The Michael Vey books have turned Sam into a reader!
It is a series of 7 books and only 6 were available so far!
(Stay tuned to Melissa's b-day and you may see book 7!)

This is Sam's view to the left...

and his view to the right...
as everyone begins to encroach on his space and stare at him!

he is un-phased by the lurking crowd...

Happy 11th Birthday, Sammy!

And the crowd sings!

Make a wish and blow out the candles!

Good try!

Just a few left!

Okay... you still have 7 left!

Good! Try again!

Umm... yah... now there are 6 left...

Okay... 3 left!

And now 2 left!

I think you are laughing too hard to get those last two!
Can someone HELP HIM!

It was a fun day!
You are a joy and you always make us smile!
We love you, Sam!

Thanks for making the world a better place!

A Formal Affair- 25 years and over 12,000 Children Home!

In September 2017 CCAI, our adoption agency located in Colorado,

 celebrated their 25th anniversary 

of bringing orphans from China home to their forever families!

Our family was among several families 

that were interviewed for the video 

shown at the celebration!

We are so thankful for our children that are home!

So thankful that we heard the call

and moved with the spirit!

With our budget cut, 

I was sure how we were going to 

"do a formal affair"?

But then I found SEARS!

All the the children's clothes were from there,
except for Grace's pink dress!
(Thank you Hillary and Gigi!)

I couldn't believe my eyes when 

I saw all of these gorgeous dresses their!

And so many to choose from!

Everyone has a different style!

Seriously- it had to have been GOD!

Plus, there were only 4 red ties left for the boys!

There were hor`de`voures and a cocktail hour.

Then time to be seated for the celebration and meal!

The children loved the dragon dance!

Especially when the dragons came near us!

Our beautiful Anna!

The first one home!

Amazing Ava- such a blessing!

Abby, our miracle girl!

She came home with a diagnosis of pre-cancer(MDS).

After more testing they discovered she had unique form of Beta Thalassemia.

Now, she is incredible healthy and has transfusions every 3 weeks!

Pictured here with George!

He was our guide for Jake in Jilin Province!

He was awesome and so much fun!

They called all of the kids up to the stage!

There was quite a crowd!

There were so many kids they couldn't all fit on up there!

The event was filled with many thankful families!

Adoption is an awesome family option!

We love Miss Shirley!

She is one of the Mandarin teachers at JCCC!

Ava, Jenny, Anna and Melissa have her as their teacher!

It was such a joyful event!

Honestly, our children felt celebrated!

Each child had a wonderful time!

They couldn't stop talking about it 

and would like to do it again!

We have 6 kids adopted through CCAI!

Ava, Sam, Abby, Luke, Jake and Grace!

They loved getting dressed up,

celebrating their heritage,

celebrating adoption,

celebrating CCAI for all they have done for 12,000 children!

This was towards the end of the evening...

shirts are untucked, Mom's feet are sore (in her one inch heels-haha)

 and 

the parents are getting a little tired.

Group picture!

Some families had already left so they missed the pic.

It's kind of a "where's Waldo" picture!

Try to find the Mulvahill children!

Thank you Josh and Lily!

We are blessed because of you!