A Time of Firsts

We took Sananda to her first concert in the park which featured Chris Rice, Thor Ramsey, and Stellar Kart. She loved it as you can see and we had a hard time keeping her from standing on her chair. She didn't learn that from any of us! :) There was also a play ground there that we had to check out for awhile.

Sananda is sure growing up fast. She took her very first step on my birthday last month, but hadn't taken one since. I was starting to wonder when she would ever try it again. Well this week she has decided that the time is now. It has been so fun watching her try out her new walking skills. She still crawls mostly but she is getting braver and will be going all over on two feet before long. She says" yeah" and claps for herself when she walks and looks to see if we are excited for her too. Of course we are!

Sananda at the 4th of July parade. Sananda liked her first 4th of July, parade and she wasn't even scared of the loud firetruck horns. We took Sananda to the fireworks but she slept through all of them, even the really loud bangs. Next year I hope she stays awake to see how pretty they all are. She slept through the sparklers too. She did get to see the 4th of July parade though and loved it.

I would love for us to celebrate India's Independance day here and am wondering what they do in India to celebrate. I think they have fireworks too and maybe a parade with elephants? We can't do that here, but if anyone else has any ideas what to do, besides sparklers and hitting the zoo, let me know. I know some of you who are reading this may already celebrate this in the US.

We also went camping for the first time with Sananda. It went ok, except she didn't want to give in and go to sleep at night as she might miss something exciting. So, we enjoyed the campfire,

made smores, and she enjoyed eating the graham crackers.

Doing well

Look, I'm standing! Our little cutie! Notice she is headed towards the computer? She loves to push the buttons on it.

It's been over a month since our last post, but time sure does fly when your having fun. It is such a joy to have Sananda in our family. She fits in so well with the other kids and they just adore her.

We have been home a little over 3 months now and it seems like she has always belonged to us. She has adjusted so well, is gaining weight and developing on target. Her first step was taken recently on my birthday and what a great present it was. Soon she will be all over the house on foot.

Sananda has picked up some new words, including "Cool", "Oh yea", and "Uh-Oh", which usually follows her dropping an item on the floor. :)

Some other cute things she does are taking my glasses off of me when it is her nap time or bedtime (she wants me to sleep too), looking at me and rocking side to side when our favorite songs come on the radio, and our baby also stands up by herself and then looks at us and claps. It is so cute to see how delighted she is that she can do this on her own.

We recently received another picture of Sananda of when she was still in the orphanage, it was sent to us by another family who traveled ahead of us and they kindly just sent us this picture. When I see it I remember the time we spent waiting for our baby to come home to us. We are so thankful that she finally is here. Many thanks go to the family who sent us the picture. All pictures that we get of Sananda are so precious to us and someday will be to Sananda as well.

Helping more children find homes

There is an online petition started by The HOPE House to help create an adoption tax credit in India for couples there hoping to adopt. It would help many Indian families to be able to afford to adopt some of the many children that need homes in India. Here is a link http://www.petitiononline.com/atc26047/petition.html to sign the petition if you would like to help the children of India. If you would like to learn more about this subject, you can go to the following blog http://indiadoption.blogspot.com/ .

Sananda at Home

Thanks for peeking in again!!!

Thanks for all your prayers that got us through the whole adoption process and for your support in each way that you have contributed. Most of all, thanks to God for bringing Sananda and us together as a family. Without Him, we could not have done it.

Easter picture.

Let's play ball.

Sananda turns 1 year old. She is not real sure about this cake thing. However, she found out that it is good after all.

Pictures of New Dehli

Well, if we have not lost all of you by now, we finally got around to posting a few pictures of New Dehli.

Presidential Palace

Outside of McDonald's in New Dehli

McDonald's menu inside the store.

Ghandi memorial

India Gate Monument - our camera ran out of batteries before we could get a picture of us in front of it.
Mt. Dew at last!!! - this outside vendor was the only place that had some.

With 4 people and a baby, we had a lot of luggage. The driver had to SET(not tie down) some of our luggage on the top of the taxi. But we didn't lose anything on the wild ride to the airport.