Formerly "To China For Kelly"
When I originally set up this blog, it was to chronicle our trip to China to adopt our daughter, Kelly; thus the title, "To China For Kelly." But now that I've decided to keep it up as my on-line scrapbook/journal, the title needs updating.
Inspired by my girls, who, despite their ten year age difference, both love lollipops and lip gloss; it is now titled, "From Lollipops to Lip Gloss." This is not to leave my son out, who also loves lollipops, but isn't too big on lip gloss, understandably!
We made it to Colorado just in time for Camryn's 12th birthday! Wow- I don't know how my little peanut got so big on me! One more year and it's the teens! EEK. Seriously, she is growing into such a lovely young lady and I'm so very blessed to be her mom.
The kids have been enjoying every minute of their time with their Grammie, Uncle Joel, Auntie & especially their cousins, as have I.
Auntie made this beautiful butterfly cake for Camryn. She spent so much time on it- Camryn really felt special and so very loved.
Flowers for the birthday girl!
Spending a quiet birthday morning playing chess with her brother.
It's hard to beat the glory of God's creation displayed at Yosemite National Park. Add the love and laughter of family and close friends to enjoy it with, and it's like a little slice of heaven on earth. 
One of my favorite things to do when we have friends over is to go for a walk together. It's always so nice to walk and talk and enjoy the simple pleasure of getting some fresh air while taking a relaxing stroll together.
It was doubly nice this time as we not only got to walk and talk together, but we also got to enjoy the beauty of the spring flowers that are in bloom right now.
My friend, Bonnie, absolutely loves flowers, and being from Texas, she has an even greater appreciation for the beauty of all the flowers we are able to grow here in California. She was in love with so many of them, as I am too, so we had fun taking pictures of flowers together. We had to laugh at ourselves because we didn't know the names of some of the flowers... which is especially bad for me, since I live here and see them all the time!
Bonnie taking a picture of me- taking a picture of her.
Camryn and Kaya- can you tell Kaya is ready to go?
This is called Sweet Broom, I believe. It's the big yellow one behind Camryn and Kaya in the previous picture.Amazing yellow color! 
Left to Right: Kaya, Colter, Caleb, Camryn, Bonnie, & Mark. How I love them!
Bridal Veil
Mark & Clint walk and talk with Kelly enjoying herself in the stroller.
Colter ran way up ahead with Kaya,
which made Kaya very happy, naturally!
Colter (being silly!), Mark, & Bonnie.
Their oldest son, Landon, is off at college, so he wasn't with us this time. We all missed him. I've known them since Landon was a baby, so this picture seems incomplete without him.
We had to make our little model, Camryn, pose in front of the beautiful blue "whatever it's called..." We later asked someone at a nursery what it is... she said it's a type of a Lilac. I can't pronounce the rest of it- I only got the Lilac part down! Isn't Camryn beautiful?
Pretty Red Petunias
Red Bud Trees in Bloom
Close up of the Red Bud
They say friends are the flowers in the garden of life.
If that's so, then I'm so very blessed with the
most beautiful flowers growing in mine.
I have so many things I am dying to write about here...
and pictures I'm eager to share...
But time never seems to allow me to do all I'd love to do here.
Maybe tomorrow...?
Sigh.
Well, it's been wonderfully busy around here. We were able to enjoy some precious times with some of our oldest, dearest friends who came to visit us over the weekend. I do hope to be back tomorrow to share more pictures of our times spent with them, but for now, I just had to share these few pictures...
For those of you who have been wondering how we're doing with Kelly as we've been working through her attachment issues (since I am so behind on updating you!)... well, here are some pictures
worth
a thousand words.
That last picture is my favorite. As much delight as it brings me to see our darling Kelly with such a beautiful, authentic smile on her face (Yes, it's true! She's finally really smiling!), this last picture is absolutely amazing to me. I find myself going back to it, over and over again, staring at it in complete awe.So many words come to mind as I attempt to describe the look on her face...
peaceful, serene, content, secure...
yet none seem big enough
to truly express my amazement
at the miraculous transformation
that's taken place inside our precious little girl.
This picture is proof to me
that after so long,
our baby girl is finally finding that
her safe place
is
in my arms.
I couldn't ask for anything more.
My cup is full to overflowing with joy and thankfulness to God for all He has done.
One happy momma,
