Wordless Wednesday

A Girl and Her Buddy

Here is a picture of Samantha and "her" dog Daisy.  Daisy joined our family back in August.

2nd Forever Family Day

Two years ago today we met Miss Madison Marie Lvfen Roth in a steamy hot Civil Affairs Building in Guangzhou China along with 40+ other families.  We celebrated in our usual way ~ Chinese takeout for dinner and presenting Madison with a small gift from China.  Our way of giving her a piece of her heritage each year on her special day.

Here is a photo from 2 years ago (9/14/09):

Here's a photo from last year (9/14/10):

Here's one from this year (9/14/11):

Happy Forever Family Day Madison!  We love you to the moon and back!!!!!!

First Day of Preschool

Madison's began preschool today.  This year she is in a regular preschool setting (18 kids in her class vs. 8 from last year).  Here are a few pictures from this morning:

This one was taken at home in our yard:

This one was on the bus:

This one was taken while we were waiting for the bus to come (at daycare):

First Day of School

Today Samantha started 2nd Grade.  Oh my, where did our baby go?  She is growing up so fast.  Here are few pictures from this morning.  She was very excited for school to start today.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Landen's Baptism

Landen Richard Roth was baptized today, Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at Christ Lutheran Church in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.  He's come a long way since his early arrival on 9/1/10 @ 2 lbs. 1/2 oz. and 13" long. Today's he's almost 15 lbs. and 24" long! 

Here are some pictures from his special day:

Lost Tooth

Samantha lost her first tooth this morning!  She is so excited to FINALLY have lost a tooth!  She says everyone else in her class has already lost one or more.  I will post a picture of her "new smile" something later today if I am able to snap one!  WTG Sammie!!!!!

UPDATE:  Here's a picture of Sammie with her tooth missing!  Can't really see it too much as the other tooth had grown in behind the baby tooth!

Wordless Wednesday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!

Today my big girl turns 7 years old.  Wow that is hard to believe as it feels just like yesterday that she was placed in my arms.

In celebration of her birthday, we are going to CiCi's Pizza for dinner, her grammy and pappi will be joining us.  She also got a desk top easel from us.

On Saturday the 12th we will celebrate her big day with family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN SWEET GIRL!  We love you and are very proud of you! 

Happy Birthday Day!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Dale, happy birthday to you!

Wishing my hubby and the girls' daddy a very happy birthday today!

We love you!

Denise, Samantha & Madison

Happy 6th Forever Family Day!

Today marks our Sixth Forever Family Day - the day Samantha was first placed in our arms and our family was born!


We can recall the day like it was yesterday. Dale and I got up early in the morning (it was a Monday) we ate breakfast and then took a walk around Nanchang. We watched the people of Nanchange do Thai Chi (sp?), and just took in the sights. It was an amazing experience.  After our walk, we went back to the hotel to meet up with our travelmates and our guide. We were off to the Civil Affairs Building to meet our daughters for the first time. Of course, we had mixed emotions - anxious, excited, scared, but most of all HAPPY to finally be meeting our daughter!

At approximately 12:10 pm (China Time) we heard some noise in the hallway and realized our daughters were on their way to meet their families. We heard one of the babies crying and later learned that it was Samantha.

We all were very excited as the girls began coming into the room adjacet to ours. We could see their beautiful little faces and most of them had rosy red cheeks. As I recall, the girls were all tired from their long trek from Tonngu.

One by one, each of the four families in our travel group was called up to meet their daughter. Samantha was lovingly placed into my arms around 12:15 p.m. that most wonderful day six years ago. Both she and I were crying but for very different reasons. Me, for it was the happiest day of my life and for her, it was was probably the scariest day of her life. I'm sure she was wondering what the heck was going on.

Thereafter, Samantha has been, and continues to be a very happy, bright and beautiful child. We could not have wished for a more perfect little girl than the one God and the CCAA chose for us. Our lives have been foreverly blessed with this most wonderful child!  Samantha continues to amaze us each and every day and she brings such joy and happiness to us and all those around her. 

We can't imagine where the time has gone! Six years later and this most wonderful journey of parenthood continues!  We anticipate what the future holds for Samantha Rae! 

In honor of Samantha's special day, we had Chinese take out for dinner (one of Sammie's favorites) and gave her a special gift from China (a small porcelain dish), which she proudly displays in her room.  Each year on her Forever Family Day we give her a gift we bought in China.  This is our way of giving her a piece of her heritage each year on her special day. 

Happy 6th Forever Family Day Samantha Rae Minhe!  Mommy and daddy love you very much and are so proud that we get to call you our daughter!

One Year Ago Today . . .

Dale and I began our journey to China to be united with our daughter, Tong Min He a/k/a Samantha Rae Minhe.  The day started our relatively normal (if you can call traveling half way around the world a normal day).  Our plane wasn't scheduled to leave until around 4:00 in the afternoon (as I recall) and thus we headed to the airport late morning/early afternoon.  Of course, true to Minnesota weather, we hadn't had a winter storm all season until the day we needed to fly out of Minnesota.

Low and behold, we boarded the plane (one of the first ones on as we had seats in the back row of the plane) only to be told that the airplane was having computer troubles (just what one wants to hear as you are sitting on an airplane).  Low and behold it took several hours of repairs but it was finally fixed only to have the storm pick up in intensity and causing our plane to have to be deiced numerous times, we finally made take off and made it to LAX with little time to spare.  What was suppose to have been an 8 hour layover turned out to be under as I recall 1 or 2 hours.  I'm thinking it was more like 1.5 hours or so.  All I know is that we were thankful for such a long layover or we would of missed out connecting flight to China.

After several hours in plane (in business class, which was a nice surprise) we made it to China in one piece and a day later (due to time change) we met our princess!