~Merry Christmas~

Christmas is now over, it was an amazing one because our family was finally all together and complete!!! It was Zoie's first Christmas home. It was such a blessing to watch all of our children together!!!

~Snow and Christmas~

I know it has been awhile so I thought I would add a few new pictures! We have been getting alot of snow here lately and Zoie just loves it!!! The boys pull her on the sled, it is sooo cute!!! She is also amazed by the Christmas tree and the decorations, her sweet little face just lights up everytime she looks at it!

~Happy 1st Birthday Baby Girl~

Our baby girl has just turned one!!! We are so thrilled that she was home in time for us to celebrate this big day with her!!! She started walking shortly before her birthday and is doing just amazing since being home....Her party was so much fun and she did really well with meeting some new people : ) Enjoy the new pictures!!!

~We're Home~

Wow I just realized it's been a month since I last posted, posting in China was difficult at times.....we have been home for a little over 2 weeks and I am so glad, Home is wonderful!!! Zoie is just amazing, she is a wonderful baby...a true blessing! She has adjusted to our time wonderfully, by the second night home she was sleeping through the night....The boys are absolutely wonderful big brothers!!! We are all so in love with our baby girl.....I will post more later, I wanted to add a couple new pictures for you all to see!!!!

~We are in Hong Hong~

We are in Hong Kong until tomorrow morning! We will leave for Fuzhou in the morning and Gotcha Day is at 3:30!!!!! I will finally hold our daughter!!! I will post pictures as soon s possible :)

~Leaving in one week~

We are so excited to be leaving for China. It feels like we have waited forever and here we are now getting ready to go Bring Zoie home!!! We will arrive in Hong Kong on July 26th (we are leaving a couple of days early)....on July 29th we will fly to Fuzhou in the morning and just a few short hours later we will meet our daughter and little sister, for the first time she will be placed into my arms, I am so ready to hold my baby girl, learn everything about her and bring her home!!! Please follow our journey while we are there, we will update as much as possible :) We are on our way sweet baby girl, we love you!!!

~OUR REFERRAL~

We are thrilled to announce the referral of our daughter. On June 6 we received the call we have been waiting for! We are the proud parents (and big brothers) of our precious baby girl. We are so blessed! Pictures are below!

~OUR DAUGHTER~

We are over the moon in love with our daughter Zoie!!! After 19 months of waiting, we finally saw her beautiful face for the first time on Thursday June 7. She is 8 months old and waiting for us in Fujian Province. We are all so excited and can't wait to bring her home. We love you baby girl!

WONDERFUL NEWS!!!

On May 1st referrals arrived for LID's through Nov.1st!!! This is amazing news because it means we are "NEXT".....we are all so excited to know that in about 4 weeks, we will see Zoie's beautiful face for the first time. After 18 months of officially waiting it has now come down to a few short weeks! Please keep checking back as we will post as soon as we know when that cute little stork is in flight with our baby daughters pictures and information!!! We can't wait to see you baby girl. We love you!

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.
~An Ancient Chinese Belief~

~THE BIG QUESTION~

So the big question on all of our minds is "ARE WE NEXT"? Well referrals were just received on March 5 for LID dates up to October 24, our LID date is November 3! So here is my best guess answer. We have a 50/50 chance of being included in this next batch which will probably arrive somewhere between late March/early April. However, and here is the GREAT news, if we do not make it in this one then we will 100% be in the following batch which should arrive between late April/early May! Which then brings us to "WHEN WILL WE TRAVEL"? We are thinking travel will take place sometime in June. So YES our baby girl will be home with her forever family this summer!

A Half A World Away

A half a world away
Sometimes it seems we're so far apart
But a half a world away
Is not too far for a journey of the heart

Our little one, our bundle of joy
We're waiting for you
Our precious daughter, our baby girl
We know you're waiting too

A half a world away
A child waits for a family of her own
While a half a world away
A family waits to come bring her home

Our little one, our bundle of joy
We're whispering a prayer
Our precious one, our baby daughter
We hope to soon be there

Soon you will no longer be a half a world away

By Jill Work

~THE BEGINNING~

Hi, we are Duane and Candi. Two years ago with hearts full of love and joy, we chose a path to follow which would bring our daughter home into our family from the other side of the world. We have four incredible sons....Joshua, Caleb, Kris and Justin and are looking forward to completing our family with our baby girl Zoie! It has been a very long wait but we are now only weeks away from seeing her precious face in pictures which we will receive with our referral. We are hoping to travel in a few months to bring her home so please share in our excitement by following our journey.