Happy Gotcha Day!!!

Yes, another Gotcha Day has passed!  I know I say this every year, but where does the time go? So many people have told me the years go by so fast and they are so right! It just doesn't seem possible that 4 years have passed already and our little spicy girl that was once so quiet is now so loud and energetic!! She is so full of life! I sometimes try to imagine what her life might have been like if God hadn't let her to us! Would she still be in the Chenzhou orphanage longing for someone to touch her and love her to the moon and back? Longing to be out of the crib for more than 10 minutes a day? We are fairly certain that Hannah was well taken care of because she had Half the Sky come into her orphanage, which is probably why she was so healthy!  We are so thankful for Jenny Bowen and her group of volunteers who work very hard on a daily basis to teach the Chinese people how to love the babies a little more than normal!  I am also so very thankful that God led us to Hannah on that rainy October day in Changsha, China.  I am so thankful that we trusted God enough to wait, wait, wait, and wait some more until He found the right one! Of all the millions of orphans in that country, He chose Chen Leyan just for us and we will be forever grateful!!!!  She has changed so much as you can see from the first picture below to the next ones.   

Gotcha Day 2011

 

She has definitely lost the baby look...growing
into a beautiful young girl!

 

Good picture taking becomes shorter as she gets older. :)

We decided to venture out of Winona Lake this year for this special day! First, we traveled to Knollbrook Farms. Though it was very chilly and windy, Hannah enjoyed every second. She shot pumpkins, slid down the big slid with Baba, had a bike race with Mama, went through a corn maze, picked out her special pumpkin, and walked through a hay maze.

 

Ready, aim....



FIRE!!!!

 

A little blurry, but I loved the expression on Baba's face!

Picking out just the right one...not a lot of good
choices...we were a little late!

Great Grandma Schaetzle would have loved this picture!

What a cute little pumpkin head!!

One of my favorites...

 

 

Second, we took Hannah to her first official apple orchard. I say official, because my parents have an apple orchard that she has been in many times, but that doesn't really count. :) From the start, she thought she knew the perfect ones to choose. She was quite the helper with the basket though, she didn't want anyone else to carry it for her, until it got too heavy!

 

"Mama, mama, here is the perfect one!"



"Got it!"

She has always been able to carry heavy things!

 

But now you can see who is carrying the basket and
who is getting a ride back to the building! Mama earned a big bruise
on her leg from the wagon hitting it on the way down the big hill! Never
 knew little red wagons could cause so much hurt!

 

 

So true...

 

Girls Just want to Have Fun...and Drive!

We finally planned a play date this summer with some good friends that also adopted from China. They all had such a good time, especially driving this car. Hannah doesn't have much experience driving, so she was a little wild and made her passengers a little nervous.  But there were a lot of smiles and giggles!  It was so good to see that our little Chinese girl wasn't the only spicy one! :) Their personalities were so similar, it was scary!

 

 

We're building a birdie house!!!!

One day this summer, Roger got this very interesting idea...to build a birdhouse! I am not sure what made him want to do this...maybe a cartoon or something sparked the motivation, but he and Hannah gathered the materials, then Roger began to work.  As you can see, Hannah just mostly rode her bike and every once in a while would ask Baba if he was finished yet. Oh and I guess she did supply the nail every now and then.  Later that week, they took a trip to the store to pick out some paint. Hannah chose pink of course, mommy's favorite color.  As you can see, Hannah dug in deep to help paint the house. That is one thing that she is very good at and loves to do it all the time, no matter what the surface.  I know Roger doesn't think it was very good and he was sort of embarrassed by it, but it was the effort that counts and when that birdhouse finds a place in one of our trees, I am sure that the birds will think it was good enough too!

 

 

I am pretty sure that Hannah is enjoying the
time with Baba no matter how it looks!

Minnesota 2014

This summer we were blessed with the opportunity to travel back to a great fishing resort in Northern Minnesota with part of my family! You can always count on great fishing and lots of family time!

The start of the trip...the friends were all tucked
 in, ready for the long trip!

Just a few pictures of the big catches of the week...

 

 

Hannah had great success this summer with her Dora pole. It only took her 5 minutes to learn how to cast her own pole! She was truly amazing...God knew what He was doing when He chose her for us...fishing has become easy for her!  On one specific day, we found ourselves checking the depth of the Dora pole, because it kept attracting all the larger bluegill.  Hannah actually brought in the bass that is pictured below all by herself. She spent a lot of time casting out and reeling in, and as she did that, that little guy jumped on! Very proud!

 

 

When we weren't fishing, we were spending time at the pool...another great part of this fishing resort!  We were blessed with a lot of beautiful afternoons, so we spend time cooling off in the water. Hannah worked very hard at learning how to swim without her floaties!

 

 

Good times with cousins!

Bonding time with Uncle Chad!

 Another blessing that we only see and hear in Minnesota... the amazing Loon!! We had so many close encounters with them this year. They swam so close to our boat, even though a 4-year-old couldn't figure out how to whisper in the boat!

 

 

The sunsets were jaw dropping...the two pictures were taken just minutes apart, from one side of the lake to the other.

Beach Time with Friends!

One of our favorite things about summer is enjoying the sun and spending time at the beach with friends. We didn't get to travel to the southern beach this summer, but we did try to enjoy our very own Winona Beach and the Indiana Dunes!  Hannah is still learning how to swim with floaties, but is beginning to understand what she needs to do to keep herself above the water. She loves building things with the sand- especially when mom helps to dig all the trenches!





 

Hanging with her best buds!

She just can't get enough of the splashing!

We made sure to take a few trips to the Indiana Lakeshore... this summer, we decided to visit Washington Park, just a few blocks away from the outlet mall.  Such a nice beach and easy access!

Hannah was always searching for people to pull her on her board, since the waves are nearly as active here in the north! Here she was trying to convince a little girl that was smaller than her to pull her around. :)

 

Treasures!

Digging for the next treasure!

Hannah and her new best friend, Blake

Kosciusko Fair 2014

First of all, so sorry everyone for not keeping this blog updated! Life has gone by way too fast and since joining Facebook, I have failed the rest of you! I will try to do better!

 

 

I love these first two pictures that show Hannah in action- working hard to make bubbles while at Aunt Pam's for July 4th.

 



Hanging at the fair is always a fun time with Hannah! Now that she is getting older and a little taller, she is able to ride some of the rides, which makes us a little nervous, but she loves them! She was able to choose 2 rides this year, the carousel and the Chinese Dragon Roller Coaster!

Baba got the joy of riding along this time!

This was before the roller coaster started! Way too hard to
take it as we were shaking up and down!

The animals are also one of Hannah's favorite parts about the fair, even though they are a little smelly at times!  She is getting more dramatic in her older years. :)

Those darn cows...they just can't stop smelling.

The best part of the fair... the ice cream!

Tractor Tradition...

 



Red for Uncle Chad

Green Oliver for Grandpa Grossman!

Green for Grandpa Schaetzle!