Jessica turned 1 on the 18th!

Our beautiful little girl turned 1 on September 18! We can hardly believe that a whole year has passed since she made her enterance into the world. Jessica is such a happy and content baby. She has a ready smile for everyone she meets! We are so blessed!!

Thank you our Heavenly Father for our dear Jessica!

We can't imagine life without her!

New pictures of our beautiful girls!

Hello everyone,

Thought I would post some new pictures. I can hardly believe how big our girls are getting! Their ready smiles will make you melt!

We Love Our Hats!

It's hard to believe that Lilly is 4 1/2 and Jessica is 9 months old already!

Time flies!

Farewell to another dear friend!

Hello friends,

On Friday, we made the difficult decision to put Monet, our wonderful cat of 15 years, to sleep. It was difficult to explain her passing to Lilly (Jess is still too young to understand). After doing our best to explain what happened to Mo-mo (in appropriate 4 year old terms), Lilly commented that Summer and Mo would be playing together in heaven.

Monet was a great cat and companion. She is missed and our house is a little bit empty without her!

PS No new news on the adoption front. Rumor has it we have a couple more years of waiting. God's timing is perfect!

Sister Love

Lilly loves to feed her baby sister!

Here are the girls on Valentine's Day. Lilly read over her valentines from school several times. Jessica is very entertained just watching her sister.

ADOPTION UPDATE: Kirk and I updated our homestudy for the renewal of daughter #3's I-171H. Our fingerprints also expire (don't ask me how fingerprints expire!) and we are getting those redone on March 18th. If the current trends with China continue, we won't be traveling to China until late 2009. We trust in the Lord's perfect timing!

Another Update

Hello friends and family,

We have been busy at the Hallgren household once again. On January 20, 2008, both girls were formally dedicated to the Lord. It was a wonderful experience as we were able to share our story. After the service, a young girl approached me and was 8 months pregnant. She was giving up her daughter for adoption and thanked me for sharing our hearts before the church. She said, "Hearing your story, I know I am doing the right thing and everything will be all right." We were both in tears and I couldn't hug her enough. What an incredible gift she is giving to her daughter and her adoptive parents. I pray for this young woman daily!

This outfit is 72 years old! My mom was dedicated in this dress as well as myself, siblings, nieces and nephews. Lilly wore a beautiful pink dress we purchased while in China (the picture of which is on another roll of film that I haven't developed yet).

SNOW ... SNOW ... SNOW!

Lilly loves to play in the snow and make snowmen. His head kept falling off and we kept putting it back on. We had a fun time!

Lilly, the future scientist! She spent a good 45 mintues at school searching the seashells.

Happy 4th Birthday Lilly!

It's hard to believe that Lillian turned 4 on Sunday (January 13)! What a beautiful young lady she is and what an incredible sweet spirit she has! Lilly wanted a blue square cake with sprinkles ... and that is just what she got!

We love you dearly Lilly!

I'm 4!

Snuggles for Christmas

Here is a cute picture of the girls together before a nap. Snuggles are awesome!

On Christmas morning, Jess enjoyed watching Lilly open her presents. When Lilly opened her gifts she excitedly screamed, "Just what I always wanted!"

Family pictures

Our Family

"Happy Gotcha Day!"

"I'm growing bigger everyday!"

Happy Gotcha Day!

It is SO hard to believe that 3 years have gone by since we first kissed Lilly's beautiful face! I will never forget just staring at her referal pictures wondering how she will look in just a couple of years. What will she be like? Will she be shy or outgoing? Will she be passive or strongwilled? Time has proven that she is outgoing and strongwilled. We couldn't be prouder!

Lilly's referal picture

Lilly today!

My dearest Lillian Jeanette Zhan,

Three years ago our lives where changed forever! What was once an empty heart, was filled with joy and immediate love. The moment I held you, I knew you were my daughter and my life would never be the same. You add constant joy, happiness and laughter to our lives. We are blessed by you dear daughter! We can not praise our Heavenly Father enough for bringing you into our lives.

I love you forever!

Mom

Here comes Santa Claus!

We took the girls to see Santa last week and both "did a great job" as Lilly excitedly tells people. Santa asked Lilly to sing him a song and she sang him "Amazing Grace." I don't think it was the song he quite expected. It was a beautiful moment!

One Year Ago

Sisters! Jessica is 6 weeks old in this picture.

One year ago, 11-13-06, our paperwork for our second daughter born in China was logged into the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA). It is hard to believe that a year has already passed since that time! Our latest report from our agency is that we have about another 13 months before we are matched with our daughter. Our best guess at this time (it is always a guess!) would be that we would receive her referral in December of 2008 and then travel in February of 2009. Seems like an eternity away, but we know God's timing is perfect to bring us to our 3rd daughter!

Playing dress-up!



Lilly and Jessica continue to bond. Lilly is always concerned when Jess cries and will excitedly give me any updates on her. "Mom ... Jess is crying ... Jess is smiling ... Jess is stinky (meaning a diaper change) ..." Jessica loves to smile and stare at Lilly. Their favorite game is "peekaboo" and playing dress-up.


We are SO blessed!

More pictures!

I'm the Big Sister!

Taking a nap with Daddy!

The Doctor is In

" Dr. Lilly" and Jessica had a fun Halloween. Between preschool and church activities, they have enough candy to last a year!

More pictures

Hello everyone,

Here are some recent pictures.:) Both girls are doing incredibly well. We are blessed!

SISTERS!

Our Reason for a lack of Posts:)

Hello dear friends and family,

Included are a couple of pictures to explain why we haven't posted in a long time. In February 2007, we once again discovered we were miraculously pregnant! On September 18, 2007, our family was blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby girl - Jessica Danielle! Lilly is very excited about her baby sister and is a wonderful helper!

China had a policy that if you became pregnant during the process of adoption, that the adoption would have to be suspended. We were saddened to hear this as we really wanted to continue with the adoption of our second daughter from China. So we prayed that the Lord would somehow change the policy and allow us to continue with our second adoption. Well, the Lord performed that miracle and on the day I went into labor, we received a call from our family coordinator just to touch base with us. Shortly thereafter, we found out that China has lifted the policy and we can continue with our adoption! Referrals continue to drastically slow down and we are at least 1-2 years away from traveling to China to bring home our third daughter. We greatly rejoice in the Lord's perfect timing!

Meet Our Beautiful Jessica Danielle!
Born: 9-18-07

6 pounds - 12 oz

20 inches

We are just thrilled to see how the Lord continues to provide for our family! We'll have 3 girls!! We would have never dreamed it possible! God is SO good!

Lilly turns 3!

Yes, I know it has been a long time since we have posted. Not much new to report on the adoption front. Rumor has it, that China is slowing down even more. At best, I would imgine that daughter #2's referral will come in the spring of 2008. We know the Lord's timing is perfect!!!

Below is a picture of Lilly on her 3rd birthday - January 13! She is quite a chatter box and loves to play with her "little people" and cook in the kitchen.

Lilly is such a huge joy! We feel very blessed!

Gotcha Day - How time flies!

December 6, 2004 ... an amazing day in the Hallgren family!!! It is hard to believe that 2 amazing years have passed since Lilly's "gotcha day" and we were able to kiss that adorable face for the first time!

To celebrate, Kirk, Lilly and I sat down to watch her "gotcha moment" on DVD. Lilly kept saying, "There's mommy, there's daddy, there's Maw Williams! Who's that baby?" She then said, "Lilly didn't cry, but those other babies are loud!" So true.:) Admittedly, both Kirk and I sat with tears in our eyes as we watch this once lifeless little one - she's so full of life now! Hard to believe that Lilly was once that expressionless baby! Boy are we blessed!!

Praising the Lord for our beautiful daughter and the gift she is to us!

Farewell Dear Friend

Best Friends!

Dressing up Summer

Nap Time!

After 12 years of life, dear Summer (our adopted retired racing Greyhound) needed to be put to sleep. What the vet originally thought was arthritis, was in all actuality cancer and it had consumed much of her back leg. Summer was in pain, so we had to make the difficult decision Friday night.

Summer was such a part of the family and took to Lilly very quickly. I will miss watching Lilly and Summer chase each other around the house! She had a very gentle spirit and tolerated a lot of "lovin'" from Lilly.:) One of my favorite memories is pictured above. One afternoon, Lilly crawled up on Summer when she was basking in the sun. Lilly fell sound asleep on her (snoring and everything) and Summer didn't move a muscle for fear of waking her up.

Lilly says Summer is with Jesus ... we agree!:)
Farewell dear Summer ... We miss you greatly!