Happy Birthday Nora Lynn!

Today Nora celebrates her first birthday as part of our family! This morning when she woke up she called for me, and I went into her room. The very first thing she said – still half asleep – was, “Mommy Nora four?” She has been so excited about turning four years old!

Her day is off to a great start. She has already opened gifts from Daddy (a watch he has been promising to get her when she’s a really big girl), Mommy (binoculars because she loves to use ours), Grandma and Richard (money she wants to use to buy a movie), and Nana (beautiful Nana clothes as Nora says)! In the picture above she was already outside in her pajamas wearing her watch and looking through her binoculars.

Yesterday Nora and I baked and decorated her birthday cake and cupcakes. She really wanted to make her cake instead of buying it. Tonight we’re having a little birthday party, which she’s really excited about.

As I was thinking about how happy I am to be able to celebrate this birthday with Nora, I thumbed through my journal to last year’s entry. Here is what it says:

July 24, 2007

Nora is 3 today! Happy Birthday Dao Min – Nora Lynn. I wish we could have gone to China for your third birthday, but I’m SO happy we’ll be leaving next week for China! Our itinerary is finalized, and Nora will be in our arms Monday morning, August 6th. The adoption will be finalized on August 7th! Happy Birthday Nora!

Wow, it’s so hard to believe that one year ago we had not yet met Nora. And still harder to believe that in less than three weeks we will be meeting two more daughters in Ethiopia!