The Howard Family: Lifeline Family Reunion

Today, we attended the Lifeline Family Reunion. This event is a time where families who have adopted children from China through Lifeline come together to celebrate a special bond and see the wonderful people who have helped put our families together. I am fortunate to be part of a group of moms who have children that were born in China and we meet regularly, so this was a time for our children to be able to have a play date and our husbands to be able to meet or catch up with each other. We were able to see both of the guides we had while in Guangzhou, Rebecca and Miko. They were amazed at how much Amelia had grown and changed in the 9 months since we were with them in China. It was a day of fun! Amelia had a BLAST! She LOVED the bouncy house and driving the play cars around everywhere. She was also able to paint a pumpkin and have lunch. She pitched a HUGE fit when it was time to go because she wanted to go "jump" more. Unfortunately, the bouncy house was full of bigger kids. Amelia also needed a BIG nap, so we decided to go ahead and leave. We are so grateful that Lifeline has events like this so that we are able to keep in contact with the individuals that brought Amelia into our family and allow us to be with other families like ours.

Our FABULOUS case manager, Karla

Amelia can hardly wait to get in the bouncy house!

Can you tell how happy she is?

It was like bumper cars in there!

Rebecca, one of our guides from Guangzhou. She helped us get all of our paperwork completed for our medical exam and Amelia's visa. Thanks to Rebecca, we were able to bring Amelia to the United States. Rebecca is amazed that Amelia's hair is curly. She said the Chinese believe curly hair is a sign that a person is "very determined".