It must be hard adopting an older child

People say that to me all the time. It almost makes me laugh if I really think about it. Arden was almost 12 y.o. when we adopted her from Guangzhou, Guangdong China. There has never been anything difficult about Arden.



Arden is 15 y.o. now.













Arden in the orphanage.



This was the first time we laid eyes on Arden. Arden is in the red and Bret is in the blue. Arden was of course wearing this red shirt. I snapped this shot when no one was looking. : - ) We were in China adopting Cokie, but had taken Bret to visit her orphanage. The God thing was when we got back to the states Mike told himself "someone will adopt her." He picked up this picture and Arden's shirt said in English "only you." Hmm... does God want us to adopt? We were able to adopt Arden one year later.




Remi and Shepard have a long way to go with learning English. Arden is still fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. She helps them with their homework every night.








She may not be thrilled, but she never complains.