We Have A Daughter!!!!

It is with great joy that we announce the referral of our daughter Yi Ru Song!! We will name her Claire Hollingsworth (we will decide her middle name when we get the translation of her name)!

We know the following information:
Born on May 2, 2006
Presently 12 pounds 24 inches
Currently in the Yiyang Children's Welfare Institute in the Hunan Province.
Healthy & was given to the orphanage on May 5th, 2006.
Wakes up every am at 5:30AM (Yikes!!!!)
Moderate sleeper
Holds her head up & rolls over
Follows moving toys
Eats biscuits without help
Knows her name
Is active
Loves music, toys, games, & Is quick to respond
Close to her caregiver.

Thanks to you all for your prayers & kind words!! We will keep this site updated as soon as we learn more info. Also, we will update this blog when we're in China daily!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Lance, Gretchen, & Jesse at the Hollingsworth Family Christmas in Jackson, MS.
Lance's sister Tracey & her lovely family.
Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's
Jesse on Christmas morning trying out his goodies Santa brought!
Jesse's gingerbread house he made all by himself!

We're ready for you Claire!!!

Just missing one thing........

Happy Holidays!

We wish all our friends & family a Merry Christmas Season! We will post throughout the season & have on good authority that we'll be seeing baby Claire's face in the very near future! I'll keep you all posted!

We Have So Much To Be Thankful For!

Here is Jesse & his cousins Keri, Patrick, & Dylan on Thanksgiving in Jackson, MS. Jesse The Turkey at his school Thanksgiving Play.
Gobble, Gobble...
Happy Birthday to Lance!!!
Jesse the Construction Worker on Community Helper Day at Rivercrest.

Oh What A Knight!

Jesse insisted that I post all of these poses on the blog so everyone could see how fierce he was!

Halloween pictures continued....

Uncle Tommy came over to see Jesse before the trick-or-treating began.
Nana came too....with goodies!

Jesse at the Tennessee Aquarim

We started out our vacation at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, TN. It was amazing. So many great exhibits for the kids. Here Jesse is in a giant crab exhibit inthe middle of the tank.
The huge tank was filled with tons of animals, including sharks! Notice the divers in the background! That's one job I would not like!
Jesse loves this picture. The alligator was sunning & I guess using the turtle as a little pillow. How cute!!!

More Vacation Pictures

Jesse at the Tennessee Aquarium in the Butterfly House. They were landing all over us. We loved it!

Mom with some friends. Jesse at the Ruby Falls entrance ready to go cave exploring!

Ruby Falls

Here we are in Ruby Falls. Jesse thoroughly enjoyed the caves & all the cave formations!

Jesse goes to NASA!

Jesse & Lance in Huntsville, AL. in front of one of Jesse's favorite planes, the Blackbird! Jesse had a blast & said this was the best part of our entire trip!
The size of these shuttles & airplanes were amazing!
This is our view driving in.
Hard to believe we were standing right next to one of these. That's Jesse & mom in front of it!

Hi All!

Hi everyone!

Well, September is almost gone & fall is here! We hopefully will have more information regarding Claire at the end of this month. I will post as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, Jesse has been doing great in school, & getting quite used to his routine now. He just adores his teacher, Mrs. Kramer. He has been having a blast playing soccer for his team the Thunder Cheetahs. All is well here, & hope to have some news soon. Keep baby Claire in your prayers!

Love,
Lance, Gretchen, & Jesse

September is here!

Well, September had arrived & that means soccer! Jesse absolutely loves it & has been waiting for it all summer. His team is named the "Thunder Cheetahs" & they are 2-0 & cute as can be! Here is Jesse throwing it downfield to one of his teammates!
Jesse also went to a "scuba diving birthday party" where the children were taught the basics. Here is Jesse with his scuba mask for the 1st time! He had a blast!
Off to the pool for one last swim before fall!

Jesse's 1st time roller skating!

While waiting on Claire we are having lots of fun keeping busy! You can tell Jesse is concentrating by the tongue hanging out of his mouth!
Jesse refused help & skated for the first time ever...all by himself! Notice the mechanical arms...
Mom had fun as well!!

Home here I come!!

Jesse walking home from school. I wasn't supposed to be here I think but I snapped some pictures of him coming home. The teachers walked all the kids to the end of the street & he crossed the road to all the waiting moms! He did great! It was so hot & he did great lugging that huge & heavy backpack.

Way to go on your 1st day Jesse!

More picture of Jesse's 1st day of school. He had enough school supplies for all of us to carry! He was so excited to finally use his new dinosaur lunch bag!

Off To Kindergarten!!!!

Jesse on his first day of kindergarten! He was so excited to meet his teacher & new friends. He was waving to all the buses & crossing guards on the walk to school. Our little boy is growing up!

Update on Claire

Hi everyone. He have heard from the CCAA (the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs) this week. Of course they are still sending out referrals at a slow pace, but they just moved to a new office in Bejing, so we hope next month things speed up. IF things stay at this rate, we wll get a referral (Claire's picture) around November & travel about 4-5 weeks after that. IF things speed up as hoped, it will be sooner!!! Pray for sooner!

Until then, we are keeping busy with Jesse beginning Kindergarten & soccer season starting up as well! I am going to try to be very involved with Jesse's school as that will help pass some time. Well, I'll post pictures next week on Jesse's 1st day of kindergarten so stay tuned!

Keep Claire in your thoughts & prayers!

Gretchen