ACCEPT Picnic #2

This is our 2nd ACCEPT picnic.  Last year, we attended one week after bringing Gwen home from China.  Click <here> for that blog post (and a picture or two).

This year, we're attending the picnic with two daughters!  Who could have ever imagined that?! 

It was great to see so many of our travel mates from last year.  The kids have grown so much!  (I'll post more picture next weekend when we have our 1st reunion celebration in Los Angeles).

We also saw Kelly and Helen and Maggie and her mom, Milinda.  And there was Lisa (mom to Gracie and Cameron) and oodles of other people who don't have blogs but recognized us from ours.   It was really fun!   Oddly, it seemed like Mary-Mia should have been there!  I should have invited her to crash the party!

	It was great to meet up with some of the families we've gotten to know so well in the last year: This is Kat (Journey to Sophia).  We met her (and hubby, Colin) in person for the first time at last year's picnic.  This year, she's been home with Sophia for four months!  I kid you not, Sophia is right at the top of the list of the most charming and beautiful little girls I've ever seen!  She's 14 months old and weighs just under 18 pounds.  This is meaningful to us because that's Gwen's age and weight when we adopted her last year.  To look at Sophia and then look at Gwen now is to remember just how quickly these sweet babies grow up!  Maddy and Gwen were not too happy to be participating in a photo shoot when it was 45 minutes after nap time.   People often email me and ask if they're ever grumpy or unphotogenic.  Here's your answer!  :)
	And here's Kristin and Friedrich (wunschmachen blog) who are eagerly awaiting Travel Authorization for the adoption of their adorable (and I mean adorable!) son.  They're counting the days and they're up to 69.  TA's usually come on the 70-something day of the wait so my fingers and toes are crossed that they'll get it this month! Gwen isn't a big fan of cameras unless there are clown antics involved (mommy and daddy do some pretty bizarre things to get these girls to smile).   Here, Maddy just wants DOWN.   It's a bad picture of Mommy but it's hard to get 5 people in one picture and have everyone look good unless you take 600 photos and hire dancing bears.
	And now the picture everyone using USAA is waiting for.  Here are the famous (hee hee....or is it infamous?) Tracey and Yazmine of US Asian Affairs in Monterey Park!  From the left is:  me (holding Maddy), Tracey, Yazmine and Andrew (holding Gwen).  It was so nice to finally put a face to the voices that I've talked to so many time over the last two years.    I had about a dozen special requests to get a picture of T and Y from our many USAA friends who were unable to attend the picnic.  So here they are!  :)