Full Cirlce

"A journey of a 1, 000 miles begins with a single step"

Our story starts a few chapters back and moves forward.

This remains to be one of my favorite quotes.  It was almost 2.5 years ago that we felt a stirring in our hearts to bring another child into our family.  Our daughter, Emily whom we adopted from China was 4 years old and life was good.  

Only the Lord would know the chain of events that would soon follow.  

My hearts desire was for a baby girl.  I knew that my clock was ticking and that this would be the last baby in the Davis household.  Funny how you think you know what is best.  It makes me think of the verse 

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" 

Shortly after starting our journey I suffered a severe herniated disc in my lower back and nerve damage to my foot and ankle.  I spent the next 1.5 years in recovery.  As we waited our hearts grew weary.  One day as I was viewing the waiting children at our agency, I saw two sweet sisters staring back at me.  I called my husband, we prayed and we felt the Lord calling us to them.  At first I struggled as I let go of what were my plans for a baby.  It didn't take long though and they were melting my heart.  Our family was so excited about having two sisters join our family.  We accepted their referral and said YES!!  Later that week literally, my husband was unexpectedly laid off from his job.  Talk about panic.  Thankfully his passion for photography became a business.  We feel blessed that we had the love and support of family and friends.  Then one day we received a phone call from our agency that "our" daughters birth momma had come back to be with them at the orphanage.  She is living there with them because she is terminally ill.  We continued to pray and hope they would be a part of our family.  We revamped two rooms in our home in preparation for them.  Shortly after our agency suggested we go back on the wait list "just to be safe".  We reluctantly agreed.  Every other month for the next 9 months we received updates and pictures of the girls and their momma.  Seeing the sisters together smiling and hugging always makes my heart feel joy.  Seeing them kissing their momma on the cheek and hugging her gives me that same joy.  I think deep down I knew that she wasn't going to relinquish her rights, but it hurt too much to admit that. If and when she passes away the girls will be with their Uncle in Ethiopia who will then put them up for adoption again.  We have no idea when or if this will happen.  I suppose our comfort is in knowing that we will make a little side trip to meet them in person when we travel to Ethiopia.  It will be so good to actually hug them and meet them.  

Once again our course was to change.  We have come full circle, literally. 

It is with GREAT joy  that we announce we have a daughter!!!  An adorable 3 month old baby girl.  She is precious and we are so happy.  We cannot stop staring at her. We are anxious and eager to meet her and love her up.  We hope to have a court date sometime in December and make our first trip.  We will have one more trip for Embassy after that.  We are thankful for the families that are travelling or have traveled because we have acquired quite a few pictures of our sweetie.  We give thanks to the Lord as we embark on the home stretch of our journey to our beloved.  

Our paperwork has expired once again and we are scrambling to update it.  We are working on raising the last of our agency fees and travel expenses.  The last of our agency fees totals $2, 257.  We thank each person who is coming along side in prayer, financial giving and love.  Each of you are a blessing to us and we thank you for being a part of bringing our family together. 

In His Love,
Rick, Connie and Emily 

Our Little Fishie

One of the things I prayed about when we were still dreaming and waiting for Miss Emily to join our family was that she would have a love for the water like her daddy.  I remember while in China bathing her for the  first time she just cried and cried. She was already experiencing so many changes, poor baby.  The next night at bath time I called Rick in and in a matter of minutes they were splashing, laughing and she was enjoying the water.  Rick has been around water his entire life; for recreation and also teaching swim lessons and life guarding.  He is so good with kids, he is both patient and encouraging.

This summer we were able to trade work with a friend and swim instructor.  She is expecting a baby girl and wanted some outdoor pictures at a local park and in return Miss Emily was the recipient of private swim lessons.  It worked out great.  Rick also filled in the gap when they were in need of another swim instructor so Emily got a LOT of pool time this summer.  The location of the lessons is amazing, the layout and landscape has kind of "zen" feel to it.  By the end of her lessons she was able to dive standing up from the edge, do the free style with a breath or two, and go down to the bottom on the deep side to retrieve rings. I am not kidding you when I say that she can hold her breath for a long time.  She is such a tiny thing but her determination and desire to try her best is so fun to watch.  We both feel that joining swim team at the "Y" will provide life lessons such as working individually and being part of a team, setting and reaching goals, dedication and commitment.  We'll see what this next year holds...

I was a water bug myself as I was growing up but for some reason I have forgotten most of it or maybe I haven't spent enough time back in the water.  Either way if both Emily and the hubs are going to be in the pool I guess I better get a move on!

Enjoy the pics!

Cute Little Water Bug

Hi Mom :)

Front crawl with a couple breaths

Floating on her back

First Year of diving while standing on the edge

Go Emily

K'Splash

Hi Ho Hi Ho to the mountains we go

One of the best parts of July is that huckleberry season starts.  We found a "secret" place in the mountains where they are plentiful for the picking.  This season we may have went 1-2 weeks too early as some were still not ripe and a lot of them were pretty small which means you pick them forever and EVER...seriously they are the size of small bb's, it took us 2-3 hours to pick the bare minimum. For example to make jam it takes about 5 cups to yield about 5-6 small jars.  So we make it and put it under lock and key, just kidding, kind of.  :)

Enjoy the pictures, we had a fun family day!

Busy picking huckleberries 

Emily is such a great helper

Notice her "autograph" on the car

Enjoying being in the moutnains

LOVE my girl!!

The Family 

The berries

Kick'n it old school

Oh my we are out of summer and into the new school year... I've decided rather than recap the entire summer in one post I will spread it out... I hope that each of you had a fun summer with family and friends!

Miss Emily ended July by "Kick'n it Old School" at VBS.  It was the 80's reinvented. She had 2 great teachers and lot's of fun.  The highlights for me were watching her singing and dancing during worship and  on the last day of VBS she told me that "Jesus will ALWAYS be my friend". You got that right baby.  I pray for this simple truth to be rooted deep in her heart for all her days.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

First year of VBS (Kick 'n it Old School theme)  

Singing "I am Soldier in the Army of the Lord"

Playing "ring around the rosey" with her little buddy K.

Facing your fears...

Miss Emily had great motivation for learning to ride her bike without training wheels.  She was signed up to ride with Olympian Gold Medalist Kristin Armstrong in the kids ride before the Twilight Criterium.  The catch was no training wheels.  She had one month to tackle this.  Each night Rick and I would go out into the cul de sac and give it a try.  I have to be honest it was really Rick who was holding her up, running beside her and coaching her.  I was on the sidelines cheering them both on and bringing refreshments for the hard work being done each evening.  Emily suffered a couple skinned knees as she learned that looking back over your shoulder resulted in tipping over and also turning too sharply had a tendency  to do the same thing.  It was so awesome watching her each night ride a bit further, balance better and be able to do more things on her own, like starting and stopping.  On one glorious evening it all came together.  I can still in my mind picture her little legs going a million miles an hour and her HUGE smile as she is pedaling towards me and daddy is running fast to keep up along side her.  Believe it or not the next day she went around the block and through our neighborhood several times.  The day after that she rode her first ride 8.5 miles.  Daddy took her down to the greenbelt and they rode over to Grandma and Grandpa Great's house! Good job Emily, you did it!


As the days grew closer for her to ride in the Twilight Kids Ride she started getting anxious and wasn't so sure she wanted to go.  One day she said to me " momma I think I am afraid.  but I want to face my fears so I won't be afraid anymore"... such a wise little girl.  


The big day finally came.  She would at least go with her bike to the starting line.  And as she faced her fears her little legs once again peddled a million miles an hour and soon those tears turned to joy as she realized she could and did do it.  So proud of you Miss Emily.  


I hope this same determination follows you all through your life.  

Yes I can, Yes I can, Yes I can

My first ride to the greenbelt

You CAN do it Emily!!

Such a fun day! Kristen is class act all the way around...

Emily took this picture of Kristin

Awestruck Wonder

There is nothing quite like getting up into the mountains.  The smell of fallen pine needles, the babble of a stream, fresh air, blue skies, quiet and breathtaking scenery in every direction.  Our Lord truly knows how to touch our hearts and fill us with wonder.  


We decided to go on a day hike after church last Sunday and it was so fun and refreshing.  Miss Emily carried her own water and walked the entire 6 miles, we were really proud of her.  She loved picking wildflowers as she walked along the trail and at midpoint enjoyed playing in the river and cooling off.  Rick was able to go along leisurely and take pictures for enjoyment which was a nice change of pace for him.  And for me personally it was my first attempt at carrying weight on my back,  walking on unsteady ground, and climbing up and down since I suffered my herniated disc and nerve stuff last year.  I am happy to say that I made it and believe it or not I fared pretty well.  On our way out we heard rumbling in the sky and we enjoyed some sprinkles; it was refreshing. There was so much beauty.  The rain drops that were falling onto the river were beautiful and the mountain air came alive even more.  It was such a great day with my family!  We are looking forward to doing more hikes this summer.   

God Bless America

We had a great 4th of July.  We started the day out with the parade downtown and finished the day with our own little showing of fireworks.  My mom surprised us and joined us for the evening.  I have to say I got a little bit teary eyed as the parade started. When they walked by with the American flag and everyone started standing up to be able to look up and down the street and see the patriotism was such an awesome sight to see.  I thank all of the service men and women who lay down their lives so that me and my family can enjoy that freedom.  God Bless America!

Happy 4th of July

My momma and me

Yummy fruit cheesecake

Sparkler Fun

Little Cinderelly :)