Nora's "Welcome Home" party!

I'm writing this on the 9th... it's taken me awhile to get back on my feet after such a great party. It was a very special evening, and we are so thankful for everyone who came out to celebrate with us. We really enjoyed all the special messages that were made for Nora... I'll include them in a future scrapbook.

Nora and I donned our silk dresses for the occasion. Yes, my dress is warm as it is a brocade, so I won't be wearing it too often. Glad it was November! :) Here we are with my Dad. (Grandpa!)

Nora shared a little smile... she did very well throughout the evening, but the time change the night before made it more challenging. We got home at 9:30pm, which to her was still 10:30pm. No complaining from her, just very sleepy. Here we are with family friend Sue.

Nora wanted to get down and move, as opposed to being held a lot, so she walked around during the video presentation.

Great to have friends visit from our previous church... we miss you!

Besides sharing Nora's adoption story and our China trip, we also wanted to celebrate her birthday from Nov. 6th.

We did forget to have her try eating her own cake... always fun to have a photo of that, but it would've messed up her dress a lot! Next year...

Thomas' birthday was also this week on the 3rd, so we wanted to share that with everyone, too. He's being a good sport about putting off his party until later in the month...

Don't know why his name was spelled incorrectly!

So nice to see everyone... Nora keeps making friends.

My Mom and Dad, Aunt Jean, Margaret and Hiroko were so helpful in the kitchen...  Thank you for saving the day!

Bev checks out the scrapbooks I worked on over the years from the quilt swaps I had joined in 2006. They're all still a work in progress...

Nora's cousins with Auntie Kellie... in the latest silk fashions as well.

Nora's Asian doll collection that I worked on during the wait. I hope she ends up liking dolls or I'll be visiting eBay!

James... we had technical difficulties with our Moviemaker presentation. Without his knowledge, we would've been really bored during the party! Thanks, James.

Nora gets her own fortune cookie...

Great to see you, Kellie...Ooops.  I mean Kelly!  (This is Scott's contribution.  He thinks he is a blogger now!)

Barbara and her mother, Florence, are so happy to meet Nora. They obviously love children, and are so sweet.

Charles and his friend enjoy the snacks...

Auntie Ann gets to hold Nora as her young ones aren't around to get jealous!

Darlene and Edward were so helpful with our party... picking up the fortune cookies and lanterns in Chinatown for us, and then taking all these great pictures. Thanks for being so thoughtful. (I enjoyed the chocolate delivery as well...)

If any of you have any pictures to share, I'd love to see them. Again, we thank you for making the evening a success with many memories to treasure in the years ahead. We know that many of you couldn't make it, and we missed you, too. We will be making DVD copies of our video that we can share with you at a later date if you would like to have a "private viewing". (We don't mind watching it again, either...) Life should calm down soon, so we hope to get together with friends again soon. Just don't expect me to wear silk anytime soon! :) Hugs to you all, Susan :)