Life continues to be busy in our ever growing family! We got home from China and had a wonderful Christmas here in Seattle. What fun it was to watch a 7 year old experience her first Christmas. She thinks Santa is the coolest thing ever! In January Holly celebrated her 4th birthday and Sophie celebrated her 5th. How time flies!!! In February we packed up 6 kids (Catherine flew down for a week as well) and 11 horses and moved down to Thermal CA (near Palm Spring) for 5 weeks of show jumping competition. The competition went very well for our Grand Prix horse, young horses, and our clients, so we were pleased with those results. A lot of hard work and training all winter paid off for the horses, and it always feels great when hard work pays off! The kids all had a great time as well! The horse show grounds run a wonderful little school for the trainers kids so Ciara, Hunter, Ruby, and Kai all enjoyed that. Our good friends rented a condo near the show grounds and were kind enough to let us invade their pool and hot tub, and then another friend let the kids use his hotel pool (equiped with multiple water slides) so there was no shortage of water fun! Add to that our trips to cool places like the Living Desert Zoo, the Sultan Sea, and Legoland, and you can imagine the abundant laughter! Mike and I wondered what Ruby would think of our nomadic horse show life and she loved it! She acted as if she, like the rest of our gang, had grown up in the sport. She really is amazing. Here are some pictures of the kids taken between Christmas and now.

Catherine, Ruby, and Kai in the RV at Thermal, CA

Ciara and Sky at the show in Thermal

Ciara and Ruby on the Fairytale ride at Legoland

Kai kite flying at the horse show in Thermal

Hunter enjoying the hot tub at our friends house in Thermal, CA

The Gang at the Living Desert Zoo, Palm Springs, CA

Ruby in the pool at Thermal, she loves to swim!

Holly in the pool at Thermal, CA

Sophie and Hunter on Sophie's 5th Birthday

Kai (just after his lip repair), Sophie, and Ruby

All 9 Crooks kids!

Well its been 3 months since I last updated our blog and we have squeezed a lot into that 3 months! The most important event of the last 3 months was our trip to China in December to bring Ruby home. Mike, myself, and 7 of our 9 (I can't believe that number...) children spent 2 wonderful weeks in China. On the trip were Lauren(21), Ciara(10), Hunter(9), Kai(5), Sophie(4), Holly(3) and we were joined on day 2 by Ruby(7). Missing on this trip were Sean(19) and Catherine(14), but luckily both have been to China on our previous adoption trips so they have been through this life changing experience. I simply cannot find words to describe what a blessing Ruby has been to our family. She is a truly remarkable child who we are in awe of, and we feel honored to be her parents. Ruby has been through a lot in her 7 years, more then a child of her age should have had to deal with, yet she is a ray of sunshine and has an amazing spirit. Ruby is smart, has a great sense of humor, and has jumped into our family with both feet and landed firmly right in the middle! We all adore her and feel SO LUCKY to be her family! Here are a few pictures to give you a glimpse into our trip to China.

Granny "O" and Ruby, they share a special bond.

On the Great Wall of China!!!

The famous "Red Couch"picture at the White Swan in Guangzhou

In the mama kangaroo's pouch at the Guangzhou Wildlife Park

Ruby and her teachers at the Nanjing orphanage. Ruby was very much a favorite there and these wonderful teachers cried many tears as they said goodbye to her. We are so grateful to them!

The Gang at the Peacock Park in Nanjing

First picture of Ruby with Mom and Kai