Hello Everyone! I just received pictures from Denna & Kevin!! I have uploaded all the pictures, so you can view them at either the picture page, or the Home Page of the website. I thought I would post the small email that came with the pictures. Enjoy! ~Amy

"Here is some pictures of our sweet girl. She has bonded great. The second day she was bonded to us. She loves to be held. We are very thankful for how well things are going. love you all. Continue to remember us. The Hardins"

This is Amy again! I received the following email this morning!! Congrats Kevin, Denna, Courtney & Brooke!


Our Gotcha Day went well. It was very different that what I thought it would be. We took a bus to the Cival Affairs Office. The babies was already there when we arrived. The building had no heat so the babies was very bundled up. The babies was in walkers when we walked into the room. Kevin spotted Brooke right away. I wanted to hold her right then, but of course I had to wait. Brooke was chewing on her name tag. They called out Qian Wen Bo and I went to get her. She did not cry at first. She looked at me like what are you doing. I hugged her, kissed her and held her, for a few minutes. She started to cry. Courtney tried to talk to her, but she cried even harder. My heart was hurting for her. She has a cold and a terrible cough. She cried so much that her nose was pouring. I gave her to Kevin and she still cried. Kevin said" Do you have a passey?" I did. I gave her the passey and she stopped crying and she calmed down. We met her nanny. The nanny said that Brooke was very stronged will and did not like it if anybody took something she had. (uhOH) One Nanny tried to get Brooke back, but she would not go to her. She clung to her daddy. I thought it was sweet. We came back to the motel and Brooke played with her toys. Brooke is very tiny. She is not walking. She crawls just a little. She has not teeth. She has hair and she is very cute and adorable. We love her so much. Courtney loves her to. Courtney is having a hard time dealing with why she cant hold her. We tried to explain that Brooke is scared and that she will get to hold her soon. I think our day has been great.
Most of the babies are sick with a cold because they had a snow where they were at, and lost power for a few days. SO they all got colds. Brooke and Courtney is sleeping now. I wanted to email everybody. I will try to post pictures if I can figure it out. I am using the hotels computer now.
Yes we ate at Mcdonalds and Pizza Hut. It was so good. The best meal we have had in days. Courtney is getting good at talking Chinese. We have had many street vendors that would try to sell us things. Our guide told us how to say no thank you in Chinese. Courtney would say" Boo shay shay to the vendors and they would start laughing at her. They thought is was cute. Courtney has had so much fun. People has stopped her to take their picture with her. It must be her hair. Of course it is because she is American and pretty.
Well goodnight. My minutes are running out. I Love and miss you all. Keep us in your thoughts. The Hardins

WE ARE IN CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mood:  happy
Hello Everyone!!! This is Amy, and I just received an email from Denna!!

We made it here. We are sorry we can't call home. our callingcard is not working. We have had so much fun. The plane ride was not bad. We have really had fun. Today we went to Forbidden City. It was so cold. We about froze. Kevin has done great with eating. He loves most of the food. We ate with a Chinese /family today. It was pretty good. Courtney is having a blast. She speaks Chinese to the people and they laugh. She has had several stop her and want a picture with her. We took a bicycle tour today and we feel so blessed to be in the states. The bike ride was fun, but we got to see some pretty hard times that people are having. Very sad. We hope our calling card works in Chongjing. We are going to the Great Wall tomorrow. It is suppose to be cold. We are ready to get Brooke. Tomorrow is our anniversary. Well I have so much to say but I am using somebody else's computer so I will go. I love you all so much and miss you. Please don't forget to pray for us. We still have awhile here in China. I can't wait to come home. Courtney does not like the food. I am kind of tired of Chinese food to. We have had it for every meal except breakfast. We ate Peking Duck tonight. Courtney LOVED it.
Well goodnight. I love you. Denna, Kevin, and Courtney

leaving soon.
Mood:  happy
I just wanted to say we have finally reached the end of the wait, and the day is finally here. This is our last night at home without Brooke.Thanks to everybody who has prayed for us. Continue to pray for our health and safety. We leave in the morning.
We hate leaving our family. God has helped me to rest in the fact that even though we are so far away from home, God is with us in China and he will be with our family here in Alabama. I took comfort in God being with Brooke because we could not be there. I know God will do the same for us and our family.
I will try and send some messages and pictures to Amy to post if I can. Amy is working on putting a song on my site for us. Hopefully she will be able to do that soon.
There is a few things I want to say to some people before we leave.
MOM and DAD, Try not to worry about us. God will take care of us. Thank you for all your support the past year. I love you guys very much. Mom I know this is hard on you with us leaving, but please take comfort that God is with us. We are not just anybody going to China. We are God's people and He will take care of us. Be strong and know that even though I am thousands of miles from you, you will be in my heart and mind and I love you. The time will fly by very fast.

Diane, Thanks for everything you have done for us. I love you. Try and keep my mom busy while we are gone. She needs you.

L.D and Nadine, I pray that God will keep you both well while we are gone. Stay encouraged. God is a strength and help in our time of need. Love you

Emily and Danny, Thanks for all your prayers. Continue to pray for us. Don't forget to pick us up at the airport. LOL Make sure you write the date down in really big letters on your calender. Love and appreciate you both.

Morgan City Congregation: Thanks for your prayers and support the past year. We love and appreciate each one of you. Continue to pray for us while we are gone. We will see you soon. Feel free to be at the airport when we come home. I am sure we will be tired, but we would love to see you.

Amy: Thanks for doing the web site for me. I will try and send you some post while we are gone. You can update everybody. Love you.

Bro. Jonathan Thanks for doing the song, even though we did not get it on the site. We will work on that when we get home. If Bro. Cornwell approves we would love for you to sing it our first Sunday home. Continue to pray for us.

Brooke: Mommy, daddy, and sissy are coming soon to get you. I love you so much. I can't wait to hold you and kiss you. I want to write some words to the song that Amy is going to post. These words are exactly how mommy feels.
I dream of you our little one. How big you are, and where you are. The Father has grown you in our hearts, though in another's care. We pray you are safe and warm.
When you come home,I'll hold you close to me. Forever we will be a family. I will tell you the story about Jesus Love. That you are a treasure sent from God above. We will laugh, we will cry,You will never be alone.
Your sister wants to meet you to. She has some things to say. Especially when it comes to dad and how to get your way. She wants to teach you how to count and say your ABC. How to play patty cake and bounce you on her knees.
Perhaps some say you are a chosen child. Don't know if that is true. Maybe it is more likely that God has chosen US FOR YOU.
Hang on sweetie. You will be in our arms soon.

The words to this song is perfect for us. Of course hearing the song is wonderful. Maybe Amy will have it posted soon.
I really don't mind if you sign my guest book while I am gone. I might even get the chance to read it while in China.
Well for now I must go. Love you all. Denna

Baby Shower
Last night I went to Kevin's work. The people who worked for him wanted to do a baby shower. It turned out very nice. We got about 5 packs of diapers and tons of outfits. The outfits was very pretty. I have already packed Brooke's clothes for China, but I think I am going to have to unpack them and pack some of these new clothes.
The group gave Courtney this stuffed dog that has a leash and a house. It is a travel companion for Courtney to take on her trip. Then they gave her a book and a Barbie camera.I thought it was really sweet. Kevin could not believe how much stuff we got. He called me after I got home and said some of the nurses from the unit he works gave us some really nice outfits. I can't wait to see them.
I did not sleep well last night. I was awake most of the night. I dreamed about China, , and about this 7 year old girl from China that wanted to be adopted. Very strange dreams.
I have three more nights of sleep and then we leave.
I can't believe it is so close.
Denna

last Friday at home with out Brooke
Mood:  silly
I just told Kevin that this would be our last Friday night at home without Brooke. Our next Friday at home we will have her. That is a wonderful feeling.
God has been so good to our family. Tonight my nephew Jacob spent the night with us. We bought pizza and played some games. Courtney and Jacob have been so loud and hyper. Kevin and I have been sleepy because of all the Thanksgiving food. LOL
Now Courtney and Jacob are reading my post. (NOSEY NOSEY little children) Now they are laughing.
Good night all my friends. Please continue to pray for us. Pray for our safety and health. Kevin said to pray that
the food will be dead and not alive.(LOL)
Kevin has been reading about the food and how they eat the shrimp alive. I will not go into the details. It is really gross. I told Kevin he will loose weight while we are gone.
We are suppose to eat dinner with two different Chinese families. This should be very interesting. I told Kevin and Courtney we will be O.K if we bless the food. God will help us to survive.
Another dish is Duck tongue. I am not so sure I can handle that.
I thought I said good night. O.K good night.
Denna

1 week
I can't believe that I will be on a plane going to get my baby this time next week. If is finally here.
I got my homestudy update yesterday. I am feeling very good. Actually I am bouncing off the walls. I am so excited.
Denna

Good news Bad news
Yesterday was a very hectic day. I will tell the good news first. 2weeks from today I will be holding Brooke. YEAAAA
I have signed many times Trusting in His Timing.
Many times, over the past year things have not always gone as fast as we thought they should have. I know that God has had His hand on the situation the whole time. We have the baby that God wanted us to have. When we started this journey, we were told that it would take about 6 months after we were DTC to receive our referral. Yesterday our agency sent everybody a post and said that things were changing in China and that it was going to start taking about 12 months. China is not going to be doing as many adoptions a year as they have been.
I hate it for those who are just starting the paper chase and who has not received a referral. I know that is going to be hard. I am so thankful that God's timing was just right for us. We have a beautiful little girl waiting on us. God is so good.
The bad news is yesterday our social worker called and said that we had to have our homestudy done again, because ours would expire while in China. She also said we would have to have our medical forms redone, along with some other forms. I was in Target when I found this out. I started crying right there in the middle of the store. I left my buggy with everything in it. (which was not much)
I called my agency and they said " No way" They told me I did not have to have it redone. I tried to tell me social worker that. She said it is a Alabama rule. She did say that if HFS said it was O.K then that is what matters, But........ she would feel better to have it updated. Yesterday was spent running to the Dr. and having them feel out paper work. My social worker tells me last night that she would be at our house at 8:30 today. I was crying so hard. My sweet mom was at my house when I go home from the Dr. Mom was starting to clean my house for me. What would I do without a wonderful mom? It was not that my house was not clean, but I had been packing and different things were out of place. Also with a social worker coming you want your house much cleaner than normal.
My social worker got here and did not even look through the house. ( Well at least my house got a good cleaning) My social worker is suppose to have everything typed up by tomorrow. I have to say it was one stressful day yesterday. I feel better today. I don't look better, because I have dark circles under my eyes. I feel much better.
My agency told me NOT to worry about it at all. They said I would be coming home with my little girl. Continue to pray for us as we do the last minute things. Denna

Getting closer
I have everything packed. It took me awhile to get everything packed. The weight limit is a pain. I finally was able to get most of the things we needed packed. I am sure I will forget something.
I can't wait to have Brooke in my arms.
I know I will miss home.(Especially my mom.) That has been hard. God will be with us and our family while we are gone.
Good night. Gods timing is so good.
Denna

Get you some tissue
On my link page the Chinese Video is not working. I will check with Amy on that. Amy has done a really good job helping me with the site. I appreciate her very much.
I would like to give you the site here. Please take a look at it. Make sure you have tissue because you will need it. Kevin even needed some tissue. Of course it may mean more to us because of our experience. It is very touching and a great inspiration. www.bringmehope.org
Click on DVD and then 7 minute version. The 7 minute version is the best.
Things are going well for us. We are very excited about getting Brooke. I told Kevin we had 17 more sleeps. Check out the bring me hope video. I have some copy's ordered. Let me know what you think about it. Denna