ElleAnna and Her New Friend, Mandy Rose

At some point last year, I started following the blog of a family that lives about four hours from us. They were going to China to adopt their daughter, who also had a repaired lip and palate. She reminded me so much of ElleAnna when I saw their photos. Mandy was from a more Southern Province, where there was no snow. Very different from Elle's home province! All the time that I watched their journey, I never realized that it was such a small world...

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One day last fall, the little girl's photos appeared on the Facebook page of one of my son's classmates. She introduced the little girl as her cousin. How amazing! Mandy Rose's aunt and uncle live less than fifteen miles from us. Her cousins went to school with my oldest son. In fact, many years ago (longer ago than I care to count), I did investigations with this little girl's uncle.

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So, when Mandy Rose brought her parents to see her aunt and uncle over spring break, we all went out for supper together. The two photos above are only a few that were taken that evening. Most were on the cell phones of a bunch of wild teenagers :-) because they had a great time too! It was neat to meet another family who shared so many similar experiences. And, Mandy LOVES snow now :-)

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