OUR XINGFU BABIES

Emma update....

2012-02-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

We received new birthday pictures of Emma yesterday. Made my day when I opened the email and saw her sweet little face. We used ladybugsnlove.com for a cake to be purchased and sent for Emma's 3rd birthday on January 6th. We were starting to question if she really did get to enjoy a birthday cake because it has been 5 weeks since we requested a cake to be sent. Well, she did!

For those of you that follow my blog with few posts (bad, bad blogger), you are probably noticing that we have had a name change for our daughter. Originally we (I) decided on Lila. Lila has always been a favorite of mine. It was in the running but got vetoed when we were naming Lily. This time around I put my foot down and started calling her Lila as soon as we saw her precious face. Anthony started calling her Emma.....

Anthony was, lets just say, a little reluctant with the idea of adopting again. Not because we have had a bad experience with our adoption with Lily. It has been just the opposite. Her adoption has been wonderful and the transition has been easy, relatively speaking. He feels having 4 children to provide for and be financially & physically responsible for is overwhelming. I am sure most people can understand that. I certainly do. I feel it to sometimes. Loving and caring for a child that has no family outweighs those financial concerns for me though. If we have to sacrifice financially for one less orphan in the world to go without a family then we should. The financial stuff will all come together somehow. I am not going to lie. There was some pleading and some promising (of financial changes) on my part before Anthony agreed to move forward with this adoption.....

Anthony has always loved the name Emma. He had mentioned the name Emma when naming Sophia & Lily. Since it was not one of my favorites it got crossed of the list. When we were reviewing Emma's file before we had officially decided to move forward with this adoption her American name that was assigned to her file by our adoption agency was Emma. I really didn't think much of it because I was convinced her name was going to be Lila. A few weeks after we decided to move forward with this adoption I was looking at a picture of Emma and it just hit me. Her name wasn't Lila. It was Emma. It didn't feel right to call her Lila. I think it was a sign from up above. She was named Emma for a reason. Her name right away caught Anthony's eye when we were looking at her file. She was meant to be part of our family. Maybe a special someone planned it that way to soften Anthony's heart again....:) I felt this naming should be his. It was meant to be.

Happy Holidays 2011

2011-12-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

We want to send warm wishes and holiday cheer to everyone this season. We have so much to be thankful for this year. We are blessed with health, family, love and..............yes another addition to our family. We are adopting again and are so excited about our new daughter! I never thought the day would come that I would have the privilege to say I am going to be a mother of four children. Four children. Four children! A little overwhelming but so exciting...........

Her name is Lila and I will tell a little more of her story soon.
Without further ado....Here is our soon to be 3 year old daughter! We are in love!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Asian Pear & Apple picking

2011-10-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

The Belkin Family Lookout Farm in Natick has THE BEST Asian pears! They are a cross between an apple & a pear. So, so yummy! We spent the day there yesterday picking lots of pears & apples (And eating them, we couldn't resist!) There was so much to see & do for the little kids. Pony & camel rides, moon bounce, face painting, farm animals, playground, magic shows, train rides......And of course walking around the beautiful orchards. Definitely worth the trip!

Family Day & Lily's Family Song

2011-09-14T15:43:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today we were in Guangzhou, China meeting Lily for the first time. Remembering that time makes my heart melt & brings a smile to my face. She is a beautiful treasure! This video is from tonight after our "Family day" Chinese dinner. Each year we celebrate this special day by using the beautiful tea set we bought while we were in Guangzhou & we put up Chinese lanterns and eat Chinese food. The kids love it. We love it. I think Lily really loves it. Her song says it all if you listen carefully (silence the music at the bottom of this page). Family.............

Beautiful Lily

2011-08-20T20:31:00.001-07:00

Summer......Love It!

2011-08-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

The beach....Oh the beach.....Love it. Could spend our whole summer enjoying it. Morning, noon & night. We are so fortunate to live only a few miles from such a beautiful place....So much of our summer is spent on the beach.

We spend most of our time on Sandy Neck Beach. We love driving out (4X4) on the beach & spending the day, or at night having a bonfire. So relaxing & beautiful.

Daddy & his girls.

Beautiful lighthouse scenery in Barnstable Harbour.

Tubing with friends. The kids have so much fun...

Fresh clams. The kids love digging in the mud/muck for these treasures. Still have stuffed Quahogs in the freezer from these. So good.

Jumping off the boat.

Pretend surfing.

My nephew, Carter chillin' at the beach. So cute!

Sophie turned 12 this summer too. Can't believe it. We celebrated with family & friends.

Loving the $100.00 bill!

Beach posing.

And more beach posing.

Serious rock collecting.

Beach running.

And of course the "Come on Mom, enough already, put the camera down" look.

So sad the summer is coming to an end. We really enjoy the laziness of summer without the crazy, hectic schedules. School will be starting in a few weeks, our schedules will be full again, the days & nights will be getting cooler, the tourists will leave & we are left dreaming of next summer.....

It's official! I am the worst blogger ever!!!

2011-06-11T06:30:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. The worst. Ok, I get it. No arguments from here. I have no excuses for not updating except that life is keeping us busy, too busy. Life is a little overwhelming right now. By the end of the evening when everyone is in bed I am just ready to chill out, alone, regroup. I haven't been able to muster up the energy to blog. I admit it. I am spent. I feel defeated at times. I see families with many more kids than we have but still manage to do it all. Working, side businesses, more activities than we do, church, family trips, awesome blogs, etc.... How come I can't manage to do it with such ease? I struggle with this daily. I feel guilty. I Feel like I need to do more for myself & family but don't have the time or energy. Why do I feel guilty? I need to get over that. It is not like we have nothing going on. Our plates are full. Over flowing even. Between speech therapy, preschool, competitive traveling cheer leading, guitar lessons, school, homework, doctors appt, working 24 hrs every weekend in Boston (opposite of my husband's schedule, we are two ships passing in the night), husband gone 12 hrs/day M-F at work in Boston, house duties, yard/garden duties, family, friends....Blah, blah, blah. I used to feel very organized, on top of everything with two children. Now with three children & working every weekend I can't seem to get it together. I don't like this feeling. Don't get me wrong. I do feel blessed with our life, marriage, family, health, house, etc. I am so thankful for the abundance of good in our lives. Things could be far worse than complaining about feeling overwhelmed. I get that. I guess I just need to come to grips with the fact that right now things may be out of sorts for a while. Maybe someday I will feel organized & put together again. One can hope.......

Now with all that said this next statement will make you think I am crazy, have lost it, gone bananas, loco, nuts. You ready? I want to adopt again. I look at children from China needing families everyday on adoption websites. A piece of my heart was left in China when we adopted Lily. I want to do it again. I often wonder if we can do it again physically, financially, emotionally. I don't know if we can. I can't stop feeling like we need to do this again. Adopting one more child will not change the statistics of the 147 million orphans in the world. It will drastically change the life of that one child though. Now I just need to get my husband on board. This will not be an easy task. He is feeling more overwhelmed than I am. I can only pray he will open his heart one more time to adoption. Right now I don't think it is in our family's immediate future or ever . Again, one can hope...... I will leave this post with a few pictures of the last few months.

Lily helping plant the garden.

Smelling the Lilacs. These truly are my favorite flower. I just love them. IF we were to adopt again, I would love to name our next 4 year old daughter Lila. (Yes, I have this all planned out in my head! I know, I am crazy! I can dream.)

Gavin on his dirt bike. He has grown so much this last year. Truly an official teenager. He is almost as tall as my 6 foot tall husband & wears a size 11 men's shoe at the age of 13.

Tu-tus almost everyday in this house. So cute.

My nephew Carter just turned 1 today. He has got to be THE cutest kid around. I just love him so much. I watch him 2 days a week on Mondays & Tuesdays. I think I kiss him a million times a day. I just can't help it.

Sophie is the 4th girl from the left. Not the best picture of her with some of her cheer team. She competed on two teams this year. We are very proud of her. This was a big time commitment for our family this year. Wish I had a better recent picture. Again, feeling defeated......UGH!

We went to Disney in March with friends that we met in China while we adopted our girls. So nice to see them again. We had a great, exhausting time.

Lily was in Princess Heaven!

Skiing in February. I think this was at Loon Mountain. Maybe Gunstock. Can't remember.

Lily waiting for a train ride at Gunstock.

Lily's first ski lesson with "Brian". She still talks about him even now. She was very proud of herself.

Chinese New Year. The whole family was there. Gavin & Sophie were around but with friends. So hard to get a picture of us all these days. Teenagers. Not so cooperative.

Merry Christmas to all....

2010-12-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

These photos were used as part of our Christmas cards this year. I should just scan our Christmas card but who has time for that? Look how late I am with this post. Bad, bad blogger.

Lily fell the day before these pictures were taken. Of course she had to have a big scab on her chin. She is still cute anyways!

Sophie and Gavin are getting so big so fast. Hard to believe they are 11 & 13.

Lily with one of her favorite presents on Christmas Eve. Thank you Chad & John!

Sophie curled both her & Lily's hair for Christmas Eve. Love the banana curls.

I was really lacking in the picture taking department this year. We hosted both Christmas Eve & Christmas day this year. Needless to say I was a little busy with hosting. Unfortunately the camera had a little rest this holiday.

Lily was so excited Santa brought her a "big" lollipop!

Shaking out all the stocking "loot". Don't you just love her Santa pjs?

A few pics of Christmas morning opening presents. The big guy did good this year.

Thanks Santa!

Merry belated Christmas & warm wishes for a happy New Year to all.

Overdue Halloween pictures

2010-11-14T14:32:00.001-08:00

Butterfly Fairy Princess at the beach prior to a Halloween party for school. Not just a butterfly. Not just a fairy. Not just a princess. A Butterfly Fairy Princess! I stand corrected by a 3 year old.

Happy one year Family Day!!!!

2010-09-14T16:44:00.001-07:00

We had a small celebration today after dinner to acknowledge this very special day. We are waiting to officially celebrate this weekend when Daddy comes home from Italy. Can't wait!

One year ago today...........

2010-09-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

One year ago today 46 families were crowded in a sweltering hot, loud, chaotic room in Guangzhou, China waiting to meet their child for the first time.....

The nannies and children were waiting behind this curtained off room for their name to be called to come out and meet their families.....

We were all trying to catch a glimpse of our child in that room, waiting not so patiently.......

(Lily is in the back on the right).

Our stomachs were doing flip flops with butterflies until we finally got to have our moment.

Many tears were shed for different reasons. Us as parents, for the shear joy of holding and touching OUR child for the first time. Much like giving birth with the anticipation of first holding your child and looking into their eyes. Promising to love and protect forever.

Lily crying for a much different reason, fear. Not knowing who these people were holding and kissing her. Not knowing where she was. Not knowing where she was going. Not knowing where her Ayi (nanny) was going, leaving her behind. My heart breaks remembering that day. We were so happy to finally physically see and hold her. She was so sad leaving her life as she knew it behind.

Fast forward one year. This little girl melts my heart each and every day. I truly love her with all my being. Our love for her has come easy. She always felt like she was ours from the moment we laid eyes on her. If I had to choose one word to describe her it would be amazing. She is happy, silly, funny, thankful, easy, helpful, independent, cuddly, resilient, and best of all, ours!

She has come so far in the last year. We have had our share of struggles and know there will be more to come. We can't wait though to see our Lily blossom even more!

Lollipop, lollipop, oh la la lollipop.........

2010-09-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

This photo shoot took a little bribery.........

Win win situation.

She was happy. I was happy.

A few licks here.

A few smiles there.

Couldn't be happier.

On top of the world.

Until..................

Oh boy!

Lollipop accidentally hits the counter.

So sad. Things were going so good..........

Just for laughs..........

2010-09-01T14:34:00.001-07:00

Gavin is so goofy!!

Six Flags Fun

2010-08-10T06:01:00.001-07:00

We ventured to Six Flags this past weekend with friends. The kids had fun. Lets just say I was at my wits end with the fighting between the older kids (that will be another post).

The kids and the Dads loved the roller coasters.

It was so hot in Springfield, we were all a little miserable. The kids had a ball in the water sprinklers.

Gavin was with us on this trip, of course. I have no pictures of him though. I feel like a bad mother for that one but in my defense he was with Anthony and George riding the rides while I was with Lily in the little kid area. Sophie joined me after a while to cool down once she had enough of the big rides.

Lily and Sarah waiting patiently for Gavin and Sophie to get their caricatures done.

Have I mentioned Lily HATES to be hot? I really am perplexed with this notion because she is from Southern China. Let me tell you it is hot, hot, hot there. Nothing compared to here. She spent 2.5 years there so one would guess the heat here would be a breeze compared to there. Maybe the heat just brings back miserable hot memories for her. I'm not sure but I do know she HATES to be hot! She is looking a little pissed off in this picture. She was hot and tired. It was at the end of the day and she had had enough. Time to go before the meltdowns start.

Screaming from the big shark. Appropriate with all the shark sitings around the Cape this year. Makes us a little uneasy with swimming this year at the beach. Always that thought in the back of our minds.

Cooling the feet at the sprinklers.

Lily is way up in the helicopter. You can see her ponytail through the window. She had a blast on the rides. The older kids did too. Me, well not so much. I was spent by the end of our trip. I couldn't wait to go to work the day after we got home to get away from all the bickering. I think I need a vacation away by myself. Hmmm...........

Hope you have the time....Long overdue update

2010-07-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful Sophie turned 11 this past Friday. Unbelievable how time passes right by. In a blink of an eye...11 years old. Wow. We are so proud of her. We truly are blessed to have her as our daughter. We celebrated in style with a girls only night out. Pedicures and shopping. Lily even came along and enjoyed a mini pedicure too. Love being with my girly girls. Sophie then celebrated with family and friends at our house. Pedicures for her friends, scrap booking, pizza, cake, movies, popcorn and lots of girl talk. They had fun, I am exhausted. Wish I had half the energy they do.

Sophie's present this year was a Pandora bracelet. I have one too and love it! She was very excited to receive charms from her friends and family.

Relaxin' on the beach with friends. We haven't been to the beach as much as I would like this year. Every day life keeping us busy. Between work, tutoring, cheer leading, speech therapy, friends, and routine responsibilities our lives are pretty hectic. We try and enjoy those few moments at the beach. So fortunate to be so close to beautiful beaches.

Sunset in Barnstable.

Gavin, so handsome! 12 going on 20. My gray hair is multiplying just thinking of the years to come with two teenagers and a preschooler. Yikes.

Lily looking like she is enjoying these hermit crabs.

Not so much. Seeing them near her feet provokes this response.

Love this picture. Off like the wind........

Love this one too.

Super tight goggles that leave an indentation for an hour after they come off, doesn't that sound appealing? Lily insisted on wearing them like this. It hurt to just look at her. She could hardly see. The goggles were pulling her eyes shut. Ouch.

I could just eat her up, every day, all day long. I call Lily my Chinese dumpling and tell her I am going to eat her up. She giggles and laughs as I pretend to nibble on her. She will say to me "Mommy, eat me, I Chinese dumpling". She melts my heart.

My nephew, baby Carter, growing so fast. Already over six weeks old. He is starting to smile and coo. Lily LOVES him, as do all of us. There is never enough cuddle time with Carter. Love the double chin.

Lily is a "big girl" now, sleeping in a "big girl" bed like Sophie. A few weeks ago I was going through clothes and toys in Lily's room, trying to declutter and suggested to Lily that she could start sleeping in the big bed in her room if she wanted (thinking we could get rid of the crib). That afternoon she took a nap in her big bed and hasn't looked back. The crib is still up but being used for her babies to sleep, for now. There have been no issues at all with this transition, surprisingly. Well except for the other night when I was at work and Lily woke at midnight yelling "Daddy, Daddy". She was down the bottom of the bed, head first, under the covers and couldn't get out. Not bad for a spur of the moment change.

The babies are sleeping.

Every year we hang flowers from our front porch and without fail a nest is made in 1 or 2 of the hanging pots. Very neat to see the eggs laid, then kept warm by Momma bird, hatch then "fly the coop" when they are ready. I am not sure what kind of birds they are. I should do a little research and figure it out but haven't. The kids love to see them each year. We try to disturb them little as possible. The flowers have to be watered periodically though and Momma bird hates this. She dive bombs me to protect her little peeps. Gotta love a Momma protecting her peeps!

Watering the flowers. Lily loves this chore.

Lily in her tankini. Love it. Happy summer.

A whole lot of Chinese cuteness.....

2010-06-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

Carter has arrived!!!

2010-06-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Carter made his debut on Friday June 11th, 2010 at 3:10 pm after being 1 week late, a long induction and 2 hours of pushing. He is so adorable with his chubby cheeks and double chin. I am relieved to report everyone is healthy and happy. My sister Renee did an amazing job. I feel so blessed to have been able to witness Carter's birth. I have seen so many births during my career but each and every one still gets me emotional. It is an amazing event to witness regardless if you know them or not. It is a zillion times more amazing when it is your nephew being born. Congrats to Cody and Renee. Job well done!

Guess what we did today?

2010-06-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

Notice anything?

Lily got her ears pierced! She has been talking about earrings and asking for them for some time now. We were at the mall today to meet my very pregnant sister for lunch (due last Saturday) and as we walked by the ear piercing booth Lily saw the earrings. That was it. Spur of the moment piercing. I forewarned her as best as I could about the simultaneous "pinch" to her earlobes. She cried briefly, 30 seconds. The lady said the word lollipop and Lily stopped crying instantly and she was all smiles. She is so proud of her new jewels. She likes to call them her "diamonds".

It's funny how young ear piercing brings out very strong opinions in people. Some feel it is the beginning of outlandish behavior. Me, well I just think you have to pick your battles. As far as the outlandish behavior, well I think that doesn't have anything to do with earrings.

Teenagers.....UGH!!

2010-05-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Look how handsome and innocent he looks in this picture.
He can be so funny, smart, and determined when he wants to be.........
What happened? Oh, I know. HORMONES!!
I could pull my hair out right now!
That mouth full of metal is being way to fresh for my liking.
No cell phone privileges, no friend privileges until further notice.......

P.S. We love him anyways but don't tell him that right now.

Mind boggling on so many levels...........

2010-05-19T15:45:00.000-07:00

Gotcha Day ~ September 14th, 2009. So emotional to look back on these pictures. I have so much I could say about this day, but won't. For Lily. I think the picture speaks volumes.

Eight months later. Again, the picture speaks volumes. What a difference. Inside and out. We love her so much. Forever our LiLi.

This is very serious business.........

2010-05-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

What could be more serious than eating a chocolate ice cream cone you have been waiting for all day?

Spring has sprung, finally.

2010-04-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know me well, the Lilac is my favorite flower. I wanted to name Lily "Lila" after my said favorite flower but my choice was vetoed. If there is ever another little girl to join our family ( there won't be, but nice to dream) her name would be Lila. No vote.

Lily loves to swing. She would be outside swinging for hours if she could.

Easter at my parent's house. Lily loved these bunnies. They were just her size.

Again on the swing set........

And again.........

Soccer is a big hit too.

Chasing the ball. Good exercise, (for me).

Sophie on the trampoline. Could you imagine doing this? To be young again. Those were the days.........

My all grown up version of Gavin, in a suit. Ready to go to the theater with school for a field trip. So handsome. Can you tell he is totally annoyed with me taking his picture?

~~~

We are all still trying to heal from the great loss we have had to our family a few months ago. Getting outside and enjoying the spring weather and activities is helping some. Not a day goes by though without thoughts of Nana. Some days we go through the motions just to get through the day. We miss her. Time is healing our broken hearts but there will always be a missing piece to our family without her here....

A much needed laugh!

2010-04-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

Lily was nicely playing with these sticky hearts yesterday while I was reading a comment from Maria after my post about my M-I-L, crying of course. I turned around to check on Lily and saw this...........

At least they were strategically placed. Smart girl.

And more to say........

2010-04-01T05:10:00.000-07:00

After Anthony's Mom passed away I felt we were stuck in this pattern of bad luck. My sister-in-law so appropriately called this a sh*t storm. Things kept going wrong. Car breaking down that shouldn't have because it is fairly new (hundreds of $ later for repairs), nasty cold zapping everyone in the house, stomach bug zapping only a few of us (thank goodness), a scare with lice. Yup, you read that right. I say a scare because we were told one of our children was exposed from someone in class at school. In all actuality we found no lice or eggs on our child. But with this said, we took no chances and treated with the nasty hair treatment . Rooms where torn apart, vacuumed, pillows and stuffed animals bagged up. Sheets, blankets, comforters laundered. What a project. All in the throws of planning a Funeral Mass and Coalition for Anthony's Mom. There is more. The sh*t storm hasn't ended yet. Our 8 year old English Bulldog, Sampson is declining. He is going blind, has an infection in his front paw, is on antibiotics, has lost weight. Life expectancy for a bulldog is 8-10 years. I do not think we could bear the thought of anything happening to Sampson right now.....

To add to the stress in this household right now, my work is causing all sorts of issues for us. Unfortunately we are a two income family. Northeast living, and especially Cape Cod living is not cheap. I only work part time 24 hours/wk. I am a nurse and have always worked since graduating from college. I love my job. I love neonatal nursing. I have been a NICU nurse for 17 +years. Anthony's Mom always covered the time gap with the kids for us when I was working and when my husband had to leave for work. It was easy for her to do, she was just a few rooms away. I mostly work nights 7p-7a and do not get home until 8:30 am. My husband leaves at 4:30am. So for those few hours when the kids where sleeping Nickie would be here. This would happen only once or twice a week at most. Great schedule, worked perfectly. Very easy. We always new at some point Anthony's Mom would not be here. Just not this point, so soon. So now we have a huge dilemma. Who do we get to watch our kids from 4:30a-8:30a one morning a week? My sister has been sleeping over those nights I have to work during the week, which has been wonderful. She is 31 weeks pregnant though and about to have little "Carter" in a few weeks (Yeah!!). I have been trying to work weekends mostly which helps with the 4:30 am thing since my husband only works M-F and is home on the weekends. Working every weekend is not conducive to family life though. Technically my hired schedule is for three eight hour shifts, not two twelves. I have been having, lets just say, a little turmoil with management about me not being able to do three eight hour shifts anymore. Working that third shift just makes us dependant on needing child care at 4:30 am. I may be looking for a new job if I can't continue my 12 hour shifts on the weekends. Lets add a little more stress to this household.........

With all this said (and there is more but purposefully omitted) I am hoping the sh*t storm is fizzling out. We are trying to pick up the pieces and move forward. Onward and upward. I am a positive person in nature and know we will come through this. I know in life things could be much, much worse. We are fortunate to have each other, love in our hearts, our health, a beautiful roof over our heads and food on our table. No more sh*t talk. The next post will be positive, I promise.

So much to say.............

2010-03-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know where to begin. So much has happened in the past month. I am at a loss of how to start this post. I guess I will start with what has consumed us emotionally this last month. Anthony's Mom (Nickie) passed away unexpectedly on February 28th. She has lived with us for the past 12 years, ever since our oldest child was 5 months old. She was an intricate part of our family and helped us raise our children. She was a wonderful person and will be missed immensely.

As I write this, tears stream down my face (a frequent occurrence this last month). It is still very hard to imagine our household without her. Reality hasn't quite sunk in yet. I still feel she will walk around the corner and kiss one of my children or share an amazing meal she has prepared. I miss her laugh. I miss her ridiculous gossip. I just miss her. I won't claim to have had a perfect relationship with her. The relationship I did have with her was a nice one though. We knew each other very well after living together for 12 years. We were respectful of one another. Anthony and I always said if we had to make the decision over again to have her live with us we would without hesitation. She was a wonderful grandmother to our children. That is Priceless. Our older children will always have those wonderful memories of living so closely to her (physically and emotionally). I thanked her for that. We just wish Lily could have had those memories too.

Her in-law apartment is left untouched. Her place mat is still on the table. Her bed is still turned down for the night. Her clothes are still in the dryer. The thought of her not being there makes me cry every time. I am hoping time will help heal our broken hearts. We miss her so much.

I need to get myself together here. My children will be off the bus momentarily. So much else has happened since Nickie's passing. I will share soon with the next post.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

2010-02-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

We have been extremely busy this past week celebrating Chinese New Year. We attended our local adoption agency's annual CNY party which included Chinese dancers, Chinese art exhibit, Chinese inspired silent auction and raffle, Martial Art presentation, Year of the Tiger arts and crafts for the children and Chinese buffet. We then attended a celebration in our home town presented by the Taipei Cultural Society of Boston, which was fascinating. The performances were amazing. All performed by Chinese-American children in and around the Boston area. Lily sat through the entire 1 & 1/2 hour performance with eyes glued to the stage. She truly was fascinated. We will be having a CNY celebration here at our house this weekend too.

Lily gets so excited with the words "Chinese Party". Now I know it could just be the "party" part of that phrase but I really do believe she is feeling connected with the Chinese part of the phase. Lately she will say frequently "Lily Chinese" and smile. She was mesmerized with the Chinese dancers, dragons, costumes, food and music at the celebrations we attended. I have made great connections and met amazing people this past week. I pray we can keep Lily's connection and fascination with her Chinese culture alive...........

Preparing for Chinese New Year

2010-02-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

The Chinese dress has appeared again. She has worn it two times now. Yeah!!! Lets hope on Sunday she is still willing to wear it. Big party plans for Sunday. I am on the planning committee for the CNY celebration for one of our adoption agencies this year. Lily is so excited for the "Chinese party". She keeps smiling and saying "Lily Chinese" and "Chinese party".

Lily helping stuff the Red Envelopes.

Lily kept trying to sneak the candies into her pocket and laughing. Too funny.

New Hampshire ski weekend

2010-02-12T05:31:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we adventured up to New Hampshire with some friends to do a little skiing/snowboarding. Lets just say Anthony, Gavin and Sophie had a great time. Poor little Lily came down with the Flu so I spent most of the weekend in the condo with her. I knew on Thursday when we were leaving that she was getting sick. She was coughing, but nothing else at that point. By Friday she had a mild fever, sore throat, cough, runny nose. We all ventured to the slopes for the day on Friday hoping she would be ok. I loaded her with Motrin and bundled her in layers. She did ok for the most part. At times she kept saying "Lily-mountain". Bless her heart. She wanted to ski on the mountain when she was watching her friend Sarah learn to ski on the bunny slope. I just didn't want her skiing feeling so awful so we didn't put her in lessons. Lily and I spent time in the lodge, in the car and by the outside fire for a while. By 3pm we had had enough hanging around so I took her back to the condo to rest while the others stayed. By Saturday she was absolutely miserable. Fever of 102, major runny nose, bad cough, crying that her throat hurt saying "mama, boo-boo" pointing to her throat. She barely slept at night because she was in a different bed and felt so miserable. I stayed with her in the condo on Saturday when everyone else went back to ski for the day. By Sunday she was worse so we left early after breakfast. So over all, not a great weekend for Lily or myself. The rest of the gang had a great time. Glad they got to enjoy the slopes. Next time I hope we all can enjoy the slopes together.

Sophie on the slopes for the first time. She has snowboarded before but never skied. She did awesome and loved it. By Saturday she was skiing black diamond trails. Little nervous when I heard that.

Gavin snowboarding. He loves to snowboard. He is so good at it.

Lily all bundled up on Friday. Making the best of the situation. Of all the weekends to get sick. In the 5 months she has been with us she has only once had a runny nose. That's it. Runny nose. Now we go away for the weekend and she gets some viral flu. Go figure.

Thank you Kimberly for the hat. Love it. Too cute.

Sarah learning to ski. She did great for the first time. Lily really wanted to join her.

Sarah and Lily in the lodge.

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY LILY!

2010-02-03T04:41:00.001-08:00

We celebrated Lily's 3rd birthday this week. She was so excited to have her party and open presents. We love to see her so excited and so happy.

For many reasons it is hard to believe she is three already. Regardless of her age, chronological or developmental, we love her to pieces. She makes us laugh and makes us cry. She is so smart and resilient. She is learning English at lightning speed. She is stubborn and knows what she wants and when she wants it. She is funny and loves to perform. Her dancing and singing "shows" are still quite comical. She LOVES clothes. As you can see with this post, she has on many different outfits. This all from the same day. Within a couple of hours to exact. The girl can't get enough clothes. I see a shopping problem brewing.........

Loves My little Pony. She wanted to play with everything as soon as she opened it.

Undressed again with a balloon clipped to her underpants. Oh boy. At least her undies are on. We had company!!

She loved her Dora cake. Well, looking at it and blowing out the candle anyways. She didn't really eat any of it. What she really wanted was Dora on top of the cake. Who by the way looked like she was sinking in quick sand. Dora, Diego and Boots wouldn't stand up so they kept being pushed deeper and deeper into the cake.

Lily did get her wish..........she got to get Dora off the top of the cake.

So, so excited about this present. She was actually laying on it to open it faster. She couldn't open it fast enough. Thank you Jackie.

Pregnant Renee and Cody. Twenty-two weeks pregnant. More than half-way there. Time just flies by. It really does. With everything. Soon we will be meeting little Carter. Can not wait for that day to come.

I finally got her to put on her Chinese dress. For a few minutes anyways. I have been waiting so patiently for this day. She absolutely refused in China. No "red couch' photo for us (she sat on the couch with her China sisters but in regular clothes). Would not have any part of the dress. One of the biggest screaming tantrums I have seen her have to date. She practically ripped it off her body. Up until now she has refused to put any of the Chinese dresses on we bought for her. I am trying to prepare her for the Chinese New Year party we will be attending on February 14th. Hope she can muster up her Chinese fashion sense on that day and wear one of her Chinese dresses. Please. She looked so beautiful in this dress. I just loved it.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lily. You are a beautiful little girl inside and out. We will love and cherish you forever and ever. We are all so happy you have joined our family. Only you could have completed our family. Only you could bring us so much laughter and joy. Only you could make us love you unconditionally. Only you. Happy birthday baby.

Girls weekend

2010-01-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sophie had a cheer leading competition this weekend on Saturday & Sunday. This competition was 2 hours from our house so we decided to stay over and have some girl bonding time. Very fun, busy, and exhausting weekend. Friends, late nights, restaurants, swimming and a competition makes for a fun weekend.

Sophie and some of her team mates on Saturday during the competition. Sophie is a back spot. She is up front and on the right in this picture. She LOVES cheer leading and is very dedicated. So happy she has found an activity she really loves.

Practicing before the competition on Sunday.

Lily was loving every minute of being at the competition this weekend. All the girls were giving her so much attention. She loved doing pretend stunts with the girls. She ran around this huge conference room in between performances all day for two days. Hours and hours of running and stunting. She had a ball. When we left to come home on Sunday she was asleep in two seconds flat and slept the whole ride home.

We made time for the pool too. This was Lily's first time swimming in a pool. She doesn't look like she is having fun in this picture but she was. She was kicking and splashing around for about 1/2 hour. Not bad for the first time in an over crowded pool full of kids jumping and splashing.

This sums up the weekend perfectly. We were all so exhausted. Wish I could have been napping too.

Season's Greetings.............

2009-12-27T06:14:00.001-08:00

Greetings from Crescent Hill Road! Hoping everyone had a joyous holiday. Can't believe how quickly Christmas came this year. The New Year will soon be here too. The year 2009 will always be remembered as the year Lily joined our family. We are so thankful and feel extremely blessed. Enjoy the pictures of her first Christmas with our family............

Our Christmas picture this year. Taken after a few threats to the big kids and bribes to the little one. Why is taking pictures of children so painful for them?

Finally, all FIVE stockings hang from the fireplace..........

Cutie patootie with her Christmas headband.

Sisters. Awwwwww.

Having fun with Auntie Josie and cousin Max.

My growing 12 year old baby. Where has the time gone? He is already taller than me and wears a size 11 men's sneaker. I am so not kidding.

Max, Sophie, Lily, Uncle Peter(Anthony's brother) and Gavin. Uncle Peter said he had to be in the picture with the kids because he was the baby of the family. No comment.

Three happy kids after opening presents on Christmas morning. Yahhhhh.

Lily totally crashed after our Christmas Eve celebration.

Lily with her favorite presents. Kitchen set, Bitty Baby, Dora Quad. She was so excited.

Fully dressed for the moment............ It doesn't last long.

My Elvis singing Sophie. So beautiful. Inside and out.

My cute, pregnant sister, Renee. So cute. We can't wait to meet this baby!!!! Hurry up June 5th. Lily LOVES Renee. She calls her Ah Nay Nay (Auntie Renee). Renee will make a great first time Mom. Can't wait.

Uncle Cody (Renee's husband) and Lily posing by the fire. Lily was being very cooperative with the picture taking. A Christmas miracle.

One of the three best Christmas presents EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SNOW!!!!!!!!

2009-12-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

First snow of the season! The kids were so excited to see the snow this morning when they woke up. Unfortunately they couldn't play in it, school wasn't cancelled. By the time they got home it had melted away from the rain. Oh well, next time. I guess winter has rolled in. Waaahhhh. Not a fan of the snow, not so excited to see it this morning. A little is ok for the kids. That's enough for me.

Lily's first snow encounter. She is still in her pajamas and not really dressed for playing in the snow as you can see. We were coming home from driving the big kids to the bus stop. She kept saying "snow" over and over again. Once outside and standing in it, she didn't quite know what to make of it. She really didn't like getting wet (it was very wet and heavy, turning to rain). She wanted to stand in the garage and watch it fall. She kept reaching her hand out to touch it saying "cold". This hot blooded girl is from southern China and has never seen snow before. These 20-30 degree days are a big difference from the humid, sweltering 90-115 degrees where she is from. Ironically, she hates to be hot. You would think she would be cold here. Uhm, no. She HATES to be hot and is constantly taking her clothes off. She has major hissy fits when she gets hot.

The next snow storm I promise to have her "officially" dressed to play outside in the snow.

Thanksgiving, The Stink Eye and Nakedness....Huh?

2009-11-30T17:37:00.000-08:00

This is the best fully dressed picture I could get of Lily on Thanksgiving. She was not being very cooperative with photo taking that day.

Notice the stink eye? She was turning her back to me and giving me this lovely look every time I came near her with the camera. Little rascal!

Hiding in the corner when she saw me coming with the camera!

I know the stink eye is under those glasses!

Yes, the backpack came with us. We still don't leave home without it. I'm the one with the stink eye now. This back pack is getting on my nerves!

Ok, this is where the nakedness comes in........ Lily LOVES to be undressed. Shortly after arriving at Grammy's house on Thanksgiving the clothes started coming off. It doesn't matter where she is, how cold it is........the clothes come off. She's not shy about it. This is how she spent most of the day. Nice socks. We are so thankful for this little stink eyed cutie!

Temper Tantrum Tuesday continued....

2009-11-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

So it's not an ear infection. Her ears/tubes look great. Good news, I guess. The pedi thinks she is getting her top molars though. That could definitely explain the not sleeping at night, being cranky, not eating as much as she has been and the temper tantrums. I am always thinking whenever she is acting different or misbehaving that it is related to adoption issues. I guess I need to move on. Not all issues are going to be related to adjustment/adoption. She is just an appropriate 2 1/2 year old. Doing what a 2 1/2 year old does. Temper tantrums and all. Now that is good news!

Temper Tantrum Tuesday

2009-11-24T06:08:00.000-08:00

Not a good start today. By 7:45 am a major tantrum was brewing. Over a Nutri-Grain bar. She could eat 10 of these a day if we let her. Of course we don't. So what comes next? Yup. A full blown, kicking, screaming, flailing, snot blowing Tantrum with a capital T that can last for A VERY LONG TIME!! I don't know what happened to my happy, silly, singing little girl I always talk about. Lately she has been a little out of sorts. Not quite herself. Unpredictable. I am always prepared for a tantrum when she doesn't get her way now. They seem to be happening more frequently again. I am bringing her to the Pediatrician today to check for an ear infection. She has been pulling a little on her ears. She had tubes put in when she had her palate repaired 3 weeks ago. I need to just rule out the ear infection possibility. I would love to blame this behavior on that. Some how though, I think it is still adjustment issues, post surgery issues and typical 2 1/2 year old behavior. Exhausting. Not fun. Tear inducing. Just plain miserable. I have never hoped for an ear infection in one of my kids before but today I am hoping for one. That sounds horrible, but true. If a course of antibiotics could cure these tantrums I would be thrilled!! I would even add being thankful for antibiotics to my Thanksgiving thankful list!

Hmmmm.........

2009-11-14T18:15:00.001-08:00

Hmmmm....What happened 2 months ago today?

We were joined together forever! A family forever and ever!

Yeah!!

Update on Operation Roof Top

2009-11-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

Love this jacket! Wish I bought another one in China for next year.

Picking up leaves. One by one.

4 days after surgery. Ariel dress up can always make a girl feel better.

Happy 12th birthday Gavin!!

I know some people have been asking round the "blog" world how Lily is doing because I haven't posted this week. Sorry, I don't know where the time has gone. Thank you for thinking of us. Well, she is doing just fine. After a few days she was back to her normal self. Amazing how resilient these youngsters are. "Operation Roof Top" (named by a dear friend) was mostly a success. I mean mostly because she has developed a fistula (hole) on part of her soft palate incision line. Totally disappointing. I was so not expecting it to happen. I knew it could happen but still wasn't expecting it. The fistula is about the size of a pencil eraser head. All things considered, her palate is greatly improved. Her cleft before was an opening all the way down her entire hard/soft palate. I guess we can now deal with a little hole. We have another appointment at Children's Hospital this Monday for Dr. Mulliken to look at it again. I spoke with the nurse at his office today. Nothing really to do for now, just wait to see what happens. It could get smaller or close on its own (not likely). Only time will tell. If it doesn't close on its own it will need to be surgically closed when she has her next surgery. Probably when she has her nose/lip revision. I will get more info on Monday......

We celebrated Gavin's 12th birthday 2 days after we got home from the hospital. We had ice cream sundaes, no cake. Lily couldn't have cake so we opted for sundaes with all the fixings. Enjoyed by all, including Lily (no fixings, just ice cream). I can't believe he is 12. Hard to believe he will be in his "teens" shortly. He is a wonderful, thoughtful, caring, polite 12 year old. He has his moments though, believe me. Like when he told me yesterday I was annoying. He was serious, not kidding around. Oh boy. He got an ear full for that one. We are so proud of him, even with his "moments". We couldn't have asked for a better son. Happy 12th birthday Gavin!! We love you. Tons.

Post Op

2009-11-04T19:24:00.001-08:00

Yes, I am in a crib. The only way Lily would settle in the recovery room was for me to climb into the crib and have her lay on me. Believe me, I asked the nurse if the crib would hold, lets just say a slightly larger than average person. She assured me it would and that I wasn't the first to climb on up into a toddler crib. Lily had a hard time coming out of anesthesia and pain control. She cried for at least 1 1/2 hours straight. The surgeon repaired her palate, purposely fractured a piece of her maxilla, and ear tubes were put in. Ouch!! Mega doses of Morphine were given in the recovery room. Finally she fell asleep on me. What an awful feeling to see your child have to experience such pain. Once she got "captured" with her pain medicine she did better.

Her poor little face is so swollen. Adult man hands were in her little mouth for 5 hours. You can only imagine how her face/mouth must feel.

Lily hugging "Pinky", the elephant wearing a diaper.

Post op day 1. Her face looks a little better. A little less swollen. This morning started out good. Lily was happy. Wanting to play and walk around. Napped a few times in the a.m.. She took an afternoon nap and when she woke things went downhill from there. She was very cranky, crying and clingy. She has vomited a few times this evening from her starting to drink clear liquids. Her little tummy just wasn't ready to start drinking yet. Her IV got hooked back up. Zofran was started for her nausea/vomiting. No more episodes since, knock on wood. Knock, knock.

Our room also got changed from a private room to semi private. Sucky, to put it nicely. They needed the private room for an isolation patient. Damn. Very annoying to have another family in the same room while your child is trying to recover. The other little girl is crying right now. UGH!!! Get me home!!!!

Over all the surgery went well. We are hoping to get out of here tomorrow. Hopefully she can keep liquids down in the a.m.. Please little belly, keep those liquids down. We need to go home.

I miss my kids!

Surgery

2009-11-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

On our way to Children's Hospital for Lily's cleft palate repair/ear tubes. We left the house this morning @ 4:30 a.m.. Lily was oblivious as to why we were in the car so early. She was her happy little self though. She loves to ride in "Mommy's Car". My heart aches knowing in a few hours she will be in pain and will not understand what is going on.

Playing with toys before making our way into the OR.

Her surgery was scheduled for 7:30 a.m. this morning. She is currently in the OR now and we are waiting for an update from the Surgeon. The surgery will take about 4 hours. We are currently 2 hours in. I got to walk into the OR (#12) with her. She was crying a little because "Daddy" couldn't go, only one of us could. She didn't want to leave him behind. I held her while the anesthesia was administered through a mask on her face. She cried. Having an ambu mask on your face isn't comfortable. Suffocating really (even though it does help you breathe). In about 1 minute she was sleeping. I left..........crying.

I just want these next few days to pass quickly with little trauma. She has done so well these past 6 weeks. I am praying we don't take many steps backwards. Explaining to a 2 1/2 y.o. who only partially understands English what is happening is pretty much impossible. She is so resilient though. I know she will be Ok. As a mother you never want your children to experience pain. She will be so confused after surgery in the recovery room. Not knowing what just happened. I am nervous about seeing her in recovery. As a nurse I know she will be uncomfortable, pale, confused, crying.

We just got an update right now. Things are going well. Dr. Mulliken made his first incision @ 8:30 am. So probably around 4 hours from then she will be finished. We are having all her adoption lab work drawn will she is under anesthesia also. This will save her from having that traumatic experience of having vials of blood drawn at the pediatricians office.

I will update later.

The Nerd, The Old Lady and the Butterfly

2009-11-03T06:04:00.000-08:00

Lily enjoyed herself at an adoption Halloween party. Candy, face painting, food, music, balloons and other children. She had a ball!!

Lily loves lollipops. She would eat them 24/7 if we would let her!

All smiles.

Loves the swing. Makes her laugh every time.

The Butterfly.

The Nerd, The Old Lady, and the Butterfly.

Misty and Jay- This one is for you. I know you would appreciate it. The backpack is still with us! She even had to wear it with her costume! She won't leave home without it. Miss you guys!

2009-10-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

It has officially been 6 weeks since Lily has come into our lives. Hard to believe, in a good way. We have been very busy chasing a toddler around, trying to keep up with her. We have been to MANY doctors appointments for her upcoming surgery. She is scheduled for her palate repair November 3rd. One week from today, actually. We are nervous but realize it needs to be done. Her surgeon comes highly recommended by many. I am mostly nervous about her recovery period. She has to be on full liquids for 1 week post op. Then a "soft diet" for 5 more weeks. Of course we are worried about pain management but somehow I think food is going to be her issue. She still loves to eat! She has gained 3 pounds in 6 weeks. Truly amazing.

We are going to lay low for the next week before her surgery. I am so scared she will get sick before surgery and we will have to cancel. There is so much crap going around right now. I actually have been sick for a week. A mild flu, I think. Stomach issues, sore throat, aches. Mild, but I just don't feel right. I am praying no one else gets it. Super good hand washing going on in this household right now.

Lily continues to do great. She is happy, silly and loves to laugh most of the time. It is so cute. She is so full of life. She really is a character. She still loves to put on her "performances" for everyone. Her stage is the fireplace hearth. She stands on it and sings, hips swaying and hands clapping. This little girl can make you laugh. Lily's favorite thing right now is Dora the explorer. Dora was one of the first words she learned to say in English. She has Dora pajamas and wants to wear them every night.

I have to return to work at the end of November. Right after Thanksgiving. While we were in China I technically got laid off from work. I found out that little tidbit of information when we landed in Newark, NJ on our LONG journey home. I am a NICU nurse and the NICU I work in is down sizing. Nine of us got laid off. We were able to take other positions in the hospital that were available. So...... long story short, I still have a job, just in pediatrics, not NICU. I have mixed feelings about it. I LOVE the NICU. I have worked in a NICU for 17 years. I don't want to do anything else. BUT........... the bills have to be paid. So off to work I go at the end of November to pediatrics. It will be ok for now. My main focus is our family and the adjustments we are going through right now. Once I get the work routine down I may look for another NICU job. Right now I cant even imagine having to deal with resumes and interviewing for a new job. I will give pediatrics a try for a while and then decide what to do. For now though we need to get through Lily's surgery then adjust to my work schedule. I only work part time, two night shifts a week. We will adjust and manage. Hopefully well. Praying for an easy adjustment.

I will update again around surgery time. I plan on bringing my laptop to the hospital so I can update everyone on Lily's surgery. Positive thoughts and many prayers please!!

1 Month Ago Today..........

2009-10-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

It has been one month since we laid our eyes on this funny little girl. She has melted our hearts ever since. Our transition continues to go smoothly. Not perfect, but smooth. We can't get enough of this cutie pie. I think we kiss her about 50,000 times a day. How can you not kiss that face?

We have had a very busy month. We have only been home for 3 weeks but it feels good now to finally be in a routine, to feel "normal" again. With all the doctor appointments and visits from family and friends we have still managed to do a few fun things too......

Not very flattering with the squinting but this is the first picture of the 5 of us together. We went to Sauchuk Farms to pick pumpkins, and find our way through a corn maze.

Gavin and Sophie being goofy, eating the corn.

So proud of the both of them. Not for eating the

corn (ha ha), but for embracing this adoption.

They both continue to amaze us too. Lily is

bonding to them as they are to her. She gets

extremely excited when Gavin and Sophie come

home from school. She yells and screams and

dances around. The kids have laughed so much

in these last 3 weeks. Music to my ears.

Lily finding the sandbox full of corn kernels amusing.

Kiss 49,999 for the day.

Sophie and Lily on the cow ride. I was nervous Lily wouldn't like it. She loved it. She continues to amaze us with her courage and ability to adapt to new situations so easily.

Silly goat.

Overwhelmed with the pumpkin choices. Needed some help with choosing just the right one.

We have been to see the plastic surgeon at Children's Hospital this week. Lily will be having her palate surgery in the next few weeks. Not sure the exact day yet, should know this week. Very nervous about this. We have made great strides in the past month, worried we will be taking steps backwards after the surgery. I know it needs to be done. Just worried for her. We will schedule her lip/nose reconstruction after she recovers and heals from the palate surgery. Maybe it will be done when she is 3 or 4. We will see how she handles the first surgery.

Yup, she's an American citizen!

Can she fit a whole marshmallow in her mouth? Dare her.
She loves the bonfires we have with friends. I think it's the

smores that won her over.

I said before that her favorite food was the mighty raisin. Well I was wrong. It's the mighty Oreo.

Lily is touching the teeny, tiny pony tail on top of her head. She insists on wearing her hair like this just about every day. She is very proud of her pony tail, if you can call it that. Quite frankly, it looks ridiculous. I try and distract her and take it out. She knows. She is a smart little whipper snapper.

Thank you LiLi for making us laugh.

We love you more than you know.

Thank you Gavin and Sophie for being

a great big brother and big sister.

We love you both more and more

every day.

Feeling normal at last

2009-10-04T08:02:00.001-07:00

My two beautiful girls!!

Never can start too early with the chores!!

We finally were able to get her outside. She

was nervous and didn't want to go outside

for the first couple of days. She is still a little

apprehensive sometimes.

Relaxing watching TV. So nice to see all three of our

wonderful kids together at last!!

This girl can eat!! She spends a great

portion of the day in this seat. I think

our grocery bill will double if she keeps

eating like she has been!

We finally are starting to feel somewhat normal now. Lily's temper tantrums are happening less frequently now, thank goodness. Although she did have a doozie of one today. She didn't want to share her colored pencils with our neighbor's little girl while they were coloring. I made her either share or get down from the table and she DEFINITELY didn't like that. Down she got screaming. Oh well, she has to learn to share. A hard concept for a two year old, I know.

Lily is sleeping later now in the morning too. For the last two days she has slept until almost seven a.m.. Hallelujah!! Seven a.m. I can deal with. Not four a.m.. We are getting into a routine now. Things feel good, normal again. Anthony starts back to work tomorrow. He has had 3 1/2 weeks off. Sad to see him return, but anxious to get into a full routine. Over all this has been a wonderful experience. Looking forward to what the future brings.........

Home Sweet Home

2009-09-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

We are finally home!! Still recovering. We definitely feel the jet lag and just plain tired from the trip. Lily's sleeping pattern, or lack of it doesn't help. She goes to bed fine after a little crying but is still waking up at 4:00 a.m. Yikes. Way to early for me. She didn't do this in China. She went to bed at 8:00 or 9:00p and got up around 7:00 a.m.. I am hoping this early rising stops soon. I have even been cutting her naps short, hoping she will sleep later. No luck. Any suggestions? I am wondering if she is waking because she is hungry. I still can not believe all that she eats. I am going to try and hold her off this morning for breakfast and give her just a few snacks and then feed her at a more reasonable breakfast time. We have been feeding her a full breakfast at 4 or 5 a.m. Maybe her stomach is getting used to eating that early. That's gotta change!

Over all we had a good trip. This experience has been amazing. Very difficult and exhausting but amazing. I am glad we got to see Lily's culture and her birth place. I don't think we will be traveling back any time soon though. Expensive and long flights. We found the Chinese culture to be some what rude and pushy. I guess you need to be with 14 million people living in one city (Guangzhou). Not my cup of tea. They cut in line, interrupt your conversations with people so they do not have to wait. The spitting, nose picking and children using the sidewalk as a bathroom was gross. You can only take so much of that. It feels great to be home. Good ole U.S.A.

In China Lily was a dream. Very easy. Not so much at home. Having many temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way. Doesn't want to get dressed, doesn't want to brush her teeth, getting in the car seat is a night mare, etc. I know she is experiencing many changes, trying to adjust. She really is going through a lot. New people, new food, new smells, new rules, new routine. These tantrums will get better, right? Please. Hard to feel all lovey when your going on little sleep and your nerves are shot. I am trying to have patience. I'm trying really hard. She is just so fresh now. Very sassy, hitting and demanding. Pointing and yelling for things she wants. Demanding things she wants really. I know she has limited communication with us, making her frustrated. I was in la la land thinking we were going to have an easy transition. Not so easy anymore. I guess this is where we have to find our inner strengths.

It's not all tantrums. She is still funny and silly. Loves to laugh. Loves to be tickled. Loves her bath. Loves to be naked and chased around. Still does her "happy dance" when she has a full belly. Loves Gavin and Sophie. She wakes up happy, full of smiles. She has great eye contact with us. Not so much with strangers. So it's not all tantrums. Just difficult to deal with at times. I guess I forgot what it is like to have a two year old.......

Last Post from China

2009-09-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

I can not believe this is our last night here in China. We are so ready to come home but sad this will be Lily's last night in her birth country. I know her life with us will be filled with love, something she would not get being at an orphanage. I know she would not get what she needs here in China. I know she belongs with us. I just can't help but feel a little guilty about taking her away from her culture. That feeling of guilt is just a little feeling. I wouldn't change things though. She is our daughter. We are so in love with her. I couldn't and wouldn't leave her for anything in the world. I feel for her birth mother too. I hope she has peace in her heart with her decision. I want to thank her for Lily. She has given us such a special gift. Our daughter. My daughter. No one else could have given us that gift except for her. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Know that Lily will always be loved and cherished.

We had our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Consulate today and received Lily's visa to enter the U.S. What a relief to have that final document. Lily becomes a U.S. citizen when we land in Newark, NJ. Can't wait for that. I have the American flag ready to go!! Pictures to come......

We also had to say good-bye to some very special friends today. So sad. J and M will be our friends for life, we have a very special bond. The time line for our adoptions have been the same. We have experienced most of this process together. Thank you J and M for your support and friendship. We WILL see you again soon! No more tears!!!!!!!!!

With that said, we are preparing for our travels back to the U.S., 28 hours to be exact. This should be interesting. I will post when we recover from our travels. Until then, wish us safe travels.

More Pictures, Sightseeing

2009-09-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

We only have a few more days left in Guangzhou. The time has flown by but yet it feels like we have been here forever. We are so ready to come home now. Only 3 more days and we will be on our way. The heat is unbearable. The temperatures have been 90-100 degrees. With the humidity it feels like 105-115 degrees. The heat makes it difficult to fully enjoy our sight seeing excursions. We have been trying to get out in the mornings and evenings when it is a little cooler. The sweat just drips off you as soon as you walk outside. Lily only wants to be carried by me when we are out, she will not sit in a stroller or let Anthony hold her. She will walk a little and hold my hand but when she gets tired she wants to be carried. She gets so sweaty I think she is going to slide out of my arms. We can not wait to feel the crisp September air at home. I don't want to leave the impression we are not enjoying ourselves because we are. The heat is just sooooooooooo damn HOT!!!

We went to the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum. The roof is incredible. The buildings took 17 years to build because they are so ornate. Beautiful. We also visited the Qing Ping herbal/animal market. This was, by far, the most amazing cultural experience we have encountered since being here. Truly jaw dropping experience. Amazing pictures.

Lily is still doing great. She is very silly, definitely independent, and LOVES to eat. She will eat just about anything we eat and more. Her appetite is huge. Snacking ALL DAY plus full meals. If I had to list all the things she eats in one day I would be here forever. I don't know where she puts it all. Sad in a way really. Her little body is so HUNGRY. She mostly is well behaved still. Only a few melt downs so far. She entertains herself a lot. She loves to sing and dance around. She loves her bath and running around naked after. She loves her dresses and hair bows. She can't wait to get dressed in the morning. She is just so cute. We are in love.

I would like to take a minute to thank our friends and family who have helped us out while we have been gone. Without all of you this trip would not have been possible. It gives us piece of mind to know Gavin and Sophie, the house and Sampson are well taken care of. We have been able to mainly focus on Lily during this trip which is priceless. Thank you all so much!!! Not enough words can express how much appreciation we feel. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all.

Sight Seeing in Guangzhou

2009-09-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Lily is doing great. I am still amazed at how smoothly things have gone. She generally is well behaved, easy going, helpful and happy. She has been a little fresh with Anthony though. She will walk up to him, hit him, say something in Chinese, laugh, then walk away. I told Anthony I think she is swearing at him. Ha Ha. It is rather funny. I don't laugh when she does it, but it is funny. That really is the only thing I can speak of about her behavior that is fresh. I know it isn't even anything to complain about. We are so blessed that our transition has gone so smoothly. I know that is not always the case. She definitely prefers me over Anthony. She won't let Anthony carry her but will play with him. She loves to laugh and be silly. She is speaking some English words too. Mama, baba, up, ball, hi, bye etc. She sleeps great, eats great and goes with the flow. I only hope this continues at home.

We have done a little sight seeing over the last couple of days and plan to do more in the upcoming days. Time is flying by. I can not believe we are coming home in 5 days. We are ready to return though. It will be sad to leave China, removing Lily from her birth place and culture. I want to have many pictures/videos/mementos for her as she grows. We have spent time here (by the Pearl River) where the locals go to relax, exercise, dance, socialize. I want to have this documented for her, to always remember what her Province is really like. Enjoy these pictures by the Pearl River.

Dream Girl

2009-09-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying I am totally amazed right now. Lily is a dream girl. She is so sweet. She is so easy. I am probably jinxing myself right now. Her adjustment has gone rather smoothly. She is definitely bonding to both of us. More so to me than Anthony though. She will play with him but doesn't like him to pick her up. She follows me around everywhere. Wanting to see me all the time. She is very soft spoken, gentle and silly. We have seen many smiles and laughs. She loves her new clothes, hair accessories and especially her back pack. She will not leave without it. She has been sleeping great too. She will climb into bed during the day on her own for a nap when she is tired. She has slept in her crib every night without any difficulties. She has been eating great too. She LOVES raisins. I can't believe how little she is though. She is a peanut!! 23 pounds at 2 1/2. She has little chicken legs. Too cute. We need to fatten her up. Wait until Anthony's mom gets a hold of her. She will beef her up in no time. The food here is very good. We are not too adventurous though with ordering strange things. Playing it safe with different types of noddle dishes. Yummy.

We haven't done too much sight seeing yet. We have had many appointments. The next couple of days will be free days so we are planning to do some shopping and sight seeing. Can't wait. There was a typhoon that came up from Hong Kong. Tons of rain, winds and flooding the last couple of days. The Pearl River, across the street from the hotel we are staying at, rose up and flooded the streets. The water almost flooded the lobby of the hotel within inches. The typhoon has now passed, thank goodness. The sun is partly out today, hot and HUMID beyond belief. My hair is crazy curly. Can't wait to come home and straighten it!! I won't even bother here. The moment I would step outside it would be crazy again.

Lily had to get 4 shots today at her medical exam. 2 more scheduled for Saturday. The U.S. requires all adopted children be caught up too date on there immunizations before entering the U.S. She was not happy with all those shots, neither was I. Poor little thing. The crying was short lived though. The raisins did the trick. The power of the mighty raisin! I am praying that her TB test is negative. We need to have it read on Saturday. If it is positive she will have to have a chest xray. If that is positive for active TB, well I can't go there right now. I can not even think about that possibility. She would not be able to come home with us until she had been treated for TB. Again, don't want to go there. Send positive thoughts our way, please.

Off to go get lunch and do a little shopping. Will post again soon. Enjoy the pictures.

GOTCHA DAY

2009-09-14T17:38:00.001-07:00

We have her! What a crazy, emotional, draining, wonderful day. We are exhausted. My heart breaks for Lily knowing she is scared and grieving for her Nannies. She screamed for about an hour when her Nannies left. She kept looking for them at every doorway, putting her arms out to Asian women she didn't know. She wanted her backpack on her back and kept trying to leave out the door to find them. She sobbed and kept screaming Mama (obviously not for me, but for her nanny). We tried everything to distract her but nothing worked. Toys, lollipops, M&Ms. Nada. She just needed to have her time to grieve. I just held her the best I could (she truly was kicking and screaming) and told her it would OK and that we loved her. I haven't watched the video yet but I am sure it will be heart wrenching for us.

Now for the upbeat news............Once she stopped crying, she stopped. We could tell she was still nervous and scared, but at least not crying. She popped a lollipop in her mouth, still had her backpack on but started walking around just looking at the other kids and adults. Anthony had our backpack on and she with hers on. Lily kept following him around, both with their backpacks on. Too cute. She would let us BOTH hold her. We even got a few smiles by tickling her belly. I was thinking at that moment, this just might be ok (when she was screaming, I certainly had my doubts that all of us would be ok).

She definitely is gentle and kind. She has shared her goldfish snacks with others, on her own, not prompted. A little girl dropped her stuffed bear in front of Lily. She quickly picked it up and handed it to the Mom. How cute.

Lily is Tiny!! I haven't weighed her yet but once she wakes up I will get her dressed and weigh her then. I highly doubt she is the 25 lbs they said she is. She looks more like a 18 month old than a 2 1/2 year old. I got a quick peek at her cleft. It is not as bad as I thought but is still pretty wide. She does have two front teeth. They are crooked but at least they are there. I was concerned about that. My glimpse into her mouth was quick, hard to tell the extent of the cleft. I couldn't see her gum line in my glimpse either. Curious to see how that is. Maybe tomorrow I can get another look. Her little nose is flat and will definitely need a revision at some point. We will deal with all this when we get home. We just want to love her up right now. She is sleeping right now. I just want her to wake up so I can see her. I need to kiss her again!!

Enjoy the pictures. Only time to post a few. More later.

Delinquent, So sorry

2009-09-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, I feel very badly I did not post last week. This last week has been CRAZY!! It was one big blur. I thought I was better prepared than I was. I thought I had everything under control. Obviously not. Something had to give and it was the blog. The kids started back to school this last week along with us preparing for China. The kids activities are in full swing. Everything added together equaled a crazy cyclone of a week. Friday a.m. came so fast. It was so very difficult to say goodbye to the kids. I was so emotional. Two years of emotions coming to the surface the day before we left was not pretty. I was a sobbing, blubbering idiot. Leaving the house Friday for the airport was extremely difficult for me. All those motherly concerns. The what ifs. Glad that day has come and gone. I still am having a few teary moments but much improved from Friday.

The flight was long but tolerable. We had a delayed layover in NJ. That sucked. We watched MANY movies and slept quite a bit once we were on the plane to Hong Kong. 15 long hours. We had an extra seat next to us which made all the difference in the world. It felt so good to finally get to Hong Kong. We were only there for 12 hours, not much sight seeing could be done. Just around the hotel area. Took the train to Guangzhou today. Not so bad. Saw a lot of poverty on the train route. Kind of depressing. I am relieved that we are finally here. Both of us are tired but in one piece. Our luggage arrived in one piece also. So very thankful for that. We met with "Gracey" today once we got here (our adoption agency guide) to go over our schedule for the next 11 days. Which leads me to this.....................WE MEET LILY TOMORROW AT 3PM!!!!!!!!!

I am in a state of shock really. I feel like this is still a dream. I can't believe all those long tedious days of paperwork and being "patient" have paid off. We ARE really going to see her tomorrow. Someone pinch me. Is this really real? It won't feel real to me until she is in my arms. I know tomorrow will be emotional for many, many reasons but I can't wait to see her cute little face in person. I pray the transition won't be too traumatic for her. I pray she likes us. I pray things go smoothly tomorrow. Please send those positive thoughts and prayers to us.

More to come tomorrow, with pictures!.........................How am I going to sleep tonight?

Busy, Busy

2009-09-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

This last week has been a blur. So busy with the kids. Trying to fit in last minute summer fun, school shopping and preparing for our trip. We leave one week from today. YIKES. We are all very excited but nervous. I know the kids are nervous because they are being a little clingy. Totally fine with me, I love the extra hugs and snuggles (You don't normally get a lot of those from a 12 year old boy). I am feeling nervous about being away from them for two weeks. Its hard to leave knowing you won't be able to be there if they should need or want you. Being SO far away scares me. I know they will be just fine but once you are a mother you always worry. My sister and brother in law are coming to our house to watch them while we are gone. (Thank you Renee and Cody!!!! Couldn't have done this without you). We will Skype of course. So at least we will be able to see each other. Nervous, but can't wait for this adventure to begin.....

Update on Lily

2009-08-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

We received an update today on Lily with new pictures. They shaved her poor little head! She looks like a little boy minus the dress. I was so hoping for her to have hair. I guess I can leave the pony tail holders at home! One less thing to pack. She looks happy and healthy in her pictures, I know that is most important. Her hair will grow. But how fast? LOL. I think she looks a lot like Anthony. I know that sounds funny but she has his hair cut now and her face is shaped like his. Too funny. Compare the pictures from this blog. What do you think?

Her update said she can say mom and dad in English. She can also say I love you in English. How cute is that? She is mostly potty trained, still drinks a bottle and sleeps in a small bed not a crib. We have a crib set up in her room and a queen size bed too. I am hoping she will sleep in her crib for a while. We shall see.

Seeing new pictures of her makes me even more excited. I can't wait to leave. I can't wait to hug and squeeze her!! Two weeks from tomorrow we leave. Did I mention we are GOING TO CHINA!!

The flights are booked!

2009-08-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

WE HAVE OUR TICKETS!! We are leaving September 11th, returning on September 24th. We finally get to meet our Lily Mei on September 14th. Less than 3 weeks!! I am in a state of shock. I can't believe it. WE ARE GOING TO CHINA!! Thank you to those who have left encouraging comments and have been supportive during this process. Lord knows, we need all the support and encouragement we can get. I have a list a mile long of things I need to do in the next few weeks. It will get done! It will get done! Right??

TA has arrived!!

2009-08-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

Ok people, we are GOING TO CHINA!! We received our Travel Approval (TA) yesterday. Our agency called last night with this great news. This was the last approval we needed. We are thinking we will be leaving around September 10th or 11th. THAT'S TWO WEEKS PEOPLE!! We will be leaving in about two weeks! We can not believe it. We still have a few appointments to confirm for when we are in China before we can book our flights. We are hoping to have these dates confirmed by tomorrow. Then its time to book those long awaited flights............

ARTICLE 5!!!!!

2009-07-30T18:08:00.001-07:00

I got the email last night when I was at work that we have received our next approval, Article 5. This is for Lily's visa. Our next and final approval is travel approval which is issued by the CCAA in Beijing. Our file/paperwork was overnighted from Guangzhou to Beijing yesterday and should be there today/tomorrow. This last approval should take about 3-4 weeks and then we are off to CHINA!!! I can not believe we are finally at this point. It does not seem real. We are all excited but nervous as our lives will be changed forever once we travel. I know having a two year old again will be exhausting, challenging, loud and crazy (the last two adjectives are from my 10 & 11 year old). I am ready for this though, I think. I have wanted this for a long time. That is not to say I won't have those days of wanting to lock myself in the bathroom and cry. I know about those days, believe me I do. Did I mention I have a 10 and 11 year old? Lily will come with her own set of challenges. Attachment issues, grieving issues, surgeries, speech, etc. All these issues are real and will be difficult but we will deal with them as they come. One step at a time, one day at a time. Mostly I want to hold and rock her and let her know she is loved and is filling a void in our family. She is giving us a special gift. A gift that only she could give. I want to forget about all the possible issues and just love her for who she is. I am hoping that early September we will finally travel to meet her and be able to discover who she is. Who she really is. Not just a picture, not just a medical report, not just an update on her development and personality. Just her. I am oh so nervous, but oh so ready! Come on TA.

A Little Slice of Heaven

2009-07-14T19:07:00.001-07:00

What a great beach day today. The weather has been so dismal here this summer. Unusually cold and rainy. Today was gorgeous. 75 degrees with little humidity. Perfect. We only live 2 miles from the beach so we headed on over for a few hours. The beach has always given me a sense of peace. I find it magical. I grew up on the beach. It's part of who I am. I love it. I can't live without it. My kids love it. I hope Lily will learn to love it. The feel of the cool, soft sand under your feet. The salty smell of the ocean. The hot sun warming your body. The sound of the waves hitting the sand. The sounds of children laughing. What more could you ask for?

We are so close!!!

2009-07-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

I just found out we have our I 800 approval. It was approved yesterday afternoon. We only have a few more steps to go and then we are off to China! I can't believe it! The next step is for Lily's visa paperwork to be approved which takes about 3-4 weeks. This is done in Guangzhou, China. Then our file gets sent to Beijing to the CCAA and they review everything once more and then issue travel approval (about another 3 weeks). Once we receive TA we can go get our little girl. We are so close. I can not believe we have been in this process for a year and a half. We have been wrapped up in all this paperwork for so long it felt like it would never happen. Like it was just a dream. Or just part of our daily life. Kids, house, work, fun, adoption paperwork. Now it is starting to feel like it IS going to happen. We will have another daughter. We will be able to hold her in our arms and tell her we love her. I don't want to get ahead of myself here. We still have those last few approvals to get. We are getting close though! Hopefully the beginning of September we will travel. Keep us in your thoughts. We could use some positive vibes sent our way.

IT IS HERE!!!

2009-06-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

So much fuss for this one piece of paper. Yup, it came in the mail this morning. This is the paper we have been waiting for. Four months of waiting for this single piece of paper. Can you believe it? No more wasting time now. On to the next phase.... waiting for immigration (USCIS) to clear Lily as being suitable for adoption under the new U.S. Hague rules. I sent off those forms to immigration late today after a long day of gathering all the appropriate forms, photocopies, signatures, numerous phone calls to USCIS, HAS and to M.W. What a long, tedious day. Thank you M.W. for making this difficult process a little easier. It is nice to have a friend that can understand every frustration and emotion that this process brings on. Now we wait again............

2009-06-19T14:39:00.001-07:00

ImageChef.com Flower Text

2009-06-19T14:20:00.001-07:00

We got the call today from our agency! Our LOA has arrived! Better late than never, right? One more step down. A few more to go. Probably about 2-3 months before the rest of the paperwork is done before we can travel. My prediction is September. Please, please let my prediction be right. We are one step closer to our little Lily. Off to celebrate.............

Day 500

2009-06-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

Today marks 500 days since we started this adoption process. 500 days! If you would have asked me this time last year where we would be in this process it certainly would not be where we are now. I never imagined it would take this long. We were anticipating 9-12 months start to finish. Obviously we are way,way beyond that. I know we are not alone in the waiting. Other families are waiting just as long or longer. I just want our LOA so we can proceed. Day 108 for LOA now. Very frustrating! I would love to know China's reasoning why some LOAs take 45 days and others take 140 days. No one seems to know. The joke around our house is that Lily will be in high school before we can get her. We have to joke or else I would have been in the loony bin a long time ago.

100 CLUB

2009-06-06T12:08:00.000-07:00

OK. Can you believe it? Day 100 waiting for LOSC/LOA. We are not very happy around here. This is a club we did not want to join. I call it the 100 and still waiting club. What is the darn hold up?

FRUSTRATION!!

2009-05-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Day 92 waiting for LOSC/LOA. I am so frustrated! I keep seeing that people have received their LOSC after waiting a much shorter time than we have. What is taking so long? I can't help but wonder if there is something wrong with our dossier. Our agency assures me it is fine and that there is no rhyme or reason most of the time for peoples length of waiting for documents from China. Regardless, I wonder what the hold up is. Some families have only waited 20, 30, 40 days. Others have waited 120-150 days. You watch, with our luck, we will be one of those families that have to wait 150 days. This whole adoption process has been one hurdle after another for us. Why should waiting for LOSC be any different? I was convinced we would travel sometime this summer. At this rate the chances are slim. I could just cry. Well, I have cried.

An unexpected Update

2009-05-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

We received 5 new pictures and new measurements of Lily Mei yesterday. I was so not expecting them. Let me tell you, it made my day. She looks so big now. What a difference a few months make. The last pictures were from the beginning of April. She doesn't really have that baby look anymore. It is killing me, just waiting and waiting for this next step in the paperwork process to move forward. On a positive note, some families are starting to receive their LOAs/LOSCs. Encouraging for us. Hopefully ours will be around the corner. I don't want to get my hopes up though. The aftermath is very depressing when things don't happen when you think they will. Positive thinking, positive thinking. Come on LOA!

Cranky

2009-05-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Day 80 today. I am driving myself crazy. I should just stop counting but I can't. There is a mixed consensus out there. Some reports say that China is not sending any approval paperwork, some say business as usual. Regardless, there is definitely a slow down due to the swine flu. Not many approvals of any kind are being talked about. I never thought this would be so hard. You can't fully prepare yourself for this process unless you have been through it before I guess. I really thought that we would be traveling this summer to meet Lily Mei. Then again, I thought we would have traveled LAST fall to get our daughter. Then I thought we would travel in the winter months, then it was the spring. Then it was most definitely this summer. And here we are, the middle of May and still no LOA. By the way things are looking, I am wondering if we will even travel THIS fall to get her. This is ridiculous. I need to stop planning because I am driving myself crazy. Haven't I learned yet? Obviously not.

I am tired and cranky this Monday morning if you can not tell. Not a good way to start the week. Exhausted from a busy weekend, still not feeling great from a cold two weeks ago. My house is a mess, my dog stinks and needs a bath, and I have lots of errands to do this morning. I think I am going back to bed! Hopefully I will be in a better mood once I get up AGAIN.

You guessed it, day 75 waiting for LOA!

2009-05-13T17:03:00.000-07:00

I was hoping not to be at this point but we are. Day 75 of waiting for LOA. Not much seems to be happening with LOAs anywhere. Most adoption sites seem relatively quiet still in regards to matching, LOAs, and TA. I keep checking my emails and RQ about 50 times a day just hoping to find out some encouraging news. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will happen soon. Lets hope I don't have to post the next entry, "Waiting 85 days for LOA".

Not that I am counting.....

2009-05-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

Ok people, 65 days waiting for LOSC/LOA. Yes, I am counting. I hope and pray everyday we receive that email/phone call from HAS saying they have received our LOSC. It still may be a while now given the swine flu outbreak. China has stopped the processing of "the paperwork" until the swine flu declares itself from what I hear. Of course I can understand China wanting to keep their citizens and children safe. They are doing the right thing. BUT, our little Lily is getting not so little anymore. She is getting older everyday. We don't want to miss out on anymore time with her. It is so hard. I miss her. I want her home. I want to see her. I want the swine flu to go away! I want China to resume the paperwork shuffle. I want our LOSC!

No news yet

2009-04-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

It has been officially 55 days waiting for LOSC/LOA. I think China is taking a nap right about now. Everything seems quiet on all the adoption sites. I hope they wake up soon. The waiting is torturous! This seems to be the underlying thread with most of my posts. Waiting. I have come to realize I do not like this word. A little waiting is healthy. It makes you appreciate what you are waiting for. 18 months of waiting though. TORTURE!! WAKE UP CHINA!!!!

On a positive note, our updated home study is completed. Yeah!! I will have it ready to send to immigration with our I-800 package as soon as we receive LOSC/LOA. I was worried it would not be ready but it is. Thank goodness. I do not want anything else holding up this already long process.

Update, Update! Read all about it!

2009-04-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

We received an update on Lily from our agency yesterday sent by her orphanage. We have 6 new pictures and a written update on her. I can't believe how big she looks. Her hair has grown (thank goodness, still needs to grow more for those cute pig tails to happen), she looks like she has put on some weight (mostly in her belly, too cute for words) and we finally have a clear picture of her repaired cleft lip. Looks like she will need some reconstructive surgery on her nose when she has her palate repaired. Anything this little cutie needs she will get. We can handle anything once she is in our arms. We can not wait to just love her up.

(You can not really see in this picture but there is a printed D&G on the front of her shirt. Dolce and Gabbana maybe? Girl after my own heart. Mother like daughter! What's with the scowl though? Come on baby girl, Dolce and Gabbana!)

Spring make over

2009-04-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have given our blog a much needed face lift. With spring in the air, tulips and daffodils in bloom and warmer temperatures, I am feeling the need to enjoy this time. The old blog was feeling very "winterish" with its dark colors. I love the colors of the "new" blog. Lily's room has been decorated in these exact colors.

On the adoption front, still waiting for LOSC. It has been officially 45 days waiting for LOSC from our LOI. Some people have waited for 120 days. Yuck!!!

Finding Ad

2009-04-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

We received Lily's finding ad today from Brian Stuy. Amazing! I am holding the actual newspaper that her ad is in. The date the newspaper ad was placed and published was on July 23, 2008. That is Sophie's birthday! Another coincidence, our LID is my father's birthday, September 10th. Coincidence or meant to be? I do not know, but it certainly makes you think.

She is so cute with her big round eyes. Oh how I wish she knew we were trying so hard to get to her. She has no idea that we even exist right now. I am hoping the photo album we sent reaches her soon. I want her to know we are thinking of her every minute of every day. We really are coming, stay strong Lily Mei-Ling.

The Endless Wait

2009-04-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

Not much has happened these last couple of weeks. We are just waiting the endless wait. It has been officially 37 days since our referral for Lily. It has been 24 days since our PA (preapproval) from China. LOSC still could be weeks away from now. I am hoping we will get it sometime in April but may not be until June. So we wait...........

In the mean time, we are having our home study renewed. It is due to expire on May 5th so we need to have it updated. In Massachusetts home studies are only valid for one year. So more paperwork. More child abuse clearances, new CORI, meetings with our agency, letters stating any changes with our family, income, medical etc. When the knew home study is finished it then needs to be notarized, authenticated and translated. Have I mentioned I am just about at my limit with the paperwork? Well, I am. Come on now. Enough already! I am not delusional. I know there is lots more paperwork to come. I am just sick of it! The things we do for our children!

I am still waiting for Brian Stuy to send us Lily's finding ad. It was supposed to be mailed out on Thursday this past week from Utah. Hopefully we will have it by the beginning of this week. We can't wait to see another picture of her. All these little links to Lily makes the waiting a little less painful. So we continue to wait for LOSC, home study renewal, finding ad. Wait, wait, wait. While Lily waits for us...........

New Pictures of Lily

2009-03-26T08:01:00.001-07:00

This week I have "talked" with 3 families that have recently adopted children from the very same orphanage where Lily is. How amazing! The orphanage seems to be a small one. It appears very well kept from the pictures I have seen. Most importantly, the families I have spoken with feel that their daughters have all been very well cared for and loved. One family even had pictures to share. Thank you Tracy! She emailed me some pictures and we think Lily is in one of them! She would be about 15 months old in the picture. It is amazing that I have found these families that have a link to Lily. Our daughters know each other. They are in the pictures together. Tracy has given us something so priceless. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I have also corresponded with Brian Stuy this week (The finding ad guy). He actually has Lily's finding ad photo. He is sending us the actual newspaper that her ad is in. I can not wait to receive it. Hopefully it will be here the beginning of next week. For those of you who do not know, China has to place a "finding ad" in the newspaper with a picture of the child that has been abandoned to see if the parents will claim them before they can be legally put up for adoption.

All these links to Lily have made the time pass a little faster and easier. It has already been almost a month since we received her referral. Come on China, we are still waiting for that darn LOSC!

Orphanage Picture

2009-03-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of joining a yahoo group for families who have or are adopting from the same orphanage where Lily is. I can not wait to "talk" with families that have some knowledge of this orphanage. Sometimes other families will have info about your child because their children are the same age and in the same "group" as your child. It will be comforting to learn anything about Lily's life right now. When you do not really have much to go on, any little piece of info that links to her is precious. I did find a picture of the orphanage where she is. I found it on someones blog who has already adopted from Lily's orphanage. I just stare at the picture and imagine Lily in the window. It is so surreal that she is in that building. I know what the building looks like but we are half way around the world. I just want her to know we are trying our hardest to get to her. Hold on Lily, we are coming!

Update

2009-03-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

It has been over two weeks now that we have been waiting for LOSC. About 10 more weeks to go or sooner if we are lucky. We are waiting for an update on Lily also. Our agency put in a request for updated pictures and information. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will have updates. I can't wait to see knew pictures of her! (I just can't wait for all this waiting to be over with). I am also putting together a small photo album of us and her room to be sent to her by our agency. The caregivers at the orphanage will show her the album so she will have some exposure to what we look like and that we are her Mommy, Daddy, Brother and Sister. Hopefully this album will reach her. Many children bring these albums home with them and are so attached to them. It will be a great keepsake for her. Come on China, send us our LOSC! We need to get there soon!

Time line

2009-03-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

It has been 1 week now that we are waiting for LOSC. Only about 11 more weeks to go! UGh. Things just take so darn long. I am trying to put a time line together in my head of how long each paperwork phase is going to take. I really shouldn't though because it is unusual for international adoption to go according to your plans. It just leaves you disappointed when more time passes than you expected. I am anticipating sometime this summer for travel but we will see what happens. Here are a list of things that still need to happen before we can bring our Little Lily home............

LOSC - Our agency has sent our LOI(letter of intent) to China stating Lily is the specific child we want to adopt. We now wait for their reply(LOSC-letter of seeking confirmation). This could take on average about 3 months! This would bring us to the end of May. I am hoping China will send us our LOSC sooner because our dossier(paperwork) has been in China for about 7 months already but I am not holding my breath.

USCIS- Once we receive our LOSC we then have a few forms to fill out and send them to USCIS(Unites States Citizenship and Immigration Services) with our LOSC. This should take about 4-5 weeks for approval. This would bring us to the beginning of July. Then this approval and other paperwork gets sent back to China and we wait for TA(travel arrangements).

TA - This could take about 6 weeks to get. So that brings us to the middle or end of August. To think we have to wait to the end of the summer seems far to long to wait. It is soooooooooo far away. I know we can do it but the wait will not be easy!

What next?

2009-03-03T02:04:00.000-08:00

I spoke with Pam yesterday to find out what next. HAS has submitted our LOI (letter of intent) to China for Lily. We now have to wait for China to reply with LOSC (letter of seeking confirmation). This reply can take up to 2-4 months to get. Why so long? I do not know. Too much waiting with international adoption! Once we receive the LOSC then we submit MORE paperwork to immigration. Once we receive clearance from immigration again (about 1 month or maybe 2?) we return all the paperwork back to China. They then send us TA (travel approval). So if things happen very quickly we could possibly be going to China early summer. BUT as we all know, international adoption is never quick. So.......July or August is probably more realistic.

Lily Mei's picture is all over our house. We all are in love with her. Anthony and I can't stop looking at her cute little face. Hopefully soon we will be able to see that cute face in person!

Love.

2009-02-28T06:20:00.000-08:00

I can't stop looking at her. I get so excited when I see her little face. I get that butterfly feeling. Her picture was the last thing I looked at last night before I went to sleep and the first thing I saw when I woke up this morning. How can I love her already? I do not even know her. I just do. I am her mother. I never knew a picture could generate such strong feelings and emotions.

We have a referral!!!

2009-02-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

We are so excited!! Pam called us today with news of our daughter. I am still in shock that we finally know who our daughter is now. It is so surreal. It has been a whirlwind today since Pam's phone call. I keep looking at Lily's pictures and can't believe it is true. We have a referral!!!

She is so cute. She has the cutest little face. I can not wait to hug and squeeze her. She brings a smile to my face every time I look at her. The really hard part begins now, waiting to go get her. Hopefully this next phase of paperwork goes quickly and without any glitches. We probably will be traveling to China in early to mid summer to get her and bring her home. I never wished for time to fly so fast as I do now. She just turned two years old. I don't want anymore time to go by without her. She needs to be with her family.

Hope for a referral/match

2009-02-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

Pam from HAS emailed today saying her representatives in China are hopeful referrals/matches will be restarting sometime in March. Everyone say a little prayer for us that we will be matched. We can not wait for the day we finally know who our little Lily is. (Yes, 99% chance her name is going to be Lily. We took a family vote and Lily won!!)

We have learned through this process that international adoption never goes as planned though. It would be GREAT to be matched in March but only time will tell.

More waiting.........

2009-02-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, more waiting. I spoke with Homeland Adoption Services (HAS, our agency) this week. Not very encouraging news. The wait times are getting longer and longer for referrals. The non special needs wait is up to about 7 years now for a referral. The special needs wait is also being prolonged. No one can give us an answer as to why. There is a lot of speculation though. Some feel it is combination of reasons. Political being one. China does not want to be seen as a country who abandons their children so they are making it more difficult to adopt. Some areas of China now allow families to have more than one child so less children are being placed in orphanages. More American families are trying to adopt from China also. There just are not enough children to be adopted. The special needs programs are having longer waits now partly because families are switching over from NSN to SN programs. Basically supply and demand.

Anyway you look at it, it leaves us with a lot of uncertainty. Our agencies now are saying they do not know when we will get a referral, possibly in the next 6 months with any luck. International adoption world wide is becoming more and more uncertain. Many programs and agencies are closing. Not very promising. So we just have to wait and pray..............

Waiting, waiting, waiting!

2009-02-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

I spoke with Pam yesterday (Homeland Adoption Agency Executive Director). Still no news of any referrals. We are trying to wait patiently but it is very hard. Over six months of just waiting is really starting to get to us. At least with the first six months we were gathering documents, meeting with the social worker, and getting Lily/Lila's room ready. (Yes, we are undecided on her name. Or I should say I am undecided. Anthony and the kids are set on Lily but I am leaning toward Lila. I think we will make that decision when we see her pictures). We really did not expect to wait this long for a referral. Unfortunately things are changing with China adoptions. The wait times are getting longer and longer for a referral/match. With the conventional program, non special needs, the wait times are up to about 4 to 5 years. That is insane. Hopefully our wait won't be too much longer. In comparison, waiting over 6 months for a referral isn't that bad. So we just have to wait. We will wait no matter how long it takes. Hopefully it will happen before I get to old and people think I am her grandmother! LOL.

Introduction

2009-02-01T08:07:00.002-08:00

Hello to everyone following our journey. We have been on this journey to adopt a little infant girl from China with minor medical needs since February 2008. I can not believe it has been over a year since we started this whole process. For those of you who need an update on our story and the happenings of the last year since we started this adoption process, here we go...........

My husband, Anthony, and I have been happily married for over 13 years. We met in high school and proceeded to date through college and a few years after until we got married in 1995. I can not believe we have been together for over 21 years. That sounds like an eternity!!!!!!!! I don't feel like it has been long. I can remember those early years like yesterday. We have been blessed with finding each other and having made a great life for ourselves. After a few years of marriage we had our son, Gavin who is now 11. He has brought so much joy and love into our family. He is such a great kid. Sophia was born 20 months later. What a blessing to have a daughter as sweet as her. She is now 9. Both of our children bring so much love, fun and craziness into our family.

After Sophia was born we enjoyed a busy time with two little ones close in age, work and life in general. Time passes so quickly and before we knew it they were getting so big. I had always had the desire to add just one more child to our family. Anthony was happy and content with two. More time passed............ and that feeling or need of mine to add another child to our family was still lingering. After many discussions and a lot of soul searching we decided to adopt a little girl from China. How excited was I!!!!!!!! Anthony too!!!!!!!!

Many have asked why not have another biological child? We had always been open to adoption even before we had Gavin and Sophie. My friends and family can remember years ago us talking about adoption. I just always new in my heart it would be a part of my life at some point. It just fits. It's right. It feels meant to be. I can not believe we are so close to fulfilling this dream.

After many phone calls, Internet searches and research we decided to contact Good Hope Adoptions in South Dennis Massachusetts which is on Cape Cod. We also live on Cape Cod and this agency seemed perfect. We went into this adoption process first thinking we would adopt from Kazakhstan. After doing a little more research and guidance from Good Hope we decided on their "Xingfu" program out of China for "special needs" children with minor medical needs. Good Hope is affiliated with an agency in Nyack, New York called Homeland Adoption Services that is running the Xinfu Program. ( Xingfu means happiness). The waiting time seemed much less for this program and with my Neonatal nursing background we felt this program was right. Now the paperwork begins!!! UGH!!!

After MONTHS of gathering paperwork and home study visits by our social worker we were finally getting closer to our new little girl. When I say months, I mean months. What a long process that was. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, police reports ( of good conduct of course), work verification, insurance verification, medical exams, HIV testing, pictures, personal references, mini autobiographies.................. The list goes on and on. Once all this was done everything had to be sent to immigration. We had to get fingerprinted and cleared by the FBI. All of our paperwork (dossier) was then sent to China in late August 2008. We have a Log in Date of 9/10/08.

We are now waiting for a referral of our little girl. We have been waiting for about six months for a referral now. We just have to wait until The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) sends us a referral. The wait seems endless. CCAA has a list of all the medical needs we will be willing to accept. By this I mean she could have a cleft lip or palate, VSD or ASD (ventral septic defect/atrial septic defect), prematurity, birthmarks etc... All things that are considered minor medical needs.

Our adoption agencies are hopeful we will have a referral soon after the Chinese New Year. Hopefully we will finally know who our precious little girl will be. After we receive the referral, and if everything goes without any glitches, we will be traveling to China in late spring early summer for two weeks to FINALLY go get her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-01T08:07:00.001-08:00