She is continuing to emerge



This is Lily's first dance recital. She loves to dance!!!! It is amazing to see her beautiful, lively and shining face on stage. I did not see one little hint of nervousness. Just pure fun! As her mother, I am in awe of her. She takes my breath away with her beauty and life, her huge sense of humor and curiosity. In the times when she touches my heart so fully, I can only give thanks, humbly....in surrender and in wonder and pray for guidance to get out of her way so she can continue to emerge.

We can smell the spring in the Air!

We have all had a case of cabin fever...for the last month! It's raining today, which is better than snow. We have somewhat of a routine going for work and daycare, bath time and bed time, so things are pretty smooth some of the time....as smooth as they can be with a hopping, running, yelling toddler and a peg leg crawling, bug eating, grinning 9 month old! Here a few pics...

Finally....an update!

Today is February 13th,2009 and I am finally getting a moment to update you on Lily and our homecoming...I really didn't think I'd be running as much or as fast as I am with these wee ones!

Eli is crawling and pulling up, so he is really keeping us hoppin'. As for Lily Ping, she is doing great! It's probably a good think that I have been too busy to keep up with her blog, because we have gone through some transitions and she is awesome ! Bedtime was a difficult time, now it is is much, much smoother. This is due to a very regid routine, which includes a warm bath, a soothing massage, a nice comforting bottle and then to bed. She hardly fusses, where is that wood to knock on..., and is seems to be ready for the quiet of bedtime. Her language skills are coming along,too. She is very proficient at Ah-Choo, UP, uh-oh and is trying her tongue and lips with down, cup, cat, tiger, all gone, peek a boo. She does a lot of chattering and babbling that we don't understand,too. She is very active, loves, loves games, dances to all kinds of music, including ItsyBitsy Spider, which is one of her favorites.

Health-wise, all tests have are normal, she has gained 2 pounds in the last month and we have more routine hearing and vision tests scheduled.

So, how does she like Eli???Well, basically she ignores him most of the time, although he does his very best to charm her. She moans if he takes her toy, of course, and she generously provides him with toys to play with in his high chair. If he drops something, she will often fetch it. Occassionally, she pushes his hand off of something she has deemed her own. All in all, they are doing great! She imitates him in sounds and language, so when he starts to talk, she will probably take off with words,too. We are introducing her to more kids now, so that will probably help with language development,too.

For now, that is quick summary...here are a few pics to show more of the story.

Almost Home, Last Post from China

Whew! What a great feeling knowing we will be leaving in 5 1/2 hours for the airport and another couple more for the flights home...EEk! We'll be traveling for 28 plus hours!! And Miss Lily Ping does not like being confined. We have lots of snacks packed, some toys and big prayers for peace. We will beginning a new year in China in about 2 hours and several more hours for most of you. We wish you a very big and happy NEW Year!

The last two days were peppered with the most important paperwork, completeing the US consulate protocols. We were instructed to stay in our room yesterday from 10am - noon and wait for a call to let us know all was fine and we were free to go. Since I traveled alone we had additional paperwork to complete, including a last minute document from Wisconsin that was to be faxed just hours before our appointment. I waited nervously, until Peter called, letting me know that everything was fine...Great news. We were also, trying to complete our adoption in Wisconsin for Lily. That was also completed on the 30th, another relief. Today, we piled into the van for our last trip together, our last goodbyes with the Yangjiang sisters, to travel to the US consulate to receive our child's passport and a "formal" swearing in ceremony. On the way to the consulate, Peter, received a call from the consulate office, that one of our families had a document that was unsigned...much panic set in...for them and us. Much Chinese was spoken, Peter asked the family to call their social worker to have her sign and fax a copy now. In case you weren't aware, the time difference, depending on where you live in the US is 12-14 hours difference. Therefore it was evening, and their social worker was also out of the country. To make the rest of the story short...they had to sign an affidavit saying they would have her sign and mail it as soon as possible, and they were free to go. We received our passports, along with a nice speech by a consulate appointee, we swore that all of the documents and information we provided was true and off we went. Two families left today, the other two of leave tomorrow. We are all very much looking forward to being home to start the new year!

One of the traditions of American adoptive families is to take a "Red Couch Photo" just before you leave Guangzhou at the White Swan Hotel. Our darlings looked beautiful!

Lily has really enjoyed her hula dress. She likes to put in on over everything else, including pj's and sweatshirt.

Our last post from China. Looking forward to seeing all of you and introducing Lily to our wonderful Circle of Support!

People watching

The first picture is not a person..it is a school/temple called the Chen Folk Art Museum. It was very beautiful and contained many traditional art forms, including porcelin painting, ivory carving, embroidery, bonsai...all the things that would interest a 20 month old! There are more pictures in the public viewing of our Picassa web album.

As I said, there are many crazy bronze statues all over the neighborhood. And the tourists like to pose with them and have their friends take pictures of them, posing. It is happening everywhere, and all of the time. The other picture taking experience that occurs here all the time and everywhere is wedding photography. According to one source, the Chinese spend alot of money on their photos. As you can see, this couple if decked out. Sometimes there are 4-6 couples having photos taken within 1/2 block. Along with each couple, is a group of photographers, aluminum lighting holder person, often a makeup person and someone carrying all the stuff.

The last photo of the kids was a sweet experience. The one to the left approached me, with a piece of paper and pencil, asking me where I was from, my favorite color,my favorite sport and my name,then asked me to sign the paper. The others stood seriously around and with the urging of the teacher, they each asked me the same questions, I answered the same answers and signed my name. They were adorable. The little girl was the shy one in the group. They were from an English school in the neighborhood. I've been approached on several occasions by people asking if they can practice their English.

Playing

We've spent quite a bit of time playing at the playground. Along with her pal, Xiao, Lily is very happy spinning things, sliding down the slide, running and exploring.

Shoes

One of things we have enjoyed is buying SHOES.