Thursday, April 9, 2009

She's Napping...here are some new photos while I have a second!

Here's Lilly, doing some of her favorite things: sitting on the counter, eating, while I work in the kitchen... (eating apples...)


(...eating cucumbers, no skin or seeds, if you please...)

Wearing her princess crown that came in the card and present from Aunt Judi (note the cute pink purse next to her on the chair!) Here she is actually sitting outside watching Anna and friends play with their American Girl dolls.


Playing with big brother, big sister, and Daddy. They all love to play with her so much (and mommy loves it, too, since I'm home alone with her most of the time now!). It has become too hard for Jared and Anna to do their homework with such a sweet sister hanging around being cute, wanting to play, needing help with things, etc...




Opening "welcome home" and "birthday" presents that have been arriving in the mail lately. She is so cute, exclaiming "ooooOOOOOoooooh! oooooOOOOOooooh!" over and over again. She LOVEs these alphabet blocks from Aunt Paula and the animal matching game and bingo game from my dear friend Susan.




...eating at the countertop again, also feeding her babies. We don't leave home without at least one, sometimes two or three.





Sitting at the piano...
That's it for now. Lilly is doing great! I'm the one having the harder time adjusting to being home with a toddler again! But she has been a joy (except for when she first wakes up...she's a bear when she wakes up, no matter how long she slept).
All for now...stuff to do while she sleeps!





5 comments:

Traci Brunner said...

The smile on her little face just made my day!! The other photos she wasn't smiling and to see that is just the most beautiful sight!! I remember you saying at one time that she didn't seem to care for baby dolls....guess that's changed LOL. I'm so glad to see she is enjoying her family! :)

Kris said...

Hi Amy! She looks so good and happy. I will order skype soon so the girls can talk to each other. I know that would make LuLu so happy!

The Sharp Family said...

That is so funny that she sits on the counter and eats! Norah does the exact same thing! She will snack a while and inbetween snacks she will watch every move that I make while I am cooking. That is just too too funny!!!

Rebecca said...

she looks like a different child than the one i picked up a couple of weeks ago! she seems so relaxed and secure now. i love seeing these pictures! i love seeing her on the counter. she is so cute!

Unknown said...

Oh I am missing all of you! Beautiful family

Why Adoption? Why China?

I'm sure that many of you, when you learned that Tom and I were pursuing adoption of a little girl from China, wondered "why?!" We may have taken some of you by surprise, and we thought it might be nice to share some of our thinking about this journey we are undertaking.

Adoption is something that, even from the earliest years of our marriage, we talked about as "maybe someday." The idea of adoption is appealing to us for many reasons. As Christians, we are adopted by God as his children through faith in Jesus. Adoption allows us to provide a child with the needed love, warmth, and financial resources we have been blessed with as a family. Finally, adoption allows us to add to our family at a time when our biological children are old enough to be more self-sufficient, and we are in a position financially to be able to welcome a child into our family in this way. What we hope to gain is an additional family member to love and learn from, and an opportunity to share the joy and love of our family.

We recognize that an adoption will bring unique parenting challenges to our family--especially since we are considering a child with special needs--and it is likely to put unique stresses on our family in a variety of ways. We are grateful for Tom's medical knowledge and for the great medical coverage we get through Tom's Air Force career, and we look forward to providing a forever family for a child whose medical needs might make it more difficult for another family to take on.

Finally, why China? My love for China, the Chinese language, and the Chinese people made China the natural choice. It was never really even a consideration whether to go with a domestic adoption or international; China was simply the natural choice that we immediately pursued, especially since there are so many children in China that need a forever family.

Chinese Word of the Day

The Time in China

When Love Takes You In

Our Adoption Timeline

  • Travel Dates--11-26 March
  • Swearing In Ceremony at Consulate--25 March (Lilly's 3rd Birthday!)
  • Consulate Appointment (CA)--24 March
  • Travel Approval (TA)--19 February 2009
  • Received Letter of Approval (LOA)--22 January 2009
  • Received Pre-Approval (PA)--25 November
  • Submitted Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt An Xiao Xue, soon to be named Lillian Joy Xiao Xue, 1 November (logged in at CCAA 21 November)
  • Referral Call from CCAI asking us to consider An Xiao Xue's profile--31 October
  • Dossier Log-in-Date (LID) 3 July 2008
  • Dossier to China (DTC)--June 27 2008
  • Dossier Submitted to CCAI--June 2008
  • Fingerprinted at USCIS Jacksonville--April 2008
  • Application Approval ("We're Pregnant!") January 2008
  • Submitted Adoption Application and 3 References--December 2007
  • Requested Application from Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) --November 2007
  • Decided to Investigate Agencies--October 2007