Friday, May 29, 2009

A few new funnies...

I forgot to mention some of the cute things that Lilly says in my last post:
"I lub loo!" "I lub loo too!"

SHe has also started to offer her own mealtime and bedtime prayers. Very cute. She'll take our hands, bow her head, close her eyes (peeking now and then to make sure we're bowing with her), and begin to whisper babbly words, then add in "baba, mama, jiejie, gege, Ta (the dog, Tad), "nya" (her word for both "Anna" and "Nana"), mei mei (herself), "baby" (her baby doll), xie xie (thank you), "Amen!" Too cute!

She loves to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" from a CD that Grammy got her. She is starting to actually do all the hand motions. She also loves for me to sing "Jesus Loves Me" as we read a little book the ladies at church gave her at her welcome home party. We sing it over and over before bed, then again once she's in bed, even as I'm drifting off into lala land on the couch next to her bed, she's still asking me to sing it again.

She loves to make us laugh every day!
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

I miss yall! SOunds too precious

May 29, 2009 at 12:14 PM
Traci Brunner said...

I somehow missed that post. :( But that sounds so cute! Maybe one day we will venture to Florida again and we can catch up and I can meet your wonderful family

June 6, 2009 at 10:54 AM

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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