Friday, June 5, 2009

Summer Vacation Is Here!

We have had quite a week, with Lilly running fevers from Sunday night through Thursday am. She is still coughing violently, but we are thankful her fevers are gone and she is sleeping a little better. I have not had a full night's sleep since Saturday. I taught spin today at 5am, however, and it felt good to get that early morning workout desite interrupted sleep last night.


On a separate note, the big kids are officially on summer vacation now! Yay! I am so happy to have them home, and I know Lilly will like having them home, too. Today we will chill out and do whatever we please...after we take Lilly to the doctor. We will get donuts on the way there, so the big kids are happy~


Here are some shots from our last week of school...


Jared caught a mole on his way home from school on the last day. Yick!

Here's Anna riding home on her last day of 3rd grade. Did I mention that she got BRACES last week??


Here's Lilly practicing her "jumping" at Anna's 3rd grade awards assembly. She is quite proud that she can almost jump. Her feet don't actually leave the floor, but her hands and shoulders go up and she gets a big smile as she tries. Very cute.

Lilly posing with her "mao mao" (kitty). She insisted on taking this shot.





Here is our post-nap routine...the babies and Lilly all get out of bed and look out the window.


Anna with Mrs. Edwards, her 3rd grade teacher.





Jared at his 6th grade awards assembly. He was in the top 10% of all advanced math students--w00 hoo!









Jared and his friend, Jordan.





Anna accepting one of her awards.








Anna awaiting the start of the awards assembly.



















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3 comments:

Andy and Amy said...

Lilly looks like she is doing great. Happy summer to all of you!

June 5, 2009 at 8:50 AM
Kris said...

Hi Amy! Regina says eeewwwww to Jarads mole, me too...!!
Lilly looks so happy! I hope you all are off to a wonderful summer filled with wonderful memories!

June 5, 2009 at 9:58 PM
Traci Brunner said...

Anna and my son Levhi both finished 3rd grade this year. :) The mole thing is just creepy LOL. Hope you all have a wonderful summer

June 6, 2009 at 11:01 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