Journey To Our Girl

You Can Find Us ...

2010-12-17T16:34:00.002-06:00

... at our family blog, right here. This site was dedicated to bringing home our daughter, so now that we've been home a year, we are exclusively posting (when time allows!) on our family blog. See you over there!

Six Months!

2010-06-21T21:10:00.001-05:00

Six months ago today, Lia Kate's nannies carried her into a room in a government building in southern Ch*na, and placed her in my arms. Our lives were forever changed. That day we met a quiet baby girl, with spiky hair and sad eyes. But fast forward six months and we have a happy, spirited little toddler full of laughter and life. We are so grateful to have been chosen to be this little girl's parents. People often comment on how blessed she is to be adopted, but, really folks, we are the blessed ones here. She is such a joy!

Lia Katherine, Child of the Covenant

2010-06-03T21:54:00.002-05:00

Lia Kate was baptized by her daddy a few weeks ago at our church. It was a precious moment in the life of our family ... made even more special by the fact that she was baptized alongside two little boys also adopted from China and two more recently adopted from Ukraine. Such a picture of the family of God ... these children who came from the ends of the earth ... now with mommies and daddies ... and a bright hope and future ... their lives a beautiful metaphor of God's redeeming love. We are blessed to be a part of Lia Kate's story.

This was the best family picture we got, and by best I mean, at least both kids were looking at the camera. :o)

Britton was remarkably well-behaved when we stood at the front of the church. If you had seen him before the service started, you would know what a feat this was.

When we got home, we changed Lia Kate into the white silk gown that we got in China.

And she was really digging her pink cake!

Lia Kate and her Gigi.

The boys table. Look at those rosy-chipmunked-cheeked Giffen kids.

Lots of family came in town for the weekend. In fact, two of Lia Kate's great-grandparents made the trip, which was quite a treat.

Lia Kate with my grandmother and her great-grandmother. She is both my and Lia Kate's namesake, as we all share the middle name of Ruth.

New Pack-Packs

2010-06-02T23:04:00.001-05:00

Britton and Lia Kate went to "school" together for the first time today. Our church offers some Mother's Day Out days in the summer and I was really looking forward to some child-free-house-cleaning-errand-running time. Britton loved playing with his church friends and Lia Kate ... well, she was a trooper. We are working on getting her comfortable in that kind of setting. She just started going to the church nursery recently, so this is all new to her. She sure was excited about her new "pack pack", though!

These cute plain backpacks are sold at Hobby Lobby. I had not seen them until a friend monogrammed one as a gift for Lia Kate. I loved it so much I had to make some fun ones for my two. I love these projects and am glad I have two little ones to make things for!

Lia Kate and Virginia Grace

2010-06-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Here is a quick video of Lia Kate and Grace waving goodbye to each other after a play date recently. So adorable these two ...

It is amazing how fast these girls are growing up. This was taken a few weeks ago, and both girls look bigger and more "grown up" now than they did then. Time is flying by!

Translator, Anyone?

2010-05-17T12:16:00.001-05:00

This is one of the funniest moments we have captured of Lia Kate on video. She has been jabbering like this a lot lately. I have no idea what she is saying, but she is sure emphatic about it! My best guess is that what you hear is a mixture of English and Chinese babble. Enjoy...

Translator, Anyone? from Emily on Vimeo.

Oh, and, yes, she is wearing a shirt that says "I love pig races." More on that in an upcoming post.

A Big Ol' Lia Kate Update

2010-04-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

We have been home almost four months with our little girl! On one hand, it seems like time is flying by and on the other, it seems like we've had her a good while now. I guess the early days of jet lag and her insecurity made for long days and nights. She is doing a million times better these days and already acting like she owns this place and all the toys here in it (much to Britton's dismay). She has turned into an affectionate, happy, silly little girl who loves playing with her brother, loving on her bunnies and baby dolls, and showering us all with kisses. It has been quite a transformation. There is a lot I want to write about, so here goes ...

Size-Wise

Lia Kate has grown a lot since we got her. For starters, she has gained four pounds. She started off at 16 pounds, then was a 17-pound 17-month-old when we got home, and then an 18-pound 18-month old and so on and now she is a 20-pound 20-month-old. One of the more surprising numbers is her head circumference. When she came home, her height and head circ were about 5% on the charts, and her weight was off the charts low. A month later, her head circ was higher on the charts. Typically, you do not want to see fast head growth at her age. However, with former orphans, they often have what is called catch-up head growth. Meaning, when they go from an institution to a loving family, their brain grows. It is really quite amazing. (Yes, the brains of institutionalized children grow and form differently than children who grow up in a family structure.) She has gained four pounds but I believe her weight is still low/off the charts. We're working on that.

On the Medical Front
We have taken Lia Kate to a lot of medical appointments in the past four months. Thankfully, the doctors have assured us that her medical issues are likely to go away in time and she will not have lifelong medical needs. We will continue to follow-up once a year with the cardiologist. He will check to see if her VSD is getting smaller. Her Chinese medical reported a 4mm VSD, but our cardiologist here found that it was ~2mm. This is great news ... it means the hole is getting smaller. We are hoping it will close completely but if it doesn't, it will most likely never cause her a problem.

We had a follow-up visit with the surgeon this week and he thought her incision was healing up well. She has not had any more leaking since the small leak she had post-op. As far as long-term follow-up ... she will have a MRI of her spine once a year for the next three years. If all is well then, that will probably be the end of all follow-up.

We also discovered, in the process of these doctor's appointments, that Lia Kate has some kidney reflux. This is when urine goes from her bladder back up into the kidneys. To our knowledge, her reflux has not resulted in any bladder or kidney infections since we've had her. To prevent them though, she is on a preventative antibiotic for the next year. We will follow-up with the urologist yearly. He said she has about a 90% chance of growing out of the kidney reflux. If she doesn't outgrow it and she starts having kidney infections, she will have to have surgery to stop the reflux.

Her three medical issues may sound a little overwhelming to some of you, but to us (especially being on this side of her surgery) it really hasn't been too big of a deal. I guess when you've had a child lying in the NICU fighting for his life, things like Lia Kate's "fixable" medical needs just don't seem like that big of a deal. We are grateful that she is doing so well. And above all, she looks and acts like a very healthy little girl. She is a great eater and she looks so healthy now that she has started putting some meat on her little bones.

Speech
Lia Kate has blown us away in her speech development. We did not expect her to say anything for awhile since she had suddenly been immersed into a new culture and language, but she is picking up words right and left. Within a week of being home, she was saying "mama", "dog" and "dada", and within a month of being home she had over 25 words. I have lost count of how many words she has now but she is very good at repeating and imitating. Aside from her English words, she jabbers all the time, especially in the mornings, and I often wonder if she is speaking in Cantonese, or Cantonese-jabber. It is funny when she gets going. I am thinking she is going to be quite the little talker when she starts speaking in sentences!

Sleep
She is sleeping really well these days. When we were in China and first home, we struggled with getting her to sleep and keeping her asleep. We finally put her in our bed as we figured she needed the security of being near us. She has been in our bed for 3 1/2 months and it has worked wonders for her security and attachment. She is doing so well and I'm so glad we went for the "family bed." She was showing signs that she was ready for the crib (falling asleep immediately and sleeping through the night), so we decided to move her to the crib. We moved the crib to our room, and she has been sleeping soundly in it for a week. She only cried for the first two days, and now she practically giggles when you put her in bed. A huge part of her sleeping security is that she finally attached to a comfort item. She has a soft blanket with a big stuffed bunny on one corner. She loves her "bunny blanket" ... but probably not as much as I love bunny blanket! She does not nap for long (at most an hour), but as long as she sleeps through the night, I am happy. We will move the crib to her room after awhile ... want to get her good and secure in her crib first. Since many chidlren adopted from China have sleep issues (as do many that come from her orphanage), I am just so thankful she is doing so well in this area!

Socially
She is a happy, outgoing little kiddo! She often waves at people we pass in the store and she blows kisses to everyone, and bats her eyes very slowly, which always makes people laugh. But she can also give her infamous little scowl if someone gets too close for comfort. She is a funny little thing.

Blowing kisses to mama.

She loves her Daddy now and has no problem waving "dye dye" to me and going somewhere with her daddy (hallelujah!). When Danny comes home, she and Britton race for the door to give him hugs and kisses. Lia Kate and Britton play well together ... for the most part. They have their moments like any kids do. Most of the issues are on Britton's part, but we're working on it. I guess these kind of transitions take time. ;o) In the good moments, they laugh and cackle at each other. It is funny to see them crack each other up.

We are going to start letting her try Mother's Day Out this summer to get her ready for her two-year-old preschool class this Fall. So far, she has not been to church nursery or anything like that because it is too similar to an orphanage setting. I am hoping that she'll be ready when we start trying it out this summer.

Lia Kate making her "funny face." She is a total crackup.

We are really loving life with our daughter! Thank you for going on this journey with us. So many answered prayers have gotten us to where we are today. We are so thankful for you and for your love for our family.

Our Smiley Girl

2010-04-25T08:10:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite pictures of Lia Kate so far. She smiles all the time, but rarely smiles for the camera. I have to get an action shot to catch a smile ... but boy does a smile light up her face?!

I am working on a long Lia Kate update ... hope to have it up soon!

Welcome Home

2010-04-25T07:40:00.005-05:00

One of the really special things we've been able to do lately is welcome home friends who are coming home from China with their newly adopted child. Just this past Friday, my friend Kelley came home with her daughter Virginia Grace.

Lia Kate and Virginia Grace checking each other out.

Love that these two are the same age ... I'm sure they'll share a special friendship over the years!

And here we are welcoming home Fisher and his family back in February ...

Waiting for Fisher to arrive ... here is Hamilton, also from China, giving Lia Kate a hug. Fisher and Hamilton are 3-years-old and they both go to our church. It is so sweet to see these two little boys with Lia Kate! In fact, all three of them will be baptized together at our church on May 23.

Virginia Grace Day!

2010-04-12T12:47:00.004-05:00

My friend, Kelley, and her husband finally met their beautiful little girl in China last night! Kelley and I were matched with Lia Kate and Grace back in October ... so she has waited a long time to finally meet her. I cannot wait for our girls to get to know each other! What a sweet friendship they will have?! Just wanted to share this precious little face with you and document this big day for Lia Kate's blog book. You can read more about Virginia Grace here.

Headed Home ... Again

2010-04-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

Lia Kate's surgeon just rounded and he told us we could go home today ... again. She has not leaked anymore CSF since the resuture last night (yay!), so we are hoping that this did the trick and there won't be anymore complications. If we see more leaking, we'll have to come back. But, according to the docs, if it was going to leak again it should have by now. He told us not to worry about what is going on under the incision ... "no leaking, no worries." Assuming all goes well at home, we will see him again at an office visit in a couple of weeks.

On a fun sidenote, we just had a long conversation in the hallway with a family and their 16-month-old baby girl from China! They just brought her home in February. Fun to see two little precious Chinese girls together.

Anyway, we're headed home ... again!

Back in the Hospital

2010-04-08T20:34:00.001-05:00

Well, Lia Kate has been readmitted to the hospital. I took her dressing off this morning as instructed and, for the first time, got a look at her incision. A few hours later, I noticed some clear fluid leaking from the top of the incision. I knew that it could be cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), but it was just a little, tiny touch of it, and I was hoping it was just the clear serous fluid that can seep from wounds. An hour later, there was more. I called the surgeon's office and they told us to go to the ER.

We saw one of the neurosurgeons in the ER and he determined that it was, indeed, CSF. He put a couple of more tight stitches where the fluid was leaking in hopes that it creates a pressure and makes the dural sac (which houses the CSF) close. If it still leaks after that, they'll probably do an MRI to see if they can see what is going on. And then they would probably do another surgery -- to open the wound and reclose the dural sac to prevent leaking. The doc we saw today said that spinal fluid leaks post-operatively in 10 to 20% of these surgeries.

Lia Kate is acting fine ... as if she hasn't missed a beat. She is active, playing, talking and generally just being the sweet, happy girl that she usually is. We are staying overnight for observation. We'll see what the docs say tomorrow when they round.

One of the complications that can happen with a CSF leak is that if fluid can get out, bacteria can get in. So, she is more at risk for meningitis. There are more risks, but we won't go there unless things get worse. The good thing is that the leak is a small leak. Hoping the problem resolves itself and we are home before long. Thanks again for your concern, prayers and encouragement.

We Got Our Walking Papers!

2010-04-07T11:32:00.001-05:00

Here is Lia Kate with the surgeon. He just came in and told us we could go home today! Lia Kate is scowling in the picture ... little did she know what great news we just heard. Heading home sometime today.

Doing Well Today

2010-04-07T11:13:00.002-05:00

Lia Kate had a great night here at the hospital. She and I both got more sleep than I thought we would. I was able to get her to sleep in the crib (at home she sleeps in our bed) and even though she was woken up many times in the night for meds and vital checks, she went back to sleep every time. Didn't even whimper. I think part of the reason is that I didn't get up each time so she didn't know I was there. If she had seen me, she would have started crying and it would have been hard to get her back down. I'm glad she chose to sleep because we both needed it! The lab folks came by at 5:30 a.m. to draw blood. They always, always have to stick her at least twice b/c her veins are hard to get. It is hard to watch. Needless to say, that woke her up and we have been up and going since. The neurosurgery resident rounded early and told me that Lia Kate looks great, is doing everything she should be doing neurologically, and all she needs to do is drink more fluids. They finally took her off IV fluids to encourage her to drink more. Still waiting for the main doc to round and see what he says about discharge. I'm guessing we'll be here at least another night. The main reason is that they want to make sure no cerebrospinal fluid is leaking from the incision. The nurses say she looks too good to stay another night but we'll see what the surgeon says.

One interesting thing about her surgery that I didn't mention yesterday is that the doc said he will see 200 open myelomeningoceles for every 1 cervical meningocele. That means her case falls somewhere in the .5% chance range for occurrence. For some reason, our family is really good at hitting the one percents (my placental abruption, Britton's good outcome after anoxic birth injury, etc.) Lia Kate is falling right in line. I believe the doc said he'll only see a handful of these in his career. And her case presented differently than a typical cervical meningocele. Anyway, we are glad it's behind us and glad the doctor has given her such an excellent prognosis. We feel very blessed over this outcome.

Happy girl this morning! She is smiling, laughing, talking, eating, and drinking. They took her off IV fluids and disconnected her pulse ox, so she is mobile. She's been walking around and playing all morning.

Danny found a new way to dispose of a dirty diaper in a pinch -- stick it in a hospital glove and tie it up!

2010-04-07T11:13:00.001-05:00

Danny found a new way to dispose of a dirty diaper in a pinch -- stick it in a hospital glove and tie it up!

Virginia Grace Finally Coming Home!

2010-04-06T21:30:00.004-05:00

My friend Kelley finally left today for China to bring home her daughter Virginia Grace! Kelley and I have been going through this adoption journey together. We even were matched with our girls just two days apart, which means they have been waiting for nearly 6 months to bring their daughter home. And in just a few short hours they will be boarding a plane bound for China. You can follow along by reading their blog which they'll be updating daily. I am so excited about their journey and can't wait for Grace to get home so that she and Lia Kate can begin being best friends!

Surgery Day

2010-04-06T08:27:00.010-05:00

9:15 p.m.:
Lia Kate is sound asleep in the crib right now and I am headed there soon as we are sure to have a long night of interrupted sleep ahead. We are so glad for this day to be over but also so grateful for how well things went for our little girl did today! More tomorrow ...

7:30 p.m.:

Lia Kate finally woke up from all the anesthesia and ate two yogurts, talked a little, made silly faces, and did the hand motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle before falling back asleep. Her fever is down and her cute little personality is starting to come back. Would you believe that my cousin (the only one I have in Birmingham) and a friend are both working tonight and tomorrow night on the same floor that we are on?!? Our friend is our nurse tonight and we have had fun catching up with both of them.

6:00 p.m.:

Britton and GiGi came by earlier to say hi. Britton came over and rubbed Lia Kate's leg and was totally fascinated by the red light of the pulse ox on her toe.

3:44 p.m:

We have been in our room since just after noon. She's been sleeping most of the time and is now running a 102 fever which they are keeping an eye on. She has already taken a small bottle pedialyte but is mostly just sleeping the day away. Britton should be coming up soon to check on his lil' sis.

11:54 a.m:
We are now back in the recovery room. Lia Kate is sleeping in Emily's arms. She is doing well...the nurse said she was feisty, but she's just sweetly sleeping now. Moving to a room soon.

11:30 a.m.:
Still waiting to see her. She is still in recovery and we haven't heard anything since we spoke to the doctor. I think when she is out of recovery, they will officially admit her and move us to a room.

10:50 a.m.:
Surgery is over and it was a success! We just spoke with the doctor. True to his word the surgery only took about 90 minutes. He did end up going into the dural sac to look for tethering bands and he did find some bands that could have resulted in a tethered spine down the road. He released them and told us that by doing that he pretty much eliminated her risk for a tethered spinal cord down the road. The biggest risk at this point is that she will develop hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). This happens when the cerebrospinal fluid is altered, which it was when the doctor opened up the dural sac. However, he said the opening was so small that her risk of hydrocephalus is very small. He said we'll be here in the hospital for at least a couple of days and we'll watch for symptoms of it. He said her prognosis is excellent and that this will be just a blip on the radar before long. We will probably follow up with him every couple of years, but that she will not need lifelong follow-up. We are very encouraged and thankful for this great doctor and wonderful outcome. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

10:05 a.m.:
It's been an hour and 15 minutes or so now. No word, but we've had friends here this morning helping us pass the time. When we talked to the doctor this morning he guesstimated that we'd be "seeing his smiling face after about 90 minutes." Hoping that's the case!

9:00 a.m.:

Just got a call from the nurse. She said they just started on the surgery about 10 minutes ago. She said we would only hear an update if it took more than 2 hours, so I am hoping that no news is good news.

8:00 a.m.:

They just took Lia Kate back for surgery. The surgery should take from 1 to 2 hours. After surgery, she will be admitted to a room. Will update here as the day unfolds. Please pray that the surgery goes well.

Lia Kate's Surgery on Tuesday

2010-04-05T15:14:00.005-05:00

Lia Kate will be having surgery on Tuesday, April 6, at 8 a.m. We would love your prayers for a good outcome. When we first decided to adopt Lia Kate, we knew this surgery would happen soon after coming home. And, the day has finally come. It's a little surreal.

Lia Kate had two medical special needs when we adopted her. The first is a VSD heart murmur. Now that we are home, we know it is very small (~2mm) and is "of no consequence." Looks like we'll just be following up with the cardiologist once a year to make sure the VSD is getting smaller and smaller.

Her second special need is a pedunculated skin tag on her neck. It is about the size of half of my pinky finger. The problem is that it is midline (above her spine). Because of this, we have been seeing a neurosurgeon. Apparently, any midline skin issue (birthmark, hemangioma, skin tag, etc.) can be related to spinal abnormalities. So, he sent us for an MRI so that we could see what exactly was going on beneath the skin tag. We found out that the skin tag has a little stalk that goes into her skin but stops short of the spinal column. This is a good thing. However, the doctors are guessing that it used to have a connection with the spinal column (in her case this is called a cervical meningocele), but that it closed off and healed up. We are thankful that the MRI showed that her spinal cord looked perfect and there is no spinal fluid or nerve tissue present in the skin tag. The doctor said this is about the best case scenario we could have. Thankfully, this skin tag is located on the neck (cervical area) versus lower on the back, which could be associated with a lot more problems/risks. We are so thankful that Lia Kate has no deficits related to neural tube defects such as meningoceles. She is so bright and is perfectly on target for gross and fine motor skills.

So, at 8 a.m. tomorrow, the neurosurgeon will be going in to remove the skin tag and the stalk beneath it. The doctor is pretty confident that he will not have to go into the dural sac (this is what houses the spinal fluid and protects the cord). But it's always possible that once he opens her up, he will see that the stalk is more than skin deep. From my conversation with him, he is optimistic that it will be a straightforward, simple surgery. We are praying and hoping this is the case. If he does go into the dural sac, Lia Kate will be in the hospital for 4 or 5 days to make sure no spinal fluid leaks. If he does not have to open the dural sac, we will probably spend at least one night in the hospital. Please pray for her safety tomorrow morning and that this surgery will, indeed, be as simple and straightforward as the doctor expects.

Overall, we feel very thankful and optimistic about tomorrow. But would love your prayers for our little girl. I will be updating this blog tomorrow as the day unfolds. Thank you in advance for your prayers!

Easter Sneak Peek

2010-04-05T15:10:00.003-05:00

Lots more pictures from Easter weekend coming!

Lia Kate's Gotcha Day Movie

2010-03-31T22:47:00.001-05:00

Finally, here is Lia Kate's Gotcha Day movie! It took a while to get uploaded ... so without further ado ... here it is:

Lia Kate's Gotcha Day from on Vimeo.

A few comments ...
* I chose not to upload at the highest quality to make the process faster, so it probably will not look good if you try to expand to full screen.

* Thanks to Brandon Blanch for all the great Gotcha Day photos. They are truly treasures!

* You may notice in the movie that our airplane seats aren't exactly of the "economy" variety. It is only because two wonderful, generous women decided to help us book our flights and in the process, and before we knew it, they booked us business class seats and paid for them. It was an amazing gift.

* If we look distracted or unemotional on the actual Gotcha Day ... it is only because the scene is pure chaos! There are babies screaming in the background, people speaking loudly in Chinese to each other, and people talking to us non-stop. Things happen so fast in that room, it is surreal.

* Those of you in the adoption world may have seen a similar Gotcha Day video. Yes, a few things in my video come straight from hers. This was my first iMovie project and I didn't know what I was doing. And ultimately couldn't think of a better way to do it. So, if she ever runs across this, I hope she believes that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

* The movie is kind of long! When I wanted to cut chunks out, I had to remind myself that I was doing this for Lia Kate. And she and Britton both love to watch the movie in its entirety.

* And, lastly, watching this video makes me want to jump on a plane and go adopt all over again!

Hope you enjoy!

Lia Kate's 100th Day!

2010-03-30T14:05:00.001-05:00

Updated: The video is done, but I underestimated how long it would take to finalize and upload to a sharing site. It is a large file. I am working on it!

Today marks Lia Kate's 100th day of being in our family! In China and other Asian countries, a baby's 100th day of life is celebrated. Likewise, we are celebrating Lia Kate's first 100 days of being in our family. In honor of today, I will be posting Lia Kate's Gotcha Day video tonight. I am working fast and furiously to get it finished. So, unless something catastrophic happens, her video will be posted later tonight. Be sure to check back in ...

Older Child Adoption

2010-03-27T11:57:00.003-05:00

While there are many babies and toddlers available for adoption in China, there are just as many older children also waiting for a forever home ... many will never have the chance to be adopted. and of those who do, many will never be chosen. The heartbreaking reality is that a child in China ages out of the orphanage at age 14. They are either turned out onto the streets, or stay on at the orphanage as a worker. Of the children who are turned loose, I have no idea what happens to them, but I can only imagine.

When we traveled, we became very good friends with a family who were adopting a precious little 7-year-old. The couple were younger than us, and let me tell you, they will be the coolest parents a 7-year-old could have. We also became friends with a couple adopting a 12-year-old. This family lives in Hawaii, and I just thought it was the coolest thing for this 12-year-old ... to go from being abandoned at the age of 5 (yes 5), to living in an orphanage for a number of years, to being adopted by a family who lives in Maui and who already have two children from China. I check in on their blog and that sweet child is adjusting just fine to her new life. What redemption?!?

Anyway, this week I stumbled upon an adoption blog of a family who were in the process of adopting a two-year-old little girl from China, when they got a letter from an older child at the same orphanage. This brave girl expresses the reality of life in an orphanage for an older child and how much she desires a family ... it is deeply moving. Hope you will go read it here.

The family is also raising money for their adoption, so you can scroll down on their blog to find out more about that, if you feel so led. Hope you will go and read their story!

Things To Come

2010-03-11T21:15:00.003-06:00

So, I've been a wee bit busy lately. These two active kiddos are giving me a run for my money. I haven't exactly had a lot of time to blog, however, I have a lot of things to blog about. I thought I'd write to tell you about the posts that will be coming ... soon I hope.

* A Lia Kate update -- she is exploding with personality these days and is so smart and funny and adorable. Can't wait to share the latest on her.

* Videos of Britton and Lia Kate "singing" the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle, Twinkle.

* Lia Kate's Gotcha Day movie! I am using iMovie to make a video of our footage and pictures from China. I can't wait to finish it. It's been so fun to document our trip this way. Can't wait to share.

* I will soon be writing the final post on this blog and will then only post on our family blog. I will, of course, be leaving this site up for anyone who wants to go back and read Lia Kate's journey.

Now, telling you these things will make me *have* to follow through. That's the plan at least.

The Panda Bears in China

2010-03-08T07:00:00.000-06:00

This is a video from the safari zoo we went to when we were in China. They had so many pandas and it was really amazing to see so many of them together. They are really fascinating to watch.

This video is a solo panda. Danny likes to joke that pandas look like fat men in costumes, chowing down and scratching their bellies. Not far from the truth!

Here is a clip of the panda "yard" ...

Girly Girl

2010-03-06T21:17:00.000-06:00

Lia Kate is becoming a little girly girl. She loves to carry "purses" on her arms. Anytime she sees something with handles she slips her arm through it and hoists it on her shoulder and carries it around. No one taught her to do this (though she sees me do it every day). This is one of the first significant differences I have seen between raising a girl and raising a boy. Britton would never do this! It is cute to see her toddling around with a "purse" on her shoulder.

Life With Two

2010-03-04T07:26:00.002-06:00

At first, I thought we wouldn't need a double stroller with these too. What was I thinking? I am so glad Danny's parents gave us this stroller for Christmas! If I didn't have it, I'd be pushing Lia Kate in a single and spending all my time chasing Britton down. He is yet to be trusted to walk alongside us. Someday, though. For now, these two are riding side-by-side in style, and, for the most part, really enjoying it.

Celebrating Chinese New Year

2010-02-28T21:44:00.001-06:00

We celebrated our first Chinese New Year with Lia Kate a couple of weeks ago! I suppose this isn't the first Chinese New Year to come around since she was born, but I doubt the kiddos were partying much in the orphanage. This Chinese New Year is the Year of the Tiger and it fell on February 14, which worked out quite well because red is the color for both Valentines and Chinese New Year. We celebrated on the 14th with two families in our church who recently adopted little boys from China.

Lia Kate in her Chinese New Year outfit. They were about a dime a dozen in China (well, something like that), so I stocked up.

Yep, Britton has one too. ;o)

Here is Lia Kate in action, squeaky shoes and all:

Here are the three new Chinese kiddos at our church ... Lia Kate, Fisher and Hamilton, in their traditional dress.

Hamilton showing us some Kung Fu moves.

Hamilton and Fisher. These two were fostered in the same city in Inner Mongolia, and may have even known each other in China before being adopted by families here.

Lia Kate with Fisher's sister Channing. They became best buds because Channing kept stuffing Lia Kate's mouth with fried rice. What can I say, the girl likes to eat?

Danny & Britton.

We also went to the big Chinese New Year celebration downtown, where Lia Kate ate lots of dumplings (yum) and where we tried to keep Britton as far away from the food as possible (thanks to the soy allergy).

We had a great time celebrating Chinese New Year with our Chinese friends, and look forward to being able to talk to Lia Kate about her homeland and its many unique traditions in years to come.

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

2010-02-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

This is Lia Kate coming in from the snow the other day. She was as bundled up as the day we got her and she couldn't quite stand up from the floor. It was pretty cute!

More Sweet Brother-Sister Moments

2010-02-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Love this video, but it is in no way indicative of what our life is like 24-7 around here! It is sweet to see these two learning to be brother and sister ... and with that comes good and bad. Here is some of the good:

A Girl and Her Doll

2010-02-17T12:00:00.000-06:00

One of the neat things about having Lia Kate in our lives is seeing her come to life before our eyes, experiencing new things and growing into her little self after living in an orphanage for so long. One of those new experiences for her has been playing with toys. In the orphanage, the only toys they had were balls, so all toys have been a learning experience for her. Since we've been home, she's been given several baby dolls. At first she had no clue what to do with them. So, at first, she rejected the dolls, then she became indifferent, and now, all of the sudden, she loves them. Here are some pics of her carrying around one of her little dolls. It is a sweet thing to see our little girl loving on her little doll...

Snow Day Videos

2010-02-16T20:11:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple of videos of our kiddos playing in the snow the other day. Britton was loving it and Lia Kate didn't know quite what to think about it.

Snowball tutorial:

Happy Girl

2010-02-16T16:37:00.002-06:00

Our little girl usually has a very happy disposition ... except at the moment (she is throwing a little tantrum) ;o) ...

Lia Kate's First Snow

2010-02-12T14:39:00.000-06:00

I love a good snow day! And even as I sit here and type it is coming down like crazy outside. This doesn't happen too often in the South so we are loving it. Lia Kate and I are watching it fall while Britton naps. Lia Kate is from a tropical area in China, so I'm certain this is her first real snow. Yippee for her. We're enjoying our snow day ... already played outside, tossed a few snowballs, and eaten snow ice cream. Just look at these adorable little snow bunnies...

The back of our house when the snow first started falling.

The Not-So-Sweet Moments

2010-02-09T13:56:00.002-06:00

I posted this sweet picture the other day, but have to let you see these too. With two toddlers, I think these moments are a given! Too funny not to share...

You see, it starts out innocently. Like this ...

They smile.

They look at each other sweetly.

Then it dawns on Britton ... "wait a minute, she's in my car."

He jockeys for position.

And gives a big shove.

Yep, that's how it happens. This whole sequence can happen in about 60 seconds.

Or, here's another one:

They're enjoying a good brother-sister spin in Daddy's chair at the office.

All is good. They're playing nicely.

Then, Britton leans in a little too close ... and it's all over.

Fun times around here! Always.

Bath * BOOK * Bed

2010-02-07T21:24:00.002-06:00

One of Britton's and Lia Kate's favorite time of day is getting to read books with their daddy after bathtime. Most of the books are about trucks and dogs, but Lia Kate doesn't seem to mind. She really gets into reading. This is a big change from when we first got her as she had no interest in books at all. Now, several times a day she will bring me a book and then climb into my lap for me to read to her. She has changed so much in the short time we've had her, and we love that she is picking up our love for books!

Full Circle

2010-02-01T14:26:00.004-06:00

I love it when things come full circle. For example, our church's mission conference is this week, and there is a missionary family with us whom we last saw at the conference back in 2006. They have an adopted daughter from China. In '06, their daughter, Lauren, was only 3 or 4 years old. At that time, Danny and I knew we wanted to adopt internationally and, though I was sold on adopting from China, Danny wasn't quite sure. We fell in love with little Lauren who was a total firecracker ... adorable and brilliant and witty. It was the first time, I think, Danny had really been around a child adopted from China and he was hooked. We started the process to adopt from China a year later.

We haven't seen that family since ... they are missionaries in Africa. But they are back at our missions conference this year. Lauren is now 8 years old, and here we are with our own little child of China! Lia Kate lights up whenever she sees Lauren. I think she loves seeing familiar faces. It is a sweet thing to see these two girls together ...

Full circle. I love it when that happens.

One Sweet Moment

2010-01-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Britton and Lia Kate in one of their sweeter moments.

Going-Home-Barbie

2010-01-29T07:00:00.001-06:00

This is another picture I've been meaning to post. When we got back to our hotel room after getting Lia Kate on Gotcha Day, we found this special Barbie doll waiting for us! It is a tradition at the White Swan Hotel to give this special edition "Going Home Barbie" to all adopting families who stay there. Mattel makes this Barbie just for White Swan families. Can't wait to give it to Lia Kate some day!

Lia Kate's Gotcha Day Clothes

2010-01-28T14:59:00.003-06:00

I have been meaning to post this picture for awhile. Remember when I said that they tend to overdress children in China? This is what Lia Kate was wearing when we got her. ALL of this on her little tiny body. This is how it went -- she was wearing the orange shirt underneath everything, then the red sweater, then the thick shearling-lined vest, then the super thick pants and coat, socks, and shoes. Great choice for Vail, not so great for Miami (it was about 70 degrees the day we got her). When I started undressing her it was like opening a present, wrapped in a present, wrapped in a present ... the sweet girl was burning up. No more crazy layers for you, sister!

More Bath Fun

2010-01-28T14:51:00.006-06:00

Two in a tub is a lot more fun!

Sleeping Beauty

2010-01-25T10:38:00.003-06:00

Lia Kate is tolerating her car seat much better these days. She hated being in the car seat at first ... it was such a new thing to her and she did not like being out of my arms. But after a few car rides of non-stop screaming, she finally calmed down and is even, dare I say, liking car rides these days. She usually falls asleep by the time we get home, too.

Follow These Blogs

2010-01-24T19:52:00.002-06:00

Two families -- friends of ours -- are in China and will be meeting their new children soon!

This family goes to our church and have been in the process to adopt their son, Fisher, for nearly two years. They will finally get him on Tuesday. Fisher is from the same orphanage in Inner Mongolia that Hamilton (adopted by a family in our church several months ago) was from. Fisher shares a birthday with Britton, too!

This family is with the same (awesome) agency we used and will be meeting their daughter in just a few hours! Their daughter, Caelyn, is from the same orphanage as the daughter of our friends -- Laurie and Brandon -- that we met in China. Did you get all that?! Laurie and Brandon's daughter, Avery (in China we called her YaYa), is the same age and was roommates with Caelyn in their orphanage. Soon they will both be Americans and will only live a few states away. What a small world?

So excited for both of these families soon to be welcoming precious children into their arms!

Gotcha Day ... a Month Ago Today

2010-01-21T07:00:00.002-06:00

December 21:

January 21:

I look back at pictures taken on Gotcha Day and hardly recognize the little girl in my arms. She is a happy little girl now with such life in her eyes. So thankful for this precious child and for all the changes she has made in just one short month! Her sweet and happy disposition (like giving her brother kisses in the bathtub last night) make me look forward to all of the joys we will share with her in the coming years. We feel so blessed.

Four Week Progress Report

2010-01-19T18:00:00.000-06:00

So, they put Lia Kate in our arms just four weeks ago yesterday. I cannot believe it's only been four weeks. To be honest, it feels like much longer than that. I guess the early days of crying/sleepless nights/sickness have a way of doing that. We are in a much better place now and I thought I'd write a post on all the things she is doing these days ...

* She is an excellent mimic-er. She can mimic to a tee about any face you do. She also loves to try to get people to mimic her. Her favorite thing to do is to nod her head forward. She also clicks her tongue or smacks her lips trying to get people to do the same.

* She can repeat all kinds of sounds (ooh, oh, ah, eee, ay, ba, ta, da, ma, hey ...)

* She already has English words! I wasn't expecting this for a couple of months given her young age and institutionalization. But she calls me "mama" now and she says "uh oh" all the time. I took her to church for the first time on Sunday and we stood at the very back. I was feeding her crackers to keep her quiet when she dropped one and said "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh." So cute. She is also working on "dada" and "doggie" and "hey." She can say the latter three but she isn't yet using them purposefully.. She also babbles all the time. For all I know, she could be speaking in Cantonese!

* She waves bye bye.

* When I say hello she puts her hand up to her ear as if answering a phone.

* She gives high fives.

* She is beginning to understand what I say as evidenced by her following directions.

* She loves bathtime. This was quite a surprise as she hated baths for the first three weeks we had her. Now she loves them. I'll take that.

* She plays peek-a-boo. She started doing this in China and it's so cute.

* She smiles up at me so sweetly ... especially when I give her a bottle.

* She has started giving me kisses. I say "kiss" and she leans forward and kisses my lips. Tonight she kissed me and said "mama."

* She loves to sit in my lap and play with my hair.

* Much to our surprise, she is a great little walker. The orphanage told us she could walk, but she only took a few steps here and there in China. When we got home, she instantly began walking room to room. So, yeah, they were right.

* She has actually become a great little sleeper. Granted she is sleeping in our bed, but she is sleeping through the night -- usually a good 12 hours -- and sleeping in most mornings until at least 8:30. We are definitely seeing the payoff of having her sleep in our bed ... she is becoming much more secure and happy and she goes down SO much easier than she did at the beginning, and she isn't waking up all through the night now either. We will work to get her in a crib down the road, but for now we're all glad to be getting lots of sleep!

She is doing great and we are settling into a good, little routine. Every day is a bit different and challenging, but, to be honest, most of those challenges come from a certain little two-year-old boy! Hope you enjoy the videos.

So Much Fun

2010-01-18T15:02:00.001-06:00

You can see how much fun life with two is around here!

Bathtime 'Round Here

2010-01-17T21:36:00.003-06:00

Lia Kate went from totally hating baths to totally loving them. Just like that. And she loves water being dumped over her head. It is so fun to have a child who enjoys baths. Britton is very hot and cold with them ... no pun intended. Anyway, here is a peek into bathtime with our two tots. (Just a disclaimer on Britton's hair ... he had just woken up from a long nap and had some serious bedhead!)

Lia Kate's Heart

2010-01-14T21:01:00.003-06:00

Lia Kate's first cardiology appointment was today. You may remember that we adopted her has a special needs child because of her heart defect. Her heart condition is called a VSD (ventricular septal defect) which means she has a small hole between the ventricles of her heart. Sounds scary, but VSDs are quite common and either heal on their own or require surgery. We were glad to get in so quickly with the Children's Cardiology group and I am glad to report that we had a great visit. She had an EKG and Echo today, though she did not quite cooperate for either, and the doctor told us he believed her VSD was of "no consequence." Because she fought and moved so much during the Echo he couldn't see her VSD well enough to measure it. But he saw enough to tell us that it is small and is in a location that shouldn't cause any problems. He said this kind of VSD is more common among the Asian population. He expects that she will never need surgery for it, that it will continue healing on its own. He also confirmed that all other structures of her heart look perfect.

Because he couldn't see her VSD as clearly as he would have liked and because he didn't have Lia Kate's previous Echo report from China, we decided that we would see him again in March and we would try the Echo again when, hopefully, Lia Kate is more settled and secure and won't fight so darn much. If the next test confirms what he saw today, then we will just see him once a year to monitor the VSD size.

We are thankful for this good report!

Life (so far) With Our Girl

2010-01-13T15:23:00.006-06:00

Finally, both kids are down for naps at the same time ... I don't know how long this will last so I am jumping at the chance to update the blog! It is very hard to update this regularly when I am either exhausted or am holding baby girl in my arms.

We have had quite an adjustment these last three weeks (yes, we've only had Lia Kate for 3 weeks now!), but things seem to be going very well. I say this on the heels of a very rough night, though. Despite the bad night, today has been fabulous. And this is the first time, in fact, I've been able to get Lia Kate asleep at the same time Britton is napping. Things are looking up and up and we are making progress every day.

Our biggest struggle has been sleeping. Lia Kate is a good sleeper, once she gets there, that is. However, she really fights going to sleep. We knew that sleep problems were very common among former Chinese orphans, so we were at least prepared (kind of). It is understandable that she would feel most insecure at night as nighttime at the orphanage was probably very destabilizing with different caretakers coming and going. As long as she is in my arms, she feels comfortable falling asleep, but we have not been able to get her to sleep in her crib. It doesn't matter how asleep she is, she will wake up as soon as I lay her down in the crib. So, we have decided that, for now, it is best for her if she sleeps in our bed with us. We are her security, and at a time in her life when she is extremely insecure, it is the least we can do.

So in our bed she is ... and we are getting better and better at sleeping with her ... it has not been easy, but I have been sleeping better and better each night (Danny usually makes his way to the guest bed sometime in the middle of the night). Once Lia Kate is asleep, she will usually sleep 10 to 12 hours, so we are grateful for that. It has been a learning process for me to figure out how to get her and Britton down at the same time. Today has been our first successful day at getting simultaneous naptimes. Of course, as I sat down in the den to start this post, Lia Kate started coughing, which woke her up and then she started crying, and then her crying woke Britton up. So, now I am back in our bedroom, lying down with Lia Kate, who is asleep again. But, I can hear Britton talking to himself through the monitor. Ahh well ... this is our life!

We have gotten some excellent advice from the counselors at the International Adoption Clinic and they have given us advice on how to help Lia Kate feel secure enough to one day move into her own room. Hoping to have Lia Kate sleeping in her crib in her own room six months from now, but we'll see.

We had our first appointment at the International Adoption Clinic on Monday and it went well. We met with the counselors for about an hour and they told us it looked like the attachment process was going well. Lia Kate has definitely attached to me, and even though it is not a true attachment yet, she is learning that we are safe and that, most importantly, we aren't going anywhere. All her life, she has dealt with change and abandonment ... even if most of that "abandonment" was simply a staff of nannies that changed and/or was inconsistent. It will take a long, long time of "always being there" for Lia Kate for her to know we truly aren't going anywhere. This is another reason we believe that co-sleeping with her is important. It is not what we wanted to do, but something we realize is important to do now so that we don't deal with significant attachment issues down the road.

We also saw the pediatrician at the Int'l Adoption Clinic and she told us that Lia Kate looked good except for the fact that she was malnourished. I knew she was small but she looks healthy to me so I wasn't expecting to hear "malnourished." She is only 17 pounds, 4 oz. at 17 months and is no where near being on the U.S. growth charts! She falls in the 5th percentile for height and head circumference, so her weight definitely needs to catch up at least to there. She is the size of an average 9-month-old in the U.S. I am working on feeding her lots of high fat/good fat foods. Lia Kate would eat anything in China, but has already started to get a little picky here. I am feeding her often and doing three bottles of whole milk a day. Hoping we see some significant weight gain when we go back to the Int'l Adoption Clinic in a month. Here's a pic showing how tiny she is (the top she is wearing is a 6-12 month) ...

Lia Kate also had a lot of blood drawn so that they can run tests and determine what immunizations she has received and what she needs from this point further. She also had an abdominal ultrasound. All children coming from China have one to check for kidney damage from the melamine that was found in some Chinese formulas back in 2008. Lia Kate was just born when word of the melamine scandal hit the news, so chances were she was not affected, but the Adoption Clinic checked to make sure and was in the all clear.

They also set up two specialists for us to go see. One is for the cardiologist and we have that appointment tomorrow. She will have an Echo and and an EKG in the morning, so we will finally know what is going on with her heart. All we know at this point is that all the docs who have listened to her heart via stethoscope can hear the murmur, but it is hard to tell anything about it from listening. Hopefully tomorrow we will know what is going on and have a plan for here on out.

We also are being referred to a surgeon ... appointment in February ... for them to look/remove a skin growth on Lia Kate's neck. (Yes, we've known about it since we first got her file.) By all accounts it is just skin (examinations and ultrasound), but since it is on her neck, we have to have an MRI of it before they remove it. To have an MRI, she has to be cleared by cardiology so that they can sedate her for it. Yes, a lot of hoops to jump through for her to have a minor surgery, but after all this, she will have an outpatient surgery and that will be the end of it.

Anyway, I talked earlier about what a great day we had ... we got up this morning, got Britton to Mother's Day Out and met up with some friends of ours who leave soon for China to adopt their son! (This will be the third Chinese orphan brought home by people in our church in just the last few months.) After that, my friend Sarah Beth joined us for lunch. Lia Kate does so well when we're out and about ... to be honest, we were sitting in the same place for about 3 1/2 hours and she is so happy to just sit in my lap. Then, we went and picked Britton up and introduced Lia Kate to a lot of our friends up there. It was fun and a nice change of pace to us mostly staying at home all day.

I will write more after Lia Kate's cardiology appointment tomorrow. Hoping and praying for good news. As I close out this post, both children are sound asleep. It is definitely sleep, glorious sleep for this mama!

What Are Big Brothers For?

2010-01-11T07:00:00.002-06:00

He eyes the bow.

She reaches up and yanks it out -- her specialty.

Her sweet big brother picks it up and ...

... very carefully puts it back in her hair. ;o) After all, what are big brothers for?

Our sweet girl ...

Sweet Brother/Sister Moments

2010-01-10T12:59:00.001-06:00

Since We've Been Home

2010-01-08T14:43:00.002-06:00

Well, mostly we've been surviving since we've been home. It is a rare moment that Lia Kate does not want to be in my arms and this makes it kind of tricky to post daily to the blog, so please pardon my lack of regular posting. We've been home for a full week now and here are a few things we've been up to.

There has been ...

Lots of learning what it means to have a sister.

Lots of holding and rocking.

Lots of smiles.

Lots of silliness.

Lots of learning how to use a sippy cup.

Lots of playing.

Lots of learning to share toys.

Lots of chaos.

Lots of learning how old we are. (Lia Kate learned this when we were teaching Britton how to hold up two fingers.)

Lots of book-reading.

And lots and lots of totally adorable moments.

More to come...

Happy 2nd Birthday Big Brother!

2010-01-08T08:33:00.004-06:00

Two years ago this morning, our little boy Britton was born. We are reminded every day what a miracle he is. But especially on his birthday, we remember all that we have been through and we give thanks and praise for our little boy. You are such a blessing, Britton. I love hearing you say "two" and then hold up one finger!

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Happy Birthday Big Brother!

Let me give you a lift!

Full of Personality

2010-01-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Lia Kate's cute little personality is coming out more and more these days. It is so fun to see her becoming a happy little person ...

Our Belated Christmas Morning

2010-01-04T08:00:00.000-06:00

Since we missed Christmas with Britton, we celebrated with "Christmas morning" on January 2, the first morning we were back. We woke up, had a good breakfast and opened gifts with Britton and Lia Kate. They were both loving it. Lia Kate loved playing with the wrapping paper and Britton loved opening gifts. It has been a year since last Christmas and his last birthday so I haven't seen him really enjoy opening gifts until now. It was a fun morning and Britton and Lia Kate got a lot of great gifts thanks to grandparents, aunts/uncles, and great grandparents, as the parents have had little time to shop!

Our Happy New Year Homecoming

2010-01-03T15:01:00.000-06:00

We had the best New Year's Day surprise when we were able to catch our flight home a day early! We arrived in Birmingham on January 1st at 9:30 a.m. after 24 hours of flying. Lia Kate did *phenomenally* well the whole way home. We expected the worst and were shocked when she handled all the flying like a champ. She slept through about 3/4 of our international flight from Hong Kong to L.A., and during her awake time was happy to sit in my lap and play. She then slept for the entire time on our red eye from L.A. to Atlanta. Danny and I only slept a few hours on the long flight, so we were purely running on adrenaline when we got home. We landed in Birmingham to find a group of friends awaiting our arrival. At the front of the pack was our boy Britton. Such a sweet sight! It was a fun reunion with family and friends. We are so glad to be home!!!

Once we were home ...

A couple of videos...

Home!!!

2010-01-01T19:49:00.002-06:00

We made it home! I will write more tomorrow because we are completely exhausted. I can barely hold my eyes open as I type. Here are a few pictures from the airport today.

Our Christmas in China/God's Redemption

2009-12-31T06:46:00.001-06:00

As we are waiting at the Hong Kong airport to begin our long trek home, I am overwhelmed at all that has happened in the last few months. Just over two months ago, we did not even know about a little girl in a Chinese orphanage named Lian Jia Jing. I woke up the morning of October 21 with a picture of her precious little scowling face sitting in my email inbox. Without even knowing the seriousness of her medical condition, I knew she was our daughter.

Fast forward to the day we got her ... the significance of Lia Kate's Gotcha Day is that it marked two months to the day we first saw her face! This is insanely fast in terms of Chinese adoptions. We are so thankful that God flung open the doors for our paperwork to go through so fast.

While we never imagined this adoption would cause us to miss Christmas with Britton, us jumping at the chance to bring our daughter home meant fewer days that Lia Kate had to spend in an orphanage. It meant that we were blessed with the gift of our daughter this Christmas (what better gift??). And it means we got to experience the beauty of adoption and God's redemptive plan for Lia Kate at a time when we celebrate God's story of redemption for us in the birth of Jesus Christ. I can't think of a better way to have spent this Christmas.

As we are waiting at the airport for our flight home, I am suddenly sad knowing we are taking her away from the home of her birth, from where they speak her native language, from where her only blood relatives live, from the only place and things and people that are familiar to her. It is a surprisingly heavy burden. But on the other hand, this precious child is now our daughter and has a family and a home, thanks only to the grace of God.

We are so thankful for all your prayers for us, and for all of your encouraging comments and your unwavering support along this journey. Especially thankful to our mothers who took such good care of Britton, and for all of our dear friends and family who offered their support and made this adoption possible. We can't wait to introduce you to our Lia Kate!

We'll be home soon!

On Our Way Home

2009-12-30T21:27:00.001-06:00

We arrive in Birmingham on Friday morning!! A day earlier than we thought. Pray for us over the next 36 hours ... we need it!

Our Last Day in Guangzhou

2009-12-30T10:31:00.001-06:00

Today was our last full day in Guangzhou. We mostly shopped for a few last minute things. I am trying to collect some "homeland" gifts for Lia Kate that we can give to her over the years. We also received Lia Kate's passport and visa, which was our last official business. We are free to go home now.

We had our last dinner out with our good friends, Laurie, Brandon and YaYa, as well as with some new friends we have made in recent days. The picture is of the moms and daughters after dinner.

Today is also my and Danny's 5th wedding anniversary! Our anniversary gift is that we get to come home a day early! More on that soon...

Red Couch Pictures

2009-12-30T10:16:00.001-06:00

Here at the White Swan, it is a longstanding tradition that Chinese children who are being adopted take pictures in traditional Chinese dress on "the red couch." It is like a rite of passage. When we first arrived at the White Swan to check-in, I excitedly asked our guide where "the red couch" was. I didn't realize there are tons of red couches in this hotel and there isn't a particular one that every adopted child from the last 20 years has sat on. Oh well. While that part was a little anticlimactic, we still took part of the tradition, and dressed Lia Kate up in one of her new Chinese outfits, sat her on the couch and snapped away. Most were of her screaming as she wanted to be held, but since that is part of her "red couch" moment, I had to include.

Our Chinese Princess

2009-12-29T08:24:00.001-06:00

Here is a cute photo from today!

Pearl River Cruise

2009-12-29T08:21:00.001-06:00

Our hotel is located on the banks of the Pearl River, and every night we have watched the wild, light and laser show that goes on over the river from our hotel window. Our guide took us on a dinner cruise on the Pearl tonight so we could experience the laser show firsthand. It was a cold and rainy night but we still had a good time. Lia Kate ate noodles and jabbered, jabbered away. It was the most we have heard her talk yet. There is a picture of some of us who went ... everyone in the picture works for our (awesome) agency, Lifeline Children's Services. Lily, on the left, is the amazing woman who matched Lia Kate with us! She lives here in China. Janelle is next to her and she is here with her husband adopting their little boy. She works for our agency State-side. The other person pictured is our guide Rebecca. It was a fun night! We came home and got Lia Kate successfully asleep in her crib -- the first time that has happened in several nights. Hoping it lasts until morning!

We went to the U.S. Consulate today for our swearing-in/oath. We had to pledge that all of the information we provided them pertaining to our adoption was true. That was it. We are just waiting on Lia Kate's Visa now. We will get it tomorrow instead of Thursday as was planned. This means we could be headed home on a flight late, late tomorrow night if we had known the Consulate was going to rush us through so they could close early for the New Year. Everyone here is bummed b/c we are all in the same boat. No way to rearrange flights this late. Oh well. We'll have two more days of sightseeing here. There is a picture above of me and Lia Kate with all of the other adopting families here just before we all loaded on the buses and descended en masse on the U.S. Consulate.

I am off to sleep ... just two more nights here at the White Swan!

All About Lia Kate and Life Here

2009-12-28T22:13:00.001-06:00

There has been so much I want to write about Lia Kate but I rarely have time to sit down at the computer (with both hands!) and type it out. Danny just took her down to the White Swan play room, so I am taking advantage of this chance to write all about our girl and what life is like here.

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is home to about 6 million people, so this is no small town we're in. The White Swan has historically housed most of the families who adopt children from China. They have a nice little playroom here with lots of toys, and a huge breakfast buffet with lots of food for kiddos. The hotel is located near lots of shops that have things we want to buy for our little ones as well as laundry facilities, etc. But the best part about being here is meeting all of the families and their new children. Every morning at the breakfast buffet we meet new friends. It is like being a member of a club ... and I have to say the adoption community is pretty fabulous! Anyway, we are connecting with people from all over the U.S. and it is a neat thing to be able to share this experience with others walking the very same path.

I mentioned the breakfast buffet here. It has a traditional American breakfast (coffee, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, toast, etc.), but also traditional Chinese breakfast (congee, dumplings, noodles, dim sum, hot tea, and many other things I don't quite recognize). Lia Kate is a great little eater! She will eat anything we give her, even a stalk of broccoli. Amazing. She learned this morning to suck yogurt out of a straw and downed two whole yogurts at breakfast this morning. She also loves to eat crackers when we're out and about. All of my shirts have cracker crumbs and residue on them from her eating while she's in the carrier. It's real attractive. Thankfully, we've been able to do lots of laundry here!

We have had Lia Kate for over a week here now and she has made quite the transformation. The first day we had her, she was in shock and barely made a peep. The first morning at breakfast, I set her in the highchair and she laid there limp, like a 5-month-old who can't even sit up. That second day we had her, she started crying a lot and had to be held with her head buried in my shoulder all the time. She would have nothing to do with Danny By day 4, she picked up a toy for the first time and started playing. By day 5, she actually let Danny play with her. By day 6, she started smiling! By day 7, she started showing us that she could walk and she started laughing out loud. She finally was content to sit on the bed and play with her toys and not cry to be held. She now plays this little game, where she stands up (she is still wobbly on her feet) and takes several steps toward me, laughing and falling into me. It is so completely adorable. I know she will continue to come out of her shell and we are so encouraged by the progress she has already made.

Other things ... Lia Kate loves Chinese women! She will always smile at them. She also loves to make funny faces. She constantly makes this cute face where she squints her eyes shut and opens her mouth wide. It is hilarious. She loves, loves playing with toys, especially her stacking cup, which she scatters, then stacks. It will keep her busy for awhile. She is beginning to babble around us and keeps saying the word "ta." She also loves to play and look at her hands. Handgames are common among orphans, indicating she was probably in her crib a lot and entertained herself by playing with her hands. She can also cross her fourth finger over her third finger w/o assistance from her other hand. Danny thinks she is double jointed. She is extremely flexible, but I'm not sure if it is true flexibility or just lower muscle tone since she has probably hasn't spent a lot of time playing on the floor. When she starts to get insecure or begins crying, her hands go straight to her head and she starts pulling at her hair or rubbing her eyes. It is definitely her coping mechanism. We have noticed that she does this less and less every day, so we are thankful for this outward sign that shows us she is gaining trust and security with us.

Lia Kate is extremely easy during the day when we're out and about. She is very content to be carried or to ride in her carrier and just take everything in. She rarely fusses when we're outside of the hotel room. Our hardest times come at night. She will not go down in her crib unless she is sound asleep. She can only fall asleep in our arms and then we have to try very carefully to transfer her to the crib. Most of the time, she will wake up and scream. So, usually we both end up falling asleep with her laying on top of me, and at some point she just kind of rolls off and continues to sleep beside me in bed. Once she is good and asleep, she will stay asleep through the night and not wake until after 8 a.m. It is hard being in a hotel room, because we don't want her screams to wake up the whole floor, so we are doing whatever we can to calm her quickly and get her to sleep. It is hard, but it is something we expected too. Usually one of the lingering affects of orphanage life is difficulty sleeping. We will definitely have to work on this once we get home, but know that someday once she has built more trust in us that this part of our life will be easier.

We only have two nights left here at the White Swan Hotel! We have already spent 9 nights here. Once we leave Guangzhou, we will stay one night at an airport hotel in Hong Kong, then we will be on a plane headed home. Can. not. wait!

Officially Ours

2009-12-28T21:16:00.000-06:00

I somehow missed the fact that that last Tuesday was Adoption Day and that when we left the Civil Affairs Building after doing the necessary paperwork, Lia Kate was officially ours in China's eyes! Here is a picture of us taken with the red book, which I believe is our official adoption decree from the Chinese government. Since then, we have been working on the U.S. side of paperwork to get our girl home. We applied for Lia Kate's Chinese passport, which will get her to the U.S. (she won't be a citizen until she lands on U.S. soil), and we have also completed paperwork for our U.S. Consulate appointment which was this morning (Tuesday the 29th). We just got the call that all of our paperwork passed the Consulate's approval so we have the all clear to bring her home! Now, all we have left to do is go to the U.S. Consulate this afternoon to take our oath (not sure what we are swearing to, but will tell you about it later), then we wait for her U.S. Visa to be processed, which takes 48 hours. Our guide Rebecca will go back to the U.S. Consulate on Thursday, the 31st, to pick up her Visa, then we will be on our way back to Hong Kong on an afternoon train to catch a flight home. Our plane doesn't leave until Friday, so we will spend one night in Hong Kong. We are so close to being home. We can't wait!!!

Gardens Trip & Big Strides for Our Girl

2009-12-28T08:19:00.001-06:00

Today we went to Yuntai Park, which is the botanical gardens here in Guangzhou. It was beautiful! Lia Kate had a great day out, but then again, she is always fabulous when we're out and about.

Today was a big day for her as she started laughing out loud and even taking a couple of steps. It started when we were playing with her toys on the bed this afternoon. I started tickling her and she started with smiles and then started laughing out loud. Before I knew it, she was standing up, then taking a few steps toward me, then would fall into me laughing. I would lift her over my head and she would laugh some more, then I would set her down in front of me and she would do it all over again. Her smile and laugh are completely adorable!

I have lots more to say but it is hard to do when I am holding a fussy girl who won't sleep without me! Hopefully I'll have time to blog during the day tomorrow while we are waiting word that our paperwork passes the U.S. Consulate. Until then ...

Visit to Lia Kate's Orphanage

2009-12-27T10:51:00.016-06:00

Finally ... a few moments to tell you about Danny's trip down to Lia Kate's orphanage yesterday. We were not sure they would let him visit, but they agreed to it on Gotcha Day, so we took them up on it and hired a guide and driver to take him down. We would have loved to have both gone, but besides it being very confusing for Lia Kate to go back, we just did not think she would be up for a long day in the car (especially since she just made that long trek on Monday). Danny spent 12 hours in the car yesterday ... going to and from Lianjiang.

Lia Kate lived in the Lianjiang SWI (Social Welfare Institute) since she was 12 days old. To my surprise, Danny told me that Lianjiang is home to 1.6 million people. I had no idea it was that big. The SWI is on the small side. They have about 20 infants (ages 0 to 12 months) and about 20 toddlers (12 to 24 months) and I'm not sure how many older children. Despite being small, they have adopted out 300 children in the last 11 years. That is a lot for a small orphanage. I am so thankful they see the importance of these children finding forever homes. They told Danny they just sent 20 files of children to the central office in Beijing so that families could be found for them.

Street in the city of Lianjiang.

Boy playing in the sand in the city of Lianjiang.

Scooter for 4? An entire family catching a ride on a scooter.

Danny arrived and they immediately went to lunch with the SWI Director and Assistant Director and the woman in charge of the nannies, Ms. Wong. Ms. Wong is the woman who accompanied Lia Kate to Guangzhou and who placed her in my arms. She is also the woman who named her. Danny said they went to a nice-looking restaurant but were escorted out the back through an alley, past all the live animals and fish tanks and into a private dining room. Oh, and Danny had to eat the entire meal with chopsticks ... chicken drumsticks and all. (He came home hungry.)

Danny with the Orphanage Director, Asst. Director and Ms. Wong in front of the orphanage gate.

The Baby Building ... Lia Kate's room was off the first balcony.

The SWI entrance from the road below.

The Orphanage Director, Asst. Director, Ms. Wong and one of Lia Kate's nannies by the baby room.

After lunch, they took Danny to Lia Kate's finding place. They told him she was found wrapped up in blankets in a cardboard box outside of the Nursing School gate. The nursing school, hospital and her orphanage are all within a few blocks of each other and it is a very poor part of town. People were living in shanties near her finding place and there was a very polluted river running nearby. It is very surreal to look at the pictures of her finding place knowing she was once a tiny 5-pound newborn lying in a cardboard box in that very spot.

Lia Kate's finding place. This is the wall outside the Nursing School.

Lia Kate's finding place. This is the gate of the Nursing School. We have been told she was found by the gate here wrapped in blankets in a cardboard box.

Lia Kate's finding place ... the Nursing School gate.

The Baby Building at the SWI.

After taking pictures and video of her finding place, they went back to tour the orphanage. The orphanage complex is on the top of a hill overlooking the hospital. There are four buildings on the campus. The building to the left is a nursing home, the building to the right is apartments for workers, and the middle buildings are the orphanage. Lia Kate was on the 2nd floor of the Baby Building where other toddlers her age were. The 3rd floor was for infants and a back building housed older children. They would not allow Danny to take pictures or video the nursery, but they did let him visit. He said there were about 20 babies in her room. They pointed out her crib, which was empty except for a ball in it. He saw the other children who were in cribs next to hers. One was a little boy with a cleft lip.

Danny said the room was mostly full of cribs lined up head to toe and that the cribs are metal with a plywood board on the bottom, covered up by a sheet. There was very little floor space for the kiddos to play, and there is no playroom either. The only space the kids play on is the outdoor balcony/walkway, which is where several of her referral and update photos were taken. Danny believes that these children are in their cribs nearly 100% of the time. The only toys he saw were a few balls, which we discovered she knew how to play with tonight at the White Swan playroom. There was also one walker. The room had two nannies in it.

Danny used his time with the SWI administration and nannies to ask a lot of questions about Lia Kate like ... did she cry a lot (b/c she does now!)? did she hate having her diaper changed? did she have a hard time getting to sleep? is she truly walking? All things we are wondering whether this is her personality or if she is just grieving. They told him no on all the above and that yes, she was walking without assistance. He didn't believe them so he pressed again, and they told him that she truly was the best child at the orphanage, always happy and content unless another child took her toy, she slept well, cried some, loved being held and that we were very lucky to adopt her. ;o) I know the latter is true, but I am also glad to know that there is a whole different person in her that is slowly coming out. (By the way, we saw more signs of this today!)

Danny left with the impression that the people were very kind and genuinely care for the children, but that it is a very poor orphanage in a poor area without a lot of financial means. I have to agree with him given the fact that Lia Kate has been grieving so heavily. Children who grieve after being in situations like this are usually ones who have formed attachments with a caregiver along the way. If they have formed an attachment in the past, it makes it much easier to form attachments with their parents once adopted. I have also heard from other families who have adopted from this orphanage that their children have grieved heavily as well. I am taking all this as a good sign that even though the facilities they lived in were not nice at all, they have been well cared for in this orphanage.

Before he left, Danny was able to record Ms. Wong pronouncing her name, since we still struggle with the correct pronunciation of her Chinese name (tonal languages are not easy for Americans!). He also asked the Orphanage Director and Nannies to record goodbye messages for her to hear one day. Our guide Rebecca translated and I loved the message that the Orphanage Director left her with. He said, "Ga Gang (Jia Jing), may you go and grow with joy."

I couldn't agree more. We hope that despite these difficult and traumatic beginnings, her spirit would be protected, that she will know she has been loved by many, and that she will grow with joy.

Noodles!

2009-12-27T09:29:00.000-06:00

We worked up an appetite with all our shopping at the Pearl Market, so our guide Rebecca took us to a restaurant for some authentic Chinese. The food was excellent and Lia Kate discovered a new food that she loves ... noodles. She was instantly slurping them up like a pro. I guess that is the Chinese in her. It was adorable.

Shopping Day

2009-12-27T09:13:00.000-06:00

We spent the morning going to the pearl and jade markets. Had fun buying pearls for Lia Kate for a later birthday or wedding gift. We picked out the pearls we wanted and watched the girls string and knot them up. They are beautiful!

The temperature dropped like crazy today. It has been in the 70s here lately but today, dropped down to the 40s.

Tomorrow, we visit Yuntai Park and the next day, Tuesday, is our U.S. Consulate Appointment.

Smiles!

2009-12-27T09:03:00.001-06:00

Lia Kate woke up in a great mood and even spent some happy moments playing with her stacking cups and getting tickled by her daddy! She is definitely coming out of her shell more and more. She smiled all throughout the day.

Sorry ...

2009-12-26T18:11:00.001-06:00

... we didn't post much yesterday! Danny spent the whole day traveling to Lianjiang and back, and I spent the whole day with 'lil bit, which meant she pretty much was in my arms the entire time and I couldn't post to the blog.

Danny got back late last night and we'll do a full post on his visit sometime today. Let's just say that I'm glad I didn't go as the place would probably grieve me for years to come. :o(

Lia Kate is still taking baby steps toward coming out of her fog. She is on the bed right now playing with her stacking cups with Danny ... and she's not crying! I never would have seen that coming a couple of days ago.

Today we visit the pearl and jade markets. I've been looking forward to this kind of shopping for awhile!

Full post on all this to come later today ...

Twitter

2009-12-25T22:26:00.001-06:00

We are tweeting little updates every now and then. If you scroll down a bit and look on the lefthand side of our blog, you will see the updates. Twitter is blocked in mainland China, but just realized the other day that we still have access to it on our phones. I am new to Tweeting but it is fun to send little updates.

Sent from my iPhone

Where Our Daughter Is From

2009-12-25T20:00:00.001-06:00

Danny is on his way now to where Lia Kate came from in an effort to piece together her past and to take pictures and video of what her first 16 months were like. Lia Kate lived in an orphanage in Guangdong Province, way down South, since she was 12 days old. I wanted to give you an idea of the magnitude of China's orphan situation.

First, here is a map of China, divided into provinces.

Lia Kate's province is Guangdong, which is at the bottom in yellow.

Here is a map of Guangdong province ...

... all of the little "houses" are where orphanages are known to be. There are 57 known orphanages in Guangdong province alone. Now, go back and look at the map of China. I really can't fathom how many children are living in orphanages in China right now. Only a small proportion of these orphans will ever be adopted.

Thankful our agency put together this day trip for Danny. Her orphanage is far away enough (6 hours) that most would tell us it's too far to travel. Her orphanage, Lianjiang SWI has also granted Danny permission to visit. We are so grateful.

Hope to have pics up tomorrow!

Merry Christmas from Guangzhou!

2009-12-25T08:58:00.001-06:00

Here are a few pictures we took around our hotel this evening! We went with friends to a great Italian restaurant for a wonderful Christmas dinner tonight. It is their new, sweet daughter, YaYa, that is in one of these pictures. Yes, believe it or not, they have amazing Italian food in Guangzhou, China!

Danny will be leaving first thing in the morning (your night) to visit Lianjiang -- Lia Kate's hometown and the orphanage. He will be on the road for a total of 12 hours tomorrow. Hoping to get pictures and video of the first, important parts of Lia Kate's life so that we can share with her one day. She is slowly coming out of her shell still -- woke up today playing with toys! We are thankful for the baby steps she is taking. More tomorrow ...

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T07:47:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the four of us! We cant wait to get home and have all four of us under one roof.

Fatherly Reflections on Christmas Day

2009-12-25T06:52:00.000-06:00

"Every true believer, whatever may be the degree of his grace, is an adopted child of God. It is not the amount of his faith, nor the closeness of his resemblance to the family, that constitutes his relationship; it is the act of adoption by which his heavenly Father has made him his own. If he can only lisp his Father's name, or bears but a single feature of likeness to the Divine image, he is as much and as really a child of God as those in whose souls the lineaments are deeply and broadly drawn, and who, with an unfaltering faith, can cry, "Abba, Father!" Doubtless there were many of feeble faith, of limited experience and of defective knowledge—mere babes in Christ—in the church to which the apostle inscribed his letter; and yet, addressing them all, he says, "Behold, what manner of love that we should be called the sons of God."   Octavius Winslow

I'm not exactly sure the full definition of surreal, but if I were to begin to explain, it would definitely look like what we have gone through this past week.

The first week here with Lia Kate has gone somewhat as expected, yet at the same time nothing like I could have imagined. My heart has been stretched in so many ways. I pause as I can not imagine why anyone would abandon a child, for whatever reason, fine or embarrassment or limitation it might incur. As I watch our beautiful daughter in my wife's arms, I just don't see how she could have been rejected and abandoned. We are processing this each and everyday. It is heartbreaking to see her cling to Emily as if she will not let go again. Even as a 16-month-old, she is grieving her most recent loss -- separation from her nanny and orphanage. Out of fear, she will not let her heart be separated from yet another mother/care-giver ... this is why she clings so tight. How a child this young grasps, porhaps, being unloved defies my logic.

Yet, each day, trust is slowly growing between Lia Kate and Emily (and at times, this hairy guy bugging her with tickles and pop-eyes and funny faces). She now will actually begin to reach out for a toy, latch on to Emily's necklace or gaze into Emily's eyes that so want her to know how much we love her...today, tomorrow and always. We watch other families who have just met their sons and daughters as well--there are many at our hotel, which is odd to others here not knowing this hotel caters to adoptive families.   Most of the children have special needs, some more physically obvious than others which further illustrates God's love for us...orphans without a home, unwanted and yet graciously purchased by the blood of Christ for his glory and our joy. I wish with all my heart that my pride and sinful false reality of beauty could be tempered by knowing Christ loved me as a wretched sinner.

Emily and I don't believe we have a stronger faith that moved us towards this adoption. We definitely don't feel we argue less or get frustrated at fewer things than other couples, or think we're perfect parents for our children. In fact as a pastor, most days I feel overwhelmed by the weight of my sin...by the selfishness I exhibit to my wife and Britton. Despite our weaknesses, we just felt called to rescue/redeem/re-name a child that no one else seemed to desire. We respond to the gospel in a way that Christ has demonstrated His love to us without merit of our own. To give Lia Katherine, formerly Lian Jia Jing, our name of Giffen tells her she has a mother and father who will never leave her...everything we have is hers. Legally she has more rights as my heir than even Britton! I cannot disown her. If that is not the gospel, what is!?!

With all that said, I do not want to over-emotionalize this journey. It is not so ethereal that we don't get frustrated that she doesn't sleep well or at each other when we are tired. It is boring much of the day...we have found little..err...no time to just talk. Even our times of prayer have been hurried as Lia Kate vocally lets us know she needs attention NOW!   It is definitely a memorable Christmas, but we long to be with our son as well. Guangzhou is, well, Guangzhou...not in your top 10 on the bucket list.

I found the most time to read on the flight over. Doug Webster gave me one of his own books a few days before we departed titled, A Christmas Journey with instructions to read the last chapter first. It has ministered to both Emily and me. Here is a portion from that last chapter:

"Into our crisis of sin and death, God sent his own Son 'in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering' (Romans 8:3). Christmas celebrates God's love for us. 'This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins' (1 John 4:9-10). In love, God made the first move toward us and has continued the movement ever since. The emotion we experience toward God is based on his grace-filled movement towards us. For us to discover the meaning of Christmas emotionally, rather than sentimentally, means 'moving closer to God who in Jesus Christ left the preferred place of heaven to move toward us.' He left his home to bring us home.

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room
For thy holy nativity...

Thank you all for reading our blog and for providing such encouragement...but the title of our blog, "Journey to Our Girl" only relates half the story. Our journey is not complete until we bring her home--it won't be perfect home, on this side of heaven, but I pray that she will see the love of Christ through us and with us echo one day the words, Abba Father, Come Quickly!

Bonding

2009-12-24T07:56:00.001-06:00

Our sweet girl looked into my eyes a lot today as she rode around in the carrier all day!

And just a couple more...

2009-12-24T07:53:00.001-06:00

The giraffe totally nibbled on my ear. This pic was taken just a millisecond before I realized what was happening!

2009-12-24T07:50:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve from Danny in Guangzhou!

We are closing out our Christmas Eve after an adventurous day in the city. We took a big step today outside of our normal routine of being cooped up in the hotel or doing official paperwork. We were invited by our new friends Brandon, Laurie and Avery (YaYa) to join them and some other families at the Safari Zoo.

We knew it would be a stretch to take Lia Kate out all day, considering she won't let me hold her more than 5 minutes at a time, but we didn't let that stop us. We took almost an hour bus ride to the outskirts of town to the safari zoo (by the way, this city we're in -- Guangzhou -- is 7 million people big!). Imagine the entrance to Animal Kingdom at Disney World. We were not expecting much but it really took us by surprise.

All 4 of the families we were with and their adopted children (ages 16 mos, 23 mos, 4 yrs. old & 7 yrs. old) boarded the train that took us into the open safari. I reminded everyone of the show "When Animals go Wild"-- you know the ones where the baboons jump in the car and claw everything. Thankfully the electric fences kept the predators at bay. But we were pleasantly surprised by how close they let you get and how many animals there were -- white tigers, camels, lions, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, elephants, cape buffalo, gazelle, ostrich, red deer, white-tipped dear, and brown & black bears. We got tons of great videos & pictures.

After the ride, we ventured around the rest of the zoo...the petting zoo area, and played with elephants, giraffes, and Emily even held a baby tiger. The highlight was all the giant pandas! Probably about 15 of them playing around. We got there right in time for feeding which was just like watching a bunch of old men sitting on the couch watching a football game. They'd lean back with their guts pooched out and chew on the bamboo.

The zoo trip lasted almost 5 hours and we were beat by the time we got back to the hotel. Our days usually mess up Lia Kate's nap schedule or lack thereof (meaning Lia Kate is not getting much of one--and we wonder why she gets fussy at night!?!?). For dinner we headed back to Lucy's with our friends for the third time...but lo and behold they had a new menu for Christmas dinner! It was a great surprise (an expensive one, but great nonetheless). It is strange how big of a deal Christmas is here in China, but our guides say it is all for the consumerism rather than the significance of the day.

It was a delightful evening with the temperature in the mid-70s and we were able to sit outside again. Lia Kate actually did wonderful tonight almost eating a whole bowl of chicken congee and actually making eyes at Emily and people at the tables around us. She even started happily kicking her legs and waving her arms around -- a far cry from the death grip she usually has around Emily's neck. She really enjoys being outside, so much so that we did not want to come "home" to the hotel room. Lia Kate has gotten into this routine where as soon as we enter the hotel room she loses it. The only thing that consoles her is Emily holding her tight and rocking her in the bed. It's sweet but exhausting for Emily. And I just try to do little things around the room and not get in the way...it's still all Emily and Lia Kate 99% of the time. The other 1% is our friend Laurie who Lia Kate totally adores.

In other Lia Kate news ... she actually slept really well last night and slept in her crib! We decided that sleeping in our bed the night before didn't go so well, so we'd try the crib again and she only woke up once in the middle of the night ... she just whimpered so Emily rubbed her head and she went right back down. Hoping for a repeat tonight because we all need the sleep.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day here. Not sure what the day will hold, but we'll write about it tomorrow. We wish we were all home and celebrating the holiday with you, but we still have lots of important tasks to finish here. Can't wait to be back. Merry Christmas!!!

More Safari Zoo Pics

2009-12-24T07:46:00.001-06:00

Christmas Eve Safari

2009-12-24T07:45:00.000-06:00

2009-12-23T07:40:00.001-06:00

I am sitting here knowing I need to do a blog post, but we are exhausted tonight so I will try to keep it short and sweet. Lia Kate had a tough night last night ... woke up many times screaming, but was able to go back to sleep each time. We finally got up around 7 and I tried to shower and get ready this morning but she cried the entire time she wasn't in my arms. :o( It is hard because there are just a few things I need to do throughout the day where I can't have a baby in my arms, yet I know for her security I need to be with her/holding her constantly. It is hard for Danny to not be able to do much to help out at times like this (I think she is scared to death of his beard!).

Anyway, we didn't have anything to do today until 3, so we took our time at breakfast. There are always lots of adopting families at breakfast, so we enjoyed talking to several of them, including Linny from the well-known www.aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com, who is here adopting their 10th child (7th adopted child).

We had a leisurely lunch at Lucy's, which is a favorite of American families staying at the White Swan Hotel. I see now why families always talk about Lucy's ... the food is great and the outdoor patio is so relaxing. We went back for dinner tonight and enjoyed talking to all the Americans around us, and seeing their cute new kiddos too.

Our only official business today was to go to the Police Station and apply for Lia Kate's Chinese Passport. For her to get back to the U.S., she will need a Chinese passport and a U.S. Visa. It's not until she touches ground in the U.S. when we fly home that she will be an American citizen. We applied for her passport and it took no time at all (the Chinese are extremely efficient). As of now, in China's eyes, Lia Kate is officially ours. The rest of our time here will be completing the U.S side of paperwork for us to get her home.

Tomorrow is a sightseeing day. We will leave in the morning for a safari zoo tour. I don't know much about it except that we'll see panda bears out in the open. Can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve.

Lia Kate is still grieving heavily today. She still has to be held constantly. She cannot even fall asleep except for in my arms. To get her to sleep tonight. she fell asleep on me and than I successfully transferred her to the crib. We'll see how long it is before she wakes up for the first time! She did laugh and smile today at two employees of a store here while we shopped. She really seems to like Chinese women. They gave her a baby rattle and it is the first toy that she has picked up or shown any interest in. Most of the babies I see here are adjusting really well, but most of these are at least a week or week-and-a-half after Gotcha Day. For Lia Kate's sake, I am hoping she will have peace about all this soon.

Hope to have some fun pics of our safari zoo trip tomorrow. Until then ...

Anonymous Comments

2009-12-22T22:37:00.001-06:00

We didn't realize until yesterday that people couldn't post anonymously on our blog. It should be fixed now, so comment away if you want!

Our Tuesday

2009-12-22T07:14:00.000-06:00

Today, we finished up our adoption paperwork for the China side of this adoption. We went back to the Civil Affairs Building where we got Lia Kate yesterday and answered questions about why we wanted to adopt her and were we sure we knew what we were doing. We were expecting this appointment to take about two hours but it took less than 30 minutes, so we decided to go ahead and get Lia Kate's passport pictures made and also to do her medical examination. Every child being adopted here must have a medical exam before entering the U.S. as required by U.S. law. Her medical exam was scheduled for another day, but it only ended up taking about 30 minutes to get in and out so we were glad we did it today. They examined her from head to toe, checked her ears and hearing, and weighed and measured her. She is 19.1 pounds fully clothed and is 28.5 inches long. They listened to her heart and could hear the murmur. We won't really know anything else about it until we get back to the States and have our specialist appointment. Anyway, she hated every minute of being at the clinic! You will probably be able to see her tears in the pictures.

Lia Kate is in full-on grief mode today. She has cried a lot today and is very anxious. She is very much a velcro baby ... clinging to me constantly. I am so thankful I brought a carrier b/c she is either in it or in my arms all the time. This grief is a very normal response considering all that she has had to go through. She is eating well so that is a plus. She has taken two formula bottles today and has eaten lots of things that I have fed her by spoon. Danny reminded me that when Britton was her age (almost 17 months), we took him to DisneyWorld and he was eating hamburgers by himself. With Lia Kate, she is more like a 9-month-old as far as eating -- just really beginning with solid foods.

We also gave her a bath today ... the first time for us to do that. We knew it would be traumatic for her, so we waited until today to do it and we just gave her a sink bath. She was not a happy camper, but she's clean! I combed her wet hair and it laid flat(ter) ... for a little while anyway.

She and Danny are fast asleep and I'm about to join them. Hoping tomorrow is a better day for her!

Our First Night/Day Together

2009-12-22T00:05:00.001-06:00

It is 1:15 on Tuesday afternoon right now and Lia Kate is sacked out in the bed taking a nap right now. I would have posted sooner today but we have been busy since this morning with appointments -- signing our official paperwork and doing her medical checkup.

We had a pretty good first night together. She started out sleeping in the crib, but she woke me up several hours later by moving around in it. I looked over to see what she was doing and saw she was reaching her arms far out in front of her as if she was trying to grasp something. My guess is that she was reaching for her crib mate. A few minutes later, she was sitting up in bed agitated and trying to throw her blankets and crib bumper out. She saw me awake and started crying. I picked her up and put her in our bed and she quickly calmed down and fell asleep between us. For most of the night, she was lying horizontal between us ... kicking Danny's back with her feet and her head hitting my back. She moves her legs a lot in her sleep. She woke up one other time crying and fell back asleep in my arms. She slept through both of us getting up this morning and getting ready. We finally had to wake her up at 8:15 this morning so we could get her ready and go down to breakfast before we had to meet our guide at 9:30 a.m.

She ate very well this morning at breakfast! She sat in a highchair and I fed her spoonfuls of scrambled egg, oatmeal and yogurt. She would not swallow the previous bite until I had another spoonful in front of her mouth, which I hear is a common thing with orphanage babies. She ate every bit of food I gave her but she is a slow eater. She probably would have kept eating if we hadn't had to meet our guide. She has taken a bottle of water/apple juice, which she loved and some of a formula bottle today. I tried a sippy cup but she has no clue how to use it. She also ate a jar of baby food I brought from the States. She is doing well on the eating thing.

Lia Kate cries whenever we change her diaper, change her clothes or lay her down. She is comforted quickly when I pick her up though, so for the most part, she is living in my arms. That is fine with me as the most important thing right now is for her to bond with us. Part of this process is meeting every need she has without hesitation. We have noticed a slight improvement in her mood over yesterday. We have seen just a couple of smiles that may have lasted for one second or so. And I even heard her laugh for a brief second when we walked outside today. Our guide tells us most children don't come out of their shell until the third or fourth day of being with their new parents. I can tell she is going to be a happy little girl one day. Her Asst. Orphanage Director said that she is a very happy girl but she is afraid of strangers. Right now, we are the strangers. I'm sure we look, sound and smell so different to her. Also noticed today that as we had to turn her over to the doctors for her medical appointment, she was very upset, but would stop crying as soon as I picked her up. That is great because she is learning that I am safe.

We have also noticed that she rubs her eyes and plays with her hair as a self-protection mechanism. Anytime you try to directly interact with her (like play pat-a-cake) she will immediately pull her hands away and rub her eyes or play with her hair. She also did it at breakfast some this morning ... this is what she is doing in some of the pictures. The other pic is of her sleeping this morning. She looks so big in it but keep in mind that she is in a 9-month romper!

I will write another post tonight about her adoption paperwork appointment and medical appointment today. Also, have some pics of that to include.

Lia Kate's Gotcha Day

2009-12-21T07:59:00.006-06:00

Today was Gotcha Day and we are now the proud parents of a beautiful little girl! She is so adorable ... the pictures don't do her justice. Today was such a big day for her ... here is the whole story.

We were the first set of parents to arrive at the Guangdong Civil Affairs Building today at 2:30. There were 14 families receiving children and we were all getting our babies at the same time. Guess who was the last to get their baby? Yep, it was us. All the children came out one by one to meet their families, but Lia Kate's bus was held up in traffic. It was really awesome, though, to see families created while we waited. We were able to take pictures and video of our friends Brandon and Laurie when they met their daughter, YaYa.

Lia Kate has had quite a day ... she left her orphanage this morning and took a long-distance bus with a nanny and the assistant orphanage director all the way (6+ hours) to Guangzhou. They finally arrived at the Civil Affairs Building where we were waiting and almost immediately put her in our arms. The sweet girl had no clue what was happening. She did not cry but kept giving us the frowny-I'm-not-going-to-cry face. She really tried to hold it together. We gave her sweet potato puffs and baby mum mums to distract her and she ate them well. We got the chance to sit down with the Asst. Orphanage Director and get all of the answers to the questions we had. We even found out that this woman is who named her. Also found out that Lia Kate has had a crib mate all this time and that child is still at the orphanage. This may be the first night they are sleeping apart.

Anyway, Lia Kate has short black hair that sticks straight up! She came to us dressed in 4+ layers of clothes so it was hard to tell how big she was at first. She is small but not as small as I thought she might be ... she is wearing about 12-month size clothes and she is almost 17 months. She has big brown eyes and long, straight eyelashes, and she has an outie belly-button like Britton. She is cutting her one-year molars right now and only one of them is in. I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but her Chinese name is Lian Jia Jing and her nickname is "Jing Jing," but it is pronounced "Gang Gang" as that is the Cantonese pronunciation.

After we left the Civil Affairs Building, we went straight to the large-Wal-Mart-type store and bought formula and food for her. Yes, children here are usually on a bottle until they are 3 or so. That would make most American pediatricians cringe, but it is good for helping her bond with us. The supermarket was so busy and loud and bright that even Danny and I were totally overwhelmed ... I'm sure it was just way too much in one day for her.

After that, we went back to the hotel. Lia Kate started to cry a couple of times in the van, but always stopped just short of it. Danny and I are hoping she'll begin crying and start getting some of her sadness and confusion out. So far, she hasn't really done that. Danny went downstairs to do paperwork with our guide and Lia Kate and I sat on the bed in the hotel room and I fed her more puffs and mum mums. She has refused her bottle and any other food so far. Periodically, she would start crying, but would stop as soon as I picked her up. She is most content so far to be held by me with her head laying on my shoulder.

The most serene I have seen her all day is when I was Skyping with my mom tonight. She just sat there, mesmerized by the video screen and watched until finally her eyelids were too heavy to stay open. She is sleeping peacefully now in her little crib that is right next to my side of the bed. They say she is a deep sleeper and sleeps through the night ... we shall see. It is 9:30 p.m. here and we are all exhausted. Exhausted and joyful. I'll write more tomorrow!Waiting for Lia Kate

With new friends Laurie and Brandon, who also got their daughter with us today.

First look at each other! She was bundled up in at least four layers and was burning up when we got her.

First family pic

Lia Kate ("Jing Jing") is a very sad baby girl.

Finally asleep in the van... for a minute at least! Don't you love our carseat?

Merry Christmas To Us!

2009-12-21T06:48:00.001-06:00

We have Lia Kate! We have had her in arms since about 3:15 this afternoon. She is beautiful, and tiny and precious and also very sad and bewildered right now. More pictures and details to come shortly but wanted to get this picture up.

2009-12-20T22:47:00.001-06:00

Food and clothes are put away. The crib and her precious blanket are ready. Gotcha Day bag is packed. All we need is Lia Katherine!

Gotcha Day is Finally Here

2009-12-20T22:41:00.001-06:00

We get Lia Katherine at 2:30 p.m. today, Monday, December 21, that's just a few hours away for us! For folks at home, it will be in the middle of your night/early Monday morning.

As we anxiously approach meeting our daughter in the next several hours, I am keeping myself busy by nesting in our hotel room ... especially since this happened so fast and I didn't get to nest much at home. We are getting all of her clothes put away in drawers, getting food and toys organized, putting together her Gotcha Day bag, making a list of things we need from the "Wal-Mart" here, etc.

Since we have arrived here yesterday afternoon we have seen lots of families walking around with their new precious children. It is our first time to see adoptive families in China. In fact, at the restaurant we went to last night, it was full of Americans with their Chinese children. It started hitting home then that we would be in their shoes in just 24 hours. Wow.

Anyway, our driver will be here in an hour and a half to get us. We are ready!

A Few Hong Kong Pictures

2009-12-20T22:35:00.001-06:00

Here are few pictures from our last day in Hong Kong the other day ... not sure what order they will show up since I am emailing posts to my blog, but the pictures are of ...
The oldest Buddhist temple in Hong Kong
Overlooking a street
and
An antique store

Mainland China

2009-12-20T17:03:00.001-06:00

We made it to Guangzhou (GZ) this afternoon, so we are officially in mainland China now. We took the train here from Hong Kong which was about a 2-hour trip even though it is only a distance of 80 miles. We were met by a woman named Rebecca, who will be our guide for the entire time we are here in GZ (11 days!). She will help us as we navigate the adoption processes which will keep us busy, beginning with Gotcha Day tomorrow.

Rebecca is a very friendly and animated woman with excellent English. She got us settled into the White Swan Hotel (where many adopting families stay) and briefed us on everything that will happen over the next 11 days. She told us that we will not get Lia Kate at 9 a.m. as we thought. Rather, we will get her at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. This doesn't affect much except that we'll have to wait a few extra hours than what we were thinking, and it will make Skyping with family once we get her more difficult considering the 14-hour time difference. Regardless, we are just excited that the day is finally (almost) here!

We have already made friends with a couple from Austin, TX, who will also be getting their daughter at 2:30 tomorrow. We had dinner with them tonight and had a great time talking about our daughters and getting to know each other. I actually connected with them through an online China adoption forum prior to coming here and, now that we are here, are even staying on the same floor of the hotel. We are really enjoying having someone else to walk through this with.

We ask for your prayers for Lia Kate right now as she is spending her last night in the orphanage. Her orphanage is a 6-hour drive from here and Rebecca confirmed that she will be leaving the orphanage in a private car first thing tomorrow morning with a couple of nannies and the orphanage director. They will drive straight to the Guangdong Civil Affairs building where we will meet her at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon. I can't imagine how confusing this will be for her. I am already anxious for her but also thankful knowing she will no longer be an orphan but will have a mommy, daddy, brother and home. The next couple of days will be monumental in the life of our family! Pray for all of us but especially for Lia Kate as she is about to go through so much heartache, leaving everyone and everything she knows behind. We are taking comfort for her in this verse from Revelation ... "Behold I am making all things new..." For He certainly is.

Until tomorrow ...

Mainland China

2009-12-20T06:38:00.001-06:00

A Few Observations

2009-12-19T15:00:00.000-06:00

This is our fourth day in Hong Kong and here are a few observations we've made about life here ...
* HK is a hustling bustling city, much like New York City
* The landscape, though, is like San Francisco, which, perhaps, is why a lot of Chinese settled there (from what I understand, most Americans of Chinese heritage came from this area of China -- Guangdong (also called Canton) province -- and that most U.S. Chinese restaurants are Cantonese restaurants)
* The city is up late at night and starts the morning late
* We have not seen many children here, at least not many out and about during the day
* Everyone is very polite and most speak English
* City is very clean -- we've seen only one homeless person, and a few begging for money ... that's it. Kind of surprising for a big city.
* You can't sit down anywhere ... there are few benches/resting spots for the weary.
* Many young men here wear skinny jeans and have dyed or spiky hair
* The people can be pushy ... and I mean quite literally pushy. Our friends told us this is more typical of mainland China than Hong Kong). We had our first Chinese experience the other night waiting for the Peak Tram. The doors to the tram opened, hundreds of people pushed hard, and you had to fight your way into the tram. It was a crazy.
* There seems to be a lot of money in Hong Kong. All the shops near our hotel are high-end, like Piaget, Bvlgari, Prada, Cartier, Tiffany's, Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Hermes, etc. And, moreso, there are lots of people in these shops.
* We found the "other" side of Hong Kong last night. We ventured out across the harbor to the outdoor shopping stalls, and found the area that might be portrayed in movies -- neon lights everywhere, throngs of people, men pushing goods on you. We constantly had people rushing us with "fake watches," "fake purses," "tailor-made suits." It was intense, and we didn't stay long.

Today, we go to Guangzhou!!! We are so ready to be there. Our time in Hong Kong has been great, but we are ready to get the show on the road here. We take an early afternoon train to Guangzhou. It is only about an hour north but I think the train ride will take a bit longer. We will get settled into the White Swan hotel upon our arrival and will get everything ready for Gotcha Day tomorrow. We should be getting Lia Kate at 9 a.m. Monday morning here, which would be 7 p.m. Sunday night CST. I'll write more once we get to GZ.

Some Videos

2009-12-18T22:14:00.005-06:00

Here are two quick videos we took yesterday ...

Walking the streets of Hong Kong at night:

The view of Hong Kong from the atop the Peak:

Seeing the Sights

2009-12-18T16:41:00.001-06:00

We spent all day yesterday traipsing around Hong Kong with three friends! Didn't know we had friends here? Well, neither did we. We knew one of them from home and she realized just a few days ago that she would be in Hong Kong the same time we were for a girl's shopping weekend (they live in this part of the world). So we met up at Stanley Market, a little old English-seaside village with lots of shopping.

Stanley Market store fronts along the water.

To get there, we had to navigate the bus system. Hong Kong is full of double-decker buses thanks to their British heritage. We found the right bus and Danny just dumped change in until the bus driver told us to stop. Then we got quite a tour of Hong Kong as we were jostled about in the upper deck of the bus.

A picture from the bus ... you can see the tall high-rise apartment building built on the hills. In the foreground is the big horse race track.

Finally, we made it to Stanley Market. Danny didn't realize it would be more "shopping" than "seaside village". But he amused us as we made our way through all the stalls, looking, bargaining and buying. We had a great lunch at a spot along the water.

Our friends

Then we took a cab back to our part of town (downtown) and did some more shopping, hit a Starbuck's, then walked over to ride the Peak Tram up the mountain. The Peak has the best view of Hong Kong's cityscape. The tram that gets you to the peak is a funicular train and it just goes straight up and straight down (without turning around) on a very steep incline. It was pretty wild. Hong Kong is very mountainous, so when we got to the viewing platform, we were way above than the skyscrapers. It was a beautiful view!

A Hong Kong street at night.

By the time we got home it was 9ish, which was great b/c it meant we are adjusting to Hong Kong time. We came home, Skyped with Britton as he woke up for the day and then fell fast asleep. It was a very fun, full day!

On the agenda this morning will be the awesome breakfast at our hotel (I'll have to write about that), and then some more sightseeing...

First Day in Hong Kong

2009-12-17T14:48:00.003-06:00

Don't get too excited about this post, because we didn't do much in our first day! Just wanted to post some pictures of the view from our hotel room. We got out and walked around today. Found a place to eat lunch. And then fell asleep around 4 p.m.! Woke up at 9 p.m., looked at the night view of the Harbor from our hotel window, and then took an Ambien to see if it would get us through the night. No such luck. We both woke up around 3:45 a.m. Don't think we'll be going back to sleep, so I'm guessing we'll be the first ones downstairs for the breakfast buffet this morning. ;o) Planning to get out and go sightseeing today!

Here is the view of Hong Kong Harbor from our hotel room:

Here is the view of the city, looking left out of our hotel room window:

We Made it to Hong Kong

2009-12-16T17:41:00.003-06:00

Yay ...we made it! We landed in Hong Kong about 2 hours ago. We had a great flight, albeit very long. We knew it would be a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles, but 15 hours seems like *forever* when you're in the air. I kept waking up and looking at the flight map and seeing 11 hours to go, then 8 hours to go, then 7 hours to go, then 5 hours to go ... seemed neverending at the time. I keep saying this but it is very surreal to be flying to the other side of the world, and now to be here on the other side of the world. And even more surreal to know we are so physically close to Lia Kate.

We flew Cathay Pacific airlines and they were awesome! We got some great sleep on the plane -- Danny slept 8 hours and I slept 6. Danny took an Ambien and was out ... so out that I couldn't wake him up when he started snoring. I felt bad for people around us, but I just put my headphones on and went back to sleep. ;o) We also watched two movies each ... both movies the other would never go see ... like Julie and Julia and The Time Traveler's Wife for me. We landed at around 6 a.m., which is pre-sunrise here. Went through the health screening (they are very serious about swine flu here) and immigration without a hitch. A nice man from our hotel greeted us at the airport and drove us to our hotel which is by Hong Kong Harbor. It was a beautiful drive in along the harbor as the sun rose. Another nice man opened the car door for us when we arrived at the hotel and took us straight up to our room. No check-in or anything. I was shocked our room was ready so early in the morning.

Anyway, we are feeling good even after traveling for so long. I guess it makes a difference when you can get a near-full-night's sleep on the plane and then land in the morning.

We will spend a few days seeing Hong Kong and getting our bodies adusted to the 14-hour time difference before we got to Guangzhou and get Lia Kate. We are so excited to be here in her country, and are looking forward to learning all about it so that we can share with her as she grows up.

For those of you not too familiar with China, here is where we are and where we're going. You may have to click on the picture to see it bigger:

We're Headed to China!

2009-12-15T10:43:00.001-06:00

We are flying to China today ... though we won't land in China until the 17th! I have a feeling this 14-hour time difference is going to rock my world. Would love your prayers for safe travel for us and especially for our two kiddos ...
Britton to do okay with being away from both of us for the first time (and for a long time), and for his grandmothers who are taking care of him in our absence.
Lia Kate who has no idea that her world is about to turn upside down. Pray that she would be resilient and that we'd be able to begin bonding and building trust with her quickly.

Thank you, friends and family, for being on this journey with us and for all your love, support and encouragement!

Packing Mayhem

2009-12-14T21:18:00.000-06:00

And this is just the contents of the Lia Kate-food-meds-necessities bag!

Lia Kate's First Ornament

2009-12-14T21:16:00.001-06:00

Our sweet friend, Liz Landgren, painted this ornament for Lia Kate! An angel carrying a baby girl ...

What a beautiful first ornament for our little girl?!

Thanks, Liz!

Our Itinerary

2009-12-12T13:28:00.000-06:00

The flights are booked and our itinerary set. Here are the details ...

Tuesday, December 15
2 p.m. Depart Birmingham, fly to Atlanta, fly to Los Angeles
10:20 p.m. Depart LAX for Hong Kong (15-hour flight)

Thursday, December 17
5:40 a.m. Arrive Hong Kong (I know ... we totally miss Dec. 16th.)

Friday, December 18 & Saturday, December 19
Sightsee in Hong Kong

Sunday, December 20
Take a train to Guangzhou (about an hour north of Hong Kong). Settle into the White Swan Hotel, where we will be for 11 days

Monday, December 21
GOTCHA DAY!
9 a.m. We get Lia Kate! (This will be Sunday night at 7 p.m. Central U.S. time)

Tuesday, December 22
Sign provincial paperwork to finalize the adoption

Wednesday, December 23
Hang out day

Thursday, December 24
Danny will hopefully fly to Lianjiang (Lia Kate's city) to see where she came from, visit the orphanage and go to her finding place. Her city is an 8-hour drive from Guangzhou, so we are now looking into flights to get Danny there. This place is an important piece of her history, so we are hoping one of us can go and learn about the place she spent her first year and a half.

Friday, December 25
Christmas Day with our girl!

Saturday, December 26
Lia Kate's medical exam

Sunday & Monday
Hang out days

Tuesday, December 29
Our U.S. Consulate appointment to finalize the adoption from the U.S. side

Wednesday, December 30
Hang out day while we wait for Lia Kate's U.S. Visa so that we can fly home
Also, our 5th wedding anniversary!

Thursday, December 31
Pick up Lia Kate's Visa and take the evening train back to Hong Kong.

Friday, January 1
Hang out all day and begin the long flight home that night
11:45 p.m. Leave Hong Kong for LAX

8:15 p.m. (still on Jan. 1) we arrive in LAX
11:55 p.m. Depart LAX for Atlanta, then to Birmingham

Saturday, January 2 -- HOME
8:33 a.m. Arrive at the Birmingham airport!!!