One month!

Its now been one month since we have had our sweet girl. There have been so many trials and challenges, along with rewards and happiness in this past month. So many people have prayed so many prayers for us all, that it humbles me beyond belief. I know none of this would have been possible with out God, and so many great Christian friends praying.

I am happy to report that Lilly is doing well. She seems happy (most of the time). The tantrums have diminished mostly. We took her to the doctor yesterday, and she got a clean bill of health. We are scheduled to take her in for "blood work" (YIKES) soon. I doubt that will go well, but its one of those things as a parent that you have to do, but dread.

We are so blessed to have this sweet girl in our family. I can not imagine life without her, and it scares me beyond belief to think we could have missed out on being her parents. She is such a precious little thing. I am amazed by how well she fits into our family.

We have been taking Lilly out more, and she seems to be getting better with it. Hopefully (fingers crossed) we can take her to church on Sunday. I know everyone really wants to see her, and we are wanting to see them too!

We can not began to thank everyone who has helped us emotionally, financially, and spiritually. You will never truly know the magnitude of how grateful we are. Thank you God for this beautiful gift you have entrusted to us!

PS: Yes, she fixes her own hair. : )

Nana!

Today I am going to a retirement party for my Mom. After 30 years of teaching 6th grade, she is finally retiring! What a huge accomplishment. There are so many children's lives that she has touched in those years. Many people have told me over the years what a good teacher she is, and how they have appreciated her dedication. I can honestly say that she has been an inspiration to me as well! She has been so dedicated to children and teaching. So the picture I posted today is my Mom and Lilly. On to being a full time Nana now! I love you Mom!

Update!

Sorry for the delay in updating. I have misplaced my camera cord some how. Or maybe a certain 5 year old camera addict took it. : ) We are trying to adjust. In most areas Lilly is doing better than I ever thought she would. In other areas, we need work. It will all take time. Its only been a little over a week since we have returned home, so I think everything is going okay. We have had a few outings and we are trying to gradually work our way up to being out and about more. She is afraid of the car, so we are trying to take it slow. In someways we have regressed since returning home, and in some ways we have progressed. She is back to sleeping with us. She was crying so hard at night and there is less of that now that we moved her back into our room. She gets very upset when Lauren or Baba leave the house. In so many ways its like having a baby, since we can't communicate sometimes. I think once she is able to communicate there will be less tantrums.

Lilly loves so many things about living in her new home. She is crazy about her sister, and brother. She adores our dog Macy, and loves her wagon (compliments of Aunt Lynn), visitors, her DVD player, NOGGIN, crayons (they do not sell them in China), cell phones, her Barbie bike, new clothes, American food, ketchup, and all her new toys!

Overall we are doing fine. Its been harder in someways than we had anticipated, and much more rewarding that we have ever dreamed! We appreciate your prayers as we try to blend her personality and ours together to become a family. Now where is that camera cord!

There is no place like home!

Thankfully, we arrived home late last night, after a 4 hour hold up in Tokyo. We are still tired, but so so happy to be at home. Getting in our own bed last night, was as nice as winning the lottery! Thank you all for your prayers.

Miss Lilly is loving her new house. She has been exploring all over the place! There is one picture of her right before we left China, and one of her playing in her room today! Everything is great so far!

Last few days in Guangzhou.

Hi everyone! we have enjoyed our last few days in Guangzhou. Today we did some shopping and took Lilly to the pool. She did not want to get in but had a fun time trying on her bathing suit and taking pictures. She also brought me two rubber bands and a brush today. That translated into " I want piggy tails". She doesn't have much hair so I tried my best and she was thrilled! I can not express how ready we are to come home. We miss Lauren and Landon, our house, our bed, our pets, everything and everyone. Please everyone pray for us on the flight home. We have no idea how Lilly will do. She is not fond of seat belts, I tell you that! I can't wait for you all to meet her. She is so sweet and good.. You are all going to love her!

Arrival in Ghangzhou

HI all! We arrived in Ghangzhou on Saturday. We love it here! It is close to paradise. It actually is more like a resort and actually feels like we are on a vacation. The hotel is called the White Swan, and it caters to adoptive families. There are two pools, and a playroom with toys for the adoptive families. The hotel is on an island. Our room overlooks the lake. BEAUTIFUL!
Lilly is doing better everyday. I can't even describe to you how sweet she is. She is quiet and shy, but also talkative and active. She draws beautiful pictures, and she is super smart. She listens well, and has a funny sense of humor. We are blessed beyond measure to be the parents of this angel!
Lauren is updating the blog for me. For some reason there is a block on the blogger site. So I might not be updating as much as usual.
We are having fun! Home soon!

The Park?

Well today we went in search of the "park" we were told about. I guess in China a park is not the same as in America. We were let out at the "park". All we saw were flowers and a walkway. No slide, no swing, no sand, just flowers...FUN! I guess we will wait till we get home to go to the real park and have some fun. So we walked around awhile. It was 100 million degrees! We did go to Starbucks. It was good. Yin enjoyed Oreos, and we enjoyed coffee. Then just to waste time we took a golf cart ride around the lake that we toured yesterday. After that we had lunch at a Pizza Hut. Then we saw a Toys R Us. It was so fun to watch Yin's face light up when she saw all the toys. The Toys R Us here, is small. Very small. Wait till she gets home!

All is well and good! We fly from here to Guangzhou tomorrow at 11:00, so we will be there around 2. Hopefully it will be more fun than this place!