Happy B'day Sara!

Sara turned 14 today! Isn't that just amazing? I can't even begin to imagine what the next few years hold for her and for us! Here she is playing with her little sister! They really have so much fun together and love each other so much. Lauren is doing much better with Ally as well. Ally's face just lights up each afternoon she gets to see Lauren get off the bus!

We really enjoyed today with a lot of outside time - it was so beautiful - sunny and cool this AM, warming up in the afternoon.

Good Kitty

This is Ally "walking" with Sabo, our 17 year old cat! He always was so patient with Sara and Lauren when they were little. I guess he's still the same ole kitty!

Goal -- Stopped!

Lauren had 3 mini-games today. She was excited about playing her new favorite position - goalie. Last year, her coach said that girls who are good goalies can get scholarships pretty easily. That must have inspired her! She has really taken to that position and today she saw a lot of action. Seriously, she must have stopped 40 shots (5 got past her - to her chagrin). The other team's coach told her coach that she played as well as some high school goalies he had seen! She was so tired when the games were over. She is very determinted and quick and not afraid to take a fall or a ball - that comes in handy when playing goalie. Ally, Sara and I stayed entertained with the mini soccer ball and vanilla wafers and threading beads.

Also, last week Lauren joined the Student Council at her school - the picture is with a few of her best friends (Lindsay, Maddie, and Caroline). Ally and Daddy went to the ceremony.

The last picture isn't the best, but I just love how happy Ally and Daddy look playing on the swing this morning at the park.

Please click on each pic to enlarge - it's worth it to see L's expression as she stops a goal and A's expression on the swing!

Home 2 Months!

I'm so glad we aren't on that plane from NJ to Atl., as we were this time 2 months ago. We are just so thrilled with our little China girl and so glad she is here with us and such a perfect fit for our family! She makes us smile so many times each day - we do a lot of laughing with and at her! She laughs at and with us a lot too. I just love her little smile. It's just precious.

Today, a funny thing happened when Lauren and Ally were in the kitchen. I recently moved our cat food dispenser into the kitchen, because I was tired of feeding every cat in the neighborhood. I heard Lauren scream, "Don't eat the cat food!" Oh no, here we go! Ally was smiling her big huge smile and ran into the family room, where I was. Sure enough there was a morsel of cat food in her teeth. She reluctantly spit it into my hand. We went back to the cat bowl and had a chat. We'll see if she understood!

I took her back to the pediatrician today and he said to continue the breathing treatments and that she was improving. He said it was that time of year - yeah!

Fun with Frannie and other things!

Ally and Frannie got to see each other twice last week! We met for lunch one day and chatted at 3rd Friday, too! I would love for Frannie and Ally to play together at either house - where they have toys and can just relax. They are just so cute. It STILL amazes me that they came from SO far away and now live so close to each other! Amazing.

We enjoyed the weekend with 2 pool parties! Thankfully, the weather was beautiful, warm and sunny. Ally jumped like crazy into the pool, even going under totally once! She didn't cry, just came up a little disoriented, but did it again. We celebrated Sara's b'day a week early with a surprise party with some of her friends from school! They scared her so much by jumping out of her closet! She just about fell down! We surprised her by getting her a cell phone - we had told her that she could get one when she got to high school, so it's about a year early! Can't believe she will be 14 this Sunday. The second party was a Sunday School party. These are some of our dearest friends! What fun it is to have a pool - we love to have friends over to help us enjoy it!

How is Ally doing? I would say that, in general, she is doing amazingly well. This has been easier than I ever expected or hoped. Now, please remember, that I had prepared myself for this to be extremely difficult and for Ally to have a really hard time adjusting. Fortunately, this has not been the case. She is a happy little girl and thankfully, she is healthy too. I will say that having Sara and Lauren at their ages has been a tremendous help. They can do most anything she needs - feeding, bathing, playing, changing, etc.

The one part that has been somewhat difficult is the sleeping. I really do not want to get in the habit of rocking/walking her to sleep - I know that isn't doing anyone any favors. So, I'm rocking her a little to settle her down, laying her down and sitting down in her doorway. She is quiet for a minute or so, and then starts the whining and crying and up and downs. Tonight it went on for just shy of an hour! An hour! I don't have an hour to sit in a doorway! I guess I do, because I have to! Thankfully, Daddy puts her to bed most nights (I usually get about 2 nights a week). I am trying not to complain, because I realize that in the grand scheme of things, this is minor!

Ally didn't feel well this weekend - she has a croopie cough and is now on a breathing machine. Not a big pain, other than she tolerates it for about 8 minutes and fights me for the other 7 (that is, if we actually get thru the entire 15 minutes). We go back to the doctor tomorrow to see if she is improving.

She does continue to make us smile so much! As you can see by the pics, she "helps" with laundry - her favorite is when the big sisters' panties come thru. She helps the cat go "night night" by covering him with blankets and Elmo. She loves to see the school bus, especially when Lauren gets off the bus in the afternoon!

Just Enjoying Life

We have been having so much fun spending time outside and playing with toys! Last night was baby dedication at church and Ally wore her pretty white Chinese dress (thanks Ellen, for grabbing us a white on in Guangzhou!). She had no interest in sitting still in a chair at church. Not even Cheerios would keep her still or quiet, so she and I spent most of the time in the foyer with other kids who couldn't handle it either! As we walked across the stage, her diaper almost fell off -- I'm totally serious, almost off. Apparently, she had pulled one of those tabs loose while we were in the lobby and I didn't know it. Luckily, I picked her up just in time to prevent a flashing at the baby dedication! Grandma and Mema, Aunt Amy and Uncle Ted joined us!

Never Ceases to Amaze

God, that is. My friend Melissa called me this afternoon, so excited. They recently found their daughter Sarah Beth on the Hope WC list and hope to have her before Christmas. She began telling me about some friends that had come over to their house to congratulate them about Sarah Beth. One of these families had adopted a year ago and had not seriously considered going again. I guess they were looking at the Hope site to see SB's picture, they also looked at the other children. One of the other little girls caught their eye, and now that family is waiting for that little girl. Why is this so amazing? No, we don't know this family, but we can't help but see that "Red Thread" working to bring families together.

If you (you people out there!) remember, our whole plan was to travel to China with Chad and Melissa. We had worked it all out. They even had Hope hold their dossier a few weeks, so ours could catch up with theirs. It did and we shared the same LID. Everything was just right for us to get our dauthers together and for the girls to most likely be from the same orphanage. Then, God gave us Ally. We pulled out of the waiting line to get her, leaving our dear friends to continue the long wait. Because we had pulled out (part of the reason), they decided to look at the new WC list that just came out and found SB there. Then, leading their friends to their new daughter. SO, because we found Ally, the Millers found SB, and this other family found thier daughter! Now we can see yet another reason that Ally was the perfect girl for our family! Isn't that the coolest thing?

As Melissa and I were talking, I told her that after reading her blog, I realized yet another link in this whole story. She mentioned that they had gone to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert in 2001 when Josh was turning 7 -- that was were the "seed" was planted in their hearts for China adoption. Well, we had the same exact "seed" (well, I did) planted at the same exact concert only a few weeks before they did, as we had taken Sara to the same tour for her 8th b'day (Sara and Josh are one year apart)! I just couldn't believe that we had never uncovered that link either!

Lots to Celebrate

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Ally's arrival with several friends from "school." Many of these ladies I would have never met had it not been for Sara and Lauren. Thru them, I have made so many good friends. Laura, Suzanne, and Tracey gave us the nicest party for Ally. Lots of delicious (and beautiful) food and so many nice gifts for our little lady! Ally still doesn't "get" the whole idea of opening presents, so Lauren was glad to assist. Several of the girls' teachers were there, that I have become friends with, so that was especially nice to see them (I think they enjoyed seeing Sara and her friends, since they are no longer at the elem school). I'll post pics in a day or so!

Today was Ally's cardiologist appointment. She was quite concerned to be at the doctor AGAIN, but did fine, except for when I needed to lay her down (on the scale, to be measured, to have her echo-cardiogram, etc). She did fine when they put the stickers all over her chest. SO, when the doctor came in and listened, she said she didn't hear anything (no PDA), but she wanted to do an echo-cardiogram (ultra sound of the heart) anyway. One side note, about 5 minutes into the exam, the doctor casually mentioned that she too had a daughter from China! How neat is that?

The echo took about 20 minutes total; Ally was DONE after about 10 minutes and cried the rest of the time. I think she was nervous, even though I was holding her the whole time. Although the doctor didn't hear anything, she did see Ally's PDA in the echo; however, she did say it was tiny. She said that there were no restrictions on her activity or anything! She said that her heart condition was so minor it's surprising it was ever detected.

So, we are just so thankful that our prayers for our little girl have been answered and that God has protected her and healed her. We will have to go back for another evaluation in one year! Celebrating!

Frannie and Ella Kate

Last night we joined our friends from First Friday in Loganville. Tim and Lisa were great hosts! We did a little slide show of our trip to China and I was so glad that there were a few families who are waiting for their children that joined us! I sat there last night watching Ally play and smile; I still can't believe that we have her, that she is ours for good and that I get to take her home with us everytime! I told Sharon (Ella Kate's mom) that I felt that way and she said she still can't believe it about EK (they've been home a year and a half!).

Anyway, Ella Kate gave Ally some really sweet goodies, one was a satin pillow. Ally still isn't sure about gifts, so she was rather uninterested as I opened the present with her, directing her attention to the blocks she was holding. When I put that pillow on the ground, she dropped the blocks and laid her head on the pillow and gave us the biggest smile (thanks for the pic, Sharon, I snagged it from your blog). We had such a good time. I am reminded again how hard this wait is, as there are several families who are just getting started...

What a fun day we had today. After sitting and sweating thru almost 2 of Lauren's soccer games, we ditched our plans to join daddy and Sara at the GT game this afternoon. We came home early and called Ellen (Frannie's mom) to see if we could make our visit a little earlier. Lauren and I were so excited to see these 2 little girls reunited. Lauren hoped they would look at each other and start speaking Chinese (remembering their "private jokes" and friends from the orphanage), and run to each other and hug. Well, it didn't quite happen like that, but they sure were cute with each other. They didn't really act like they recognized each other at first, but I do think they did remember each other. It was as if they looked at each other and said, "I know that I know you, but from where?" They are still recovering from jet-lag, but the girls enjoyed sitting with Lauren and riding (and pushing) Frannie's wagon. Ellen said that Frannie had not been comfortable with any children that had visited until she saw Ally! It was funny, as we tried to call them all of their names! I'm so glad they are home and hope to see them again soon. It still amazes me that these little girls came from over 7000 miles away and now only live about 20 miles apart! What a special friendship I hope they have over the years...

Double GOOD NEWS!

First of all, our friends Chad and Melissa (who HAVE to get a blog going SOON!) accepted the referral of a little girl who will soon be their daughter, Sarah Beth! We are so excited about this and can't wait for them to travel and meet her in person. For those who don't know, our families shared the same LID for our adoptions. When we "found" Ally, we "bailed" on them. Now it's their turn to go! Sarah Beth is in southern China, so hopefully they won't freeze on their trip. We are hoping and praying that they will have her home by Christmas!!!

Secondly, Frannie is home! I just checked their blog and Ellen posted their red couch pics and Frannie is smiling! So glad they are done with their trip - now they just need to recover from the jet-lag -- which I remember all too well. Anyway, I hope to talk to Ellen tomorrow. Frannie looks so much like Ally - they obviously had the same beautician/ hair dresser! I cannot wait for the girls to see each other. I wonder what their reaction will be and how much they will remember each other. Maybe they will "talk" in Chinese baby talk to each other.

Adoption TV Shows

I found this info on the "Rumor Queen" site today...

Arthur: Binky gets a sister from China
From PBSkids, premering this Friday, September 7th

In an upcoming Arthur show, his friend Binky Barnes gets a sister from China. The producers are said to have done their homework and researched the process as well as talked to families to get their input on the show. People who have seen it say it is very well done and they are impressed. I can’t wait to see this one.

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
From Nick Jr, premiering October 22nd

NI HAO, KAI-LAN is supposed to be a Chinese version of Dora. A play-along, think-along series starring Kai-lan Chow, a playful, adventurous preschooler who speaks both English and Mandarin. Kai-Lan and her animal friends are guided by her YeYe (grandfather) through their adventures. I hope this series is done well, and I hope Kai-Lan ends up with as much merchandise as Dora.

Catching Up!

I've gotten behind with my blog posts, so I'll try to catch up! We took the girls and friends to Helen for an afternoon of tubing yesterday. Daddy and Ally took the stroller and enjoyed the warm day, while the "big" girls and I went down the river.

The CCAA has updated again - 4 more days in a month. That is so discouraging - it took a year for them to progress 4 months! I'm just so sad for the families that are waiting for their children as the wait continues to stretch out...

Ally is doing well. Sleep (at night and nap) is still an issue. She wakes several times during the night and, although she settles down when we pat her back, she wakes so easily from any noise (those darn wood floors!). We hate to let her cry - we don't want her to wake S and L or to get too scared!

We are trying to teach her (and learn it ourselves) some basic sign language! She is so cute, as she smiles when she copies us. Ally spends lots of time on her little slide, playing with wooden blocks and her super balls. She loves her bath as well as the kitties!

We are eager to see Frannie come home later this week!

Ally has stayed at Miss Sheryl's 2 days without me (for an hour each day). She has cried some, but settled down. She was all smiles each day when I came back to get her. Tomorrow is the first big test as I'll be gone about 3 hours. I'm sure she will do fine and play with Linzi and her "new" toys!

Some friends stopped by on Sunday afternoon to swim. They have a baby that is about 8 months old. I was sitting on the floor with him in my lap. Ally decided that was a bad idea and tried to push him off of me! I guess she wasn't interested in sharing her mommy with that baby. Funny, because she doesn't seem to mind Sara or Lauren sitting with me! It was cute.

She recovered from her doctor's visit; although, she had a fever for a couple of days and just felt lousy. Glad round one is over. We go for her heart appointment in 2 weeks. Can't wait to finally get an expert opinion on that!