Kathleen

 

Miss Katie had a birthday this last weekend. Our little girlie is four years old now!! She is growing up so fast!

Happy birthday to our funny, spunky princess!

Katie asked for a Butterfly Princess cake for her party. Mommy decided
to go for a literal interpretation and delivered a cake with a Princess
with butterfly wings. Katie seemed pretty pleased. She had a great party. Since it was nice we were able to be outside which is a first for Katie's birthday party! Here are a few pictures from
her party and the cake.

 

 

 

 

 

Because I have three other really cute kids...

Katie: messing around and not doing what she was told to do
Momma: "Kathleen, I am not amused! And you are not cute!"
Katie: wide eyes, "But I thought I was beautiful??!!"

 

Katie has had a little trouble giving up her baby role. According to her Sunday School teacher, the other week they were all asking her questions about Asher. After 3 or 4 questions, she looked at them and said, "Can we be done talking about Asher now??" But when Katie isn't upset over the lost of attention she really makes a good big sister.

See? :)

Katie: I had a BAD dream!
Momma: I'm sorry baby. What was it about?
Katie: MONSTERS *sniff*
Momma: Oh No!! What did the monsters do?
Katie: They were PAINTING my shadow!!!
Momma: The HORROR! What color did they paint it?
Katie: Red!

Two (!!) years ago today we walked down a long hall to a small one room office in Henan, China. We walked in to a scene of organized chaos with officials holding babies and others checking paperwork. We were quickly told the LuoHe babies had not arrived yet.  So we stood and watched while other families in our group received their beautiful children. There were sobs from children and parents alike. It is all really a daze in my mind. I remember standing watching down that long hallway. And then there they were, a party of three adults carrying two little girls in their arms. And then into my arms was placed the most beautiful somber child. Our little Katie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, while still beautiful, she is anything but somber...
Katie lives life to the extremes. She is usually smiling except when she is screaming/crying! She adds a lot of humor and spice to our family. Our little Katie.

You do the crime, you do the time. 

 

We had Katie's birthday party on the next Sunday after church. She didn't ask for any kind of theme and told me she wanted a "strawberry cake". So... I ran with it. We had simple red, pink, and green decorations including balloons. A fun lunch of pizza and "stuff". And of course, ice cream and cake!
Here is Katie opening her kitchen present from Grandma W. This has been a big hit with both mom and kids.

Opening her present from Mimmi. A kitty that meows and walks.

And here is Katie's cake.... I did a version of a Strawberry Shortcake cake I found online. Top layer is white cake with strawberry jam in between covered in pink fondant. Second layer is strawberry cake and butter cream icing with fondant decorations. Bottom layer is white cake with butter cream icing and fondant decorations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here she is after the party trying out all her new dress up clothes!

Miss Katie could easily take the award for Most Confident in our family. She's never met a stranger, just friends she hasn't met yet! She is also not shy in expressing her approval of others.. or asking for theirs, as a recent conversation showed:
Katie: Momma, I put my straw back in my cup!
Momma: Good job, Katie.
Katie: Giv' me high five!

Then there is just the plain ol' Katie funny:
Heard from Katie's stall in a public restroom..
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,..... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! I all done, Momma!!"

Today I am thankful for so much! Most of all I am thankful for these three beautiful little souls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three years ago a baby girl was born in Henan, China.

Today we celebrate that baby girl, now a beautiful little girl! We celebrate her joy of life. Her confidence in herself and all around her. Her charm. Her love. Her sweetness. Her strength and sheer will. Her passion and flare for the dramatic.

Our little ham. Our little rock star. Our sweet little Katie-bug.

May God bless you and keep you and be ever near you. May your dreams come true. And may you always use your powers for good. :)

Happy Birthday to our girlie-girl, Miss Kathleen Emma XinXin!

It's that time of year again... the leaves are falling everywhere

They need to be raked up... There are so many sometimes even the princess must help!

Really it's such hard work... a princess must take a brake every now and then in the leaves!

But some people learned long ago to just skip the work and go straight for the fun... WHEEE, jump on in!! The leaves are fine!

Last weekend we made a trip to the zoo to wrap up the 4 units we just
finished in My Father's World K. They were the "wild animal" units
including E-e-elephant, P-p-penguin, K-k-kangaroo, and Z-z-zebra.

We had a wonderful time, and the children were able to see all the
animals except kangaroos. It was actually their first time seeing an
elephant live as the zoo we normally visit does not have any.

We were able to get right up by the zebras:

The kids rode a few metal animals....

And pretended to drive a 4 wheel drive...

More WILD animals kids and one camel! (Can I just say Katie makes the cutiest little zebra!)

One of the elephants...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miriam and a penguin!

Katie while looking at the cake Momma made for Aunt Jen: "I not touch it! I not mess with it! I not do ANYTHIN' !!"

Katie re the name of her baby doll: "Dis is baby Jesus Moses."

When you follow roads like these:

You end up with loads like these!

Then your kitchen looks like this:

And your sink fills with these!

Thankfully, I have helpers like these!

I'm finally getting around to posting about our unit on K-Kangaroo even though we finished almost 2 weeks ago. :)

We did the standard My Father's World work pages like always. Here is Miriam working on one of those.

I printed off some coloring sheets and work sheets about the letter "K"
and kangaroos for Evan and Katie from the same website as before. Katie
decided to put stickers on her kangaroo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The book we were to read for Day 6 in MFW was Katy No Pockets. I decided
to supplement the reading with some of the lapbook projects available
for free at Homeschool Share. I love Homeschool Share. When I did Before
Five in a Row with Miriam for preschool I used it all the time to make
lapbooks. I did not actually make a lapbook this time, but did have
Miriam do 3 of the little projects. Here she is making a "Kangaroo
Facts" book.

Evan was not in the mood to join us as much for this unit so he did some puzzles and sorted his cars. :-)

One other special thing we did this unit was to go outside and measure
out how far a kangaroo can jump in a single bound. Then we each tried to
jump and see how we measured up! Here are our results. (Note: Evan is
standing on the kangaroo's line)

The girls both enjoyed the beach but in different ways. Miriam loves
the water. She spend a lot of time out in it with her inner tube and
with the toy truck. She just loved jumping in the waves. But she also found
a little time to dig in the sand.

Katie seemed to be more comfortable with her feet on dry sand....
unless she could get Momma to hold her out in the water! Really it was
all about being right by Momma! She did have fun making friends, and
loved to yell when she saw the dolphins swimming by. We saw them
everyday (usually a large pod of 6-8 individuals).

 

While we were at the beach the kids got to fly their first kite. It was a Buzz Lightyear kite and they really enjoyed it!

 

 

 

 

We were so blessed to spend a week at Edisto Beach in South Carolina this last week. It was the kids first time seeing the ocean. They loved it! We were able to go with Aunt Kristin and Uncle Dave as well as Grandpa George and some other friends which made for a very nice vacation.
We went to the beach everyday and most days stayed most of the day.

Seeing the ocean for the first time.

Hanging out at the beach with Dave and cousin Jonathan.

Me and my baby girl.

Miriam

Katie loving the beach!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evan digging in the sand.

Miriam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of a long day on the beach.

We have reached a new milestone with Miss Katie. She has now lived with us longer than anywhere else in her life.

Xu Qian Wen, orphan, February 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Kathleen Emma Xinxin, beloved daughter and sister, today.

My children have something very special. Something few children have
these days. Each has two siblings very close to them in age with whom
they spend 99% of every waking hour.  They have two built in BFFs...
not just this year in school, or for most of their childhood, but, God
willing, for the next 80+ years. Yes, sometimes it is hard having three
young children with only 29 months difference in age from eldest to
youngest. Yes, it would be easier to send them all away to preschool
rather then to keep them with me (but I don't believe for a minute that
that would be in their best interest). And yes, they do fight and tease
each other, but far more often they love each other deeply, watch out
for each other, and play together well. Yes, they really do have
something wonderful and special, and I am so blessed to be their mother!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just got back from a week at the farm visiting Mimmi. The kids had a wonderful time.

Plenty of water play...

Lots of swinging...

Plenty of playing with Taffy, the dog...

Lots of popsicles gave their lives....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some people took mud bathes...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was lots of running free in open spaces...

And Katie got lots of wagon rides...

There was playing at a couple of parks...

There was bike and trike riding...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cuteness abounded...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a zoo trip with giraffe feeding...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and train riding and playing on the toy train...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and goat petting and brushing...

and water pumping...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and play exploring....

and carousel riding...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and some people came out of their shell!

There were other adventures as well, like an airshow and a festival
with carnival rides plus 4th of July fireworks. Might have been too
much fun actually. :)

Katie found a pair of boots a friend's son left at our house. She's too cute not to share!

Oh, NO we have a MONSTER in the MUDROOM!!! And it made a huge MESS of the egg cartons!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, look, it's just Katie. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better pick up that mess girlie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boy is this hard work!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look, help is coming! Super Evan and Princess Miriam to the rescue!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many hands make light work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All done!

Spring is here in our neck of the woods and the kids are outside as much as possible.

Here are some recent shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some pictures from Easter. First, all three children, had a hard time getting this picture. Then the girls let me get a good picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we went for Easter dinner and the Egg Hunt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One year ago today, I began the long journey home from China with Miss
Katie in my arms to unite our family for the first time. One year ago on
the 16th, we first laid eyes on a quite little girl with soulful eyes
and a thumb embedded deep in her mouth. It was such a long journey from
the seed planned in 2004 to the first piece of paperwork started in 2006
to that day March 16th, 2009. It was a rough road full of obstacles but
we held on to our Pure Complete Faith and one year ago it was made
sight. And she was truly beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And she is even more beautiful today. Full of life. Full of
mischief. Full of love. Full of laughs. Smart, stubborn, and silly. She
was worth every minute of the wait and ever bump in the road.  Love you,
baby girl!

Who? That would be Miss Katie. Talk, talk, talk. My girls love to talk!
Katie's language has really taken another leap forward this last month.
She talks in sentences now most of the time. I hear "Momma, I see a
train/car/truck/etc" all the time. I hear "LEAF me LOOOONE!" (Leave me
alone) and "MOMMA!! Evan hit me 'GAIN (again)" way too often. I also
hear "Jesus love you", "A-A-Apple, B-B-Butterfly", and "one, two,
three, nine, twelve" (her counting is coming right along! LOL). I also
hear her standard greeting of "Hi ya, Momma!" on a regular basis. But
the sentence of the week is "Who dat?" by which she means "what is
that?" She does this about EVERYTHING in sight over the last few days.
The sentence of the week last week as "NEEEED potty!!" followed by
clothing flying off, but that's another post. :)

 

And just for fun a picture of Miss K-K after her new haircut.

Share it??

The octopus strikes again!  Katie still takes her naps in our bedroom
since Miriam usually does not nap during rest time. In there her crib is
next to Brian's dresser. Apparently today she rocked the crib over a
few inches to it and reached around and opened the top drawer. She then
helped herself to a pair of Daddy's dress socks. When I walked into the
room to get her after nap, she was sitting in the crib wearing one of
the socks pulled all the way up past her knee! She looked up at me and
smiled and said, "Daddy share sock!". Um, is that what we call it now?

(Yes, I know this post is a month late. No, I don't have a real excuse. Bad blogger!)

Our little Katie bug is two!! Wooohoo! :)  She weights in at 28.5 pounds and stands 35.5 inches tall (90th percentile; yeah, another TALL child!)
Miss Katie is talking up a storm (50-100 words) and continues to be our most active toddler yet. I call her my octopus because she has a way of getting into everything like she has eight arms not two!
So in honor of Katie's 2nd birthday, two things I love about her!
1.) She has the best sense of humor for a 2 year old! Seriously, she can make me laugh way too easy! She knows how to use it too. :)
2.) She is so sweet. If she accidentally bumps me, she will say "sor wee" and kiss the injury! Too cute.

Love you, baby girl!

 

A few pictures from her party including her Elmo cake. :)

 

 

 

One of those things that we have struggled with as Christian parents is that pesky little holiday at the end of the month of October. I was raised without any acknowledgment of Halloween and never dressed up or when trick-or-treating. Brian was allowed to dressed and t-n-t, but still it was not a good holiday. Interestingly enough, I am actually the one with the least hang ups over the kids dressing up. At this point, we do not want to celebrate Halloween and all it's dark meanings, but this year we did dress the kids up for a few party type things in the week prior. I'm not sure exactly what we'll do in the years to come, but I would love to see some type of celebration of All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day. But who knows.

Anyway a few picture of our Princess, Cowboy, and the Ladybug!

 

 

So when we first came home from China, we took Katie to see our wonderful pediatrician right away.  She got us in to see the closest cleft team in May.  This team is over three hours drive away from us, but please understand we were happy to do this for Katie. However, to say that I was unimpressed by this visit would be an understatement. Usually these visits are scheduled with a TEAM- a plastic surgeon, ENT, audiologist, speech therapist, pediatric dentist, and social worker, etc. Well, that day we saw only the surgeon. He spent all of 5 minutes in the room. He asked a few questions. He looked in Katie's mouth for a hot second and said she didn't have a cleft palate (we know that!) He says come back in six months and we'll talk about lip revision.

Say WHAT??? Have you seen her lip repair??? Seriously??? It's not perfect, but it's close. Certainly close enough for an 18 month old! It is functional and looks nice. Why in THE world would I risk ruining that at the age of 2?? The norm is to do a touch up around 5 when the facial growth has often out grown the scar and right before the child goes to school!

I have to ask this man what the projected plan of care would be for Katie since her palate is intact before he thinks to talk about surgery beyond lip revision. He says she will have no speech issues or ear issues since she has an intact palate. Oh REALLY?? He can tell all that from a handful of questions, and a one minute exam that did not include looking in her ears? So now he's a surgeon, an ENT, audiologist, AND a speech therapist!! Yeah, RIGHT!

When we left his office, 5 minutes later, I was hopping mad! Seven hour round trip to see one doctor for 5 minute to tell me a lot of crap!

We came home and I went back to my ped and told her how unhappy I was. I got a referral to a local ENT and audiologist with in the week. Katie failed the hearing test which might happen due to her age. But the ENT agree with me that the only way to know was to do an ABR test under general anesthesia.  So in June we did exactly that. The ABR came back normal (yeah!!), however, she failed the test to check for fluid/pressure in her middle ear.  So while she was under anyway, they placed tubes in both ears. Thanks Mister Big-Shot-Plastic-Surgeon. You were so right that she wouldn't have ear issues. NOT!!

With that taken care of, I went on a search to find another cleft team so I could fire the crazy guy. At this time, my ped mentioned that she had heard of a new doctor in a nearby city (under a 2 hour drive) who did cleft repairs. I did some research, and it turns out that he was once the co-director of a cranio-facial team at a LARGE children's hospital. He had come to this regional hospital to start a cleft team there. We were able to get in to see him in late Sept, and I am sooo happy! He took time to talk with us and answer questions. Turns out he has a son born with cleft lip/palate adopted from Henan, China!! He agreed with me that there was no reason to touch Katie's lip for sometime, perhaps not until her bone graft around the age of 9. I'm SOOO much more comfortable with this doctor. We will go back around the first of the year for a full cleft team meeting and they will evaluate Katie's speech at that time. I'm not worried since she has over 50 words and people outside of family can understand a lot of them. Also early intervention found her to be on track in speech. But I now feel certain we are in good hands.

 

 

Then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now.

We were very blessed to be able to make an all expense paid trip to Dollywood this month. Brian's employer has a Family Day there as part of their yearly employee appreciation week. We got free admission for the whole family and a free meal. Since all our kids are young, we took our time getting there and didn't actually get into the park until about 11:30. Still we had a wonderful day.

There were a lot of rides even for our little kids. Besides the kiddie rides, Miriam was actually tall enough to ride all but 8 rides in the whole park (not that we even came close to riding all she could ride!) We did some for the whole family like the carousel. Miriam was standing in line for it when she spotted THE carousel animal she HAD to have. Yeah, a chicken!! LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even doing kiddie rides, we soon learned that Katie liked the rides ONLY if she was with Momma or Daddy. If she wasn't the tears flowed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also learned that Evan is much like his father. He doesn't much care for fast, high rides. In fact Evan hates heights. So I think he only rode about 5 rides all day. We tried, he preferred to sit it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miriam on the other hand... well, we couldn't get a ride high enough or fast enough for the little adrenaline junkie!! She wasn't tall enough for a real roller coaster which I think she would have loved. But she was just tall enough for their indoor roller coaster. If you ask her what her least favorite thing about Dollywood was she would say the fire in the roller coaster. The theme of this ride is that you are a firefighter rolling through the back hills of Tennessee putting out fires. It scared Miriam. However, if you ask Miriam what her favorite ride was it was also the roller coaster. Cause little Miss Fearless might not have like the "fire", but she DID like dropping 50 feet into pitch blackness at 45 miles an hour. Yup, that's my girl!! :o)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a really fun day! Hope we can go again next year. And maybe Miriam will have grown 6 inches. :oD

Katie told me, "I love you" this morning for the first time. I know she knows what it means because she followed it by running over and giving me an unsolicited kiss.

Evan also have a cute way of saying I love you. I often say, "I love you little dude" to him. Now he responds with, "I love you Momma dude"!

Well, we originally though that Katie was going to be missing 2 teeth in the front where her cleft is (the second incisor and the canine). A few weeks back I noticed that the canine was squeezzzzzing it's self in at a slight angle. Then tonight I thought I saw something else while brushing Katie's teeth. I stuck a finger in and yup, there was the bud of the incisor waaaay up in the cleft. What do you know? She got 16 teeth now!

We've had a lot of rain the last month. I finally got tired of being stuck in the house so out we went. I think they had fun. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awhile ago I made up a silly song for Evan, and yesterday inspiration struck again!

Here is "Does Your Katie Growl?" (to the tune of "Do your ears hang low?"):

Does your Katie growl? Does she
fuss and does she howl? Does she always want up? Does she never go
down? Does she holler? Does she scream? Does she often make a scene?
Does your Katie growl?? .... Mine does

 

Miss Katie's vocab is just taking off. Everyday it seems to be a new word in use. And thankfully, she will mimic and is picking up new words that way. Here is the list I can remember (sure I'm forgetting some).

ball, bottle, night-night, bye, hi, cat, that, again, all done, all gone, mine, eye, nose, ear, Katie, Bubby, Mimmi, pizza, sleep, book, cup, up, down, go, (out)side, shoe, dog, more, please, thank you, draw, Momma, and Daddy.
And last Saturday, she said her first sentence... "Here ya go."  What a girl!

Katie has been scared of grass since she came home. Probably the result of limited exposure to any texture that was not hard and/or smooth. I'm not sure the child even saw a blade of grass in China. Now this does come in handy to keep her contained when we're outside in the yard. I could "strand" her on a blanket or the deck. Well, all that ended on Saturday. I left her on the deck while I went to hang out the diapers on the clothesline. She crawled right down the steps and took off. I followed her around the apple tree and discovered what had motivated her.... she climbed right into the baby pool, clothes and all! ... and gave me a big ol' grin. Now she is running all over the yard after her siblings! Funny how that works!

 Once again this post is late. :) Well, we've been home from China over 2 months now. Wow, seems way longer in some ways!

Katie continues to do so well. She is learning and growing by leaps and bounds. I finally am getting to see what people mean when they say a younger child grows up so much faster because they try to follow the big kids. Seriously, Katie thinks she's 3 already! I can't trust her to go down steps because she refuses to turn around or sit down to climb down. Oh, no! Little bit thinks she should be able to hold onto the rail and walk down like a big girl! I fear I'm going to have to let her fall once so she gets some fear in her!
Two funny stories along that line. While we were at Mimmi's house, she decided that she is big enough to sit at the little kids table to "draw". She tried to climb up onto the chair, but had trouble. Mimmi showed her how once and from that point on she did it herself. Boy, did she think she was big stuff! Then yesterday here at home, she watched Miriam and Evan playing with a little tykes toddler slide. It's really too big for Miriam, so both older kids where climbing up the slide and down the step part. Katie watched for a minute then went over and tried. She was kind of messing around at the bottom for awhile and I turned away for a few seconds. When I looked back she had climbed UP the slide and was STANDING on the top. She then insisted on climbing down the steps facing out (opposite of normal). I tried to show her the right way to use the slide, but she would have NONE of it! I'm planning to bribe Evan to slide down it to convince her! LOL.

Few first this month: reaching for Daddy while Momma was still in room!, climbing on everything, first trip to zoo, first carousel ride (LOVED it), met Mimmi and Grandma Katie, eating fruit! (apple, blueberries, peaches, and grapes)
Word list- ball, draw, cat, that, cup, up, down, dog, all done/all gone, Momma, Daddy,  
Sign list- more, all done, drink, bottle, yes, down, please, thank you

Here a few of my favorite resent shots of her:

 

 

We spent last week up in Indiana on the family farm where I grew up (hence no internet!) The kids had a great time. Lots of outside play. Up WAY to late. Eat way too much ice cream. Two trips to zoos (two different ones) involving lots of water.  Spent lots of time with Mimmi (hence the ice cream!) Got to ride on the lawn tractor with Mimmi. Got to see Aunt Kristin, Uncle Dave, and Grandma W one day as well. Fun trip!

Here are some pictures from the farm. I'll postzoo pictures tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Katie is 18 months old today! She continues to be one amazing little girl. She is learning more words and signs like the sign for "sleep" and "thank you". She walks everywhere now and even tries to dance at times. I have a medical update as well, but don't feel like writing it tonight.

The last few weekends have been busy ones. We had a Half Birthday party for her last weekend complete with a Candyland cake. Here are a few picture from the party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brag time!!! Time for me to brag on my babies! :-D

First there is Evan. After a set back due to being one sick little dude, potty training is back on track! We had our first poopy success today!! He even told me he needed to go and held it until we made it to the potty! GOOO EVAN!! WooHoo! Maybe I can get back to one in diapers again? A Momma can dream, right?

Miss Miriam, AKA Too-Big-For-Her-Breeches, has been getting in some trouble lately for being a little smarty pants. Brian ask her the other day who was smarter, Momma & Daddy or Miriam. Without hesitation she said, "Miriam!"  Hmmm, that explains a lot! However, she really IS smart if not so wise at time. She has known her letters from sometime now on sight both name and sound. She also knows then in correct order. The last month or so she has taken to writing them (or trying to) over and over. She has gotten really pretty good! There are mistakes of course. "R" and "W" are a challenge for some reason. "S" is backwards sometimes as is "J". Over all though you could read 90% of them most of the time! She is also starting to read! She can sound out simple words... cat, mat, dad, mad, etc. Today I taught her about adding "s" to the end of these type words. She got it right away. She is starting to recognize more complex words as well things like "stop" and "spot". She also showed me that she know right away that "spot" was NOT stop and then fixed it to "Stop" on her own.

And the amazing Miss Katie... Well, she is amazing. :) Words she says: Mama, dada, that, cat, up, cup, hi, bye, "Moaw Moaw" (her cat lovey) and all done. Signs she knows and uses: up, down, yes, no, more, and all done. She waves hi and bye. She blows kisses. She says, "Shhh" and puts her little finger to her lips (too cute!) She toddles everywhere now, walking far more then she crawls. It's so amazing seeing the speed at which she is learning. She dances when she hears music (also too cute). Loves to play peek-a-boo. When you tell her "Good job" or "good girl", she starts to clap and smile so big. And the other night she even gave Momma a kiss! :)

Miss Katie Bug is WALKING!!

Yup, she finally got up the nerve to just do it! Yesterday morning she was walking along side the couch holding on with one hand, and she just let go. She took about three steps before holding on again.  She did that twice. Then last evening she was standing beside me and I pointed to something across the room, and she just took off. She made it about 5 feet before falling. A few minutes later she did it again. She has repeated this a few times today, but, of course, never when we had the camara! :)

Well, it's actually a little over a month since Katie's Gotcha day and a little under a month since we're home so I thought I would split the difference. :)

Few things have actually just happened over the last few days that tell me we have reached a new level with Katie. Yesterday for the first time since she has been with us, Katie actually cried when hurt! For those who don't know anything about adoption and institutionalized children, this is a huge thing! Before yesterday, she would never do more then whimper and rub the area with her hand. Crying means she now realizes that there is a REASON to cry... someone cares that she is hurt, someone will respond. My baby is starting to get it... she has a Momma now, and Momma cares! Even better then the crying is that yesterday for the very first time she LET me comfort her!!! Didn't ask for comfort (that's the next step), but she finally allowed it!! Thank you God!

The other thing that happened yesterday is that for the first time I got her to take a step. She would only do one at a time and it was more often a falling step, but she trusted me enough to catch her when she fell to try as she stepped into my arms. And, speaking of trust, she is starting to reach for Brian to pick her up too! WooHoo! :)

Then today we had another breakthrough. She woke up from her nap and played happily in her crib for 5 minutes until I got to her. Previously, as soon as she woke up the screaming started until Momma picked her up.

Little by little our girl is learning what having a family means! So exciting! Next month, May 11th to be exact, we will be taking her to see the craniofacial team.  I'm excited to hear what they have to say and get a general idea how our treatment plan will change since she doesn't have a full cleft palate.

In other family news.... Momma is potty training Evan. Normally I would wait a few more months, but dude is outgrowing all his pants! Those cloth diapers take up more room then underwear. :) We're taking the day off today, little dude is sick with a temp of 102. Poor guy! :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WooHoo! The great State of Tennessee recognizes that Kathleen Emma Xinxin has been adopted by Brian and Danielle, and that that adoption was full and final in the country of China.

Yes, this morning we appeared before the honorable judge who signed the degree saying it is so, and now we have the paperwork to prove it! :)

Some pictures from our Easter egg hunt and lunch. The big kids really had this figured out this year! "Candies!!" as Evan would say!

  

  

  

  

  

I know Katie was smart, but I think it just hit me HOW quickly she is picking things up this AM. Now I realize this isn't a big deal for a lot of 16 month olds out there, but they didn't switch languages 3 weeks ago! And, honestly, I've never had the pleasure of a child who was an early language learner! So what happened, you ask?

Well, Miss K-K, knows the sign for "more" and will use it appropriately without promoting.  This morning she was sort of playing with her eggs and pushing them away so I asked her "more?" while also signing. She looked at me thoughtfully, then signed more and pointed over her shoulder at the cabinet over the fridge. While is where the cheerios are kept. I grabbed the box and held it toward her and her face lite up and she was all happy! Hey, this Momma can play charades kiddo! :)

When Katie came to us she was finishing cutting two of her first molars. She seemed to be doing well with it, but they were mostly in. She now has 3 of the 4 in. She has been rather grumpy (for her) over the last few days and today I confirmed a suspicion. Poor baby is cutting TWO of her eye teeth right now. OUCH! This will bring her grand total of teeth up to 12. Which is a good thing for carnivorous babies like Miss K-K!  :)

I'm so glad I got them matching Chinese outfits.

 

Well, here we are home for one week and three days. We've had Katie for three weeks today. Brian is back at work full time today as well.

Wow, time flies! It does NOT seem like we have had Katie three weeks. It DOES feel like we have been home a week. We're still working on a routine or at least expanding the one we have. I feel pretty comfortable with the basics... how to get everyone up, dressed, feed, down for nap, down for bed, etc. I *think* I'm getting the hang of keeping up with the basic house stuff... laundry and dishes. But I'm not sure about the rest of the house upkeep, to say nothing of the yard!  I also have to figure out how to do preschool with Miriam since Katie doesn't want me to pay too much attention to her siblings.

Sleep is going better. Katie is sleeping from 9 to around 1:30-2 AM. Then she needs help getting back to sleep... mainly she wants to sleep with me! Some nights I get her back in the crib and some nights I can't. She will then sleep until 7-8 AM. She also takes a 2-2.5 hour nap each afternoon.

On the health front, things are better. My stomach is finally better. I have fought off a sinus infection/ear ache. Katie has a mild cold, but it isn't too bad. She is also cutting teeth. We are no longer having blow out diaper issues since I took her off lactose formula and put her on lactose-free milk! Now we have nice formed stools. :) We went to the pediatrician on Friday. Poor Katie got two shots, two pokes for lab work (and we need to go back for more), plus a poke for the PPD. She was NOT a happy camper.  On the good side, Dr. Meg thought everything looked great. We will be referred to see the cleft specialist, but Dr. Meg did of course take a look at her mouth. She thought that the tiny cleft might still be technically considered a cleft palate, but agreed that it didn't go beyond the gum area. We do have reason to believe that it is open into the nose as the other day Katie managed to blow milk out of her nose on that side. Guess will wait for the experts verdict. :)

Katie is doing well. She is now crawling quickly and cruising along anything solid. She will also walk holding onto one hand. She can stand for about 30 seconds on her own. I think we're getting close to walking in the next few weeks. I can tell her language skills are growing even though all we can understand is "Mama", "dada/baba", "hi", and "bye".  If I ask her if she wants a drink, she looks at her cup so receptive language is coming along. She can sign "more" and "drink"... we're working on a few others. This morning I was trying to see if she would mimic sounds (she will "la") and say "go". I got her to say "g". She is also good at using pointing and facial expressions to communicate. Although she is small after being around her a bit it is obvious that she is a 16 month old intellectually. She's still a ham when in a good mood.

Speaking of good moods. Those have been a bit fewer over the last few days. The child who has had the hardest time adjusting to the new addition has actually been the new addition! I think she feels like she got a bait and switch. In China, she was the center of everything. Here, I have a house to take care of and two other children who think that my world revolves around them. Poor Katie has a hard time sharing Momma. Sunday morning while I did Miriam's hair for church and got both older children ready, Katie screamed the whole time. It didn't matter if Daddy held her. It didn't matter if she was standing right beside me holding onto my knee. If I was not holding her on my lap using at least one hand, she was screaming. It was a long 45 minutes while I did Miriam's hair! She was actually mad at me by the time it was over. The good thing about that is it made Daddy seem a little less like chopped liver! :)

The other good thing is that the children are starting to gel as a sibling pack. More and more the two amigos are becoming the three musketeers. It's fun to watch that happen. And I tell you, the day is coming when I pity the fool that picks on one of them! This is going to be a fun ride I think! More pictures coming soon!

Yay!!! We actually got a little sleep last night! Katie slept from 9-1:30, awake 20 minutes and then slept until just after 7AM. Ah... much better! Now if I can just shake this stomach thing....

 

 

That's the question of the week it seems! Well, it's a bit of a complicated answer as you might expect. The short answer is it could be better, but it could be a LOT worse!

The biggest issue right now is sleep--or lack thereof.  Katie is still not on our time zone. I don't like to give kids benadryl for sleep but we are getting desperate. So last night a dose of benadryl got us sleep from 9- 12:30ish. Then she was up screaming in her crib wanting to play. Second dose of benadryl followed but she really fought the sleep. Holding her, rocking her, nothing worked, so we tried melatonin again... 10 mgs finally put her out at 3AM! She was up at 6 AM for the day! UGGGGGGG!!!

The second biggest issue is that I am not feeling well. I have some stomach thing going on. I get stomach cramps every time I eat... nothing else, just cramping. It's been going on for 48 hours now and my abdomen is actually sore to the touch! I'm really wanting to feel better! Uggggg!!

Things that are going well.... that would be just about everything else!

Katie is eating well. I found things she loves... oatmeal, scrambled eggs, Mimmi's egg noodles in chicken broth, yogurt, cheerios.

Things I can't get in her... fruit or veggies of any kind! That's what happens what you get a child at the age when they are least open to trying new foods.

Katie continues to have a happy personalty despite not sleeping. She loves Momma, but if not too tired will play with Daddy while I'm not of the room. She is always happy to see Momma! :) She likes her siblings. Loves to follow Evan and was SO excited to see Miriam this AM.

Miriam is handling having a sister well. She mostly seems nonchalant about it. But has been excited about having three "hers" in the house now. I think that already being a big sister has made this easy for her. She is a little protective of Evan, and at one point when Katie took Evan's toy, Miriam took it back for him!  LOL

Evan's adjustment... Wow. I am so proud of this little guy! He really has taken to his new role as big brother like a fish to water. He has such a big heart, and it really shows in his interactions with Katie. He loves on her with hugs, sniffs (don't ask!!), and pats. He shares his toys... even ones he really wants... with her. He likes to show her things and is even getting down and crawling with her. See pictures at end of post! :) Really he is being very gentle with her, but I still keep reminding him! More later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today after we got the all clear that our visa appointment went well, we headed out to enjoy a wonderful part of Chinese culture! The Chinese are very good at enjoying and using their public spaces together. It is something Americans could really learn from in my opinion. In the morning, the parks are full of people playing and exercising together. Huge groups play a form of hacky sack at all different skill levels from Grandmas to young men/boys. Women and couples dance all over. Music everywhere from groups playing instruments to larges groups singing. It's just really cool to watch it all.
It was a bit cooler today and the haze was decreased by the rain in the night so we had great views of the river and city. Overall a good day to be out and about!

 

  

   

   

So this AM we took the children to have their medical examinations for their US visas. We made quite a sight walking down the street at 9 AM today! As always, we turned a few heads! :) Once at the medical clinic, they did weight (22 pounds with clothing on), height, and temp. A doctor did a quick look over and listened to her heart & lungs, then the ENT doctor looked at her. Ears- clear, hearing- good, mouth.... she looked at Katie's mouth, she looked at the paperwork, she looked at Katie's mouth again, and then looked at the paperwork again. THEN she looks at me and said, "She does not have cleft palate. She has cleft gum." Thank you. That's exactly what I thought I saw in there!

  

Here's more Katie bug!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has become a tradition in the China Adoption community to take photos of the children on the red couches in the lobby of the White Swan hotel. So here is Katie, Katie & Momma, Katie and the 12 other children adopted last week, and our whole travel group!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So today's outing was to the ZhengZhou zoo! I would personally have preferred visiting some place that actually represents Henan like the museum or the Yellow river but this is what the group wanted. The zoo was actually nicer then I expected for China, but some of the animals had it pretty rough. Then again a number had nicer living conditions then my daughter had so there ya go. Katie fell asleep in the sling after about 30 minutes so I'm not sure she saw too much. I think it was stimulus overload again! Poor baby.

Katie continues to do well and progress in attachment. This, of course, does not mean that all that progression is rosy. We had a 30 minute crying fit today, but that's progress just as surely as more talking and smiles are! We leave for Guangzhou tomorrow! Woohooo! :)

 

 

 

 

Well, Katie is getting more and more comfortable with me. As I said before she woke up this AM all happy smiles and giggles. Previous mornings (and naps) she would awake and while not upset exactly, there was a "look" on her face that said, "Oh, it's not a bad dream."  This morning that look said, "It wasn't a dream!!! WOOHOO!"

So I've seen a lot more smiles, easy laughs, and happy babble. She has even offered me her snack! *faint* She wants me close, but as long as she isn't sleepy, she trust me to go to the bathroom by myself! ;-) Most of the good stuff happens in the room, but I did see a bit more while we were out today.

For our "trips" today, we went to the playroom in our hotel which Katie enjoyed. Then after nap, our group went to the local aquarium. It wasn't too bad... lots of fish I had never seen and lots of sea turtles. A nice little under-the-water-tunnel thing and a seal show. Not really worth the 80 rmb plus 60 rmb for the ride, but it did get me out of the hotel and we saw a little more of ZhengZhou. Katie enjoyed the seal show and even clapped. She was not as sure of the fish tanks... and since she doesn't quite trust me completely yet to keep her safe, she won't touch anything. Our last "trip" was to a Chinese restaurant across the parking lot from our hotel. It was fun, but since there weren't enough high chairs I had the challenge of holding a baby while feeding myself and her noodles using chopsticks! HA! That was a trip! :) Katie ended up helping herself to the noodle bowl with her hands since I couldn't very well stop her since she was so close to it. It was so funny... baby covered in noodles with noodles hanging out of her mouth and in both hands! I wish someone had had a camera along to get a pic! It was a riot! :)

The "bad" part of the children feeling more comfortable with their new parents is that they feel comfortable enough to test them and see where the limits are! It also doesn't help that there is NO discipline in the orphanage, nor do the Chinese appear to discipline young children at all. They seem to think a crying child should get what they want and if that is not possible (because of danger) they should get a treat (usually sweet food or candy). Little miss is no exception to this. She is used to throwing temper tantrums and getting food. But today she learned that Momma does not reward temper tantrums nor does she allow head throwing and back-arching.  She learned that, yes, Momma will gentle but firmly hold you upright. No, screaming will NOT change that. No, you still may not stick your finger in the electrical outlet and, NO, you will NOT get a treat because you are screaming! You're kid number three... I don't even hear screaming anymore! :)  I will say it was a bit disconcerting that momma's "unhappy" face and voice (along with "no" and redirection) about the electrical outlet incident only made little bit laugh. This one may give me a run for my money in the wills department!

Diaper Update: It appears that my lactose intolerance theory may be right on. No bottles today and no blowouts. She did have a loose stool this evening, but it didn't blow out. BTW, the other blowouts were THROUGH rubber pants!

 

 

 

 

 

So a bit more about our little girl!  We'll also do a "they said, we say" version. So here goes.  

They said: "She goes to bed at 8:30 pm and gets up at about 6:30 am. She takes a nap from 1:00-2:00 pm. She sleeps soundly."  Well, that's not much off. She DOES go to bed at 8:30 ish, but she sleeps until 7 most of the time and she also takes a longer nap then they said (2 hours, not one). Once she is asleep, she is out, but she is a VERY restless sleeper!

They said: "She sleeps in her own crib by herself on her back with a night light on. No need to rock her to sleep."
Um, not so much. She WILL sleep in her crib but doesn't care about a light. She does NOT sleep on her back and she LOVED to be rocked to sleep. Just because she learned that crying doesn't get you anything in the past doesn't make it still true.

They said: "She likes to takes baths."  HAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAA! Now THAT'S a good one!! The child H.A.T.E.S. baths.

They said: "She has one BM everyday at about 10:00 am"  Ummm... No. She has a VERY nasty, watery BM 3-4 hours after every bottle. Which leads me to believe that she is likely lactose intolerant. We're going no bottle today to see what happens.

They said: "she hates take a car ride."  Actually, she doesn't mind at all.

They said: "She is extroverted and active; but she is a little afraid of strangers."  That part they got dead on! So far our family is three extroverts to two introverts. This also follows the gender lines in our family for those keeping score! :) Now that she is coming out of her grief shell, she is one active little girl. She will fit right in!

Actually, fit right in is the operative word. She loves music... hears a beat and starts bopping. And is already trying to clap out a rhythm. Which brings us to the question.. Can one be a Westhaven Kid and not be musical? She is a small whirlwind already. I have a pair of those at home, why not have a trio?  She babbles on and on... poor Evan will never get a word in again, I fear.  She loves to eat and giggle when tickled.... don't know anyone like that! ;-)  She sees a camera and IMMEDIATELY thinks you want a picture of her and turns on the cheese. Hummm... why are all the Westhaven girls a bit vain? :) She is a mischievous little imp just like her brother... goes to touch a "no no" looking over her shoulder to see what you will do!  LOL.  Food-wise she already thinks she is an American. She does NOT want Chinese food. Everything they said she eats/likes she spits out. Last night she sat on our bed and ate pizza. Seriously! :)

 

She's ours forever!!! Yay!!

   

Seriously, I am the luckiest woman on the face of this earth! I have been give the three most wonderful children ever born to love and raise. Okay, so I'm a little bias, but I still feel rather unworthy when I consider it all! :)

Katie is about the cutest thing EVER! She is going to give her big brother and sister a run for their money and that's say a lot since they are both trophy winning members of the Cutie Club! So let me give you a run down of Katie Day!

We left the hotel at 8:50 sharp and walked about 10 minutes to the Henan office of Adoption Affairs. As we neared the door we could hear the babies crying. As family's walked in their babies were just handed to them. We realized very quickly that Katie was not there, and we were told the two LuoHe babies were running late. This was actually kind of nice because it gave us time to watch everyone else and we were also able to film Katie coming down the hall and someone else filmed for Brian during the actual hand off!  Just like her big sister, Katie didn't cry as she was handed to me. She was a bit anxious, but she has a brave little heart and the only outward sign was that she clung to me finger with her whole hand.  After we filled out the paperwork needed at that time, I put her in the Mei Ti and off we went. She settled in nicely and even gave her daddy a little smile for his silliness. (I think that makes 3 for 3, on Daddy getting the first smile!) Went we got her back to the room, I got her out of the three layers of clothes and the split bottom pants (at least she had a diaper on!)  She loved her stacking cups!! They were a major hit as were the fruit puff snacks.

A bit about her development and personality.  She has great fine motor skills, and can pick up very small items and transfer hand to hand. Gross motor is a bit behind. Her body feels like a much younger child, but in just 24 hours she is sitting better, crawling more, and pulling to stand (boy is she proud of herself for doing that!!)  She is trying to talk and I really think someone taught her "hi" and "bye". She is starting to realize that "Katie" is her and that "more" means more food is coming. :) She has laughed for us and will smile easily now.

Well, I had written almost twice this much about Katie's personality but some how I lost it and well... I'm way to tried and sick to re-write it so I'll post what I have. Maybe I will get back to it later.  Here is a picture until then.

   

This is Brian again.  Danielle's sick.  Not horribly sick, but it looks like a sinus infection.  Our doctor giving her an antibiotic prescription "just in case" was very prescient.  We think it was the pollution irritating Danielle's allergies that caused it.  Anyway, between the illness and the medication, she's wiped out.  She really poured herself out today for Katie's sake, trying as hard as possible to show Katie smiles.

Katie really seems to be attaching well to Danielle.  When Danielle needs to go do something and hands Katie to me, Katie's not happy.  At all.  I think Katie thinks I'm an okay sidekick for Danielle, but that's about as far as it goes so far.  But that's perfectly fine, for now.  Since Danielle will be at home all day long with the kids, it's most vitally important that Katie attach to her first.

I had hoped that Danielle would be able to give y'all a Real blog post tonight after Katie went to sleep, but Danielle fell asleep at the same time as Katie.  I'm sure you'll hear all about everything later, once she can get back on her feet.  Pray that that's soon--I fly out of here in two nights (Wednesday night, China time), and don't want to leave her sick.

In the meantime, do check out the pictures (and one short video!) I posted earlier today.

   

This is Brian, posting briefly for Danielle.  I just uploaded the first pix of us together with Katie.  Check them out here.  I'm sure she'll post much more, later.

   

T -25 minutes to baby Katie!!!! We are in the first group of families to get our children at 9 AM. We're excited and nervious!! And Danielle feels awful as a result of her allergies. Hoping and praying all goes well. Only a few more minutes baby girl!! Your life is going to change... and our hearts and arms will be a little more full!

Our agency called today to make sure we have everything in order and to see if we have any travel questions. They told us they expect TA (travel approval) this Friday or Monday. They told us that they will had to divide our group of families, because there are so many. This is sad because the families have started bonding and some of my online friends are in a different group from our family. We are in the second group to go. And, if nothing changes, we will be leaving March 11th! Yay! We will have Katie in our arms before she turns 16 months old. While I would love to have Katie a week earlier and travel with my friends, the really good thing about later travel is that we will get to see our friends N & P who live in China! They plan to met us in Beijing and if we were traveling the 4th, they wouldn't be able to.

Now I really need to get busy!!

Praise God we received an update on our little Katie today! I'm so happy. We learned she is 28 inches tall which is 10th percentile on the US (!) charts. She is reported to weigh in at 23 pounds, but I wonder if they are weighing her with all her clothes on. If not, that puts her at 60th percentile on the US charts! Big girl, especially for being a cleft affected kid in an orphanage. Many other little ones have not fared nearly as well!

But the best part of all is that a recent traveler was able to get pictures. And the very best part?? She is SMILING!! Such a sweet little smile it is too!

 

 

  

  

I've written before about Amanda who runs the Starfish Foster Home for orphan children in China. Well, Amanda needs our help. She has been ask to take in a group of cleft affected babies who have no where to go as the orphanage is overflowing. Amanda had hoped to start a Cleft House for such babies some time in the future when she had the funds, but now there is the need so she is stepping out in faith that the funds will come. She had taken in 9 beautiful little ones. You can see their pictures here, here, and here on her blog. Amanda needs 80 people to commit to donate $25 a month for a year to care for these 9 precious little ones. If more money comes in she will take more children. You can read all about it here.

As most of you know from reading this blog, our Katie is cleft affected. Children born with cleft lip and palate often struggle to suck and are very difficult to feed. In orphanages, there are often not enough caregivers to take the time that is needed to feed these children as much food as they need. To make things worse, the special bottles that help make feeding cleft affected infants easier are not available in China! I have read that something like 90% of cleft affected children in China do not survive infancy, primarily for lack of the time and special tools to feed them properly. How awful!  Please, consider supporting Starfish as they make a difference for one more little cleft affected baby!

The question burning on everyone's mind.... "When will you travel?" Well, we still don't really know. We are still waiting on TA (travel approval) and the earliest I expect that is the week of Feb 16th. Once we have TA, the window of travel will narrow but still can not be confirmed..... we need CA (consulate appointment) for that! CA will tell us when we can come to the US Consulate in China to get Katie's visa to travel here... everything has to be planned around that appointment. So we wait.

In other travel news, we learned last week that Aunt Kristin who was to travel with me will not be able to. While we wish she could, the very good news is that we re-thought Brian's traveling! Now Brian will be traveling for the first part of the trip and will be there when Katie joins our family! There are a number of positives in this not the least of which is that this will make Katie a US citizen when her little feet touch US soil. Believe me, the less you have to deal with the US Office of Immigration, the better for you!  Of course, I have to admit that I am also excited about the prospect of 3 days with Brian without a kid in tow for the first time in over 3 years!

In other adoption news, we are moving right along with packing and planning and getting ready. I need to go over the paperwork again, but now that Brian is traveling there is nothing really to do that I haven't done. My various "To Do" lists are down to only 2 lists and one has only 2-3 things left on it. My packing list is revised and complete (Brian's traveling makes packing A LOT easier!) I have already started packing... Katie's stuff is 95% packed or at least stacked together by the suitcase. Really, packing is one of those things I am very good at if I do say so myself! :)

We had a "Travel Conference Call" with our agency on Tuesday. Not really anything new, but there were 21 families on this call!! We learned that our agency is considering splitting up the group of us who will be going to Henan. I really hope not, but whatever happens, happens!

We are so blessed to get a new picture of Katie yesterday! It is only two days (or so) old, and is the best quality to date. I'm not going to post it publically on here because we have not been told offically that it *is* Katie. But let me just tell you what a balm to my Momma's heart that picture is! She is so beautiful. She looks happier then before and still healthy and well taken care of. AND, she has HAIR!! Oh, and she is so cute.... so very cute. In the words of her Jie Jie (big sister) this morning, "Momma, I want to go get baby Katie NOW!!" Me, too, Miriam, me, too.

 

Update: Here is that picture!

  

Praise God we got our “Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter”  (also known as the LOA) today!! What does this mean? This means that China looked at all our paperwork and all of Katie's paperwork. This means that they have matched it all together. This means that we will travel to get Katie in 5-8 weeks.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!! Did I say we are traveling in 5-8 weeks??!??? AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I have WAY to much to do!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

It is with the greatest joy that we present our new daughter. Kathleen Emma Xinxin was born November 19th, 2007 which makes her 13 months old. This also makes her 17 months younger than Evan and 29 months younger than Miriam. She is from Luohe, Henan province, China. She was born with a Cleft lip (repaired) and palate. We don't know much about her, but she is said to be quiet with a ready smile and loves music. Let me tell you about her new name. Kathleen is my middle name and is for my grandmother Katie. Emma is a name we liked. Xinxin is Mandarin and means "faith". All together her new name means "Pure complete Faith".
We hope to travel to China in 3-4 months. Here are two pictures of our littlest sweetheart!