Christmas Beauty...
Christmas Joy...
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Miracles...
Here is a glimpse into the Christmas of my 3 very precious daughters...
Christmas Beauty...
Christmas Joy...
Christmas Beauty...
Christmas Joy...
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Emma, the Green Belt
Emma Rose has been studying Taekwondo since August. This past Friday she earned the rank of green belt. She is very proud of herself, as am I, as she finally broke a wooden board. She is the only girl and the smallest member of her class. She recently moved up to the 8-16 year old class (the ones in the blue uniform.) As you can see, she is the smallest one there, but gives the big boys a run for their money!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Deck the Halls
The week we returned home, the weather turned bitterly cold here in Texas. None the less, 3 beautiful yellow roses made their debut on the rosebush near the barn. Rather symbolic, don't you think?!
Since we have returned home, we have been preparing for the holidays. My sister flew in from New Jersey and met us at the airport as we returned home. She spend the weekend with us and supplied some much needed assistance. We managed to get the Christmas decorations up. Here are a few pics of the girls pretending to put the lights on the tree.
Olivia and her class sang in church on Sunday. So sweet. I of course cried. Olivia is the short one on the back row. She has the most beautiful black hair!
We took some pictures in China that we used on our Christmas card. It seems that I am the mother of the 3 most beautiful princesses in all of the world!
Here are a couple of pictures of the girls since we are home. Celia has fit in perfectly. She loves the girls and they love her. Guess we'll keep our family motto: "Sisters are best friends."
And finally, a couple of pictures of Celia Grace. She has discovered corn on the cob!
Since we have returned home, we have been preparing for the holidays. My sister flew in from New Jersey and met us at the airport as we returned home. She spend the weekend with us and supplied some much needed assistance. We managed to get the Christmas decorations up. Here are a few pics of the girls pretending to put the lights on the tree.
Olivia and her class sang in church on Sunday. So sweet. I of course cried. Olivia is the short one on the back row. She has the most beautiful black hair!
We took some pictures in China that we used on our Christmas card. It seems that I am the mother of the 3 most beautiful princesses in all of the world!
Here are a couple of pictures of the girls since we are home. Celia has fit in perfectly. She loves the girls and they love her. Guess we'll keep our family motto: "Sisters are best friends."
And finally, a couple of pictures of Celia Grace. She has discovered corn on the cob!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
We are home
Well, we have been home for a week now. Everyone is finally getting their days and nights straight. I have definitely felt my age this week as beauty sleep is a necessity. The girls and my mom went back to school/work on Monday. Celia and I have been running errands that included applying for a social security number, adding celia to my insurance, visiting the pediatrician, and of course starting on some Christmas shopping while the big girls are not around. I figured that Santa's secrets are safe with Celia for atleast this year!
Celia is settling into the family. We are learning what she likes and does not like. The pediatrician visit went well. She ended up with 6 shots and had to take a TB test and give a big vial of blood for lots of tests to be run (things like HIV, Hepatitis,etc.)--just precautionary, of course as we want to make sure that there are no surprises.
I am so happy that we found Celia. She is the perfect girl for our family. I can't imagine a different daughter.
Celia is settling into the family. We are learning what she likes and does not like. The pediatrician visit went well. She ended up with 6 shots and had to take a TB test and give a big vial of blood for lots of tests to be run (things like HIV, Hepatitis,etc.)--just precautionary, of course as we want to make sure that there are no surprises.
I am so happy that we found Celia. She is the perfect girl for our family. I can't imagine a different daughter.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Amazing Grace
Today (Wednesday) is our last day here in China. We fly out early on Thursday morning. Later this afternoon we will travel to the US consulate with the babies for the official oath we must take as the parents before the babies are granted a visa to travel to the US. Before we leave China, I wanted to share a couple of things about Celia Grace that I have found out along the way.
Celia Grace was found when she was 3 months old. She was blue and having a difficult time breathing. She was sent to the Qingdao City Children's Welfare Home where she received excellent care. After about 2 weeks she was admitted into the hospital where she under went open heart surgery. They say that your heart is the size of your fist and grows at the same rate. Imagine the fist of a 3 month old with a 14 mm hole in her ventricle wall. In addition, Celia had a flap between 2 chambers that did not close after birth as normal. These are not unusual birth defects even in the US and the repair has become fairly routine. However, the size of the hole in Celia's heart was pretty significant. Things were complicated by the fact that she had pneumonia. Celia remained in the hospital for almost 1 month. When she was discharged, she was sent back to the orphanage where she thrived. She remained there for about 5 months. She was then placed with 2 different foster families for the past 9 months. She is very healthy noww and we are expecting that her heart check up when we get home will reveal that her heart is now completely normal. The local doctor here heard no murmurs and said her heart sounds normal.
Celia is amazingly clever. Even the Chinese people are amazed at the vocabulary and command of the language she has. She speaks very clearly (or so I am told). It seems that she can count to 10, knows some colors, and the names of many objects. She has detailed conversations with just about anyone who will speak to her. Some how, she seems to understand much of what we tell her in English as well. She loves to entertain and certainly does not mind being the center of attention.
Here are some other things that Celia can do (and usually does well). Remember, she is only 18 months old! She can feed herself--hold a bowl of rice and feed herself without dropping very many pieces. Celia LOVES shrimp and would eat it every meal if it were available. She can eat almost a whole plate of shrimp. She can walk and run very well. She can hold a conversation in Chinese. She is potty trained (she actually tells you -in Chinese- when she has to go.)
She is an amazingly funny and smart girl. She loves to snuggle and is so well adjusted. Our guide, who has seen many babies from the orphanages, told me that she has no signs of being institutionalized but I already knew that! She loves her sisters and loves to play with them (and vice versa).
I am so blessed to have found Celia Grace and am grateful to be her mother forever. It is a true honor. I will leave you with some pictures of Celia we have taken during the past week and a half.
Today will be a busy day here. Thursday (all 24 hours of it) will be spent traveling home. My next post will come from home some time this weekend. Until then...
Celia Grace was found when she was 3 months old. She was blue and having a difficult time breathing. She was sent to the Qingdao City Children's Welfare Home where she received excellent care. After about 2 weeks she was admitted into the hospital where she under went open heart surgery. They say that your heart is the size of your fist and grows at the same rate. Imagine the fist of a 3 month old with a 14 mm hole in her ventricle wall. In addition, Celia had a flap between 2 chambers that did not close after birth as normal. These are not unusual birth defects even in the US and the repair has become fairly routine. However, the size of the hole in Celia's heart was pretty significant. Things were complicated by the fact that she had pneumonia. Celia remained in the hospital for almost 1 month. When she was discharged, she was sent back to the orphanage where she thrived. She remained there for about 5 months. She was then placed with 2 different foster families for the past 9 months. She is very healthy noww and we are expecting that her heart check up when we get home will reveal that her heart is now completely normal. The local doctor here heard no murmurs and said her heart sounds normal.
Celia is amazingly clever. Even the Chinese people are amazed at the vocabulary and command of the language she has. She speaks very clearly (or so I am told). It seems that she can count to 10, knows some colors, and the names of many objects. She has detailed conversations with just about anyone who will speak to her. Some how, she seems to understand much of what we tell her in English as well. She loves to entertain and certainly does not mind being the center of attention.
Here are some other things that Celia can do (and usually does well). Remember, she is only 18 months old! She can feed herself--hold a bowl of rice and feed herself without dropping very many pieces. Celia LOVES shrimp and would eat it every meal if it were available. She can eat almost a whole plate of shrimp. She can walk and run very well. She can hold a conversation in Chinese. She is potty trained (she actually tells you -in Chinese- when she has to go.)
She is an amazingly funny and smart girl. She loves to snuggle and is so well adjusted. Our guide, who has seen many babies from the orphanages, told me that she has no signs of being institutionalized but I already knew that! She loves her sisters and loves to play with them (and vice versa).
I am so blessed to have found Celia Grace and am grateful to be her mother forever. It is a true honor. I will leave you with some pictures of Celia we have taken during the past week and a half.
Today will be a busy day here. Thursday (all 24 hours of it) will be spent traveling home. My next post will come from home some time this weekend. Until then...
Tuesday in Guangzhou
Today was a fairly quiet day. Our guide filed some documents at the consulate on our behalf. We spent the day walking through an open air market, browsing the pearl/jade market, playing in the park, and eating at a sidewalk cafe. Here are some pictures from today's adventures...
A local bride and groom taking wedding photos...
At a local street market...
In a local park...
Ever see an eighteen month old feed herself a bowl of rice? Even the Chinese people we meet are amazed at how well Celia feeds herself...
Em and Liv share a banana split...
A local bride and groom taking wedding photos...
At a local street market...
In a local park...
Ever see an eighteen month old feed herself a bowl of rice? Even the Chinese people we meet are amazed at how well Celia feeds herself...
Em and Liv share a banana split...
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