Fabulous Christmas and new pics!

We had a great Christmas lot's of love, fun, family and of course presents! Aubrey had a ball, she did not really get the whole opening presents thing. But she did enjoy her toys...she is a sweetheart so much personality and fun. Everyday brings new adventures. I have to get back to work in a few days and so does Jimmy so we are enjoying some time outdoors together, we are going on a hike today and a long bike ride tomorrow, the weather has been nice, it is so good to see the sun after such a rainy Dec. Oh well not much else to say here are some new pics! Happy New Year to ALL!!

Great Pics from our "Hike" in the mountains today!

Pics of our girl....

So how are things at home??

Well I can almost say I have recovered at last from the jet lag, I am not sleeping the greatest but I don't know that after 2 weeks I can blame it on jet lag anymore. It is what it is, I'll take what I can get. We have been adjusting very well, Aubrey is doing wonderfully she has really warmed up to everyone in the family and is a little character, she is a lot of fun. She also gives the best hugs and kisses ever! She is a little clingy to Mama at times, but loves to play with her BABA and GEGE (Jimmy and Zach). She fits in with our family very well, she likes to roughhouse and has a good sense of humor. She is eating and sleeping well and except for a cold is by all accounts healthy as a horse. It is definetely an adjustment for me, Ms. Independent, It has been a long time since there was the pitter patter of little feet for me to chase after.....but the challange has been good, and her love and affection for me get me through the rough spots when I think for a fleeting moment....Oh, my lord I HAVE A BABY!! She is a blessing, her smile absolutely lights up a room. I am ready for the hair to grow though so people in the mall will stop calling her (dressed in pink from head to toe) a BOY:)

I have pics on my camera will download them later today and post soem new ones.

Shay

Headed for home in the morning!!

We are headed home at 5:50 in the morning, and we are so ready! We managed to get all our stuff plus the million gifts we bought packed up and ready to go:) TN here we come. It has been a great trip in a really interesting kind of way. Lot's of really hard stuff, but not as hard as I expected. Lot's of wonderful people met and we discovered that most people in China are kind and generous and gracious and welcoming and honest.......just like everywhere else. Most of all we discovered how special it is to open our hearts to a beautiful child who needed a family and to watch her slowly begin to trust and then love and then totally open her heart to us! We miss everyone and can't wait to get back in the good old USA!!

Home Stretch

Gaungzhou is nice, beautiful weather, we finally got to see the sunshine! I was beginning to get seasonal affective disorder or something:) The White Swan is a nice hotel by China stnadards but the beds are the size of a match box and there is no mattress only a wooden plank, joking but that is what it feels like! Aubrey is doing great she got over the cold she had, and she has been in a great mood the last 2 days, she is warming up to Jimmy and Zach kind of slowly but loves me and Kelly. Yesterday we had a breakthrough with Jimmy she let him hold her for a couple of hours and he played with her at bed time and got her al wound up! She is a great sleeper, thank you Jesus, and goes right to sleep when you put her down. She is on a definite schedule, which should be interesting with the jet lag going home. She is a beautiful bright girl and the picture do not capture her personality....she crinkles her nose when she smiles and it is just adorable. A word or two abouthe orphanage, it was heart wrenching. They were very nice but the place was cold and institutional and the children we saw had serious special needs we took candy and some donations clothes and such and they were so thrilled, to see their little faces light up was truly amazing we were all very moved by the experience. Here are some more pics gotta run Zach is getting impatient with me being on his computer:)

Ok, Enough of Zhengzhou already!!

We are getting restless and ready to move on to the next venue Guanghzou here we come in the morning! The pics below are of the Orphanage and a local school, we were moved to tears at the orphanage, I will share more later we have a fussy baby tonight she is not feeling well. One more day closer to coming home!!! Yeah!!! Being in China has changed me in many ways, it has given me a great gift more precious than I can describe, but more thank anything it makes me grateful to be an American

Update Day 6

Pretty low key day here in China, Zhengzhou does not have a lot for Americans to do so our time here will go slowly. We are getting to know our group members very well and the hallway in our hotel has become a common gathering place. There are some very nice and very selfless people here. This experience will change your values, it certainly has mine. Somehow I always thought the world revolved around little me and my simple life.....it turns out that there is a whole great big world out there, and there are a lot of people suffering in it. I see the daily struggle the Chinese people have just to make ends meet and take care of their families and they are such gracious generous people. We passed a very old man begging in the street and gave him some money and I thought at his age he should be retired and home being cared for by loved ones. Then there were two men who had deformities one had no hands, it is just sad....it makes you realize that your small worries pale in comparison to what the vast majority of the worlds population has to endure. The shocking thing to a westerner like me is that these people are very happy with their way of life. I never thought of our family being rich and yet we are in so many ways. Aubrey is sleeping, she went to sleep last night at 7 and woke at 6:30 in the morning, she takes a two hour nap mid day (now). She eats everything she can get her hands on and is quite a little chink of lead. She gets a little fussy when she is tired or hungry but other than that she is happy all the time. She is bonding with all of us well, especially me, but she will readily go to Jimmy and loves to play with him. We got our adoption registration done this morning and received a cetificate....she is officially ours a few more steps to go and then we can come home, it could not come fast enough for me, China has its great aspects don't get me wrong, but I appreciate so much more now what we have at home in the US. Here are some more pics....

Gotcha Day- Day 5

We have our baby girl and we could not be more thrilled. Here is how it went down.....we walked as a group to the provincial office in Zhegzhou to pick up the babies and one by one they called the families in, we were they 4th family.....I could see her in the room all dressed in pink and she was so much more beautiful than I ever imagined. A family ahead of us was adopting a 12 year old who was so excited to be adopted she was abandoned at 10 and she really wanted a family, it was very moving. We were all crying and just estactic at the same time. To say we are in love with this little one is not even close. She is a very special little girl, she is healthy and happy and so loving within seconds she was kissing our cheeks. She recognized us from the book we sent and we were saying through the tears " I am your Mama, I am you BaBa, I am your brother and I love you" in chinese of course. We are so happy have to go do paperwork now. Here is a pic or two. Please ignore spelling errors, I am trying to hurry.