LOVE YOU!

The. Sweetest. Words. Ever!  I heard these sweet precious words from Abby last night!  We were in the kitchen and she was helping me make rolls for dinner(she loves to help) she turned, put her sweet little arms around me, kissed my cheek and said with all of her Abby enthusiasm Mommy love you!  I don't know if she understands the depth of those words, but I will take it and LOVE it!  My mommy heart soared!

A few minutes later H.O. walked into the kitchen and she saw him and ran up, hugged him and said Baba, love you!

The girls helping me make some Christmas cookies!

Abby getting to know her grandparents a little.  My parents stopped by to see her, they had only seen her at the airport on the night we arrived home and they wanted to see her awake and full of herself.  She was!

I thank the Lord for the love of this sweet little girl.  Remember on this Christmas Eve, Eve the love that God has for us.  Jesus was born in a manger many years ago, so that He could die on the cross for our sins.  What love!

Life through Abby's Eyes...

..is exciting and full of adventure!  I continue to be amazed at her giggly, smiley personality.

Imagine with me if you will being 10 years old and the only life you knew was inside an orphanage/foster apartment attached to the orphanage.  Then one day strange looking people came to take you into their family.  I say strange because we look very different from her, as we walked through the orphanage touring, children would come up to our guide and ask, "Are they foreigners, they look different?"  This new family did not speak your language, eat the same food as you, had different customs than you, had rules you were not used to, lived in the country not a city of 30 million!  It would be like being picked up by aliens and taken to a different planet!  Personally, I think I would curl up in a ball and want to cry and be scared. 

But Abby?,  oh no!  She is embracing her new life and jumping in with both feet, full of excitement!!  God is so good!  We had prayed for this but she has adjusted better than we could of imagined!

Everything is so exciting to her!  As we walked through the airport, she would look at the planes and yell, WOW!, Mommy!  Throwing her arms out wide trying to explain to me how big the jets were.  As our plane was starting to land in Detroit and she could see the ground getting closer she was about to come out of her skin with excitement.  She continually yelled Wow! Wow! Wow!  That has become a favorite word of hers!  We take so much for granted and it is fun to see life through her eyes, with such delight over simple things.  She plays sweetly and quietly from sun up to sun down enjoying each toy.  We have left our house twice with her since we have been home and each time when we come home and we begin pulling in the driveway, she yells YAH and gets so excited!  The little things... but also a very big thing, a home, something she has never had!

Life through Abby's eyes is so exciting and we look forward to remembering to enjoy the simple things as she illuminates them for us!

Home Sweet, Wonderful Home!

We are so excited to be home!  We praise God for the safety He gave us!  There are so many things that you take for granted about home like brushing your teeth with tap water and not out of bottled water, and a regular western toilet with toilet paper, not a squatty potty where you have to bring your own paper!  Home is wonderful!


We were greeted at the airport by our wonderful family!   We felt so loved!  We then came home to a clean house and dinner and tomorrow's breakfast on the table.  And then as if we couldn't feel more loved I had a email that my church family will be providing dinner for us for the next three nights!  Blessed?  Yes, we are!

Abby exploring the house when we got home.

The precious brown sealed envelope that we gave to the immigration officer in Detroit and he declared Abby a US Citizen!! Yippee!!

A few pictures from our last day in China!

Homeward Bound

We have arrived in Hong Kong.  We have checked into the airport hotel and will fly out in the morning.  We will be leaving here on Thursday, 9:45pm EST and will arrive home on Friday at 4:15pm.  Thank you for your prayers for our safety and no delays. We are SO ready to be home.  I can not upload pictures tonight, will try to put some on tomorrow.

A Good Day!

Today we had our Consulate Appointment.  We stood and took the oath that all immigrants take on behalf of Abby.  She did not understand what was going on but we did, and were excited for this big piece of our adoption.  When our plane lands in Detroit she will become a US citizen.  Tomorrow our guide will pick up her passport which will contain her visa and we will begin our journey home!!  We will head to Hong Kong and stay the night and then Friday we will board a plane headed to the good ole USA!


Abby has had a very good day!  She is understanding more and is able to understand a few more family rules.  She is enjoying her new family, especially Taylor and is loving night time hugs and kisses!


Please pray for our family as we travel home for safety and no delays.  Also for health for us, half of us have come down with a cold.

Us enjoying one of our favorite Chinese restaurants.

Giggly sisters!

I have spent the evening packing us up, whew what a job!  We are taking way more home than we came with!!

Guangzhou Zoo

Today we went to the Guangzhou Zoo and had a great time!  We really enjoyed the giraffe's!  For a small fee we could feed  them and all the kids, including the biggest kid, H.O. had fun doing that.  Giggles all around!  Abby wasn't so sure about their big tongues.

Here's our gang!

Sisters

Last night we went to McDonald's for ice cream and Abby was very excited you could tell that was something very special for her!

A few sites from China!

Dinner anyone?  How about some eel!

Hmm, We're not sure what this is.

One Week With Abby

Today marks one week that Abby has been with our family!  What a week it has been.  Adoption is not easy, everyone in the family has to adjust, just like adding a baby.  However, our baby is ten with a personality and attitudes, testing her limits at times, to see what she can get away with in our family.  As I said adoption is not easy, but oh so worth it!!  We wouldn't change a thing!


Here are some things we've learned about Abby:
*She loves to smile, smile, smile.
*She loves to laugh.
*She loves anything pink.  One day she had a yellow sweater on and I tried to put a yellow bow in her hair. Oh no, no, no, she wouldn't have it, only pink.
*She can not speak much English, but definitely gets her point across.
*She LOVES yogurt!
*She also loves vegetables, especially tomato's, cabbage and sugar snap peas.
*She likes pizza and french fries, she's fitting in great in our family.
*She loves having her finger and toenails painted!
*She loves panda bears!
*She likes to be silly!
*She loves to color, she will sit quietly for hours coloring!
*She likes sticker books.
*She loves electronics, Taylor's ipod has gotten quite the work-out!


Most importantly she seems like a perfect fit for our family, hand-picked by God for us!!

Before dinner H.O. and the kids enjoyed another game of hacky sack.  Today we went back to the medical clinic to check Abby's TB test and everything was fine.  Tomorrow we will go to the Guangzhou Zoo, Wednesday we have our US Consulate appointment, and Thursday we pick up her US Visa and head to Hong Kong to begin our journey home.  The countdown is on, we are ready to get home!