This Week in Review

What a week this has been! It started with a great time at our FCC's Chinese New Year Celebration. With this being our first true experience with it, we enjoyed every second of the day - even the icy ride to the event. The girls couldn't have had a better time with so much to do and see. They were glued to the entertainers and we found it quite comical to see two little blond heads upon a sea of black. After the event, the girls had plans to join martial arts, "knife dancing", and learn Chinese. We encourage it all minus the knives.

Monday night through the next twenty-four hours brought us enough snow and ice to give us four days off school. Having that time with the family was quite an unexpected treat; however, by the end of the week, boredom started to set in. We did manage to get in some sled riding, family UNO and Bingo, and a trip up to Skyline which were just some of the snowy highlights. Unfortunately, due to the wind storm back in September, now we have to make up these snow days into June. We're looking at attending school until June 16!!!!!

Julianne's Birthday Party

Julianne turns ONE on the 28th so we decided to celebrate the special day with our closest friends at their home. It is quite funny that Julianne's birthday fell on the first day of Chinese New Year last year so tonight we thought it would be appropriate to have our own little New Year Celebration - not so traditional but we made it our own.

The night started with a small Chinese buffet with homemade fried rice (thanks Kim) and food from our local Chinese restaurant. The kids enjoyed a gift bag (thanks Kim), fortune cookie and a birthday cake and song. I am sure Julianne could hear the serenade of the five young voices singing her birthday song. We also wrote birthday wishes on a Chinese-style lantern and let it loose into the night sky. We stretched the truth a bit (well, a lot) by telling the girls that the lantern was on its way to China so Julianne could see it. I wonder how many calls the police got stating that there was a UFO in the sky. Oh well....

It breaks our hearts that we cannot be there with her on her actual birthday but we will be with her in the next few months - hopefully, in time for Easter. Happy Birthday, RuoTing!

Killian, the cat

After we came back from celebrating (with a dinner) the arrival of our Letter of Acceptance, we noticed Killian, our cat, was very ill. He couldn't walk or even keep his head up. I took him to an emergency vetinarian clinic and was told the grim news that he needed to be put to sleep. He was a great cat. However, this is probably a blessing since we were concerned about a baby gate blocking the basement where Killian's litter box is. We couldn't imagine putting in a kitty door in our brand new door we just put onto our basement. He will be certainly missed especially by the girls.

Letter of Acceptance

We finally have our Letter of Acceptance after 135 days of waiting since our Preapproval!!!
More to come tomorrow......

Keeping Busy

This is old news but writing in this blog keeps me busy and my mind off of the wait....the wait.....
Over Thanksgiving Break we decided to paint and prepare Julianne's room. This turned out to be an entire family project with Leah preparing the wall for paint, Natalie deciding on which books Julianne is "allowed" to have and Jon and I doing the painting. Since Natalie felt like she was a part of the painting and set-up , the big switch into Leah's room went relatively smooth minus the occasional squeal and bed jumping.

Our Saturday Night Concert

Natalie is "charging" her new glow and the dark pjs.

Leah is putting on a show with her new guitar.

The girls putting on a show for us.

Starting a New Year and Still Waiting....

We are on day 120 since our preapproval and day 139 since our Letter of Intent. This is a bit longer than we anticipated. We hope to hear something surely this month if not next week. After we are given the stamp of approval then we wait on our Travel Approval. Essentially, it takes about 6-8 weeks for travel once the Letter of Acceptance arrives. We try not to count but I sit at home today bored so I count.

Christmas Joys

With Cousins - Lili and Maggie

Looking for Santa....

Just in case Santa was not aware!

Dear Santa, I have been a good girl. Leah

Me too! Natalie

Carrots for the reindeer and cookies for Santa.

Experiencing Christmas with our four and five year old gives us such great joy. They are always in such awe of the lights, tree, Santa, the manger, and of course the presents. What is different about this year is that they both truly are beginning to understand the importance of Christ's birth. The questions they have about that day are so genuine and innocent.....Why is Jesus in the food bin? How are the donkeys and cows going to eat? Why are the "fairies" on top of the stable? These questions are springboards into some good dialogues.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parent's house. It is a tradition (started by my Grandpa) to eat Mulligan stew (secret recipe) on Christmas Eve and what a treat it is. We not only love it for it scrumptious taste but it also keeps my grandparent's memory alive.

On Christmas morning, my parents share the morning watching our girls unwrap their gifts from Santa and enjoy breakfast with us. Leah was not her usual lively self and did not seem excited that it was Christmas morning. The culprit...her belly ached. She didn't even want to open gifts....argh! After about an hour, her sickness was confirmed by a trip to the bathroom. So now she is sleeping and she is going to stay home with me today as her daddy and sister set off for more Christmas parties.

Julianne is in the #1 Picture of 2008!

Julianne is already famous.....making the #1 photo of the year for Love Without Boundaries Organization. Julianne is the third child in the crib...quite a beauty! Love Without Boundaries is a large charity organization that gathers necessary supplies for the orphanages in China. To see if for yourself... http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/topten08/content/1_large.cfm

Waiting.......for Letter of Acceptance

Day 79 and counting........the reality of going past day 100 is starting to become more of a reality for us. We know that in God's timing we shall have her in our arms when we are meant to. For the sake of planning our absence from work, it would be nice to have a heads up on when we are leaving. My ultimate goal is to be able to help her blow out her first birthday candle on January 28! Chinese New Year too! Wouldn't that be awesome!

Leah and Natalie have certainly been keeping us preoccupied though with tea parties, puppet shows, playing dress-up, reading books and last but not least settling the latest sibling rivalry. Since we are off from work on Wednesday, we are devoting the day to preparing Julianne's bedroom and turning it into a ladybug haven. Natalie has already moved into Leah's bed which is about three weeks sooner than planned due to her "pink monster with one eye" dream. With each passing night the giggling, arguing, and jumping on the bed are beginning to subside. Hopefully, we will have this transition perfected by the time Julianne is brought into the mix. If not, the current shared queen bed might have to be switched out to two twin beds and unfortunately, this isn't part of the South financial plan at this point. In due time, though.