Family Blog

Because this blog was to help people understand and enjoy our journey to pick up our little Chinese Princess, and now she is part of our family, I am going to go back to posting only in our family blog. We would love to continue to share our journey as a family. If you would like to access our Family Blog, please leave your email in the comments and we will send you an invite. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us!!!

2 Months

She is absolutely perfect, and we are so in love with her! She is a dream come true! What a great way to celebrate 2 months since gotcha-day than to visit the Healing Fields in Sandy, Utah. It was a very special day!

Adjusting to Home

Here are some photo's since we've been home!
The Saturday after we arrived home, we headed up to Heber to say goodbye to my sister who was moving to New Hampshire (sad face). Lizzie jumped on the tramp for the first time, petted my mom and dad's baby horse (born just before we left), and tried out the swing.

That Sunday we took her to eat dinner with the Anderegg family and meet cousins, pet the dog, Buddy, and eat icecream. She has absolutely loved her siblings, and I was able to capture a few of her and her big brother, whom she adores (and he can't get enough of her).

Here is a photo of the girls in their dresses. I found these in a shopping center in Zhengzhou. They turned out perfectly!
Football practice started that following Monday with tryouts the first two days and then team practice Wed-Sat, and Mon-Sat since. Though we don't go to all of them, it is one of the only times we are all together, so we like to go support Josh. Lizzie enjoys the park nearby, but there are no swings. However, there is a lot of space to play in the grass and practice walking.
We like to go for walks. She enjoys discovering new things and being outside.
She always starts out with the sunglasses on, but by the time we're home, they are off and she is anxious to get out.
And this photo I just had to take to show that she is not always happy, we are all adjusting, but she is always adorable!

A Mother's Sacrifice

This is Lizzie with her foster mom at the orphanage...the one you probably read about in my previous post. My mom just happened to snap this photo. Can you see the love in her eyes for my little Lizzie. What a lucky little girl!

I just need to say Thank You to Lizzie's birth mom, for bringing her into the world and trying to find a place for her to receive the help she needed. My heart aches for her, and I have a deep love and concern for her as I contemplate the difficult decision she had to make.

And Thank You to Lizzie's foster mom, whom I love for loving her and giving her a safe environment where she learned to bond and accept and give love. I am indebted to these two women for bringing my daughter to me and making her life the best they possibly could. I pray the Lord will bless them and help them to feel of my gratitude and love.

Treasures

In each of our care packages that we sent to Lizzie, we included a disposable camera, not having any idea if they would be used and/or returned. Well, we did receive them on Gotcha Day, along with her and a special book from the orphanage. It took me a couple weeks to have them developed, but I did. What a treasure. Here are some of them. They really opened my eyes to how she was living! What a rare glimpse into her former life. We are so lucky to have her!

Do you notice the split pants above? Yes, that is her cute little tooshie peaking out. All of the pants she is wearing in the photo's are split pants. And all the seats double as toilets. It is very common in China to see Children with the split pants and sitting in seats like these. I love that they took a few of her in them!

There were 2 other foster children with her, so I'm assuming these other cute toddlers are her foster siblings. Wish I could have brought them all home!

I have to say that this photo (above) is my overall favorite.
That little girl in my orange has my heart!

Most Chinese people live in apartment buildings with courtyards. I'm assuming this is the courtyard by her apartment since it looks as if she spends most of her time there (and the orchard). This is considered the "country".

Scrimmage

Josh had his first scrimmage against a 7th grade B team, and they won. They stopped them and drove them back on almost every defensive drive, and scored a touch-down on one of their offensive drives. It was Lizzie's first football game....one of many to come! Athlete is #11. Do you like their new white jersey's? Pretty sweet! And it was very fun to introduce Lizzie to so many of our football friends. We stayed for two of the other games to support some of our boys from previous years. It is nice not having to be in charge, but we miss "the boys".

Highland Water Park

We met up with several other families from our neighborhood to play. Despite a short rain fall, it was a beautiful and fun day and all seemed to have a good time.