Happy Family Day!! March 23, 2010

Hi Everyone!

A few quick notes... First, Britti is still in Orlando with Chelsea and the AHS band until Friday afternoon so she's not here to upload pictures for me. She did show me how to do so before she left, but I am not feeling confident so I'll just wait until she gets back to post pics from the past few days. Sorry for the delay :(

On a much more positive note, I want to give a "shout out" to other families who held their new children for the first time on March 22, 2009 (Lisa and Anthony) and March 23, 2009 (Joanne and Mick, Mindy and Kevin, and Mike and Michelle). Thanks to Lisa, we connected with these other families at the Grand Park Hotel in Kunming, and they enriched our experiences in Kunming and Guangzhou beyond what words can express. We truly appreciate your kindness, support, and friendship!! Happy Family Day :)

Our first day with Ellie-Kate was an amazing blur... I have high hopes of finally getting around to scrapbooking our trip to China and working on Ellie-Kate's baby scrapbook, and I took some time to go through a few packs of pictures last night. The photos reinforce some of my memories of that day... After taking a quick sister picture on the stairwell at the Grand Park Hotel, we piled in the van and traveled to an official office. We started to work on paperwork until around 9:30 a.m. when two babies arrived. One was Ellie-Kate; the other one was her cribmate, Kailan. I recognized Ellie-Kate right away-- her eyes were huge, and she wore an outfit that we had sent in a care packet. We hesitated, though, because we wanted to honor protocol. She had been "our's" since November 2, 2008, but I stood across the room, staring instead. Finally, after an exchange with our guide, the woman brought her over to us and placed our baby in our arms. The older girls rushed to capture the moment, and they did. Some of the pics are blurry, but who could hold a camera steady at a time like this one? In spite of myself, I cried and then pulled it together. I didn't want to scare her. Ironically (given that she's a HUGE Daddy's girl now), she didn't want to go to Roger at first. We think that she was scared of his beard. However, she warmed to him soon after, and she hasn't looked back. Although Kailan cried a bit, Ellie-Kate seemed mostly curious. We entertained her with Cheerios and the few toys that we had brought with us. She didn't cry until we needed her footprint on a document, and she didn't like that task one bit! While I continued to sign papers, Roger consoled Ellie-Kate and got her to sleep on his shoulder. We felt so blessed that the officials had brought the cameras, toys, and photo albums that we had sent to China. Unfortunately, Kailan's folks didn't get the same treat...

Photos also show Ellie-Kate with the older girls on the bed in our hotel room and down in the hotel play area with her sisters and Kailan. They don't show some other more memorable moments... We discovered that Ellie-Kate has an incredible throwing arm when she picked up an empty water bottle and tossed it across the room into Kailan's dad's head. (He was fine and understanding.) We learned that some folks had a bit more luck than we did with finding a stroller in Kunming. A few of the other guys found amazing deals, but Roger didn't have much success on that first day. (After our trip to a temple on the next day, we decided that a stroller was essential so we just tossed down the money for our Kunming stroller-- Ellie-Kate still likes it better than the "nicer" one that we had already purchased at home.) We celebrated our first day with the kids at Rocco's with Mason and his new family. REALLY wish that I would have pulled out the camera to capture that dinner table AND Ellie-Kate's facial expression as she had pasta and pizza for the first time!! After a diet of "meat and egg soup," her nose literally twitched as she smelled the food in Rocco's, and she ate almost an entire dish of pasta during her first supper with us. I REALLY wish that I had a picture of her in the crib on that first night, but the room was dark, and I didn't want to use the flash and scare her.

As I compare photos from those first few days with ones from now, though, I have to admit that I'm a bit sad... Based on how well that I know her now, I realize just how scared that she was. She rarely cried, especially in those early days, but a close examination of those pictures reveals a hint of tears and quite a bit of fear. Now, her eyes light up as she laughs for the camera. Then, she stared solemnly at the camera, doing once again what she had to do. Now, she's liberated to express herself, to show her opinions... I can truly say that she feels safe now.

We took lots of pictures today at COSI and Chuckie Cheese in celebration of Family Day. Both of the little girls had a blast. (The older ones enjoyed their time at Disney too, but more details on that adventure after their return.) Ellie-Kate LOVED running around the playground, in particular, looking to make sure that I was right there in sight :) A year later, she can run, laugh, play, sing, talk, and participate fully in a special day as part of a loving family. I treasure how connected that we are, and I praise God for her physical, intellectual, and emotional development. She's so smart and funny and athletic and loving, and I cannot imagine our lives without her.

Thank you, God, for the past year and for blessing us with Ellie-Kate. What a gift!!! Thanks also to all of our family and friends for your love and support during our entire journey.

More soon--

Christie