Settling In!

Zoe is settling in now and knows we are her family forever! She is so happy and loves being with her brothers! She loves going to baseball games to cheer them on. She has started to say short sentences and still loves to eat! So far she will eat anything we put in front of her. She now sleeps in a princess toddler bed and loves it. No more tears at nap time or bed time and she sleeps soundly through the night. Grandma and Mommy took Zoe to get her ears pierced and as she loves to wear jewelry. She was such a brave girl and loves her butterfly earrings. She is learning so much each day and says new words each week. We put her baby pool outside yesterday and she went into a pool for the first time and had a blast. She loves to jump on our new trampoline and she asks to go "Jump" every day. She especially loves it when we are all together!! One of her favorite things to do is color and she discovered stickers as well. She is such a fun girl to be around and has grown so much since bringing her home. Her hair is getting longer and thicker and she has gained weight too! My bond with her gets stronger and stronger each day and I am so blessed to have her as my daughter! God is so faithful!

USA!!!!

Zoe is now a United States citizen! We got her papers in the mail along with her certificate of citizenship! Zoe also had her first appointment to check on her heart. On March 13, 2013 Robert and I took her to see Dr. Mitchell. He is a highly qualified pediatric cardiologist and he was just wonderful with Zoe. It was a long 2 hour appointment including and EKG and 2 sonograms. This appointment was very hard on Zoe as she has regressed in her progress a little since then but is finding her way. The Doctor gave her a great report on her heart. He told us that the surgery they did in China was done very well and that she was very healthy and doing great. She has to see him once a year and told us signs to look for if she begins to have leakage between her lower valves as her heart grows. She is saying Mommy and Daddy in English now which is fun and she says, "excuse you" and "Bless you" and "Wuv you"! She continues to have a great appetite and loves ice cream! She has made a great transition into her toddler bed as she was struggling with nap time in her crib. So we gave the toddler bed a shot and she has done very well and sleeps through the night in her bed without getting up! She picked out some Disney princess sheets and some Hello Kitty sheets as those are her two favorite characters so far! Thank you for all your prayers for Zoe, keep them up!

Fun with family!

Zoe has been home for a little over 3 weeks and is doing great. She loves her family and toys. She is such a "girly girl"! She wants to put on jewelry and makeup every morning when mommy gets ready and have her hair done with style! Grandma got her some jewelry and mommy and daddy bought her a hello kitty jewelry box to keep all her stuff in. Grandma also got Zoe a little Hello Kitty makeup bag so she can have her beauty time while mommy gets ready. She loves her squeaky shoes we got for her in China as well.

Zoe had her first doctors appointment and it went very well. She got some immunizations and blood work done and the doctor said she is very healthy. She goes to see a pediatric cardiologist in March to make sure everything with her heart is working correctly. Her pediatrician could hear a heart murmur while listening to her heart at the doctors office.

Mommy and Daddy got her a princess 4 wheeler for her 2nd birthday and she loves to ride it! Grandma and Grandpa threw her a little 2 year old birthday party with a Minnie Mouse theme and Grandma made her a birthday cake! She also loves to eat and she has learned to fold her hands and pray at each meal. She has started saying more words in English such as: Owl, School, Cool, Bye-Bye, Eat, Puppy, Uh-Oh, Mama, Dada, Ball, when asked what a Ducky says, she says Quack-Quack! She is learning more and more each day. She loves music and dances to it any time its on and she loves books and balls. She plays at her little pink kitchen with her baby dolls and sets up her tea set!

Zoe's Grandpa loves to take pictures of her and has captured some precious moments! This is Grandma and Zoe at the Women's Bible Study that Grandma teaches. It was her first time coming to bible study to meet all the women who have prayed for her so much and supported our adoption! Grandma loves to cook for her and play with her and buy her cute outfits to wear! The boys are doing great with her and love to play with her and are wonderful big brothers!

Fun at Home!

Well we have had Zoe home now for 7 days now and she is doing great! She slept through the night last night for the first time and hopefully that will continue. She is having a blast exploring her playroom, her toys and getting to know her brothers and family. She says "uh oh" a lot now and she blows kisses when asked too! She waves hi and Bye and says "quack quack" for duck. We are so blessed to have her home and she is more than we could have ever wished for. Here are some pics......

Sleeping after our consulate appointment in Guangzhou!

Laughing at her brothers!

Sitting with Grandpa at his computer!

Playing with the baby doll stroller for the first time!

We are home!!!

Words cannot express how thankful I am to be home! Our flights were on time and Zoe did great on all four flights. She only cried twice on our 13 hour flight which was amazing. She is bonding with Robert every day and loves the boys and the dogs. My mom was such a huge help to me in China and I could never thank her enough for enduring the trip with me. Zoe and I are starting to adjust to the time zone here but she doesn't want to be left alone in her room at night so that is a adjustment for her. Robert ended up sleeping in the room with her last night while she slept in her crib. Making sure that we won't leave her. She is doing great with potty training and loves to eat. She had her first spaghetti tonight and loved it. Brushing her teeth has been a challenge as she has had no dental care at all. Soon we will schedule her physical and have her heart looked at. I can't thank all the people enough that have covered us in prayer through this whole process and all the way home. Please continue to pray for all of us as we bond with Zoe.

Well it's the last day for us in Guangzhou! We walked to McDonalds and they had a menu we could point to what we wanted. We got Zoe her first happy meal and she ate every bite! This girl can eat! We also found a 5 story market called Jusco and they had umbrella strollers so we bought a red snoopy one for the travel home. Grandma also bought Zoe her first purse! It's hello kitty and she loves it! She been snooping through our purses all week so now she has her own with a princess cell phone inside! We are so excited to fly to Beijing tonight so we can start our journey home. Please pray for smooth flights!

Today was a day to celebrate! We finalized Zoe's adoption today at the consulate! Tomorrow our guide Lily will bring her paperwork and her Chinese visa and passport to enter the United States. We leave Guangzhou at 4:30pm and head to the airport to fly to Beijing. We stay in Beijing for one night and fly out of there to JFK and then on our way to Dulles! So excited tomorrow starts our journey home! Zoe had her first grieving session today and cried for 2 hours straight. She's very happy tonight though! She's such a little lady. Crosses her legs when she sits and jabbers in Chinese all day long. She blows kisses now and waves hi and bye to everybody. I look forward to having her home and on a real schedule and have the boys and her daddy get to know her. Please pray for our 3 plane rides and the long trek home for safety and sleep.

Today we had a day to shop! We went to the pearl factory and a walking mall and shamian island. Mom bought Zoe her first pair of pearl earrings for when she gets her ears pierced! We also got hand painted porcelain beaded bracelets made for all the girls in our family that were made in the Jiangxi province which is where Zoe is from. We got squeaky shoes for Zoe and 3 Chinese outfits too. This is a photo of the pearls we saw. We had a good day but busy. Tomorrow we get Zoe's TB test checked and have a relaxing day planned! Missing my boys a lot but each day that goes by means I'm one day closer to coming home!

Today we had our medical check up appointment. It was very crowded and lots of tears were shed but Zoe did really well. She cried but calmed downed quickly. When they gave her the TB test they wouldn't let parents go back with the children so that was very hard. We were there for 2 hours and then went to a market near by the hotel to pick up bottled water. Then our guide Lily brought us back to the Garden hotel for paperwork. We miss home but are really enjoying Zoe and her fun personality!

Today we had a great time of touring in Nanchang. With our guide and our group of five families we went to a porcelain factory and a Chinese pavilion. It was six floors high and very pretty. As Mom and I were coming out of the pavilion we had a crowd begin surrounding us and people asked to take pictures with Zoe and I. One man who spoke broken English asked if he could hold Zoe. I wasn't too sure about this but he was very sweet so I said yes and she let him hold her for the picture and then she wanted her mommy! We are bonding more and more each day that goes bye. After we visited the pavilion we were then treated to a traditional Chinese feast which was delicious! That was the best meal of our trip so far and Zoe did great all day! She is really coming out of her shell and showing us all of her personality. I got my first kiss from her today and she is calling me mama and giving hugs to mom and I. She doesn't know what it is to be quiet yet so we have to teach her that. Today I taught her "shhhhhhh" and she did it back to me in the lobby of the hotel so that's a start. She is lots of fun and stubborn too! We have our first flight tomorrow to Guangzhou with the rest of the four other families and we will pick up all the kids passports in the morning before our guide takes us all to the airport. Then we will check into the Garden Hotel! We are halfway done with this trip and I can't wait to get home to my family!

We have Zoe! She is doing well over all but has a cold. She said "hi" today while face timing with Robert and the boys and she waved to them. We miss home a lot as we are having a hard time with the air here. They heat with coal here and it's making us sick so we had to shut off the heat in our room and that helped. Zoe smiles a lot! She is fun and we are learning what her cries mean. She likes to go potty on the toilet and mostly keeps her diaper dry. The Lord is keeping us in his arms until we get home. Please keep us in your prayers.

2nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Zoe! Two days till I leave! Zoe turned two today and we had quiet a busy day with Taylor not feeling well and multiple tests at the doctor:( Hopefully all will be fine while I am gone! Almost all packed and so excited to see China and most of all my baby girl! Please pray everyone stays healthy while we are gone and that my mom and I stay healthy while in China. Gotcha Day is on the 7th!