Friends

Today Eva & I were finally able to get together with my friend Paula and her two boys, Kai & Will, who has been home with his forever family for about two weeks now!

A little more than four years ago, Paula and I were introduced by our mutual social worker as we were going through the process of preparing our dossiers to China. Living only 20 minutes apart, our families quickly became friends and we have shared all the emotions that this adoption journey would bring. I am still amazed at how God worked everything out that we would have both traveled to China within just a few weeks of each other and that we would be sitting here today with these beautiful children we have waited for so long.

Paula, Thank you for your support and encouragement over the years; but most importantly, for your friendship! I so look forward to watching these two grow up together!!

Tomorrow, Eva will celebrate one month as a U.S. citizen!! She is doing GREAT and has transitioned so easily into life here. She is now calling us Mama and Dada which makes my heart melt everytime I hear!! Her vocabulary continues to grow and she has even picked up some basic signs that I've taught her. All this makes communication much less frustrating; even though David & I are both convinced that she understands everything we say...it's so amazing!

She has developed a love for a particular blanket. Consistently she would go to the drawer and pull out the same blanket; now it just stays with her almost all of the time.

She likes the smell of it;

and I laugh that usually when a 2 year old is quiet you'd better go see what they are in to?! Not Eva, when she's quiet...this is what we find:

usually she's in her room on her soft, pink rug but of course I couldn't get a picture of her there.

All in all she appears happy and to be growing more comfortable each and every day. We are, of course, still feeling tremendously blessed for the gift of these children that God has given us!!

First Day of School

How did I wake up this morning the mother of a 2nd & 4th grader??!! So PROUD of you, my boys!!Eva is missing her big brothers!! She's gone to their rooms looking for them and has been going up to their pictures on the end table pointing at them as if saying "where are these two guys?" I can't wait to see how excited she gets when they come home this afternoon!!
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***Excited is an understatement for Eva's reaction to seeing her brothers this afternoon. She screamed, with joy, for several minutes once they were home!!

Road Trip

We learned something new about Eva today...she is a fantastic car traveler! We got up this morning and decided that since it was the last Saturday before school starts we would surprise the boys with a trip to the Kemah Boardwalk. Kemah is about 2 1/2 hours away. Although we had traveled with Eva in China that was without child restraints so we really weren't sure how she would do buckled in a car seat for that long. She did beautifully! When she wasn't singing or sleeping, she was just sitting quietly.
We arrived in Kemah at lunchtime and went straight to eat at the Aquarium Restuarant surrounded by 70,000 gallons of water filled with many different species of fish. After eating our lunch, we went down to Stingray Reef and feed stingrays their lunch!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing boardwalk games and riding rides, including Eva's first park train ride.
Eva did great being in & out of her stroller all day. Of course it was hot out, but nothing that an ice cold Icee couldn't make feel better! The last surprise of the day was driving into Houston to the Galleria and taking the boys to the Lego Store. There we spent about 2 hours looking at ALL of the legos!! It was a great family day and a wonderful way to end the summer!!

ONE Month!!

I guess I can't start every post with "I just can't believe..." but can you believe that one month ago today we held our beautiful baby girl for the first time?!! Just yesterday Noah said, "Mom, it feels like Eva has been with us for years" and it does! She is just such a natural fit to our family. It is truly a testament to God's timing and perfect plan. We are so grateful that He chose us to raise this precious gift.

Special Event

Today was a very special day for me and Eva. Six of my dear friends hosted a shower to welcome Eva home.

It gave me the opportunity to introduce her and show her off!!

I was truly overwhelmed with the turnout and since the shower I keep thinking of the saying "it takes a village to raise a child". Everyone there today has shared a part in our journey to Eva whether it be through prayer, words of encouragement, mutual support, and most importantly friendship. Today I celebrated with my "village"!!

Eva did extremely well! She spent the morning in her "eating" chair like a queen on her throne! Towards the end she ventured out and was very excited with her newest toys!

My heartfelt thanks to Allison, Bridget, Mrs. Sue, Molly, Mary and Dawn for a beautiful morning, you truly outdid yourselves; and to everyone who attended. Your thoughtfulness and generosity has blessed our family. Eva is set for the next few years with clothes and toys!!

Weekly Update

I just can't believe that we have had Eva 3 weeks today! I actually had to check the calendar twice to make sure I was right. In some ways it feels like yesterday that we held her for the first time and in other ways it's like she's been with us forever. We have now been home for 9 days and this is where Eva is really blossoming. I have been telling friends that it's like watching a infant grow up in fast forward. The day we got her she did little more then sit on the bed, now she is freely exploring and interacting.

We have been so blessed that our jet lag was minimal after arriving home. David only missed 1/2 a day of work and the boys really didn't miss a beat. They were feeling well enough to attend a day camp at our church the week we got home. Eva took about 5 nights to get on U.S. time...till then she was "partying" in her crib at 2:30am each morning! Glad that is now behind us and she's sleeping through the night about 12 hours. She is now also happy in her car seat and knows that when she is in it that means we are going "bye-bye"!!

We stayed home all of last week to let her get comfortable with her new surroundings and to find a regular routine. She is definitely more comfortable on her own turf and enjoyed having visitors over here. She still gets overwhelmed in large groups but even that is getting better. She has also made friends with our dog, Cassie. Eva refers to Cassie as "puppy" (one of her new words since arriving home) and loves to give her the bone.

Eva is definitely a girly girl!! She loves hairbows and shoes! Just today after her nap, she brought me her bow and a pair of shoes to put on. She walked around like that the rest of the evening. She squeals with delight at the sight of nail polish and sits patiently to have her toes painted. She is very good at pretend play and loves a tea party!! She also loves music, already wanting to play on the piano and has such a graceful little way of dancing.

Her vocabulary has also grown, as I already said she now knows the word "puppy", "hi" which comes out "hi-ya", "bye-bye" and "more". The girl still really likes to eat! The only thing besides pineapple we have found that she doesn't like is peanut butter. One of her favorite meals is grits...We just knew she was a Southern girl at heart!

She is also learning the use of the word "yes". Up until now, she shook her head "no" to each & every question we asked. I started showing her how to nod yes by putting my hands on either side of her face and moving her head up and down. Now when she says yes, she puts her hands on both sides of her face and nods. It's really too cute!!

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It was such a blessing to attend church services yesterday with Eva. I sat in the pew thinking about how many Sunday's I had prayed for her and dreamed of what it would be like to be at church together. Now here she was with us clapping and really enjoying the worship music. It was a moment that made my heart sing! God is so good!!

Today I took Eva to the pediatrician for her first well visit. She was such a big girl, even though in size she's not on the growth chart!! Thankfully she may be small, but she is healthy. Of course the photo was taken before the shots were given!! I could go on and on, like how she has the cutest facial expressions and scrunches her little face, or how she loves to play patty cake and peek a boo....but I guess that I have gone on enough! As you can tell we are just smitten and totally in love with our little princess!!