6 months and family fun

It has been 6 months since Liana was placed in our arms for the first time!  She has been a daughter and a sister for 6 months and she has embraced those roles like she has always been in this family!  It's like she knew this is where she belongs and she has just taken to being in a family in such an amazing way! 

We just got back from a trip to visit our families last week.  It was amazing to have everyone meet Liana.  She handled everything like a little champ.  She had a blast with the grandparents and all of her aunts and uncles.  It was a pretty exhausting trip because we had to travel the entire length of the state since our families live on opposite ends.  All of our kids love to be around our extended family and Liana joined right in on the fun right away!  We just had a blast and our amazing little girl just loved everyone and fit in like she's always been here!

I have noticed that Liana follows her brother and sister's lead in so many things and it was very evident in this trip.  She saw that Ella and Ethan were comfortable with everyone so she was too.  After we came home, we had a last second play date with some friends that just happened to be in town.  I noticed that Liana was much more standoffish with them and I realized that it was because Ella and Ethan were too since they didn't know them before that play date.  I think it's amazing how she looks to them for a sense of security.  This is one of the reasons that we brought the kids with us to China.  We knew that Liana would instantly feel more comfortable with other kids than she would with us and we hoped that seeing Ella and Ethan with us would make her feel more comfortable with us.  I am convinced that it did because our China trip really went beautifully with her.  We have never regretted having all of our kids with us on that trip and it's amazing what a bond these siblings have!

Here are some pics from our trip to Oregon:

At the zoo

Cuddle time with Grandpa

Cuddles with Grandma

Shooting hoops with Daddy



Cooking with Grammy

Lawnmower rides with Papa

Pure joy!

Four generations!

Storytime

Going home

And just for fun, the first time I ever held Liana and today

Baby dedication

Yesterday, on Liana's 2 1/2 birthday (hey, when you miss her first birthdays, you'll take the 1/2 birthdays!) we had her dedicated at church.  This is always very meaningful for us when we dedicate our children, as it is our public declaration that we will try to raise them as God wants us to and in His word.  Taking her to church is always such a wonderful feeling and I haven't gotten over the feeling of awe for how many prayers were said for her last year and tears were shed as we waited to go and get her.  And now she's here!  I love our church and it is so nice to have Liana there with us every Sunday, learning about Jesus and all of the things that Erik and I grew up learning about.  One thing that was kind of amazing was that each family had someone up there with them to hold the baby during one of the prayers and the woman who came up to be with us told us that her sister is waiting for a referral for a baby from China right now.  She told me that she has been waiting for 5 years so I know she must be doing non-special needs adoption and, if she continues in non-special needs, will probably be waiting at least a couple more years.  I told her that it was much, much faster for us and explained to her about special needs adoption and Liana's "special needs" or really lack thereof.  I told her that you can be matched with a child with very minor special needs and she got really excited to tell her sister about it.  I'm sure her sister already knows about special needs adoption.  If her agency hasn't told her about it, I would be shocked because people can make the switch to special needs and be matched and get to their child very quickly.  But, maybe after her sister meeting one of these beautiful, amazing "special needs" children and seeing what a non-issue it can be, maybe she will really consider it.  Who knows...maybe God put us together with this woman on this day for a reason.  I really hope so.  I wonder how many lives our beautiful girl will touch without us even knowing it. 

After the baby dedication, we celebrated with ice cream.  The only thing that could have made the day better was if all of the grandparents were there but we will be seeing them very, very soon! :-)

Liana with her first Bible

Our three sweeties

Family pic...can you believe we got one with all three kids smiling?!

February Fun

February is always a busy month for us.  It just always is.  There is Ella's birthday and Valentine's Day and the Father-Daughter dance...just a bunch of stuff.  This year Chinese New Year was in February and this was our first year celebrating it.  We gave the kids traditional red envelopes that have some money in them, put on their traditional outfits that we got in China and went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  We also took a bunch of pictures of the kids, which they always love...okay, they hate.  On Ella's birthday, we surprised Ella with a quick trip to Great Wolf Lodge.  She was soooo excited!  We had a blast!  It was Liana's first vacation and her first time in a hotel since China.  She did great!  She was nervous about the water at first but, before we knew it, she was Little Miss Independent in the kiddie area just floating away with her little floaties on, climbing on the water toys, going down the slides, just having a blast!  She did have a bit of a hard time being away from home and was sassier than usual and throwing more than her usual number of fits.  When I thought about it, I wondered if she thought we might never go home.  The last time she stayed in a hotel was when she left everything she had ever known so I'm sure she was relieved when we came back home.  It has been so much fun celebrating special times this month and adding new traditions to celebrate Liana's heritage! 

Father-Daughter dance (Liana will join in next year!)

Chinese New Year

Jie jie (big sis) and mei mei (little sis)

I love this face!

Jie jie, Ge ge and mei mei

Ella's 6th birthday!!

Great Wolf Lodge

Look out Mama, I'm gonna getcha!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hahaha!