Day 2 Susi-Yue and Graci Jia -GIRLS!

A little of last night as well. Susi's teacher gave us her school book that she was working on when we got here. Susi absolutely loves to color! She is thorough and colors every white spot and will not stop until it is done.
First bath - she loved it!

Graci had her cracking up when she sprayed her with the water. Belly laughing is the only sound besides screaming that we have heard from Susi.

Bath time was a blast!

Susi loved getting wrapped up and snuggled with Daddy. Every time we pull out the camera she smiles. I think she used to having pictures taken. From what I have seen around here there is ALOT of pics taken of these beautiful children.

After bath Graci did Susi's hair and they put on their matching princess jammies.

Getting ready for bed.

This is Saturday, day 2. Graci painted Susi's nails again and she had some snuggle time with Daddy. The only crying we had today was when her friend Sara stopped by the room and then left without her. It didn't last long and she recovered well with a new nail color.

In case you wondering where Alyx has been. She is usually behind the camera filming. There are several young interns here for the summer so Alyx has had fun playing games with and visiting with them. She also had some fun visiting the different houses and cuddling and playing with the kids. She passed out candy and blew bubbles. It is super hot and humid here but Alyx but the kids still play outside so Alyx went out and tried to teach them to play frisbee. It didn't work but they had fun playing with the frisbees anyway.

Graci and Susi are inseperable. Graci has stayed in the room with for two full days because she doesn't want to leave Susi. This is what they most the time...put on lip gloss. Susi watches everything Graci does to see how to do it just right. And Graci is loving being the big sister.

Girly time!

After getting up before 5 am, playing all morning, after lunch both girls and mommy were quite tired. They passed out for a long nap.

Susi wanted to wear her headband to nap...LOL!

After nap time they were ready to do some coloring before dinner.

I don't know if you can see Susi's coloring, but I am so impressed with it! She is so dillegent and colors in the lines. Graci and Dax are going to learn to color from Susi.

Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we leave Shepherd's Field. We are very sad about that, it is so great here! We will head to the province where Susi was born to finalize her adoption.

If anyone shows this to Dax, Thad, and Kamby please tell them mommy and daddy love them and miss them soooooooooooooo much!

We Got Her...with the scream heard around the world!

After breakfast we headed back to our room to wait for Susi to come meet us. As she was coming across the courtyard we could hear the screams. It didn't get any better after she saw us. It was heartbreaking to say the least! She let mommy rock her while she sobbed and screamed.
Then after several hours of wailing, we saw our first smile. As long as she was holding a sucker in one hand and had another one her mouth.

We figured out Susi's love language, "girly girl". She was all laughs after Graci painted her finger and toe nails, put pretties in her hair, put lip gloss on her, and then Susi was super happy when she changed clothes to match Graci.

After girl time, she was even more happy to eat and boy can she eat. I had to ask if I should stop feeding her because I was seeing no end. They said, that as long as I have food she will keep eating. So we assessed she had enough and moved on.

Another sucker and playtime with daddy brought more smile and Graci made her laugh a few times. Actually, Graci and Susi were cracking me up and then Susi laughed because I was laughing.

All the screaming followed by all the fun wore her down and both girls and daddy fell asleep for several hours.

We only have had a few more crying (pretty minor though) since she woke up and we found out she loves to color. She is really good at it too. She has been coloring non stop for the last hour.

My Countdown

10 - the day we begin the journey across the world.....

9 - the number of people eagerly awaiting to be together as a family!

8 - the number of people in our family that feels someone is missing.....

7 - the time in the morning we will say goodbye to our precious children.....

6 - the number of blessings I am a mom to for a few more days.....

5 - the number of suitcases ready to be checked....

4 - the number of sleeps before we go to "my China" as Graci says....

3 - the number of days left to finish all the packing, appointments, shopping, scheduling, cleaning, laundry, list making, final arrangements, and more - whew!

2 - the number of parents that couldn't be more thrilled to do all the above.....

1 - FOR ONE VERY SPECIAL LITTLE GIRL WHO IS SO LOVED AND WANTED!!!!!!!

Countdown 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 ....China!

Our next family picture will be a family of 9! Our family has more than doubled in size in less than four years! Wow! God is amazing!
The girls' room is ready...

Bunk bed with trundle and Kamby's crib for a few more months. She can already climb out of it but as long as she will still sleep in it, it is staying up. Daddy did a fantastic job on the girls' bed!

The boys putting together another table and chairs to make sure we have enough "desks" for everyone to do school. Graci, Dax, and Susi will all start home school kindergarten as soon as we get back from China. I am sure Thad and Kamby will be very much a part of school as well so they also have a table/desk.

Dax helping daddy put together a chair. He is daddy's best helper!

Listening to directions and doing a great job!

Thad got a little bored helping and decided to work on his puzzle book.While the boys were working on the table, the girls were trying out the new floor.......

making sure that Susi's wheelchair will roll easily all over the house.....

they were also testing how fast they might be able to roll Susi's chair!

Due to God's amazing provision through a grant from Joni and Friends, we were able to put hard flooring throughout all the major traffic areas, kitchen, bathrooms, and playroom. So Susi will be able to navigate her chair easily, anywhere she wants to go. We also were able to remove some small walls and widen the hallways, thus making it easier to get through. So, the kids have loved riding their scooters and cars all over. They have planned how they will race Susi in her chair! All the painting is almost done, all the cooking/freezing is done, all the shopping is almost done, so now focus is on packing...that is the most mentally exhausting part...so much thinking goes into packing. We have 4 days until Alyx starts school and then just 6 more until we wake up to board a plane for Beijing!

Summer is Fading....

We are trying not to be completely consumed with getting ready to go pick up Susi. It is hard but we are also enjoying the remainder of summer. When we get home, we will be in complete school mode, so we want to enjoy these last fleeting days......

Gotta love summer dinner - chicken legs, popcorn, and watermelon!

This is the only fruit Thad will eat besides bananas...and as you can tell he enjoys his watermelon!

Do you notice the piece of watermelon is wider than Dax -ha- ha! He ate every last bit of it!

Susi Has a Family!

Well, we have known this for 10 months but Susi just found out Wednesday! She looks so happy....I hope she feels that way after meeting us. We love you baby girl and we are on our way, just 13 more days!

Travel Plans

It is so fun and yet so stressful to make travel plans. So many decisions to be made and deciding what is best for everyone. Many times with international adoption, families forget that the main purpose for their trip is to bring their child into their family. With so many opportunities and things you have never seen or experienced it is easy to get wrapped up in wanting to "do it all". Another thing that is difficult is, it is EXPENSIVE to travel and to experience the country and culture while you are in country. When looking at individual cost, one may want to eliminate and try to keep the cost as low as possible but this is not an easy task to balance. So, as I sort through (and my head is exploding) I am focusing on one top priority- Susi-Yue. Second priority - Graci Jia. Every thing we do and everything we experience has to be in the absolute best interest of these girls. One who will be leaving the only life she knows and meeting total strangers whom she will spend the rest of her life with, and the other whose life was that 4 years ago and now is going back to the country of her birth. Graci is very knowledgeable of China and all it has to offer but at five years old her biggest question about going back is "will my China remember me?" That is a tough question to answer to our precious girl. No, we will not meet anyone in China that remembers you, Graci. But, we will spend every chance we get to tell you what we remember about your China and the time you became our daughter. Her stated mission for going with us to China and picking up Susi is (how she simply explains it to Dax) : I have to tell Susi about God because I am her big sister and we both have the same China. So, every decision being made and every plan for our trip is to make sure that our precious girls 100% know that the only reason we are in China is because of them!

August 10 - leave Phoenix for Portland then Portland to Beijing
August 11 - arrive late at night in Beijing
August 12 - MEET SUSI
August 14 -Leave for Siping City to visit Susi's original orphanage and finalize adoption
August 19 - Leave for Guangzhou
August 23 -US Consulate
August 24 -Leave Guangzhou by train to Hong Kong
August 25 - Leave Hong Kong for Tokyo then Tokyo to Seattle then home same afternoon (time differences are so fun and weird)
August 25 -Arrive in Phoenix and HUG all my seven at once!