Christmas Fun

Abby wasn't feeling well on Christmas eve, so we let her open a few gifts from Family and then by 8:30 she was in bed dreaming of sugar plums!

With a little coaxing.............(I had to stand outside her door with jingle bells) she woke about 8:15 feeling much better knowing that Santa did come visit her. She said she even heard his sleigh bells........................hmmmmm!

We had a great family day opening gifts and playing! Abby loves all her gifts and should be pretty busy for the rest of her break from school! She cannot wait to show her friends all the toys Santa left for her! No coal for this little one, she is always such a good girl!

Hope everyone had a great Holiday!

7 month Stretch!

Abby 2 years ago! One of my favorite pics!

Well, another month has passed! Sometimes they go by fast and this was one of them. It's good to have the Holiday season in the middle of an adoption wait..........sometimes. Abby keeps us busy, as well as work and friends. I can only hope the rest of the wait will be the same. I don't want to say it isn't hard, but it is much easier having Abby with us. Waiting for her was so hard, but well worth it. Like my sister said the other day, good things come to those who wait! I can only agree! All in all we waited 10 years for Abby, we will wait what ever is needed for Shaun.

We are now 5/6 in line.............wow! That's sounds great doesn't it! Actually it is, but remember, that is just for a referral. We wait another 6-9 months after for travel. Waiting 6 weeks for Abby was hard, I can only imagine what lies ahead.

7 months into our wait for Abby, we got the call...........then in 6 weeks we had her in our arms.

So.............., everybody out there waiting with us! Stand up, it's the 7th month stretch!

We can do it!

Fun pics

Abby and Dad ventured to the attic to get all our decorations down! (I remember doing this too, with my Dad) She thought it was such a huge deal, climbing the latter after Dad and then Mommy taking the latter away! Ha Ha! Mom's "Turkey" Apple pie. This is only my second ever Apple pie! Thanks to my little sister in law, Alison for teaching me how! This time, I added a "turkey" for the crust!

Abby web cam-ing with Grandma and Grandpa in China! She absolutely loves this! What a great way to see faces and hear voices of family we miss so much. Thank you for the "gobble-gobble" song, G and G. We loved it!

It has been a "sick" couple of weeks here, except for Abby! She is such a trooper dealing with a sick Daddy and Mommy. She has taken good care of us, since these colds are kicking our butts!

She even offered me her silky the other day................wow!

Good news for the Holiday!

Wow, what can I say.....................we are in a consistent adoption program!

Surprised when I checked my e-mail today to get an update from Holt! We were not expecting to hear anything more until mid-December.....

Anyways, 4 more families have been referred!!!! 4 more babies !!! 4 more families! I can imagine their happiness today! I am tearing up as I write, just thinking about how much closer we are, but yet it is all still so far away.........but I am Thankful!!!!! :)

So, here we are, still waiting but with more hope that we will receive our referral next year, maybe spring, maybe early summer. Ahhhhhhh, it feels so good!

We hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving!

Mom!

Shaun- we love you already!

A year ago.............

These pictures crack me up!!!!

What a pretty face! Still a bit chubby then.......


! Ha-ya...........

"Don't you mess with me!"


Ahhhhhhhhhhh, gotta love her!

Just a cute pic!

Just a cute picture of Abby and friend Zan at Sharon Woods a few weeks back.

It was a beautiful day and the colors were great! But the walk did me in for the rest of the week............

It was planned to bring the kids there to take pictures.............but............I accidentally left my SD Card in my computer, spare card at home (not in my camera bag ----where it should be)

Anyways, these were sent to me today, can't wait to see more (hint, hint)

6 MONTHS and waiting............

Well, with the cold weather, we hit our 6 month mark of our wait. This fall we will be re fingerprinted to update our paperwork. Which means we have been waiting a long time.

Remember, we started out waiting in Mongolia!

I cannot help feeling a bit sad thinking that maybe if things with Mongolia didn't change, our family may be complete at this moment..........but then I think that it will not matter once he IS home. Timing is not in our hands......we have to have faith! Since we are at the 6 month mark I am allowing myself to feel more comfortable. I am thinking of him more often and wondering the same things I had wondered about Abby. ( we only waited 7 months for Abby) Like, is he waking as I eat dinner? Is he healthy and growing, being cuddled a feeling safe? I am pretty sure he has been born............so at times I do hear my baby cry. Of course it IS someone elses baby in my listening distance, but just the same it makes me think of my little boy.

I am reminded of all the little things that helped me through the wait with Abby. Silly things like putting notes around the house and kissing her picture ever night (once we had it). I had little fun shopping for her before hand (believe it or not) so this time I am not buying much. One thing I do remember happening during our wait was a weekly phone call to our home asking for a Mrs. Rice. We thought it was funny (get it China, Rice) anyways, every week we would say "sorry " but it would make us think of our little Miss "rice". We also made a 16 pound "rice baby" to carry around the apartment to get used to the wait (boy, were we amatures or what!) We made a room for Abby not knowing we were moving just before becoming her parents......

We had lots to keep us going.............

Now, we have Abby herself! She is just amazing, can I say that again? AMAZING! A wish come true! It still takes my breath away sometime when I look at her. She is truly a gift. AND worth every bit of waiting!

A joke from Abby

Just something to share......

A few months ago Kevin and Iworked on an adoption book for Abby. We have some lovely pictures of China and wanted to do something with them. What better way to do it than to put them to a story!

We took pictures from our first weeks together and pictures that the orphanage gave us and made Abby her very own journey book from birth to forever family. We made it 30 pages, just enough and told her story. She loves it! We read it all the time and it helps her understand about her adoption. We have always talked to Abby about how she became our daughter and this helps her tell it to whom ever she wishes. It's also nice to get cozy with her and read it together, it always brings me back..... but the most beautiful thing is seeing her read it on her own, mostly by memory, but still she picks it up daily and thumbs through the pages. I HIGHLY recommend doing this for your adopted child. It has brought beautiful feelings here!

Happy Halloween

Before and after shots of Halloween #5

Quite a haul for this little one!

I wonder if all this candy will last until next year????

Her first trophy!

Her first trophy! Soccer season is over.

Abby really enjoyed playing soccer this fall. She met new friends and learned some basic soccer skills. She is looking forward to doing it all over again next fall.

Hopefully she will gain a bit more confidence and have a bit more interest next year. She is only 5 after all and socializing with her friends is more her "thing" right now. Even her coach commented about how Abby knows "everybody" LOL

We will miss soccer, but not sitting out in the cold!

Winter is approaching, we will be looking for an indoor activity to keep us busy!

Jumping in the leaves!

Fun Fun Fun.....................for Abby!

Kevin raked the entire back yard today. This is 1/2 the leaves he collected!

Abby enjoyed the afternoon jumping in the pile Dad left her at the bottom of her slide!

We love doing this every year!

K,K A

update!!!!!!! :)

Well, things are going just as planned with the Thailand program. It is still consistent to when we started and we are so happy about that! We should be hearing about Shaun sometime between March and June. Too many factors to know for sure, but I have a good feeling! I have been saying March for a few months now, I just feel it.

So we gladly take the good news! Sure we have to re-do some things, but we've done it all before! It's hard to believe we started the process for him long, long ago. It's amazing where time takes us. From Mongolia to Thailand...................

Abby told me the other day that Shaun was born in June..........? What do you all think? Any feeling out there yet? I do feel him in my heart. I am starting to "miss" him, just the way I "missed" Abby before we met her. He has entered my dreams, and I love him already. I just cannot wait to see his face, see his eyes and hear his sounds.

We talked about him with Abby yesterday, about the update. She seems so comfortable, so healthy and honest in her thinking. I am no longer sorry for telling her about the adoption. She is a big part of why we are doing it and to hear her thoughts, just adds to mine. She is feeling him in her heart too..........

Here are some silly, cute adorable pics of Abby yesterday in the yard. Kev and I think she is just so beautiful and seeing her in these pics makes us realize the size lock we will have to get when she turns into a teenager! (SCARY)

Enjoy!

When the wind comes.......

When the wind comes and blows all the apples off your tree..........................why not spend the day making APPLESAUCE!!!!

Abby had no school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday because we got hit with high winds that brought down a ton of trees and power lines on Sunday afternoon. Most of Southern Ohio lost power, some still don't have it (it is now wednesday afternoon). We were lucky not having any major tree breaks or any other damage. But let me tell you, it was scary! I have never experienced wind like this, ever! We watched our neighbors shingles fly right off their roofs, trees split and some large pines fell over root ball and all. We even have a large trampoline in our neighborhood that wrapped around a telephone pole! Thankfully we have not heard of anybody being hurt, what a blessing.

Apples Apples everywhere................
Made our house smell sooooo good!
Abby and Mommy's Applesauce!

This was the first time I have ever canned anything...........it won't be the last! Next year..........I think I will have a veggie garden!

Kindergarden...............

First Day of School, Friday September 5.

It rained on Abby's first day of school, but she went on the bus just fine. It picks her up right on our corner. We still aren't sure exactly what time, we almost missed it on the first day!

Today, she got home a bit earlier, but not on time. I guess we will have to let the buses get it all squared a way in the first couple of weeks. This morning we went out ten minutes before we were told and still missed it! Luckily he passes our house 2 or 3 times so he did pick her up at about 10 after.

This pic is of her getting off today, she had another great day at school!

Saturday she had her first soccer game and team pictures (minus 3 players)

They do not keep score at this age, but Kev said they won like 7 to zip!

Enjoy!

Kat

ps. we have been waiting another month! 4 months down!

5 and full of energy!

The princess cake (made by Mommy)
Abby and friends..Lucy, Abigail, Izzy, Caitlin, Abby Liz,Cait, Christa, Caroline, Alicia and Zan

(missing from Photo Meckenzie and Lei-lei)

Happy to be 5!

Abby Liz

For weeks she has been waiting for this..............to finally be five like all her friends. It was soo hard being just four! Abby had her party this weekend, a PRINCESS PARTY!

12 girls in all, she had a wonderful day! With all her friends around her, making crowns and just being silly. What a beautiful day! She was proud to wear her new dress her Aunt Sharon had made for this special day. The color fits her so well, I could not help but think it should be the color of her prom dress some day..............silly of me, I know!

Tomorrow is the official day, the day she was born in China on a cool summer morning. I will tell her the birds were just starting their songs, the sun was just peaking from the horizon. It was a special day, September 2, 2003. The day she was born to be our daughter from another land. We will also think of her bith parents and how they made a choice. A choice that may have brought them great sorrow, but at the same time brought us hope and joy. We thank them for giving Abby life. With out them, Abby would not be, and we would not be the wonderful family we are.

Abby Liz, ..............wo ah ni

The Anqing Sisters!

A special treat for Abby was a visit from her Anqing Sister, Lucy Rae.

These two girls were born just a week apart in the same town in China (Anqing City). They spent their first 10 months together at the Anqing SWI while we (their parents) waited together. At the time we were living in Evansville,IN. We knew Carol and Chris and stared the process at exactly the same time. I will never forget the shock seeing them at the very first informational meeting we attended at FTIA. Carol and I grew close while we waited, always wondering if our girls were together. Well, here they are...........5 years old! Aren't they beautiful! They see each

other only once a year, but you would

never know it.

Two peas in a pod is what I think we first started calling them. What a special friendship!
The same height! The same weight!

The same stride!

Totally unique....................




Lucy Rae and Abby Liz
Anqing Sisters
King's Island Mason, Ohio
2008

Longs Retreat!

We enjoyed the weekend at Long's Retreat in Latham, Ohio. It was a quick 2 hour drive from home. We found this place on the Internet and had no idea if it was going to be like. (Internet pics can be very deceiving!)

Well, we had a blast! Lots of fun and relaxation. Abby had a fun time having Mom and Dad all to herself and we enjoyed the down time with her. She surprised us in so many ways. She is starting to be more brave and as you can see in the photos she had her very first go-cart ride with Dad and went on a water slide all alone. She is really growing up fast, she even took a few excellent pictures of Mom and Dad. The three of us even took an hour on a paddle boat!

This was our first real camping trip, just the three of us. We use to go all the time before we became parents and we are glad that we decided to do this with Abby. We plan on making a trip out to this retreat every year. Next year she can bring a friend and have an even better time.

What a great weekend away from work, laundry and the normal.................