Is This Lily?

I recently joined a Yahoo group of families who have adopted or are adopting from the same orphanage where Lily lived for the first 11 months of her life. I found these pictures someone had posted. They where taken in June, 2007...one month before we got her. When I opened this picture, it took my breath away. Could this be our baby Lily? I don't know if I am thinking it's her because I really want it to be her, or if it really is her. I'd love to know what you think.

Look at that sweet face and all that hair. If it isn't her, it sure looks a lot like her!

Here she is again on the left. My heart just breaks seeing these precious babies looking so lost. I wonder if the other ones have found their forever families. Seeing them all sitting in those walkers, it sure makes it clear why Lily just hated sitting in hers; it also explains why she couldn't even crawl when we got her and why she had had no muscle tone at all. I am so thankful to have this sweet little girl home!

There are also several pictures posted of her orphanage (Yujiang Social Welfare Institute). It is such a blessing to see where she lived since we were not able to see it while we were in China. While we were there I really didn't want to see it...partly because I was afraid of what I would see and partly because I didn't want to travel there with Lily and give her any inclination that she would be going back there. Seeing these pictures, it gives me comfort knowing it is not at all as bad as what I had pictured. There are play rooms with brightly colored foam floor pieces and the cribs are all full of soft looking bedding. We had seen pictures of just horrbile places with only wood inside of the cribs and no blankets. There was also an air conditioning unit pictured, which I know a lot of orphanages don't have. Even if that isn't her in those pictures, I am grateful to know she was taken care of as best as could be expected for the situation she was in.

Finally...More Lily Pictures!

Lily is growing up so fast already. She is getting so tall and is starting to outgrow several of the things she wore when we first brought her home. She is quite the little chatterbox now. She knows many words and when she doesn't know the word for what she wants, she just makes it up! She is starting to do a lot more pretending now...pretending to talk on the phone, pretending she is eating the picture of the banana in her Elmo book, making Elmo do "river dance", and feeding her baby. Have I mentioned how fabulous we think she is? Here are some of the words she uses the most:

First, her animal sounds:

The cow says-"oooo"
The horse says-"neigh neigh"
The dog says-"fffffff"
The cat says a high pitched "mmmmm"
The sheep says-"ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"
The chicken says-"gah-gah-gah-gah" really fast
She does a really great groan sound for the lion

Her words:

Mama and Dada
Nai Nai (Robert's mom)
Lao Lao (my mom)
Baba=grandpa-Robert and I have pictures of our dads up on the wall and have shown them to Lily. She calls them both Baba, which interestingly is the Chinese word for dad. She loves to point at the pictures, say "Baba!" and give them kisses...too sweet.
Baby-she just loves babies!
Appa=apple
she calls her bib "b"
Na=banana
Ka=coffee
oval-she knows several shapes but that's the only one she can say so far
Elmo (she no longer says "Emma" which I thought was adorable!)
Chee=cheerio
Bye-Bye
Hi
Key-ka=kitty cat
puh-puh=purple...funny she knows how to say mommy's favorite color
sheeyna=Shayna (our dog)
panda
Uh-oh-sometimes she drops things on purpose just so she can say that
Ta-da!
No-no-no!=no explanation necessary...that's a fun one!
She now calls Larry "Weebee". How cute is that!
My new favorite is what she says after we pray. We pray with her before every meal and right before we put her to bed for the night. Right after we say "Amen", Lily says "A-nah!"

Those are a few I can think of off the top of my head. I am constantly amazed even more by how much she understands. I'll ask her to do something I've never asked and she will go do it. She just loves music. She starts bobbing her head back and forth when we ask her if she wants music on, and when I sing to her, she does the sign for "more" when the song is over. She LOVES her books and brings them to us one by one to read to her...she could do this all day. She did her first somersault yesterday all by herself...I'm thinking gymnastic classes may be in order pretty soon! She is such a sweet little girl and I thank God every day for blessing us with this little miracle. It feels like she has been with us forever.

Lily and mommy on Lily's first carousel. She was apprehensive at first, but she must have liked it because she asked to go again with her daddy!

Lily got this baby for Christmas from her great aunt Valerie. Once we opened it, Lily grabbed the baby's bottle and immediately pretended to feed her baby without us even showing her how...she is a genious I tell you!



Lily showing my grandma her favorite book...Ten Little Ladybugs.




Lily's newest face...we call this one "kissy-lips".

We're Still Here!

I have to apologize for the lack of updates recently. Apparently someone has decided to send us a belated Christmas gift...a new computer virus! Our computer is a wreck. Robert has to rebuild the enitre thing which doesn't sound like fun to me. I am not a computer person, so I'm not really sure I know what that means, however I am extremely thankful that we (meaning Robert) were able to find and backup all of our pictures. It would have been very sad around here if we had lost those. It just amazes me that there are people out there with nothing better to do than to write viruses for people's computers. Anyway, now that the pictures are on CD's, I (meaning Robert) will upload them onto my laptop so I can post them to the blog.

In the meantime, since it's Super Tuesday (and if you didn't know that, I'd love to know what rock you've been hiding under so I can come visit you!), I do want to encourage you to vote today. I won't get on my soapbox and tell you how blessed we are to live in this country and what a privilage we have as Americans to be able to participate in this amazing democracy, but I will just gently urge you to go to your polling place today and cast your ballot. Have a blessed day and I'll have more Lily pictures soon, since that's why you are really here anyway.:o)

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2008 already! (For the record, I did start this post last week, but have been having some computer issues...I swear it's not user error! Anyway, everything seems to be ok now...on with the post.) I thought time went by fast before we got Lily...now it seems to be going by faster than the speed of light. I hope you are enjoying the New Year and haven't broken all of your resolutions yet! I don't make them anymore...they don't really work for me. I, like everyone else, would start off with the best of intentions which lasted until maybe the beginning of February...if I was lucky. Now I just continually pray for God to continue His good work in me until He returns, which He has promised and been faithful to do.


We actually spent the New Year holiday out of town. We went to Austin, TX to visit some very good friends of ours who moved there last summer while we were in China. It was so good to see them, and to be in Texas. I sure do like it there. It's so much more beautiful than what I thought it would be. Even though I have lived in California for more than half of my life (!), I have never really felt at home here. I think a part of me will always consider home to be Anchorage, Alaska. Of course, now that I think about it, no matter where I live on this earth it will never really be my home. My treasures are stored in Heaven where my Father is preparing a place for me...so awesome to think about and just incomprehensible at times. Life is short and eternity is forever...too long to be wrong! Anyway, we enjoyed our visit in Texas. Here are a few pictures from our trip...

Lily got a beautiful new coat for Christmas...

...I think she likes it! And she certainly looks adorable in it.

Lily had a blast playing on the swing.

She took turns with Reagan.

Robert and I in front of Lake Travis. The weather was beautiful while we were there...a little nippy, but I enjoy that.

Our dear friend Angela (in the blue shirt) playing Scrabble with her boys. Julian is on the right and Jordan is in the yellow shirt. Angela's mom, Kay, was also playing, but was a little camera shy.

Angela's husband Marcos (also our dear friend!) having some quality time with Reagan.

While in Texas we were also able to visit Robin, Travis, Samuel and Lucy. We met them in China when they were adopting Lucy. They are such an amazing couple. We hope to see them again sometime soon!

Lily enjoying some Oreo Cookie cake. Apparently it was finger-lickin' good!

On New Year's Eve we went with Marcos and Angela to visit some other friends who moved to Texas last year. We all used to be in a bible study group together when we first started attending our church. Slowly but surely, everyone is moving away. Sad for us, but it's nice to be able to go visit! Anyway, Lily met Gabriella who is exactly one month younger than she is. All of the kids (I think there were about 8 or 9 of them ranging in age from 15 months to about 10 years) had a blast and all but Gabriella managed to stay up until midnight. The kids were all so good with Lily and she had so much fun.

Lily in her western wear. We bought her an adorable pair of pink cowboy boots while we were there. It will be a while before she can wear them...they are size 5 and she is still in a size 3 shoe...she has such cute tiny feet!

Christmas 2007

Guess who got spoiled this Christmas?! We did Christmas with just the three of us in the morning. The good part is, she has no idea what's going on so we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn with her to open presents!

"Hmmmm...this looks like fun."

"Wow! Look at that!"

"Where did it come from?"

"There it goes again! This is tons of fun!"

"Yummy!"

Lily loves Elmo, or "Emma" as she calls him. She had fun with her new Elmo book.

She also got a new "peek-a-boo" book.

Kisses from Aunt Paula.

Later in the day we had Christmas with the whole family. Lily got just a couple of things...(!)

New Little People blocks...woohoo!

And a real stuffed "Emma"!

And a Little People SUV. (Can you tell she likes Little People?) She also got the Little People Nativity set which is just adorable.

She also got a new, yet old, rocking chair. This chair was my mom's cousins, then it was my mom's, then it was mine, and now it's Lily's. A very special gift indeed. And she LOVES it!

Petting her "Key-kah" (Lily speak for "kitty cat), Stella.

Merry Christmas!

In case I don't get to it before the 25th, we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas…Words by Brad Avery, Music by Third Day

There’s a little girl trembling on a cold December morn,

crying for mama’s arms at an orphanage just outside a little China town,

where the forgotten are.
But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire

and dream about the day when I can finally call you mine.

It’s Christmas time again but you’re not home.

Your family is here and yet you’re somewhere else alone.

So tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in His arms

and tell you from my heart,

I wish you Merry Christmas.

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights,

I’m warmed by the fire’s glow.

Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white

and make angels in the snow.
But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears,

and hope that Heaven’s Angels come to carry you here.

Christmas is the time we celebrate the Holy Child,

and we celebrate His perfect gift of love.

He came to Earth to give His life and prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with Him above.

It’s Christmas time again and now you’re home.

Your family is here so you will never be alone.

So tonight before you go to sleep,

I’ll hold you in my arms and tell you from my heart…

...I’ll tell you from my heart…

I wish you Merry Christmas.

River Dance Lily

Lily has been doing this little dance for a while now...usually when she is very happy or excited or likes whatever music is playing. We jokingly called it "River Dance", and being the genious that she is, she picked up on the term the first time and will now do her "River Dance" when we ask her. Toooo cute!