Final Decree for Lexie!!!

Final Decree! Final Decree!! Doing a happy dance and thanking our wonderful God tonight. Lexie's final decree has arrived!! Now it is being translated and then will be sent to AIT and I wait for appointment. Then TRAVEL!!!!! God is good all the time!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Janie had a busy (but fun) weekend.

Friday afternoon we went to the University to have a play date with Amanda and MinJi, her mentors in the Asian Children Mentor program. We took her slide and found a big grassy area to let her run around. Then Janie found her favorite thing......stairs! She was having a blast walking up/down the stairs.

Janie playing on her slide in the Meyer's Quad

After playing on the slide, we went for a walk around the Meyer's area....Janie found stairs!

And more stairs!

And more stairs!

And a few more!

Saturday went to the cheerleading competition. Girls did great and Janie had a great time! Way to go Cheer Warriors-1st place!

Janie and Tricia

Janie with Hannah

Back at home being silly!

I have no idea what she is doing here, but this picture cracks me up!!! Funny, funny girl!

Sunday-2 church services....then ran errands! Now Janie is in bed-hopefully she gets some sleep. She must have some more teeth coming in..today was lots of drool, hands in the mouth, chewing everything, and a little grumpy. Poor thing!

Headed to church-doesn't she look so grown up!

Janie's Big Girl Room

Misson accomplished! Janie's "Big Girl Room" is complete and she began sleeping in it this weekend! YAY! I have made her a more "little girl room" so that Lexie can go into the nursery when she gets home. Janie's new room is adorable and she seems to love it.

Let me just go ahead and say that yes, I know it is still a crib-not a toddler bed yet. But we are still calling it her "Big girl room". She hasn't learned to climb out of the crib yet, so I'm keeping her "contained" in there for sleeping as long as I safely can. Once she starts climbing out I will change her crib to the toddler stage. 

And, I know there is still a rocking chair present:

Yep, I still rock her at night. 

Yep, she still wakes up 1 time a night for a bottle. 

And yep, I don't care! I love our bottle time and she needs the calories so I still have a rocking chair in there for that sweet special time each night. 

Her Mimi did get her a little girl rocking chair. She still needs to sand it and paint it white--it will look so cute in here too.

Janie's "big girl room" theme: Garden (flowers, butterflies, lady bugs, etc). 

As I stand in the hallway and look into my 2 beautiful rooms (the nursery and Janie's new room) I am still in awe that I will have 2 amazing girls to fill these rooms. I am so blessed and thankful. My heart is full-actually it is over-flowing!

Time Flies

Time flies when you are having fun..........

Somewhere along the way my baby girl became a toddler..........

How did that happen?!?

Weekend update & GREAT news!

Hi Everyone,

Janie here....mommy isn't looking, so I decided to post a new update about me and my sister! First here is some things I did this weekend:

Went to visit my Aunt Charlene, cousin Becky (I guess that would be second cousin), and my other family member Mary. I'm not sure of the exact relation--I'm thinking it must be 3rd cousin. Also, Taylor was in town visiting and celebrating his birthday! We ate lunch at 5 guys burgers. 

Here I am showing everyone my nose. I love to name off my body parts. 

(So far I can point to and say my nose, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, head, fingers, toes, belly button, elbow, and I'm working on my knee)

Everyone likes to take pictures of me--so I thought I would take some of you!

Went back to Aunt Charlene's house and played!

Saying "Bye Bye" to Mary

Now for the exciting news about my little sister, Lexie!!! This morning when mommy got me up she told me that Lexie's first ruling came in! Yep, you read that right-just 11 days after the court hearing! Mommy says it must be an all-time record. Of course, she must be forgetting the past 7 weeks of re-scheduled courts....but all of that is behind us! Lexie is going to be coming home soon. Mommy says we now have to wait for the final ruling and then we will get an appointment with the AIT and go get Lexie. She told me that I went thru all the same process-I don't really remember any of that, but if she says so then I guess it happened.

She also told me about the big plane we are going to go on--and she told me all the things she is bringing to entertain me for the LONG flight. Then she told me that I am going to get to see all my loved ones in Taiwan again AND I will get to see my birth mom again. 

Mommy seems very emotional about that. She is glad that she will have the opportunity to ask my birth mom some more questions. I hear her praying for my birth mom a lot. Mommy always prays that my birth mom has peace and comfort in her life. I am not sure if I will get to see my birth dad again or not? 

Well, I am not allowed to show you a picture of Lexie yet--but I can give you a sneak peak. Everyone says she looks alot like me!

Court Update & Moon Festival

Court for Lexie went well. The long-awaited report was done and the judge heard the case. Now, I just wait for first ruling, then final decree, then AIT appointment, then I can travel and bring my daughter home. Can't wait to unite these precious sisters!!

Last Sunday, I took Janie to a Moon Festival Celebration. We are fortunate to live near The University of Georgia and they have a program called the Asian Children Mentor Program (I've blogged about it before). They match Asian students with locally adopted Asian children. They host lots of events and the children/mentors get to spend time together.

Janie was matched with 2 sweet girls (both freshmen at UGA). Amanda who is Taiwanese/American and MinJi who is Korean/American.

Here are some pictures from Sunday.....

Janie and I posing by the sweet sign!

Janie and her mentors MinJi and Amanda!

Janie and her new friend Anna Grace. Anna Grace just arrived home from China about 6 months ago. Her mommy teaches at the middle school.

Janie getting to know Amanda and MinJi and enjoying some traditional Asian food including Moon Cakes!

Janie didn't really want to make any of the crafts--but she enjoyed playing with the finished products everyone else made!

She was REALLY into the piano and loved having Amanda and MinJi help. This made her Mimi happy since she really wants Janie to play the piano when she gets older!

We look forward to spending more time with Amanda and MinJi and getting to know them better. We plan to attend as many of the scheduled events as we can and maybe even spending other times with them-maybe the park or playground. I really love this program and feel so fortunate to have Janie learn so much from these amazing students!