Home a month!

I can’t believe that we have been home a month already! Elsie is changing so much every day. I have been back to work for three weeks and in that time her and daddy have become the best of friends. (She does run to greet me when I get home though) I am so grateful that at least one of us is able to stay home with her for a few months.


She loves all the brothers and sisters she has met. Charlie even babysat while Brad went to the dentist. And Heather is trying to talk me into letting her babysit. Pretty cool, huh? She also loves to play with her 15, 12, and 7 year old nieces. She hasn’t had a night terror in over a week. She wakes up happy. Most of the time she goes to bed happy. A few days ago she went to visit her sisters as work where she was the belle of the ball. Tomorrow she is going to a princess party. To say she is popular is an understatement. She does wear me out….maybe I’ll lose a couple of pounds chasing her around?! I am so in love with this little girl.  God is good!!

Back to work tomorrow :(

It is so hard to believe that we have been home for more than a week.   I swear I can see Elsie growing physically.  Definitely emotionally.  She smiles and is more confident every day.....sometimes a little too confident.  She is doing so much better with daddy too.  She still prefers me, but he can do more with her, which is good because I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I don't know which one of us it will be harder on, me or Elsie?  When we started this process I was a spry 48 year old.  If someone had told me that I would be 52 before we finished, I would have never said yes.  In the beginning, I said yes somewhat grudgingly.  Brad said he thought that God was calling him to China adoption and who am I to question God?  I thought, come on, I already started over with Brad's kids, do I really need to do it again.  Now I can't imagine my life without her.  I wondered if I could love her like my "own" kids.  Now I lay and watch her sleep and wonder how I could have ever doubted.  She is so amazing!  And smart, yeah I know every mom says that, but she picks up on things so quickly.  She was barely walking when we first met her and now we have to run to keep up with her.  We thought she would be so lost not understanding what people said to her and yet she learned her American name before we left China.  She loves the computer.  Yesterday she picked up Brad's camera and held it just the right way to take a picture and pushed the correct button.  We went to the store on Friday and she even picked out the clothes she liked. She is more comfortable with her family, and it is a big family, every day.  She is the perfect fit.

We're back

We are finally home.  Today was the first chance I had to look at the blog.  Unfortunately, two of the days did not post.  I think it was because the picture files were too big.  One was from Nanchang a couple of days after we got Elsie and the other was the Red Couch day.  And to think I got up at 3am to do the posts for noone to see.  I am attaching the Red Couch pictures here now. For those of you who are not familiar with China adoption, the Red Couch is a couch at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou where all adoptive families have pictures taken before coming home. Elsie was sooo good all day that day, EXCEPT during the picture taking. She was not happy about sitting there by herself. She wasn't much better when we set her with Emily. Emily is 9 months old and is the daughter of our travel companions. She is a very happy baby. I hope she and Elsie will keep in touch over the years to come. 
Elsie got to meet three of her siblings last night.  Heather and Sabrina at the airport and Charlie at home.  She even let Sabrina hold her.    She met  her nieces today.  Seems a little odd for a 21 month old to have a niece almost 15 doesn't it.  She loved them all, but seems especially close to Courtney.  So far, it has been a great day!

On our way home!

Yay, we are finally on our way home....at least we will be in a few hours.  It is about 4am here and this will be our final post from China.  We will be leaving for the airport at 7am (which is 6pm Wed night for all of you back home) .  It will take us a total of about 36 hours before we get back.  We can't wait to see our family....and to see how the blog came out.  It has been an adventure of a lifetime and we will cherish every moment.  Last night on our last night here we went out for Japanese food.  I have been so amazed at Brad's bravery!  He is usually so reluctant, but since we have been here, he has tried German (liked it), Thai (hated it) and Japanese (loved it)....oh yeah, and a little Chinese as well!  Although, we miss our Americanized Chinese food.  We have also had a wonderful time with our travel group, which consists of just us and the Smiths.  We have had such a good time getting to know them and spending time with Emily.  Thank you all for your prayers and support......signing off one last time from China!

One week today

We have been parents to this beautiful little girl for one week today!  She has come a long way in that time. We went from wondering if she would ever smile to hearing full belly laughs.  God is good. Today was our consulate appointment.  This is the appointment that all our other plans were made around.  Well, we didn't even have to go.  Our guide,Rebecca (who is awesome by the way) did it all.  So we went shopping on the island......alot of shopping.  Elsie made a friend at one of the shops, the one where we spent the most money.  Wait to you see what we had made.  It is a secret for now as it is a gift.She was actually quite popular wherever we went.  We also spent quite awhile just walking around the island looking at these cool bronze statues they have everywhere.  For dinner, we met up with the Smiths to go to a German restaurant on the island for dinner.  We think we are going to try the Italian restaurant tomorrow.  Guangzhou is a beautiful place.  On Shamian Island, which is where we are is dug up these days due to the all the work being done to prepare for the Asia games taking place here later this year, but it is still quite a place to visit.  Only a few more days until we come home.  I think I am ready.  We miss our family back home and can't wait for them to meet their new sister/aunt/granddaughter/friend. Red couch pictures tomorrow....