Lily Discovers That Boys are Different

Lily has had her share of challenges with potty training, the only area of development that was a bit slow for her. But recently she has made great progress and rarely has "accidents" any more. And she has taken an active role at school in supporting younger children in their use of the potty.

She came home this week and exclaimed..."boys have peanuts". When asked what girls have, she didn't hesitate..."Girls have bagines".

A Message to Anna

This past week has been filled with excitement for Xuzhou families. Three families are currently in China with their new Xuzhou daughters and son and many more are preparing to take the trip in early November and the coming months. For the families waiting it means we get updates of our precious children with whom we are getting to know and love through pictures and stories of the families who have just hugged them half way around the world.

When we traveled to bring home Lily in May 2008 we had a list of waiting families and were able to talk to and hug the children at their families request. It’s become a tradition that when a family travels to Xuzhou, we try to meet with all the children and send “special messages” to let the children know their families will be coming for them shortly. Many of these kids are home now and we’ve had the pleasure of watching them blossom and flourish. Now that I am once again waiting, I understand how special the orphanage visits are to the waiting parents.

Our Anna has been at the SWI for the past two years and has witnessed many of her friends become united with their forever families, including Lily who was her Xuzhou sister before we even knew it! Anna’s best friend April and her family visited the orphanage last week to say “goodbye”. The girls hugged and Mark promised Anna we would soon be coming to take her home too. You can read the story on Lisa’s blog.

http://ourmishpacha.blogspot.com/2009/10/day-6-nanjing-trip-to-xuzhou-orphanage.html

John teases me that I when I want something, I put my whole heart and soul into it. And I want to get this little girl home with all my heart.

10 weeks ago today, we were told by the China Center of Adoption Affairs that we were pre-approved to move forward with the adoption of Fang Ran. I moved mountains and raced through the paperchase in record time. As of today, we are DTC!!! - our paperwork is in China. Our paperchase is over and now the wait to travel begins!

It's Pumpkin Time, Lily!

During Lily's second annual trek to the pumpkin patch, she helped us pick pumpkins that represented Daddy, Mommy, Nanny, Grandma, Eric, Anna, herself, and Misha. She helped us arrange all these pumpkin characters on the front porch next to our straw-filled scarecrow. Every morning, as Dad backs out of the driveway to take Lily to school, she waves goodbye to all the pumpkins and to the "silly scarecrow".

Lily and the Moon Festival

Lily continues to amaze us. Today is a good example. As Lily and her mom were heading to the bathroom, her dad said jokingly, "Say hello to the potty for me Lily." Lily stopped, turned around, and responded, "The potty can't wave hello daddy, it doesn't have hands."

Last weekend we celebrated the Chinese Moon Festival with Lily. After Chinese New Years, it's the biggest holiday for the Chinese. We went to Chinatown in Seattle and had a wonderful Chinese dinner. Lily is especially fond of noodles. She tried chopsticks, but decided she could get more noodles with a fork.

On the way home, Lily saw the festival moon rising over Seattle. We thought about Anna who hopefully saw the same moon halfway across the world. And on the next Moon Festival she will be looking at it here with us!

At home Lily helped her mom make a moon cake, which is one of the traditions for the Chinese at Moon Festival. It was different from the traditional Chinese moon cake, but it was delicious. Yellow cake, buttercream frosting, and decorated with the moon and stars.