We've been home a week

It's amazing how a week has flown by.  Sophia and I are almost on our home time instead of China time.  I don't remember it being this hard to get back on schedule but I'm sure it must be like labor, you forget about it until you are doing it again.

Sophia has really started to bloom into herself and we are seeing her funny and dramatic personality.  She can fake cry, really, really well.  It was just the two of us at home sitting on the couch relaxing and she started crying or so I thought until she flashed me a big ole grin.  She was rubbing her eyes and hiding her eyes, the whole bit and totally seemed real.  Once we caught on to it we realized she was faking crying alot as she ran around the house and didn't want to be bothered by one of her siblings or her daddy.  She is warming up to daddy, he got three kisses today.  Maybe she will voluntarily go to him soon.  I have forgotten how much fun it is to have a baby around the house.  It hasn't been that long since M and E were babies but my how quickly we forget things.

Sophia is a hard girl to get a picture of, she is very quick and loves to avoid the camera.  I managed to get a few pictures tonight of her playing with kitchen stuff.  She had gone into the girl's room and played by herself for a half hour then came out with a tea cup and a serving spoon.  She sat on the floor and played with me for a while.  She is so much more secure about her environment and herself this week.  The entire time we were in China up until today she cries and gets hysterical if I am not in her site.  Tonight she disappeared off by herself and played and played.  It amazes me how happy and social she can be.

I am moving my posts to my main blog A Cup Quite Full.  I would love it if you would follow our journey as a family of five.  I also hope to start sewing with the new year and will have some items up on A Cup Quite Full Creations, that is as long as I can get a little mommy alone time with the machine!  We have a wonderful family outing planned for tomorrow, it has been a holiday tradition for us since M came home.  Check in with us at A Cup Quite Full, maybe we will be lucky and be able to snap a family picture of us on our outing!

Thanks for following our journey and helping us bring Sophia home!

We Are Home

We are home safe and sound.  Our travels home were very uneventful for the most part.  I did loose my retainer again and this time it is staying lost.  I believe I left it on our flight from Beijing but keep hoping it will show up in the mess.

Sophia is having to make another adjustment.  She is doing ok but in some ways she has regressed back a bit.  She is still extremely clingy to me so that breaks her daddy's heart.  Every time he gets to close she screams for me.  Praying that she warms up to daddy really soon.  She is doing ok with the kiddos as long as they don't get in her face or try to hug her too much.  The kids love her and have a hard time not squeezing her every few seconds.  She is also terrified of the dog and cat.  When we were in GZ there was a pet market right outside our hotel room.  We visited it and when she saw the dogs and cats she screamed and cried, poor Tri and Pal get the same reaction at home.

Sorry we haven't taken any pictures since we have been home.  Sophia and I have also been having a hard time with the time change.  Sleeping is hard and I am absolutely exhausted.  I don't remember it being this hard last time but I'm sure it is like labor, you forget the hard parts.

Keep us in your prayers!

Tomorrow, Homeward Bound!

It is hard to believe that tomorrow we leave bright and early at 6:20 am for home.  Prayerfully, after 28 hours of travel we will be home!  Please pray for us that the snow will slow down so we can get home.

Sophia started talking tonight, not sure what she is saying but she is talking.  She opens up more to us every day.  I can't wait to see her with her daddy, big sister and big brother.  So much will change for her again tomorrow but I know that she will do well with it.  She is such an amazing little girl.  She has let Nana hold her a couple of times now, lets Nana feed her and most important of all lets her kiss her!  She has started to run, play and become more confident.  Soon she will have three more people to get to know on a day to day basis and to share her beautiful personality with.

Our bags are packed for the most part.  Please pray for our travels and that Sophia and I feel better.  My cold is coming back and I think Sophia is now moving from having allergies to getting a cold too.  Soon we will be home and able to rest and adjust again.  Ending off with a couple of pictures of our sweet cutie pie!

Purposeful Christmas Shopping!

My dear friend Connie is having a Thirty-One Party to raise funds to bring her baby girl home from Ethiopia.  Please take a peak at what Thirty-One has that could fill your shopping list, they have wonderful items that fit everyones needs.  My dear friend Anne has opened up her Thirty-One business to help families in the process of adopting and Connie's family is one of her first families that she is fundraising for.

With your purchase Connie will also put your name in for her giveaway of a beautiful Scentsy warmer and 3 bars of wax.  Another one of my favorite indulgences!

If we all do a little we can help bring so many children home to their forever families.

Yesterday was our Consulate Appointment, the very last step of the journey.  It use to be that your appointment was one morning and then the swearing ceremony was the next day.  They have now changed it things so your appointment is in the morning and the swearing ceremony is that afternoon.  It is so nice to know that the only thing we are waiting for now is the actual visa in her passport which will be ready tomorrow afternoon.  It is so hard to believe that we only have two full days in China and then we start the very long journey home.

Sophia has bloomed so much over the last week.  She hardly resembles the scared little girl placed in my arms on Nov. 22nd.  She is so much more adventurous, sometimes more than mom is comfortable with.  As we layed down for a nap today she started beating me up and laughing, really laughing.  That isn't something we had heard before and never even a small chuckle unless we had put forth a lot of effort to get it.  She is in to everything, just like she should be at her age.  Last week so was afraid of everything and now she wants to check things out.  She recognizes her American name and seems to understand most of what we tell her.  She still doesn't babble or baby talk and I haven't heard the word mama but I know one day she will just start flowing with so much to tell us.

I feel so blessed to be her mama.

All is well with the three of us in GZ and with the family at home.  So glad that we were able to leave home before all the snow came.  It has delayed the delivery of the tshirts and hoodies so I only imagine it would have delayed our departure.

A brief run down of what we have been up to the last few days.  On Wednesday we visited the police station to apply for Sophia's passport and it was ready on Thursday afternoon just as Grace had hoped!  On Thursday we visited the Liu Hua Lake Park, it was beautiful, so many flowers and all perfectly groomed.  On Friday we visited the Yue Xiu Park, it's absolutely huge and is on a mountain.  Sophia decided to start walking when we are in public at the park.  She is one strong little girl, I couldn't believe she could walk up the hills the way she did.

Saturday was Sophia's visa medical appointment.  All went fairly well until the shot part, she had to get six shots, two of which are elective at home.  It was torcherous and I was very upset with the manner that it is done but I am so thankfull that the children being adopted won't have to go through this much longer.  The only thing that went through my head was thank you so much Mr. President that you didn't see fit to get your signature on that bill immediately upon passing.  If only those of power in our government had to endure what we then maybe it wouldn't not have happened.Sophia has ran a little bit of a fever but is really doing very well after the shots.  I feel so lucky that she hasn't had an adverse reaction, all our prayers are being answered.

Sophia and mommy are hanging out in the room this morning while Nani is going with our new travel group to the zoo.  Sophia has had some sneezes and a runny nose the last two days so we are having a quiet morning.  We will have to take another trip to Shamian this afternoon for laundry so a little down time is good.  Tomorrow morning our visa paperwork is turned in and the swearing ceremony is tomorrow afternoon.  We are now on the down hill of the trip.

Sorry that we have not been posting regularly.  Our internet connection can be quite slow so it is not always working fast enough for VPN or for Skype.

Yesterday was our finalization day and it was another busy day at the CAB office.  All 40 families arrived again at the same time and got into line, or at least our guides did.  Grace is a dream at all of this stuff.  She has us sit down and wait while she does all the worrying and scurrying.  With the final day of the Asian Games being friday the passport office is closed so we might not be able to get Sophia's passport before our Consulate Appointment on Monday.  Grace was trying to get an urgent urgent passport instead of an urgent passport so it could be ready on Thursday.  She also had a backup plan and put a call into the Consulate about turning in the passport at the swearing in ceremony on Monday afternoon.  She is confident that either way we will be fine, I had full confidence that she would get it all worked out though.  No stressing by me, Grace did enough for both of us.  What a fantastic adoption guide!

Today was our passport photo visit at the police station.  Again all 40 families were there at the same time and again Grace got us in and out as fast as can be.  Sophia has been very tight lipped up until noon today when Nani took a walk to the pool to read for a while.  All the sudden she started running and playing and giving a little half smile.  I just couldn't believe it and of course the camera was with Nani so I couldn't even document it.  She also started taking her bottle again today, she just needs time to digest all of the changes going on.

We took laundry to Shamian Island tonight and ate at Lucy's, it was wonderful to have some of the familiar.  As much as I really like being around real China at our hotel in the city sometimes it gets a little overwhelming with it all.  It was nice to be able to stroll a bit and have some western type food.  We also did a little shopping at my favorite store, Jenny's and then stopped at the WS for some ice cream before catching a taxi back to the hotel.  The taxi was a bit of an adventure as the driver took us to the Holiday Inn City Center instead of Shifu.  The ride ended up being just as long or longer than if we had walked.  Oh well, we saw some new areas and also saw where the Garden Hotel was.  No wonder so many love it, it was in a beautiful area.

Once we got back to the hotel we got our jammies on and Sophia started being a total nut!  She really let her guard down and was getting wild and crazy.  She has a spunky little personality and I can't wait to see more of it unfold.

Tomorrow we are going to a park to stroll for a while and then Grace will be picking up our final provincial documents.  We have finished the provincial part of the adoption so now we wait for the US side of things to get wrapped up.  Unfortunately, I don't have a good pictures of Sophia as she wouldn't let Nani take any.