Tuesday, April 9, 2013

One Year Later...

What a difference a year makes...
Our first family photo with three, April 9, 2012
Celebrating Gotcha Day, April 9, 2013
Wow!  This past year has been an amazing journey.  We are so thankful for our daughter, Lydia.  She has brought so much joy to our life.  I look back at our pictures from our first days in China and I can hardly believe that this scared, timid little baby is our confident, friendly little girl.  She has grown so much and learned an amazing amount in this past year.  I am so glad that the Lord brought Lydia into our lives. 

We had a wonderful day celebrating our family.  We started off with a lunch at McDonald's.  I told Lydia while we were there that her first meal at McDonald's was ketchup.  Now she barely touches the stuff.  She loves McNuggets, fries and especially chocolate milk. : )  It was a fun lunch with Mama, Baba and Lydia's special friend, Miss Patti.  (It is because of Patti's prayers and faithfulness to God in their own adoptions that we saw God leading us to adopt Lydia.)
Lydia really wanted to go to the zoo today, but it was pouring down rain and cold, so after some convincing, we got her to agree to go to the children's museum instead.  We went downtown to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum and she had a blast.  We closed the place down!  She would have stayed a lot longer if she could.

We then went to "Bear Noodles" AKA Panda Express for some rice and noodles.  Lydia loves that restaurant and can spot one whenever we drive by.  She thinks it's so fun that there are pandas on the cups and decorations.  She even got a stuffed panda while we were there.
On the way home, we stopped at some friends so Lydia could play for "5 minutes" which really turned into more like an hour.  She had tons of fun with her China girl friends. : )
When we were in China we got Lydia a knitted Chinese doll with a silk outfit.  We gave that to her when we got home.  I think she likes it.  She asked if she could sleep with it and she's snuggled up with her now.  I also made her a Shutterfly book with pictures from the past year.  She looked through it and asked us about all the pictures.  She loves to look at pictures on the computer, so I'm sure that her book with get a lot of use.  I saved the book online just in case we need to get another copy someday!

As we put her to bed tonight, I just wanted to snuggle her and kiss her.  I am so amazed at God's faithfulness.  He provided for us throughout the adoption process, brought us to her in China and helped us to bond, and has given us the strength and wisdom that we need to be the best parents we can be.  I am so thankful for all that He has done throughout this past year...To God be the glory, great things He has done!!!!

Here are some pictures...just for fun. : )
Our family Easter picture

Easter Dress

Lydia and the cousins with Bestamor and Bestafar - Great Grandma and Grandpa Aunan

Lydia and Miss Patti

Super Cute!!!

Eating noodles is so much fun and yummy!!!

Lydia with her presents
   

Friday, March 1, 2013

Ok, so it's been a really long time since I've written a blog post.  Time just gets away from me.  When you have a three year old and teach kindergarten, there are very few dull moments. : )

Well, in honor of Lydia's second surgery, I thought I better post something!

Her first surgery went about as well as anyone could hope for.  She woke up from anesthetic and when I went into the recovery room, she had already eaten one Popsicle and was on her second.  It barely phased her that she couldn't do much with her right hand.  When she tried to wash her hand the first time, she asked Brian to take her cast off.  When he told her it had to stay on, she just went with it.  She didn't complain and just tried to figure out a new way to do everything.  She's pretty adaptable.

About a month later, her cast came off, which I think was more traumatic for her than the surgery itself.  She did not like the noise the saw made and when she saw her fingers were dirty, she was NOT happy.  She kept looking down at her fingers and saying, "Dirty".  We took her out for supper at the restaurant of her choice - "Bear Noodles" AKA Panda Express and then went home for a bath.  After she soaked in the bath and her hand was clean, she thought her new hand was pretty nice.  It took her a few days to get used to using her right hand again, but she has really enjoyed the extra movement that she's been able to have. 

Here we are again at the hospital waiting for Lydia's surgery to be done.  She had a sinus infection a few weeks ago and woke up with a cough the other day.  I was worried that she might not be able to have surgery because of that, but the nurse didn't seem to think that it was a problem.  The anesthesiologist resident made me a bit nervous by saying that sometimes it takes a month for airways to open all the way after an infection.  When the doctor came in though, she just asked about how long ago she finished her antibiotics and said that everything should be ok. : )

Last night at supper, Lydia asked Brian, "How long til March?"  (She knew that her surgery is on March 1st.)  He told her, "One dark-outside nigh-night."  (This is how she keeps track of time!)  After Brian told her that she started clapping and cheering.  She told us that she was "A little bit excited and a little bit happy" about her surgery.  For Lydia when she says "a little bit", it is so cute and it doesn't really mean a little bit.  She was so excited that I didn't know if she would even be able to go to sleep.  When I put her to bed, I told her that she had to go to sleep fast because it was still going to be dark outside when we had to leave for the hospital. 

This morning when we turned the bathroom light on, she woke up, but she said she just wanted to snuggle in bed.  She laid in bed for a little bit and then got up and got dressed and ready to go.  When we left for the hospital, she kept telling us that we needed a flashlight because it was dark outside. : )

We got here and got checked in.  The nurse in the check-in to surgery was the same one as the last time.  In November, she asked me a lot about adoption.  When we checked in today, she told me that she is engaged and getting married in November.  Because she is older she said they have talked about adopting!  She was concerned that she might be too old, but I told her she was well within the range to adopt from China.  She said they have already talked about saving their wedding gift money for adoption expenses. : )  I gave her our name and number and the names of our agency and some others that we know are good and work in China.  Who knows, maybe God put us here to encourage her toward adoption.  There are no coincidences in life - God has it all orchestrated. 

I'll post a picture later today of the "new cast".  Lydia picked out orange this time. : )

Here are some pictures...
First attempt at snow angels

Love playing in the snow
Chinese New Year party with some of our Chinese friends
Ready to go, even at 5am!!!  Baba isn't so sure. : )


"I like these jammies"


A little out of it after the goofy juice!