Nearly Christmas

Wow, has it beens two weeks already since surgery.  Life has a way of just marching on.  I believe it has been two weeks because Grace looks fantastic.  She has healed so nicely.  I am going to be honest here.  I am feeling a bit weird about the surgery.  I always wondered how I would feel if my child was born with a visible birth defect.  My kids are so adorable, I just didn't know how it would affect me to have one of them born that wasn't "perfect".  When we were matched with Grace, I was in love with her.  Her eyes were so big and so lonely.  She didn't smile in the pictures.  She looked hesitant.  I didn't want my baby girl to feel that way.  I fell in love with her with her cleft lip.  It didn't take away from her beauty at all.  She was gorgeous, and I was in love with her.  When we met her, we didn't feel any different.  She was still precious, and I loved her first smile.  With the cleft lip, it filled half her face.  She was so joyful and loving.  I was again in love with this precious child, just the way she was.  When we knew we would have a child with cleft lip and palate, we immediately looked into how to fix it.  I know it is better for them to have a repaired lip and palate, but I was totally in love with the little girl God had given me, I was scared what would happen after surgery.  Would she look the same?  Would I feel guilty about wanting my daughter to look "perfect" like her siblings?  Would she have the same spunky adventurous attitude we were beginning to see in her?  All of these unknowns were hard for me.  I look at my daughter now, after 2 weeks with a new face, and I am still just as in love with her.  She is returning to the spunky little one we love.  She had a rough first week because she was in pain, but she is doing so well now.  Right this minute she is playing blocks with her older siblings.  She has mastered the stairs, up and down, but I am still very nervous when she tries.  She will eat anything we put in front of her, including tomatoes (she gets that from her dad).  She loves to cuddle and wakes up grumpy.  I don't see her any differently than I did before, but she looks so different to everyone else.  She is beautiful and amazing, just like her siblings.

Baby Stair Climber

Repaired lip

First day on the slopes.  Awesome.

Christmas time has been busy.  The boys had a school concert as well as a piano recital.  Ainsley finished up her basketball season (which was so adorable), and Brandt has a bit of a break from his hoops.  We have spent the entire day in our jammies, and have only left the house to run through the Starbucks drive thru.  I love days like this.  I don't ever get them.  I think we will finish the Christmas cookies, then go and watch a movie.  I can't find my camera cord right now, so I have only included pics from my phone.

Post surgery

We were so blessed to have familiar faces in the hospital today.  We have a good friend that was one of the surgeons and he just came out and told us the surgery couldn't have gone better.  We are so relieved, but for me, I just want her in my arms.  I want to be able to comfort her and keep her close and reassure her that her mommy and daddy still love her and are right here waiting for her.  We are so happy things have gone well.  Thank you so much for praying for our baby girl.  We will continue to get info to you through here.  We just talked to her main Doctor and she did great.  Everything came together as it should.  I am including pictures that show her for the last time with her cleft lip :).

Ok, didn't get this posted because Grace has been very hands on since she came out of surgery.  I have a couple minutes now and I will get this posted really quick.  Her face is beautiful.  She is getting her independent spirit back.  She is still the sweet little girl she was when she went in.  She loves her family and still sees as a source of comfort.  I am so relieved.  She is not on a lot of pain meds now, we are just waiting to see how long it takes for her to take a bottle again.  She started eating solids again today.  She downed some yogurt and a Starbucks petite vanilla scone, kid has great taste.  Here are a couple more pics of her after surgery.

Surgery Day

Just wanted to let you all know today we are taking Grace in for her first surgery.  She will be in surgery today from 7:30 until about noon.  Please pray the doctors have a successful outcome and that Grace is not changed by the procedure.  I know we are going to see a changed smile, and I am glad, but I don't want a changed baby girl.  She is so amazing and joyful and fun.  I don't want her to remember any of this.  Please pray.  I will update after surgery.
Thanks.

Long overdue update

Hey all you patient people.  I have been meaning to sit down and update this since, well forever.  I have so much to share.  Grace is doing wonderful.  She has taken off full speed ahead with the walking and acts like she has been doing it forever.  She is picking up signs everyday, though she doesn't always use them appropriately, we'll get there.  She has gained 2 1/2 pounds and 1 inch in a month.  She is happy when she wakes up, and she is sleeping more soundly through the night.  Her personality is blossoming.  She is so happy and busy, its like she was made for our family.  I know God picked just the right kid for our household.  She has been to the pediatrician twice, as well as the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, and the plastic surgeon.  She is healthy with concerns only arising from her cleft lip and palate.  We will be going in for surgery Dec. 7th at 7:30 in the morning, and she will be having her lip sewn up as well as tubes put in her ears.  It is common for cleft babies to have trouble with their ears, so she needs the tubes to help her begin hearing better.  I am not looking forward to surgery, or to the stay in the hospital, but we knew what we were getting into.
I have been asked a lot about the rest of the kids and how they are adjusting.  I just want everyone to know, they are acting like they just got a new sibling.  In their amazing and loving minds, it doesn't matter that Grace came from China instead of my tummy.  They love her, and over love her, just like they would any sibling.  Ainsley has taken on the role of big sister and embraced it.  I have to tame her sometimes.  The boys love playing with her and keeping her out of trouble.  Brandt is so grown up and mature about everything.  Holden is loving and caring.  Wyatt felt she was stealing a bit of his attention, but loves her anyway.  It has gone amazingly smoothly.
I must say, it has been through prayer that this has been just an amazing process.  God has walked through it all with us.  He prepared Grace for us and us for her.  She was meant to be in our family, even though I am heart broken over the mother that left her at the entrance to the hospital.  If people ask, I tell them it has been an amazing journey.  I must remind myself to also say, it hasn't been easy.  It has been very hard and emotional, and expensive and exhausting, but it has been amazing to see the hand of God on the entire process.  He has been faithful to see us through the process and to bring our baby home.  There is a Tobymac Christmas song that has the verse from James in it "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows"  I start tearing up every time I hear it because Grace is no longer an orphan.  She is our daughter and she has a mom and dad and siblings that love her and accept her as a Kelly.
I will go now and chase some kids.  Maybe clean a room or two.  Blessings in this Holiday season, and maybe it won't be so long next time before I sit down to blog.

Our advancing daughter

So, it has only been about 3 weeks since we returned to the US with our new daughter.  We returned and expected her to begin to develop and catch up with her peers, but we weren't prepared for how quickly it would happen.  Let me just say, when we got her, we felt she had the development of a seven month old.  She would sit, but not really play and not move around at all.  She showed very little emotion, other than screaming and crying, and she was uncomfortable being held.  I have to write this all down, because I will not remember this for long.  She is advancing at lightning speed.  Mike and I joke about how we like instant gratification.  Well, she is advancing so quickly, we are rewarded daily with how much she is learning.  To look at her today, you can almost picture her as a 21 month old.  I am going to outline some of the progress we are making, more for me to remember, because I don't ever want to forget how much God is doing in this precious child's life.  It took a week for us to see her first beautiful smile.  We now see it all the time.  She smiles in response to family and friends, and when she is enjoying a fun toy, or being entertained by one of the pets.  Her smile lights up her whole face.  When we got her, she screamed in the bath.  She hated being in there.  The last bath we gave her, she didn't cry at all.  She enjoys having water poured over her head and she likes to splash.  When we got her, she hated cars or any vehicle that moved.  She screamed so hard a couple times, she threw up.  Now she fusses when we strap her in, but calms down and enjoys the ride.  She enjoys watching her siblings and she also sometimes even falls asleep.  When we got her, she did not move.  We didn't think she was capable of crawling and we expected it to be months before she did.  Well, the day of her first pediatricians appointment, 4 days after we got home, she crawled after her sister, then Monday of this week, she decided to start walking.  Awesome moment.  She was playing with Mike and I during Ainsley's gymnastics class, when we decided to send her back and forth between us.  She was so reluctant to put weight on her legs, but we convinced her she could, and all of a sudden she was walking.  For two days now, she has taken off.  She is a walker.  She still gets very nervous, but she is learning.  We now hear her babble constantly.  I had to take her out of the kids' assembly today, because she was being a little chatter box.  I know my Sunday's with her in service with us are numbered.  I am praising God, because she was silent except for when she cried the first couple weeks we had her and now we hear her all the time.  She says a word that sounds like hi when she waves, she looks at us when we call her name, and she knows who mommy and daddy are if you ask her.

Grace walking video

The walking thing caught me off guard.   I was expecting at least a month of wobbles before she was really walking, but I really think she wants to catch up and chase her siblings around.  She loves them. It is so sweet.  We are thankful she is walking now, and not in a month, because we are hoping to have her first surgery on her lip in about a month.  I would love for her to be solid on her feet without the constant worry of her falling and splitting her newly sealed lip open.  We are preparing for some hard times around her surgery.  It is a pretty complicated procedure to get all the muscles realigned and the tissues where they belong, then recovery, hoping it stays sealed with no infection and that she starts eating again quickly.  She is tiny.  We know she had only gained about 1 pound in the 9 months from her medical exam last Dec. to the day we got her.  She has a lot of catch up to do.  She has no reserves to call on if she isn't eating constantly.  We are hoping this month, while we are waiting for her surgery date, she will fill in some, so she has some extra energy and weight to rely on while she is recovering.  The doctors feel she is healthy enough for the surgery, but it would be nice if she was eating well before the procedure.  There are so many other things she has learned, I am already forgetting.  She is feeding herself and chewing, she is playing with toys, and interacting with her family.  All of this is new.  She is amazing and a testament to what God can do, and what love is capable of.  We are blessed by her and blessed by this journey.

 Crawling

 Pumpkin patch

 Pumpkin carving

 Our ladybug

 On our way to Hooray Candy at the church

Preview of family pictures 2012

The rest of the fam is doing great.  We celebrated Halloween at our church party, and by carving pumpkins.  We attended a couple of end of the season soccer games.  We started basketball season.  We are getting excited about seeing family over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We are looking forward to everyone meeting our new addition.  Life continues, and we are adjusting to life with 5.

An amazing adventure

What to say, after going through such an amazing time and seeing God work in an amazing way.  I am almost at a loss for words, but I will power on and try to put down what this experience has been like for us.  When we started the process, I don't think we understood the impact it would have on us and on our family.  I don't think we realized, because we were so busy doing paperwork and having meetings, and obsessing over dates and everything else,  but we didn't realize how amazing the process of adoption is.  We arrived in China after a couple of days in Hong Kong, feeling more like tourists.  The guides gave us a quick tour and told us about local attractions, but truly we were not there for local attractions, we were there to adopt a child.  When we got to the facility where we were receiving Grace, we were with about 10-15 other couples also waiting for their children.  There was a sense of excited anticipation in the room.  It was chaotic, and we just sat back and watched as each of the families was united with their child.  We were told Grace hadn't arrived yet, so we just enjoyed other people's moments.  It was amazing to see the excitement so many had for their new child.  These were orphans. Children abandoned by the ones that are supposed to love them most on this earth.  I am so glad my father in heaven is not like a parent on earth, and he will not abandon us.  After what seemed like an eternity, we saw this tiny little peanut carried into the room.  We didn't think it was Grace because she was so tiny.  When they came and got us, and told us that was our daughter, I was overcome.  I had the exact same feelings with her, that I had with each of my biological children.  I was instantly in love and awe of this precious little thing in my arms.  She was screaming.  Scared and absolutely overcome with the craziness of the moment.  She was removed from the only thing she had ever known.  It doesn't matter that she was sleeping in a crib with a wood bottom and metal bars, with no blankets and no cushions, or that she had never really been held and cuddled.  She didn't know what she was missing, and wanted what was familiar.  Does that sound similar to a person who has not yet accepted the gift of Jesus Christ and salvation?  You cling to what you know and what is comfortable, not understanding how amazing it is when you surrender your life to God.  We know Grace's life will never be the same and will be so much better, but she didn't know that.  She would startle every time I would move with her.  Holding her was so foreign, she was scared by it.  She was so tiny, I just felt I needed to protect her.  I was changed in a drastic way that day.  I knew what it was to see someone that was not loved and what that does to them.  Love is powerful and it completes us.  It is what makes a person a person.  We just surrounded her and talked to her and calmed her, and if we sat in one place and didn't move, she would calm down and just look.  She has the biggest eyes.  She is constantly just studying people.  That first day was a shock to me.  It was a shock to see how small and neglected our daughter was.  It was a shock to feel such emotion for a person we had just met.  It was a shock to realize she was no longer an orphan.  I am a different person inside, and I will never be the same.  I am thankful.  I will get into the story more next post, but it is late and I am tired.  I am back on solo duty as Mike is back to work.  He is enjoying a quiet hotel room, (just kidding honey, I know you are lonely and miss us too), and the kiddos are all asleep.  Grace has settled into our little family and is just another Kelly.  She sleeps very well now that she has adjusted to our time zone.  She is healthy and eating pretty well.  She is learning how to eat solids.  We are seeing a surgeon soon to discuss her cleft lip and palate and what our plan of action is.  She loves her siblings and she is learning to like the cat and dog.  She loves to be held and played with.  We love having her in our family.

A walk in the park

Daddy caught Grace staring into mama's eyes.  What a great feeling to have this little person we loved from afar, now in our arms.  It is the most amazing thing.

The Chinese people play a version of hacky sack.  It uses a bundle of feathers with a weight on the end.  It is done by people of all ages.  Mike joined in a couple of times.  

We also saw the all American game of basketball going on.

The park is huge and beautiful and peaceful and friendly, but right outside the gates is a street so busy, we can't even cross it.  We have to use the subway tunnels beneath the streets to get to the park, but the reality of the city just melts away when you start wandering the park's paths. We spent quite a bit of time there.  The hotel began to feel claustrophobic after the first week there.

More pictures

We caught a grin.  We have seen more and more personality emerging.  She is such a sweetie.  We can't wait to watch her become the little person she is.

I decided to take some progressive pictures while she is eating.  She has a good appetite, but it takes quite awhile to feed her.  She is learning how to keep food in, but we still lose a lot through her cleft lip.

Pictures

This post will just be a collection of the photos we have taken the last few day.  Just two more nights here in China, then one in Hong Kong and then we begin our long trek home.  I can not wait!

This is the pagota in the middle of the Buddhist temple we visited.  What a sad place.  There were many people there making offerings to this dead god Buddha.  We are so thankful we serve a living God, who we have seen working through this entire process.

We visited then Chen house.  It is a historic house that displays the art forms the region is famous for, ivory carving, jade carving, embroidery and the fourth I can't seem to remember, so I must have missed it.  The house, pictured in part below, was beautiful and ornate inside and out.  In the back,we were given a view of some Guangzhou housing, which is pictured above.

She smiled!!!

We had a busy day yesterday.  I don't have the patience right now to deal with my pictures, so this will just be a brief narrative of our day.  The canton trade fair is in town and I think it is severely slowing the Internet here at the hotel.  So, I will try and add pictures later possibly.  We have some neat pictures to share because we visited a Buddhist temple, a historic house, then of course a place to shop, but it was also a very beautiful display of Chinese arts and crafts.  Grace did fine during all of the tours, but screamed on the bus.  We are continuing to pray she gets used to being in a vehicle before we start our trip home Wednesday night with a four hour van ride.  We imagine her first ride in a vehicle a week ago, when she was being brought to us, wasn't a super experience.  We can only guess how it went, but it would have been 5 and 1/2 hours with people that told us the only way to calm her was to lay her down (thankfully not true, she loves being cuddled).  Big news from our day though, is that Grace finally smiled at us.  Daddy has a way of finding a kid's tickle spot.  I didn't think she had any, because she has been so somber since we got her, but last night at dinner, she was really relaxed and dad found the spot under her arm.  Her smile is gorgeous.  I had given up on seeing her smile for awhile because she is so serious, so it was a wonderful surprise to see.  God is amazing and he is showing us the huge impact love has on a person.
 We only have two more nights here in Guangzhou, then one in Hong Kong, then we get to come home.  I miss home so much.  I miss my babies most of all, but I also miss my life.  I have a much more global perspective on things now, so I will never be the same.  I want to see the result of my changed perspective.

Life as we know it

So, I apologize for previous grammatical errors and oddities with my blog.  It is near impossible to edit.  Fun times.  We are getting a bit stir crazy.  The trip is beginning to drag and we all want to come home to our family.  We miss the kids so much.  We have been seeing different parts of the city.  Grace hates riding in the car.  She screams every time we get in one.  She cried so hard last night, she threw up all over me.  Unfortunately it was on the way to a very fancy dinner with some of Mike's Chinese co workers.  We had a very nice time, but I stunk.  We are praying, and maybe you could too, that she gets used to traveling before we head for home, starting with a 3 1/2 hour van ride to Hong Kong on Wednesday.  It will be a very long drive if she isn't used to the car by then.

 So, the big news is, Grace is letting us hold her when she eats.  She would lie flat on her back and hold her own bottle, but she has started allowing us to hold her, and this evening, she allowed me to hold the bottle.  It is amazing to see the progress she is making.  She is not the scared little peanut we picked up 6 days ago.  She is beginning to see us as friendly ;)

We visited Shamian Island.  It used to be the hub of Chinese adoption.  Since the government offices that used to be there have moved, the island is much quieter. We enjoyed walking through the quiet streets.  We found a Starbucks, of course, and enjoyed a little coffee boost.  Grace didn't seem overly interested.  Oh well, some day.  

The island was full of people taking pictures.  I guess there are a lot of brides that come to the island for pictures before their wedding day.  Gorgeous brides everywhere.  The picture below was of what looked like a fashion shoot.  They were working on the girls hair and make up.  We enjoyed seeing different portions of Chinese culture.  In the park, we saw people dancing and singing.  It was really cool.  We also saw people swimming in the Pearl river.  Brave.  People really do life together and it is a stark contrast to our culture.  I am impressed with it.  

Yay it is Friday already

I am enjoying having alone time with Grace, but I am missing my sweet babies at home so much.  I am so excited we will be home in less than a week. Today we are missing the big rivalry cross country meet at St. George's. I know the boys will do their best, but them running is one of my favorite things to watch.  
Here is China, we have a day free of meetings and paperwork, so we are heading to the island famous in adoption circles, Shamian Island.  Adoption trips used to center on the island because the medical exam and consulate was located there.  Well, they are now in other parts of the city, so the island is quieter.  I am kind of craving quieter, so we are going to head there.  The hustle and bustle of the city is amazing and interesting, but I crave quiet.
The little miss is changing so much.  I look at her gotcha day pictures and can't quite believe how far she has come.  She was so scared and overwhelmed.  It just makes a mom's heart ache when she can't comfort her precious child.  All baby Grace saw was strangers.  She also was sick in the car ride in, and she was coming down with a cold.  Needless to say, she was not happy.  Now she will sit quietly and just look around.  She enjoys being touch and is learning how to be held.  Initially her arms and legs would flail like a newborn, but now she grabs me around the neck like she doesn't want to let go.  I love it.

There are a couple of beautiful parks we have enjoyed walking in.  We are next to a koi pond full of hundreds of large koi.

The goat statue is the symbol of the city and at the center of the park.  It was quite a hike up a lot of stairs, but it was pretty cool when we got there.  

This is a man in the park playing a hand saw.  He played Jingle bells for us.  The picture below looks like Grace was wondering where her daddy went.  Silly girl.

Well enough rambling.  Now I will get to the part I know you all enjoy. The pictures.

Just a quick update

Ok, so I am still struggling with the whole Internet censorship thing here and trying to get pics on the blog.  Instead of pushing all the buttons in frustration, I will just update with what I have.  I am sitting here next to my sleeping baby girl. She is exhausted.  She has been sick since we got her and we were concerned she may have advanced to an ear infection, so we decided to start her on antibiotics so she can start to heal before we take a loooooong plane ride.  We are hoping she starts to feel better soon.  My victory for today was, she didn't cry when she woke up this morning.  She just layed there looking at us.  Mike also got to see her grin, but I missed it because I was carrying her.  Hopefully the grins will become more frequent soon.  She really is starting to relax and get comfortable with us.  Right now I am sitting in our room at the Marriott, which could be any Marriott in American, except, this is our view.  We are in the heart of a big city in China.  It is like nothing I have ever experienced before.  I will never be the same.  

We went for a walk.  I could not upload any more pictures, or I would have shared the market with you.  Since coming here, I believe I am vegetarian.  The fruits and veggies are amazing, but the meat is frightening!!!!  I am eating lots of fruits, veggies and carbs.  Pretty sure that will be my diet until we leave.  The market was so awe inspiring.  The meat was just laying out there for us to examine.  There was not a piece of ice or a cooler in site.  People were cutting up live chickens right in the market.  There were many bits of meat I did not recognize and I am not sure I want to recognize.  Obviously this is the way people eat, so they are used to it, but I am not very interested in trying authentic Chinese after seeing that.  The rice is good.

Gotcha day

 On our way to the civil affairs office. The traffic is CRAZY. See the guy pulling boxes down the middle of the street?  Cars just swerved around. Pedestrians just walk between cars.  Crazy!    

 Mike and I at the civil affairs office.  We were one of the last families to get our baby because she arrived late.  I couldn't believe it was her when they walked in because she is so tiny.

 Gotcha moment.  No other words needed.

 

She was so tiny and precious.  It was an amazing moment.  When I get back to civilization, I will blog about the whole journey so far, but with the crazy technology, it is a struggle to get much on here.  Just know, we are feeling God's presence, even in Communist China.  He is here and he is mighty.  Seeing baby Grace react with so much fear, even though her life is changing for the better, gives me such a vivid picture of us before we are adopted in the family of God. There is so much more in a life lived for Christ, but before we realize that, we are so lost and afraid.  Thank you God for adopting me!

Tuesday night.

May I begin by saying my blog has issues. Because of the many steps we have to take to get through the Chinese security, I can only do what I can do. I know you all just want pictures anyway, so here are a few. Hopefully I will be able to get more after I finish this post. 

This is baby Grace on day 2. We are trying to teach her to feed herself, hence the puff on my nose. From her expression, obviously she thinks her mama is crazy ;) .

She really seems to enjoy eating solids. She has never eaten them before. She has lived solely on formula mixed with rice cereal. Probably why she is 20 months old and only weighs 17 pounds.

This picture is taken at the civil affairs office after she officially became our daughter. She was snuggled right in. It is not like holding any other baby I have ever held. She has no idea how to be held. I am keeping her close to teach her, but we realize it will take time.

This is baby Grace on gotcha day with daddy and I and the three ladies that brought her 5 1/2 hours from her orphanage. Two of the women are nannies and the other is director of the orphanage. Grace was car sick and managed to catch cold on her way in as well as getting 4 molars right now. Needless to say, she has had a rough time. We are loving on her constantly and we see slight changes. We pray she continues to get used to us and starts to receive our love.

Hong Kong

Greetings from Hong Kong.  We are laying here trying to adjust to the time change, but my body is telling me it should be sleeping, not hanging out at 6:30 PM.  We got in late last night, and were able to go right to sleep, then we woke up and had a full day today.  We started out at Starbucks, and I would like you all to notice, we spent $59 at Starbucks on coffee.  The US dollar is worth 7.5 times as much as the Hong Kong dollar, but sometimes in the US, I feel like I am spending that much on coffee.  Starbucks is the same the world over, just in case you were concerned.  I have been able to order my exact same drink as I order back home, and it has tasted the same.  What a relief. 

After enjoying our coffee, we met with our guide, Matthew and took a tour of Hong Kong.  We were top of some "mountain" and were able to take pictures of the city.  You could actually see better than my picture is portraying, but it was pretty hazy.  The last month in the smoky northwest has prepared us for less than clear skies.  We were with 6 other families on our tour.  All of them are adopting with us and 2 families are adopting from the same province.  We will see each other get our children on Monday.  One family is on their second adoption, and the other is adopting their first child.  It will be so neat to experience this amazing time with familiar faces, since we have to be all the way over here without our friends and family.  It makes it less sterile.  Many of the families in the group went the non special needs route, and so have been waiting 6 plus years to get their child.  It is such a long journey for them.  We have been waiting a year and it has felt like an eternity.  (and don't laugh at my hair, it seems to be expanding in the humidity and wind)

 Another place we visited was a jewelry factory.  Mike kept exclaiming that the equipment the men were using to work on the jewelry was the same that his Dad and grandfather had worked on in their store.  It was neat to see that the trade has not modernized so much, and it is still done by hand with the same tools that have been used for decades. 

We also visited the Aberdeen (yes, that is the name of the town I was born in) fishing village.  The group was given the option of taking a quick boat tour, but since the motion of the bus was already making me quite queasy, Mike and I opted to walk the water front.  We saw many different people doing many different things.  I appreciated this woman that looked like she was preparing bait.  I took the picture from a distance, though I know she noticed me.  I enjoyed seeing her sitting their doing a task she probably does everyday.  It makes me feel less foreign.  This is where people live, just like I live in Washington.  I see people doing normal everyday things, and it calms me.  I have been so busy the last month getting ready to come here, it is nice to be able to relax and enjoy what is going on around us.  The people are just people and the city is just a city.  I may feel differently after we arrive in China tomorrow.  We'll see.  In th mean time, I am going to lay here and enjoy watching soccer on TV and waiting for the time to come when I will be able to skype with my kiddos back home.  Tomorrow we take the train into mainland China.  It is about a 2 hour ride, and we will be met at the train station by another CCAI rep.  They do a really good job of preparing us and keeping us to the correct schedule.  I am so very impressed with anyone that is organized and maintains a schedule.  Ask mom as she is home with a binder of instructions for my kids and their schedules :). 



Kelly household changes

Today was a big day and the beginning of a lot of changes at the Kelly house.  After enjoying 6 months with Nicci and Addi, it was time for us to say goodbye.  They left first thing this morning, and will be driving today and tomorrow back home to Colorado Springs.  So sad to see her go, but we are so thankful Joseph will be coming home soon and they can finally be a family.  We have loved getting to know our new niece and spending quality time with my sweet sister.  It will be a time in my life I will never forget, and I am so thankful we got it.  Ok, who wants to move in next ;)?  We are five days from leaving for China, and 9 days from holding our baby girl in our arms.  Actually nine days minus 15 hours, which is the time change from here to China.  I am hoping while we are there, we will be able to keep everyone updated on our blog.  I think we know the secret to being able to use our blog.  If not, we will pass info on through mom.  We arrive in Hong Kong, via Portland and Tokya, on Oct. 5th at 11:56 PM.  We will be in Hong Kong until Sunday the 7th when we will take a train to Guangzhou.  On the 8th, we get our baby girl and get to spend time getting to know her.  We officially become her parents on the 9th.  We also apply for her passport, so she can come back home with us.  We have a free day on the 10th, while paperwork is being processed, then we have a medical exam on the 11th.  The 12th we will spend filling out more paperwork, then we have two more free days.  We hope to enjoy the city, and spend lots of time getting to know baby Grace.  The 15th, we receive Grace's passport.  The 16th, we go to the US Consulate and finish up with the business end of the adoption.  The 17th, we receive Grace's visa to come to the US, then we take a van back to Hong Kong, where will stay over night and fly out first thing in the morning on the 18th.  We arrive home on the 18th, and get to introduce Grace to her family.  It looks like it will be a great trip.  I think we will be ready to come home and see our babies here.  I haven't ever been away from them for 14 days.  I am sure it will go quickly.  We are continuing to pray that Grace will have an easy transition and she will learn we are here to love her and make her part of our family forever.  Once again, I must thank my sweet Mom for willingly coming into our home and running our house while we are gone.  The kids are small compact bundles of energy and I know they can be exhausting.  Anyone that feels like it, check in on her and make sure she is alive and well.  We plan to Skype as often as we can, but it won't be the same as being able to call any time we want.  I have spent the last two weeks trying to prepare the kids and the house to make life as easy as possible for mom.  I will continue to think of things to do, but I also know I can't plan for everything.  Mom will do just fine.  My sweet friend game me the neatest necklace yesterday.  It has beads that represent each of my kid's birthstones, including Grace, set in a little wire nest.  I can't wait until I can get all 5 of my chickies home into the nest.

 Ainsley at Ballet

             Holden placed 9th with a 1 mile time of 7:35

 Brandt placed 8th with a 1 mile time of 6:40.  Wyatt didn't place this meet, but ran a 8:35 which is excellent for him.

My beautiful new necklace

We are going to enjoy our last weekend as a family of six.  It will be our last.  I am joyful for that.  We have 4 soccer games, church and AWANA, so a pretty typical weekend.  I plan to get everything packed or at least start.  We had a cross country meet on Thursday, and the boys all did very well.  They are having fun with their team.  Ainsley is back in ballet and gymnastics, and she is doing so well.  She is really starting to listen to her teachers and doing what they ask.  It is a nice change.