Ready for Church

Newfound picture of Livi

I belong to a yahoo group that is made up of families that have adopted from or are in the process of adopting from Olivia's orphanage. There is a really neat woman (LeeAnn) on this list that has adopted from Guilin and is in China NOW adopting a son from a different orphange. She is however the coordinator for the foster families for Olivia's orphanage so she is visiting Guilin first. She was there in May of 2005 (Livi was just turning one that month) and she took a bunch of pictures of the kids that were there. She just recently posted these pictures on the group for all of us to look though. I was clicking quickly through the pictures ooohing and aahing over the cute kids not expecting to see anyone I knew.I opened this picture and my heart did a double beat. I quickly grabbed the couple other pictures I have of Livi close to this age and I am 99% positive it is Olivia. I emailed LeeAnn, and she even remembers Olivia. She said she was in the baby room and was being moved to the toddler room the next day. She said she was quiet but VERY observant to everything and everyone. It just seems so surreal to me to find this picture and then to chat with someone who got to meet Livi 10 months before we did!

My Baby Boy is Legal!

Evan turns 21 today. Does that make me old? Heck no! I have a two year old at home. I felt older when he turned 18. When he turned 18 I thought "Oh no, now anything he does he can be tried as an adult for" now that he is 21 I think "Thank God he is now legal." HAHA!

Realization

This morning I went to our small town post office. I had Olivia with me and we were standing in line. Okay, I was standing in line and Olivia was kinda dancing around. Another woman came in behind me and was standing in line. I noticed she had a little girl with her, about 4, who was also from China (I knew she was Asian, the mom did tell me later she was from China). Anyway, Olivia was be-bopping around and when she caught sight of this little girl she stopped and just started staring at her. After about 2 minutes she looked up at me and said "Mama, like me. Like me." as she pointed to the little girl. I was shocked. That was the first time she had ever taken notice that she looked different and that she noticed someone else that looked like her. Now we have another little girl at church from China and we have gone out for Chinese food many times but this was the first time she really took notice of the similarities. (The other little girl was facinated by Olivia too and even gave her a piece of gum.) It was a pretty cool morning and more proof that little miss smarty pants (I say that lovingly) is growing up.

Dinner with Livi & Dora

I was reading a magazine the other night and looked up to see this setting. Olivia had set up a little "table" for dinner for her and Dora. These days not much happens without Dora being involved one way or another.

Olivia's First Valentine

Thank you Grandpa Yoder for my very first Valentine!

Happy Valentines Day and SNOW DAY #2

We had to bring out the big guns today just to get out of our driveway. Our neighbor came down and blew us out.

SNOW DAY!

Yep that's what it looks like out our front door. WHITE! We are having a snow day today. They are calling for 8-12 inches to add to the 6-8 inches we already have. What more could a kid want?

Chillin' with Dora and Dad

Winter Fun

Well as usual in Indiana we have been blessed with snow-and getting more everyday. Right now we probably have 8-12 inches on the ground. When we got our first snow Olivia was not too impressed. She would not even touch it. NOW she loves it. She and Morgan go out to play and sled. In these pictures you see Morgan pulling Livi with the four wheeler. Problem now is when it is time to go in Livi says "More, more" and she doesn't understand that even though her lips are blue and she is shivering she should be in the house. She just wants to PLAY!

Someday she is gonna kill me for this....

Update

Well, it has been a interesting month. Mike has been laid off since the first part of December. At first I dreaded the thought of having him under my feet, but just about the time I got used to having him around... the union called last week and put him back to work. He is working nights at a landfill driving a haul truck while they are cleaning out a cell. That really flips the whole household around. Now the girls and I have our evenings to ourselves and Livi and I have to be quiet in the morning while he sleeps. This is only temporary (about 6 weeks) until Brooks starts production back up again (where he has been for the last 17 years).

Evan came home in December after announcing that he was quitting Grace College. He was on the fence about taking a semester off, or applying at North Park College in Chicago (girl involved here). We told him all the cons of taking a semester off and after checking out North Park really encouraged him to look at a in-state school. So, he applied at IUNW (in Gary, Indiana) which was not a whole lot better because then he was going to have to get an apartment and live in a high crime area. We did some more talking and encouraging and got him to apply at IUSB. He really did not want to live at home though and we were able to come up with a great compromise. He moved in with my dad. Grandpa has an apartment-ette in the back of his house so Evan can be on his own but still have really cheap living. It seems to be a great solution.

Katie (thank goodness) is still at IU in Bloomington. She has a really tough and heavy load this semester and is ready to pull her hair out. Since she is basically taking a pre-med course it is really heavy in the Chemistry area-this is taking alot of her time with lecture, discussion and labs. She is also working on a minor in Spanish plus trying to get some of the minimum requirements out of the way too (English, topics etc). She is taking Ballroom dancing which she says is her only fun class and a great release. She may have to quit her part time job though because she is having to do many research papers this term and having a hard time finding the time to get them done. The week of strep throat didn't help either.

Morgan is in two basketball programs (after school and Upwards) and her 4-H has started up again. With dad working nights for the next 6 weeks or so, that means mom gets to do ALL the running with a toddler in tow.

As I said in a previous post, Olivia is little miss jabber box now. She is talking up a storm and still thinks she is the Matriarch of the household. It is hard to believe that this time last year she was still just a picture in our hands. She is as smart as a whip and we can only hope that as she grows up she uses her smarts for good and not evil or we are in big trouble. I am in the process of signing her up for pre-school next fall. She will do awesome! She loves Sunday school and I know being in a preschool class she will just blossom.

That's all for now. I gotta go get ready to drive the big yellow taxi. :)

OUCH!

Had a little accident with my curling iron this week.

Graduated

Well, this last week Sue-Sue came to see Livi for her Speech Therapy session. We haven't seen her in a month because of the holidays. During the last month Livi has really had an explosion with her talking and vocabulary. She has become very verbal and pretty descriptive in her language. So much so, dad now tells her she has diarrhea of the mouth. I was anxious to hear what Sue-Sue would say. About 15 minutes into the session she looked up at me and said, "Uh, I think my work is done. There is nothing more I can do with this little one." So, it really wasn't my imagination. The switch did finally turn on in her little brain. But after today, I was looking for the switch to turn off her mouth. *sigh*

One year ago....

One year ago today (http://boundforchina.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_boundforchina_archive.html ) we saw Olivia's face for the very first time. Oh what a stressful day that was. Referrals were delayed and late because of a mix up with DHL. Our agency normal got their packages by 10:00 AM and by 2:00 we had the news that DHL had the packages but would not be delivering them that day. I had to leave for my bus route and after being a basket case all day I was not a happy person and very miserable. After my elementary route I got a call on my cell phone from one of my travel mates yelling "Did you hear!!! DHL made a special trip and made the delivery today!!! The agency has our babies!!!" I could hardly drive my next route. I was a mess. By the time I got home my daughter Morgan was dancing around the house screaming "They called! They called! I told them to call you back at 4:00." We waited until 4:30 and then I called them. That was when Ebbie (not my family coordinator-mine was on Christmas vacation in California) started giving me the information on Yang Guo Guan. I know I have posted here before my disappointment of that day when we found out how old she was and all, but, the next two hours was torture waiting for her picture to come up on our computer. I thought they had forgotten to email us her picture and went home for the day. I remember when they finally came through all of us ooohhhing and awwwing and thinking how sweet she looked (even though Katie said-she has a big forehead-and Michael said she has big ears). I remember thinking that her little mouth had a turned down, sad look to it. Funny, cause now we never notice that.

My Girls

Christmas 2006

UGH! I have been trying to make a Christmas post for a week now, but my Internet has been acting up and I have been having a horrible time with it. I keep losing everything I type. So, if this works, here is a quick update.

Christmas 2006 was wonderful. It was our first Christmas with Livi and her first Christmas celebration ever despite the fact that she is 2 ½. She had so much fun helping pass out Christmas gifts to everyone. Then when she was handed a gift, she would point to herself and say “For Ni-ni?” in total disbelief. Once we reassured her that yes, the gift was in fact for her, she would promptly sit down and have the paper ripped off in no time and ooo and awww over her new treasure. It made no difference if it was a toy or clothes. She was happy with both.

Both Morgan and Livi have been in heaven the last three weeks having big sis Katie and big bro Evan home from college too. They both start back next week so their visit is about to end and things should quiet down to normal here again.

9 Months Home

Today is the 9 month anniversary of Olivia offically becoming a permenant part of our family. She has now been part of our family longer than we waited to learn who she was for the first time (from the date of our paperwork being logged in until the day of our referral was about 8 months). OHHH how long that 8 months of waiting seemed and how fast this last nine months has sped by. Right now families who are logged in and are waiting to get the first glimpse of their new son/daughter's face from China are having to wait 15 months with the wait expected to increase maybe up to 24 months. (UGH! That would have been pure torture for me!!!)

Our little Livi has been a pure blessing for us. She has blossomed and grown so much. We can't wait to experience our first Christmas with her. All the new things she gets to encounter are so much fun to see again through her eyes. She delights in the smallest of things and squeals with pleasure when she sees someone she loves. She has so much energy and imagination that we often wish we could bottle it and save a little for us adults. Where she used to cry and run from the camera she now brings it to us and will dance and pose and loves to have her picture taken. If we could clone her I think we could make a lot of money because we have had many offers from people wanting to "take her off our hands". Her smile just brightens the room when she enters it.

Yes, Livi, you are our blessing and our little spit-fire all rolled into one. We thank God for you every day!

Livi and Sadie

Christmas Prep

UGH! Time is just flying by! I cannot believe I have taken two weeks to post again. We have been busy with Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, and Christmas shopping. Today we are in the middle of a snow "advisory" and predicted to get about 8 inches of snow. Whoo Hoo! Bring it on!

The day we decorated for Christmas Olivia was taking her nap and when she got up Morgan and I were in the middle of putting up the decorations. Livi kept walking around the house saying "Wow! Cool!" She walked up to a Santa that is about the same size she is and was watching him move. She looked over at me and and said "Touch?" I said "NO, just look." She nodded "Okay". And that was it. She hasn't touched him yet. I am amazed. I figured we would be following the little tornado around picking up decorations for a month. She did help us decorate the tree and was very proud of herself. The only problem is, she touched those decorations to decorate the tree, so she thinks those are okay to play with. The other day I found some of her toys hidden in the tree. What a goof ball!