Silly me!

So I completely forgot to mention in my last post (of extremely random blurbs of information), that while we have decided to leave the kids here while we go to China, exactly WHOM we will be leaving them with!?!

Who else, but my WONDERFUL, DARLING, BLESSED, GEM OF A SISTER, of course! That's who!!

I can't tell you what enormous peace that brings me. To know my children will be in the care of someone who not only loves me very much, but would throw herself in front of a moving bus for my children if she had to!

And to know they will be in their own environment- plus, to have their cousins here to play with too. They are going to have a blast! Shoot- they'll probably be happy we're leaving!

So I am just so super grateful to my sister for making this long trip out here, once again, to be here for me in my time of need.

I love you so much, sissy.

Thanks a million.

Jen

P.S. I'll be sure to stock up on Nutty Bars and Paydays, okay?

Busy Times!

So much to do, so little time to do it in. Especially when you do stupid things like send your passports and visa applications to the wrong place! Yes, I was in a rush, and not really sure about how things worked with applying for visas-- I won't bore you with the details, but it ended up costing me an extra week of time and $32 in shipping fees to get it all back. I finally got it sent off to the CORRECT place yesterday. Phew!

Lesson learned: SLOW DOWN.

(Don't know that it's actually learned yet, but I'm working on it!)

My house is transforming! Here's a picture of a corner of my living room we've designated for toys for Kelly. My living room hasn't had a place for toys in... hmmmm... at least 8 years. Can that be right? Wow. It's weird... I do admit, I like to have everything in it's place, and I'm sort of anal about decorating... so I confess, having toys in the living room is not exactly my thing. I guess if it were up to me, we would either (1) have a closed off section in the living room where Kelly's toys could be kept (but not seen), (2) I would not have them in the living room at all, OR (3) all of Kelly's toys would be brown and turquoise! (tee hee ;)

But Kelly's room is the smallest room in the house, so there just isn't room in there for them- plus, the living room, dining room and kitchen are all one "great room," so this is where we spend most of our time. It only makes sense for her to have her toys out here, right? So I'm just going to have to get over my anal decorator side!

I don't know if I've formally announced it, but we have decided not to bring the big kids with us to China after all. More than anything, it's a budget issue, but as we discussed it, we realized there could be blessings in disguise to it that we just don't fully realize right now.

There are so many things to do to prepare to get TA. You want to get everything done you possibly can before you get TA, because things could go super fast and furious once it comes, so you don't want to stress yourself out leaving everything to do until the end.

Last week, I got prescriptions from our doctor for our trip to China- that was a load off! I still need to fill them, but at least I have them now.

We went shopping for luggage, and baby and travel necessities this past weekend too. You just can't imagine how much stuff you need for this trip- medicines especially. You have to cover all your bases, from lice to diaper rash to everything in between.

We bought a few toys for our trip too... here's a picture.

Also, Nancy has been shopping for Kelly! When she read how Kelly likes to rock, she got her a couple of rocking toys. Aren't they the cutest?!

The Piglet is especially cool because it can rock OR it can roll! You just push this little button and you can have the wheels up, to rock, or down, to roll. Oh, Kelly is going to have a blast!

We're off to an orthodontist appointment for Caleb. I have more to post so I hope to be back tonight or tomorrow, but no promises. You just never know!

Mother's Day Video

I know this is not exactly your typical Mother's Day Tribute.

This video shows clips from the movie, "The Passion" and is graphic at times- you probably shouldn't watch it with children present.

I just wanted to give you the opportunity to see this video (if you haven't already) and hear this beautiful song. It's by Brad Paisley and Sara Evans, and it's called "New Again."
It painted such a beautiful picture of a mother's love as I watched what happened at Calvary through Mary's eyes. She loved Jesus so much. He was her son. She was willing to die with him if she could have. You realize how a mother's heart breaks, when her child is suffering, like no-one elses. Jesus' love for his mother is so very evident as well.
This song communicates such a wonderful message: through Jesus, all things are made new.
As hard as it is to watch, it's worth remembering all that he endured because of his great love for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh7icqR9zEY

LOA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's dance around the Maypole with the ladybugs!!!


WE FINALLY RECEIVED OUR LETTER OF APPROVAL (LOA) TODAY!!!


YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Celebrate!!!


We actually received an email from our agency today saying that they received our LOA- so now they will FedEx the hard copy to us, and we should receive it tomorrow... we have to sign it and FedEx it back to them- then, when they receive it from us, they send it off to the CCAA! When they receive news from the CCAA that it's been received, that will be our OFFICIAL LOA DATE.

I got another e-mail from my agency saying Travel Packet II will be available tonight from my agency's website, so I will begin working on that tonight! (It's a packet we download that our agency provides- it gives us steps to follow to prepare for our travel to China!)

Our agency says they estimate our travel to be within 5-8 weeks!

I'm soooooooo excited!!!!!!

NOT LONG NOW!
Hold on baby girl- we're coming to get you soon!!!!

A Tree For Kelly

Camryn and I planted a tree for Kelly on her birthday. I chose a lemon tree. What better way to symbolize her first birthday but with a tree that bears fruit that is sweet and sour?
I also like that this lemon tree is symbolic of Kelly's life. It's so little right now, and bears no fruit. But we will water it and nurture it, and the sun will shine down on it, and it will grow, and grow, and grow- and one day, it will flourish and be a beautiful, lush tree that bears hundreds of bright, sunny, lemons- and we will all make lots of yummy, homemade lemonade from it!

Grow little lemon tree- grow!

Birthday Balloon Launching- new pictures added!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY KELLY ELISE!

Kelly's Nanna in Texas had a wonderful idea to launch one single red balloon for Kelly's birthday. She wanted to send her prayers for Kelly in a symbolic, physical way- so that she could visually see her prayers going up, up, and away- carried on angel's wings to Kelly in China.

I decided to get everyone in the family in on it, so we could all send a balloon up for Kelly's birthday, from our different parts of the country, and all of us, on the same day, could watch our wishes, prayers, and love go up and away to God in Heaven for little Kelly.

I got pictures from Kelly's Nanna in Texas, her Nonnie in San Diego, and her cousins (and Auntie, of course!) in Colorado.

I'm still waiting on pictures from her Great Aunt in Texas, and her Grammie in Missouri. I'll post them when I get them, but I wanted everyone to see what I have so far.

Big Thanks to my family, for sharing in this special symbolic celebration of Kelly's first birthday. It meant so much to me to know you all took time out of your busy schedules to do something to honor our sweet little girl's first birthday. Thank you Nanna, for the wonderful idea. What a special memory we will carry with us forever.

Thank you for your love and prayers for her, each and every one of you reading this. Even though you may not have taken part in the balloon launch, I know so many of you are thinking of her, praying for her, and sending love and wishes for a very happy birthday for Kelly. I cherish each and every one of you and every prayers you send up on her behalf. They are not in vain!

Okay, without any further delay.... here are the pictures!

Kelly's Grammie, in Missouri, preparing for launch!

Grammie's balloon for Kelly going up, up, and away!
Here is Nonnie in San Diego, CA, about to launch her balloon for Kelly.
Nonnie's birthday wishes for Kelly written on her birthday balloon!
San Diego birthday balloon launch- successful!
Nanna's birthday balloon for Kelly, preparing for launch from Victoria, Texas, with a picture and a prayer attached for Kelly- and of course, directions to China! And off Nanna's birthday balloon for Kelly goes!Up, Up, and Away! Nanna sends all her love to her Bebe Boo!

Kelly's cousins- Emma, Josh, Eli, and Hannah launch their birthday balloon from Colorado Springs, Colorado!
Colorado Balloon Launch- successful! Off it goes!!!

Waiting for daddy to get home from work before Visalia lift-off!
Yeah!! Daddy's home! Time to prepare to launch! (Oh look- what's that daddy's wearing??? Could it be a plain white t-shirt?! Argh!!!)

Caleb and Camryn- preparing to send off our birthday balloon with our prayers for Kelly attached. We love you so much, mei mei.

Visalia Launch- successful!!!

Bye-Bye birthday balloon! You can barely see it in the picture- it is that tiny speck above the left branch of the left palm tree.

Penny and Rufus Clip

I couldn't let it go! I had to find that clip I mentioned in my last post!
HERE IT IS!
So my memory was a bit fragmented, but here's the clip of Penny and Rufus- I loved this exchange between the two of them.
I spent a good portion of my childhood living out in the country, and my kitty cats were my best friends, just like Rufus was to Penny, so I especially loved this. Isn't it sweet?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhrwSm6DcpM

(Read my last post if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about..!)

Favorite Childhood Movie

My hands-down, FAVORITE movie, when I was a little girl, was "The Rescuers."
I don't know if my mom remembers, but she bought me the soundtrack. (This was before the time of videos. It was an album! Now I'm really dating myself!)
I remember listening to that album every day, and several times a day on the weekends. I can still picture myself- laying on the floor in front of the stereo- looking at the album cover as I played the album over and over and OVER again! My FAVORITE SONG was this one I have linked below.
I'm amazed at how this song is coming full circle in my life as I pray the prayer of this song for my own daughter! It's so strangely amazing. Why did I love that song so, when I was so little? I always wondered why I was so drawn to this particular song, of all the songs in that movie? How could I even fully understand it? Could it be? Was God planting a seed in my heart way back then? I know it sounds so corny, but I think so. All I know is that I bawled as I made the connection tonight. You know how something can strike you, almost from out of nowhere, and at that point in time, you suddenly realize the significance of something you never realized before..?
It JUST came back to me, as I was posting my last post, and I said, "Be strong little one."
I think they changed the end a little though, in this clip... I don't know... I remember Penny and Rufus, the cat, having a conversation afterwards. Rufus had been encouraging Penny to keep the faith that she was going to have a family one day, and after the song, Penny felt better and told Rufus she believed him that somebody would want to "dopt" her.
Does anyone else remember it differently than this clip? It's been soo long- my memory could be quite fragmented! I think I need to see if I can get a copy of the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYjz1cIzGOM

A Letter to Kelly- Happy First Birthday

Dear Kelly,
My precious baby girl, how I long to be with you on your first birthday. I'm so sorry we cannot be together on this, your special day.

How I yearn to hold you in my arms, to sit you in your highchair with your birthday cake in front of you. How I can picture myself lighting that single candle for you, and all of us singing happy birthday to you, as you try to figure out exactly what you're supposed to do with that candle!

That reminds me! Do you know? On his first birthday, your big brother, Caleb, tried to grab it? We had a big birthday party for him, and as we finished singing "Happy Birthday" to him, he reached out and tried to grab that birthday candle! He didn't know what he was supposed to do, so why not grab that sparkling thing, right?! All of us girls screamed, for fear of him getting burned- and poor little guy- we scared the daylights out of him! He began to cry!

He recovered quickly though, and as soon as he was able to dig into that cake, all was forgotten!

Oh Kelly, what would you do? How would you be on your first birthday? I wish I could shower you with all the love you deserve to know is yours today. You have soooo many people who love you, Kelly. Do you know that? You have sooo many people who are praying for you, and who are wishing you the happiest of birthdays ever today.

Sweet little one- you have a family who loves you. You have a family with whom you belong. You have a purpose, a hope, and a future. God created you and breathed life into you. He knew, before you or I were ever born, that you would be my daughter. You are so very wanted, and you are so very loved.

Happy Birthday Kelly Elise Song Jia He Kneip.

Be strong little one- you will be home soon!

We love you!

Update on Baby Kelly Elise

We were expecting an update on Kelly this month, since it's been three months since our last update, and our agency is able to request updates every three months.
Well, we got it on Friday!
I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed, only because we had hoped it would include photos, but it didn't. I also wanted to know if she's crawling/walking, but they didn't say. Well, I am super thankful just to know she's doing well.

Here is what the orphanage has to share about our little princess:

Medical/Development:
She had no colds or fevers.
Her bath is in a tub.
She is babbling, but can not say any words.
She can wave and clap and likes to play peek-a-boo.

Personality:
She likes noisy toys and rocking horse.
She will be very shy with strangers, hide behind the nannies, sometimes will cry.
They call her "He He." (We will have to find out exactly how they pronounce this... I was told "He" sounds like "huh" but sort-of like the sound you would make if you were punched in the gut... not exactly a sweet sounding baby name, is it...?)
She is quiet and happy, likes to play with other children.
When she is fussy, holding her up, taking her play outside, or talking with her will make her calmed down quickly.

General:
She eats formula mixed with rice cereal, drinks boiled water and juice.
They will try to not cut her hair.

I copied and pasted this directly from the report they sent, so the grammatical errors are not mine! LOL
I'm sure it's par for the course in the wonderful world of translation.

My sister told me we could request that they not cut her hair, so we requested that through our agency- that's why they mentioned that about trying not to cut her hair at the end of the report. (Try not to cut her hair...? Okay... I'll take what I can get.) Not that it's a big deal- she could be bald and we wouldn't care! But it'd be nice to have some hair to put all these little bows I'm getting in! (In most orphanages, all the children get crew cuts, no matter what gender or age.)

It made me feel good to know Kelly's acting shy and hides behind the nannies and cries when a stranger comes around. Even though that will make it harder on her when we first go to get her, it is a great sign that she is bonded to her nannies. That's a really important thing to have in her "hard drive", so to speak... it's a great sign that she'll attach with us more easily, because all the experts say that as long as a baby has bonded once, they can bond again. However, if they've never bonded to anyone, it can present some pretty serious attachment disorder issues later.

I received the update via email from my agency, so I wrote an email back asking for pictures. There are no guarantees I'll get any, but I'll be sure to post them if I do!