Thursday, February 12, 2009

Making Progress...


Having her 1st breakfast this morning!

Going to the elevator
This is our first family photo taken yesterday about an hour after we got her.

Lily "sealing" the deal


worth every penny....
Love that bow??? Jess, she loves her doll!

The sticker game worked...lots of eye contact!

I'm not diggin' McDonalds


No kidding.
The first time on a slide.

I don't know..I just liked this picture.
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Stacking blocks are a must!

My sleeping angel.


Today we made some progress. Thank you for the sticker game idea...it worked! This morning, she woke up and I thought she would cry...being in a new place in all...but she didn't. She didn't want to look at either one of us. I think she was in denial of the whole situation. We went and ate breakfast and I made her a big bowl of congee and spoon fed it to her. I think she loved me for those minutes! After breakfast, we headed to back to Civil Affairs to finish the paperwork. Thanks to our incredible agency, Lifeline, paperwork was a cinch. I am giving a big shout out to my favorite social worker, Karla. Thank you for being the most organized person on the planet! I had zero worries today. Also, the guide mentioned how incredibly good our paperwork was! I said, "Yeah, I know, we use Lifeline." The paperwork took about an hour. We had to answer a lot of questions. Like, "Why do you want to adopt from China? Do you like your baby? (uh, yeah!) Do you still want to adopt your baby? (um.....YES!)" Lily had her hand stamped with ink and we all made it official with our fingerprints! Our guide also handed over our payment to the orphanage. (All I could think of was how we are also bought with a price!). Oh, it was alot of money, but she is worth every cent!!! What a great way to use the money God has so richly blessed us with!!! We took another picture after we recieved her Chinese Passport. Her little passport picture is so cute!!! After that, we took Lily to her first McDonald's trip. There are so many things this child has not experienced. (like looking in the mirror, riding an elevator, eating french fries!) They also had a little slide in the restaurant and she had no clue what to do on it. I almost cried. I had to show her how to slide. She was scared at first, then she liked it. There are a lot of things that she has never seen or done. We are seeing that she is delayed in many areas, but that is to be expected. I would say she is on an 18-24 month development level. Oh, I am so glad we get to take her home and teach her! Its just like a clean slate to work with! We have some hard days ahead, I am sure, but we know that we know, that she is our gift and she was made especially for our family. She will learn and grow in time... and I will love her every minute along the way! Oh, by the way, she hated the fries. It was the first thing that we have given her that she spit out. Oh, pooey, I guess I will be at home making dumplings!! (can you get those take-out??, could someone check on that for me? Seriously, I am not kidding! I think they are called pot-stickers) After McDonalds, we went to the museum. Lily really started to open up and laugh a lot. She has gotten really clingy to mama. She doesent want to look or be held by Carlton. This is really hard for him, but he knows that this is a GOOD thing!!! She reaches for my hand when we walk and has given me a couple of kisses today! Lily and I didn't really look at much at the museum, we were naughty and played hide and seek. I had her laughing so hard!! She still has not said too much. I don't think her vocabulary is very developed. I may be wrong, it may still be too early. I also think she is just naturally very timid. She gets shy around other chinese people too.

We are now back to our room and enjoying some "down time". Its amazing how calm I feel now that I am not WAITING!!!! I have her and I just feel great! We will head down to the Chinese restaurant for supper. We are going to put a limit on food tonight. She had an upset belly today.

Tomorrow morning, we leave really, really early for the orphanage. It will take us 4-5 hours one way to get there. I am more and more sure each day, that we HAVE to do this. Lily needs to say good-bye to her nannies. Its very important for her to say goodbye and for them to say" This is your mommy and daddy." I hope to get some pictures too. I will share them if I am allowed.

Love you all,
aimee and carlton AND lily!!!!!!

15 comments:

jennifer said...

Carlton and Aimee,
Miss Lily is adorable! Her eyes are so full of wonder, she looks like she is just taking everything in. It sounds like you both are giving her what she needs. I am thankful to the Lord for the wisdom He has given you. We have read your blog daily, thank you for letting us see her and her world.

Addie Talley, Photographer said...

sobbing tears of joy for you.... I cant believe the days are finally here, isnt it sweet?!

MaryElizabeth said...

Aimee and Carlton. I love you both very much.

you can get dumplings to go. :) they may not be as good as in china but i'm sure Lily will enjoy them more than fries.

love you. :)

Unknown said...

Ha! My previous post was a little late...glad the sticker idea worked!

Cathy said...

Ok, please don't stop the videos, but I must start watching them before I apply my mascarra! I love them and the beautiful laughter. Being blessed by adoption 6 times over I get what you are saying about the love that you feel and the blessing that these children are. Praising God that you are with her and that your journey continue to be blessed.

Barb said...

The sticker idea was great. It is fun that you can experience so many firsts with her. You can get dumplings from Susan Chen at House of Chen. She would be my first choice. I see them making them when we are leaving sometimes.

Jessica said...

OH the pictures of just precious!
Aimee the picture of you and Lily is beautiful! And I love the picture of Lily with Carlton playing stacking blocks...the look Carlton has in his eyes...you can see all love he has for Lily...priceless.
I am so glad that you guys are making progress. Looks like you had so much fun with the sticker game :)
The Mcdonalds story is so funny...so she hated french fries...oh well. And yes you can get dumplings to go :)
I love that you are getting to introduce her to so many things.

Continuing to be in prayer for your family. Praying for the trip to the orphanage as well, that Lily will not get car sick and that saying "good-bye" will be easy for her.

love all of you!
Jess

Nancy said...

I know you are blessed to have her, but through those pictures I know & see that she is as equally blessed to have you. That picture of you teaching her @ the museum is so precious!
I know you will all be glad to be home & have your 3 kids together! I will keep reading your blog, it's so inspiring!!!

Aaron and Erica said...

Oh Aimee...I can't get enough of your beautiful girl - and neither can Clara! I watched the video and looked at the pictures w/ Clara YouYou this morning. I pointed to you and said Lily's MaMa and then she pointed to me and said YouYou's MaMa. I can't wait to get these two together to play.

I soooo understand your content feeling - the waiting is OVER!!!! You just get to enjoy her and get to know every little thing about her sweet personality. Tell Carlton it's true, you will stop obsessing over RQ when you get home!

Lots of love,

Erica

Krystal said...

Just a thought on the orphanage visit... I took a small, pretty notebook with me and had different people write in it (in Chinese, of course) for my niece when we visited her orphanage. Also, someone in the group had a video camera turned on but not up to their face (tucked under their arm), discreetly recording the baby room in which their child had lived.

The orphanage visit was good but hard. It is a very special memory to us, though, as yours will be too.

Just keep lovin' on that beautiful girl - like you could help yourself???

Praying...

Lindsay said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lindsay said...

Ack...somehow my post was deleted! Anyway here it is again...

That picture of Lily sleeping is just precious! What an angel...a true gift from our Lord!!! Aaron and I have been praying for y'all!! :)

Aaron and Lindsay Keegan

Corie said...

Sweet Aimee...I just love reading all of this. To compare this to the adoption into Christ...WOW! What a depiction of the gospel you are sharing for us all. So tangible. I want to go right now. She is just so stinkin' adorable. A perfect God we serve who knew the perfect family for sweet Yuan Yuan Lily Ruth Weathers. Talk to you soon..I hope!

Corie said...

Sweet Aimee...I just love reading all of this. To compare this to the adoption into Christ...WOW! What a depiction of the gospel you are sharing for us all. So tangible. I want to go right now. She is just so stinkin' adorable. A perfect God we serve who knew the perfect family for sweet Yuan Yuan Lily Ruth Weathers. Talk to you soon..I hope!

Friends and Family said...

I love these videos---to hear Lily laugh is about the most precious sound I can imagine; the sound of pure joy, pure love and pure peace in this little girl's soul....there is just nothing like it! So happy to know the days are getting easier for you all; you are being so patient and so understanding in this transition of Lily's! Will pray the orphanage visit is healing for you all! Keep those pictures coming!!!
Tamara Gavin