Julia got this nightgown for her birthday. She sure thinks she's something when she puts it on. Checking it out in the mirror and even asking to have her picture taken! No kidding. As for the wild hair, keep in mind we were getting ready for bed. LOL.

I'd write more, but as she got just a short nap on our walk today, I think we are going to call it an early night. Just thought you would enjoy the pics and yes, she was playing peek-a-boo in the curtain.

First Blogging Award





Kim at Born in My Heart was sweet enough to nominate me for this award. I'm not quite sure what to say. Kim has certainly been there for me through a lot and I hope that I've that I've always been there for her as well. I'm supposed to nominate others for this award, but as I really only have 2 blogging buddies *Kim being one of them! and I would certainly turn right around and give it back to her any day! And I will certainly be nominating my dear friend Jen in a moment. Since I don't have or know that many others in the blogging world (yes, even here I can be shy and not reach out unless reached out to first.. what can I say?) I'd like to take a moment and instead give it to those that IF they blogged, I would nominate. Sound fair??

Here is what it says about this award..

"This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you've been awarded please pass it on to 7 others who you feel are deserving of this award."

As mentioned, first my friend Jennifer who does blog at Good Fruit We traveled to China together and that certainly has created a bond, but I like to think we would have been friends no matter how we met. Jen is always encouraging, thoughtful and just one of the sweetest people I know.

As for the others, I'll start with my brother Joe. Some may find this a funny and even odd choice for this award as he can be the most sarcastic and sometimes even negative brother that I have, but not to me. He has ALWAYS been there for me and was the first person I ever told about wanting to adopt from China and he never batted an eye or once asked me "why China?".. he simply said "I think it's a wonderful idea" and was there every step of the way. yes, I love my brother, get over it. :)

Next I would have to say Angie. One of my closest friends that has always been supportive, nice and positive. She can always put a smile on my face :)

I couldn't mention Angie and not mention Sheree. We were so much a part of each other for so long, I'm talking since we were 5 people. While our life paths have taken us in very different directions, we always have pictures to share, a quiet lunch together when I go back home and secrets that NO one else will ever know. And I can always count on her for a quick email come back with a smile and encouragement if that's what I need that day.

Debra, my baby's Godmother. I don't think "No" is in her vocabulary most days. And I don't know anyone else that would drive 2 days to get here to stay 3 and turn around and drive 2 more days to get home. If you have a problem, she'll listen, and if she's got a suggestion it's usually worth hearing :)


Okay so that's not even 7 people still, but it's where I have to end this. I think it's better to say that my life has been surrounded by "nice" people and that I wouldn't be who I am without them.

So thank you again Kim, I'm touched that you thought of me.

Just couldn't quite make it




Julia has a habit of falling asleep in her high chair around lunch time. Just had to share this picture I got today.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!







Julia loves the pool!


Trying to be just like Mama.

Playing in the big float with Daddy.










August is such a busy month for us! Starts off with Julia's bday, in the middle of the month is our anniversary and at the end we celebrate Daddy's birthday. Hectic but it's all good. :)

We started off this morning by taking Ray out to breakfast as we were certain that if waited for dinner it wouldn't happen. Good thing we did, at 6 the phone rang and he's off to work again. So I guess we played that right. The rest of the day we had a pretty lazy day and as you can see spent some time in the pool. Julia didn't want her float anymore, she wanted mine! When we let her have it, under very close supervision of course, it almost worked like a small pool for her in the big pool. She was loving it. As you can probably tell.

We then made a quick run to Walmart (what a nightmare! it was packed!) for some water and what not, came home, got dinner and were just cutting cake when the service call came in. All in all not a bad day though and hopefully he won't have to work too late.

Julia's 2 Year Old Portraits! Well finally after correcting an error, Julia's portraits were available online this morning!! She did so well at the studio having them done and I am very happy with them!! Enjoy!

Julia's 2 yr dr appt

Julia had a wonderful visit with Dr. G today. She was pronounced very healthy and right on target developmentally for a 2 year old. Though Dr. G was concerned that she may be a bit too trusting, I assured her that in truth she is definitely not. There are a few rare people that Julia will go to so willingly and thankfully Dr. G is one of them! We missed out on shots today because the base was all out of what she needed so we'll have to go back up in a few days and try that again. I don't think Julia was upset at all that she couldn't have them today. ;)

She weighed in at 26.3 lbs (25percentile) and they said 34 and 3/4" tall however she was LEANING against the wall not standing up straight at all, so I believe that's 35", I couldn't believe the tech didn't straighten her or give me the chance to. But safe to say 35" and 75th percentile for height. We are all agreed that regardless she's very tall.

Dr. G is convinced that Julia will do well in school and be anything she wants to be, as are we :) She was impressed with how much focus Julia has when checking out something new, and with how mellow she was. She kept saying "not hyper at all" nope, active when she wants to be but definitely not hyper. All in all a good visit :)

Princess Julia at her Party








Julia's birthday party was yesterday at Chuck E Cheese. While I had to miss it being sick, I've managed to get every detail out of Daddy that I can! And THANKFULLY Ms. Debra was in town and was a HUGE help and life saver!!! She took all the pictures and helped Daddy at the party. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julia truly has a very special Godmother to drive all the way from South Carolina with her grand kids to spend a few days with us and Julia!! We love you!!!

So I'm told that her party went very well, the hostess took wonderful care of everything at the party, and most importantly, Julia and her friends had a good time. We really do have some great friends here in Texas, and while we are ready to move on to a new area (whenever the Air Force decides to let us!) we will be sad to say good bye to many of them.

Julia's cake was just beautiful! We got it at Albertson's and they did a wonderful job!! I guess the girls at the bakery didn't even want to give back her picture! LOL. What can I say?? Julia has that affect on people! She's beautiful inside and out. :)

There are lots more pictures at Dropshots of her and her friends having fun at the party. Be sure to check them out!

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Who cares about candles when there's icing?? LOL. Julia definitely enjoyed our little family celebration last night. Still not crazy about getting it on her fingers but she sure was quick to take her fork and dig in!

Happy Birthday Julia!!

I can barely believe that my baby is 2 today. Where did the year go?? She's grown so much this year and not just physically. We have had the privilege and honor of watching her take her first steps, wiping her tears and cleaning scrapes, hearing her laugh and everything in between. I can't even find the words for the last year. I never cease to be amazed at how much a 2 year old learns and the rate at which they do it. And Julia amazes me more every day.

I can't help but think of her birth mother today and wonder if she's thinking of Julia. And I pray and wonder if I'll ever have the right words to answer Julia's questions as she gets older. We know by her note, the clothes and diapers that were left with her and even by where she was found that she cared enough for her to put her in a place that she would be quickly found and taken care of. I can't even imagine those moments for her. I pray that she knows somehow that Julia is happy, loved and well in the world, for without her we would not have Julia, and there can be no doubt that we were meant to have Julia.

As mentioned our little Princess turns 2 today, and "princess" she is, to the point that her Daddy and I even caught her muttering "Princess" in her sleep the other night. A tad bit spoiled you say?? likely, but it was still very cute. lol. She's already received a couple of her birthday presents. Her Poppa and Nai-Nai got her a kitchen set and she busted us putting it together Sunday night. Good thing is we know it was an instant hit, she played with it the entire time we were putting it together and until bed time that night and quite a bit every day since. :) So thank you Poppa and Nai-Nai. We also picked her up a table and chairs to go with it and she is quite funny playing pretend.

Debra and Karen and Kasey are coming in from South Carolina this evening so we'll have cake and ice cream and the rest of her family birthday presents then. We are having her birthday party with friends at Chuck E Cheese Saturday afternoon. So as there are no new pictures right this moment, I just knew it was the best time that I was going to have to get my thoughts down, I will I'm sure have lots of pictures throughout the week and this weekend to post for you all. So be checking back.

Getting back into the swing of things



no, she wasn't in time out, not this time :)


Back at Gymnastics!

Well, we had a wonderful visit with having the cousins here, all the same it's kind of nice that things are quiet again. Julia has missed them and talks about Robert all the time and lights up when either of the boys are on the phone with her, but seems to understand that it was time for them to go back to their home. I'm glad it wasn't harder for her. She's used to people coming and going around here, but the boys stayed longer than anyone else has been able to and I was a little worried that it would be extra hard on her. Thank goodness that wasn't the case. Though I think she'd prefer to have them back today to play with. :)

Now we are just settling back into our routine of gymnastics once a week, lunches with Daddy when we can, and now gearing up for her 2nd birthday. I can hardly believe she is going to be 2 already! Doesn't seem possible and yet the date is coming up fast. I need to get her in for her shots and her 2 year appointment is already set up. I'm glad and grateful that she still likes to cuddle and am taking full advantage of that fact. She has already, as my one friend likes to describe the terrible two's, begun to declare her independence. More and more things have to be her idea or she has to at least try to do things herself first. Which is all to the good, I want her to think and do things for herself, but oh she has a stubborn streak too. We can generally come to an understanding though, so she's not nearly as stubborn as some I've seen. Actually most of the time, she's pretty good at reasoning with. So I guess I'll count my blessings there and pray it lasts! lol.

For more of Julia at Gymnastics or just being cute, go to Dropshots.

****Arbuckle Wilderness and Turner Falls***


Julia's new friend

Feeding the horses and other animals!


Turner Falls


Playing on the beach


Swimming in the pool at the foot of the falls.





For our last weekend with the boys, we threw everyone back in the car and ventured off to something new. We had heard about this place just last week from a friend of mine and I am so glad we did! The Arbuckle Wilderness was a drive through safari, where you could feed the animals, though for the most part we tried to toss the food away from the car some animals were more persistant than others. Julia adored the horses, of course, they are a new obsession for her so she was ecstatic to have one poke it's head in the car window! Riley had the most fun with the food, Robert, like me, was a bit more nervous (okay maybe even more than me) and did better tossing the food well away from the car! But still we all had fun.

After that, we went down the road just a couple of miles and hit Turner Falls Park, both of these places are in Oklahoma by the way, so the boys have added another state that they've been in to their list since leaving Maine. Turner Falls was incredible and by far a change of pace for us. It's the first time since leaving Maine that I've gotten into any stream, river or lake water and it was great! (that doesn't count the ocean that's completely different!) The water was actually clear, Julia loved walking into it, holding our hands of course and floated quite well with her water wings. She's very trusting of me and Daddy, and was repeating "I got you" as if to remind us that we indeed had her. This was also her first experience with beach sand, she wasn't quite sure what to think of how sticky it was but was quite curious about it all the same.

For more pictures (about 150 of them!) go to Dropshots. It was a long but really fun day. I just wish we had known more about the falls and how it was set up before going. We would have packed a lunch, spent more time there and taken some floats!! Good tip for next time.

The 4th of July and our young "Jedi" in training. We went out to fireworks (OF COURSE!) on the 4th, Julia's first experience with them, and had a great time. Meeting Ms. Melissa and of course Bradon and their family to hang out and see the fireworks.

As for our "Jedi" the boys have been very into Star Wars and even more so after our trip to the Museum with the Star Wars exhibit last weekend. So now they sport lightsabers and Julia has of course become fascinated. So they have started showing her how they work and giving her some basic training if you will. Either way she's happy and loving being the center of their attention. I've posted a few pictures here and more (plus videos) will be on Dropshots later. For some reason my Dropbox isn't working right now so they may not be there tonight, but some time in the next couple of days. :)

Another weekend with the cousins. Julia's sure going to miss them when they head home next week. The weather has hit "summer" here now, so that means Hot and Hotter, the boys are making good use of the pool. I'll have a few more pictures from the weekend and the 4th up later but for now, the kids went into a photo booth at the mall, not the best quality but still a good picture of the three of them. Check back later for more. :)

Happy 4th of July everyone!!

It's been a week here. Since the cousins are in for a visit (Robert and Riley) we decided to risk the weather this past weekend and headed to the Dallas area. We managed to fit quite a bit into the 3 days we spent there. The Childrens Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth, Six Flags, and the Ft. Worth Zoo.

The boys had a great time riding roller coasters and whatever else they could find at Six Flags. Julia and I mostly took in the sites and even left them riding the Texas Giant while we went and found the parade route and caught that. We were almost back when my cell phone rang "where are you?" lol.. All in all, we were all pretty worn out by the time we got back to the hotel.

Julia is having a blast with her cousins here. Though she does pretty much call them both "Robert". She's definitely getting used to having them around. Riley even took her on a couple of rides at the park. Her vocabulary is growing more every day. And last week she started counting...by two's.. we would say 1, she would come back with 2..and so on all the way to 10! Now she can do the whole thing by herself when she wants to all the way to 11! I also caught her starting to sing the "ABC" song the other day, but as soon as she saw me watching she smiled and quit. Her little mind is certainly taking a lot in these days!

I've added some shots from this weekend, for more, as always, go to Dropshots. :)

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ONE YEAR TOGETHER!

I wanted to have this up yesterday, but at the same time I wanted to include pictures from our little family celebration last night. So here it is. One year with Julia is more than I can put into words. From the moment she was placed in our arms and was such a perfect fit there, to an amazing, incredibly fast moving year later.

The child is still a wonder to me, when she wakes with a smile to when she's fussing at me and trying to push the keyboard in on the computer desk and every moment in between. She is loving, joyful, inquisitive and if I may say so, oh so smart. :)

To go from not even crawling a year ago to participating in gymnastics now. It's been a pleasure, a joy and an amazing blessing to be part of this little girl's life and for her to be entrusted in our care. Her Daddy and I are in constant awe as we learn and grow with her.

Check out my ensemble. :)




Showing some attitude



Lovin' the hot tub!

Well as you can see Julia was all set to swim last weekend. She got lots of compliments on her look:) Thanks again Aunt Tiny and we are always quick to tell people she has family that adores her, Mama's not that good of a shopper yet! LOL

It's been a crazy week down here, and Julia's cousins arrived yesterday afternoon, yes she's loving life and I'm taking full advantage of the break to be able to write a quick note with out her in my lap! She's quite content to sit with either of them! So far they are having a good time. So I'm sure we'll have more pictures for you over the next few weeks and as unbelievable as it is, we'll celebrate one year with Julia next week. So be looking for a special post then.

In the mean time there are a few more pictures at Dropshots and if you haven't looked lately you should really catch up. Love to all!

Julia and her babysitter Milauni, you can tell she loves her! We are very lucky to know Milauni and her family.


Off and running with the mower.

Investigating the Bubble Machine a bit closer.



Just a quick update, since I started loading pictures, Julia has fallen asleep in the high chair so this will have to be quick.

We are trying to get more things for Julia to do outside this summer, so this weekend I picked her up a Bubble Mower and a Cinderella Bubble Machine. She liked the mower right off, the Bubble Machine took a little investigating before deciding that it might be fun too. I know she's played with bubbles before but maybe it was because then there were other kids around...not sure. But she was pretty unsure of the whole thing to start with.

You can see on the video at Dropshots that she was trying to stick pretty close to me so that was making it hard to get some really good shots.

Aunt Tiny, we love this outfit, it's still a little bit big (not by much now though) but since it was a little cooler this morning the longer pants were perfect! And I even got her to say "Tiny" while we were getting her dressed. :)

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds right now. As is she! Daddy measured her again this weekend because we swear you can almost see her growing right now, and whether he was off last time or this time I don't know (likely she's somewhere in between) but this weekend she was 34" even.

So that's been our week so far. Love to all!!

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Happy Mother's Day!

We've had a wonderful weekend here. We got to visit with Julia's Godfather and his family. Their youngest is just a few months younger than Julia and it was oh so special to finally get to watch the girls play together and they both did so well!! As you can see on the video they had lots of fun, I wish we had sound for you so you could hear the gales of laughter coming from the two of them. They even did very well taking turns and sharing. The girls had seen each other briefly around New Year's but it was so fast and with many other friends. This is the first chance they've had to spend some time together. And both of our families as well really, since they moved to California just before we went to China last year. But Julia honestly couldn't have a better Godfather even from a distance. We are so blessed to have this family as part of ours.

And today Ray and Julia have spoiled me as usual, and I woke up to the sound of them talking in the kitchen, it's a nice way to wake up. :) I felt very blessed as I came out, Julia saw me and smiled and said "Mama". Heart melting moment that she is famous for.:) I hope that all the Mom's in our lives had a wonderful day as well.

Go to Dropshots for lots more videos!

Another week another play date. Melissa and I have been having fun taking Julia and Bradon to Jump for Joy lately. Here are a few shots from inside last week. They have a blast running, jumping and climbing on everything. Here you see Julia making a new friend, something she's never afraid to do, and of course following Bradon's lead! We took them to Olive Garden for lunch after last weeks play date and date was the operative word there. We had set them in high chairs next to each other and they were being so good, eating their lunches and a couple of times holding hands. Not sure where that was coming from but it was really really cute.

Updated measurement. Well Ray finally got a chance to place Ms. Julia against the wall and make a mark last night. When we took the measurement she was 33 and 3/4 inches tall. Not entirely sure how accurate the method was but at least it gives us some idea. Haven't weighed her lately either but I can tell you she is gaining. Even some of the pants are starting to fit...lol. So she is one healthy solid little girl. She has even decided that she knows what the phone is for now. She's talked to both grandma's recently and to her Uncle Robert the other night when he called. And she took the phone last week and talked to Daddy for 10 minutes while he was on his way home from work. Yep, despite all the bumps, scuffs and bruises (from playing hard and falling down) she is a girly girl at heart. Started with the purse and taking money out of my wallet, of course when shopping with Daddy she reaches right for the Debit Card first, now the phone and of course her obsession with anything Cinderella. But as long as she's not afraid to get dirty and play hard (though she's not big on her hands staying dirty for any time at all..lol) I think she's got a pretty good balance.

As always if you go to Dropshots there are lots more photos and a couple of videos too. They'll give you an idea of how many it takes to get a good shot some days. LOL.

A year ago last Friday, we were waiting on pins and needles for that phone call from CWA telling us that we had a referral and giving us all the info on Julia. I had to make our case manager stop 3 times so I could get tissues. That was the one thing I didn't have ready as I'm not generally a crier. HA. So much for that. Just hearing her voice telling me I had a daughter and where she was from was too much for me. I did have pen and paper and my list of questions ready, most of which I even remembered to ask. And then finally the next day the envelope arrived. I'm so glad Lauren was off from school and was able to be here with me when it got here. Though for a little while I'm certain she thought I'd lost my mind. I'll never forget Lauren's first words after seeing Julia's pictures..."well she looks China" LOL. Keep in mind she was only 6 years old at the time. :) I thought it was cute. And she had fun running all over town with me to show Julia first to Daddy and Ms. Candy and then of course to Ms Erica whom I had worked closely with for so long.

All of the nerves melted away, the stress of the wait. Gone when I saw those brown eyes and that oh so serious face. I just wanted to make her smile. She hadn't in any of the referral pictures and I just couldn't wait to see her smile. She quickly gave me that a couple of months later when we picked her up. I had worried she might be too serious or sad, but this child was anything but. She's now serious when she is concentrating on a task, trying to figure something out, or meeting someone new but she comes back to her usual grins and giggles very quickly once she's done or when she decides to like a person. :) Mama's girl. No doubt. I got a serious photo recently that I'll share next to her referral photo, it's the first one I've taken that you can really see the baby from the referral pictures in. Most of the photos we take she's showing off or playing or something. So this was a rare one.

The nerves, stress and anxiety, I'm sure you can understand. We had waited so long to be parents. So many different paths over the years had finally led on this journey to Julia and to China. And with the wait being extended every month starting just a few months before we were originally expecting our referral, it was very hard especially for me to not wait for the other shoe to drop. Surely something would go wrong. Or at the least we may have had to wait another month. Doesn't seem so bad now when you consider people are waiting much longer. But it was the uncertainty of it all that was so hard.

After going through over 10 years of infertility, the paper chase taking us around 7 months once we actually got started because of delays and having to have the dr's physical report on both of us having to be redone and notarized again because he wouldn't listen to me and do it right the first time. All those little bumps in the road and then what was supposed to be a 6 month wait when we started being extended to nearly 11 months. But it taught me once again to trust God's timing and not my own. For surely this was the child he meant to be mine. He even gave me hope a couple of times through the wait and showed her to me. Once when she was oh so tiny in the fall and then again in Feb right after her paperwork had been signed and sent to the CCAA where it would later be matched with ours. I've always had my faith in good times and bad, but this was a true test of actually letting go and letting everything be in God's hands. Never an easy thing and especially hard for a planner like me. But I did and we have Julia and all is well. :)

I'm also going to add the translated letter or parts of it anyways. I realized I've never done that before and couldn't think of a better time than now when we are celebrating the one year mark of receiving it. It might give you some insight into what Julia's life was like before she became Julia Marie Tian, when she was
Xiao Ying Tian or as they liked to call her in China "Tian-Tian" I'm so very glad that we had already decided to keep that part of her name.

Here are some things from our initial report on Xiao Ying Tian

Xiao Ying (reflect; shine) Tian (sweet), female, was found by the gate of Zhuzhou City CWI on 8/8/2005. She was wearing a white cotton outfit with animal prints on it. There was a bag containing clothes, cloth diapers, and her DOB note by her side. After receiving the report of the abandoned baby, Qingyun Security Office in Zhuzhou City tried to find the parents/family, but failed. The baby was then claimed as abandoned infant and was brought to our CWI on the same day. Upon admission, our doctor examined the baby and found that she was healthy and with normal development. Based on the note with her, her DOB is 8/1/2005.

Development

Yingtian joined our big family days after her birth. In here, she grows happily and healthily.
Our doctor gave her basic vaccines according to the law.

Yingtian lives in a group life, so she has good living habits. She gets up at 7:30am, naps at noon, and goes to bed at 8:00pm. She likes to sleep in her own crib and falls asleep quickly. She wakes up a couple of times and falls back to sleep once changed or patted lightly. She does not like to be alone. She has good appetite; eats 5 meals a day, 240ml each meal, mainly milk, rice pastes, and milk mixed with little eggs; eats at 7:00am, 10:00am, 2:30pm, 6:00pm, & 11:00pm. We added some congee and egg yolk and she likes it. She has 1 BM every morning.

Yingtian is very open, active, and energetic. She is not afraid of strangers; likes to be held; laughs out loud when being played with; Yingtian cannot stand alone at this time yet; needs to be held by care takers; but with care takers holding her arms, she can stand very straight; has strong little arms and legs. Yingtian likes to watch TV and is very curious about colors; yells “Ah! Ah!” when happy. Yingtian loves toys; she likes to grab a toy, waves it, and puts it in her mouth after a while. Yingtian also likes for her care takers to take her outside to play; likes to watch other kids play on the lawns. She imitates bigger kids dancing, singing as well, and appears very happy. She curiously watches flowers, green grass, birds, and moving cars, etc, as if wanting to take in the whole world.

In our CWI, Yingtian lives very happily and becomes lovelier and lovelier. All of our care takers wish her a nice new family and continues to live healthily and happily forever.