That's my Girl

Today when I picked Lia up from school, we saw a small school bus enter the parking lot. The conversation went something like this:

Me: One day when you are a big girl, you will ride a school bus!

Lia: I'm going to DRIVE the school bus!

Me: (thinking of the song "Wheels on the Bus".....shouldn't that be a good reference for a 3 year old??) Oh! Great! Then you can say "Move on back, Move on back" (like the SONG...get it??).

I put Lia in her carseat and satrted to get into my seat.

Lia: I'm not going to say "Move on Back, Move on back." I'm going to say "Put on your seatbelt, Put on your seatbelt".

Two of the one million reasons I love her today: My girl thinks outside the box but always puts safety first. She would make the best (and safest!) bus driver in the world.

FInally, she was extremely proud to show me that she printed her name by herself...AND CUT IT OUT!

I was pretty proud of her too.

A Labor of Love

Working on Lia's nursery was definitely a high point for me. It was so important that everything be perfect. We worked up until the last few days before we left for China, but it was all ready for Lia when we went "wheels up" on February 4th, 2005.

We painted the walls a baby pink and had the ceiling painted blue. I had soft puffy clouds painted on the ceiling as well...they don't really show up in the photos.

The chandelier is an antique that my sister found for Lia. The rug is also an antique that I found on the BEST SHOPPING EXPEDITION EVER with my sister. Buying those things made the dream of "Lia" seem like a reality.

I spent hours sanding and re-painting a bookshelf that my grandmother had made for my father. Finally, the small rocking chair pictured is also an antique that belonged to my grandmother. It all came together to make the perfect room for Lia.

Catch up time.....

As we approach our two year anniversary of "Lia Day" on February 7th, I have really enjoyed looking through photo albums and thinking back on that special time in our lives. Jim and I waited so long to be parents and the moment they placed the crying Jhang Hui Wen in my arms, my life truly began. I have said it so often I must sound like a broken record, but life doesn't always turn out like you planned, but better than you could have ever imagined. We have been blessed beyond reason or expectation when Lia joined our family. Simply put, we adore the ground she walks on.

This is the first glimpse we had of our girl in a chaotic, crowded, cold office in the Civil Affairs Office in Xi'An, Shaanxi, on February 7th, 2006.

See what I mean?????

Still having photo issues......obviously below is the "now" part of then and now. Here is the referral picture that made me cry a river on December 9th, 2005....otherwise known as "the second best day of my life"....

Lia....then and now....

I had the best of intentions. Really I did. I was so proud of my non-technical self when I figured out how to set up a blog awhile ago. We adopted Lia from Shaanxi Province in February 2006. She was 14 months old when we brought her home. She is utterly and without a doubt the best thing that has ever happened to Jim and I. We pinch ourselves constantly, and although the looking over our shoulders has slowed over the past two years, it is not gone completely and we still can't believe someone hasn't called to tell us they made a mistake. We can't figure out how two perfectly average (albeit fun-loving and goofy.....we aspire to goofy in our home) people like us got matched with such a fabulous little person. From time to time (okay almost hourly...she has been with us for almost two years) we see the "goofy" in Lia come out and think "Ahhhhhh....that was it....the goofy factor...". But we will probably never be sure.......

I have so wanted to enter the blogging world I have only previously viewed from the outside.....but I couldn't figure out how to post pictures. My technical skills are still shaky at best.....but the time has come and here we are.

On February 7th, we will celebrate two years with Lia. I can scarcely wrap my brain around that fact. So for my first post, long overdue, it is Lia....then and now....