Dentist Visit

Shelby's supportive siblings waiting on her at the dentist today...

Eggaholic

Faith was absolutely one adorable SERIOUS egg dyer this year. Focus and heavy concentration the entire time we were coloring the eggs-too funny! Since eggs (scrambled of course) are one of the few healthy foods she will eat, it was quite fitting to see her such a dedicated egg worker :)

Baby Princess

In honor of the royals of course...

Heart Baby

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do!

I am thrilled to announce that the cardiologist told me today that Elise's heart is fully repaired. No future surgery or meds necessary, no limits on her physical abilities, she is perfect.

Praise God!!

Fifteen of Fun

What a wild and crazy journey it has been the last 15 years with my man! Realistically I can't say I've enjoyed every minute, but I can say I wouldn't trade it for anything. CJ and I have had our highs and lows for sure, and each one has made us stronger than ever. Neither one of us would have ever imagined us where we are today (you know with FIVE kids and all)!! I am so thankful that God had this planned from the very beginning. I can only imagine what the next 15 will bring ;)

Boy O Boy

This video is to bring awareness to the little unknown fact that there are actually MORE boys who are currently available for adoption in China, than girls. If you want more information on how you can bring one home, just let me know.

Click play...Because every little boy needs a mommy!

Playin in the Rain

So tell me-am I the only mom who lets their kids go out and play in the rain?!?!

So much fun... and even free ;)

Hat girl

Shelby made this little Easter hat at school and Elise had completely fallen in love with it. So stinkin cute!!

Happy Easter!

Big Baby Growing Up

My biggest baby already driving around my little babies!!!

Birthday Daddy

We went over to my dad's house tonight to celebrate his 72nd birthday. Since he isn't a big fan of cake, we just surprised him with ice cream instead. Pawpaw is always happy to share the fun with his grandkids :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Fairytalish

Yes I know not really a word, but it is kind of how I would explain our newest addition into the family...a Fairytale. Now you all know I don't like to sugarcoat adoption and the journey it takes to add a child to your family through adoption, but really I can't seem to dig up any "dirt" on adding little Elise yet!

I have been getting some calls and emails of folks asking, "Now how is it REALLY going?". Honestly it is really going as well as it appears. Elise has molded right into a Straight without any difficulties (so far). As I say to others, I am just waiting on the other shoe to drop. Elise is even sleeping well, she wakes up only a couple of times a night now and goes right back to sleep when I pat her back. She eats well, she plays well, she even tolerates all the other kids well. Trust me this can only be a God thing, especially considering that I haven't even lost my mind yet being a mommy to 5!

Size Perspective

Shoebox Booty

New Harley Look

Love the squat

More Photos

Yes I know, now I am just showing off :) Sorry I can't help myself since we had such a good turnout from Portrait Innovations. Still amazed that I have been blessed with such a beautiful family!!

Favorite Five!

Sassy Seven

Here Comes Trouble

Home

We are all doing really great and just enjoying being home as a family of SEVEN! (Glad I got that right this time-lol) I am still just amazed that I get to be mommy to 5 children. God is good!!

Jet Lag At Its Finest

Tiny One

Never imagined I would ever be buying Size 2 diapers again!

Homecoming Brain Dump

Too many thoughts to logically put them together, so just going to go for the easy bullet post this round. I will hopefully explain some of the pics too :) We spent our last night in China with our new friends at the Banana Leaf for one last Chinese meal. It was alot of fun!

Then we ended the night with foot massages for everyone-even Shelby.

It was a very long long commute home, but we all survived.

I would highly recommend anyone to fly with Korean Air-they rocked. We even scored bulkhead seating on our long flight home again!

I would also highly recommend that anyone coming home from China take the midnight flight home. Amazingly our jet lag is next to none.

We had a very nice homecoming crowd at the airport. Kim and Michael thought of everything including our Diet Coke and Mt.Dew :) It was SO nice to see the folks who supported us through our journey welcoming us home!

The boys are totally in love with their new sister. I feel complete again to have all my kiddos under my roof, together forever.

We are getting back to normal at home. We even made it to church yesterday. Again our jetlag is very minimal right now-YEAH for us :)

Short Post

But just wanted to let you all know we are home safe and sound. Hopefully I will get a chance to post some pics soon :)

Planes, Trains, and Taxis Galore

We are all packed up and ready to head out on our adventure home. We leave here from the hotel at 2:30pm this afternoon. From here we go to the Consulate to pick up Elise's passport, then we are catching our train at 5pm headed to Hong Kong. We should arrive in HK around 7pm, where we have to figure out how to get ourselves and all of our luggage to the HK airport. We get on our flight to Korea at 12:30am. Once in Korea, we have a lovely 5 hour layover until we finally catch our flight to the US. We fly 14 hours on our last leg, then FINALLY we should land in ATL at 11am on Saturday afternoon!!!

We will have to go through customs though once we land, so I don't think we will actually be out of the airport until at the earliest around noon. We will be coming in via Korean Air on flight 35. I don't want anyone to get stuck waiting for us if we get delayed anywhere, so if you are planning on meeting us at the airport (which we would love to see you), then please call Kim at 770-309-5114 as we will report any delays to her since she is picking us up at the airport.

Thank you to everyone who supported us on this amazing journey. We can't wait until we get to introduce you all to the newest Straight!!

More Giggles

Cutest Little Baby Face

Yes, More Shopping

I was able to venture out again with Ann today. This time I went with Heidi, while CJ was a kind kind man and he stayed with not only our girls but also he kept Heidi's girls as while. Have I told you lately how much I love my man?!?!

Heidi and I had a fabulous time with Ann shopping again at the Pearl Markets and finally I made it over to the Children's Market for some boots for the girls. We could have spent 6 more hours with Ann, but thought the 4 hours we were out was probably enough ;)

We are about to go to dinner for our last real dinner in China at the Banana Leaf restaurant again with a big group of families. Hoping we have as much fun as we did the other night. Looking forward to a big send off dinner with friends who love adoption as much as I do!!

Oh and before I forget, I wanted to HIGHLY recommend to others traveling after me to order an air mattress from Ann if you need an extra bed in your hotel room. It saved us a bunch of money, and it has worked out perfectly for our family. You just tell Ann what hotel and province and she will have it shipped straight to your hotel waiting for you upon arrival. They even come with the handy air pump-perfect!

Consulate Appointment

We went early this morning for the official Consulate Appointment at the US Consulate here in Guangzhou. This is what our whole adoption trip is scheduled around. It is pretty anti-climatic considering this is the final official signing of all the adoption paperwork, but hey we are done! We pick up Elise's US Visa tomorrow afternoon then we will be off to the train station headed to Hong Kong.

Lesson Learned

CJ learned a very valuable lesson yesterday here in China. (Don't tell him I am sharing with you all, but it was too funny not too!!) Anyhow, you see in China the majority of the bathrooms do NOT have toilet paper at all. So you should always, I repeat always have some tissue on hand for those "occasions" when toilet paper is a necessity. My resourceful man came up with a solution though at the end of the "occasion" when his survival skills kicked in. It was a bit expensive, but you will do what you have to do, when you have to do it here in China no matter what the cost. Turns out that a few RMB dollars can double as tissue when in a pinch ;) Good thing he had just cashed in a $100 bill for some smaller bills before he went into the bathroom!!

Day on the Island

Sorry but not a lot of time to blog tonight. Going to bed early since we will be waking at 6am for our early Consulate Appointment. So here is our day thru pics!

Red Couch Baby

Dinner and Massage Anyone

Finally I got my chance at one of these "famous massages" here in China again. For a whole $10 each person, CJ and I had a 70 minutes foot and back massage. Can you say... Ahhhhhh! Now I see why CJ sneeks out early every night for a massage. And no he assures me he is not ordering any special massages either ;)

We went to dinner with the group and had a great time. Here are some of the pics from dinner, and I posted a video below-too funny!

China Cuisine?

Who knew what all you could find in a Chinese restaurant??!!? What a terrific dinner we experienced with the group tonight at the Banana Leaf Restaurant here in Guangzhou!

China Park View

Elise's First Fishing Trip

Liuhuahu Park

We had a great time today at the park. It is a holiday here today so there were lots of families out and about. All the kids had a great time. Each ride costs only about $1 per child per ride. I was really missing the boys today though :( They would have had a great time fishing in the baby pools with the girls. Elise is already a good fisherman!

We are heading out to the Banana Leaf restaurant tonight with 4 other families, so that should be interesting. We are really trying to enjoy our last few days here in China. But I will have to admit that I have begun counting the days until we get home ;)

Uh OH

Uh oh, I put the baby down-LOL :)

Happiness Equals...

My Heart Babies

Blessed

How did I ever get so lucky to be mommy to these amazing blessings?!?!