Natural Sailor

We had our first boating adventure of the season last weekend. We didn't actually sail - just stayed in the slip and let Jia get accustomed to the boat. (Thus no PFDs in the pics.) Exhausting for the parents - but pure fun for Jia! We're in for a heck of a season. Her daddy has found a natural sailing partner (whereas with the mom - not so much). Sorry for the delay in posts - life is, well, overwhelmingly busy at times. But very, very good!

One Year

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day we became a family. The day all of the stars aligned and all of the dreams and hopes became a reality. I've told Jia twice today the significance of the day and how very happy she makes us. She doesn't quite understand just yet but I so hope that when she does she can absorb the magnitude of the day and how very happy and lucky her parents are to have her as a daughter. We love you Jia - more than I thought possible to love another human. She's got us, and she's got us good. Thank you from the deepest part of my being to her birth mom and dad for making the most difficult decision imaginable in order to best love their daughter. And thank you China for allowing us to be her mom and dad.

Some Pictures From Guangzhou

More Random Pictures From Hong Kong

1st Anniversery of Trip to China

I was going to title this post "First Anniversery of the Nightmare Plane Adventure to China" but there is no way the trip to China, no matter how miserable that 16 hour flight may have been, could be considered a nightmare. It resulted in the most incredible event of our lives. One year ago today Terrell, I and my mother boarded a plane here in our little East Coast town and connected to Newark for the 16 hour flight to Hong Kong. Those of you who have been around for a while will remember my post from Hong Kong wherein I indicated I had "freaked out" 8 hours into the flight and Terrell thought that might be an excellent time to pull out the video camera. Luckily for him, I've never seen that footage. My mom and I have been reminescing about the flight the past couple of days. We were beyond shocked with the reality of a 16 hour flight. You say the words but the reality is far different. That plane got so small even though it was a gigantic 777. As my mom said, how the heck does something that big stay in the air THAT long??? My dad watched our entire flight path on-line and he knew the minute we had landed in Hong Kong. Oh, what a relief we felt to finally get off of that plane. Yes, we had been awake and traveling for 24 hours and we were in a country half way across the world. But we were on solid ground and all we needed to do was navigate the airport, find money, figure out how to get a cab and arrive at our hotel 30 minutes away. Not to mention we were only 3 magical days away from our daughter. I can't believe it's been an entire year. These are pictures of us on the plane, landing, just off of the plane and from our hotel. Terrell said "Wow, that is a rough picture of you, it doesn't even look like you" - well, it did at the time. ( And who was he at the time? Hugh Jackman?) A year later I feel all warm and fuzzy about this trip!

I need to add a little extra something to this post. Most moms, if they can be, are there for the birth of their grandchildren. When I asked my mom if she wanted to go to China because she would provide me much comfort and I didn't know how the hell to be a new mom, she said yes. She added that she had been present for the birth or soon thereafter the birth of each of her kid's first children and this would be no different. But this was a bit different. She traveled across the world with me to get my daughter. That is freaking amazing if you ask me. Thank you mom.