LEAVIN' ON A JET PLANE!

WE ARE HEADED TO CHINA BABY!

This is a what my sister & I call a WOO HOA moment - WOW it is finally here....can you believe it....what a life changing & amazing journey we've been on....we can't wait to kiss our sweet one's face.

We will receive our full travel itinerary within China from our agency tomorrow.

This was a whirlwind of a day. I decided to contact our agency as I had not heard back from them as to whether we landed our US Consulate appointment prior to booking our tickets for a Jan 8 departure. The emails of confirmation & travel instructions were going to my office email that I wont' be reading until January 2 - yikes. I have had my tail on fire all afternoon getting our tickets booked and emailing the US government office as the Consulate office in China said that they had not received our updated fingerprints..what...double yikes! I'm working on that one, but believe it will all workout.....especially since I'm holding the official document that has valid prints w/an expiration date of 2010.

We depart for Beijing on January 8th @ 1pm...make a stop in Tokyo and then arrive on January 9th @ 9:40 pm. We will head for home on January 23 @ 8:30 am (with THE BEST SOUVENIR EVER) and arrive back home on the same day @ 6:55 am.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Santa says our Christmas present is waiting for us in China!
This will be our last Christmas picture with just the 2 of us. We had a lovely day with our friends. We canceled our Christmas trip to CA to see family because of our impending travel to China. Our next family trip we'll be bringing a new family member with us!!!!! We have to introduce her to "In & Out"...that's on her daddy's top things to do while in California - TRADITION. This is where we had our first "unofficial" date.
We are still waiting to hear back from the US Consulate with a confirmed appointment. Hopefully, that will be coming any day now and we can leave on January 8th.

A Sweet Gift

How excited were we this morning to receive a picture of Liliah sitting with her foster dad at the Yulin Orphanage. She is in the front row, first child on the left....turned around looking at those behind her. Oh, she looks like a busy and social one - yeah!
(click on picture to enlarge)

This is a picture of all of the children with their foster parents after receiving a Christmas gift from the orphanage. I believe the man standing in the back on the left is the director.

We are about 21 days away from meeting Liliah!!!!!!!

THE ROAD TO CHINA

We received a call from Melissa @ America World today @ 9:15 AM informing us our TA (Travel Approval ) arrived today from China granting us permission to enter the country! We waited 5 weeks for this last call and how excited were we to both be home when the call came in. We have a tentative departure date of Thursday, January 8th. Once our appointment is confirmed with the US Consulate in Guangzhou, we can book our travel. Stay tuned for our itinerary!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

Care package sent to Liliah this week. You can't send a boat load of things, just simple stuff along with a camera to capture some pics of her and a letter of thanks to the orphanage

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

Sunday brunch anyone?

Such a beautiful sight (click on to make larger & you can see the mountains)

Not a creature was stirring.......

Okay...except for this one! She was giving me the come on Mom, let's play look

Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.....Proverbs 25:25

Future gardener @ 15 months

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play @ 14 months

My cute little cubby @ 11 months

Sweet face @ 10 months

This week has seemed REALLY long as we continue to wait to receive that final call from China allowing us to come see this beautiful land and bring home our girl! Tonight we took a walk before dinner with our black lab, Maddy and enjoyed the Christmas lights. We were just saying how we are soooo done with the waiting.......

I was BEYOND SURPRISED and ECSTATIC when I received an email tonight from Ann @ Red Thread China with updated information and pictures of Liliah - WOW. I ordered a care package from them that had some sweet things in it for Liliah, the Director/nannies & children as well as a throw-away camera & a letter of thanks. I didn't know she could get any information like this for me! Not only that, but I now know that Liliah has been living with a foster family - yeah!

Liliah looks likes she is standing well, maybe she is walking too. She currently weighs 17 lbs and is 28" tall and has 7 teeth

Beddy Bye & Dreaming of You

Today our agency asked that we send our visa apps & passports to take to the Chinese Embassy in D.C. We are getting SO CLOSE to THAT last call we are waiting for to come to China.


You are in our dreams Liliah and soon we will snuggle, love and tuck you in @ night.

Busy as Elves in the Northwest!

A beautiful Thanksgiving weekend up here in the north...okay after 3 days of fog & rain! We celebrated our last Thanksgiving as a family of 2. The Spencer's came to our home for dinner & the girls had fun cooking up the meal. I think the turkey coma must have set in, as we forgot to take any pictures - oh well! Thanks Richard, Brandie, Kasey & Savannah for celebrating with us! Next year we will have a 2 year old in the house - WOW The rest of the weekend (okay between naps & leftover snacks) we spent getting ready for Miss L and that meant SHOPPING

My sweetie hard @ work putting together his daughter's crib

Tada....finished product. I have almost completed her quilt. It should be on her bed by the end of the week. I have also started making her curtains....I told you we've been busy. We love seeing that crib in her room.

We visited a beautiful nursery that has fabulous Christmas displays & decor. We found her first ornament & will hang it on the tree next year WITH HER.

More baby loot and stuff for China.

Although I'm trying to be a little practical in what I'm taking to China for her clothing....could I really pass this outfit up.........I think not

Got a little crafty with some onesies

Introducing LILIAH YINGXIA GRIMALDI

Today is day 80 since we first laid eyes on your beautiful face. It is also the day we received the BEST news of our lives! Daddy received the call at home and immediately called me @ 9:35 AM. We had an appointment at 11 AM with Homeland Security to be re-fingerprinted as they were to expire. Daddy was supposed to meet me at my office @ 10AM to depart for our appointment. Needless to say, I was a little short saying...you have to leave now, we can talk in the car....we can't be late. It was SUCH A SURPRISE to hear him tell me that Melissa from our agency had called to tells us they had received our referral acceptance from CHINA. That is their official agreement that we may adopt you.

Liliah's birthday is August 25, 2007. She is 5 mos. old in this picture. She was 13 lbs 3 oz & 24.2" long. She was born in the city of Yulin which is located in the province of Guangxi (pronounced: juan she). They say you are a quiet baby, but are happiest when you are moving around. Your favorite toy at this age was a toy bell. It also says that you could follow objects and noticed when you dropped a toy. They also say you are a deep sleeper...this new mama sure hopes they are right about that little factoid! You are now 14 months 3 weeks old and I wonder how you've changed, but will have to wait for that surprise 'til we meet & greet in China.

Fun facts: Daddy & Mommy are native southern Californians who now live in the north. You are a native southern China girl who will live in the north...of the good ol' USA. You are from the rainiest part of China and we live in the rainiest part of the US.

We are filled with such joy and excitement like we've never known. We talk about you, pray for you and dream of the day we can hold you. We can't wait to come get you and bring you home to your family.....WO AYI NI, Liliah YingXia...which means, I LOVE YOU!

Blame it on the full moon?

Just a little peek into her room. I got this lamp from IKEA and found the decals at BB's R Us. I just love how it came out! I have the material for her window treatment, just need to get to creating them. I've been focusing on her quilt and some other projects. We have not purchased her furniture yet so until we do....you have to wait to see the finished product. Daddy has been painting away in her bathroom and it is almost finished - yeah!

I headed out to the dentist office this morning for my permanent crown and found out that I was a week early! So....I went shopping.....there is a full moon out so can I blame it on that? I thought, I drove all this way is there something I can take care of since I spent gas money? Oh yeah, there is an OshKosh store nearby that I haven't visited. I walked into a 50-60% sale -score!!!!!!!!!!

Cute dress w/jacket & hoodie

Loved this sweet top w/red & blue birds (I love birds) and red velvety pants

Cute little corduroy skirt w/bird

Purplicious!

Tootsie Warmers

Can't wait to put these on Liliah's little piggies

I've been one busy Mama working on her quilt

A peek of how it's coming along.

14 months & 60 Days

Liliah is 14 months old today! We are at Day 60 of waiting for our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China. By the way, until we receive our LOA, we are not allowed to publish any photos or personal information about our daughter. I can tell you that she is from south China. The picture is the area she is from. We are excitedly expecting when it is our turn. Many families who are ahead of us in the process received their official news yesterday and we are happy for them. Once we have that LOA in our hands things will move very quickly and there will be lots more to do in a short amount of time prior to leaving for China. DADDY & MOMMY ARE COMING JUST AS SOON AS WE CAN :D

The Day We Got The Call

We received the best call of our lives on Monday, August 25, 2008! (It was the day after the closing ceremony of the summer Olympics held in Beijing) Melissa our family coordinator rang us up at 6:52 AM PST. Your daddy received the call as I was still sleeping. He came into our bedroom and started opening up the shutters and said, good morning, sweetie, it's time to get up! I asked him, why am I getting up....I'm on vacation? He said, our agency called......and instantly I sat up in bed. We looked at your sweet face together and fell in love on the spot! I ran downstairs and contacted our agency as quickly as I could. What an amazing surprise that you came to us so soon! In March of this year, we felt God opening our heart to the possibility that our daughter may come through the special needs group. We placed ourselves on the family waiting list in April and were told that it could be up to a year before we heard anything. So, when we got the call for you 4 months later it was such a BIG wonderful, sweet surprise! It was an exciting whirlwind of a couple of days as we only had 48 hours to complete the required paperwork, get it back to our agency for translation and into China's hands.


My parents were visiting from California. They come up every year right around the 4th of July or by mid-August. This year, my Dad told me that he thought they'd do something different this year and come up the last week of August. It was so neat to be able to be able to ask them when they came downstairs for breakfast if they'd like to see their granddaughter! It was such a gift from God and a priceless to share this with them.

August 25, 2008 was also very special because it was your 1st birthday! I love that we will celebrate the day you were given to us on the same day. Daddy, mommy, Papa and Nana Judd celebrated that evening at PF Chang's. Afterward, I called my sisters who were on vacation with their families. Lori/family were on the east coast in Connecticut when I called them. They were SO surprised and excited. My sister said she had just be thinking that morning how neat it would be if we got the call when Dad & Mom were here...then she thought, yeah right.

I called Diana/family who were vacationing in Las Vegas. They happened to be in line for one of the roller coasters there. We had fun talking about our good news. I woke @ 2:30 AM (never happens) & just could not stop thinking about you...so I got up to read over all the little details about you and figure out where you are from and now living. I also took the time to finish up paperwork that had a deadline that day to get to China.

A couple days later Mom & I went shopping for Miss L's first outfits. What a dream come true to be able to go shopping for my baby girl for the first time!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

My sister Lori made this gorgeous quilt for Liliah last Christmas. It was very special to have a present under the tree for her.

Look at the detail.....it was hand stitched with LOTS of love!

Can't wait to see a cute little face peeking out of this hood

First denim skirt from Uncle Randy, Auntie Lori, Lacey & Kimberlee

Daddy's picks

Sweet in Pink

Wordless Wednesday

2008 - A Momentous Year

We started this momentous year with your Baba's (daddy) 50th birthday. I shared with him that in the Bible it describes the 50th year as the Year of Jubliee. I told him this was a year for us to rejoice and come into bigger blessings! I had no idea how true that would be!!! The call for you came on August 25, 2008 (more on that later).

March - headed to Arizona to catch some sun, spend time with my parents and watch some MLB Spring Training. We had such a nice time sleeping in the RV, eating at PF Chang's and In-N-Out. Once you live in the north, you get the whole flyin' south for the winter...or least escaping for a long weekend. April - my sister Diana & my mother, Connie came for a long weekend visit. We celebrated my mother's 70th birthday. We lots of fun gal time. We toured the local museum to see the "Romans" exhibit and the Gates of Heaven, both were fascinating. At the end of April, my sister Lori & Randy came for a couple's visit. We had a great time touring the tulips, dragging the guys shopping and visiting Pike's Place. We had a beautiful evening of snowfall which was very pretty. July - joined a group of families from our community in having (39) 16 year old Japanese girl exchange students. Miho was from Tokyo, Japan and stayed with us for 3 weeks. It was her first time in the USA. The 3 of us had fun learning to communicte with one another. She was such a polite, bright and sweet girl. We very much enjoyed getting to know about her, her family & culture. August - we took another summer road trip with the Spencer family. The dogs even got to come. This time we pointed our compass towards Idaho. I rented a cabin in Grand Fork, Idaho just north of Sandpoint. We fit 4 adults, two teenagers, & 3 dogs in a cozy cabin. We spent lots of time on Lake Pend Orielle riding wave runners for the first time. What a blast we had! We also did some off road driving and target practice way up in the mountains. Brandie & I learned to shoot a riffle for the first time (no animals were harmed). We used old plastic milk jugs, plastic bottles, stumps....The scenery was great & we will definately go back to this area.

Here are some fun things we did to keep busy while waiting for you:

Diana & I smilin' in the daffodil fields! Good sister time...

Angel Fans!
Tip toeing through the tulips...in the cold

Glorious Spring......