The Crew

The Crew
Christina, Matthew, Joshua and Katie Grace XiHua

Thursday, March 10, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!


It's my Birthday and I am posting this picture because I need the strength of Captain America to wrangle this busy family for another year!!

My age?? Let's just say I am over 40 and leave it at that. :)

I took the kids to Denny's this morning for my free "Grand Slam" Breakfast. Oh yeeaah, happy tummy.

I told Jacob I only wanted 1 thing for my B-Day. A traditional Puerto Rican Birthday Cake. We found someone to make us one! He also got me some needed items for my camera. :) :) :)

I am so thankful to God for another year of love, family, friends, faith, health and life. I look forward to and welcome whatever new adventures He has in store for us! As long as He is in the boat, I'm going for the ride!

Friday, March 4, 2011

INTRODUCING KATIE GRACE XI HUA! She is currently 3 years old as of 3 weeks ago.

So we received an email today from our agency that we have LID for our little girl, Katie Grace Xi Hua (pronounced she-wah)!!

Xi Hua just turned 3 years old. She has 2 minor heart defects. She lives in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China.

LID is means Log In Date. Which means our dossier has been accepted and now we wait for LOA (Letter of Acceptance (or Approval?) ) This next wait will be anywhere from 20 - 60 days. After that we will be moving quickly toward travel after a few more documents.

So guess what this all means??? I can now post pictures of our little girl!!! And even more exciting is the fact that I have many pictures to share because a few families who have recently traveled to our orphanage as they were adopting their children took pictures for us! What a blessing that is!!

Here we go. I am posting them in order of youngest to oldest. Captions are below each photo:





Xi Hua's Finding Photo. This is the photo that is taken at the child's finding date and is attached to her original information. She was 9 months old and obviously quite frightened by her situation.



This is the referral picture we received of Xi Hua with her medical file. She is approximately 2 years and 7 months here. She only weighs 16 pounds and is not very tall either. Just a tiny girl.



Here is another of her referral photos. She looks so apprehensive in many photos, precious girl! She needs a mama.



This is Xi Hua this past December, 2010. She is 2 years 10 months here.



Our friends from our CWI yahoo group took these photos. She is looking as if to say, "don't come any closer, Mister!"



Still not so sure about this man with the video camera.....


"Wait a minute, I see myself in the camera viewing screen!"



"I like to see my sweet little pixie face!"



"I don't get to see my reflection very often, this is a hoot!"


These next 3 photos were taken last week! Xi Hua walking into the cafeteria for lunch.



Putting her lunch smock on.



Precious little angel waiting for lunch.



"Is it coming yet?"

Many hungry children near the boarder of Myanmar and Thailand-click on photo