Sunday Snapshot: Livi's book

I had a book made on Shutterfly to bring to China on Tuesday. It is a book we can show her so that she starts to see some of the family and her home before we leave China. I'm hoping it will help give her a glimpse of recognition when she sees everything. Especially the pictures of the boys, of our home, and of her room. Who knows if it will make a difference at all, but I think it will be fun to try and show her.

This is Livi Ming. And this is the story of her family.


This is Livi's family. She has a mom and a dad and 5 big brothers. Their names are Tyler, Timmy, Trae, Tony, and Tanner.


Little Livi's mom and dad planned for her for a long time.
And prayed that Jesus would send them a special little girl.


All the boys wanted a sister very badly.....
and they prayed for her too.


Livi's family had tons of fun together. They went to baseball games and movies together.
All the while thinking about the little girl that would soon join their family. What did she look like? What is her favorite toy?


Mom, dad, and the 5 boys weren't the only ones hoping and praying for little Livi.
She already had so many other people thinking about her too. Grandma Rita and Grandpa Jim. Grandma Cindy and Aunt Erin.


What little Livi Ming would soon find out is that she already had a whole group of cousins that are so excited to meet her.
The cousins are good friends and Livi is going to love playing with them.


Uncle Mike and Aunt Kristin love little Livi. They are so anxious to meet her.
Livi will soon meet Alex, Sam, Molly, and Josh. I'm pretty sure Molly will have fun showing off all her toys and dolls they can play with together.


Aunt Mindy loves Livi Ming.
She and Kaylee are so excited to have another sweet little girl in the family and play with and squeeze.


Uncle Pat and Aunt Lindsey love sweet little Livi.
Baby Benny thinks it's extra special that Livi is coming to our family. He was adopted and wanted so much, just like her. They will have a lot to share together.


Uncle Dan and Aunt Amy love little Livi.
Adam and Christopher are silly little boys that Livi will have lots of fun with.


Livi sure is a lucky girl with all these people who love her and think she's so special.
When LIvi gets to her new home, she will see lots of snow there. Her brothers can show her how to make a snow angel and go sledding.


There's a brand new room waiting for her.
It's got lots of pink and was made with so much love.....especially for her arrival.


Tyler, Timmy, Trae, Tony, and Tanner can't wait for little Livi to be home....right where she belongs.
Because after all this time thinking about her, and praying for her, and planning for her......


.....we're all just ready to start loving her.
Livi, you are a child of God. He has held you since the day you were conceived. His plans for your life and great. You were wanted, even before you were born, by God, and by us. We thank God that He made you for our family. You are loved.

Getting packed

I've actually had a lot of fun getting Olivia's bag packed. There's something really sweet about doing something for her even before we meet her. Each thing I packed, I found myself thinking of her actually using it, playing with it, or wearing it.....and I can't wait.





The boys were 'helping'.


This is the other thing I just finished in her room. It's a ribbon with all sorts of pictures of us for her to see every night when she's in bed.

My growing "to do" list

This past week, it seems like for every one thing I check off my 'to do' list, I add 2 more things. This doesn't exactly get it any smaller. I have 4 pages in my little China notebook of things I have to do. There is only about a half page left but one of the things is clean house. That could be it's own 4 pages all by itself. I'm getting there though. Slowly but surely...getting all the details worked out for us to leave in 4 days. Ahhhh.....FOUR days. I can't even believe that. We've been waiting and working for this for so long that I can't believe it's finally here.
Tomorrow evening we are going to a hotel for the night with the boys. We really wanted a chance to spend some time with them before we go. They don't know anything about it and it's Trae's birthday on Tues. (the day we leave) so this is a surprise for him.....and the others. We'll have a cake and presents there and play games and go swimming in the pool. I'm really looking forward to it. It's been so crazy around here that it will be nice to just hang out and sit in a hottub for a while. Our friend Helen is coming with her family too which will be great and make it seem like it's more of a party for Trae. Should be a good time.

Update on Livi!

I'm super excited....today we received an update on Olivia from her orphanage. The liaison for our agency was able to get in contact with the director and have a ton of questions about her answered.
Here are some of the highlights
~Height: 83cm, Weight: 12.5kg, Head circumference: 46cm, chest: 48.5, teeth: 16, foot length: 14cm.
This makes her about 27.5 pounds and about 32 inches tall.
~Both physical and mental development are very good. She could walk on her own now, very alert and swift. She likes to imitate others. She likes to smile, to talk and likes busy and noisy places. She could understand simple sentences. She knows her name and say Auntie and a few of her friends name.
Guess she'll be right at home in our crazy house.
~She eats two meals with conjee, each time about two small bowls. Three meals of formula with rice cereal, about 300ml each time. She likes to eat snack such as candy, cracker and steamed buns. Sounds like there is not much variety in her menu.
I wonder how long it will take for her to learn the English word for french fries.
~She seldom cries and in case she does, play with her for a while, she will be fine.
~We call her Ming Juan.
I was able to let them know if there was anything specific I wanted to ask....beyond the obvious stuff I knew they'd already be saying. I had asked if they say her full name or shorten it to Ming.
~She uses a bottle.
Uh oh....we'll have to work on that. I never had a bottle drinker once the boys turned one. We won't be in a hurry though.....small steps.
~She is outgoing and has good appetite.
Oh yah...she'll fit right in.
~We still uses diaper for her.
Kinda figured this....already bought some to pack.
And the most important and really most surprising...
~She has third degree of cleft lip and palate. Never had a surgery yet.
Ah....little sweetie.

Braces

I took Tyler to his first orthodontics appointment today. It was just a consult to see what we should get started on for his teeth and braces. It's been long overdue, but the cost has kept us waiting on it. Looks like he'll have to have 4 teeth pulled in order to make room, then braces for 2 years. The Dental school we went to is definitely cheaper, but it's still a ton of money. Not sure how we're gonna cover it especially since Timmy will be close behind him, but I guess we'll figure it out.
These kids get more expensive the older they get....sheesh.

A gift

Look at what I got in the mail yesterday.


It is from my good friend, Jill, who I refer to as "one of my military wife girlfriends".
She is one of about 15 women who I "met" online 8 years ago (this month, to be exact) while Jason was overseas. I happened to find a forum for military wives and fell in love with it. It was a great source of strength during that terribly hard time. After a few years, it was obvious that there was a smaller group inside that mass of thousands who were more connected than the others. One of those girls created a forum just for us. We used that for the next few years until facebook came along, and now that is the way we keep in touch with each other and our lives.
I've personally met about 5 of the girls, and a lot of them have met each other too....but for the most part, we just are close because of the circumstances that first brought us together and that initial common thread that set us apart from most.
In the past 8 years, we've seen each other get married, get divorced, have countless babies and say goodbye to our husbands as they deploy again, we've lost weight together and gained weight together, we've exchanged secret Santa gifts, had some fights and made up, a few of us even have matching tattoos...now how's that for commitment. We've cried as our resident 'mom' went through the heartache of having a house fire and we've consoled each other when a loved one has been lost, while thankfully not one of us ever had to bear the terrible news of losing a spouse in the war, we have laughed with each other (remember walking like an Egyptian) and we have prayed a million prayers for one another. I honestly feel like I know them all so well and we've never even met....most of us.
I have this dream someday of having a get together with all of us there so we can finally give some overdue hugs. God bless you guys....and thank you.

Livi's room

I have been so excited to do this post. I was waiting until I had the final piece in place and that package came yesterday. So, here it is. I LOVE LOVE her room.
I had seen that wall tree about a year ago and totally fell in love with it. I saved it to my faves on the computer and finally ordered it last month. Mindy helped me put on every individual flower and it turned out so pretty.

The same thing goes for the bed. I had been at Ikea over a year ago and just loved it. I never forgot about it and in December, Jay and I went to get it.

The little table, I found online and loved how it matched the lines in the woodwork of the bed. Makes it look like it was bought at the same place.


The trunk under the window was actually found used. I was just looking around and came across it. Again, it had the same lined wood like the bed and now the table so it just seemed perfect.


I got this shelf used too. It was a dark brown, but I painted it white to match. The last piece of the room I was waiting for were the baskets. I had originally had different ones picked out, but they were expensive so I started looking around again. I ended up finding these for half the cost and I think I actually like them better.

This is an idea I got last year at Tanner's preschool. It's a ribbon hanging (I got these cool oversized clothes pins to hold it) and then you use mini clothes pins to clip pictures up the whole thing. I'm gonna put a bunch of family pics on it and it's in a spot of her room where she will be looking right at it when she's in bed.

And finally....I had to pull out a few of my favorite things from her closet.