A Trip to the Zoo

Today was our first visit...of many I'm sure...to the zoo! The weather was perfect and we had a fun time. I need to be better about capturing our memories on film. I took some pictures today, but not as many as I wished I had.

This first picture my daughter Katie took. I love the look on Karleigh Mei's face as she's staring at this goat. I wonder what she is thinking?

This next picture I soooo wanted to get a good picture of Karleigh Mei and the Hippo. This exhibit is so awesome and I could have stayed in there forever just looking at them (there were two) swim around. So very cool. I thought this picture was funny though...with the rump of the Hippo as he swam away. :o) And look at my darling girl's face.! Is she not just so precious! I'm still in love with those sweet little lips!! Are they not the cutest ones EVER!?

Finding A New Normal...

Life has been beautifully busy! We made two different out of town trips to see family for Christmas and Karleigh Mei got to meet ALL of her first cousins! She has 18 first cousins--and one on the way! I haven't had the chance to go through my pictures yet and load them (I will do that in the next day or two), but I did come across these pictures that were right before Christmas and I thought they were sweet

Lexie and Katie babysat Karleigh Mei one night while Karl and I did some Christmas shopping. The girls had too much fun with her, painting fingernails, playing dress-up, and playing with some stickers that Matti's mom sent (thank you Tonya!).

She LOVED these stickers...the girls said she was busy playing with them for a long time!

I love this picture of Karleigh Mei. We found this super cute little jacket at Target and her snazzy little shoes that she loves! She also loves to wear this hat--from Target of course!

Matti's mom also sent Karleigh Mei some "lip smackers". She loves to put this on. So sweet.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Thank you for the continued prayers for us and for our darling girl. She is doing so wonderful! Last night she slept in her own bed, in her own bedroom...all night long with no fussing! Praying tonight is a repeat!

Merry Christmas!!

Isaiah 9:6

      "For to us a child is born, 

       to us a son is given, 
       and the government will be on his shoulders. 
       And he will be called 
       Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Birthday Katie!!!!!! AND She Came Home With A Ring On Her Hand!!!!

Wow!! Can we have anything more exciting happen!!?? Today is my FIRST darling "K.M." (Katherine Mary Alice) girl's 22nd birthday!!   AND her boyfriend surprised her by taking her to breakfast and ASKING HER TO MARRY him!!  :o) Of COURSE she said, YES!! We are beyond thrilled for her and now we have a wedding to plan for this summer!!

We love you so very much Katie and could not be more proud of you! Happy Birthday and Congratulations!!!

Our sweet baby Katie...

Katie and Blake in May '08...

Katie and Blake in 2003--one of their first banquets together...

Katie and Blake at their senior banquet in 2005...

Katie and Blake in Cinque Terre, Italy when they studied abroad...

"I know something the prince never knew..."

(As a side note....we have a girl for EACH of the chorus' sung in Steven Curtis Chapman's song, "Cinderella"!)

Our Pretty Girl...

We are having lots of fun with our darling girl! We all love her so very much! Karleigh Mei helped her big sisters make some banana bread the other day. She was a big help! And she loved licking the batter off of the blender whisks. :o) We also took her to a nearby park yesterday. She LOVED the swing and could have swung for a very long time. We are on the hunt for one to hang in our tree in our backyard. They are hard to find this time of year. Think I'll just order one off the world wide web. 

Last night was a little bit better. Yesterday I was able to talk Karleigh Mei's best friend's mom on the phone (THANK YOU for the phone call Mary Beth!!). Her little friend was adopted by a family here in the states not too long ago. Amazingly, they both cried out the same thing at night. Last night I gave her a bottle--and this seemed to give her great comfort. She was so sweet too, as she wanted her hand on my face ALL night long. I loved it. I didn't sleep too well...but she slept like a baby! Thank you to everyone who is praying...keep it up!!

My pretty girl...

Yummy batter...

Fun at the park...

HOME SWEET HOME!!!

We are home!! It was a looooonnnnngggg day yesterday, but Karleigh Mei was EXCELLENT on all 3 flights that we had to take! We were all very tired when we landed. We had LOTS of friends waiting for us at the airport though. What a sweet gift it was to see everyone. Thank you to all of you who came to welcome us home---you were all a precious site to our tired eyes!!

Today has been a good day. We are very tired still...but we are so happy to be HOME! You can pray for Karleigh Mei and that she will be able to sleep well tonight. Last night was a bit rough. We have her in a play pen in our room. We thought it would be best for her to get used to our home.

Karleigh Mei's brothers and sisters are in love with her. And she of them! Here are some pictures of her with each of them. 

Katie and Karleigh Mei

Lexie and Karleigh Mei---Xiao (smile!)!!!

Gannon and Karleigh Mei

Garrison and Karleigh Mei

Thank you again to everyone for all of your prayers and continued prayers! They were VERY much felt! 

Thank you Father for Your wonderful gift of Karleigh Mei Qian!! She is a perfect fit for our family and we are all in love with her!

Welcome home Karleigh Mei!!

Karl here,..

Howdy friends and family! I apologize for not saying hello to all of you. Jennifer and Lexie have done a great job of speaking for me though. I just wanted to tell all of you how much I appreciate you. Your prayers, e-mails, and texts have meant more to me than you will ever know. I hope I am as good a friend to you as you are to me. I have sat in bed many mornings on this trip, while Karliegh Mei and Mommy are still sleeping, praying and thinking of this whole experience. I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude. I am in awe that God has blessed me with such a wonderful wife, children, new child, and friends and family. Thank you for being part of our lives.

God bless you and I can't wait to see you all.

Karl

Coming Home Soon!!

We are leaving for Hong Kong in a couple of hours. We will then fly out of Hong Kong tomorrow morning. We are SOOOO excited about coming home to see all of our wonderful family!! Kids...you are going to LOVE Miss Sassy Pants Karleigh Mei! She is going to fit in just beautifully with us!

It has been a fabulous trip that we will never forget. We cannot wait to watch our beautiful little girl blossom and grow. What a blessing she is to us already! Once I get home, I'll update a bit more about our trip. There were some fun and interesting things that we saw here and I don't want to forget. One thing I'll say now is that this is an AMAZING time of year to come to China. EVERYWHERE you go is Christmas music playing, "Merry Christmas" signs, and Christmas trees decked out. There is nothing like walking through a store, holding your precious little one from China and singing along with the music about our Savior being born!! I not just the "Jingle Bells" variety, but " Oh Come Let Us Adore Him", "Silent Night", and others telling the true story of the birth of Jesus!! I have not once seen "Happy Holidays". It's all "Merry Christmas". I was in Starbucks this morning...and my blog song came on!! The one by Sarah McLachlan. I know it was nothing to most people...but I saw it as a small gift from God. He is so good, so gracious, so kind, so merciful, so wonderful, so compeltely AWESOME!! sigh.

Okay...so I've been so very lame at taking pictures. So very lame. No excuses. I have these two from yesterday. The first one is of me with my two sweet bloggin' buddies. Laurie, Amy, and I all got to know each other while waiting for our RA and our TA. We all got on Yahoo and would chat several times a day! What a gift from the Lord they have been to me!! I love you girls!!! And what beautiful blessings you are going home with too!!


This next picture was taken at a Folk Art Museum. I love how Karleigh Mei squints her one "bad" eye. So cute! I could just eat her up!! Soon we will be getting her some little glasses to protect her "good" eye. Think I will look into the "trasitions" type...the ones that turn into sunglasses in the sun. Yep..that would be good for my little darling girl.



Next post I write we should be HOME!!! Awwww...if I could only tap my heels. sigh.

Picture time!

I laughed out loud whenever I saw this picture! How cute is she?!? God sure did deliver whenever I asked for the cutest little girl in all of China! ;) 

Our Silly Girl!

She still loves her Baba...

But from what I hear...she has fallen in love with her Mama as well! She is adjusting so well! She treats both Mama and Baba equally now! Praise Jesus! 

Tired Baby!

This is group of school kids that were out in search of Americans so that they could practice their English with them! The teachers asked my dad if he would go up to each of them and then they would ask how he was doing and say their name. I know my dad was just loving this! And I know that they must have loved my dad. They were calling him "Uncle Karl". How cute! 

Isn't this just such a cute picture?!

"Xiao!" This is like saying "cheese!" in Chinese! And of course she puts up her peace signs! 

God is sooooo good!!!

I talked to Miss Sas and mama and daddy just a little bit ago. I can not express to you just how SWEET she is!! She has the FUNNIEST little expressions! And she loves her mama so much. My mom had her giggling so much. She is just so precious. She sang Jingle Bells for me too!!! She is so very smart!!!

Oh, and one last thing about our little beauty. The guides keep telling my parents that she is a traditional beautiful Chinese girl. They said that beautiful little girls have lips like little cherries and eyebrows like willow trees! Haha!! And she has got both of those things! :) 

They come home in 3 days!!

Whoooo Hooooo!!

Enjoying Their Time With Friends~

Eating dinner with some of the travel budds! 

Enjoying McDonalds! 

Thats my girl! 

I only have 3 pictures for you this morning. I know...disappointing!  I have reason to believe that they had tried to send more pictures...but they did not come through. Oh well, at least they tried! 

They did not say much...

But I do know from looking at their travel buddies websites that they are indeed enjoying their time with these other families! 

I can hardly wait for them to come home!! Wednesday can not come fast enough! Once they are home I will be sure to take LOTS of pictures for y'all to see!! :) :) 

In Guangzhou

***Update*** Here are two pictures for y'all to enjoy! :0) Hoping for LOTS more tomorrow!

We have made it to Guangzhou!! It is sooooo nice to be here with the other families. Seeing all the other children is just amazing. I have not taken any pictures yet, but we will be sure to soon.

This morning we went for Karleigh Mei's (aka Sassy Pants) ;o) medical exam. I was so nervous 'cause she's had some congestion. She passed with flying colors! :o) The doctor was impressed with her pearly whites. She has such pretty little teeth! They look like they've been well taken care of. Also, we were extremely pleased when the doctor "tested" her bad eye. It appears that she can see out of it!!! Probably not terribly well....but I was so happy to hear and see her reach for a toy with her good eye covered up! This is a huge praise report. I can't wait to get her home for her to see the doctors there and see if there is any chance for possibly a cornea transplant. We will see what the Lord has in store for this precious little girl!! We are loving her more and more and she's come such a LONG way in the past 5 days. Thank you again for everyone's prayers!!!

I'll try my best to take some pictures today!!

Quick Update from Lexie!

Hello Everybody!

Just wanted to update real quick...

I do not think that I will have any fun pictures for you this morning. They were cooped up in their hotel once again today...and then later in the afternoon they flew back to Guangzhou. So not a lot of chances to take pictures.

I did get to talk to them via skype yesterday. Little miss Sassy Pants had JUST woke up and was sitting on my moms lap. She had the CRAZIEST bed head! She was just the cutest. She was playing with my moms cell phone and her cell phone and laughing at her silly little self. Oh, she is just so funny. While sitting on mommy's lap, daddy was in the shower. When daddy came out of the bathroom she looked at him, tilted her lil head up to him and puckered up her lips! She is in LOVE with her baba! I thought that it was a very good sign that she stayed on my moms lap...and didn't run off to my dad. All she wanted was a kiss. :) I hope this means that she is bonding with mommy a little more. Also, every once in a while she would just look up at my mom and smile...and then go back to playing. She is so very sweet...

I will hopefully have a lot of more pictures for you this weekend! I know that they were VERY excited to be going to Guangzhou. I can't wait to see pictures of all of the travel groups babies together! 

Hope y'all have an awesome Friday!!

Until Next Time,

Lexie 

A couple of fun pictures for you...

They did not have much to say whenever they sent these pictures. They just said that they were busy with our sweet little girl! But the pictures that they did send I think are precious! 

Out and about with mommy and daddy! 

Having fun with daddy!

Me and my older sister, Katie, joke around saying that we have some competition with this new little Daddy's girl around! Hahaha! 

Pictures!!!!!!!!!!! And a good report!

Ok, pictures first....cause I know that thats all you really want....Hehe! Just kidding...

Can you say precious?! I will have y'all all know that this is the first big smile that I (Lexie) have ever seen on this precious girl. I am a very happy big sister this morning...

Bonding with Mommy in the "Hip Baby Carrier" 

Mommy just loves her little girl...

Check out the BOW! 

Mommy, Daddy, and Baby Girl!

Bubbles with Daddy! 

Another little grin. Oh, Oh, OH I love it! 

Check out that BLING on the glasses! 

Can you say Sassy?!? We are in love with our little Sassy Pants. 

Now here is what they have to say! 

We are having a better day today. :o) We went to a pagoda this morning..and played the tourist. The Chinese people are very interested in her with us. We had one young couple take their picture with us and their little one. We came back to the hotel and Karl went and got us some food. There is a very good Chinese food restaurant right next to our hotel. Karleigh Mei Qian Qian had her first bath today. She liked it VERY much after some coaxing. She played for quite a while. And we all got pretty wet. :o) She is in LOVE with her Daddy(just a side note from me...my dad was telling me that the other night they put her to bed and she was crying a very hurt little cry :( so he took her out and placed her in the middle of them and she immediately searched for his hand and grabbed it! And then fell right to sleep! Aww...). She just tolerates me. But that is okay. She is a dear little thing and I love her so! She is very smart and she is very sweet. She has THE sweetest little smile...and pearly white teeth! We plan on going out this evening to the nearby store and there is a Pizza Hut too. I used my hip carrier at the Pagoda. I LOVE it...very nice to have. Thank you all for the wonderful comments and suggestions for our little stubborn girl. They are a lifesaver. Keep them coming if anyone has any others. We are just going to love her through it all. I have to remember the reason why I'm even here...it's not for me, but for her. She is so precious and already so worth whatever it takes!!!

I am talking to them via skype as i type!! She is just to sweet!! It sounds like they had a very good day today. YAY! My mom said "Can you say Lexie???" and she says..."say Lexie" in the sweetest voice. Oh so sweet!!! Ok, enjoy! I am gonna keep talking to them...