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Officially Ours – Lily’s Adoption Day!
The past 24 hours we have been Lily’s guardians. Today, according to Chinese law, we became her parents! It is her official adoption day! Here’s what went down: Little Miss Lily slept until almost 8:00 today! Her nanny said that she normally woke up at 7:45, and she was right! After everyone got dressed we went down to breakfast. We had to meet in the lobby at 9:30 to go back to the Civil Affairs Office, so we were a little more rushed than normal. We fed Lily some traditional Chinese food for breakfast and she once again scarfed it down! The girl can eat for sure! Having my mom…
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The Day We Met Lily
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The Day We Met Lily
Today we met our Lily! We enjoyed another hotel breakfast Monday morning followed by another visit to the fish and gardens. (This time the kids were in actual clothes). The kids had a great time running around the gardens while Brian and I sat on a bench in the sun. Then the official adoption part of the trip started off with a group meeting at the hotel. We are in a group with 9 other families from Lifeline who are adopting children from Guangdong province. We spent a few hours going over our schedule for the next 2 weeks and preparing our paperwork for this week. It was so great…
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Officially Ours – Lily’s Adoption Day!
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‘Twas Mom’s Month Before Christmas
‘Twas the month before Christmas, when all through the stores Mom is out shopping for her girls and boys The sale ads are gathered among her toy stash, In hopes that she’ll save a good bit of cash The children have countdowns to their favorite day With fun advent calendars all on display Mom fills them with family fun to enjoy And maybe even a small trinket or toy At the end of the day, mom sits down for a bit Then leaps from her seat when she realizes it – The Elf on the Shelf! It can’t stay in that spot! So mom scours Pinterest for the next elfish…
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Mom and Son Date Ideas Boys Love
Mom and son dates have become a really important part of our family dynamic. We have four kids, and it is really hard to make sure that each one of them gets some special one-on-one time with us that’s more than just homework help or music practice. One thing we have done to give each kid some special attention is take them on a special date with just one parent. Sometimes it is something that takes planning, and other times it’s a quick at-home activity. But whatever it is, we make sure that we set aside time just for that child and focus on them. According to fancy scientific research,…
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The Surprising Ways Adoption Impacts Your Family
Every November I spend extra time being thankful for the things God has given me in my life. I know that this is true for most people, with the Thanksgiving holiday coming at the end of the month. For our family, November is also the month that we celebrate two of our four children joining our family through adoption. I have spent two Thanksgivings in China adopting two of our four children. On each of those trips I substituted our turkey and mashed potatoes for rice and what I hope was chicken. During our second trip I was really struggling with missing the comforts of home, so I wrote a…
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8 Things You Should Never Ask Adoptive Parents
Remember that Friends episode where Rachel tells Joey that her boss wants to buy her baby? Everyone is completely flabbergasted that someone would be so insensitive and ridiculous. No one actually asks if they can buy your baby! Right?! Well, as a mom of four kids with two adopted from China, I must say that I have been asked some equally ridiculous questions about adoption. When my kids were younger, it didn’t matter if people asked questions. They were too little to understand or care what I was talking about. But now that they are older, unsolicited questions that highlight their differences or make them feel like they are not…
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6 Things You Need to Do to Create Authentic Friendships
Want to create authentic friendships? Get Naked. If you’re wondering how removing your clothes could possibly help you create authentic friendships, let me explain. My kids are pretty much half naked all the time. They sleep in their underwear, their shirts come off as soon as they walk in the door, and I have countless funny videos and photos on my phone that I can’t post due to indecent exposure. To them, being naked is the most comfortable way to live. It’s so bad, that when my youngest son started school I was seriously concerned that he was going to start stripping off his clothes whenever he had to use…
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How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Unfulfilled
You Can Do Anything, But You Can’t Do Everything One morning at the bus stop I found myself nearly in tears as I described to a friend all that I needed to do that day. I was burned out, exhausted, falling short, overwhelmed and unfulfilled, and feeling like a failure. My wise friend looked at me and said “Erika, you can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” In that moment it became clear to me that in my attempt to do it all, I was not actually doing anything well. I spent the next few weeks taking an inventory of my responsibilities, reflecting on my priorities, asking myself some…
