Beautiful zoo in Guangzhou...

Last year at this time we were just arriving in Beijing...what a thrill it was to finally be in CHINA!

Looking out the window...still wearing her shoes from the orphanage

Getting to know our baby girl!

Meeting our Daughter for the first time...she is so beautiful!!!

We were getting ready to meet Faith a year ago...

I really can't believe it's been a year since we travelled to China.  They say, "Time flies when your having fun."  This year has flown by.  For the last few weeks  I have spent hours looking at our pictures from China.  We loved the adventure of traveling to China, the history and the beauty are something pictures can't fully show. 
The excitement and anticipation we felt a year ago at Christmas time is hard to put into words.  I was nervous about the long flights ,I was nervous to be traveling to a foreign country where so much control is held over it's people.  I was nervous to leave my children home alone for so long.  I was nervous about my daughter's disability and her many transitions , I was nervous about our transitions.

Fast forward a year later...I am constantly amazed as I watch Faith skip around the house singing at the top of her lungs all sorts of songs, she sings all day long, and I love it.  I marvel at her love for her siblings and their love for her.  She is a joy that cannot be measured.  I am daily amazed that I get to be her mom, and am constantly thankful for the opportunity.  I wish that as a younger mother I would have had time to appreciate the small moments in each day as I do with Faith, or maybe I appreciate those moments because it was so difficult to get Faith home.  It could also be that I have adult children now and know how quickly time passes and that gives me this different perspective.  Whatever the reason,  I welcome my new perspective. 

Faith's official gotcha anniversary is January 5th,  my oldest daughter turns 18 on January 6th and our oldest son Spencer goes away to college on January 1st. (tear, tear)  With this busy household we might not have a big celebration for her gotcha day,  it will most likely be life as usual, but with my new perspective we will enjoy it just as much as a big party! 

I am hoping to post a few favorite picture from China each day, we have hundreds... here is my 1st.  We are at the Buddhist Temple getting a blessing.  Loved this experience, it was so sacred for us.

The Great Wall...

Merry Christmas!

No this is not the most flattering picture I took Sunday...but it is the BEST.  Much love from the Browncircus that is my family!

Faith's Own Ornament...

All of our children have their "year" ornament.  We could not find a 2007 year ornament for Faith so we improvised.  She just loves Hello Kitty and we used a pink sharpie and wrote the year 2007 on the foot.  She was soooo excited to put her ornament on the tree.  Another first for our little girl! 

Proud little Peanut!

Faith was so proud of her pictures...can you tell what they are?   A pink be-nan-na and a pink fishing pole.  The only time we can get her to smile when I am taking pictures is when she is naughty...I wonder what Santa will have to say about this?

1st Visit with Santa!

Faith was so cute when going to visit Santa.  We prepared her well by showing her pictures of all her siblings visiting Santa through the years.  She was so excited!  While waiting in line and watching other families sitting on Santa's lap...she got worried, and wondered why the other kids were sitting on HER Santa.  She thought he was just for her!  When it was time to ask what she wanted she simply said two things, " Pink Presents and Pink Candy."  Loving this holiday!

ok...how cute is this? Can u tell she enjoyed getting a tree!

My baby girl a year ago in China...I can't wait until Christmas morning this year :)

Faith's 1st snow and Snowman...

Giving Thanks! and a long overdue update...

I love this time of year...I have so much to be grateful for.  Faith is just an amazing little girl.  When I read other family blogs about their adoption experience I realize how fortunate Faith was to be in such a wonderful environment before she came into our family.  She is smart as a whip, and spicy...she has a sense of humor and can tease with the best of us.  She has bonded easily with all of us,  but still comes to me for all her owies and big cries as it should be.  When Spencer came home 6 months after Faith I was worried about their bonding; all unnecessary worry because it's like they never missed a beat.

We have a wonderful special needs/education program for preschoolers in our school district.  Faith was extensively evaluated over a 4 month period.  She met with 4 different specialists and after all those evaluation Faith was deemed a normal 3 year old.  I was in shock!  I thought for sure she would qualify for the preschool simply because of her medical diagnosis...that was good news.  I still worry that they don't fully understand her diagnosis, and that her difficulties will more likely affect her in her teen years.  But they can't intervene unless they see a present need, and Faith seems at this time to be very typical.  The bad news is because I had fully expected her to be part of that program I completely missed all the open enrollments for regular preschool.  Poor Faith has been stuck with me and Nick Jr. Preschool.  On the plus side she can count to 10 in 3 languages.  Chinese, English and Spanish!  Her language is still a mix of Chinese and English.  She still watches videos in Chinese and understands them.  Most everything she says we understand and she completely understands everything we say.  The other day we were shopping and she pointed and said, "Christmas Tree!"  We had not taught her this and were pleasantly surprised.  Her memory is fantastic.  She will remember words we seldom say and use them months later.  When she doesn't know what something is, she will just simply ask, "What is it?"  Or our favorite is instead of how come? ...she says, "How WHY?"  Now we all say how why?  She knows all her colors, and we are working on the alphabet. 

Faith had a little adjustment when the kids all started back in school,  she really misses them.  Fortunately Spencer is still home and Kylee is doing the running start program at the college and her classes are done by 10 am.  The three of us have a gym membership and have enjoyed going to work out together each day.  Our gym also has a child care facility and the first day I dropped off Faith she went without issue.  Goodness this little girl is so easy!  She enjoys going to play for an hour and then we usually end up running errands and eating lunch.  I am really enjoying "the moment" because Spencer leaves for college in 8 weeks and Kylee won't be far behind him next fall. 

Faith has made so much progress in the 10 months she has been home.  When she first arrived she was a constant thumb sucker; to the point that she had open sores on both thumbs, was not completely potty trained, and had some behavior issues like biting and hitting...mostly her brothers who deserved it...but none the less still an issue.  Today she is fully potty trained, even nights...gave up her thumbs and a pacifier and rarely bites or hits.  She does get this angry face, and you can tell she really wants to lash out, but we have been able to teach her , "mean face and nice face and we always say "a-oh, does Faith have a mean or a nice face?"  And she usually will recognize it and say, " mean."  Then we follow up with the question, " Does Faith want to be mean or nice?"  She will then say, "Nice."   With the exception of the thumbs, we feel Faith is on target with our other children when they were her age, we see no difference.  WHAT A BLESSING!  We were prepared for so much more, and have had it so easy!

Faith is also very attached and affecionate.  She loves her siblings and parents, and I have posted before that she has complete ownership of us...we are hers and she is ours!  That knowledge is such a safety net.  We are all happy and secure and feel so blessed this Thanksgiving.  We are grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who knew our family dynamics and place this sweet little girl in our home.  May you all have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

Sugar & Spice & Everything NiCE!

Our little peanut found big sisters box of hair pretties and  necklaces...

Sisters...

Faith-isms ( Things Faith says...)

Kylee to Faith, "  You're a Princess."

Faith to Kylee, "No, I'm a Mei Mei !"
(translation little sister!)

Faith's many faces...





Where is my sheep?





I don't know?

Can you hear him?

Here he is!

Little Bo Peep!

Faith invites her friend over to make cookies together...another first for her!

Faith's first visit to the Pumpkin Patch...

East meets West...what will she be for Halloween?

God moves Mountains...

I came across this video in the blogger world, it talks about the journey of adoption and the artists' inspiration for his song. Many, including us; that are blessed to adopt are not blessed with unlimited resources. We just have faith that it will all work out and begin the process not knowing how it will all come together. We take it a step at a time. I feel that adopting a child is a calling from Heavenly Father. I can say with every conviction of my heart that we knew without a doubt that we were suppose to have another child through adoption. 

How can I be so sure?  This is how it works for me.  When I get a prompting from the Holy Ghost , it begins as a thought at first, then it grows into a constant thought, and finally that thought is all consuming until I pray and act.  These promptings are how I and my husband live our lives. We have moved, accepted or not accepted jobs, gone to school, quit jobs, bought homes, had children, adopted, etc.etc.etc. all by the simple act of a prompting, praying/fasting then acting.   I am so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge that we can pray and receive personal inspiration regarding choices we make for ourselves and our family. 

We have been blessed beyond measure when we chose to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost.  The more you exercise your faith the easier it is to discern between a prompting from Heavenly Father and just a thought.   Our adoption was definitely one of the biggest leaps of faith we have ever made, and also one of the most rewarding.  When you have an open heart, Heavenly Father can work miracles!  So if you have had the thought to adopt and it keeps coming back, go ahead pray and fast...you too will be blessed beyond measure! 


One Less by Matthew West (The Story Behind The Song) from emicmg on Vimeo.

A year ago this month we got to see our daughter in a video...Walk the Wall

I can't believe it was a year ago that we were sent a link with our daughter in the video (click here to see). This year it is again time to raise awareness and funds for orphans in China...here is their 2010 video. I seriously want to get a walk the wall going here in Seattle, and be a part of this great effort!!!

Happy Birthday LucY!

Our dear friends hosted a party for their beautiful daughter Lucy!  Happy Birthday sweet girl!  She is 6! Her party was so darling...click on her name if you want to be inspired! 

We have a model in the family :)

A photo I took of Faith is on our adoption agencies web site...So excited!  Especially since I have been dabbling in photography and am trying to make a name for myself.  I just took our oldest daughter's senior pictures a few weeks ago and you can view them here if you are interested.  And now we just got news that they are using a photo of Faith I submitted to our adoption agency for their main website.  She is on two pages.  The first is here...and the second is here.  How exciting is that!  I snipped the page to record here on her blog.  But we are just over the moon excited that they choose our sweet Faith. 

Families are Forever...

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we believe that our family relationships extend beyond this life.   We were able to take Faith to the temple and have her sealed to us as her parents for time and all eternity.  Our other children who are already sealed to us were able to witness this ordinance.  It was beautiful having all our children in the temple with us all dressed in white.  Quite Heavenly! 

 

In China when we visited the Buddhist's temple it was also raining that day.  The Buddhists’ believe that when someone is visiting the temple and it rains they are considered distinguished guests.  That is twice in a row we have had rain at temples...our little miss Faith must be something special :)

What are temples...you ask?

Hairy Scary Sundays!

This is my confession... On vacation I forgot to bring a curling iron to do Faith's hair for church...so after her bath I seperated her hair into sections, twisted the sections of hair into little knots, and then rubberbanded those knots into place. She slept on her wet hair and in the morning we undid those knots hoping for some darling curls and instead we got this! Of course we all were laughing and she thought her hair was just beautiful. We on the other hand now know what she would look like with african american hair. Enjoy the photos!