Referral Day 1 Year!

 Every one remembers the day they saw their child's face for the very first time.  For birth parents, it's the day their child is born.  But for many adoptive parents, it's the day they first see a picture of their child.  I didn't know my daughter when this picture was taken, but I knew she was my daughter when I saw this picture!  I was at work when I received a call and email from our agency about a 1 year old girl with a missing left hand.  Could we look at her file and think about it?  I opened my email and immediately fell in love!  There was no concentrating on work after that.  It was a race against the clock to get our

paper work filed and get our unfinished house put together!  One year later and I still can feel it in my gut the way I felt when I first saw her picture on Friday June 25, 2010.   I feel so lucky to be this little girls Mom, and often wonder, "why me?"  We've been a family now for 6 months, 1 week, 5 days, and 7 hours and I still marvel at how this all happened!  When we're not in awe of every little thing she does, we are just enjoying every day together.  I've seen other adoptive families take a picture of their children with their referral picture every year as they get older and thought that would be a nice tradition for us too. For Cadie's first picture, we happened to be going to the beach, so I took a picture Friday night before we left home and one at the beach too! We can't wait to see the pictures in years to come.

Giggles!

My Giggly Girl!

A Month of Celebrations

June 14th: 6 months since Gotcha Day!  Seems like it was just yesterday.  I can remember so clearly the anticipation of meeting our little one for the first time and what it felt like to hold her that first day- like she just belonged there all along!

June 20th: Happy 2nd Birthday!  The change in Cadie over the last 6 months has been amazing and exciting to watch.  To quote Cadie Xin "Yeahhhhh!"

June 25th: Happy 1 year Referral Day! She had me with this smile!

 

Pure Sweetness!

This little girl has brought so much joy and fun into our lives!

Water Bug!

We just can't seem to get enough of the baby pool!  If she could sleep in the water I bet she would do it!  Whether it's the pool, the hose, the bath, the kitchen sink, or the bathroom sink...water, water, water is all we need to entertain ourselves.  Where does this love of water come from?  I'm just glad she has it, because her mama loves the water too.  We are going to have a fun summer!

Chinese Culture & Arts

Cadie in her traditional Chinese Dress

Refusing to sit for the picture

Cadie and Emily at the restaurant

Saturday afternoon was the Annual Student Recital for the Chinese Cultural & Arts Institute in Harrisburg.  This was our first time attending and our friends, Lisa and Dean, had 2 children (Emily and Ethan) performing in the show.  While Cadie napped through much of the first half, she was a captive audience for the second half, clapping and moving her little self to the music and movement of the traditional chinese dances.  After the show, we joined several other families for a chinese meal at a local restaurant, where Cadie finally let Emily hold her!  We had a wonderful time. Thank you Lisa and Dean for including in such a nice event.

Jack's Birthday

Dunking....

Splashing....

Having a blast!

Snack break

The drive home to Pennsylvania

 

 

 

Cadie and I headed down to Maryland's Eastern Shore with my parents for my nephew's 8th birthday!  This was Cadie's first overnight stay from home.  Jackson was kind enough to bunk with his mom and dad, so Cadie and could sleep in his bed.  Jack's party was on Sunday afternoon, and the sun came out just in time for the kids to have a water battle.  Cadie promptly found a puddle while the other kids took a break to eat, and had a great time dunking herself in the dirty water and running through the hose!  The bottom picture is the scene at 4 pm as we left to return home- this was only 10 minutes in the car!  We had a great weekend at my sister's and can't wait to visit again.  Below is a picture of Jackson giving Cadie a ride in his truck- she wasn't so sure about this!  Happy Birthday Jack.  Love KIKI

Jack and Cadie cruisin'