Katie Turns 5!

No, Katie's actually just 3. But ask her how old she is and she'll tell you 5. Ask again, then she'll say, "Okay, Alex is 5, I'm 3." She's a 5 wannabe if there is such a thing. I guess you always want to be older until about 30, then that changes a bit. (Tell me about it...)

Since we were "just" back from DisneyWorld in time for Katie's 3rd birthday, we celebrated in true princess style. Katie had also celebrated early all throughout Mickey's place while we were there, so this was really the culmination of a celebratory month. If you're around Katie, you know that celebrating her "Birthday Princess" status for a month makes sense. She even had the t-shirt proclaiming Birthday Princess status in rhinestones thanks to Grandma Bowen.

Family & friends joined us for a beautiful May day to celebrate Katie's special day. Lori spent a "few" (don't ask) hours constructing the castle cake, though it turned out glittery and fit for Cinderella in the end. Katie loved it, which made it worth it.

"The" Castle Cake. Look closely, becuase it probably will not be attempted again in Lori's lifetime.
Our family as Katie gets ready to blow out the candles.

Not birthday related, but our friend Olivia joined Katie & Alex at Six Flags for a day. They had a great time, as always. (Our tiny daredevil loves the rides, of course! No fear.)

A visit to the lesser mouse...Chuck E Cheese, with Uncle Pat, Aunt Rebecca, Woody and Muriel. Alex is somewhere in the middle.

Sailing Away to Disney. (I wish...we drove!)

May's arrival also welcomed our first 2-week family vacation to the house of the Mouse. While every kid loves such a trip, we were all looking forward to the mecca that caters to food allergies without batting an eyeball. In our first vacation in 7 years where Lori didn't have to cook most meals, we enjoyed many fine meals at Disney (and a few okay ones). What Disney does for food allergies by making sure peanuts don't accidentally touch your food is something all restaurants could do if people would simply realize that some allergies cause a little more trouble than hives. We all had a great time and are already planning our return!

Above is a photo with our friends Bill, Maria & Marabelle Coggins. You may recall that they traveled to China with us, and this was our first reunion since we got home. What fun we had getting to know Marabelle now that she's a couple years older. We also enjoyed catching up with Maria & Bill, who live in Tampa Bay, FL. We spent our first day at Disney together with them. How ironic that these girls who experienced so many firsts together (first time meeting their parents, first times on planes, etc.) also experienced one of America's greatest integrated marketing efforts together. Fun times!

Auntie Helen, Uncle Ralph! We're ready to board your shiny new catamaran! (This pic is from a family photo shoot we did with a Disney photographer at the Grand Floridian Hotel. They look like sailing pros, don't they?)

Our travel buddies, the McMurphys. Angelica & Shannon on the right, Sydney next to Alex and Sean asleep in the stroller. Katie's nap schedule was all over the place, so I think this was during her 10am siesta, not to be confused with the 1pm "true nap" each day.

Katie and her hero. She calls him Goofy, but we know better. She found a stuffed version at the Grand Floridian and thus began her life of crime as she clutched him and ran out the door to find Daddy and Alex. Needless to say, money changed hands quickly and he became ours.

The nice thing about driving (which was fairly necessary given Alex's food allergies and the prevalence of peanuts on flights) is that you can celebrate your arrival into Florida with a free glass (or 2 if you're my OJ-loving kids) of the orange stuff at the welcome center.

It's a...RAT! Chinese New Year 2008

I'm playing catch up on the blog a bit, which may not be true blogger style, but this way the pictures will be here for anyone playing catch up on our lives! Below are a few pics from our Chinese New Year Celebration at the end of February. This was our 3rd year hosting the event, which seems to be growing each year. We only invite our friends with a direct connection to international adoption, as that provides a houseful right there.

Mom and Dad Bowen joined us this year, and mom enjoyed seeing all the little girls, including Kay & Larry Calhoun's daughter Joy who traveled with us in China.

The kiddos had fun with the dragon dance this year, though there were about 10 "official" dragon dances to give everyone the chance to lead the parade and wear the dragon head. Our Chinese teacher, Bing Fields, and her family joined us and helped make the boiled dumplings that Lori is trying to master. (Master is a long way off, despite my cooking skills!) We enjoyed Chinese egg rolls, dumplings, pot stickers and noodles, plus a few chicken nuggets for the kids! Three of the little ones have peanut allergies, so this is also a great way to celebrate when a Chinese restaurant would be too dangerous for them.

It is always wonderful to celebrate the girls' heritage with so many friends who share a common linkage across the sea.

We're missing a few who had to leave early here, but in our annual traditional "red couch" photo is (l to r) Joy Calhoun, Luke Karlas, Olivia Riutcel, Katie, Mari Pellman, Carly Dahm and Alex. Mari & Carly just got baby brothers from South Korea a few weeks ago (in May '08)

Dragon Carley leads the noisy parade!

Mari, Olivia, Alex and Carly dismantle the "craft" table.

Alex and Luke in another version of the Dragon parade.
Dina and the newest addition to the Chinese gang, Sarah Cheek. Baby Sarah came home just a couple weeks before CNY. Dina and Doug started their application about the time we finished with Katie's, so they endured a 2+ year wait once their application was in.

Two Years Ago Already!

My first look at Katie once I knew she was my daughter. Two years ago today.
Katie today...full of smiles, loves her family, lots more hair!
Katie at Christmas.

She may not be as tall as some, but she knows how to get things accomplished!

Katie getting ready to go to "school" (a weekly organized playgroup where Alex attends preK). She always takes her backpack just like her big brother!
Katie playing "Santa" at Christmas...her favorite blankie is stuffed into the hat that she's holding.
Alex and Katie getting ready for Santa. Katie thought that she should try the milk to make sure that it was good for Santa.
Our family at Christmas.

Katie, our neighbor Eve and Alex showing their tomato bounty in front of our garden last fall.

Katie and Alex snuggling up, toasting to another year of being together. (Okay, so I made up the toasting stuff....)

Today marks the 2-year anniversary of the day Kaitlyn Annamei joined our family. When I think about that day, it feels like yesterday. But when I looked through our photo album of our China trip, it is amazing how much Katie has grown and changed in those two years. At 9 months old, Katie could barely sit up and was only drinking formula. We figured out pretty quick that she was capable of more, and she was sitting, standing and crawling soon after we got home. Her gross motor skills took off and haven't stopped since. Last summer, when she was evaluated by several therapists she was over a year past the "average" physical abilities for her age. We think Alex has a lot to do with that, as Katie can't stand it if she can't do what her big brother does.

This weekend we are celebrating Chinese New Year at our house with many friends who have also had their lives touched by adoption from Asian countries. We'll see a few of our travel mates for whom today is also a special day, plus lots of friends who share the adoption experience with us. We're looking forward to it!

Katie continues to thrive and bring great joy to our family. Well, great joy and the occasional frustration...but then again, what kid doesn't? Katie continues to be a very strong-willed little girl, but as her language abilities have grown our ability to work with her personality has improved dramatically. And "dramatically" is a good choice of words, becuase if Katie doesn't become a rocket scientist or gymnast, there is a very good chance that she'll be on Broadway. She's very dramatic! As I say often when she's out of earshot, she's darn lucky she's cute. I have figured out that cute really does get you far in life. (I was not so blessed, so this is new territory for me.) Katie still gets a tremendous amount of positive attention when we are in public. There is something about a cute Asian toddler that draws comments from far and near. I'm used to it now, but I don't run an errand without making sure I look presentable in case someone notices that this child has a parent with them.

Katie loves to pretend to cook, and will now easily spend an hour setting her play dining table, fixing dinner and serving her stuffed friends their meal. She also adores playing with big brother Alex, and since summer they have really enjoyed playing together. Once Katie hit 2, she had the ability to really keep up with him and they had lots of fun in the water together all summer. This winter, they've enjoyed a couple occasions of sledding and lots of time in our indoor bounce house. They also run laps in the downstairs trying to catch each other. It's really fun to see. As a parent, one of the most heartwarming experiences for me is to see Katie and Alex enjoying each other's company. They won't go to bed without a kiss and a hug for each other. I truly hope that this relationship follows them into adulthood.

Now for the pictures. Sorry I've been more than behind on posting here. Our digital camera was out of order for most of the summer, so I was shooting film. Then we switched photo management software, and I only got it added to my PC last month. Excuses, excuses! So I've posted several months worth to catch you up.

Most of you know, be we are hoping to add a third to our family later this year if things work out. We are still "in line" to adopt again in China, but the wait continues to look to be about 4 years total. We're 1 year down come April. In the fall, we added our name to the South Korean adoption list, and had to go on "hold" last month or we would've had a referral by now. We can stay on hold for awhile, so that's what we're going to do for now. The Korean program is similar to China, except there are more baby boys available than girls. We could be referred either a boy or girl, but given the odds a boy looks more likely. We know that God will find the right child for our family, so we're not too worried about the specifics. Since the baby would be about a year old when he/she joined our family, we are hoping to wait a bit longer to let Katie get a little older before she becomes a big sister. And by the way, don't mention this to Brad, but it looks like we can stay in line in China if we want a 4th! One at at time...we'll have to wait on that decision.

Katie Turns 2

Our little Suichuan princess is now 2. She can actually tell you that herself, but she's still just holding up 1 finger. We'll have to work on that. It's been awhile since I've updated this site, but that is primarily due to the day-to-day fun of raising two kids. When I look at the pile of photographs and other items to be put in scrapbooks some day, I generally decide that I'd rather have time with the kids and home cooked meals than great scrapbooks. To each their own. Now I put everyone's pictures in labeled boxes (or at least I aspire to) and maybe when they're off to college I'll start scrap booking. Doubtful, but possible!

Katie continues to do great. She is an avid dancer and possibly a future candidate for political office. (Whatever ones you don't have to be a citizen from birth for...unfortunately, President is out for now.) She very much enjoys directing our actions about the house! Brad and I are working on this, but some days, it is the youngest member of our family who is in charge.

We spent the last weekend picking strawberries at Eckert's Farm in Belleville. Katie had a ball. She ate as fast as we picked, so by the time Brad, Alex and I had 2 boxes full of strawberries, Katie was a strawberry-stained sight to behold with juice running everywhere. She was even in her strawberry pants, so she was quite the cutie. I forgot the digital camera, so I have pics on a disposable that I need to send in.

Katie turned 2 on the 14th, so we celebrated with a smaller (than last years giant blow-out) gathering the Saturday before which turned out really nice. Katie was in her element and had a fantastic day. She is certainly happiest when she is the center of attention. Who can blame her? She now has a few more pairs of shoes to add to her collection. In case I haven't mentioned it, Katie is a shoe gal. If you ever see her and wonder why I let her wear those shoes, just remember that it's all about what Katie wants! I subscribe to the "pick your battles" school of parenting, and the last time I checked, silver shoes with jean shorts isn't life threatening.

Here are a few pics of the party...

Alex, Mom, Katie & Dad

Kitty cat cupcakes were the dessert for the day.

Katie enjoying the cupcakes and ice cream. Thank goodness for a beautiful day weather-wise, so the kiddos could eat outside where the birds would clean up the crumbs!

Okay, not a great photo, but one of the few I've got of just Katie hanging out and not eating. (She continues to be a prolific eater and that is what she did throughout most of the party.) Here she is showing off her Dora pull-ups. While she loves to sit on the potty, we are not really trying for potty training yet. These pull-ups are in use because she likes to take off the traditional-style diapers. This at least slows her down!

Katie and friends dancing with our friend Lowell. It really is all about the kids these days, and that is more fun than I ever could have imagined.

On a slightly somber note, on the night before Katie's actual birthday, I have a tradition of lighting a candle to remember her birth mother. This year I used Katie's birthday candle, which I thought was a nice thing to do. When she is older, she can participate if she wants. I have to say that in the chaos of day-to-day living, adoption or birth mother thoughts don't really cross my mind that much. Katie is just my daughter and she just looks like herself. But at milestones like birthdays, I always wonder if somewhere out there her birth mother hopes that she has found a better life. While I am not sure how I feel personally about open adoptions where the birth parents are still active in their child's life, I do wish that Katie's birth mother could know that she is fine. I hope that she cares enough to wonder, but in such a different culture, it is difficult to know for certain. Alex and Katie were running and playing in light rain last week while Brad and I watched. I remarked how amazing it was that you could take a child from an orphanage in China, and in a very short time they are a full-blown American child, just like any other down the block. That goodness we live in a world where that is true!

Katie's party generally hits on Mother's Day weekend, so we get to celebrate with my parents. These days are all the more special in the last few years since mom's health problems started. We had a great visit and the kids love playing with "the grandma and grandpa that live far away in Bement." You may note that I'm not very modest about how my children should feel about me on Mother's Day. I bought them matching shirts that said, "I love mom." Nothing makes me happier than those two little faces and their big, wet kisses.





To catch up on the last few months, I've added a few extra photos here. This is Alex and Katie at the Easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's in Sparta. We did both families this weekend, and that was a lot. It is hard to not celebrate with everyone, but it is difficult with the kids.

Katie at the park around the corner from home. She loves slides! Katie continues to be "ahead" of her peers in terms of gross motor skills, thanks to teaching by big brother Alex. Others her age have their moms right with them at the park. Katie pushes them out of the way and goes exactly where she wants. She is small but mighty!

Katie loves to cook, just like Alex. And I enjoy sharing that part of my day with them, too. Here Katie is helping make quesadillas for lunch. She does tend to eat a good chunk of the ingredients!



This is our duck and her 10 babies as they marched out of our yard and toward the water. Mama duck set up shop behind some flowers under Brad's office window in the back yard back in early April. She had 12 eggs (big, like chicken eggs) in her nest and 10 of them made it. The babies were born on May 10. Luckily, we got to see them before they left! We've also had killdeer babies this year and now are waiting for a nest of robins to hatch. They are living near the air conditioner.

Katie on the hunt for eggs at Easter. This was only a month ago, but we had that cold snap and it was only in the 40's that day.

Playing with our friends. Nita is the oldest and is in kindergarten, then Alex and Everett will start school together. Katie and Art (both in front obviously) are just 3 months apart in age.

Well, that is all for now. Most of you know we are considering adopting again. We submitted our paperwork to China in March and it got logged in April 12. So we are officially in line. However, the wait that was 6 months for Katie and pretty predictable is now more like 3-4 years long and unpredictable. China used to process a month's worth of applications every month. In the last couple of months, they've only processed a couple of days. The number of families applying to China to adopt has grown tremendously since we asked for Katie, so the process is much slower. While there are other options for adoption, we've been really happy with the China program. Time will tell.

365 Days Ago We Met Our Daughter

On February 19, 2005, I met my daughter Kaitlyn. It's been a year now, and the time has really flown. I think there is some theory that as you get older, time passes more quickly. It has to be true. And even more so when you have children. They change so quickly, and that is what the many photos in this post (below) will show you.

Looking at these pictures brings back a flood of emotion. Having a daughter was very important to me because I have a very close relationship with my mom. After losing several babies, I needed another child almost desperately. And luckily, little Long Mei Xiu was hanging out in China needing a mommy. I still am boggled by the thought that I had to go all the way to China to find my daughter, but I don't think about it very much anymore because all those things fade away. Now I am mostly boggled by how the house will every look presentable or what is going to be on the table for dinner. Life is normal and average around here, except we are what is termed a "conspicuous family" because we aren't all the same race. We get a little extra attention out in public at times, but I've even learned a lot about coping with that in the last year.

Katie was about 15 lbs. when she came home a year ago. Now, at 20 months she is 21 lbs. and tracking at the 25th%-ile for height and 7th%-ile for weight. A stark contract to her big brother who is in the 90%-iles for both, but they do just fine together. Katie is adding new words to her vocabulary daily, with "me do it" at the top of the chart. As anyone knows who talks to me often, Katie is a strong-willed little girl. We love her for it. She truly loves her big brother, and Alex is remarkably patient with his baby sister who always wants what he has. One of the greatest joys of parenthood for me is watching them play together in those somewhat rare moments when they are both enjoying the same activity. Every day Katie learns something new. Katie got herself mostly dressed this morning by herself, which is another new accomplishment. She is very opinionated about clothing, shoes in particular. She has some size 10 hand-me-down boots that she clomps around in...her size 4 feet can barely keep them on! She's basically pretty opinionated about everything...

We continue to be thankful for the gift we received from China, and we are doing our best to celebrate that culture as a part of our family. We all started Chinese language classes a couple of weeks ago. Alex is helping me with my counting. We are also having some friends over this weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year, including some of our travel mates from China. It is so rewarding to see all 8 of those little girls thriving in their homes. A year ago, we were all just meeting them.

I could probably wax poetic about adoption for awhile, but you know how I feel about it. We are excited to be returning to China to adopt again. We just sent paperwork in to the US government a week ago, and if things go well we'll have another member of our household in about 2 years. The wait that was 6 months (stretched to 8) for Katie's referral is now close to 18 months and continuing to lengthen. It is unknown when we would receive another referral, but we estimate 2-1/2 years and hope for sooner. We know it will be the perfect time for our family, whenever it is.

Enjoy the photos!

My first photo with Katie.
My first glimpse of Katie while I was waiting for the handoff...she is in the arms of her nurse.

Katie at the Zoo.


Katie and Alex on Christmas morning. (This is Katie before the pigtails go in.)

Just for fun, this is Katie when she is mad. We actually see this face a fair amount.



Katie is ready for more food. She is a tremendous eater!

Ready to eat yet again...

Katie trimming her tree at Christmas time.

Katie and her VIB...very important blankie.

A family photo at Junge Christmas. (Brad's extended family)

Katie and mom playing in the snow.

Katie all bundled up and ready for snow time!