Trip to Maine

Sophie and Cassidy






















Don't let me go, Daddy!
A new friend...

This is a new one!!!

Daddy Long Legs
Peek-A-Boo!



Well we are now back from our trip to Maine. We had a great time! Sophie had a lot of fun playing in the water and meeting new friends! She did not think too much of the ocean.... it was very "burrr"! We spent most of our time in the pool...Sophie met a little girl from China named Cassidy who was 3 years old...she was such a cutie...the two of them kept hugging each other!


We also got to eat Lobster every day! Sophie refused to try the lobster...I guess that's a good thing since a hotdog is a little less expensive!! :)


Sophie's personality really started to shine while we were in Maine. Where ever we would go Sophie would just wave to everybody and flash them a little smile....she also is starting to make these really funny faces...many people commented on how outgoing she is...I think we may be in trouble!



Well we are glad to be home...our next trip will be Niagra Falls at the end of July and then ofcourse Hilton Head in August...

Sophie...

I feel bad not writing anything about Sophie...here she is on the coffee table (mommy wanted a good shot). However, once the photo shoot was over Sophie kept saying "More!" and kept climbing on top of the table...oops!

**Don't mind the huge mountain of toys in the corner...we are currently on a quest for a toy box...

Ella's care package

On Friday Greg, Sophie, and I went shopping for Ella's care package. We are very blessed in that a wonderful woman from California agreed to deliver it to Ella when she travels to China this summer. Christine will be spending time with the Siping orphanage in July! She spent time last summer in the orphanage and got to know baby Ella very well! She is so excited to get to see Ella once again!

So we went to ArrowHead, which is a Christian bookstore, and bought her a little photo album that had a picture slot for mommy, daddy, grandparents, siblings, and friends...it was very cute!! We then went to Toys-R-Us and bought her a pink stuffed pig, a book and two tank tops and put them into a Hello Kitty bag! We thought she may like the Hello Kitty bag since in the latest photo she was wearing a Hello Kitty shirt! It was fun shopping for Ella but Sophie was not too keen on the idea! How dare we go into Toys-r-us and buy toys for another child!!! Poor Sophie has no idea whats in store.... :)

New Pic of Ella from the weekend!

This is Ella on Father's Day...don't worry baby girl-next year you will be with your daddy on Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

We all had a great Father's Day today. After church we came home and Daddy got to go through his present basket. He got socks from Mommy, a mug and book from Sophie, and a t-shirt from Ella. The T-shirt has two chinese symbols which mean Daddy. It also has "Jilin", which is the province Ella is from...Daddy loved it! Good job Ella!

We also got to swim today. We got some cute pics of Sophie in the water. She loves the water except she always has to say "burrr" when she first gets in! It's very cute!!

Overall, it was a great day and we are ever so grateful that we have such a wonderful Daddy!!

Baby Ella in a Dress!!!

How pretty is our little angel in a dress? Just wait until she gets home...she'll have enough dresses to wear one everyday (and then some!)...

PRE summer time fun

Here are some pictures of Sophie having some "presummer"fun! She can't wait for sissy to come home and play with her!

PreApproval has Arrived!!

We got an email from our agency today that we received our Preapproval letter!! Yay!!! This means one step closer to baby Ella!! We also got a picture of her from over the weekend...if she's not the cutest thing I ever did see (besides Sophie!)....Oh what a face!!...Just to clear the confusion...Ella is the baby with the buzzcut! :)

We also have been in contact with an amazing woman from California who had spent last July with our little Ella. It's a long story but we met her in a Yahoo group for China Adoption. I found out that she spent time in the Jilin orphanage. Actually her church has "adopted" the whole orphanage! So I wrote to her and included a picture of Ella...she wrote back and said "I know your baby!" However, her group named her "Grace". She said "Grace" is the sweetest baby with a smile that will melt your heart! I believe it! She was so happy that "Grace" had found her forever family! We told her that after we get Ella home and she has her surgery we are going to plan a trip to California to meet everyone at her church. She also sent us a lot of pictures of her from last July when she still had her cleft...I will post them as soon as I can. I am so happy that God has led me to this wonderful woman so I can learn more about my daughter! Isn't God amazing!

Update on Ella

On Friday June 2, I was talking to a parent from work (I'm a school psychologist) regarding her adoption process (she has two adorable little girls from China). I was telling her that Ella's paperwork stated she had a lip suture but her photo suggests otherwise. She told me to look up her orphanage to see whether an organization that provides cleft surgeries had been there. When I got home I quickly looked up her orphanage but was unable to figure out whether any organization had volunteered there. HOWEVER...I did find a woman from Georgia who adopted her little girl from the same orphanage several weeks prior. On her blog it mentioned she had a photo album of children from her orphanage. I quickly emailed her a photo of Ella and asked if she had any information on her...she emailed me back later that day WITH PICTURES OF ELLA!!

Her lip had been corrected!!!!

I was so excited since it is very rare to get updated photos of your child. I look at them everyday! She's so pretty!

Referral

May 4th 2007 is the day we first laid eyes on our beautiful daughter, Si Ping. However, our journey to this referral was anything but ordinary. As you may know both parents have to be 30 to adopt from China. Well when the first group of special needs babies came into our agency I was still 29 and I was told I would not be able to look at these children, disappointed I reluctantly agreed. However, on Friday May 4th we received an email from our agency stating there was one little girl from the special needs group that had not been adopted yet. I turned 30 on April 22, so when I read this email my heart began to beat rapidly....so I emailed our agency to get more information on this child...the information revealed she was a little girl born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate (uncorrected). She was born on November 2, 2005. And she was absolutely adorable!! So we took the weekend to talk and pray...

On Monday we made the call to our agency and declared, "We want Si Ping!" We asked our agency why she had not been adopted yet?? Our agency thought it was because of the severity of her cleft. We knew it was because she was waiting for her mommy and daddy!

Our Journey to Ella

Welcome to our journey to bring home our daughter, Ella Irene Ping Whitacre.