DAY 21...

YAY!! We are done with our Consulate Appointment!

It went smoothly!!

Then it was off to the Botanical Gardens!  The children are pictured here with Selena!

We are excited to go home BUT we don't want to say Goodbye to Katie ; - (

The children LOVE ice cream treats!!

 This little one is a spiller! Every outfit has food on it!

The gardens were lovely BUT my mind is beginning to think of HOME!!

Almost all of our friends have left...

So the 14th floor is a bit more quiet than usual...

We had our guide talk to the children about going home and about what to expect at home. 

They listen intently and asked questions!

Here are a few of the families we traveled with!

It has been a joy having Sarah with us!
She is a great helper and loves to play with all of the children!
 

We went to the noodle place right next door! They were filming a piece on the homemade noodles for a Korean TV show.

The children loved watching all that was happening!

Mia is doing very well! And seems ready to fly to America!
Her voice is no longer a whisper- in fact she is very LOUD!
UPDATE- Total breakthrough! She wants her daddy to carry her AND toss her on the bed! She has come a LONG LONG way!!
 

The next thing you know we were part of the TV segment for Korean TV!

They talked to the children and filmed them eating the noodles!

It airs on March 8th!

Katie and I are going to do a little shopping with Ann of Red Threads now!

Can't wait!!
Update- we had a successful shopping trip! So glad we had Ann!! We would have gotten lost without her and she let us know when it was a fair price!

Tomorrow- we pack and tomorrow night we fly to the USA! 
GZ to LA!
Can't wait to have a cheeseburger!
(this may be the last post from China...) 

Our Article 5

We just heard from our agency and our Article 5 will be picked up on February 14th!! What a wonderful Valentines Day gift!! Boy, hubby is getting off easy this year!! I got an LOA for Christmas!! ;-)
Of course this is what I am giving him to- so it's working out well for both of us!


 also just heard about a TA that came in 7 days! Wow- that is quick!! I'm liking these dates!! We will see what happens and be sure to let you know!! It feels like it is moving so fast! Yippeee!! can't wait to meet our two treasures!!


Our little Ellie is a bit forgetful and quite funny! This changing underwear everyday is new to her. Often times she will have no underwear on at all and some days she has two pairs on!! She is so good natured and she can chuckle at herself!! 

Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken!

Ive decided to organize and cook dinner at about 1pm because both kids are asleep... it all seems to go haywire at 5:30 through to 7 when I would usually try and get it done. The boys get grumpy and tired, wingey and crying... and to try and fit in making dinner I end up losing my hair! So this has been working :)... which also means I can blog more about what we are eating!! haha...

Tonight we had a good ol Roast Chicken!!

You probably all know how to cook a roast chicken...but I'll write it anyway, just in-case there is one or two of you who will benefit from it!

Cut up your vegies and put them on a tray, drizzle or spray over some olive oil, dried basil or Italian herbs and season with salt and pepper...Cook for about 45 mins or until golden brown!

Boil some Broccoli and Cauliflower...but not so its mushy!

Put the chicken in a tray and bake on 180 degrees.

(If your chicken is not seasoned, then season before roasting.

Obviously all chicken are different sizes so its 1 hour per kg! 

Remember you can always cut the chicken into pieces before roasting if desired!

To make a white sauce you will need butter, flour, milk and a whisk...

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter, once melted, stir in the flour...it should look like this...

then pour in milk and whisk, whisk, whisk... as it thickens add more milk until you get the required amount...

be continually stirring and mixing because it will thicken quickly when it does!

Drain your Broccoli and cauliflower and put into a baking dish.

Pour over your white sauce and add cheese on top and bake in oven until cheese has melted!

You will know your chicken is cooked when you skewer your chicken and the juice runs clear.

Our Roast Chicken and Vegies!

And our Cauliflower and Broccoli cheese!

Yummo!

Hope you can try this one at home!!

Moments to Remember!

These events didn't make it into the posts at the time that they happened but we still want to add them to our memories from our trip to China! 
The photos are random.

On January 17th when we were meeting with the Civil Affairs Office for Melissa, she asked us how many children we have?
We hesitated...
Then, I answered 12...
Hubby looked at me and said...
No, I don't think we have twelve? How many do we have?
I said No we have twelve...
I have no idea why I said 12...
We don't have 12, we've never had 12. (okay- we had 12 for 3 days between Abby and Luke) I think I was so flustered I just answered... hoping it would go unnoticed!
The officer started laughing!
Jim and I started laughing!
We recounted!
We had 14 children AND our Melissa would be our 15th child!
Thank goodness she had a sense of humor!

The next time we met with a Civil Affairs Officer was in Guangdong Province for our adoption od Madeline. This time we were prepared and we knew how many kids we currently had and how many we would have with Madeline in our family!
This guy honestly couldn't figure out why on earth we wanted to adopt so many children.

He didn't ask one question, he asked MANY!
He really wanted to understand and he wasn't going to stop talking about it until he did understand.
We told him what we had told the other officers-
we love being parents
we love children
 the children are a blessing to us
it's a faith thing for us, we feel called to serve God in this way
the children need love and a family and we can give that to them

He heard all our answered but still didn't seem satisfied...

So I pulled out my camera and started to show him pictures of our family.
I showed him the girls bedrooms, the children playing in the snow, the little kids under their stockings at Christmas, the family together at Christmas, the children at the table eating dinner, children playing together, big kids with little kids and more.
The look on his face began to change as he saw the pictures. He began to nod his head in as he could see the joy and the happiness.
It was pretty cool!
Undoubtedly God was right there with us!
I wish I would have gotten a picture of him with all of us.
Of course it didn't hurt that Madeline and Melissa were talking away in Chinese to him, inching their way towards him and by the time we were done they were practically on his lap and playing with the things on his desk!
When we were done- we had his blessing!

When Mark was with us we went to dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel. Sarah needed to use the rest room. It was straight ahead and I could see it from my seat. So okay- no problem! Then Mia and Melissa wanted to go to the bathroom. We let them go since it was so close and in my view!

Then Sarah returned...
We asked her- where are Mia and Melissa?

She looked surprised and said "I don't know"?

We asked- "Well didn't you see them in the bathroom?"

"No" Sarah said!

We immediately sent Sarah and Mark to the bathrooms!

In the mens bathroom were Mia and Melissa!

AND Mia was just about to wash her hands in the urinal!

Thank goodness they stopped her in time!!

We went to dinner at a local Italian Restaurant. It was pretty good!

After dinner Mia will often pick her teeth with a toothpick.

She opened up the container and poured few on the table. Then Mia and Katie used a toothpick.

 As we were leaving,  Mia was being very helpful and put them ALL back in the container!

YES, I said ALL of them ; - )

Even the ones they used ; - 0

Just an FYI- don't use the toothpicks in the Italian Restaurant!

Throughout our adoptions I have used Ann of Red Threads to send gifts to our children. It is easy and she translates the letter to them!

 I entered the bathroom on the main floor and a Chinese Lady says to me...

I know you!

You are Jean!

I looked at her with bewilderment?

I had never seen her before!

then she said-

I am Ann! Ann of Redthreads!

It was so fun to finally meet her, even IF it was in the bathroom!!

Mia and Melissa were secretly chatting in the corner. It was a very suspicion looking conversation...
We watched for awhile and couldn't figure out what they were doing and then Sarah said "they have some money".
So we bent down and asked them what is going on?
They both looked at me like "nothing Momma, nothing at all"? I checked Mia's pockets - they were empty. I asked Melissa- she did not have pockets and once again she was certain of her innocence...
But my Mommy intuition knew better...
I lifted up her dress and in her underwear she had stuffed the MONEY!
We told her a big NOOOOoooooo and shook our finger. 
She was bummed. Although I am not sure of she was bummed cause she got caught OR bummed cause she took Mark's money and she really likes him.

Here are some of our new 14th Floor friends! 
The kids have had a blast playing with them!!
Since there is not an adequate playroom for big kids we used the hallway!



When we were on the boat cruise there was a 16 yr old boy that was quite interested in Sarah.He seemed like a nice boy and they struck up a conversation. He asked her IF she was christian?
She answered back -
Oh yeah, I am very christian!
(Of course this make my Momma heart happy!! YAY!!) 

 Big Sis Kate came to me with a complaint.
Her bathroom was very stinky!
The girls didn't listen when Chloe told them what to do with the toilet paper in the bathroom.
So Mom (that would be me) had to do a demonstration! 
Don't worry, I kept my clothes on!
But when the toilet paper went into the toilet, Katie and I cheered!
I think they got it this time!
No more stinky bathroom!
To make sure it wouldn't happen again, Katie removed the garbage can from the stall!

Name Change?

Oh me, oh my! A name change? Could you help us out?

Hubby says I'm doing this just because I love the name game but (well, maybe he is kind of right but who cares!) No this is for real and I need your opinion!

Our older daughter is tentatively Emma Joy- I do love that name! However, we have a last name that starts with an M- so it can be a little bit of a tongue twister. We could go with Emily Joy?

Which one do YOU like better?

Our younger daughter is tentatively Ella Mei. I also love that name and the name Elizabeth Mei, too. She will be called Ellie- all the time. What do you think again?

The girls will be called Emma and Ellie or Emmie and Ellie. It is more their formal names that we are wondering about?

Hubby and I will make the final decision but what you say may matter or sway us!

Today (Sunday) is day 39 as we wait for our LOA! We know of a family that got it on day 52- that must be a new record- wow! Other families received it on day 64 and day 80. Our agency said the soonest anyone has received it for them is day 60. Hey, that works for me! So here we are (im)patiently waiting! We are hoping and praying to get our update on these two treasures this week! I will let you know just as soon as we hear!

Don't ya just love that pic of the two of them!

Thank you Jesus for your blessings!

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the year of the Ox. We are easing our way into the Chinese celebrations. I love watching how others choose to do it and then picking out what works for our family. Today our FCC playgroup met at a chinese restaurant and we all had lunch together. The children were all dressed in their Chinese outfits. We really had a fun time! It was our first year attending the gathering and this is one event that we will hope to do yearly! Sarah enjoyed trying to teach us how to say "Happy New Year" (with a little help from the waiter)! She also thought it was quite funny listening to us as we our attempted to speak Chinese.

We will be going to an FCC Midwest celebration next weekend! We have really enjoyed meeting many of the local families that have adopted from China. It has become a wonderful support group for us. It is so nice for our children to see other families that are like ours. It just reinforces that it is okay to have caucasian parents and asian children - they can see that we are not the only family that is like that- parents and children do not have to look alike!