Come Here Often? Yeah, Me Either.......

Funny how time slips away from you when you are not waiting on paperwork to be approved, or waiting to hear news from China anymore.  Those days seemed to be the longest, and now, they also seem like a lifetime ago.

These days, however,  are flying by without any hope of slowing down.  I'm pretty sure there used to be 24 hours in a day.   Lately it feels as if there is only 4.  Man, am I looking forward to summer!


We've been busy with just normal every day stuff.......

at the boys' check up.... they are always goofing around with her

playtime at the mall

wearing her brother's shoes

dancing with her peeps

making sure hefei has a healthy start to the morning too.

 This weekend was Mother's Day, and both my mom AND Scott's mom were able to come to our house. This was the first time they were both able to come to our house for Mother's Day at the same time!  It was so special..... you would have thought I would have gotten a picture.  Um... nope.
I have no idea how I didn't get a pic with both grandma's and the kids together.  I'm losing my touch.

Actually, I really didn't get many pictures of the weekend.  What is wrong with me??  We had her dedicated at church this weekend, so thankfully had some taken at church, just not on my camera.  Hope to be getting copies of those soon.

Really, the only picture I have of Mother's Day is of Harper in the pool for the first time.  It's been unusually chilly here, so the water temp has taken longer than normal to warm up, and we're too cheap to heat it up.  Anyway, she freaked a little at first, but Scott soon got her in and they were playing.  She loved it!

This was also the first time Scott's mom and dad got to meet Harper.  She acted shy towards them for a second but then soon started to bring out every toy to show them.

She even bonded over lunch....

 ... and knew Grandpa was the guy to go to for food.

I think she wore Grandpa out.

With the weather  finally warming up, we spent every moment that we could outside.

We made S'mores one night....another first for Harper.  At least we assume it's a first... do they eat s'mores in China??  haha.  I know this is not a shocker to anyone who has been around her and knows her well..... she LOVED them.

 She inhaled hers and begged for another.  When we said "no", she would run to the next person and try to get their s'more.  Griffin was trying to be proactive and run away before she got to him.

All throughout the weekend I was feeling so blessed to have both our mom's there and was just so thankful for each of them that God has chosen to be our moms.  This year, I was thinking about two other mom's I will never meet, and Harper will never see again. 

I am thankful for each of them as well.  

Even though Harper's birth mom was not able to give her the care she needed at birth, I am thankful for her placing Harper in an area where she would be found.  A lot of times, babies in China are placed where no one will find them and they eventually die.  

I think of her birth mom a lot. Sometimes I look at Harper's feet and think those are the same feet her birth mom felt kick inside her stomach.  I can't imagine what it would be like to give a baby up.  I wonder if she thinks of Harper.  I pray for God to let her know in some way that Harper is ok and very much loved.    

I am also thankful to her foster mom who cared for her and loved her most of her life before we could get her.  She was with Harper from the time she was about 5 months old, so she was there to help her learn to walk, teach her how to feed herself, and hear her first words.  

This Mother's Day was like no other.  I now have 3 kids who now call me "Mom" (or "MA!!" as Harper sometimes yells).  I am blessed and I'm trying to soak up every moment.... even during the crazy moments.

And with sticky marshmallow kisses like this......  I feel like the luckiest mom on earth.

Just trying to keep up.

Lately, it feels like we've been living each moment going from one activity to another with little time in between.    It always seems a little crazier as it gets towards the end of school each year, but I'm really trying to soak each moment in, especially this year, since it will be Brannen's last year in elementary school.

Sniff, sniff.  

Last week the 2nd grade classes had a play/musical based on a children's book.  Of course I can't remember the name of the book now, but the book was about a Chinese emperor, so that meant Chinese type music.  

Griffin was so excited for us to come see him AND he even had a speaking part.  It was a one liner, but none the less, a speaking part!  He even got to play the xylophone which he was also thrilled about.....  Oh, to be in 2nd grade again!

Since this was all based on a book about a Chinese emperor, Griff just knew Harper would l-o-v-e  it.
Umm..... not so much.
She spent most of the play laying over Scott's knee and not really paying attention.  I was fine with that since she spent most of the time before the play running around like a crazy person trying to touch all the instruments.

After the play, all she wanted to do was play on the stage..... and get to the microphone.

Later in the week, we met some friends at the park.  This play date has been a long time coming.  Our friends also adopted their daughter from China about a year and a half ago, and have been one of the people we would ask all our many questions throughout our adoption process. Their daughter, Molly, and Harper are about 6 months apart in age.

It's always funny when Harper meets or sees someone that looks like her.  She either does a double take or will stare at that person a little longer.  She seemed to take extra long looks at Molly every so often.  It was so cute to see them together.

One of Molly's big brothers was also there to play, and wanted me to make sure I got him in a couple pics.  So funny!

We had so much fun catching up with them and look forward to more play dates!  

I always catch myself looking at things a little differently now that Harper is here.  Things I don't really give much thought about, she will be so intrigued with.  Maybe because she's seeing them for the first time.   Take for instance, this party favor Griffin got from school.  Griffin blew into it a couple of times and left it on the kitchen table.  Harper was amazed by it, and..... it was no longer Griffin's.

She had that thing unrolling and rolling back so much that it just about disintegrated from all the spit she was also blowing into it.  Yuck.  

The boys each had a game that night, and we tried to pry it out of her little tightly grasped hands before we left.  No such luck.  

Over the weekend my sister Jill came to hang for a little bit.  She was at the airport when we flew home from China, but she hadn't been able to spend much time getting to know Harper.  While she was here, we had a tea party (one of Harper's favorite things).

Not one to be left out, Barney had to get in on the party.  Literally...... IN the tea party.

He knows no shame......

Since Barney pretty much broke up the nice little party we were having, Harper started to throw the cups around, and was starting to get pretty rough with it.  We told her "No" pretty sternly, and she did not like that one bit.  She doesn't like when we tell her no, but she really doesn't like it when we emphasize the word.  So, she went to the closest person next to her to get some sympathy.  Notice he's pretty much laughing at her.  Pitiful all the way around.

This weekend was another first for Harper.  We finally made it to church.  We hadn't been since the weekend before we left for China.  That's a long time for us not to be at church, and we really were anxious to get back.  We just weren't sure how Harper would do in Sunday school.  Scott and I both thought she would be ok, but instead of jumping in full force, we each took a turn helping out in her class.  Like we thought, she did great.    I think we were just trying to make ourselves feel better.  

Her favorite part of Sunday school?

Snack time.

Shocker!

After church, we had our first post adoption meeting with our social worker, Becky.  This is the same social worker who did our home study, so we were really looking forward to having her meet Harper.  She also has two sisters that were adopted from China.   It's really fun to hear her perspective of being a sibling during their adoptions.  Her sisters are also older now, so we've asked many questions like  if they have asked about their birth parents, if they have ever gone back to visit China, etc.

Anyway, Harper was taking a nap when Becky got here, so we got the paperwork stuff out of the way first.  Soon, we heard Harper over the intercom singing.  It sounded like she was singing in Chinese which made us all laugh.  So cute.  Thankfully, Harper woke up in a good mood and was really putting a show on for Becky.  She also showed off her throwing skills by whizzing a tennis ball at Becky.  Luckily, Becky has pretty quick reflexes.

Becky was leaving and Harper was waving her hand and said pretty clearly, "Bye Bye".  She's got the hang of the whole "Bye Bye" thing down and is doing it constantly now.....even when she just walks into the next room.




The weather around here has been pretty crazy in the sense that it's almost 80 degrees one day,  and 35 degrees the next.  Actually, that can be pretty typical early on in spring, but this close to May, it's pretty late for that kind of craziness.

Anyway, since we never know how many warm days we'll have, we try and take advantage of them when they do come around.
We hung outside after the boys got out of school on Monday.  Harper saw her brothers riding their skateboards, and she thought she had to give it a try......

and she tried.......

Until Brannen was sweet enough to give her a 'ride'.  She loved it.  She's definitely our little daredevil and not scared of much.....

Not even Darth Vader.

May the force be with you.......

One Month Ago Today....

One month ago today we met the little girl that would change our family forever.  Hard to believe a month has already flown by, but when you're now running after a two year old again, weeks feel like a day, and days feel like a second. 

A lot has changed in a month.

It really does go to show you, all you need is love

... and only one layer of clothes as opposed to four.

Harper looks nothing like the little girl they placed in front of me last month.  She looked like she was frightened, as she did in most of the pictures they would send us.  We were sent one picture of her smiling, but she didn't have the life and spunk in her eyes that she does now.  

I just have no words to describe the joy we feel since she has come into our lives.  People always tell us that she's so blessed to be adopted by us.  That makes me feel a bit uncomfortable because I feel we are the ones who have been blessed.  God has answered our prayers far beyond what I could have even have imagined when we first started this journey.  I mean,  Harper even likes our dogs! 

A bit of a milestone happened today.  Harper said her first English word.  I mean, she's said 'mama' and 'papa' but today she said her first real word.  

Ball.

After picking up the boys from school, we ran to Target real quick for a few errands.  While we were there, the boys showed her a huge  pink bouncing ball, and she said "Ball" as clear as day.  We all looked at each other and had a little celebration in the toy aisle of Target.... and of course put that ball in our cart.  We had to buy it after that! 

No..... she's not spoiled!