Here are some photos taken from Christmas. Sorry it's taken so long to post these here.






And here is a shot of Emily trying to stay up to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve.








Hi everyone! Just wanted to write a quick update......ok, maybe not so quick. LOL! First off, over the past week and a half we had quite a scare. You may have seen on the news that China has suffered some snow/ice storms. Millions of homes have been without power and millions of workers were stranded and unable to return home for the Chinese New Year. In addition, the storms caused an inability for coal (the main source of fuel/heat) to be delivered across the country. Unfortunately, the orphanages were not spared by these storms. Many have been without power and heat for 2 weeks and orphanage caretakers are struggling to keep the children warm. Our daughter's province of Jiangxi was, unfortunately, hit pretty hard. However, thank goodness...we have learned that the orphanages power/ heat has been restored and the power company has pledged to keep the orphanage power supply going (even if that means temporarily cutting power from other areas.....including the orphanage director's own private house, which as of this past week was still without power). The caretakers really love the children of the orphanage and have done an excellent job of taking care of them during all this weather craziness.

On a happier note, it looks like we should be traveling to bring Abigail home in April. For a while, it looked like May was more realistic, but all of the other parents who had their letters of intent in to China before us have already received their official letters of approval back from the CCAA and will be traveling in March. We are only a few weeks behind them, so April seems very realistic now. :) We are so excited! We've even started looking up sample packing lists. We also have the girls' bedroom all set up now. Even though we have a couple of other bedrooms, Emily INSISTED that she wants Abigail to room with her. We think this may be better for Abigail as well, especially in the beginning, since she is used to sleeping in a room with many other children. It may be disconcerting to come to a new country with a new family and all of a sudden be expected to sleep completely alone. So.....Disney Princess room it is! And, if I say so myself, everything looks really adorable. Emily has a twin bed on one side, and Abigail has a toddler bed on the other. Emily's been so excited to move from the toddler bed to her big girl twin bed, but she has already told me that she thinks the room will be better when Abigail is in it with her. She said that at night, she stares at Abigail's empty bed and prays that she will come home soon. This wait has been really hard on all of us, including Emily. The other day, she said "Mommy, I'm beginning to lose my patience. I can't wait anymore." Well, at least April isn't too far away!

Eventually, I'll get around to posting pictures of the new Princess room.

We got the ok from our agency to send a care package to Abigail at the orphanage, so she knows who her Mommy and Daddy are before we go to pick her up. We are buying one (including a translated letter) from redthreadchina.com. I know many people who have been very happy with their services, and I can't wait for Abigail to read (or rather, be read to) how much we already love her and can't wait for her arrival.

I just notified work about our April departure, so they have time to find a replacement for me in the schools. I'm going to just keep my evening homecare, so I can stay home with Abigail and Emily (who is currently in preschool, but I'm going to switch her from full-time to part-time preschool). I can't wait. April can't come fast enough!