Christmas Joy

Celebrating our Savior's Birth the past 48 hours has been pure JOY! A perk of adopting an older child during the busy holiday season? Sharing God's gift of His son with another and experiencing Christmas through a new pair of eyes.
What fun it was to roll the dough for our Christmas Eve pizza and decorate it with a 'J' for Jesus rather than an 'M' for Molly. Thanks for the new idea sweet girl. What joy it was to Skype with our friends in China and wish them a Merry Christmas from half way around the world. What fun to sit in the balcony at church so Molly could see all that was happening down below. What joy to read Luke 2 in English and then in Chinese while eating peppermint ice cream under the tree. What fun to have 5 stockings filled and 5 piles of gifts to open on Christmas morning. What joy to have rice and chili sauce on our table for Christmas dinner. Thank you, Molly, for the new eyes this Christmas celebrating Jesus' Birthday.

Mary's House

This week at school Molly made a gingerbread house. She worked so hard to decorate it perfectly, all the while telling her classmates about the 3 kings coming to visit Jesus in the 'house'. She told them she had created 'Mary's House'. Then, a sweet little girl in class said "and my house can be Joseph's!" We love our Molly's Jesus Heart!

Paw Paw

friends+family+cold weather+hotdogs+campfire+Christmas music+cozy blankets+s'mores=
lots of Friday night FUN!

Home

Taking Mei Mei to basketball the other night a sweet voice from the backseat said:
"I love my home!"
Our Molly is just the cutest!!

Buying Stock

A new favorite.
Mix 2 favorite foods, add some chili sauce, and voila you have made the best meal ever.



I have never bought a 5 pound bag of rice nor cooked so much bacon in my life. I am off to buy stock!

Tears of Joy

Christmas lights up.
Tree picked out.
Tree decorated.
Decorations out.
Christmas music on.
Shopping started.
I love Christmas and I especially love the reason for Christmas.
But this year? Preparing for our Savior's Birthday has really filled me up with God's love! I found myself holding back tears of joy this weekend as Molly shared with her family, our family, who is so lucky to have her forever, the joy of preparing for Jesus! She loved the decorations and wanted a gold angel placed on the back of her wheelchair, tears of joy. She beamed and clapped through the Christmas music at church, tears of joy. She investigated the lit church on our piano and asked what the English word for cross is, and then explained to me about Jesus on the cross in her one word English and pantomime, tears of joy. She sang Silent Night in a beautiful voice, tears of joy. She chose angel ornaments for her friends at the House of Love, tears of joy for her caring heart.
Yes, Christmas this year with our new family of seven will be pure Joy!

YAY!

All morning we anxiously awaited snow...no snow!
All afternoon we anxiously awaited snow...no snow!
All during dinner we talked about snow...maybe a snow day???
but...no snow!
Finally, at the perfect time...God sent snow.
BEDTIME! What a way to procrastinate.
3 girls begging to go outside. What is a mama to do but bundle them up and take them out!
Molly's first SNOW!
Her first words...YAY!!!!!!

One Down

Today was our first medical appointment.

one interpreter
one nurse
one nurse practitioner
one doctor
one occupational therapist
one social worker
ten vials of blood
one lab tech
one shot
4 1/2 hours
and...
still?
One happy girl!
After the blood was drawn and the needle removed our sweet gal's response to the lab tech?
"Thank You"
Not a thank you for removing the needle and it is over kinda thank you, it was a heartfelt thank you for caring about me!
So sweet!!
This girl's tank is just full of the Love of God!
Praising our Heavenly Father tonight!

Thanksgiving

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Words ringing from Molly all day!
We have been busy and our sweet gal has been loving it!
Molly helped to prepare her her first Thanksgiving dinner. She made pudding pie and peeled 5 potatoes. She worked so hard to stir the pudding and to peel the potatoes. By the 4th potato she really got the hang of it and peeled it clean.
We took Molly to the Chinese Christian Church service and then stayed and shared in their big Thanksgiving feast! It was so fun listening to Molly speak to our new friends. She sure seemed to make our table laugh a lot. Everyone was so sweet to her, making sure I filled her plate, sharing fruit with her, and making sure she tried everything on her plate. One sweet 'Jia Jia' gave her a skateboard necklace from her purse, complete with rhinestones! So cute!
We then celebrated with more turkey and trimmings as a family of 7 and introduced Molly to Rock Band. She is an awesome drummer and thought her mom and sister were very good singers!
Today we played flag football, flew a kite, and went out with friends for ice cream! Molly loved the kite flying and mama got her exercise pushing her wheelchair to keep the kite flying. Thank goodness for Lucy who was a big help!
Molly devoured a big dish of strawberry ice cream with rainbow sprinkles!
Gotta love a SWEET GAL'S FIRST Thanksgiving!

Our Smilin' Gal

I was proven wrong!
Today was our first dentist appointment for sweet Molly. We had scheduled this appointment waaaaaaayy back before China and I thought I was prepared but as the day drew closer I began to worry that my sweet happy child would not be sweet and happy after being poked and prodded by the dentist. I happen to hate the dentist so I worried for our little girl! I asked my friends to accompany us so she would understand what was happening, I asked my hubby to accompany me for support, and off we went. We arrived, met the nicest dentist and hygienist, had a check up, xrays, some serious dental work and through it all our sweetie once again was a CHAMP! She completely understood the reason for the visit and that in the end of our many appointments she will feel so much better! Thank you Jane and Jian our awesome, caring, God Loving interpreters who prayed for Molly and our family all day long. Our happy Molly ate dinner and of course some ice cream and was still smilin' tonight as she nodded off to sleep with a "Love, Love, Love you Mom". Ahhh, how my heart loves our new daughter!


MOLLY AFTER TREATMENT SMILIN' AWAY

Go Flyers

Saturday a friend gave us 4 UD Flyer tickets!
Home 10 days and taking our new gal to a band playing, fans cheering, loud basketball game? Yep, cuz we could not let the tickets go to waste and we knew she would love it! Love it she did. She loved the National Anthem, she clapped and cheered for every Flyer point, she was intrigued by Rudy the Flyer, she indulged in mm's and cotton candy, she graciously met many friends, and was treated like a queen by the usher. What more could a gal want living in Flyer Territory!

School

Once Again, Molly shines! Today was the big long awaited day! Molly went to school to meet her classmates. We spent about 45 minutes in her new classroom and she did so well. Her new friends are so sweet and caring. She had lots of goodies on her desk waiting for her...candy, paper snowflakes, welcome notes, and some school supplies. We had bought cute chopsticks in China and some candy that Molly gave to her new friends. She sat at her new desk and colored with some of her new classmates. We met lots of teachers and students, the nurse, the principal and the secretary. Tomorrow we will return for another visit in the afternoon. Molly just smiled the whole time and was so polite and sweet!

A Special Call

Today Molly spoke with her good friend Helen. Helen and Molly were good friends at the HoL. Helen was adopted last December. Now, two sweet girls have forever families to call their own. I have no idea what they said to one another but they both seemed very happy!
PS: note Molly eating bacon and talking on the phone...just like her mother!

Melting Hearts

"GOODNIGHT MOM, I LOVE YOU."
enough said.

Our First Full Day!

Wow! We are blessed. Molly is happy, giggly, polite, and a super traveler. After 18 hours of travel time we arrived home to a yard full of balloons, flags, and friends! Molly got out of the car with a huge smile and said Hello to everyone she was introduced to, "Hello Hannah, Hello Grace, Hello Lilly..." and kept saying "Thank you. Thank you." in her sweet voice that we love soooo much! What a fun welcome home present!
She slept all night in her new bed and spent the day hanging with her new family. Puzzles, dollhouse, piano, DS games, and a walk outside to find 'treasures' with her sisters and a friend were just a few of the highlights. Dinner tonight was full of laughter. She loves to mimic our different laughs and her eyes just shine as she does it. :) Tonight she spent time teaching us how to say snow in mandarin...not quite sure we mastered that one yet but she is very patient with the same shining eyes!

The Many Foods of Molly

bacon
noodles and chili sauce
mango pudding
bean curd and chili sauce (a huge favorite)
skittles
mint Menthos
dried fish
pistachios
spicy chicken wings
pizza with Papa John peppers
chicken with chili peppers
blueberry yogurt
watermelon
roasted potatoes and garlic
ice cream
spicy prawns
chicken nuggets and fries from McDonalds
oolong tea
and iced coffee from KFC :) She loves the ice in it :)

For the little girl that we worried and prayed for to gain weight...God has answered our prayers!
Here's hoping she likes American food! Keep the up the prayers!
we are off to Hong Kong in a couple of hours and then home to the USA on Thursday!