Keely & Friends

Here are some pics of some of the new friends that Keely has made in her short three weeks home:

Sage & Keely

Oskar & Keely

Kallie & Keely

Ryan & Keely

Keely with the boys & Zoey at the beach!  Poor kid has no attention! lol

     

Things We've Learned So Far!

She Adores Her Brothers!

She Hasn't Quite Got the Concept of Gentle with the Cats yet!

She Loves To Hold Someone's Hand while in Her Stroller.

She is Loving Daddy More Each Day!

She Likes The Beach Sitting Down!

She Likes Hangin With The Boys

She Likes To Sit on the 4-Wheeler in Her Tutu Dress!

She is a Very Good Sleeper!

She Lets You Know When She is NOT Impressed!

This Says It All!

She Is One HAPPY Girl!  

There has been many changes for all of us these last few weeks, but for one little girl, the changes that she has been through, are far greater than any of us will ever know.  She has left the only place she has known for the past two years of her life; familiar faces, smells, foods, friends and toys.  She was passed to strangers, has flown to the other side of the world; which has absolutely no comparison to where she came from; and has amazed us all with her strength and the ability to attach, love, adjust and fit in with our family.  God has truly shown his mighty works in every step of this journey to our daughter.  We are very thankful to Him for giving us this treasure.

~Home Sweet Home~

Well we've officially been home 5 days now and Keely is doing extremely well.  In China she slept between Chris and I basically because she was stuck to me like glue and I didn't want to stress her out with another separation of putting her in the crib.  Also, we had a King size bed.  But knowing we were coming home to a Queen size bed and she is an extremely rough sleeper, I was determined that she was going to sleep in her own crib.  So the first night home she went in her crib in our room without so much as a whimper and has continued to nap and sleep in her crib.  I lay down on our bed until she falls asleep since she freaks if she thinks I am leaving the room.

The last few days she has been warming up to daddy more and more.  I had him bath her on Monday night; since she loves the bath now; and when I came home from the store, she was all in her pj's in dad's arms waiting at the door happy as can be.  The next day she reached up to him to pick her up.  So relieved it was starting to take a toll on him and me.

She seems to be pretty relaxed when we are home so we have been laying pretty low.  She loves her brothers and is learning how to be gentle with the cats.  Overall, I think things have gone smoothly.  Don't get me wrong, this has been one of the hardest things we have ever done and may ever will be.  We all have some adjusting to do, but looking back on how things have fallen into place I know this little girl was hand picked for our family.  Here are some pics from our first few days home.

Recap!

I feel a little overwhelmed that I couldn't update my blog while in Beijing, so just so I don't forget everything that happened I am going to recap our last week in China.  Just bear with me, this may be a bit long.

Friday, July 29:  Our flight was delayed because of a storm in Beijing, but our guide was able to switch us to an earlier flight, so we weren't actually too far behind schedule.

Keely for some reason in the airport started chasing a random Chinese lady and wrapped her arms around her legs.  Then proceeded to scream as daddy went to  get her. This was the first and only time that she did this.  It was scary and sad to not know what she was thinking.  She did sooo good on the flight.  It was around 2hrs and she didn't mind at all.


Finally arrived at the Presidential Plaza Hotel in Beijing around 7:30pm.  Met our new friends from NS in the lobby with their new sweet daughter Kyah, talked for a minute then headed to our room for room service and an early night.

Saturday, July 30:  Went to breakfast then had to go to Yulin's room to do more paperwork, visa pictures, etc.  Then we had a group photo in the hotel lobby before heading to the Beijing Zoo.

The guide said there was a extra stroller if anyone needed one, so I decided to see if miss Keely would go in one.  At this point my arms were pretty much wore out.  Thankfully she sat in it and actually thought it was kind of fun.  She had to have a hold of my hand as we walked though, which was fine with me.

We seen the pandas, but there were so many people you basically just wanted to keep walking to get to a less congested area.  The rest of the zoo was pretty much like other zoos, maybe a bit busier.

Sunday, July 31:  Today we went to the Jade Factory and the Great Wall, I had to pretty much continually remind myself that I was actually there.  It was amazing, HOT, and steep.  We actually took the less steep way, but it was still a lot of steps, uphill with a 2yr old.  We only went a up a bit, Chris and some others went a bit further.  It was just too hard to carry her up, but at least I can say I walked on the Great Wall of China.  Keely had her first taste of ice cream today, it doesn't seem like she likes cold things yet.

Monday, August 1:  Chris and one of the other couples husband, spent 8hrs today at US Immigration trying to get Visa's for our girls to basically walk through the airport in the States.  Cass and I went this morning to a market across the street and I bought a stroller.  Soo  excited that she will go in it.  Chris missed going to the Summer Palace with us.  The Summer Palace was beautiful, but it was sooo crowded and hot that it makes it so hard to really savor and appreciate the beauty of it all.

Tuesday, August 2:  Today we went to the Silk Factory to see how hard all of those little silk worms work.  It is really amazing to see how much goes into making silk products.  I realized that making a rag quilt is a lot less work than making one made of silk. lol

We then went to the Pearl Market to do some shopping.  There are corridors, stands and rooms everywhere with workers trying to get you to buy something from their section.  If there was something I wanted, I left the wheeling and dealing up to Chris.  He was pretty tough on bargaining, but he got most everything for the price he wanted.  A very interested spot, I just wish we had of had more time there and I could have got the kids school shopping done for a fraction of the cost here.

We went to an acrobatic show tonight at a theater.  Keely did really well sitting through the whole thing and we were able to keep her awake until we got back to the hotel.  She has been going to Cassidy a bit more the last few days and she is fine with dad picking her up as long as he is playing with her and throwing her up in the air.

Wednesday, August 3:  Today we went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Yet again very beautiful buildings, amazing history, but very crowded and extremely hot.  Keely had her first taste of Popsicle today, she was a bit confused what to do with it.  Eventually it was melting so much we had to throw it out.

Tonight they had a farewell China/ Bday party for all of the families and children.  We ate and there was a little magic show.  They also had a cake for everyone and all of the children were given beautiful scrolls with their Chinese names on them.  Keely I think was a bit over stimulated at the party.  She was a bit crazy and it scared me a bit, I will admit.  Wondered how we were going to travel on a 13hr plain ride with a hyper 2yr old, but we were in survival mode so we would do what we needed to.

Thursday, August 4:  This morning we had our last breakfast at the Presidential Plaza, got packed up and ready to leave for the airport at around 12:30.  All of the families except for one were leaving today, so we all went to the airport together then headed on our separate ways for home. 

Our flight from Beijing to Newark, NJ actually seemed to be shorter than the flight we took to Beijing originally.   Keely did amazingly well the whole journey home.  She is a very good little traveler.

We finally arrived in Moncton around 9:30-10 Thursday night.  Nana, Grandpa, Noah and Zay were at the airport waiting for us. Keely seemed to recognize her new brothers, since we had been showing her pics.  That night at the hotel, she really took to her brothers.  I was very thankful, because I was a bit nervous of how she would react to them.

Friday, August 5th:  Finally after a long journey, we arrived home to meet a little welcoming committee as we drove off the ferry.  It is hard to believe after all of the paperwork, waiting and prayers that we are actually home with our little girl.

Let the next half of our journey begin............