Maia's Christening

On December 4th, family and friends gathered to witness the Christening of sweet Maia at Fairview United Methodist Church. While shopping on Shamian Island in Guangzhou, I came across a pretty litte white Chinese silk dress, and thought it would be so pretty for her Christening ceremony. I bought some sweet little silk shoes at Belk to go with it and she wore some tights with ruffles on the bottom! I bought several other Chinese silk dresses in various sizes for her and Ava, and Ava wore a soft pink one with her little toddler belly sticking out! Ava and I both dressed up in Chinese dresses. I chose a classic cream one with black flowers at the silk factory in Beijing. As an adoptive Mom of a Chinese daughter, I made a promise to Maia long before her adoption that Ben and I would do our very best to honor her Chinese heritage and birth country and parents. It takes intentional effort, but it's been a joy to gather special things for her from China and hopefully pass on the sights, smells, sounds and feel for her country of birth.

China. Just writing that word conjures up so much for me just having visited a few cities and one village. Today as I write, I'm excited to tell you that we have located her foster mother and father's home, and we have ordered a picture of her foster mother standing in front of her house, the house where Maia spent the first 5 1/2 months of her little life. We had gotten a disposable camera back with pictures of Maia and profile images of her foster mother in front of the orphanage and a panorama view around the orphanage. We're thrilled to receive a picture of the actual house where she was cared for soon! We'll also have her address so we can send pictures of Maia to them soon and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for caring for her until we could come to China and bring her home!

After the Christening ceremony, my family headed to Courtyard Grill to celebrate with a late lunch. It was yesterday that we were there with Ava! I hope you guys enjoy the photos. There were lots of tears on this long-awaited day!

I have to tell you, too, that as our pastor carried her down the middle aisle for folks to see, Maia let out the loudest yell! Our pastor, Dr. Russel, said, "Well, that must be Chinese for AMEN!" We laughed so hard. Maia is VERY vocal! You'll see a picture of me and Ben laughing, one of our favorite pics. I think that picture captures the completion of the journey to Maia and the celebration of a promise fulfilled!













Maia still has a little bit of carrot on her face from lunch!