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!

Christmas Tree Farm

On a cold and blustery day in early December, (Yay! I'm on December pics!) we bundled everyone up and head to Baker's Creek Christmas Tree Farm. We had our pick of all kind of trees, and we saw several that looked just like Hershey kisses! Ava even found a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree. :)

After playing chase and hide and seek among the trees with Ava, we finally chose our little 2010 tree to be cut. Ava was wide-eyed as it came crashing down. Then, it was off to be loaded on top of our car. We headed to Papa Murphy's pizza to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season.

See the Hershey kisses?







All this tree needs is a little love.

Thanksgiving Celebration

This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Tennessee with my family. Over the years, it's become tradition to celebrate at my parent's house. Warmth, love and all kinds of good food envelope us as we walk in the door! A special treat this year was a homecoming visit from my cousin, Lacy, who lives in Nevada. It was great to see her and visit, and she got to meet Maia for the first time. We had a wonderful time as family and as usual, ate lots of yummy traditional favorites! I was in charge of green beans this year, and they certainly were NOT like my grandmother's were! :) Miss those green beans, but not as much as I miss her.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you're enjoying this Christmas season and finding some time to just be still. Mine is usually in the wee hours of the morning while I'm trying to quiet Miss Maia and I'm looking out the window at the stars. Last night, she was up on and off until three and I could have sworn that I saw a bear in our neighbors yard. That kept my eyes open while I walked back and forth. This morning, the bear turned into an electrical box. Oh, well! We're hoping for some snow this year! Love to all!

ps- Joy! I got your comment but it got lost in Blogland for some reason! I told Ben that I had an announcement to make and it was that we are going to Oklahoma to visit your family in the future! Thank you, dear sister, for everything. Maia and Ava are BOTH little monkeys! Maia is full of spunk already!

The Thanksgiving spread! Ben always snitches some turkey before we start!



My Dad always says the blessing as we hold hands together. I'm there beside Wes, my cousin, and Ben's taking the picture. :)



Ava and Papa share some pumpkin pie. Ava says, "mmm... I like it!"



Mimi and Papa and the girls



So thankful for Ava and Maia together and at home at last!



Mimi, Aunties, Jill and Syd and cousin, Lacy join in on Maia's Thanksgiving meal, vegetable turkey dinner. Yummy!



Lacy and Maia



Katie and Maia



My Uncle Lonnie and Katie



Maia loves to play with her toes.



Aunt Syd and Maia



Give me five, Wes!

Enjoying a Fall Day Together

Before Ava and Maia came along, Ben and I would enjoy taking long walks in the backyard with Bear and Lucy. Saki was always lazy and stayed at the house. :) Now, Ava absolutely LOVES to take walks. Her favorite outside activity is to pick berries from bushes. She would do it for hours if we let her! We found some pretty leaves to play in and Maia had a fun time in the Maya Wrap. Colder temperatures were soon on the way, and we miss going outside now!

Wrapping Up November Days

Right before Thanksgiving, we had our first out of three, post-placement reports with our dear friend and social worker, Pam Frye. Pam always makes us feel very relaxed. She's like family!

The other pics are some random cute and funny pictures of Ava and Maia. You'll see little mamma Ava giving Maia some water in a couple of these! The hand on her hip cracks me up!



This is where I found Miss Ava one day!

November Days of Play

These are a few shots we took of the girls during November just doing their normal thing - eating, sleeping and playing! They are a hoot! Thanksgiving up next! :) Whew, I'm almost to December. It will probably snow before I'm there, though!