Surprise

serena our angle in china...sent us updated pictures of mallory...i've put 3 on the blog...she is now 13 months old...yes, her head has been shaved darn ;(...the chinese feel if you shave a baby girls head their hair will grown in more luxurious...time will tell on that one...i had heard the orphanage mallory was in was nice...looking at these photos i feel very good about the orphanage...it looks clean...with plenty of toys to play with the nice soft ground for the babies to crawl on...half the sky nannies are coming to this orphanage to help the babies with stimulation & development...mallory playing on the floor...reaching for the balls is huge...many orphanage don't have this type of program...serena our angel has made our Christmas for us...Thank you very very much Serena...our baby looks Beautiful & healthy...

a GREAT surprise

serena our angel in china surprised me this morning with 6 pictures of mallory ;)...she looks so great...i've attached 3 of them...the orphanage she is in is very clean & nice i'd heard and the pictures show it to be clean...the babies are being stimulated with toys which is awesome news...it makes me want to go get her TODAY...get me on a flight TODAY...unfortunately it doesn't work like that UGH...these pictures made my Christmas fro sure...God bless serena she's been wonderful to us...yes, they have shaved her head...darn ;(... the chinese feel if you shave the baby girls heads their hair will grown in more luxurious...we shall see about that

Sneak Peak

here is the the pillow sham that will coordinate with mallory's room...the print is soft pastel colors with a splash of warm tone pink, green & blue mixed in...pattern is of pagoda with a chinese little girl, birds, fish & a butterfly...the material is very kid friendly...it doesn't come in queen size bedding only twin even if it did it is a bit pricey for my budget...we are going to have bits and pieces of this bedding...i ordered the baby quilt which she can use for mallory to snuggle with... this pagoda print bedding pieces coordinate perfect with her crib & big girl bedding...

Brrr

it is a bit chilly in GA today...i wonder how cold little ms. mallory is in china today? i'd say very very very chilly...i pray she's bundled warm & being held tightly by her nanny...we decorated our Christmas tree today...we talked about how next Christmas mallory will be 2 and how much fun Christmas will be to have a toddler around our house.

God brings two families together

okay her is how this story begins...i found out 2 days ago that a family in fayetteville, GA (where i live) is adopting a child from baotou, swi inner mongolia (same orphange mallory is in)...kim (the mom)and i finally get to talk after playing phone tag...kim & i both are nurses... both worked at the same hospital not only that but we know each other...we live less then 5 miles from each other...God has known all along that mallory & shiloh (kim's daughter) would be together in baotou and live in the same town in the states...shiloh's birthday is november 11 she just turned 2...mallorys birthday is november 9 she just turned 1...in the orphanage they most likely are in the same room together...with all the reading kent & i have done one of the best out comes is if you can get together with children from the same orphanage your child came from...who would of ever imaged that mallory would have a friend 5 miles from her home???? i sure wouldn't have...kim & her family will be traveling to baotou in april...when she goes she'll be able to take video's and pictures of mallory (hopefully ;) if the orphanage will allow this...some times they allow pictures to be taken of other children sometimes they don't...whatever the outcome the end result will be that mallory & shiloh will be reunited again...

LOI

Big day our LOI (letter of intent) official today december 4, 2009....one step closer ;)

Home Study FINISHED....kind of

kent & i drove to birmingham, AL yesterday for our FINAL home study appointment....the rain was horrible took us 3 hours 45 minutes to get to lifeline....thank God we arrived safe....our part of the home study is finished....it is in the hands of our social worker now....estimate time of completion the middle of january 2010....it was an informative meeting yesterday....kent & i left feeling educated & more eager to bring mallory "home"....our estimated time of travel has changed to september/october 2010....i pray and i'd ask you guys to pray that we can get her much early august would be ideal....again it is on God's time line not andrea's time line....the goal is to get mallory "home" and out of an orphanage....i made my views very clear on the urgency to get the home study completed our social worker promised to work diligently....the sooner the home study is completed the sooner our CIA (immigration) can be sent out....then the dossier can be sent....the goal is to get your LID (log in date)into china....when your logged in you travel 5-6 months after that date....you see the sooner the better ;)