First day with the babies

Sophia

Josie







Virginia

Sally

Snack Time!



Sadie

Taylor and Josie
Joseph

Jack

Taylor's Favorite--

Today we met the babies and they are all so sweet! Sophia is a doll so pretty and quiet, Virginia is a screamer it is her way or no way, Josie is the wild child but oh how she is sweet she loves to be held and plays with your hair. Clara is a little mommy, Joseph and Joshua are two sweet boys they were the first to come to me and Hannah this morning and they cried when we had to leave Josh is also the escape artist . Sadie is too sweet and is tiny she is the little princess the nannies love putting dresses on her. Noa is too sweet she sits backs and watches. James is Hannah's favorite he is such a laid back kid and goes anywhere and everywhere does not care. Tina is a tiny princess she is so little and light. Karl was the first Jeff held and he pulled his ear. We are in such love with these babies. Jack has been a Hugh help he met us yesterday and got us settled into our room. He speaks some Chinese which is a huge help he ordered our dinner tonight which was great. We also gave our donations today all the clothes medicine. They seemed to love what we brought and they really liked the tooth brushes on the 5th floor they opened them right away and brushed the children's teeth. But back to last night our cab driver came with a tiny BMW like car and we had 6 suit cases so that was fun he had to call his friend who had a mini van to carry all of our suit cases then they didn't take us to Starfish but the Xi'an hotel instead d so we did not arrive he until 11:30 pm China time Tuesday. We were very exhausted and went straight to bed. We woke at 6 this morning had breakfast met Elisa then went off to the foster home.Jack is great so helpful. oh i have to tell you we were at lotus a wal mart type place and were by the fish tanks i waled over to have a look and a fish jumped out of the water and tried to attack me cracked jack up he said that right there was worth the trip there. Today has been a long day and we are off to bed we will post more tomorrow. Ashton will post pictures later.

Taylor

Pictures from Taylor!

Polar Ice Caps
On the Flight to China
Jeff and Taylor in Beijing Airport
Jeff Sleeping in Beijing
Finally there!!!

Short Update

Just to let you all know, Taylor, Hannah, and Jeff made it to Starfish at about 9am
thanks for the prayers. Keep praying for health and safety during their trip! Pictures to come...

And They Are Off...

Hi all this is Taylor's friend, Ashton. I will be updating for her while she is in China!
As of right now Jeff, Taylor and Hannah are at the airport waiting to get on their big flight! Please keep them in your prayers as they make this LONG journey to China...I have made it twice and it is not easy in the least! I will update as she sends me information!
Keep Praying....
Ashton

Xi'an here we come

We are on our way leaving for airport now please pray for safe travels and uneventful flights we land tomorrow at 830 am east coast time. 28 hours and we will be in Xi'an

18 hours

18 hours and me and Hannah will begin our journey to China. I cannot wait to go to China with my best friend.

2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

2 days and me and my best friend will be on a plane to Xi'an China to love on all the babies at Starfish! I am beyond excited can you hear me screaming yet.

ONE WEEK

ONE WEEK AND A FEW HOURS AND ME AND HANNAH WILL BE ON A PLANE TO CHINA YAY I CANNOT WAIT TO GO TO CHINA WITH MY BEST FRIEND :)

Two Weeks

Two weeks from today I will be In Xi'an at Starfish I cannot wait the only thing between me and China other then the wait is the 14 hour flight thankfully we are at the back of the plane and it is me and a friend beside each other and Jeff in front of us so worst case we can lay on each other. Ha if Hannah only knew about that flight and how long it really is. Here is the latest video I have made of the Starfish babies most are featured in this video but some are not because I ran out of time. You can view all the babies featured in this video here and read about them and more of what Amanda does.

Visa applications

Are Visa applications will soon be on their way to the Chinese Embassy in DC hopefully the Chinese officals will approve them and return them quickly.

We have tickets!!!!

Me, Hannah, and Jeff leave June 21st for China. That's 35 days until we leave for Xi'an to volunteer at Starfish Foster home for 3 weeks we return home July 12th I have not decided if I am going to do a separate blog or not for our trip to Xi'an but when I decide I will post the address here. Can't wait until we leave so excited!

Huan Huan!!

Advocating for a little one: Huan means happy in Chinese. But in Huan's photos she is not smiling. Well, she might be smiling inside, but the repair work on her palate (at least the gum area) is such that she doesn't seem interested in smiling for the camera. It is a shame she is such a beautiful little girl with big inquisitive eyes and a precious face. I am sure she has heard all the comments from strangers and mean-spirited children. She is now 8 years old, and more then ready for someone to help her. She needs a mom and a dad to scoop her up, bring her home, love her, love her, love her, and arrange repair work for her mouth so she can show the world her beautiful smile. Please help us spread the word about this child she longs to have her own family and truly wants a mommy and daddy if anyone knows of someone looking for a daughter please mention Huan Huan if someone would like more information please go here and create an account then go to China waiting children to view her file she is a beautiful girl and I can't wait for her to find her family!

Asleep at dinner

This is what happens when we have to much fun at Paw Paws we fall asleep while eating supper

New List

As some already know the newest hope project list for our agency that we used with both Lily and Jacob come out today there will be 5 new children added to the 50+ they still looking for families for please pray for these children and their forever families as they begin the long paper work process

Playdate With Mia

Today we had some good friends come by that adopted a little girl from China

a couple years ago. Mia and Jacob have gotten to know each other since they have been home. They both ride the bus home in the afternoon and Jacob loves to talk to her. They both seem to have had a great time playing together. Lily even joined in to help with making faces. Mia convinced Jacob to play house and the basketball was the baby too cute.

Mia

Jacob

Mia Jacob and Lily making faces

Swinging on the teeter totter

Mia and Jacob pushing the baby

Playing Tag

The Prince

Jacob is doing fine and settling in well. Sorry it has taken me so long to post pictures of him but finally here is his picture. He seems to be adjusting well and eats anything and everything you place in front of him. Oh and did I mention he is ALL BOY!!!!!

The Princess

Photos Of The PRINCESS and as you can see every Princess needs a pair of sun glasses a sash and more importantly A CROWN

FYI: The crown and Sash are both mine from when I won Tiny Miss Piedmont back in 1996(a local pageant at the high school i currently attend) I think I there was a reason that poor crown has made it through 13 years of torture!

Were HOME!!!!!

We arrived home early this morning and we are all exhausted and still rolling out bed. Jacob is still currently in bed. We are all glad to be home. The flights went well, Lily slept 11 of the 13 hours, and when Jacob was not asleep he was watching TV. Many thanks to all those who met us at the airport. Will post pictures later of the prince.

3 days!!!!!!

We leave for China Tuesday. There is still so much to do at our house before we leave. Finish odds and ins in his room get Lily's room set back up. Pack, clean, transfer animals to their caregivers for the almost 3 weeks we are gone and we have 3 days to finish all of this. BUT ABOVE ALL WE ARE SUPER EXICTED TO BE GETIING JACOB THE 21ST and we can't wait to travel with are amazing travel group and great friends the Rice's, Perry's and Yingling's.

TA TA TA TA!!!

Can you hear us screaming yet we recieved an email from our agency informing us we leave for China January 19 and return February 5th thats just a little over 2 weeks and we will have the Prince. Finally the journey to the Prince is just about complete.

My World

Lily Grace

Lily is Two

As of yesterday my beautiful princess turned 2. It is so hard to believe that Lily is now two. She has changed so much in the past year I love her so much. Happy late birthday Lily
*Pictures to come from her special day and from her party Sunday*

She has a Family

The little girl mentioned in the post before this has a family that is going to adopt her we are so excited for the little girl and her soon to be forever family.

Help This Girl Find Her Family!

This is the email I receive from our agency today. I cannot publicly post the picture of this child because of CCAA rules, but she is beautiful as well as very smart. If you would like to have more info on this child please contact me and I will give you the name and number of our case manager who will be happy to talk with you about this precious child.Female. Hepatitis B carrierDOB: 1-20-1997She came to children welfare center on Jan 20th 1999. Now she is living with foster family and she receives good care from foster parents. She is a fourth grade student; she studies hard and does well in her studies. She is very smart and loves to sing and dance. She can manage herself in daily life and she also helps to do some house work such as cleaning tables and sweeping the floor. She is a very pretty girl and a good student with lots of talents.Dear China Families,As you can see that this smart and beautiful girl has only slightly over a year to find her family before she “ages out” of adoption. We would really like to try to prevent that from happening to her. She simply has too much potential and she truly wants a forever family…Please get her information to the lists that you are aware of and maybe, just maybe her forever family is out there; and they will come forward… We want to give it a final try before sending her file back to China; therefore crush her dream of a family that loves and cares for her… A child growing up in an orphanage does not have much future. She most likely will not be able to attend college; or get a good job… basically, she’ll just have a “gloomy” (I am not sure if this is the right word…) future; and we do not want that happening to her, not without one last try, at least.Please help us to get the word out! And pray for her to have a family, please.We thank you for any assistance you are able to provide!If a family wants to know more about her, I will be happy to talk with them when I get back from my China trip. Please feel free to give my contact info to anybody interested in adopting her.

Gotcha Day November 10th One year

Click here for the long over due post about Lily's one year gotcha day sorry I have been so slack. Lily's has forever been ours for one year on November 10th 2009 its seems like just a few days ago we were in China getting this precious child that I love. I have enjoyed every minute of being her big sister HAPPY LATE GOTCHA DAY LILY!!

A Year Ago Today!

One Year to the date we were a a plane to China to pick up our Angel and bring her home. We were headed to a foreign country we knew little about to adopt the little girl who has forever blessed our lives were so glad that Lily's journey home was almost complete. We arrived in Beijing tired and sleeped deprived happy just to be in the country were Lily was. But because of this trip I now have a little Princess who I love dearly.

My Princess

Pom Poms

Most little kids snuggle with a teddy bear or blanket NOT Lily she snuggles with her pom poms.

LOA IS HERE!!

Our LOA arrived today was signed and sent to Texas and back to case manager. Now we wait for I-800 approval then we can be given a TA. We are hoping to travel by the end of January.

LOA LOA LOA

We are thrilled to announce that our LOA is on its way! Can you hear us screaming from excitement yet we are thrilled to know that we are one step closer to our Prince Jacob. We are about 12 weeks out from traveling to meet Jacob that means late January we should be on a plane to China. Our friends the Rice's, Perry's, and Yingling's also received their LOA's congrats to you guys as well we are thrilled for you too!!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone. This year to no ones surprise Lily was a cheerleader. She wore my cheer outfit from when a did rec league cheerleading. She was too cute! We stopped by a few of our close friends houses for Lily to trick or treat at. Our first stop was the Knight's house they have a little girl Mia who was adopted from China too. Lily had fun taking candy from the basket and putting it into her pumpkin.

Lily and Mia