Look at her now

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I was having just one of those days today and needed some time alone, so I sat down at my computer and started to rummage through my family pictures-the ones of the kids that always , always bring a smile to my face. Well, sure enouph as I stared at this picture of Mia I teared up. She came to us a little over two years ago. She was 22 months old and was our first adoption and our first girl. All of us were uneasy but so smitten by this little ball of fire. We have all been sucked in by her chortle of a laugh and have been charmed by her cheesy grin. She is bossy, girly and tough. She rules her brothers with the whip of her pink feather boa and loves every minute of it. She has welcomed Jonah with open arms as she does everyone who walks in the door. She was Phoebe on list 20 now she is Mia Mallory, a forever member of our family. Ups, downs and in betweens, she is why we had the desire to adopt again and go out on a limb. She has changed us all for the better and we hold on to her for dear life.

Enjoy the pictures!

Fear? What's that?

I found this and loved it. It impresses upon me that being the Mom to 5 crazy kids is not for whimps!!

Jonah and Jin Pei at Jinhua

This was taken with a disposable camera I sent in March for his birthday. Of course he is hanging out with Jin Pei. I have lots of others but most are just Jonah in front of various spots around the orphanage. They looked like those two "ruled the school". Jonah picked some goldfish out for Jin Pei today at the store. So cute.

Well, we are headed out on his first camping trip. We have been packing the trailor for 2 days now with lots of food and fun snacks. We have baked cookies and done all kinds of things to prepare. This morning in very broken english Jonah told me " I like camping" . I thought it was great he loves it and we aren't even out of the driveway yet!

Want some eggs with that HAM?

Well it has been 9 days home and Jonah is doing so well. He has brief periods of grief for the life and people he has grown up with. He is so brave and is taking all this change in stride. Here is an example of our son and his coping skills! He seems to love his new family and he is always hamming it up for us! I foresee a class clown in our future! I am so exhausted still as we have had a busy week with our local International Dance Festival. It was lovely housing part of the China team. We feel we got to enjoy an extended stay in China. Our emotions are on the surface as we are so grateful for the son we have home and the beautiful culture he has brought home with him.

MY TWINS

While we were in China, my good friend Sarah , who is a fantastic photographer, was watching my kids one day and decided to do a photo shoot. Here is just one of the darling pictures she took. She truly captured their relationship. They are best friends and Mia takes care of Ashton like a mother hen. Ashton is hearing impaired and she ALWAYS makes sure he hears everything- if he doesn't she will grab his face and repeat what he needs to hear. I did not teach her this- she just knows his needs and is always there like a sister should be. I shutter to think what life would be like without her, without him. Family is everything!!!!!!!!!!!!

Farewell

Well, the day is here where we say good bye to our CHI "family friends". It has been so wonderful watching these families form. What an honor!! I just love all the children and they will have a special place in my heart. We are so excited to come home to the states to be with our family and watch Jonah as he settles in to his new life. He is more loving every day and starting to show it in the cutest ways. He still has to be in the right mood to show affection but when it comes, you can see he really means it. We went shopping on the street today and he bought trinkets for Jin Pei and Ashton, Mia and for Jin Ming who he calls Ming Ming. So sweet. He talks about Jin Pei all the time . OH- I almost forgot! HE LOVES KETCHUP!!! He even tried to drink it after all his fries were gone! He loves bacon too. Yep....... he's a Mallory boy. He doesn't really like veggies which surprised me, being from the region he was in, but we will work on that when we get home! Speaking of home, We are flying out early tomorrow so I need to go to bed! I can't wait to have by babies at home in my arms again! Idaho here we come!!!

Jonah is in the house

Jonah is slowly getting more comfortable with his new family. He is still really quiet and a little weird around lots of people and in any public situation. Then when we are back together , just us as a family, he comes out of his shell and is quite a ham. He said I love you to me today after I told him I love you. He was only parroting me but it was still great! He is testing us with some interesting behavior but nothing that wasn't expected. He will figure out soon that we love him no matter what and will be comfortable with his new boundaries. I am already seeing progress. We are super busy here so I will make this short. 3 more days and we will be HOME!!!
Mare

Hey all !! We are in Guangzhou!! After quite a delay due to weather (rain, lightning and wind) in the Hangzhou airport, we finally took off to Guangzhou. We love Guangzhou and feel like it's a little piece of home here. Hangzhou was absolutely gorgeous and I definitely left my heart in Jin hua, but it is good to be here with the other families from CHI who have been waiting for their kiddos like we have. To see these new family bonds taking shape is exhilirating!! We had lunch at Lucy's and the kids thought they had died and gone to heaven. After 10 days of chinese food (ok... I will admit we did have Mc Donalds a few meals) we loved the American fare at Lucy's. They have things like burgers, fries, quesadillas, BLT's and even apple pie!! Jonah had his physical today for his Visa and he was so brave! They did some poking and prodding but he was a champ. He is a real trooper. We then played in a local park for a while where I fell -which was evidently GREAT entertainment for Jonah- He laughed until he was in tears. I guess I'd do anything for a smile where Jonah is concerned , but that is not what I had on my list. No worries, I am fine and Jonah keeps asking me to do it again! I won't have pictures tonight- sorry!!!! My camera isn't charged enough to transfer the pics to the laptop so I will do it in the AM. Good night from China y'all! Thanks for your love and prayers! We love you!
Marianne

Happy Late Birthday, Marianne!

Definitely worth the wait, though, huh?????

Love,

Cynthia

Go read this

Make sure you scroll down all the way down to "older posts" and click on it. It will tell in detail more about our orphanage visit.

Where Jonah slept

This is Jin Pei's bed with the blanket from his momma on it and Jonah's is to the left of it. We did get back the blankets I sent over the last few months, including the one I made and sent via US Mail!! It was very well used so he did sleep with it!

Jin Ya

This is another one of Jin Ya. I tell of her in the long post below these pictures. Her parents died when she was young, but she does remember them so China considers her unadoptable because she has memories of her parents. I am on a mission to convince them otherwise.

Mavery on the run

This is Mavery, the spunky girl who did not want her photo taken. She too was woken up from her nap for our arrival and she wasn't having it- the photo shoot I wanted that is. She warmed up a little with a sucker from Jonah. Shannon, you have your work cut out for you! This girl knows what she wants!

Emma

Here is Emma, What a beauty she is and sweet too! She loved the little purple purse with legos we brought her. With those big eyes, I have a feeling she'll get anything she wants once she's home!!

Jin Pei and his backpack from Mom and Dad

Thanks for the cool stuff MOM!!!

" You woke me up for THIS?"

This is Peggy's Benjamin. He is a doll. He was woken up from his nap for our arrival and wan't real thrilled.

Her name is Jin Ya

OH MY HEART

Hello Everyone! We are on day 3 of having Jonah and he is so fun. He is opening up more everyday. I am finding that he gets very quiet around lots of people. He just freezes. I feel sad for him , but let me tell you, once it is just us back at our hotel the real Jonah emerges again. He sings, serves us water- he takes the glasses from the mini bar and pours each of us a glass, passes them out with pride and never drinks one himself. Jarrod says this is very traditional. He is playing up a storm with his brothers and is definitely all boy. He will fit right in! Last night he did the cutest thing. You see, every night he prepares his bed for bedtime with this little ritual of foling down his blankets perfectly and having his stuffed animals in place-all lined up and his pillow "fluffed" and put back in the perfect spot. Well, last night he did his little ritual and then looked over at my bed. He looked at me with those eyes as if to ask if he could just sleep with his Mama...... of course I said yes and he snuggled right in with a huge grin on his face. I think he has decided he likes having a mama. It boggles my mind how much he is just experiencing now for the first time. He waited 6 years to crawl in bed with Mom and Dad ? How many times in the last 6 years did he go to sleep lonely? I got to see his bed and it had a wooden bottom-much like a child bed but without a mattress, just a slab of wood with a bamboo mat on it. Next to his bed was Jin Pei's bed. I am so grateful they have had eachother. I am glad Jin Pei knows he will be home soon and can see Jonah. I knew who alot of the kids were at the orphanage because their files were sent to my agecy also and I keep in touch with all their mamas. They are no longer "pictures"of cute little kids, they are real ,beautiful human beings , orphans,who just lit up when they saw us. The are loved at the orphanage-it is apparent. However, you can see in their eyes that they wanted to be the one who got to go "Home" with their family. They were all beautiful, precious little people with little personalities of their own, a story of their own, and a purpose on this Earth. My heart broke as I had to leave. I pray for all my new little friends every day. I know some will get homes, some will not, but one thing is for sure, it changes you. Going there changes you FOREVER. Believe me when I say my wheels have been turning non stop since we left. There has to be a way to do more for these kids. One in particular, I will try to post her photo here is a beautiful girl 13 years old who is there because her parents died. She remembers them so for this reason, no one in China would want her and the Government assumed all these years that no one in America would want her either-just because she remembers her parents. She is 13- she is beautiful, friendly, very smart and kind, She should be shopping at the mall and crushing on boys for heaven's sake. I asked the orphanage director if there was a way I could convince the powers that be that there would be families out there in America who would feel as I do and they said YES!!! They said if I could get an agency to request her file, they would make sure her application was sent. They said it is in my hands because they have so many rules over them , but if the CCAA knew a family /families wanted her she would have a good chance of going up for adoption to that family. Of course my first thought was,"I will be back in 6 months" but I think my husband is out of money!! - I spent time with her and she is so lovely. I gave her a bracelet my MIL made for a gift and she lit up. I will do everything in my power to get her a home -(if it can't be mine). I hate to think of her future -She just needs a Mom and Dad to guide her and love her-she had that once and for unknown reasons, her family was taken from her life. -UHG!!

Well, I'd better go- The boys are doing great and so are we. I miss my babies at home terribly but we only have 6 days left! I love all of you and will post more tonight!

Two new pictures!!!!

Marianne has found a way to download photos!! It still takes forever, but she is starting to get them through! Yeah!!! Here is my Jin Pei with the ever-precious Jonah during the Mallory's visit to Jinhua....

The boys had on their matching Spiderman watches we sent them last month, and apparently they don't want to take them off!!! At Jin Pei's feet is the Diego backpack Marianne lugged all the way to China for us -- NINE pounds of goodies for our boy!!! She said he immediately ripped into the bag and stuck stickers all over his arms.

He will fit right in here!!!

And here is a photo of what our sons do best -- hang out with the girls!!!

Marianne and I will have to discuss the best way to barricade our homes from teenage girls in a few years!!!!

Enjoy. She said she will be sending more later tonight, but I have to get some sleep -- I have been living in two opposing time zones since Sunday!!!! If I keep this up, I will already be on China Time by the time we leave to pick up Jin Pei!!!

Cynthia