TWO YEARS!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

I'm a couple of days late, but can you believe, its been TWO WHOLE YEARS, since that amazing day in Guangzhou Adoption Affairs Office, that we laid eyes on one of the most beautiful children we'd ever seen?


YES!! TWO YEARS!! We went out to dinner with our batch on Sat night to celebrate and reminisce. We all said, it seemed possible that one year had lapsed... but TWO?!!! It has gone at warp speed. So so so different from the years of waiting, that seemed to drag on, and felt like 10 years, not 4!


Here's some flash backs for you!

Our earliest photo of Tiny (don't think I've ever shared this one!): We think she is about 3 months old?
First night (12 Feb 2009)

On the way to Adoption Affairs to make it all official (13 Feb 2009)

Playing around in Guangzhou

Last day in Guangzhou, before we flew out to Shanghai

In Shanghai (Tiny still wears these PJs! not long in the arms anymore, though!!)

Home at last! Our Family is complete! (28 Feb 2009)

Tiny a couple of weeks ago...

Helping Papa:

Family is a beautiful thing.

(I made a new digital scrapbooking kit, to celebrate! You can see it here!) Its called Awaiting China. It has lots of Chinese words, red thread, panda... but its got lots of "non chinese/adoption" elements too, so you can scrap just about anything with it! I also made pink & blue papers, so you can scrap your beautiful son or daughter!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year!! Or as they say in Tiny's Province Gong Hey Fat Choy!!

A placid year, very much welcomed and needed after the ferocious year of the Tiger. We should go off to some quiet spot to lick our wounds and get some rest after all the battles of the previous year.

Good taste and refinement will shine on everything and people will acknowledge that persuasion is better than force. A congenial time in which diplomacy, international relations and politics will be given a front seat again. We will act with discretion and make reasonable concessions without too much difficulty.

A time to watch out that we do not become too indulgent. The influence of the Rabbit tends to spoil those who like too much comfort and thus impair their effectiveness and sense of duty.

Law and order will be lax; rules and regulations will not be rigidly enforced. No one seems very inclined to bother with these unpleasant realities. They are busy enjoying themselves, entertaining others or simply taking it easy. The scene is quiet and calm, even deteriorating to the point of somnolence. We will all have a tendency to put off disagreeable tasks as long as possible

Money can be made without too much labor. Our life style will be languid and leisurely as we allow ourselves the luxuries we have always craved for. A temperate year with unhurried pace. For once, it may seem possible for us to be carefree and happy without too many annoyances.

We had fortune cookies after dinner... mine said "you will enjoy a happy and peaceful life" - at the time Tiny was running around the house screaming at the top of her lungs, banging a drum... all with no undies on - just her little tee shirt.

I'm wondering when the "peaceful" part starts?!!

(she looks pretty peaceful in still photo form... its totally an illusion, I tell ya!)