Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful trip out to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. We flew out on Wednesday and spent a few days with Karen (Henry's sister) and Steve. We saw my grandparents, an uncle and some cousins on Saturday. Then we drove home in our new (to us from Karen) car! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Going for a walk on Thursday.
The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Checking to see if the turkey is done.
(It had been cooking for 5 hours and we were getting hungry!)

Still waiting for that turkey...

We headed to the park on Friday.
(Meili is wearing her Chinese tiger birthday hat.)

Meili, Nigel and Pookles at the park.
The wind was ICY!

One family picture before we leave.

Meili with her great-grandpa (Gramps).

Meili entertained herself for a while in the car...

but was tired and fell asleep.
She slept for over 3 hours - that's a record!

Happy Birthday Meili!

We got the call one year ago today!!!

One year ago today... I was out on the playground at school doing recess duty with another Oakdale teacher. I had my cell phone turned on (just in case someone from Bethany tried to call me). It rang during recess! It was our caseworker - calling to say that we had been matched with Meili! I felt very calm when I was on the phone but fell apart after I hung up. All of the kids wanted to know why I was crying. I wanted to tell them but I could hardly talk! Plus... I still had to call Henry to tell him the news. Here's our post from that day...

MEET OUR DAUGHTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here she is:
Meili Jiang XinYi Kingma (pronunciation: May-Lee Gee-ong Chin Yee Kingma)
Date of Birth: November 21, 2005
Current Home: Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
Estimated GOTCHA DAY: January 2007
Proud Parents: Liz & Henry

one year ago

This was a big week for us last year. It's fun to go back and look at what kinds of things we were posting on this blog. It's strange to remember that last year at this time, we knew about Meili but didn't know that she was going to be our daughter. Here's the post from one year ago today.

"Please keep us in prayer this week as we consider two different girls from the "Children of Promise" list. These are two young girls who have some unique needs and are waiting to be placed with a family. Pray for wisdom for those in the decision making process - that they will find the best placement for these two special girls."

laughing during prayer

What are you supposed to do when your kid does something HILARIOUS when you are trying to pray? Lately, when we pray "God is great, God is good..." with Meili she tries to pray along. It's hard for us to make it through the prayer without completely cracking up. First, Meili sees that we have our eyes closed so she squints hers shut - not all the way because she still wants to look around. Second, she tries to say the prayer along with us but for some reason, she pulls a funny face when she's doing it. It's hard to explain. Take a look!

family memories

We have this list. It's not written anywhere - it's just something we talk about. It's a list of things we can't wait to do with our kids. Going to the zoo, hanging out in Chicago, traveling, going to the Post Family Farm in the fall, eating pie at Robinettes, going to hockey games... those things are all on our "list." It's so fun to actually start doing some of those things with Meili and to continue some of our annual family traditions! Last week we went to Robinettes to have pie for dinner! Meili gobbled up a whole piece of pumpkin pie and a whole cinnamon donut. She enjoyed the apple cider too!

pictures!

It's been a while since I've updated this blog. We've been so busy and it's been hard to find time to get pictures uploaded. We are all doing really well. Meili is so much fun and we love spending time with her! Her surgery in August was successful and since then, she's learned how to suck through a sippy cup (couldn't do that with the hole in her mouth), she's been eating more and more adult food, and she's been making a lot of new sounds including "d." It's so awesome to hear her saying "DaDa." Here are some pictures from this weekend! First, some shots of Meili posing in her goofy sunglasses and second, Meili posing while we wait for our dinner.

saying "CHEESE"

busy, crazy, nuts

Boy... things are busy, crazy, nuts! It didn't take long to move from a relaxed summer into a busy year. This week Saturday we start working at the Post Family Farm, driving hayrides and making donuts. It's our favorite way to start getting ready for fall. Last weekend we were in Toronto for Ray (Henry's brother) and Junco's wedding. It was a great weekend to be together! Here are some pictures from the weddding!

can't believe I did that!

Tonight when I was giving Meili her supper I noticed that she and I were dressed alike. I didn't mean for that to happen so it's kind of funny. We both had skorts on and redish/pinkish shirts with a pattern. Of course, mine didn't have drool and babyfood on it.



School started this week and I'm back full time. Meili's adjusting to daycare again and we're trying to figure out how to fit everything in our schedule. I'm looking forward to weekends even more now because it's when we'll have the most time to hang out with Meili. She's talking like crazy now (although we can't understand a lot of it) and loves to sing. Some of her favorite songs right now are the Itsy, Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, The Wheels on the Bus, and BINGO.

ending already?

Can it be the end of summer already? Just a few weeks until the school year gets going again. I had to start getting my classroom ready last week so Meili came and "helped" me work. She actually did GREAT - carried random things around, played with toys, and kept an eye on the fish. When Jana came to help, Meili played with the dogs. It was fun having her there - watching what kinds of things she would get into. Monday we had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon. He said that Meili's mouth looks good - she has two more weeks of her liquid-only diet and then she can have pureed food again. After three weeks of that, she should be ready to go back to solid food. She's been really good about drinking her soup and fruit drinks without any complaining even when she sees us eating things like cantaloupe (which she really loves). Here are a few shots of Meili "hanging out" in the backyard last week.

nothing can stop her...

Meili is done with surgery and everything went really well. The surgeon did work inside her cheeks and closed the palate opening as well. The surgery took about 2 hours. Meili now has stitches in four different places in her mouth and one set in her nose. Coming out of the anesthesia was hard for her - she cried a lot - so the nurse gave her a narcotic to help her sleep. Meili slept pretty much all day yesterday. We got home from the hospital around 4:00 P.M. and could tell Meili was already feeling better because she was talking and making animal sounds. She slept really well last night (8:00 p.m. - 8:00 a.m.) waking up from about 11:30-12:30 a.m. She was just great today - pretty much back to normal. It's amazing how quickly kids can bounce back from this stuff. We are so thankful for the work of the doctors, nurses and other staff at the hospital - they were just wonderful. We praise God for successful surgery for Meili and continue to be so grateful that he placed her in our lives!

Here's a picture of Meili & Henry reading one of Meili's favorite books.

surgery tomorrow

Tomorrow morning Meili goes in for the next surgery on her mouth. Her surgeon will be dividing some skin flaps on her cheeks (a follow-up to the March surgery.) When he's done with that part, the doctor will determine if it's a good time to close the part of her palate that re-opened since her March surgery. That will make this surgery and recovery more of a big deal than if he just divides the skin flaps. The surgery is scheduled for 9:40 tomorrow morning. Pray that all goes well and for healing for Meili.

Here's a picture of our little sweetie at the beach this past weekend.

faces and noises...

Meili loves reading books - especially when they have animals in them. She likes making the animal noises - and makes cute faces at the same time.

starting a new book

"moooo"

"baaaaa"

"quack, quack"

"woof, woof"

"Hi, hi, hi..." (to Jana who was not copying the noises)
"the itsy, bitsy spider went up the water spout..."
all done and spaced out!

a good day...

I LOVE this picture!!!

Meili's surgery went well this morning. It was a short procedure but having anesthesia made it more of a big deal. Meili was cranky and miserable when she first woke up and screamed all the way home. However, as soon as we got home and I took her out of the car, she cheered right up. It was kind of funny to watch her in the house. Her legs were like noodles after the anesthesia and she couldn't walk. She took a huge nap in the morning and in the afternoon and pretty much just sat with me the rest of the time and read books. It's nice when she's so snuggly! By this afternoon she was feeling pretty good - playing and coloring and running around.

A few pictures from the past few days - it's been in the 90s and we're spending lots of time in the sandbox and the pool!

Meili doesn't like having to get out of the sandbox or pool. You can see the face she makes when she's not happy about something (above). Below you can see from her lips and face that's she's freezing cold - but still doesn't want to get out of the pool!

"Meili, show me your teeth!"