Photos From Our Trip

Here are some photos from our trip! I also have added some photos of our family the first few weeks home!

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Home From China!!!

I have soooo neglected my blog! Let me tell you life is busy with four little ones running around, but I am going to start to get back on track. We have been home from China 8 weeks, and Maggie is adjusting so well. Maggie now speaks 15-20 English words, she eats everything in sight, loves her brothers and to be honest with you, it seems like she has always been with us. She is smart, curious, and seems to be very happy. Her two older brothers Joseph and Harrison are so good with her, they really love her!! Patrick now on the other hand is having a little bit of a hard time, getting use to his new baby sister! He is getting better, I figure time will make things better, we are all still adjusting. China was eye opening, our trip was much more difficult than I ever imagined. Maggie was completely traumatized, and it took her four days to warm up to us. She was so sad and dispondent, I had incredible guilt taking her away from her foster mom. She was very attached to her and she clearly greived her loss. I missed the boys so much, it was one of the hardest experiences of my life. Everything we went through was worth it all, to have our beautiful girl! Everyday I look at her I still can't believe she is ours, God is good, we are so lucky!

Crazed at the Collett House!!!

I just posted pictures of Harrison's first day of kindergarten! He did so well, he hopped on that bus and never looked back! I can't believe the school year is already on the third week, we have been so busy! Joseph has started football, and had his first game on Saturday, winning the first game he was feeling great. He was also named defensive captain of the team, which he thinks is really cool. Both of my big guys are doing great at school, the transition has been smooth, I am so proud of them! Patrick has his first day of preschool this week, we will see how that goes considering his Mom and Dad will be on a plane to China! We are leaving in four days, it seems to have come so quick!! I think we are ready, packing mostly done, trying to organize our kids schedules and that sort of thing. I am completely anxiety ridden, much more than I thought I would ever be. Next week at this time we will be in China, and probably be meeting our daughter for the first time, amazing isn't it!! I will try to post some pictures of Maggi es room, it really is so cute, i am also going to try to blog from china to keep everyone updated. That's about it for now, I have to go run around my house and try to get things in order!! Everyone send those positive thouhgts our way, I can certainly use them!

Harrison's First Day of Kindergarden

Two Weeks From Today!!!!!

We are leaving two weeks from today, I can't believe it!! We started this process on July 10th, 2005, and after months of paperwork we were logged in(in China) on Jan 5th, 2006. We waited month to month only to find out the wait would become longer, and then on June 5th, 2007 the call came!! It has hard to find the words to describe this journey, it really is amazing and the best way I can describe it, is that it is a journey of the soul. I have thought about my daughter everyday since we filled out our application back in July 2005. I loved her long before I ever knew who she was, or even saw her face. I have prayed for her to come to us, and my prayers have been answered! We are so lucky, we are so blessed. I wanted to share some of comments that we were told about Maggie, and here they are....
She has 10 teeth
She crawls on hands and knees
She stands alone steadily
Walks short distances holding onto someones hand
Has a ready smile
She is energetic, talktative, impatient sometimes and cooperative when putting on clothes ( I hope she likes pink, haha)
Her favorite activity is to play outside
I can't wait to meet her, it won't be long, my precious girl Mommy and Daddy are coming!!

We Have Our Date!

We were notified on Monday, that our travel approval is here!! Today we also got the great news that the American Consulate has confirmed our visa appointments for Sept 24, 2007!! This all means that we are leaving for China on Sept 13th and return Sept 26th! Oh my goodness, this is really happening!! We are so excited! I will be running around trying to get everything in order, for our big trip. I think the boys are getting excited, they have alot going on also. Harrison turned 5 on August 6th, Joseph has started football and we're getting ready for school next week! Joseph is going into third grade, Harrison starts kindergarden and my little Paddy boy will be going to preschool two mornings a week! I am having problems with my computer, so I hope to be able to post some new pictures soon on my guys! I am also going to start to post some info about our little Maggie and her personality(her orphanage described some things about her in her referral package that i will share) Less than three weeks we will be leaving for China, the countdown begins!!!

Maggie's Care Package

We sent a care package to Maggie, with some things we thought she might like! Harrison and Patrick helped pick out some toys for their baby sister, we had a lot if fun shopping. The care package included a blanket, doll, a black dog blanket, a photo album with all of our pictures in it, a disposable camera, two books and a lady bug stuffed animal. We hope the orphanage will take pictures of her, while we wait and we can have it developed when we come home. I am sure she has already received it, and I hope she is enjoying her new toys! The wait continues, hopefully we will have some idea of when we will be traveling in the next few days, I don't think it can be soon enough!!!

CHINA HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!

Here, we go! I received a call yesterday morning from our adoption agency, with some great news. We have our letter of acceptance!!!! The next step for us is traveling, we are out of our minds!! We sent our letter of intent on June 22nd, and received our letter of approval on July 23rd. This is moving really fast for us, we are so lucky!!! We are hoping to travel in about six weeks, oh my goodness! I am floating, this is really surreal! Hang on Maggie, Mommy and Daddy are coming!!!!

My Guys on Vacation

Here are my boys on vacation, we spent a week on Martha's Vineyard. We spent the days at the beach soaking up the sun, swimming and having fun! Patrick turned three while we were away, here he is blowing out the candles on his birthday cake. I tried really hard to get a picture of the three boys together, as you can see in the last photo, Patrick wasn't crazy about the idea. Two out of three smiling isn't bad in my book! We have a bunch of pictures to send to Maggie in China, after all she needs to see her big brothers! Vacation was everything we needed, the beach is soooo good for the soul!

Waiting for Maggie!!

I think I might be able to do this!!! I have deceided to start a blog about our adoption, and our family! We got the call June 5th, about our daughter and now are once again waiting to bring her home. Our letter of intent was sent to China on June 22nd, and we are now waiting for China to send us a letter of acceptance. The last update we have on Maggie is that she is now 19lbs, and we hope to have some new pictures soon! We are getting ready for our new arrival, and for our trip, hoping that we may travel in the fall.