Life Lessons For My Sophie~

" To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. " ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently read an article about 15 life lessons to teach your daughter as she grows up. I thought these points were important messages to relay to Sophie one day, and I didn't want to forget them...

1.  Enjoy your own company.
2.  Read.
3.  Crying is not a weakness.
4.  You can achieve anything you want to with just a series of very small steps.
5.  Fall in love with whomever you choose.
6.  Never allow a potential enemy know that you are afraid.
7.  You will make mistakes, plenty of them.
8.  The world will change if you let it, accept everything that it holds and remain intact.
9.  Before you drink alcohol, understand it.
10.  Don't take things personally, and don't take responsibility for other's works and actions.
11.  Cheating, lying and violence never equate to love.
12.  Learn when to say yes and when to say no.
13.  Turn whatever you love into your career.
14.  Live only in the present moment.
15.  Whatever the emotion, don't deny it.

Sophie, I pray you continue to stay sweet! I want you to grow and mature into a beautiful person, inside and out. I know that you have a huge heart and are able to overcome many obstacles. Follow your dreams and you will do great things in life.

Xoxo, Mommy

For the Love of Ice Cream~

These 3 kiddos just LOVE ice cream! If you are around in this house, you may hear this song...

" I scream

You scream

We all scream

For ICE CREAM! "

Ice cream does something to these kids...it makes them all kids of SILLY ;)  Monkey see, monkey do...

The last few weeks Sophie has loved having her picture taken. She has a camera of her own, and often tells us to say cheese and she "takes our picture." Then she tells us, " good job! " It is hysterical ;) Anyhow, this last picture is one where she asked me to take her picture. Such a cute girl that is growing up WAY too fast!!

Our Chinese New Year~

Sophie woke up early to get ready for school. I told her "Happy Chinese New Year," and in her sweet morning voice, she repeated it to me. What a cute girl! I asked her if she wanted Chinese food for dinner and she told me she wanted chicken, broccoli and rice...and that's what she got!

At school, her teachers, Ms. Jasmin and Ms. Bri, read two of Sophie's CNY books to the class ~ The Year of the Sheep and My First Chinese New Year. I had made some sugar cookies with red sprinkles for a special snack and they kids colored CNY pictures during art time. So fun that they celebrated Sophie's Chinese culture! The teachers said this was super fun for her....and to top off the day, Sophie was promoted to Room 5, the big girl room, as she calls it ;)

Once we all got home, we ate our Chinese dinner. Everyone had to use chopsticks for dinner, which was challenging to some of us!

After dinner, we played a game that Tiffany told me about. We each got 3 big marshmallows. The game was to see who could pick up the marshmallows with their chopsticks and put them in the bowl first...it was a race! After some big winning celebrations, and some crying because we aren't so great at using chopsticks, I think we all had a lot of fun!

Once this game was done, the boys bet each other they couldn't pick up all 3 at once. Sophie was determined to do it...she said, " Momma, look, I did it!"

Next, we all got our Red Envelopes with an Ancient Chinese coin and Sophie got a gift we brought home from China for her. She got a dainty light pink pearl bracelet. It looks so pretty on her little arm!

Finally, our night ended with some fireworks that Scott had bought for the night. Hudson and Addison came over, they all did tons of sparklers and Scott had a few that he lit in the street. Overall, I would say this was a really fun way to start off The Year of the Sheep! Baaaaa

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Sheep!

May this year bring you and your family much happiness and prosperity!

#HeartWarrior

This week is CHD awareness week. Congenital Heart Disease. CHD is a category of heart disease that includes abnormalities in cardiovascular structures that occur before birth. Types of CHD problems include heart valve defects, defects in the walls between the atria and ventricles of the heart ( atrial and ventricular septal defects ), and heart muscle abnormalities that can lead to heart failure.

Our Sophie is a CHD baby. Look how beautiful she is! This is when she was about 4 months old, in Fujian, China. She is a #HeartWarrior. She is a strong and brave little girl. She underwent open heart surgery in China, without Scott and I there to love on her. Once out of the hospital and back in the special care unit at the orphanage, she recovered quickly. In 2 weeks time, she was placed with her foster family. Although we were not there, I KNOW the nannies took amazing care of her before, during and after her surgery. I KNOW they loved on her and helped her heal quickly.

Fast forward almost 2 years. Here she is waiting for her yearly cardio exam. And, she's looking good! Her heart repair is looking great and her warrior scar is healing beautifully.

We are very fortunate that Sophie has healed so well from her heart surgery. Some kids are not so lucky, and suffer much, much more. We may not have been there to love on her after surgery, but we are now making up for lost time! If you have a loved one that is a #HeartWarrior, share some love...they are true heros!

Flashback Friday~ Xiamen

My friend and case manager at AGCI, Tiffany, travels to China several times per year to update medicals on new kiddos. Since AGCI has a partnership with Sophie's orphanage, she is always traveling back to Xiamen. The last time she was in Xiamen, she was at the grocery store and she bumped into some OREO cookies! She immediately thought of Sophie and her love of OREOs. She sent a picture of the OREOs in China for Sophie to have as a memory one day. Before our Gotcha Day, we found out from Sophie's foster mom that she loved cookies...I wonder if she was meaning OREOs in particular?!

She Looks So Beautiful ~

Sophie looks so beautiful in her traditional Chinese dresses, especially in red. A few months ago, I came across a photog's blog featuring her daughter, also Chinese. She did a photo shoot with her daughter for Chinese New Year several years back.  Soooo, yep, you guessed it! I booked a shoot with my friend, Abby ;)

Sophie's shoot was really low key, in our house. She was comfortable, knew Abby already, and was silly that day. I loved the way these pictures turned out. They show Sophie beautiful in her dress, as well as having fun with chop sticks and fortune cookies!

Getting Ready for the Chinese New Year~

This year, and the years to come, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated a bit differently than in the past. Usually, we would just eat Chinese food on the holiday night. But now, our Sophie is home with us, and the celebration is a bit different. We've decorated, put out pictures of Sophie in her traditional Chinese dress, we have Mandarin oranges in our kitchen, and we have many books to read on the Chinese culture.

This year is the Year of the Sheep. The holiday is on February 19th, 2015. The sheep is Yin energy, a symbol of Peace, Harmonious co-existence and Tranquility.  That is the primary and fundamental mood for this year. A popular Chinese greeting for this time of the year is ~

恭喜发财 / 恭喜發財 (Gōngxǐ fācái)

Happiness and Prosperity! 

'Happiness and prosperity!'

• In Mandarin: /gong-sshee faa-tseye/
• In Cantonese: Kunghei fatchoy /gong-hey faa-chwhy/