Life in Longyan~

I was going thru some pictures today, and stopped when I got to the folder of Sophie living in Longyan. She moved in with her foster family just after surgery, maybe around 5 months old. Her foster family lived in the Longyan countryside, not in the city, so I have been told. I would tend to think life was at a slower pace, much more simple. Here are a few images of Longyan...

When Sophie was living with her foster family, her foster parents grandchildren were around a lot, it seems from the pictures we have. I think this is was great in preparing Sophie to be in our family, growing up with siblings. She also had a foster sister, who is now named Penny. We will be able to visit her one day, as she has been adopted here in the States!

Sophie's foster family was so good to her. They always seemed to have her outside, with family, riding bikes. Normal family living. Now, when I show Sophie the pictures of her in Longyan, she doesn't believe me that that's her! She looks so young, and so different. We will be forever grateful to her foster family for showing her so much love. They showed her what it was like to live in a family, not an institution. For this, she bonded to us more quickly.

In Sophie's care package, I sent a disposable camera. Her foster family took all the pictures and returned the camera on Sophie's Gotcha Day. Here are just a few of Sophie living in Longyan, March 2014.

Late Night Chat~

Last night, Sophie did not want to go to sleep. It didn't matter what I did, nothing was working. Not rocking, humming lullaby's, or reading books. It got to be about 9:30pm, and since she sleeps in a twin bed, I asked her if she wanted to lay down with me. She jumped at the chance, literally!

In Sophie's room, my mom and I put up a huge wall mural of a tree, with leaves "blowing" across the wall. It turned out great, I love it! Here it is...

So, there we are lying in her bed, and she looks over at me and says, "Momma, I love that tree. It is so beautiful!" *Pause* "Momma, you are so beautiful!" Melt.My.Heart. This girl is not yet 2.5 years old, and she thinks to say these things?! So, I look up at her and she is smiling so big, and I tell her, "Sophie, you are momma's beautiful girl!"

She nodded, put her tiny arms around my neck, and hugged me for what seemed like an hour. Could she be an old soul? She sure does seem wiser than her age ;) She warms my heart, and I feel so lucky God chose me to be her momma.

Splashing Silliness!

Hayden was kicking the water hard, and Sophie was squealing with excitement! Last year, Sophie was quite timid around the pool. She has grown out of this timidness over the winter. She was super excited to be in and around the pool this day, even if the water was only 62 degrees!

It took little time for Hayden to convince Sophie to start splashing with him ;)

And, I think it would be safe to say that they were pretty happy about all the waves they were making ;)

Soon after all the kicking and wave-making, these little boogers got in that freezing water!!

Thanks, Hayden, for helping Sophie get past her fear of water. She loved splashing and being silly with you today. Your smiles are the best! Xoxo

#TBT

I recently showed this picture to Sophie. I did a comparison of her in March 2014, just weeks before we flew to China, and of her in January 2015. She wouldn't believe me that both pictures were her! She had me cracking up ;) She continued to insist that the picture on the left was NOT her!

Sophie has come a long way in a year. Both physically and emotionally. I think it's interesting that she does not see herself in the left-hand picture. She has always had just the cutest face that has my heart forever!

Sophie's Favorites~

Sometimes I will be in the kitchen cleaning, or doing laundry, and I wonder "where is Sophie?" Then, I start to wander thru the house, only to find her playing in her bedroom. She loves spending time in her room!

One of her loves is to have tea parties! I wonder if she remembers tea always being served in her foster family's home. Anyhow, she will serve tea to anyone around ;)

Another of Sophie's favorite things to do is to read. This girl reads constantly. She is always wanting us to read her the book, and with her amazing memory, she reads the book next, very accurately! She is definitely one smart little girl!

I hope Sophie continues to love these two favorites of hers as she grows older! And I love the fact that she is so "at home" in her beautiful bedroom ;)

She Has Conquered Her Fear~

Just 10 short months ago, Sophie would go nowhere near the bath. She was terrified. So, for the first few days after Gotcha, I would just wash her on the bed with a wash cloth and then wash her hair as best I could in the sink. Then we tried getting in with her, which was a little bit better. Once we got home and she was in the bath with the boys, it got even better. But, now...look at this little fish!

She is loving her bubble bath time each night! She loves to see herself sing "Let it Go"  in the faucet, too ;)

It has taken many baths and lots of time to get her to be this silly in the bath...but it was worth it!

And this is one happy bubble bath takin' girl ;)

Sophie's First Dance!

She got up from a long nap, all happy. She was on her way to her first dance that night with daddy. She got dressed in her pretty dress, sweater, knee socks, sparkly shoes and warm coat. She had a pretty bow in her hair, and she was READY! She even tried to put on daddy's shoes!

We took a few pictures before she and daddy were off to dinner. She was very willing to get her picture taken. She even wanted to hold the boys hands for a cute picture...but they had other plans!

Then, daddy came in for a few shots before they left to meet our friends at Mellow Mushroom for dinner.

Sophie, daddy said you had so much fun at the dance! You were running around, dancing, playing with friends and the props they had there and you were also found reading books. Here is a cute picture of them at the dance.

When they got home, they told us how much fun they had...and that they are going to need more daddy-daughter dates in the future!