Cardiology Visit~

Sophie's first cardiology visit at Phoenix Children's Hospital was just weeks after coming home from China. Understandably, it did not go well. She was scared, untrusting, and of all things...I forgot to bring her blanket. Mom fail. We did not get and EKG and her ECHO was barely good due to her crying the entire time. Overall, it was a very traumatic day for both of us.

Fast forward about 6 months, and here we are at her 2nd cardiology exam. She is older, attached to us, comfortable with doctors now, we had both blankies and her baby, Mei Mei. I also brought books, Nook, treats, paper and crayons...we were ready for today! And Sophie did great!

This visit we were able to get all her vitals done, a perfect EKG ( and so did Mei Mei ), a good ECHO, and a great visit with her cardiologist. At the end of her appointment, she hugged her doctor and waved bye. I'm pretty sure she stole everyone's heart today on the pediatric cardiac floor!

To reward Sophie for doing such an amazing job at the doctor and being such a big girl, I treated her to Chinese food for lunch at Dao Kitchen. She was super excited for rice!

This was such a good day with my sweet girl!

Re-Adoption Day!

Today, November 12th, 2014, was Sophie's re-adoption day here in the States.  Now that we have her home from China, we had to go to court to make her adoption official here in the USA. Since this is Adoption Awareness Month, the timing of our court date was just perfect!

Prior to today, we only had Sophie's Chinese Birth Certificate and her Chinese Passport/Visa.

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We got to the Maricopa County Juvenile Court a bit early, and we were waiting outside the court room for our hearing with lots of other families. It was just Scott, Sophie and I there. The boys were both in school.  The attorney said that Wednesdays are adoption court days~ it was so cool to see all the kids waiting for the official stamp of adoption there. Here we are just hanging out before our case was called~

And of course she had both of her blankies~

Right before we went in, I picked up Sophie and asked her if she was ready. She got a huge smile on her face and said YES! Like she knew exactly what we were doing.  So.Darn.Cute! Once we were in the court room, the proceedings were pretty quick. Sophie colored a picture of Woody and Buzz while Scott and I took an oath and verified our information. Then the judge said we were great parents for Sophie and she approves our request of adoption. She thanked us for giving Sophie such a great life. Our judge was so sweet~ very kind and so happy to see the kids joining good families.

Sophie got a gold medal with USA color ribbon and we are now able to get her US birth certificate, social security card and passport.

Our official picture with the judge~

Orphan Sunday~

Yesterday was Orphan Sunday. We thanked God for having Sophie home with us, and we prayed for the 153 million orphans around the world waiting for a Forever Family. Looking back on our adoption journey, I can tell you every bump we encountered...but I can also tell you how worth it every bump was. And, that I would do it all over again. In.A.Heartbeat.

In the short 6 months that Sophie has been home, she has gone from being a shy, grieving little girl to a little girl who goes to preschool, colors, rides plasma cars with her brothers and has tea parties with her dolls. She trusts and loves BIG. She knows who her family is, and she knows she is loved. It's as though she has been with us always.

"Adopting one child won't change the world, but for that one child...the world will change."

Helping orphans does not necessarily mean adopting. Consider sponsoring an orphan, praying for them, joining mission trips to help make their lives a little bit better, or donating to a charity that helps orphans. Whatever you decide to do, I can guarantee it will be very rewarding to you. I pray you can find it in your heart to help in any way.

Sophie went from being scared...

To feeling much loved...