6 mo Anniversary!!

Hello and Happy 6 month Anniversary to US!!!!!!! 6 months ago today Jeffrey and I received a wonderful special delivery to our hotel in Jinan, China. We still cannot believe 6 months have passed since Megan came into our lives. I remember it like yesterday. A day neither of us will ever forget.  Megan weighed in at 21.8 lbs and now weighs 27.2. She measured 33.2 inches and now is 33.5 inches. Ha! I think we'll have a little shorty on our hands. She is doing very well! Still so very funny and "slightly" stubborn... Famous last words from the orphanage - she is "slightly" stubborn. Well, we are here to tell you that is the biggest  understatement we have ever heard. Holy smokes!! Sleep still seems to be an issue - gets worse at times but then is better at times, too. English is still lacking.  She says a lot of single words but does not say more than 1 together. This makes things extremely difficult when she wants something and none of us can tell what in the heck she is saying. Both of us were hoping that language would have been much better at this point. We've been told not to worry that it will come soon. Her receptive language is amazing and has been since shortly after we got home. She comprehends everything we tell her and will do what is asked - or should I say she'll do it when she isn't being slightly stubborn.

Last night we sent an email to Megan's orphanage to give them an update on how Megan is doing and we sent some pictures, too. This morning we received a very sweet message back. They were very happy that we sent them pictures and they know that Megan is happy and healthy. Jeffrey and I got a chuckle when reading the email as conversion doesn't always work out well when translating. Ha!! Below is the note.

We are very excited for receiving your letter and photo . Megan is a pleasing girl when she was in the children's welfare in china, so there were a lot of our staff here love her except for her her volunteer family. Now we all miss her very much. From the letter and photo, we know that Megan is very healthy and happy, and becoming more beautiful . Thank you for giving her a family and taking good care of her . Please convey our yearning for Megan, telling her we love her for ever . We are eager to know her news so we hope you can often contact with us.  The Christmas is coming, wishing your family a merry christmas.

I was so excited to read their response but after I read it I was sad. I know how loved Megan was there and to know they are sad they do not get to see her any more. She was there for 2 yrs before we came to get her. I love that we will be able to keep in contact with the orphanage. They even sent us a couple of pictures of Megan that we had not seen before. We will definitely take Megan back to visit when she is ready.

Many people have asked how our adoption travel buddies are doing. We miss seeing them and talking with them each day. We do send updates via email which is nice but seeing them would be so much better! We've all had little struggles along the way but all are doing amazing. We wish them all the best!!!!

Speaking of our adoption buddies: in October our family was invited by Bethany to have dinner with some delegates from a couple of orphanages in China and the head of all the Chinese adoptions. It was a great dinner but that is not what I want to tell you. Bethany had created 2 pictures boards: 1 showed families that have adopted from China and 1 showed children along with their new forever family that will have their adoptions completed in 2014. I noticed a little boy on the board as one of Megan's volunteer family siblings. We have quite a few pictures and videos of him. I mentioned to a Bethany adoption specialist how we knew this little boy. She said she'd get in contact with that family and pass on our information. This family lives in Virginia roughly 10 mins from our close friends we did all our travel within China (Brandi and Michael). Brandi and Michael got in contact with Jon and Janalee who are adopting Megan's volunteer sibling. Well, Brandi and Michael's little boy, Max mourned a good friend at the orphanage in China when he got to the US and you got it, it is Jon and Janalee's to be son!!! Amazing enough for us to be in contact with Megan's "sibling" but for Max and to be able to grow up with his buddy from China! God wants those boys to be together!

We want to wish you all an amazing and blessed holiday season. Count all you blessing and be truly thankful for them. I know we will never be able to say thank you to God enough for our family.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!



She loves her Papa!!





Bring on the snow!

Megan's Baptism

5 months and 1 week!

helloOOOOOoo hellOOOoOOOOooo!!!!!

It is update time – although we do not have many interesting things to share. Megan is doing great!!!!! She is doing well at home and at daycare. She loves making her Momma and Papa some delicious concoctions in her kitchen and she makes a mean cup of coffee. Megan loves to do laundry with her Papa and she’s a great “folder” and she’s obsessed with putting clean underwear on her head. Ha!!! She is a great helper when Jeffrey is making his lunch for work, too. Ok, she just does it to get a smidge of peanut butter but who cares, right? Megan is a gifted artist. Her coloring skills are awesome and she is left handed! Yeah HoOoOOOOO!!! Lefties are awesome!!! Her English is still slow going. She is saying more words but she is refusing at this time to put words together. She’s slightly stubborn. The famous last words her orphanage said to describe Megan and slightly is NOT what Jeffrey and I would use for this little Chestnut. Last week Megan learned the word MINE!!! Momma and Papa were not happy with this new word. Some little person at daycare has taught our daughter this nasty word!! I joked with the ladies at daycare and they did say that word is used quite often in their room – perfect, I said. As you can tell Megan is doing very well and we could not be happier! Well, except when she’s throwing a fit over life in general, that is. If you are unsure of what I am talking about see my Facebook page complete with the video. ; )

Jacob and Alex are doing fantastic. They are both doing extremely well in school and adore their sister. They are always there to help out no matter where we need it. We have the best kids!! They are always trying to hug and kiss her but she lets them know when that isn’t totally acceptable with her.

Jeffrey and I are doing well, too. We both are extremely busy at work and would like if the stress was at a bare minimum. We are heading to Fort Wayne next Wednesday for Thanksgiving with the rest of my family. Should be a good time to eat, drink, play cards, eat, visit, drink, eat, visit and play cards. Jeffrey and Mike will be making some Black Friday shopping deals bright and early, too! Oh, and we just booked Megan’s 1st trip to Disney in February. We had a big trip booked last April but when we received Megan’s referral we had to cancel. Luckily the airlines were able to credit an account for us but we had to use the money by this December. On a sad note, Jacob is not going with us. He doesn’t want to miss that much school. Have you ever heard of such a thing? He’s such a great kid! He’s currently taking his 2nd AP course and since those are college courses, we totally understand. We will try to have fun without him.

If we could ask for your prayers: When Jeffrey went to Megan’s orphanage back in June he saw so many kids there both young and old. He saw a little princess that had a sad look on her face but she seemed to catch Jeffrey’s eyes often. When he came back to the hotel that afternoon, he showed me the video and pictures of this amazing place full of little people. I too picked this little girl out of all the kids. She was wearing a pink dress. Any who, Jeffrey and I came home and couldn’t/can’t get this little princess out of our heads. We contacted Bethany to see if we could bring this little girl to our home. It has taken well over a month to investigate who this little girl is and her status. We received information last Friday from Bethany and the news is devastating. This little girl is from a foiled kidnapping/human trafficking ring. Since China can not verify any information on her she sits in limbo in the orphanage system. Meaning, she is not adoptable and will live out her youth in an orphanage with no option of being adopted. We asked why is her situation is different than Megan’s because she was left of the steps of a hospital with no trace of where she came from either. Bethany stated that since they know she is from a foiled kidnapping/human trafficking situation that leaves her with absolutely no hope. All of this is extremely hard to swallow and very heartbreaking. We are both still working through a lot of emotions knowing we cannot bring her home and give Megan and the boys another sister. Again, Jeffrey and I ask for your prayers for this pretty little pink princess and all the kids who are in this same situation. May China change their policy on these children and let them be adopted by loving parents.

Hate to sign off on a sad note but we hope you all a very happy and safe Thanksgiving! Wishing you all faith, hope and love!





















Our little fairy!


Jacob moved from his spot and guess who moved in?


Underwear hat


The Pretty Pink Princess

Hello!

Hello everyone!

Anniversary time!

It has been a while since our last blog post – sorry about that. Tomorrow marks the 3 month anniversary that we were finally able to hold, hug and kiss Megan. It seems as if it has been so much longer. I often look back at all our pictures of China and of our 1st days with Megan and I get emotional. How can a small girl from ½ way across the world be so perfect and be the missing piece to our family? She was soooooo bald and so very skinny but her smile lit up a room. She doesn’t have much hair now but it is growing. We still have a great eater! There have only been a few items that we know that she doesn’t like but she can fool you by the closed eyes, rubbing her belly and saying mmmmmmmmmmmm! However, the food is still on her plate 15 minutes later. We still battle a few orphan eating issues but those are getting fewer and fewer. Megan weighed in around 21 pounds when we got her home and now she weight about 26 lbs! 5 pounds doesn’t seem like a lot to you or I but to a small chestnut, that is a lot. She is filling out nicely and we love every ounce of her!!! ; ) Megan is now 30 months old and has changed so much in the last 3 months. She is still one funny little girl and is constant entertainment for us all.

Megan’s English still isn’t great, she says a lot; however, not real clear but she is trying. She uses her Pleases and Thank Yous all the time, even if they are Plaaaaaa and Ta Tu. Megan uses her No, No (along with her pointer finger waiving) a lot. If she falls on the floor she will tell the floor, “no, no” or if Jeffrey or the boys are aggravating her she will come to me and take my pointer finger and point it at them and say “no, no!!!”. Apparently, using my finger makes it much more effective. She is learning to count but REFUSES to say 1. I am not sure what is up with that other than she knows it gets under my skin. Good grief! I am sure over the next couple of months she will start saying words more and they will get clearer.

Megan has been working very hard at potty training. A couple of weeks ago she came to me and pointed at her diaper, I thought she was poopy, when I checked her she was dry. I asked if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said “yea!”. There you go! Ever since then she’s done great. Except for the pooping… She tells me when she’s done but doesn’t have any interest in leaving it all in the potty… I sure hope she has a change of heart in that department very soon. Yuck!

We had our first family outing away from home Labor Day weekend. We traveled to the great city of Fort Wayne to visit the Korpi’s for our Hinds family birthday weekend. Megan slept terrible and we ended up coming home early but she was a peach during the day even with being extremely tired.

The boys started school after Labor Day – Jacob is a Junior (16 yrs old – next week!!!) and Alex (12 ½ yrs old) is in 7th (where does the time go?????). Megan and I had a week together all to our selves. With school starting I lost my shower sitter but we learned to improvise. I told Megan to stay in her room… Ha, that went over like a fart in church! The 1st day I found her in the living room playing on my iPad. Towards the end of the week she stayed in her room or at least I think she did… It’s a work in progress. Megan was sooooooooooo excited to see Jacob and Alex when they got home from school. It just melts my heart. They are so great with her.

Megan loves to play in the cupboards and take out anything that she can find. The girl can wear cookie cutters like nobody I have ever known! Ha!!! She is treating her babies better than she did when we first got home. She does feed them and give them stroller rides – no more baby abuse. : ) She absolutely loves to play horsey with her Papa but she doesn’t understand that she has to hang on in order not to fall off. Megan chooses to lay down on Jeffrey’s back. So stinkin’ funny!! She is learning her letters, likes us to read her books, and loves playing baseball with the boys outside. Oh, and she’s obsessed with Robin Thick’s Blurred Lines song. Ok, I know – not the most appropriate song to have your 2 yr old listen to but she doesn’t understand all the words anyway and it has a great beat! She could be one of Robin’s backup singers when she says the “hey, hey hey” part. Hysterical!!! We might have to put that up on YouTube someday.

Last week Megan started daycare and I went back to work part time. Both of us are still adjusting. I didn’t think I had a real hard time when the boys went back but I sure do now. I think it’s because I feel like we just got her and I am shoving her off to be with someone else. I know, I know, she’ll be fine and it will get better… That doesn’t mean I have to like it. I miss not being able to see and kiss that sweet face all day long.

I hope you all are doing well. Thank you for all your love and support.

2 month Anniversary!!!!

Hi y'all!!!!

Happy 2 month anniversary to us!!!!! Jeffrey and I have had Megan with us for 2 entire months!! 2 months ago Charlie Sheen (not his Chinese name) brought Mengli Fu to the Hyatt in Jinan City, China. Within a mere 15 minutes paper work was signed and Megan was our daughter. God gave us one amazing little chestnut. I am still totally amazed that she is ours. Our home is filled with girly stuff and we couldn't be happier.

2 months ago we wrote of the things we knew about Megan less than 12 hours in. What has changed or what more do we know about Miss M? Where do I begin?
Oh boy she's so funny!
She has a different face for everything! Ha!
She has the maximum sass capacity for a 29 month old.
She is total girl and this girl loves her shoes.
She loves to eat and will pretty much eat whatever is in front of her.
She is all about hats and sunglasses.
She loves her brothers and can get them to do whatever she wants. (Hee hee!)
She can be happy one minute and be a total crab the next. She keeps us on our toes!
She is very healthy!
The list could go on and on but you get the idea. : )
Happy, happy, happy!

The boys start school in a couple weeks, Jeffrey will continue working long hours (grrrrr), I go back to work after 12 weeks off and Megan starts day care... I am emotional about all of it except the boys starting school. Ha! It will be a drastic change for all after the summer of Megan. I hope we weather it all well. On to the fall of Megan!!! : )

We have the best family ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Donut lover!








Baseball 101 with one of the best brothers ever!!


Nobody can wear cookie cutters like this girl!!


Is she cool or what?!?!?


Papa helped with her head band... Good grief!!!





2nd family photo!!

Amazing!!!

Simply Amazing!!! God has been so good to our family, especially our little Chestnut!!!

Today was the big cardiology appointment with Megan. We met with her wonderful doctor, Dr. Donald Malcolm at DeVos Children’s Hospital downtown. We were able to ask many questions as to his thoughts on what Megan’s heart was like when she was born, why China waited so long to do surgery on her, what is her heart like now, any future surgeries and more questions I can’t remember. Soooooo you want to know what he said???? Ok then, Megan has what is called Pulmonary Stenosis with a PDA (pulmonary valve defect & PDA is a valve that closes 72 hours after birth but Megan’s did not). She had her surgery in China at a normal age for this type of heart issue. The older the child is the better chance at survival because they are stronger. Megan had an EKG, heart ultrasound and couple of other test that I can’t remember at her apt (all without sedation!!! They usually do these test while the child is asleep at her age but in our case we used fruit snacks and fish crackers to try and keep her still.). While the doctors in China did a more aggressive approach to her surgery, Dr. Malcolm said they did a fantastic job and he does not see any future issues. YEAH HOoOooo!! We did ask about her protruding breast bone and if that would be fixed down the line… That would be a big fat NOPE! This would be something she will have for the rest of her life. Hopefully, it will become less noticeable as she grows. Dr. Malcolm did say that most kids who have heart surgery develop a sunken in chest bone but not our little girl. All in all, we go back in 6 to 9 months for the same sets of test to make sure there aren’t any new issues. After that Megan’s cardiologist visits will be few and far between!!!! Holy smokes, amazing!!!!!!! One thing Dr. Malcolm did say to us is that he was shocked when he read her file that China even did surgery with Megan’s condition on a girl. He said they are more likely to not do anything for girls. They’ll wait for them to be adopted and given medical care with their new family or these girls will just live out whatever life they have until their hearts fail. I don’t even have words to describe what I want to say about that…

As I was driving home I was thinking about how lucky we are, all while Megan was screaming to get out of the car (I’m such a multi-tasker!). Although we waited for 5 yrs for Megan we have been blessed with one truly amazing little girl. Not many of you know but back in December 2012 we switched from the healthy child line to the special needs line in hopes of not only getting a little girl faster but the fact that we could financially & medically help a child that needed special medical attention. Having Alex go thru all he did with 28 surgeries, umpteen doctor visits, hospital stays, and visiting out of state specialists helped us decide that we were the right people to help another child. Even being approved to enter the special needs line in December we were told that we could still wait over a year or more for a referral with the special needs we were open to. One year was far better that waiting the “unknown”. Well, we didn’t wait a year, we waited one month for a referral. Another amazing blessing!!!! Also, when Jeffrey went to visit Megan’s orphanage he was given a jade necklace that Megan’s birth parents put on her when they left her at the gate of the hospital in Jinan. We also were given a CD of what we thought was a video of her orphanage but it was a CD filled with about 50+ pictures of Megan at all ages – even shortly after the orphanage received her. Even though we know nothing about her parents she will always have that jade necklace and she will have many baby pictures of her. Most forever families get their new child with nothing. How lucky is she???

Just amazing!!! I can’t say it enough!!!!



Megan's jade necklace her birth parents left with her. The yellow tag is what the hospital notes to identify the necklace with Megan.



Our sweet baby girl!



Let the testing begin!

Update time!!!

Update time! My goodness we are seriously failing at these updates since we’ve been back. We will try and get better. What’s new you ask??? Ummmmm, not much really. Ha!!! Megan is doing very well. She is so frickin funny and has enough sass for about 1,000 other 2yr olds (this may be a low ball figure). We are still trying to stick to the same schedule that we set up since being home. The more consistent Megan is right now the better she is. She eats like a champ but still struggles with wanting to eat all the time. When we tell her that it isn’t eating time, she throws a fit. The fits are getting better but we’d like them to be gone. Since it hasn’t even been a month that she’s been in the US, we’ll cut her a break or two. ; ) She has a great time playing with all her toys, playing outside, helping with the laundry, teasing the dog, playing in the pool, playing and tooting in the tub, reading books, helping Papa to make his lunch each day and she has just started to watch an Elmo DVD… Oh my, she’s stuck on Elmo. They boys keep trying to get her to watch something else but she keeps picking the same Elmo movie. It’s just the start of this, right?

Megan has met a lot of people so far. She does very well in small groups of people & will interact well but she tends to really clam up in larger groups. She loves when the neighbor girls (Gracie and Sophie) stop by every now and again to play; however, those girls put up a lot of “doing whatever Megan wants to do attitude”. Ha! She especially loves to sit and put on their shoes. Go figure, the girl loves shoes!!! We know there are still many people who haven’t met her and we can’t wait for you to see her. This just may take a bit longer that we were initially thinking.

We are extremely anxious for Megan’s cardiologist appointment next Tuesday. We can’t wait to ask so many questions about her heart when she was born, what it is like now, future tests, possible surgeries, how they are going to fix her protruding breast bone and stuff like that. We won’t know a lot at that appointment but after the tests come back we will all know what the Dr. has in store for her in the upcoming years.

How are the rest of the Hawley’s doing since Megan’s arrival home? Amazingly great! It is truly wonderful how well we have all jelled into a family. God is good!!! He knew the perfect chestnut for our family when he chose Megan for us. I wish I could describe in words how well she has fit into our family and house. It is like she has been here for so long, yet it’s only been a month. Jacob and Alex are two amazing kids and we are so blessed. They absolutely love their sister and she adores them. She has them like putty in her hands… ; )

We’ve had many people ask us if we miss China. Well… noooooooooo! There are so many things that were so great to see like the Great Wall (my knee is still showing me how great that wall is), the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Olympic City and being a part of the cities and culture BUT, we do not miss the hustle and bustle, the constant staring from the Chinese when we walk down the street with Megan (I am not kidding you when I say constant! People would stop in their tracks, stare and give dirty looks when they saw us), the craziness of what the Chinese call traffic, being able to brush our teeth using faucet water, and doing our laundry far cheaper than $180 (US $) for 1 very small load. We do very much miss the families we traveled with. We all have kept in contact via email and all are doing well.

We visited Megan’s new daycare today. Happy and sad for her Momma. We both think that it is critical for Megan to be in a institution learning environment. We have chosen Apple Tree Christian Leaning Center. They are close to home and is exactly what we know Megan needs. Being an orphan she is behind in her motor skills, her English and normal things a 2yr old in the US knows. We know that she will learn all these things in time but it will help in a constant learning environment. I will continue to be a part timer when I go back to work in September.

Thank you for your love and support!!















New blanket and shades!!




"Helping" momma make caramel corn.




Laundry time!!





Megan walking Lily via her stroller! Ha!









Bahahahahaaha! Something's wrong with this picture!




After the 100th version of Night, Night Megan song... And back scratching...

2 days fr our 1 month anniversary

Almost 1 month Anniversary!!! Can you believe it? We can’t!! Holy smokes!!!

Today was my 1st really trying day at home with Megan - today nothing really made her happy… Trying to understand a 2 yr old that doesn’t speak a lot of English and is throwing many fits makes for one whopper of a day. Just so you know crying is very universal – still aggravating no matter what country you come from. Ha! Other than today, Megan is really doing well! Megan has stayed very busy making some very tasty things in her kitchen. She’s “reading” books, playing with her babies’ however, she doesn’t seem to have great motherly instincts. She tends to carry her babies by the leg and she whips those poor little things around like nobody’s business. She loves playing with her Fisher Price princess little people, listening to music (Jeffrey keeps trying to play her Thrift Shop but she isn’t interested. LOL) riding her bike outside and relaxing in her stroller while being pushed around the hood. Megan still isn’t winning that golden star in the sleep department. We are patiently waiting but we’d like to know when exactly a good night’s sleep is going to happen. She is a great eater and loves her food. A bit too much as she is still throwing fits when she wants to eat but it isn’t time. The fits are getting better but still are present.

Megan’s English is coming along slowly. Not as fast as we were thinking but she does understand what we are saying. Hopefully we are just over anxious to have her talk and tell us what she wants.

I really wish I had my camera on me 24/7, so that I can post the 1,000 plus faces of Megan Emily-Mei. She is one funny cookie and has the ‘tude to show for it. I’ll post a few for your entertainment at the end of the blog post.

Jacob and Alex have been so great with Megan! They are always helping by playing with her, watching her while I shower each day, get her in and out of the car, take her for walks and even help her take her shoes on and off. She loves her brothers – even though she can’t say their names correctly. It’s pretty funny what she does calls them. Today Jeffrey was yelling down the stairs to Jacob (who had his ear buds in so he couldn’t hear him at first) and Megan starting echoing Jeffrey’s “JACOB!!” with her own version: “COB!”.

Looks like the weather here the next week is going to be sunny and warm, warm, warm which means that we’ll be able to get in A LOT of pool time! Megan doesn’t need to work on her tan, though. She’s been in the pool a couple of time and they were cloudy days and she already has bathing suit tan lines. Momma is way jealous!!!

Hope you all are doing well!

1 1/2 weeks home!!!

Hello again!!!

I swear this was much easier to write updates in China than it is now that we are at home. Ha! All is well here in Grandville! We are trying to settle into a schedule and remember what day it is each day. : ) We’ve been home for almost 2 weeks and we still can’t believe that we have this precious little chestnut in our home FOREVER!!! Sometimes it feels like she has been here all along, while others seem like we were in China yesterday. A definite mix of emotions.

Our little girl is simply amazing. She is so dang funny yet she has her “terrible 2” side that can show its face at times. Megan is learning that certain behavior is not acceptable but all in all she is adjusting to her new home and life extremely well!! She is sleeping so much better the last few days which is such a welcome sign to Jeffrey and I. She has slept for 12 & 13 hours each night and we’re hoping this lasts for a very long time. She eats amazing!!! So much better than Jacob and Alex ever did. Megan will eat pretty much everything we put in front of her. We are still struggling with her wanting to eat whenever she wants. This is a typical orphan issue but we hope that she will understand she will never go hungry and that her parents will always be there to provide for her. Until then we have to suffer thru the temper tantrums. Poor poopsie.

The boys are loving their sister and thinks she’s pretty funny; however, when she’s in a mood and is crying we get the question of “why is she crying now?”. Makes us laugh because even we don’t know why she is crying. The boys have been so amazing with Megan that they will play with her at any given time, especially when she holds out her hand for them to come play, taking her for a walk, playing with her in the yard on her new bike or just sitting with her. I have the most awesome kids ever!!!!!

Jeffrey asked me today when we were outside swinging if I was happy. Happy? I am not sure if happy is the correct adjective and I am not sure if I can even put words together to describe it. From the seconds I laid eyes on Megan, she was perfect. I had looked at her photos a million times before we left and could have picked that little girl out of a million Chinese kids in a heartbeat. She is the perfect gift that completed our family. She just fits. Jeffrey agreed and said we got the cutest one of them all, too. I have to agree. Megan seriously has a million faces for the things she does. So funny – even when she is throwing a fit we tend to laugh.

We have spent the last week and a half doing whatever comes next. No schedules or serious plans to make it easier for Megan to adjust. We briefly went to one of Jacob’s tournament baseball game, to the Grandville 4th of July Parade, to Costco, to the Meijer, a walk in the jogger thru the hood, a stroll in the jogger while her Mama pushes her old school roller skating, playing in the yard (even though she isn’t a fan of the grass) and we even had our 1st restaurant dinner. She has had many visitors which she absolutely loves new people to play with.

We have also been able to keep in contact with our travel group to China. They are all doing well! We wish them all the best and hope to see them again in person very soon but until then we have email, Facebook, phones and texting – thank goodness!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!!!

Xoxoxoxo

A delayed home update

Update you say??? Sorry for the delay. LOVING being a family of 5!!! Megan is doing very well! She has been extremely comfortable with her new home. She loves being with the boys and the boys really enjoy her. They pretty much do anything she wants. Ha! Let’s see how long that lasts. : ) I love it!!! Lily is so excited to have her home, too. Every morning Lily is so excited to have her get up that she showers Megan’s with a bit too much attention. She pretty much jumps on Megan but we are trying to teach her to say “off Lily” but this is going to take time. Right now she just screams – not a panic scream but more of this darn dog keeps annoying me scream. We’ve all pretty much beaten the jet lag and we did so fairly quickly. Megan has been on a MI time schedule pretty much since we got home with the exception of sleeping through the night. She gets up once or twice. I’ve tried cutting naps and her sleeping-ins to help with making it through the night but so far nooooo good. Hopefully over the next couple of days she’ll get better. Jeffrey and I thought the jet lag going to China was far worse than coming back – thank goodness.

Megan went to the pediatrician on Thursday for her 1st check up. He is happy that she is healthy even though she only weighs in at 21 lbs and is 30 inches tall. I can’t remember the exact percentiles but she’s about in the 10th percentile for both. She is behind by US standards on her vaccinations but she should be caught up here shortly. Megan will see the cardiologist at the end of July. It will be very interesting to hear what he has to say especially with the large bump she has on her chest from her heart surgery in China. It looks like the breast bone didn’t heal correctly. One thing the pediatrician did tell us that her heart condition was a life threatening one. Why China waited until she was a 1 ½ yrs to do her surgery we will never know but thank God she is ok.

Jeffrey returned to work today but not with approval from his wife and daughter… However, the checkbook call for cash won… Hopefully, this holiday week will go by quickly. It’s been hard over the last 5 nights because Jacob has had baseball each night since we’ve been home so we haven’t really had a lot of family time since we got back from China. I am so looking forward to dinner together and getting a much deserved and much missed Uccello’s BBQ pizza. I have been craving a pizza since about day 6 in China.

We are all doing well and are overwhelmed at how much love and support you have given us. Our prayers have been answered and dreams have been made with the arrival of our little girl. I can’t begin to tell you how complete things seem with Megan in our lives. She is so amazing. We are so blessed to have 2 amazing boys and 1 cute little girl made in China.

Hope to see you all soon!

 1st pb&j

 meltdown because we told her Lily wants to play with her own toys