My girl...

I love the faces she makes as she talks, and she likes to talk...alot.

Three year olds are so much fun to listen to, especially when they're playing with new words and phrases and trying to tell all kinds of stories. Lately she says "to-later" and "to-mornin" when she's talking about doing something, well, later or in the morning (I guess she's using it like "tomorrow", ha ha). She frequently asks "do you be-member?" even when talking about something that may be happening at that very moment. If there's something she doesn't particularly want to do, she'll sometimes say that she "can't" do it (nice try, sweetie).

She still sometimes pronounces her "L"s like "Y"s so in the evenings you'll find her catching "yite-ming bugs" with "ye-yo" tails.

Today as she was feeling her fingernails she said that her "paws were sharp so it's time to cwip 'em". Guess she's heard us say that about Salem and Sassy one too many times, ha ha.

Then there's the the little gem that she said, quite loudly, yesterday while in a public restroom....

"You went pee pee on the potty! Good girl, Mommy! You're a big girl...two fums up!".

Thanks, Hon.

This weekend we attended our adoption agency's annual picnic at Boyds orchard. The weather was absolutely perfect, and Kerry had a great time. There was a hayride, playground, petting zoo...

She fell in love with this sweet miniature donkey...I kinda did, too.

They also had a huge pirate ship play structure. Kerry is all about pirates lately, thanks to D*sney's "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", so she thought this was pretty awesome.

Umm..Honey...I think the binoculars go the other way.

There, that's more like it =).

Speaking of...we were in the D*sney Store yesterday and when we walked in, one of the employees greeted Kerry with a "Hello Princess!". Kerry just blinked at her so the employee asked her if she was a Princess to which she replied:

"No...I'm just Kerry." Ha ha. However she has watched both "Cinderella" and "The Little Mermaid" this week, so we'll see if that mindset lasts.

Two years ago today, Doug and I flew from Beijing to Nanchang, China. It was Father's Day. We had just gotten to our hotel room, put some of our things away, and readied some cheerios, stacking cups, and other toys. Twenty minutes later... a small, confused, stoic 15 month old with big brown eyes and a head full of dark hair was carried into our hotel room by a Nanny, along with the orphanage director and another female orphanage employee. Our guide translated a few things about Ji, Lu Ying:
"She already can walk."
"She likes to sleep on her belly."
"They call her Ying Ying."
"This is how you make her bottles...."

She asked a few more questions for us, they left, and just like that.....we were parents.

I'll never forget holding her for the first time...after almost 4 months of staring at her photos. She was solid and perfectly plump. She was beautiful. She was clean, but smelled like sweat and baby powder after traveling almost 4 hours from her orphanage...for possibly the first time since she'd arrived there. I remember finding baby powder caked in her little neck rolls. She had obviously been well taken care of, physically, and for that I will always be grateful. And now, she was ours.

I'll never forget how she looked each one of us up and down. She made no noise. I could see that she was, understandably, confused and a bit nervous....yet she didn't cry. It broke my heart a little to know that this 15 month old already seemed so well practiced in holding back tears and putting on a brave face. I later found out the character for her name "Ying", actually means "Brave".

We were absolutely in love. We did everything we could to break the ice...but it wasn't until the next morning that we got our first smiles from her. Along with the smiles..some real tears finally came. This told us that she was getting comfortable with us. Soon we saw some real personality shining through. She was spunky, smart, silly, sweet, and strong. She also had a serious and shy side. We spent so much time sitting on our big hotel bed with toys and snacks spread around, just playing and getting to know each other. I'll never forget how she would be happily playing and in the next moment, she would get this sad, scared look on her little face. She would heave a little sigh and her body would give a little shudder...then she'd reach up to me for a little hug, and she'd go on playing and babbling for a while. She bonded with me first, and did so fiercely.. but she played happily with her Daddy and seemed to adore him from day one. He just wasn't able to hold her much for the first week without tears. Before long, though, they were best of friends and have been ever since.










She's grown so much since that day. She's a little girl and not a baby any more. She's still whip-smart, silly, spunky, sweet, and strong, with shy and serious moments. And we love her like crazy. She is truly an answer to prayer...we are so blessed =).

(I had planned a Father's day post, too, but we were hit by more storms and were without power this weekend. Happy Father's Day, Doug...we love you!)

Ah, Summer. This really is my favorite time of year, and Kerry seems to enjoy the warm weather and easy pace, too. On Sunday, after Church and grocery shopping, we spent a lazy afternoon out in the back yard.

Kerry looks lost in thought while swinging. I love this photo.

She's helped me water my little garden every day. We have two types of tomatoes, some lettuce, strawberries, and blackberries. We also have a little peach tree that we hope will be ripe for the picking in a few weeks.

Enjoying the porch swing with her hair all a mess. She lost her bow at some point during the afternoon and, for once, I never bothered to put it back in.

She's also been enjoying her "swpashin' pool"



And every evening for the past week we've enjoyed popsicles and/or ice cream out on the patio after dinner.

Finishing up just in time for the fireflies to start coming out. Dusk+ moving child= blurry photo...at least when the camera is in my hand and I have it on the no flash setting.

But, one of her new favorite things this summer is her bike seat...purchased just this past weekend. Doug and I used to ride bikes together pretty regularly during the summer, pre-Kerry. We decided that, this summer, it was time dust off the bikes and let her join in on the fun. Boy does she love it. I'm not surprised as she really likes being out of doors as much as we do when the weather is nice. It's the first time I've been on a bike in nearly two years, and I had to learn quickly how to balance with 32-ish extra pounds strapped on the back, but it's so fun to hear her little voice behind me saying "I yike riding bikes!" and pointing out everything she sees as we tool around the neighborhood. She's even started taking her "friends" with her on the rides...that's Baby Penguin above?

After leaving Georgia, we headed south to the central Florida area to spent some time with my long-time friend, Jessica, and her family. I've known Jess since she was younger than Kerry, and she's always kinda been like the kid sister I never had. The first thing we did was take the kiddo's to enjoy a day at the beach. This was Kerry's second beach experience, but the first time she was able to get in the water (it was too cold last time). She absolutely loved it!! I wish I could have gotten pictures of her expressions but I was holding her hand most of the time, and Atlantic waves+excited three year old+camera....could spell disaster.



She also had a great time collecting a sand pail full of shells, which she insisted on bringing home with her to show her daddy. She got to talk to him on the phone several times a day to tell him all about what she'd been doing.

Jamey and Kerry sharing their beach toys.

After our day at the beach, we went to St. Augustine to stroll around and let the kiddos have some more fun at a playground and to ride a carousel.

Jess and her Joshie are pictured here enjoying a ride.

After spending another day or so visiting and having fun we said our goodbyes and headed even further south to visit another longtime friend, Jamie, who happens to be cousins with Jessica.

The first thing we did when we got there?

You guessed it! Another beach. This time we were on the gulf side and the waves were teeny-tinyy so I got a little braver with the camera.

I'm so glad I did. Just look at that happy little face! She had a great time jumping and splashing around.

See our miniature Great Wall?

I had a great time visiting and catching up with my friends but soon it was time to say goodbye and head back home. Kerry had so much fun but at times was really missing her Daddy and would say "I just want home".

Mom and Kerry relaxing outside of a Cracker Barrel in Georgia where we stopped for a lunch of chickan and dumplings...yum! Kerry loved the big checker's set.

My computer issues are finally fixed (it got a nasty virus and had to be basically wiped and restored) so I'm happy to be back in Blog-Land. I've missed checking in on everyone...and I don't think I've ever gone this long without posting.

Last week Kerry, myself, and my Mom took a road trip. A very LONG road trip. Our first stop was in Georgia to meet a very special little girl. You may remember me posting a while back about a little girl that had been in the same orphanage with my Kerry. We sent a disposable camera to the orphanage in a care package and she was in many of the photos with Kerry. They really seemed to be special to each other. We were able to connect with Hannah's parents through a Yahoo group for our girl's orphanage and have been keeping in contact since she was matched with her forever family. We were so excited to be able to let the girls see each other for the first time since they were in the orphanage and let them get reacquainted.

These two seemed to be quite the pair =).

Hannah has been home for one year. She is an absolute doll and is such a sweetheart. Her parents, Lois and David, are wonderful people. We really enjoyed spending time with them, too.

It had been almost two years since the girl's had seen each other, but they took to each other very quickly.

It was such a sweet time. We definitely plan on keeping Kerry and Hannah in touch as they grow older.