Trouble in 10 Years

Sydney and her cousin had a blast cruisin in Sydney's new ride. They looked so cute but in 10 years it will be a little scary!

Gaylord Texan ICE

Sydney's First Christmas

Sydney's first Christmas was nothing less than magical. She woke up around 7:45am (we were already up because we were too excited) and was so excited that Santa came to her house! She scanned the room and then went upstairs to get her older brothers and sister out of bed. It was wonderful to watch her open all of her gifts and of course I am not in any of the pictures since I was the photographer. I always forget to have someone else take some of me in all the action. We had 2 video cameras running the whole morning, so I will try to get some shots from that and post some video soon.

Sydney asked Santa Claus for a guitar and a power wheels truck for Christmas. She was so excited when she opened the guitar but looked a little disappointed when she had opened all of her gifts and she did not get the truck. We had everyone help us bring the many trash bags out to the garage. She couldn't believe it... there was her truck!!! Santa must have built it in the garage while she slept. He took his milk and cookies out there and tools were everywhere!

Of course, that was her favorite toy and she is now an experienced driver.

Christmas Eve 2008

Getting everything ready for Santa

We had family over for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a wonderful time and of course the kids loved opening presents. We were blessed to have my parents, sister and her family, my brother and his wife, and Peter, Mark's brother, and Bill at our house.

Christmas was AMAZING and I will have lots to pictures to share!

6 Months Home!

Dallas Airport June 21, 2008

Happy 6 Month's Home, Sydney! It is hard to believe that just 6 months ago we landed in the USA as a family of 6 and Sydney officially became a U.S. citizen. It has been an incredible journey and has had such a happy ending.

We will have our 6 month post placement home-study this weekend and our re-adoption hearing January 8, 2009. We do not have to re-adopt Sydney since both of us traveled to China to adopt her but we want her to have a U.S. birth certificate to make her life a little easier in the future. It is complicated when your child has a birth certificate in Chinese with a different name, and we do not want to have to pull out all our documents each and every time a birth certificate is needed.

I just realized that Sydney was Baptised on her 6 month Anniversary home! Amazing!

Sydney's Baptism

It was a beautiful but surprisingly COLD day here in Texas. I had intended for Sydney to take off her sweater for the ceremony but that was not going to happen without a struggle. She was already mad about wearing the cream shoes. Sydney was very confused on what Baptism meant and when we mentioned "Godparents" she was even more confused. But what is most important was that Sydney knew every thing today was about loving Jesus and how Jesus loves her. The ceremony was beautiful and Sydney enjoyed it.

I kept thinking through the whole ceremony what could be better than giving a wonderful child a chance at a new life?...an eternal one with Jesus Christ.

Happy Baptism Day Sydney.

Winter Photos 2008

Sydney and her cousin Rylee Winter 2008

Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting...

Mommy and Sydney

These pictures were taken from Elizabeth's (Sydney's older sister) birthday lunch. You can see more pictures on our family blog.

Elf on the Shelf: Fred

We decided to start the Elf on the Shelf tradition at our house this year especially since it is Sydney's first year home. I heard about this from a friend and I must say it is a lot of fun!

Basically, the idea is that you request an elf from Santa to watch over your child or children during the day and he will then report to Santa each night on their behavior. The elf shows up after Thanksgiving and will leave for the year Christmas Eve. The fun part is that each morning the child or children have to find their Elf! They also have to officially name their Elf and register it online.

The only downside is that the Elf must be in a different place each morning...requires some effort on the adults part.

It is worth it though! Every morning Sydney wakes up and immediately asks "Where's Fred?" She talks to him through out the day and it helps to keep her in line. She loves her new friend Fred.

The Elf comes with a book that you read to your child that explains the tradition.

Worth the Wait

What more can I say, the picture pretty much sums up what I am feeling right now.

Sydney felt very loved when she saw the ornaments for the past few years with her name on them. I do not think she fully understood what they meant but it helped her to realize just how much we wanted her to be with us. She has asked me several times if I cried for her each Christmas... Yes sweetie, I did.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

It was wonderful to play Christmas music and watch all four children hang Christmas ornaments this year. It might sound like a simple thing but I have waited over 3 years to finally enjoy Christmas and all of the preparation with our daughter. I will cherish the moments for a lifetime. Even though many people worry about missing all the "firsts" when adopting an older child... I disagree because I enjoy and experience a "first" with Sydney each an every day.

Sydney is very excited about Christmas and Santa Claus but is tired of waiting for it to actually be Christmas Day (so she is like most other 6 year olds). Every time she sees something she wants, I say "OK maybe for Christmas" which is quickly returned with a "I no want to wait for Christmas, I need it today...please?"

Sydney did mention the other day that Santa Claus did not come see her in China (with a sad face) which I was prepared for and ready with an explanation but she didn't seem to even care about an explanation. She believes and is just happy that he will visit her this year.

Gingerbread Man

Sydney loves the gingerbread man story and she walks around saying "you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man". She was thrilled to make gingerbread men cookies and also loved sneaking bites of the icing. Every time I looked over at her she was eating icing in one way or another. She never actually ate her cookies but they more for display anyway. Yes, I helped on a few and we made one for each of us.

Christmas Tree Farm

Today we went searching for the perfect Christmas tree. We went to the place which had beautiful trees but were ridiculously priced. Then we went to the next place which had treses that were cheap but half dead and about 4 feet tall. Then we remembered the wonderful pumpkin patch we visted also sells Chrsitmas trees so we decided to give it a try.

They had the BEST trees and had the BEST prices. They had so many trees to choose from and the best part was that they had many activities for the children. Sydney had a great time and even helped to pick out the perfect tree. It is 9 1/2 feet tall and gorgeous!

Pictures of the tree coming soon!

Sydney is better, but now we are sick :(

Yes, Sydney is feeling much better but Elizabeth and I are sick. Sorry I have not posted many pictures lately but I will have some cute ones up tomorrow.

On Saturday we are taking our first professional family pictures with Sydney and we cannot wait to put up a new family portrait with all SIX of us! Also, we will finally be able to send out Christmas cards with our new daughter in the family picture. For the past 3 years, I have had Christmas cards that say..."next year our daughter from China will be in the picture" and finally it will be true!!!!