Re-Adoption

This morning we went to the Forsyth County Court House and had our Re-Adoption— a hearing to validate our adoption. Our adoption of Mae was completed in Zhengzhou the day after we got her, March 29, 2011. Today our county court validated her adoption for our state, which means that Mae can now have a Georgia Birth Certificate (Certificate of Foreign Birth)! So she will be an official Georgia Peach (;

A Georgia Birth Certificate means many things for our China girl... there will be many times in her future that she will need a birth certificate. We will need it to enroll her into kindergarten, when she goes to get her driver's license, or even if she and her future hubby decide they want to adopt one day. It will be much easier on her to obtain a copy of her birth certificate through our state's vital records here, and not have to try to get one from her birth country.

The above picture is with Superior Court Chief, Judge Bagley.  After everything was final for the Re-Adoption, we got a picture with him.  He seemed delighted with our wiggle worm and asked us several questions about China and our time adopting.  We were quite happy today to have this (almost) final part of the process compete.  (We still have to get her birth certificate in the mail, and after that I will need to file it with the social security office to get her SS#.) 

Our sweet girl waiting for us to get our certified copies of the documents.

*Waiting patiently and quietly for a two year old can be a challenge.  She did a lot of wiggling but all in all I was so proud of her.  She really tries hard to do what is asked of her. 

We took a few more pictures outside the courthouse.  It is a beautiful day and Mae is so pleased with her pretty dress. 

She knows it must be special, and with matching shoes too. (The dress and shoes were made by my sweet friend, Sheila!) Every one that saw her today commented on how pretty she was, so she was absolutely beaming.

When we got home I think the dress made her in the mood to host a tea party for all of her friends. She took great care in getting everything ready.

And than she prayed... this melts me completely. 

So a lot happened this morning.  (: 

Easter

Our Neighborhood Egg Hunt

This is our peanut last year.  We had only been home for 2 weeks in this picture.  She was so little, wasn't she?! I remember how timidly she would pick up each egg.  In fact, it was a chore to hold her little pail. (: Her Easter basket on Sunday morning wasn't anything special since everything in her world was new... and it actually overwhelmed her a little.  What a difference a year makes!

This year's Easter egg hunt was very exciting for our Maebelle.  I don't think she remembered what it was about, so at first I had to tell her to find the eggs. She would pass several to go for the one egg that she had her eye on.  She was not timid about getting them though, and thought is was a blast.  You can see her joy in these pictures. 

Oh yeah, and there are treats inside!  She was really more interested in breaking them open than really caring about what the prize was. 

Dyeing Eggs! 

Mae is my little artist and loves to color and paint, so egg dyeing is right up her alley.  The kit came with a little wax crayon to color on the eggs first and the dye would color everywhere that wasn't colored.  She took great care in coloring her eggs with the invisible crayon.

And then we soaked our eggs and waited for them to become beautiful.

And beautiful they were... then we got colorful egg salad. (:  Mae LOVES hard boiled eggs.  We eat them almost everyday for breakfast.

Easter Day

A little Easter basket full of goodies.  She got a great shapes book called "Round is a Mooncake" that is full of shapes that are Chinese objects.  (I do recommend it for anyone with little China chickens.)  We also have "Red is a Dragon" -a book of colors.

Mae got to do another egg hunt at her Nonna and Boppy's house on Easter.  She was fully prepared for this one and found the eggs pretty well.  She needed some help to finish, but it was precious to this momma watching her pick them up and set each one delicately in her basket.

This is probably my favorite picture.  Mae has such a sweet little spirit.  My nanny (Mae's great-grandmother) bought her this little dress.  She also got the one she wore last year.  I love her taste.  (:

Our family of three!!

Easter is a reminder that Jesus has the victory over death and sin.  I often don't let this sink in... I live in America, go to church and pray... what if I had not been born here, and the name of Jesus was hardly spoken in whispers.

Recently, I have been overwhelmed by sadness as I read a book, Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love. Can I just say that I feel very differently about everything that I thought I knew about China after reading this book. My heart has felt so heavy for the people and my prayers have felt especially necessary for the woman that I am so deeply connected to in China—Mae's mother.  She has had to endure the loss of our precious girl. I don't know how someone can endure loss without the strength of our Savior.  My heart cries out on her behalf that she would come to know Him.

I think everyone who has a heart for China or has adopted from China would greatly benefit from reading this book.  There is so much loss in China... and the greatest loss is what I/we take for granted, their need to know their Creator.  I'm ashamed at how little time I spend getting to know my Creator and Savior. 

I know that it was God that moved Cody's and my heart to love China. We have been extraordinarily changed and have changed the life of our daughter; just by being her mom and dad.  She is no longer an orphan.  Her life is different, to say the least, by being a US Citizen... but far greater than these, Cody and I have an opportunity to share with her what Jesus has done for her.  Jesus has paid it all so that we may know Him... it is our responsibility, and joy to be able to share this with our little girl, who would otherwise maybe never hear the name Jesus.  This brings me to my knees. 

March 28th

I've let too much slip here on the ol' blog—Got some catching up to do!  This blog is more for our girl than anything (although it's been tremendous to have had the encouragement and following of our friends and family). This momma is terrible at keeping journals and so the blog has given us a place to record our journey with a little needed accountability.   We can now print a book for Mae of this past year's posts... yay!!

So here's our day, celebrating March 28th...

Our first stop was to go to the CCAI office (our adoption agency) and give the women there a hug!

next  stop aquarium! 

 

Mae never asks for anything, but today she grew very fond of this Beluga Whale.  It has become "baby" and she asks to have him with her all throughout the day, and sleeps with baby every night (almost a month later and this is still the case!)

The second part of the celebrating was with our family.  And it was so wonderful...

 I made the little panda purse for Mae.  Cody and I were really excited to give it to her... anything girly is a big hit with our girl.

 We filled it with sunglasses, mirror and brush, and other odds and ends that every purse should have (:

 We didn't get any good pictures of all the decorations that we hung... but there were Chinese lanterns and streamers and of course BALLOONS! Our kitchen was very colorful and it made Mae so happy.  She pointed at everything and yelled "SEEEEE"  when anyone new came through the door.

Mae and her Nonna

Momma, Mae and proud Boppy

 Hugs for Aunt Mer

 We got a special cake from the Asian market and it was DE-licious!

Fun Uncle Jon

I love this picture (:

 As a family, we watched the video of the day Mae was placed in our arms.  None of us had seen this video and it was so special to share with Mae.  She sat in her daddy's lap and loved seeing herself on the TV.

 This was a fun day but also very emotional for Cody and me.  We realize all that had to happen to have Mae be our daughter.  Here's a crazy thought... Mae has spent 365 days with us now, but she had 595 days in China before we knew her.  Her little life as a baby is unusual and filled with mystery.  All I know is that God has written her story and knows her every breath on this earth.  What a mighty God we serve!!