Hilton Head Vacation

I am very behind on the blog... again.  I wanted to past-post our summer fun and share some of the pictures of our sweet girl.

In June, our little family packed up and headed for the beach.  My mom and dad came too (Mae's Nonna and Boppy).  Last year we came here in November, so this was Mae's first "real" beach experience.  She LOVED every little thing about our time in Hilton Head.  It is definitely a family vacation spot and Cody and I enjoyed it in a whole new way; seeing it through her eyes.

Sand castles and the ocean... 

bike rides every day...

 and a boat ride on Boppy's boat. 

 Mae was the happiest she could be.

 We just soaked in this awesome family time... that came and went so quickly.  That's why I love these pictures.
  

Isn't Summer Great?

Picnics in the park...

We love picnics in the park... It's a great (free) outing and our girl loves to run barefoot in the grass. I love, love, love watching Mae with her daddy.

Playgrounds, friends and sweetness...

Mae has a sweet Chinese friend named Heming. Heming speaks mandarin chinese and I don't think Mae understands anything that he tells her, but they play so well together! He will say in Chinese, " mei mei wait, let me hold your hand" (mei mei is little sister, or he will call her by the name she went by in China, "Juan Juan".) As you can see, they are quite adorable together.

And Mae's very favorite place to be is the swimming pool.

Mae is definetly our little water baby. She giggles and chatters the whole time she's kicking and swimming around. She immediately loved the water and wants to swim by herself beside us. It's precious to watch her. I LOVE her joy in everything... She is such a tough girl with spunk.

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.