First Time at the Beach!

Well, this is a girl after my own heart.  After the tornadoes hit, and we were without power for  a few days, we decided to head to Destin for a mini-break.  It was the best.  Naomi loved the pool and loved to watch the waves.   Not so big about getting in the sand, though.  She had a blast, as did JT and Slater.  A bunch of regular beach bums.  The boys stayed in the water most of the day, but seemed to prefer the pool.  It was so nice to get away and forget everything for a while.

Naomi loves Flowers...just like her Momma!

One more step down...

Well, last Thursday, April 19th, Naomi was re-adopted for the State of Alabama.  It was pretty simple--the lawyer took care of all the paperwork and we showed up at the court house.  We met with the judge (who was really nice and sweet) and he signed the papers, we took some pictures, and that was it!  Seems silly to have to re-adopt for the state when the federal government recognizes that she is already ours, but it is what it is.  Glad to have one more step down.  We also did our first post-placement visit that morning and so we are making progress.  Now that Naomi is officially ours, we have applied for her birth certificate through the state.  The only thing we really have left to do after that is to have the 12 month post-placement visit and then we have checked all of the boxes as far as adoption formalities are concerned.  That will be nice to not have to worry that I am needing to stay on top of things, still.  Naturally, Naomi was an angel at the court house and several people stopped to oooh and ahhhh.  It is so nice to live in a community where there are so many adoptions and people are really supportive and genuinely delighted to meet her.  So very glad Naomi is ours!

A Little History

Okay, well, precious Naomi first came into our lives on July 1, 2010.  We received her pictures and information and our lives have since been forever changed!

After racing to get the rest of our paperwork in the mail, time and time again, we had our travel dates!  Countdown to meet our new daughter!  I swear, I thought that day would never come.  But thankfully, it did!

Dale and I flew to Beijing on Ocotber 20, 2010.  We toured the city and saw the Great Wall.  It was kind of torture knowing we had flown half way around the world and we still had to wait several days to see Naomi.


Next, we flew to ZhengZhou on October 24, the city where we would meet our daughter.  The orphanage caretakers brought Naomi, by three-hour train ride, to us.  Our GOTCHA DAY was October 25--we finally had sweet Naomi in our arms!  At 14 months, she was just 15 pounds, all puffed up in layer after layer of clothing.  When the orphanage director handed her to me in the hallway of our hotel, Naomi put her lip out to cry but then shored herself up and pushed on.  She was so brave--it was heartbreaking.  I can only imagine what my tiny girl was thinking.  We were told to immediately take her to our  room and feed her a bottle as she was dehydrated.  Then they literally sent us off.  I couldn't figure out why she would be so dehydrated until I started undressing the 4 layers of clothing she had on and realized she was sweating so badly!  There was a tiny baby underneath it all!  I bathed her and she cried.  After getting her all dressed, she hardly cried the rest of the trip--just delighted us with smile after smile!

After finishing all our paperwork in ZhengZhou, we flew to GuangZhou in southern China.  We finalized the adoption here, did some shopping, and really just enjoyed Naomi and waited for our paperwork to be issued.  We left China on November 4th and, after a long 24 hours of travel, introduced our new girl to the family in Alabama.

Naomi has been such a blessing to us.  She makes us laugh constantly and we all cannot seem to get enough of her!   Her two big brothers are so awesome with her and love her to pieces.  They run to wake her up in the morning and play with her like crazy.  JT said his favorite thing to do is to "make her laugh."  How sweet is that?!   Slater is so protective and caring with Naomi--he doesn't feel anyone is ever doing it "just right" for her--she is a lucky girl.  I never thought life could be so good!

Naomi has a cleft lip and palate.  Her lip was repaired on February 16th at Children's Hospital in Birmingham.  She is healing so nicely and we are so pleased with the awesome of care she received.   It was hard to say good bye to the darling face I had fallen in love with, but after a few good cries and seeing how easily she was healing, life was better again.

Her next surgery, to repair the palate, will be on May 9th.  We have been warned that it is a really rough one, but her life will be so improved--she can eat better and easier and be able to learn to speak. Believe me, she has a lot to say!  I will be grateful to have this one behind us.

I am amazed everyday at the incredible life journey that brought us together.   Naomi needed us and we absolutely needed her.  Now, to just convince Dale to make this trip one more time!!!

Naomi is Walking!

Well, last Friday (my birthday, actually) Naomi just decided today was the day and she just took off!  Her physical therapist came out today and said in one week she has already reached several of the walking milestones and so now she doesn't need to be seen for another 3 months! Hooray!