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October/November 2010

Maili has been very busy over the past couple of months, and two years after coming home she continues to thrive. She is doing very well in first grade and continues to love learning. Her speech is still a work in progress, and her Maili-isms keep us smiling.

For example, when reminded that she has yet again left her jacket at school, she will say

“I sorry, Mom, I TA-GOT it again.. I just can’t E MEMBER it!”

The rest of our family has been busy lately as well...working on adoption paperwork. A little girl just 8 months younger than Maili has captured our hearts, and we are working to bring her home. This little girl has waited a very long time for a family and we feel that we are meant to be that family. Maili has shown us that older child adoption is such a blessing, and we can’t wait to add another blessing to our family. Now we just have to convince Maili that we really can’t name her Scooby…

This week we celebrated the two year anniversary of the day Maili joined our family. She has grown and changed so much over the past two years it’s hard to believe that she’s the same child. That scared, shut-down little girl who could barely walk and talk at the age of 4 has blossomed into a bright, confident first grader who brings joy to everyone who meets her. She finds new ways to make us smile each and every day, and we feel so privileged to be the family God chose for her. In addition to all of the other changes she has made, Maili has grown almost 8 inches since she came home, and the other day when I laid out the dress she wore home from China, she came downstairs giggling when she realized that her DRESS was now a SHIRT. The dress which fell off her shoulders and hung well below her knees when we got her now barely touches her thighs. I guess we will have to save it for Scooby.

We celebrated her Gotcha Day a little differently this year, since we spent the first part of the day in court completing her re-adoption in the state of GA so that she can get a U.S. birth certificate. We didn’t plan it that way, but it was neat that it worked out for us to celebrate this special day with a special ceremony. When we got to the judge’s chambers, the judge asked Maili why we were there. She replied that Mommy and Daddy were going to keep her “ever, ever, ever” and that nobody could ever take her away. He agreed with a big smile, shook her hand, and granted the adoption.

We continued the celebration with dinner at Maili’s favorite Chinese restaurant, where she opened one of the gifts we bought for her while we were in China. It was a small porcelain tea set, which she insisted on trying out in the restaurant. After dinner, we went home and watched the video of the day we met, the first time we had watched it since last year’s Gotcha Day anniversary. It was interesting to note her reactions to certain things, and this year she was able to give us a lot more insight into how she was feeling in those first few days. During one part of the video where we scolded her for throwing a banana peel behind the tv, she exclaimed “ I sorry Mom, I never see a trash can before, that’s why I do dat.” Watching the video together brought back so many memories of our time in China when we first became a family of four, and we enjoyed watching it together to commemorate that time. Maili even wanted us to feed her M&Ms by hand like we did in the video, and she fed us a few like she did back then. When we put her to bed after the movie, she asked the same question she asks every night, and I gave her the answer I always give.

“Mommy, how much you love me?” she will ask.

“All the way to China” I say, as she gives me a big hug and kiss goodnight. “All the way to China and back”.

And she will always squeeze me tight, sigh and say “You my special little Mommy”.

“And you’re my special little Maili” I always say in return. Then she giggles and says “No, I a BOO-ful princess, and I keep dis Mommy ever, ever, ever”.

And I let her have the last word, because I’m not about to argue with that.

Our beautiful girl

She loves her hats

Celebrating her 2nd Halloween

Gotcha Day 2008

Gotcha Day 2010

Waiting for the Judge	Leaving China in 2008
Wearing the dress she wore home from China Being silly with Holt Sneak peak at Scooby

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