Happy New Year

We rang in the New Year. This is the year of the pig. We attended three New Year Celebrations. Our first was with the Huntsville Taiwanese Association. The kids sang a traditional Chinese New Year song. They sounded pretty good. They had a wonderful pitch in dinner. This is where it dawned on me that Jacob will be fine in China. He ate everything. There was not a single dish that he skipped. Jim will lose weight and Jacob is going to gain. Jacob loves Chinese food.

The next day we celebrated the New Year with our local FCC group. It was really great. The kids had a great time. Robbi and Aaron got to perform the Lion Dance. They used a child's sized costume for the dance. They loved doing it. They did modify the dance a bit by adding candy tossing. All of the kids at the party approved of the modification. It was so fun to watch the little ones following them around. We got the best picture of my three oldest holding the dragon's head. Carla Blankenship Photography was kind off enough to take a picture of them for me. I only wish Hope had been in the picture. She missed the party due to illness.

We finished up the week of celebrations with the Huntsville Chinese Associations New Year Party. Hope got to go to this one. She absolutly loves the Lion Dance. She screams and laughs and acts scared whenever it gets near, but she is always sad to see him live. She loves the hóng bāo or the red envelopes given to kids during Chinese New Year. It was another sucessful year. Next year, Will will be with us. I still can't believe he wasn't home for Chinse New Year. Less than two weeks before Jim and Jacob leave to get him. I can't wait!

We did it!

The title says it all. Today was a VERY busy day. A big family it a blessing, but the activities sure keep you busy. Today started a 7:30 when Jim took Jacob to a Boy Scout Merit Badge Round up, then he hastily ran to meet Aaron's Cub Scout Den to gather up food for the "Scouting for Food" drive. Once that was done, he ran home and got me. We headed off for the Huntsville Chinese New Year Celebration. We had to take Hope, she LOVES the Lion Dance. She screams and giggles the whole time the Lion is running around. I felt bad because Jacob adores Chinese Food and he missed it. He will gain weigh while in China, and Jim will lose weight.

After we rung in the New Year, we ran home got Robbi's Brownie vest and headed out. First, we had to retreive Robbi from a sleep over. We spent the next 2 hours selling Girl Scout Cookies at the local Wal-Mart. It was so nice to get in our warm van. Our day is still going...we are now off to a School Social for Jacob. Family is invited. It was a pitch meal for the kids. We dropped Robbi off at a friends house and picked up her friend's sister and ran for the social.

It was a lot of fun. Chaporones dancing, kids sitting around laughing and talking. I felt bad for the middle school girls. They were dreaming of dancing and spent the night dancing together, while the middle school boys were hidden way playing board games. Once the party was over, we pitched in to clean up. I told Jim I work all my cleaning complusions out at school functions. No need bringing habits like that home......Then we headed home to get Robbi and and drop off our friend's daughter. The boys went home with a friend so it was a quiet night. Only 2 kids home.....it all starts again tomorrow. I'm tired just reading about the day.

Great News!

We just got the best news! Our appointment at the American Consulate is March 19. On that day, the adoption is complete and blessed by both governments. Jim and Jacob will get Will on March 8 at 4:00 pm. This translates to March 8 3:00 am cst time for us. We are bit nervous. Will will be 2 1/2 and very much aware of the strangeness of the situation. We are praying that two years of Chinese will pay off and Jacob will be able to communicate with him. This is assuming he speaks Mandarin Chinese and not Cantonese.

On March 9, our adoption is complete in the eyes of the Chinese government. The only remaining task for the Chinese government is to get his passport ready for us. Will will travel home on a Chinese passport.

Jim just finished booking the tickets. I am very excited - they are going to spend 2 full days in Beijing sightseeing - the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, etc. I can't wait to hear what Jacob thinks about walking the Great Wall. If they make it to the top, they can get a medal saying they made it with their name on it. On March 7, they will head to Guangzhou to get Will to complete the paperwork process.

Finally, it's almost over and our son will be home!

Will and Hope

Right now, I can tell you Hope loves "Baby Will." She tells us all the time fun little facts. She already knows what Will likes and doesn't like. The other day she was telling me "Baby Will" won't like that. When I asked why, she said, "because he's shy."

When we go to Sam's, she is quick to point out that "Baby Will" will sit here. She even demonstates how she will fasten his seatbelt in the buggy. Baby Will is always on her mind, and she carries his picture in her purse, which she carries when she goes to work.

Introducing William Wyatt QiQi Cecil

As I start this blog out, it dawned on me that I had better introduce you to our newest addition. I would say last addition, but every time we utter the words "Our family is the perfect size," along comes another child. Will will be our fifth child. We have 3 biological kids - two sons Jacob age 12, Aaron age 10, and a daughter, Robbi age 8. We are also blessed to add another daughter Hope age, 3, through the miracle of adoption. She will give Will a run for his money, since what Hopes wants, Hope gets because of her three doting siblings.

William Wyatt QiQi Cecil was born on July 8, 2004. He currently lives at XuWen County Integrated Social Welfare Institute in Guangdong Province. He lives in the southern region of China along the coast. He is described as being very curious, energetic, fond of others and likes outdoors. We also learned that he had a special need. He was missing his left forearm, probably due to amniotic banding.

I just knew when I saw his picture, I had hearts in my eyes. I knew he was meant to be our son. He is beautiful.

We picked his name like we did all the rest. William is a family name. It is the name of his great grandfather on his daddy's side. Wyatt, because Jim just likes it, and QiQi because that is his name given to him in China. If we can find out the name his nannies' call him, we will change QiQi to that. We will have to wait until Jim and Jacob get to China to find that out. Until then, he is William Wyatt QiQi Cecil. Quite a mouthful!

We are just ready to get him.

Will, here we come!

I can't believe it has been almost a year since we first learned about Will and decided to go on this newest adventure. It all started with an email from Amy Hall introducing us to Charlie AKA Xu QiQi. When we first found his file, it was close to being returned to China, but another family was trying to work out some details to adopt him. Jim was very philosphical about this. Everytime the kids and I said "wouldn't it be great to add this little guy to our family." Jim would say "Isn't it great he has a family trying to adopt him." We all had to agree.

One day about two weeks after we found his file, Jim was sitting in church and when the service was over Jim said, "You know it would be great if we could adopt Will." The next day, the agency called and Will was ours. The other couple couldn't get it to work out. They went on to adopt a baby boy also from China. They brought their new son home in December.

The paperchase was on for Will.

Along with once again trying to figure out how we were going to break it to our family and friends that we were adding another child. Most people think we are crazy with four kids, how do you break the news you will be adding a fifth child. Amazingly enough, most people did not seem to be surprised.