Cecelia's birthday

Today was my birthday party and I loved it. So many people came to wish me a happy birthday! It was sooooo much fun! I am two years old! Enjoy the pictures!

Snowy Vermont February, 2008

This past Saturday our family made an unexpected trip to Vermont to see about the damage done to our cabin by a burglar. We were worried about Cecelia in the car as it is a 5 hour ride, but she was fantastic! The trip was uneventful until we got to our cabin...and the 6 feet of snow piled at the end of the driveway! We drove down to the nearest country store to get a newspaper in order to find a snowplower...called a few numbers and no luck...next we went into several other stores to see if they knew of someone...still no luck, and so resigning ourselves to the fact that we would somehow be chipping out that snow by hand, we started driving up the hill to where our house is...as life would have it, on the way up we saw a plow sitting in a neighbor's driveway and stopped to ask???...and YES, he would plow for us...well, it wasn't really plowing, more like chipping snow...and the snowplow driver got stuck! finally they were able to dig out just enough of an area for our van, with a little extra space at the end...ahhh, Vermont in the winter!

The drama doesn't end there...when we got in the house we found that our gas tank was no longer hooked up...the gas company had gone out of business!!! Since we get gas only about every three years, they sent the notice to the house in Vt., and we don't have any forward from there...soooo...another trip to a bigger town to buy a heater until we could get a new gas company...finally we were settled, albeit a little cold for a night...

We had some company in Vt this week...John's brother (who is married to my aunt - follow that?), came to stay for one night...they found themselves in the midst of all the plowing, shoveling, freezing, walk through snow to your hips to get to the front door, no gas, go to the store, buy a heater ordeal...thanks for the help guys! They are also the proud new parents of a little girl they adopted domestically in January...so Cecelia and Juleigh, two little cousins, got to meet and play for the first time!

Our oldest son, Jonathan, also came for a night...he found himself on the warm, already dugout end of the bargain...but I do need to note, got his car stuck at the end of the driveway at 2 in the morning when he arrived!

The rest of the week in Vt was uneventful, relaxing, cozy, and just plain nice. Cecelia acted as though she had always been there and was as happy as could be...

By the way, the burglar must have been as hard up as they come...he dumped a cabinet of kids' games, a few draws of cards, and stole the refrigerator!...a 20 year old, under-the-counter model that I had used for years in my classroom!

next post...Cecelia's birthday!

February, 2008 "my birthday bike"

What can you do with a new birthday bike...even when it is -20 degrees outside with the windchill????...just ask Cecelia!!!

thanks gramma!

February, 2008

What a month it has been! Cecelia has been to her pediatrician's for a check-up and now weighs 20 lbs! So exciting! She has also cut four new teeth since we returned home. Unfortunately she has also had three ear infections since we have been home...this is apparently part of the cleft issue, and should clear up once she has her surgery.

Cecelia has a little play group of girls who all came from China. We have gotten together a few times for the girls to play. Her friends include Carly, Meilyn, Lia, and Sofia. They have such a great time together. It will be so important in the future for these girls to have a peer group of friends from China. We feel it is so important that her little play group is top priority for us and especially for her!

We have also been to two Chinese New Year celebrations. Our agency hosted one and the other was hosted by the Chinese School of Syracuse. Cecelia did fairly well at the first one, which was the one hosted by the agency. We have noticed that she does get very anxious when she is around a large group off children from China. I wonder what goes through her little mind... The second New Year celebration was very different than the first. It was a show of the adults and children who go to the Chinese school. There was singing, dancing, storytelling, and instrument playing. It was wonderful! After the show, we enjoyed traditional food that is served at Chinese New Year...oranges, dumplings, fried tofu, sesame cakes, and a few more items that I do not know the names for. It was delicious! There were also games and activities for the older children. It is definately something that we will look forward to in the future. Our hope is for Cecelia to be able to take a Chinese dance class or a Mandarin language class when she is older.

Cecelia's birthday is on the 17th of this month. She will be two years old! One of the oddest things about the adoption process is that it indeed did feel as though we adopted an infant...but an infant who grew so rapidly that suddenly she is two! Cecelia has gone from a baby who could hardly sit up without falling...to a two year old who carries a chair to each room so that she can climb up and explore...and all this in just 8 weeks! It seems as though she has been with us forever!

Cecelia shares a birthday with her gramma! That is one of the red threads of our journey! The Chinese believe that a baby is born with invisible red threads connecting him/her to all the people she will meet in life. We believe that this was one of the first red threads we saw on our journey to Cecelia! Another red thread occurred when we received our acceptance letter from China. It was dated April 29th, which is the birthday of my mom's only sister, Aunt Mari, who also happens to be my godmother! Another example of a red thread occurred when we received our date for our travel meeting at the agency. John and I and our children had cared for my grandmother in our home for almost 7 years, until she passed away of Alzheimer's disease in August of 2006. And guess whose birthday our travel meeting was on!!!...my gramma's; the 16th of July! We have many more examples of this red thread which twisted and turned from our little baby, even before we knew her, right into the folds of our family! This world we live in is an amazing place!

Cecelia's favorite activities all have to do with housework! Give this girl a dustcloth and she will dust a room for an hour!...She loves to fill and empty the dishwasher, carry things to the table for supper, water the plants(she would happily water plants for hours!), and vacuum.

We are going to be traveling to our house in Vermont this week so Cecelia will experience her first long car ride. It will be interesting to see how she does on that 5 hour trip! Unfortunately the reason for our trip is because our house there was burglarized and ransacked. We received a call from the state police about it last weekend...we love to go Vermont but not for this reason!
As long as the house is ok, it is ok. Pray for good weather and a good trip for Cecelia!

Enjoy the pictures. It is difficult to get a good shot of Cecelia as she is such a moving target at the moment. As soon as she sees a camera she runs toward it! But we tried... Cecelia was blessed with two special dresses to celebrate Chinese New Year in. Our friends, the Beckers , gave her the gorgeous purple dress and Erin and Evan gave her the beautiful gold and pink one! Thank you both!