A Clear Sign

Sinclair's 2nd Birthday!

2009-11-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

We were tickled pink (and green) to celebrate Sinclair's second birthday!

Moon Festival 2009

2009-10-23T20:39:00.001-07:00

This year's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival was our first gathering in our new home. Our patio was strung with lights and Chinese lanterns. We invited several families with children from China, one of which are some of our new neighbors, the Worrells! We also had one family from our church's adoption fellowship group, the Barretts, and the Landinos who were in our travel group in China. We all wore traditional Chinese dress and brought moon cakes, Chinese pastries, and other desserts to share. We sat and talked of China and our various adoption experiences and the kids had fun playing. It was a lovely time.

One Year A Smith!

2009-10-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

September 1st marked our one-year adoption anniversary. It is such a special memory to celebrate. What a great adventure adoption has been. To celebrate, we weren't able to do too much, because we moved into a new home exactly on September 1st. We had some close friends over for Chinese food and we put Sinclair in a ladybug dress, but that was about it. On the other hand, moving into a new home has been a great thing for our family, and I find it interesting that the dates coincided. We have been blessed to be able to move into a 1900 square-foot one-story home with a HUGE backyard. There are trees, and grass and bugs and lizards. We previously lived in a 1400 square foot townhome, so this feels like a palace. Sinclair loves it here. She likes to run in the grass, jump on the trampoline, and get dirty. God gave our family a wonderfully amazing gift to celebrate Adoption Day.

First Independence Day

2009-07-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Sinclair enjoyed her first 4th of July! We relaxed most of the day, trying to let her get as much of a nap in as possible so she could stay up late for the fireworks. Every year, we go to a huge fireworks display in Veterans Park. This year we met some friends from church there and reserved our spots on the lawn. We brought KFC and some fruit for dinner and hung out with the crowds. There is always a band playing on stage and booths to play and eat at. Brevin was in Tennessee visiting Matt's dad for the holiday, but nevertheless we all had our own flag tee in different colors to wear for the occasion. Sinclair ran around with the other toddlers, chasing bubbles, etc. We always see a lot of people we know from the community and so it's a great time even while we are all waiting for sundown. Sinclair absolutely loved the fireworks! She oohed and ahhed and clapped and jumped up and down. It was so cute. She really is getting very expressive and animated. She had a blast!

18 months old

2009-06-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

This was taken when Sinclair was exactly 18 months old. It just took me awhile to post it!

Sinclair's Dedication video--Finally!

2009-04-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

Watch below or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU_85G8WJsA

Sinclair's First Easter

2009-04-19T09:29:00.001-07:00

Sinclair's first Easter home with us was so much fun. We died and ate Easter eggs, attended the Hickerson family annual Easter egg hunt, enjoyed our church service and ate a delicious brunch at Marie Callendar's with Grammy and Boo-boo.

Sinclair had a great time. It was so funny to watch her try to figure out what to do at the egg hunt. She could barely reach for the eggs, and then she didn't want to put them in her basket. She wanted to play with them--shake them and throw them. She had no idea there was candy inside of them.

The Easter services at church were quite different than a normal Sunday for us. Madison was in the service as she and some of her junior high group were going to be prayed over before leaving for a service trip over Easter break. Anita was dancing in the services, so Daddy had to bring the family. Mommy laid out all of the children's clothing, so Daddy knew what to do. Sinclair began calling out "Ma, ma!!" when she saw Anita on stage and Matt almost had to take her out of the service. Afterwards, we were in such a hurry to get over to Marie Callendar's before a huge lunch rush that we didn't take any pictures in all of our special Easter outfits. Sinclair looked adorable in a beautiful lavendar dress, but we'll have to get pictures of her in it on another day.

Six Months A Smith

2009-03-23T17:03:00.001-07:00

Sinclair has been part of our family for six whole months! Wow! We had our 6 month post placement visit with our social worker. We told her how well Sinclair has attached to us and all the updates on her health and development.

Now that Sinclair is so well-attached, we are starting to see her branch out some. She has begun to make eye contact more with people outside the family who talk to her and will even babble to them and point at things to show them. She gets down and runs around when we are out in public much more, too. In fact, this weekend, we were at a party at the Chelliah's (the hosts of her birthday party), and she was going into the house without a parent and playing with the kids while we watched from the patio window totally amazed. It was great to see how secure she is now in our relationship. She still does not let too many people outside the family hold her for very long. But as our social worker has said, that's really a good thing.

As far as talking goes, she has her word "Ma" which means everything. She looks right at Matt and says, "Ma!" She looks at Madison and says "Ma!" She points to something she wants to show any of us and says "Ma!" She has many other ways of communicating and believe me, she gets her point across. She recently learned to shake her head "no" and that has been helpful for all of us (less screeching to listen to when she doesn't like something). She also knows the sign language for "more" and uses it anytime she wants something. She is beginning to imitate words, but nothing that she uses regularly. But that's okay...after all, she listened to Chinese for the first 10 months of her life!

We are so proud of our little daughter for all the changes she has experienced over the last six months and how God has woven her into our family. We can't imagine life without her!

Sinclair's 1st Christmas Home

2009-01-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas--Sinclair's first with us. It started off by going to the tree lighting of the gi-normous, real tree at Fashion Island in Newport Beach with Anita's parents. Madison was at a church function, so she missed it; but the rest of us enjoyed the show that was done by a youth musical theater group and Cathy Rigby.

We decorated the house as usual, but this year we finally got to hang FOUR stockings. It was a joy to finally write Sinclair's name on her stocking and see it hanging with the rest.

Madison performed in the Nutcracker with Sunrise Ballet Theater, and most of the family made it to her performance. She did a great job in her three parts: "Street Dancer", "Cavalry Soldier" and "Harlequin" (click here for photos).

Another highlight was that Matt's brother and sister-in-law, Brian and Megan, were here all the way from Pennsylvania. Sinclair got to meet them for the first time, and Uncle Brian really made her laugh, as he does all of our children. We spent the Sunday before Christmas with them at Matt's mother's house to have dinner and exchange gifts. This year, we enjoyed giving special gifts purchased in China.

On Christmas Eve, Anita danced in the Christmas show/service at Yorba Linda Friends Church where we are members. Both sides of the family came out for the last performance and we all had dinner at Chili's afterwards. Not a very traditional Christmas eve dinner, but still a great time.

On Christmas morning, the kids were up before the sun. We put a fire in the fireplace and cinnamon rolls in the oven and watched them open their gifts and stockings. Sinclair's favorite gift was her own toy cell phone. So now she can stop stealing Anita's! After breakfast and getting dressed we headed out to Anita's parents' home to exchange gifts with them and eat tamales and Anita's birthday cake. Sinclair did great with all of the excitement. In fact, she took her first solo steps across the room while we were there. She is officially a walker now!

Before Uncle Brian and Auntie Megan left to go home, we took them out to eat at the Chinese restaurant where we bought the food for Sinclair's birthday party. Megan did a great job learning to use chopsticks. Sinclair loved the fish tank there. At the end of the night, Sinclair actually let Uncle Brian hold her for a couple minutes. That was truly special.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day is a family thing in our house. No romantic dinner for Mom and Dad here. But that's fine with us. We enjoy loving on our little sweeies. Grammy Stockard came by, and look how cute she and the girls looked all in pink.

The kids had a home-school Valentine exchange at Chuck E. Cheese. One of the kids made Sinclair her own bag to receive Valentines, too.

We divided up Sinclair's candy between the rest of us, but I did allow her to eat her first lollypop. Although half of the sucker was drooled down her bib, she loved it. (Jen W., pretend like you didn't see this.)

Chinese New Year

2009-02-08T14:22:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! This is officially the year of the Ox. We had a great time celebrating this occasion with the Landinos, the Hickersons and the Mellem kids. Who would have thought that when we met the Landinos 11 years ago at Taylor Hickerson's first birthday party that we would someday travel to China with the Landinos to adopt our youngest daughters?

Julie Landino, Dee Hickerson, and Anita

We had a wonderful evening eating Chinese food and enjoying a few Chinese traditions together.

Ivy Fu Chen Landino

Ella Landino, Sinclair, and Eden Hickerson

Nathan Landino, Brevin, Matt and Sinclair

Claire Landino, Eden, Ella, Caleb Hickerson, Taylor, Paige Landino, Madison, Katie Mellem and Hazel Mellem

Sinclair's Dedication

2009-02-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

On January 25th, 2009--the anniversary of our log-in-date and the day before Chinese New Year--we had the privelege of dedicating Sinclair Bo-Zheng to God.
It was a beautiful day! Sinclair was in a great mood as we waited backstage before the church service began. Our children's pastor, Lauren Matt, introduced all of the babies being dedicated in that service as we stood on the stage.
Each child's full name was said and each member of the family was introduced as they showed a picture on the screens of each baby so that the congregation could see them well. Those in the audience who knew the families were asked to stand and reach out a hand as our lead pastor and friend, Matthew Cork, prayed over each child and laid hands on him or her. When he got to Sinclair, he paused as he was choked up with emotion over her and the miracle that she is to us and us to her. It was a touching moment for all of us and for those of our family and friends who were there.

Our friends, Kyle and Shana Beym, came to the ceremony with their four daughters. The Beyms became dear to our hearts during our adoption process as Anita baby-sat their eight-week-old daughter, Isabella, in order to earn some extra money for the adoption costs. In the meantime, they were blessed with three more girls before we finally had Sinclair in our arms! Here are the Beyms and Smiths from back row, left to right: Caitlin, Shana, Olivia, Kyle, Penelope, Matt, Madison, Sinclair, Anita; and front row, l to r: Isabella, Brevin, Elijah.
Another special thing about the day was that us Smith girls all wore our pearls which were purchased in China. (Anita was completely unaware of this as Matt had another dad buy the string of pearls for him while Anita was pouting disappointedly because Matt wasn't letting her buy anything at the pearl showroom!) This was all planned between Matt and a friend of ours from church, Carolyn McLean, who knew how excited I was to buy some pearls in China for Sinclair and also for Madison whose birthstone is pearl. Carolyn (pictured with the girls), who is a jewelry artist, then custom-made the pearls into bracelets for us for Christmas. The talent and sentiment she has put into these bracelets is just precious. Anita's pearls are interspersed with "love knots" and there are a heart and a ladybug charm dangling from the clasp. Madison's bracelet also has a heart. And Sinclair got two bracelets: one to wear now with a tiny heart charm and one for when she's older with a piece of jade in the center that we also bought for her in China.

After the church service we had brunch with our parents back at our HOA clubhouse. We prayed together, ate, and then read some Scriptures to Sinclair. Each family member chose a special verse that they wanted to share with her for this occasion and which we will put in her baby book for her to refer to in the years to come. We also read the life verse we have chosen for her. It is Lamentations 3:22-24 which says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore, I will hope in him.'" God has truly been faithful to all of us as he brought us together as a family, and we hope that Sinclair will learn to trust and hope in Him whose love for her will never fail.

Another walking video

2009-01-17T14:36:00.001-08:00

I did this one right. :) Notice Sinclair always has something in her hands when she's walking around. She loves carrying stuff!

Walking Video!

2009-01-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

I video'd this with my camera lenthwise to get the full-length shot; I didn't think about the fact that I wouldn't be able to turn it (like I do with photos) when I uploaded it. So, just turn your head sideways and enjoy. :)

California Girl

2008-12-26T10:23:00.000-08:00

I know you are all expecting a Christmas post today, but I haven't had time to blog in a while, and I didn't want to skip Sinclair's first trip to the beach.

We had wanted to take Sinclair to the beach since we first got home. The weather was not the problem as it was 80 degrees in So Cal all the way until mid November this year. But between winter baseball games and dance rehearsals, we had no time to go. Finally, we had time during the week of Thanksgiving, although it was pretty chilly. It was just Mom, the boys, and Sinclair; but we loved it. Sinclair just stared at the waves when we first arrived. When I set her feet in the sand, she quickly pulled them up and was very nervous about what in the world it was. She slowly got comfortable with the sand as I sat down with her and showed her how to dig and play in it. Then she couldn't keep her hands out of it!

Growing up so fast!

2008-11-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

It seems Sinclair has gone from being a six-month old in motor development to a twelve-month old in only 2 months! When we first came home all she could do was sit up. We were told she could roll over, but never saw her do so, and she could not sit up on her own from a lying position. But she was a determined little girl. She loved to hold our hands and stand on our laps and that increased her strength tremendously. We have seen progress almost daily, and in literally the last 2-3 weeks she has accomplished so much. She can now roll over, push up into a sitting position, pull up on the furniture, stand for up to 10 seconds and even stand up from a sitting position in the middle of the floor. She scoots around almost everywhere on her bottom, and she is working on walking holding on to our hands, too. Go Sinclair!

She is so proud of herself!

Our Littlest Pumpkin

2008-11-13T19:56:00.001-08:00

Ladybugs

2008-07-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Ladybugs are supposed to be good luck in the China adoption community. The story goes that several years ago, while numerous people waited for their referrals, there was a huge infiltration of ladybugs across the nation. Immediately following the ladybug sightings, a flood of referrals came in for many of the waiting parents. Many people now believe that when a ladybug is seen, a referral is not far behind.

We swore we weren't going to get into this ladybug trend when we started out on our adoption. But honestly, we can't resist. Ladybugs are too cute! We're not superstitious people and really don't believe it means anything, but have found ourselves compelled to buy ladybug wrapping paper, stickers, and whatever little things we see.

Matt saw a ladybug on a website the other day, and the ladybug seemed to have nothing to do with the website. It was just there. So that's one sighting this week! Let's have fun with this: if you see any ladybugs, post your finds in the comments section of this post!

Jiangxi Province

2008-07-28T23:31:00.001-07:00

The Jiangxi Province, Sinclair's birthplace, will always have special significance to us and her. We may not get to tour around much while we are there, but we would like to pass on some of the amazing facts we have learned about this special province.

Jiangxi (jyong-shee) is a southern province of China, bordered to the north by the famous Yangtze River. The Gan River runs through the entire province from south to north, emptying into Lake Poyang which in turn empties into the Yangtze River. In fact, the short name for Jiangxi is "Gan" after the river. The subtropical Jiangxi province has a warm and humid climate with cold springs and winters, hot summers and dry autumns. The average temperature of the province is 37-48 degrees Fahrenheit in January and 80-88 degrees in July. Jiangxi province has a large forest area, mountainous terrain and beautiful scenery. It is one of the more wild places of central China especially around the marshes of Lake Poyang where every year about 2800 white cranes migrate to spend their winter. The lake has been well known as "a land of abundance" and is reputed as a "bright pearl." On the east side of this lake is Mount Lushan, Lushan National Park, and the location of a well-known Buddhist monastery, the Donglin Temple. In 2007, Survivor was filmed in the Zhelin Reservoir of Jiangxi Province!

The capital and main industrial center of Jiangxi is Nanchang. It is home to the Tengwang Pavilion, a towering pavilion dating back to 653 AD and the setting of the first communist-led armed uprising against the nationalists in 1927. Bayi Square is the second largest public square in China, after Beijing's Tiananmen Square. It is also home to the The Star of Nanchang, formerly the world's tallest Ferris wheel. We will most likely first meet Sinclair Bo-Zheng in Nanchang!

Another famous city in this province is Jingdezhen which has been producing pottery from the white clay of a nearby mountain since the Han Dynasty. It is known as the "capital of porcelain" and regarded as the producer of the best porcelain in China.

There are several crops grown in the Jiangxi province, with rice as the most predominant. Cash crops commonly grown include cotton, rapeseed and oranges. The Black Tea produced in Ningzhou City and the Green Tea produced in Wuyuan City are well-known throughout China.

We think it is very interesting that chili peppers are also grown in Jiangxi province and the people here eat spicy food. Girls from this province are known as "Spicy Girls!" It is no coincidence that we would be matched with a baby from this province, though the CCAA had no idea that Anita's grandparents come from New Mexico from where they still order and roast red chilis for sauces for their food. Anita's whole family loves spicy food. Our Spicy Girl will fit in perfectly!

Sinclair Turns 1!

2008-11-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sinclair just celebrated her first birthday! We decided to have a welcome home/1st birthday party all in one, since many of our friends had not even met our new sweetie yet. The theme for the party was ladybugs, of course! We were able to host the party at our friends, the Chelliah's, beautiful home; they were so kind to allow us to do that. We had about 80 people (half of them kids) show up to meet Sinclair, enjoy Chinese food, play, and sing "Happy Birthday." It was still warm enough for the kids to swim, and we also had some games out for them to play. I must admit, though, that everything happened so fast. We didn't get a chance to talk to everyone or even get as many photos as I wanted. We had to have a next-day photo shoot of Sinclair in her ladybug dress just to commemorate the day. As far as cake goes, we had a white cake with a sun shining down on flowers and ladybugs, chocolate ladybug cupcakes, and Sinclair's very own little 1st birthday cake. She did not know what to do with that cake, but she had one to herself nevertheless. We had taken off her dress thinking that she would have that cake all over, but no. She just wasn't interested. I think she may have been a little overwhelmed at that point as everyone was all crowded around watching her. She did have fun drinking from a straw for the first time as she sipped from a juice box. Overall, we just loved introducing her to our friends. It was a great time.

First trip to the pumpkin patch

2008-10-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday we got to take Sinclair to Tanaka Farms for her first trip to the pumpkin patch. This is a local organic farm where the kids get to take a tractor ride, pick vegetables, roam through a corn maze, pet animals and pick out their own pumpkin. Sinclair squealed at the animals and enjoyed being in the outdoors. It was a lot of fun. We were all in our black and orange Halloween shirts, but boy, was it hot. It's hard for it to feel like fall when it is still 80 degrees or more here in California. These pictures are all the ones with Sinclair. We will post more pictures of all of us on our MySpace page. Enjoy!

All About Sinclair--11 months young today

2008-09-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

We have had Sinclair in our family for almost one month now, and we've learned so much about this sweet baby of ours. She adjusted so well to us in China and is happy and healthy. When she had her physical exam in China she weighed in at 18.2 pounds and measured 28 inches long. To us, all of these things are evidence of being well-cared for at the orphanage where she spent her first 10 months.

Sinclair is adjusting well in her new home. When we first came home, she wouldn't let Anita get up to cross the room and back, but now she is doing better. She still prefers Anita to the rest of the family if Anita is around, but if Anita is out of sight, she is fine being held by Daddy or Madison or playing on the floor with Brevin. Sinclair is sharing a room with Madison, and since we've been back she has slept through the night twice. She didn't like to be put on the changing table at all for diapering. Now she is fine with that, and her poops have been much better since that traumatic episode in China. For the first week or so Sinclair would cry each time we put her in the car, but that has also subsided for the most part.
The carpet took some getting used to for her, but she laughed out loud when she first met Phoebe, our cat. She has had so many changes in her life and routine over the last month, but overall people keep commenting on how happy and well-adjusted she seems.

Sinclair is getting into the routine of things in our family, too. She wakes up in the morning around 6:30 or 7:00 and is happy to see us. She is a good eater and takes about 4 bottles per day plus whatever fruit or vegetable baby food we offer.
She is enjoying sitting on the floor with toys or in Anita's lap with Anita and the kids while they are reading and doing schoolwork. She seems to be taking one morning nap and one afternoon nap--we're still figuring out her habits/routine as she has figured out ours. Madison usually plays with her for 30 minutes or so while Anita has some uninterrupted teaching time with Brevin. She has already gone on one home-school field trip to the LA County fair and loved it. She is enjoying being in the Moby-wrap with Anita at church, or at Brevin's baseball games or while Anita does chores around the house. We hold her bottle for her when she eats, so she can gaze up at us and we can enjoy that bonding time with her. Attachment is so important for all babies, but especially for adopted children. We wouldn't miss these moments for the world.

Sinclair's little personality is coming out, too. Her favorite toy is a water bottle, but she also likes her stacking/nesting cups. She babbles and smiles quite a bit and is very cuddly. The kids still make her smile and laugh more than anyone, and she is never lack for attention! Whenever we put on music, she bounces herself up and down, smiles, and tries to sing along. She is not crawling, yet, but loves to stand holding on to someones hands for balance. So far she has learned to play peek-a-boo, wave hello and good-bye, and puts her hands up when we say "up." She is so cute!

So many people have commented on how well Sinclair just fits with us Smiths. While in China, some of the shop owners there had to ask if she was a Chinese baby! One woman said she looks like she could be my biological child. Lineker (one of our guides) said he thought that Sinclair was possibly a Chinese minority as she didn't look Han Chinese to him. We researched what minority groups live in the Jiangxi province where she was born, and she may possibly be from the Hakka group. That is truly a guess, but she does resemble some of the Hakka people whose photos were online. But besides appearances, she still fits so well with us and us with her. She is a wonderful addition to the Smith family and we are all so lucky.

The Moon Festival

2008-09-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

Our mooncakes may have been confiscated by customs, but we would still celebrate the moon festival. Last Sunday, with Chinese lanterns hung, Sinclair got to meet more of her family. Grammy Stockard (Matt's mom) and Boo-boo, Grammy Armijo and Poppy (Anita's parents), Aunty Amber (Anita's sister) with cousins Alicia and Josy, and Great Grams and Gramps (Anita's paternal grandparents) all came over for tea and samples of Chinese baked goods. There was green tea and red bean cake, pastries of green bean, pork jerky, and date with walnut, and some other more "normal" treats. We showed everyone all of our mementos from China, including Sinclair's adoption decree and other documents. Brevin and Elijah put on a wonderful Chinese sword fight demonstration. Sinclair opened presents. It was a great time for everyone just to see Sinclair and celebrate her arrival into our family. Oh, and some of us did gaze at the moon for a couple minutes.

Coming Home

2008-09-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had a long trip home. We woke up at 4am on Wednesday morning, Sept. 10th(Tuesday night in the U.S.) to meet in the lobby at 6am. Luckily, all of our luggage was already picked up by the bell boys the night before. Other families were leaving along with us, and one family woke up early just to say good-bye to us. We will really miss these people! We had a short flight to Hong Kong with the Landino family and a couple other families. Julie (Landino) and I were talking about how we need to figure out how to get our two families together more often and realized that we have 9 kids between us! You wouldn't have known it, though, as all of our children were such troopers during all of our travels.

Once in Hong Kong, we all had our own routes home. We said good-bye, and we Smiths decided to have breakfast at Starbucks in the airport. It was D-lish.

On the plane to Korea Sinclair was given her very own baby meal. She enjoyed it very much, then she took a nap on the plane as we had bulk-head seats with a bassinet for her. It worked out great. In Korea, we all rested, got some McFlurries, and played with Sinclair. I think she was happy to be down on the floor instead of cooped up on a lap or in the baby carrier.

The next leg of the trip was the longest--from Korea to Los Angeles. The great thing was that it was almost bedtime. We had dinner, got Sinclair in some jammies, and she went to sleep. She didn't settle in right away, but after a little more cuddling in Mommy's arms, she was out. We all slept as much we could; Sinclair slept a total of 8 hours.

Once we landed, we had to get through customs in the immigration line and then we got our mooncakes confiscated because of the egg yolk inside them (boo!). But finally, we made it out of the airport with all 7 pieces of luggage, 5 carry-ons, a mom, a dad, and 4 kids. It was about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon, but the wee hours of Thursday morning to us. We were so relieved to get out of the airport, that you wouldn't know how exhausted we were. Plus, we were so excited that Sinclair was a US citizen now (yeah)! As we walked up the ramp out of immigration, Anita's parents were lined up on the railing waving and taking pictures.

Matt's mom and stepdad were there, too, circling the car around to pick us up at the curb. Sinclair did not like being strapped into a carseat. I'm sure she was wondering why she couldn't sit on my lap and look out the window like on the bus in China.

But she got to go to home for the first time.

What a joy to see her in our home, her home now.

Day 11--Guangzhou

2008-09-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

This morning we met our group downstairs in the lobby for a picture with our entire travel group. It is awesome to see how each adopted child has fit perfectly into their new families. As I look at each one, they just belong. There is no doubt in my mind that each and every child here was predestined by God to be right in the family in which they were placed. I cannot imagine any of these children being with anyone else. Adoption is truly a miracle.

Families 1-6:

Families 7-16:

This afternoon we went to the US Consulate in person to get Sinclair's Visa to America! It was great to see how many children will be coming in to a new home and a new life in the United States. Yesterday we felt so ready to go home, but today we feel sad about it. Our trip is coming to a close and we have to say good-bye to friends we've made and bonded with.

The Jiangxi Spicy Girls are coming home! (Reunions are already being planned for the Bo sisters and their cousin, Sheng Bei)