This is the Red Wings year!

Got-ya Audrey

This is rather long, but it captures the moment both the chaos of being handed a baby with others in the room receiving their child too, to all the paperwork we had to fill out--you will notice how quickly Audrey settled in and started showing us the sweet little person she is.  The only thing i didn't get on tape (other than i got blocked from getting the actual "hand off" to Kath) was our guide, Jerry, rushing us out of the room after the paperwork was complete.  I half expected to hear sirens coming our way.  But they tell me this adoption was legit, all the way.

Audrey displays her sense of good taste and fashion....

....any question she is taking to American consumerism? Purses, bracelets and those (red) pants!?

Kunming Vid--Day 2

We are going to use the blog to post recent vid.  Just got the hi-def camera working w/ imovie '08.  So we are behind a bit....in particular b/c Audrey has been walking for about two weeks.  But we thought you would all enjoy some of this early stuff.  Peace, Tom and Kathie

Genius Baby!!!

The picture says it all.  But a quick narrative:  Audrey loves sitting on the window sill and playing w the magnet letters on the easel.  I had put Hugh's new Play-doh under it.  The box is full of doh and must weigh about 8lbs.  While Kathie watched, Audrey worked the box out from under easel and proceeded to climb up so she could "conduct" from a higher position.  Can you say prodigy?

Our first family of 7 Christmas

As expected it was a joyful Christmas albeit exhausting as Kathie and I struggled to stay awake past 8pm.  And Audrey was struggling to sleep past 3am.   But she eventually came around and has been sleeping through the night, w/ one wake up for a quick rocking.  Audrey was an expert "rip and tearer".  It was fun to watch her watch her brothers and sisters.  It was also fun to have family on either side of Christmas day but still have Christmas day to ourselves.  We exercised an experiment in "delayed gratification", the kids had to go to Church at 8am before present opening.  They handled it very well and we had bright sunshine to open gifts too. In fact, it had an Easter morning feel outside.  

We had a milestone this past week too. Audrey stopped cruising and has taken to full out walking.  A bit of a side step, arm in the air orangutan move, but efficient as heck.  She has so far avoided crashing into the dogs and visa versa.

Audrey also met her first cousin, Ava, up close and personal.  Other than the first head slap as Ava tried to rush the QB, they hit it off.  Of course, our little Audrey didn't look so little up against a 10mos old.

Happy New Year to you all, we honestly can't wait to make 2008 as blessed and fulfilling as 2007!

Made it home--Amen!

It was great to get home. She flew like a dream, slept probably 9-10hrs of the 13hr flight. Of course, she only knows business class now, so that will be a problem later. The flight attendants could not have been more, well..."attendant" to both Audrey (Choo-Choo) and Emma. No issues at the border crossing other than me. I snapped a photo of Kath and Audrey in front of the welcome to the US sign. The customs' officer busted us. They made me delete the picture. But we did get advanced in the line, not sure why, but it was smooth sailing after that.
The grandparents brought our kids to greet us. It was very cute to see their excitement. Hugh was so sweet, he cried when he saw his momma and hugged her. They love their little sister. They overwhelm her with hugs and toys to play with. The dogs would like to love her, but she isn't use to seeing them up this close (or alive!, ha ha, just kidding, it's not like we saw a "dog farm" in China or anything like that...nope, no sirree, no dog farms in China, i mean that would be sick! oh wait, i have Audrey home i don't have to pretend anymore. We gol darn did see dog farms, dogs tied to trees, struggling to get loose. Sick!). While i am at it, hey, China?! What's with the staring and the pushing and shoving in airplanes and at KFC. I get staring at the white family with the Chinese baby. But battle the other 4 billion Chinese, leave my tall, white arse out of it I was just looking for a double Cappuccino. We Americans take a lot of grief world wide for being rude and obnoxious. I encourage people to go to India or China, as I have this past year. Other than the serial killers and the population of the entire state of Florida, we aren't bad people to visit. Come visit Ashburn, we promise not to stare back!
As you can tell from the time of this post, we are still very much on China time. Exhausted at 4pm, awake at 4am. Emma has adjusted quicker and is sleeping soundly. She made it too school the next day and through her activities. We were glad to find out her cough the whole time in China was just a minor irritation from her sinus and she should be clear by the time the big red man arrives.

What a Christmas it will be. For 15mos, Audrey sat in an orphanage, had heart surgery, recovered in foster care and just like that she's a U.S. citizen and more importantly, our daughter, back home two miles in any direction from 3 Starbucks, 1 Caribou coffee and countless other absolutely necessary amenities. God Bless America!

Our little shepherd Hoo-B (or is that Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn?)