Marisa's One Year "Gotcha-versary"

One year ago today we met Marisa for the first time.   My thoughts as I first saw her were, "This can't be real!  Is this finally happening??"  The dream to adopt a daughter from China began shortly after Christmas as we were welcoming in the new year of 2001.  We traveled a long, long road (ten years!) to get to that hotel lobby in China on December 27, 2010.  I will never forget those first few moments with Marisa.  Once they placed her in my arms I was amazed at how light she was underneath those four layers of clothing.  She was precious, so priceless and beautiful, and it was amazing to finally have her in my arms!  As I wavered between awe and disbelief that this was really happening, I kissed her rosy sweet cheek.  What a miracle it was to meet Marisa!  She was obviously overwhelmed by the sudden changes in her life.  I was expecting her to cry, so it was blissful that she didn't.  Daddy's whiskers brushing against her little face did bring about some tears.  We were both over the moon about her!

That was one year ago.  Our sweet baby has grown a lot! She's added four and half inches, and gained 12 lbs!  But the biggest change in her is that she knows us now.  We are her family, and she is our daughter.  There is a beautiful bond that we share that took time to develop.  Today I spent some time just basking in the joy of being bonded with her.  She snuggled up to me and we had some fun together while Kieran and Daddy were busy.  Tonight she called for me from her crib when she didn't feel well.  A year ago, she didn't know who I was.  What an honor and delight to be her Mommy.  Marisa is a spunky, funny, creative, smart, independent, happy, and content little girl.  Mike, Kieran and I absolutely love her!

 Also, I wanted to give a quick "shout out" to the other four families that shared our Gotcha Day.  We can't think about meeting Marisa without thinking of the wonderful people that we were blessed to travel with.  We are thankful that we got to share that special time with them.  All of their daughters are thriving too and we love to look at their lovely little faces on our refrigerator.  Blessings to you on this happy anniversary.  :)

Celebrating the Season

Making cookies: Kieran helped Mommy make peanut clusters. (Super easy recipe for the clusters on my Mom Thoughts blog.)  Kieran & Marisa helped me make over 60 sugar cookies.  Once they were frosted, we had fun delivering them to the neighbors.  

Family is here visiting...more pictures to be posted after Christmas on this topic.  Below: the kids made a train out of their chairs and Mommy & Grandpa volunteered to ride the train.  We also had our last post placement visit for Marisa on this same day.  Now, both of our kids are done with post placement visits!

  

One of our advent activities this past week was to make a snowman.  We didn't have any snow, so Mike and I took the kids on a day trip to the mountains.  It was Marisa's first time to play in the snow! We did a bit of sledding, made a snowman, wandered around in the powdery snow, and had fun throwing snow up into the air and pretending that it was snowing on us.  After our adventures, we drove to the nearest Starbucks and the kids each got a hot chocolate.  (I actually only gave them each half a cup and added a some water to cool it off.)  They managed to drink most of it and the rest was accidentally poured all over their shirts and coats.  :) A great time was had by all!

Our "Live" Nativity

An exuberant "Joseph" and contemplative "Mary" chose a baby for our nativity.

"Mary" is feeling like this baby is going to be born...soon!!
Joseph gets the "stable" ready for them to rest for the night.

Baby Jesus is about ready to be born!  World's easiest delivery soon follows.

The kids put baby Jesus in the manger.  (Check out Mary's cheetah slippers!)

Wise Men, aka: The Bears, arrive wearing hats and bringing gifts for the baby.

Meanwhile, the animals in the stable watch the happenings...
(I don't know how they were able to stay in character during our silliness, but
they were amazing.  We really should consider doubling their pay.)

We're done with our little nativity play, but Kieran wants to keep the headgear on.
We turn our attention to some favorite books from the library.
At first, Kieran won't smile for the camera.  So I tell him not to smile and...
I get this fabulous grin out of him.  Adorable!

Marisa and Mommy enjoy a good story while Kieran snaps our picture.
During our nativity, Mommy was the narrator, photographer, and donkey
that carried Mary to Bethlehem.

Christmas Time is Here!

Our Advent Calendar, details are on my Mom Thoughts blog.

One of our advent activities was to wrap presents for cousin Haley.
Check out their very focused expressions...so cute!

I let Marisa have the tape since brother got to use the scissors.  

Kieran tries to offer Marisa some advice on how to wrap the gifts.

This year I've already got all I want for Christmas.