EXCITING NEWS FOR THE THORNLEY FAMILY!!

As some of you know, George and I were originally adopting a daughter from Vietnam and a daughter from Ethiopia at the same time. Vietnam closed down on Sept. 1st, 2008 (our dossier had been in Vietnam since Nov. 12, 2007). Since that time, we decided to wait and see how the adjustment was from one child to two. Of course there has been some normal challenges, but overall, it has been GREAT! So...our dossier is now in Ethiopia for our last daughter. It has been there for awhile. We expect to have a referral around Christmas time. We are requesting a daughter between the ages of 2-4 years old. We are very excited. She should be home by the end of next summer!

We are blessed to have the privilege of raising our two beautiful girls! They bring us so much joy and happiness.

Please pray for a smooth adoption journey!

Diana and George

Our Wonderful View!

This is the view that George and I see from

our balcony as we sip our Margaritas!

Part 2

Micah, LiLi, Keaton, Bella,
and Cade

LiLi fell asleep with her stuffed
animal "Skittles" over her eyes

The Birthday Girl!

Claire!

Our beautiful girls!

Nana and G-Daddy (and their

eyes are open) :)

Abby, Anna, and Elizabeth

Karen and Micah

Daddy feeding Bella some yummy

birthday cake

Ava having a great time

Aunt Becky meeting Bella

for the first time!

Daddy with Brother Bill, sister Becky,

LiLi, and Brother-in-law Freddie

LiLi and Bella with their cousins

Madison and Kenzie!

LiLi having a blast popping bubble

wrap!

Hello everyone! I am just now getting around to posting Part 2. Let's start with the wek of July 20th. The Thornley Family had a total of 8 doctor's appointments. Yes..you heard that right. We all had dentist appts, dermatologists appts, eye appts, vaccination appts for the kids and more. Once again..good reports! Praise The Lord!

We also had our post placement visit with the social worker for Bella. It went very well. They actually just visit with the family and see how everything is going. This includes bonding, as well as how she is doing physically and emotionally. These visits are very important..it doesn't hurt us in anyway if we don't do them but it could hurt future adoptions for other families. The international countries like to see how their children are doing. Families also sign a contract in the beginning promising to follow through on these reports.

Bella had her 2 year old check-up while we were in Charleston. She now weighs 22 pounds and is 33 1/2 inches tall. She is talking up a storm..takes after mommy and LiLi. Poor George! :) She is almost up to date on all of vaccinations. After our trip to Charleston in November..she will be totally caught up!

We also met with an attorney to finalize Bella's adoption. She came home as a Permanent US Resident but not a citizen. We have to finalize her adoption here before she becomes a citizen. It's just a lot of paperwork. We are also readopting LiLi so she will have a SC birth certificate. It will say her name and that she was born in Nanchang, China but her birth will now be registered with the state of SC. This will make it much easier for her later in life when she may need a copy of her birth certificate, etc.

We had Bella's 2nd Birthday Party at The Children's Museum of the Lowcountry on July 25th. It was Mickey Mouse theme. She had a Blast! LiLi was too cute..she would help her open the gifts then yell, "thanks". We had a great turnout. That night my Dad and Terry kept both of the girls overnight. They kids had a great time and George and I had a great date! :)

We had a great trip to Charleston. It was fun to spend time with family and friends.

When we got back to Philly, we had one week to be completely moved out of the apartment and into the condo! We did it! It was rough but we are finally moved in and our condo looks great! We have bought a couple of great pieces for our house...a beautiful Chinese vase. It's about 3 feet high, very colorful, and it has several Chinese men and women on it. We also bought a beautiful wall hanging tapestry from Africa. The print is of three women dancing. These are really special to us since they represent our children's birth countries.

We are now back into our Philadelphia routine. The first weekend back, Chris and Alison came up for the weekend. We had a great time. The kids really enjoyed spending time with them, and we did too. :) My Dad and Terry are flying up for Labor Day weekend and my stepbrother, Corey and nephew, Cooper will be visiting the last weekend in Sept.

We leave on Friday for a week long trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto. We are super excited. Neither George or myself have ever visited these places before. We are staying at The Hilton with a view of the falls so it should be really nice.

LiLi starts Pre K on Sept. 11th. She is really excited but I am not looking forward to it. My playmate will be in school from 8:15 till 3:15. Bella starts preschool the following week..one day a week from 9 am till 11:30. I just want her to be around other kids!

And now..I will post some pictures! :)

July 2009 Part1

LiLi and Bella "reading"
on the Mall in Washington, DC

Love this picture!

Bella and LiLi with their
Sister-in Law, Alison

With their brother, Chris!

LiLi (the princess) and Ava

Is LiLi excited or what??

My baby!

Margaritaville in Orlando!

That is a real parrot! It was so funny..

Bella would only touch LiLi's hand but

not the parrot.

My Family!! How did I get so

blessed?

I don't give them ice cream much

so this was a treat..I think they

liked it!


After a day at The Magic Kingdom

and the pool

Daddy and the Flea

Beautiful Boo!

Love this action shot

The Clan

My handsome Hubby that I

love so much!

LiLi and Bella with their Grammy

LiLi and Bella with Anna

Hello my friends! We had such a busy July that I will be breaking it down into 2 posts.

On July 3rd, we headed down to Washington, DC to spend the 4th of July weekend. We had a great time walking around DC and Georgetown. We had lunch at Zed's (a wonderfful Ethiopian restuarant). I asked the waitress a couple of questions and she answered them happily. We also had dinner one night at one of our favorites..Old Ebbitt's Grill. For the 4th, we headed to the mall and watched a spectacular fireworks show. We didn't get back to the room until after midnight..but of course the kids were up at 7. :) We got back to Charleston early evening on the 5th.

The week of the 6th through 10th was quite packed. We had 5 doctors appointments..all with good results. Praise God.

George's son, Chris, and his wife, Alison, had us over to see their house and for dinner. We had a great time. They were just marrid in April.

On July 10th, we headed down to Orlando, Florida. We meet my Dad and stepmom Terry and my sisters, brother-in laws, stepsister, stepbrother, nieces and nephews there. This was the first time that my sisters and my stepbrother had met Bella We had a low key week. The only park we visited was one day ay The Magic Kingdom. The kids had a blast but by 4 pm..LiLi was ready for the pool. We spent the rest of the week at the pool. It had a lazy river and a slide that the kids liked. LiLi could go down by herself and thought she was such a big girl. George took Bella down more times than we can count but then he decided she could go down by herself. I waited at the bottom of the slide to catch her She came down each time with a huge grin and arms open wide. LiLi is best friends with her cousin, Logan, so I am so glad that they had this time together.
We headed back to Charleston on the 18th.

George's son, Kevin, and his family came over on July 19th. My mom and her friend, Elizabeth, also spent the day with us. George made a great dinner...we headed to the playground after dinner. I am SO glad that we don' have mosquitos in Philadelphia. I sprayed us with repellent from head to toe and we had to leave because LiLi had 8 mosquito bites on her legs..poor thing.

I will post some pictures now. I will be posting Part 2 later this..so stay tuned! :)