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! :)