Bella and LiLi playing the piano at Wadmalaw
The Thornley Family
This would be the tractor that George just purchased for Wadmalaw. He is super excited!
LiLi and Bella with their cousin Logan
Bella helping mommy fold clothes
LiLi at the Urban Farm
Bella LOVED this part at the fire station
This would be the morning ritual of fixing Bella's hair. Yes, she always cries and I am so careful to be gentle.
She has to hold LiLi's or George's hands while I fix her hair.
How cute!
How cute!
LiLi and Bella in their Ethiopian dresses!
Sorry for the long delay in posting. It had been a busy few weeks.
Adoption Update: We are still waiting on a court date in Ethiopia. We should hopefully hear something in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, our court date will be in December. We did get 14 updated photos of Maura Genet. A family with our agency traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their child. We sent a care package to Maura through them. We sent her a baby doll, a book, a children's Bible and several pairs of princess underwear. We received several pictures of her opening the care package..her face lit up when she saw the underwear. She is a beautiful child. I have decided to travel to Ethiopia to pick her up (rather than having her escorted home, like Bella was). George and I feel that it would be better for bonding if one of us traveled and met her at the orphanage rather than have her spend a few days with an escort and get dropped off at the airport with us. Anyone who knows me well, knows that this is a big step for me. I don't really like flying and the only other time that I have been on a long flight without George is when I traveled to Hawaii to visit him several years ago. Of course, George offered to go but I really have a strong urge to make this trip. George will stay in Philadelphia with LiLi and Bella. He is taking the entire week off from work to be "Mr. Mom." :) I probably will be traveling with the Ethiopia Director of the agency that we are working with. I feel very comfortable with this arrangement since she has traveled to Ethiopia before. She seems like a great person. Please pray that I will continue to be at peace with this decision. If we have a court date in December, we could travel as early as late January.
Since my last post, we have had lots of fun. At the beginning of October, we took the girls to a Philly's game. We had a blast. LiLi was really into it for about an hour and a half and Bella for about 5 minutes! :) The kids loved the ice cream that was served in a plastic baseball cap. They also had Build A Bear at the stadium. LiLi picked a bear and Bella picked the Phillies Phanatic.
We have made two trips to Charleston. One for the long weekend (Oct. 8-13th) and a shorter trip for my niece, Logan's 6th birthday party over Halloween weekend. It was great to see family and friends. For Halloween, LiLi dressed up as Princess Ariel and Bella dressed up as Holly Hobie (one of LiLi's old costumes). I guess in a few years Bella will be Ariel for Halloween. :) We went trick or treating in my sister's neighborhood. We had a great time.
Bella is doing great. She is in preschool 2 mornings a week and loves it. I chaperoned her class on both of their field trips...One to the fire station and one to a farm. At the farm, Bella was able to brush the animals, ride a pony, pick a pumpkin and feed rabbits. Her favorite thing to do is to go to a Mommy and Me class at Little Gym on Monday mornings. She wakes up everyday saying, "We go to Little Gym today?" She loves puzzles and books. Her favorite book right now is "Hush Little Baby". She is so precious and fits into our family perfectly. We finalized her adoption in SC. This is a requirement..so we are glad that this step is completed. She now has a SC birth certificate that states she was born in Bar Dahr, Ethiopia. This means that her adopoption is on file with the SC Vital records just in case any of the original paperwork gets misplaced.
LiLi loves her school. We are really going to miss it when we go back to Charleston. SHe has been on several field trips this year. I chaperoned the first one to a Urban Organic Farm right in Center City. It was really neat. We drove on a small school bus and had a great time. I couldn't go on the other ones because they had to take turns with the other parents. Can you believe that? :) They go on a small bus with room for only two parents. LiLi takes Mandarin classes every Thursday night in New Jersey. She is really enjoying them and has learned her numbers 1-10, some colors and some animals. There are about 6 girls in her class between the ages of 4 and 7. They have all been adopted as well. She also takes jazz and tap classes on Saturday mornings. She LOVES music and drawing.
George still loves his job. He is doing quite well and they have asked him to take on a couple of more projects as well. He does travel now one week out of every month. It is usually to either Tupelo, Mississisppi or Lakehurst, NJ.
I have been busy at LiLi's school. Right now I am working wih one other lady to coordinate the Scholastic Book Fair the first week of December. I am also on the Board for Families with Children from China in the Philly and entire Delaware Valley area. It feels good to be involved again and to meet some people. :) I am also a part of a woman's bible study that meets every other Friday. This group has truly been a blessing.
Anna is working hard her senior year. She has applied to a few colleges. She is working a good bit at Jim N Nicks. Not only is she a hostess but she caters for them also. I am enjoying collecting pictures for her senior ad page in the yearbook. She said, "Diana, their not supposed to be embarassing". I said, "Anna, let me handle this". HAHA no..seriously, it's really hard when we have so many pictures to choose from and can only pick a maximum of 12. Anna will be in Philadelphia with us for Christmas this year.
I think that sums everything up. Hope everyone is doing well and has a wonderful holiday season.
