Qianjiang Sisters

Last weekend we traveled down to Tucson for an annual convention. While we were there, Kailahni and I had the joy of meeting up with the Tarico family. Their daughter, Avery, and Kailahni were orphanage sisters. Avery was born in July 2008 and Kailahni in September 2008...so they are very close in age. It was so awesome to see these two little girls sitting side by side, playing with toys and eating popsicles together half a world away from where their lives began. Avery and Kailahni have very similar "stories", very similar personalities, and are both tiny, little bundles of energy. I'm so glad we were able to reunite our girls...even though they are unaware of their "sisterhood" and the unique blessing of having left the small district of Qianjiang, Chongqing China almost a year ago, placed with two separate families (who knew nothing of one another), and are now living only an hour and a half away from each other. So amazing!!!





We leave Thursday for our trip to Pismo Beach! I'm sure it's going to be a wild and crazy time. Me, Norah, Sarah, and all 8 of our kids on vacation together!!!!!!!!! Thank goodness there will be vineyards nearby! I think a glass or wine or two will be in order!

Pool Pals

Dan Davenport came over to tutor Jacob today and brought along with him his sweet, Lauren for a play date with Kailahni! The girls and I threw on our swimsuits and our sunscreen and headed out to the backyard so that Jacob and Dan could work in peace and quiet.

The girls played great together! It's so nice that we live so close to the Davenports. I'm sure there will be many more play dates in our future!

Re-adoption Day

Well, Kailahni is officially ours...AGAIN! Today we appeared before a local family court judge to finalize Kailahni's Arizona adoption. Although the State of Arizona does recognize adoptions that were completed overseas as final, we chose to go through a process that is referred to as "re-adoption". What that does for us, is it allows us to register her adoption with the local family courts. We are now, and forever will be, able to request notarized copies of her Adoption Decree through the Clerk of Courts office. It's nice to have that piece of mind, because the only evidence we have of the authenticity of her adoption is on paper...and most of that is in Chinese. If those documents were ever lost, or destroyed, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get them reproduced. Knowing that her adoption is now permanently on record with the local courts is very reassuring.

So down to court we all went, to raise our right hands and swear that all the information we had presented to the courts was true to the best of our knowledge and that we will love our little girl forever and always...."no brainer"! Then the judge announced that Doug and and I were forever the parents of Kailhani Xiugang Elizabeth Schneider. It was nice to finally have the boys get to witness some of Kailahni's formal adoption proceedings in person. Sarah, Axl and Vienna also came to show their support which made our day extra special.

The proceeding today was short and very sweet, but I'm glad it's over. We have just one post placement visit left and then we are DONE with adoption related paperwork, appointments, court proceedings, fingerprinting....bla, bla, bla. YIPPEE!!!!
Heading into the Court building.
Jacob keeping Kai distracted.
Doug, waiting and looking a little nervous.
Our happy, little adoptee.
Still waiting, but this time with our cousins.
Axl and Vienna going through security...they were so serious about it...the kids, I mean.

Inside the court room.
I jumped up so quick, I didn't have time to pull my pants out of my butt....nice.
An official Arizona family.

Kailahni giving the judge "knuckles".

Summertime, Summertime

Summer is underway. Thus far, we've been home hanging out with friends and family, having slumber parties..mostly with cousins, pool parties, BBQ's...typical summertime fun. We have made a few short trips up north (pics below), but the weather in Phoenix hasn't really been THAT bad so the itch to get out of town hasn't been real strong. That's all about to change.

Next weekend we are heading down to Tucson. I have plans for Friday night with a family who's daughter was in the the same orphanage as Kailahni, at the same time. We met through a Yahoo group for the Qianjiang SWI. I'm really looking forward to meeting them in person and seeing the girls together...again.

The week after we return home from Tucson, the kids and I are hopping in the car with Sarah and her kiddos (and hopefully Norah, as well) and heading to Pismo Beach!! I'm SO EXCITED!!! I'm hoping beyond hope that we may possibly get to visit with Stephanie and Zoey while we are there....it's a bit of drive, but we may be able to swing it!

Then, towards the end of July, the five of us are heading up to Washington to see Doug's family. His Mom, brother and sister all live there. None of them have met Kailahni, so we are all really excited about this trip. We may even get to spend a couple of days sailing through the San Juan Islands!! Those plans have yet to be ironed out, but anyway you slice it, the trip will be amazing. Jacque (Doug's sister) lives right on the water...when you look out her windows at night, you can see the lights of Victoria, Canada from across the water. Amazing beauty!

Can you do this?!

Welcome to summer! No big plans in the works yet, but I'll be sure to find our way out of the heat and into the tall pines or out to the beach at some point! While home we will be going poolside as often as possible and having lots of indoor fun with friends and family!

I'm very excited about the prospect of possibly unearthing some of Kailahni's past with the help of a woman named Cherrie Turner. She lives in Beijing and has two adopted daughters from China. She visits the Qianjiang Social Welfare Institute (Kailahni's orphanage)a few times a year. She works closely with a non-profit organization that (among other things) helps to provide formula and clothing for the children of the Qianjiang SWI. In fact, this organization raised money for formula and delivered it to the SWI in September 2008....the month Kailhani was born. They also raised funds and purchased winter clothing during her first (and only) winter in her SWI. Cherrie is leaving in a week to visit the SWI again. Since Kailahni has been on the receiving end of Packages of Hope's efforts in Qianjiang in the past, it was our privilege to assist in the current formula fund raiser.

Through emails back and forth with Cherrie, I have now learned who the "mystery" nanny, in the one and only photo we were ever given of Kailahni's "Ayi", is. Cherrie has known this woman for years. Her name is Gao Junxiang...warmly referred to as Ayi Gao. She told me that she loves the babies in care as if they were her own. She is poor and uneducated, but full of warmth toward the children. I can't tell you what these words meant to me...especially coming from someone who has met her personally.

I have sent a care package to Cherrie, in Beijing, with gifts for Ayi Gao and Ms. Lu (the orphanage director)and the other nannies. She is going to hand carry it to Qianjiang with her. In the package I included many updated photos of our precious Xiu Gang. I also included a letter letting orphanage staff know how loved she is and how much we appreciate the care they gave her.

Cherrie was at the orphanage twice during Kailahni's stay. One of her visits was only 20 days after Kai's was born. She told me that she held many of the newborns on that visit and was photographed with most of them. She is bringing her photos with her on this visit and said she would sit down with Ms. Lu and Ayi Gao to try to identify Kailhani in them. She also offered to venture out to Kailahni's finding location and photograph it for us.

I don't know what will come from her attempts to gather even the smallest bit of information on Xiu Gang's life in the SWI, but anything would be greatly appreciated and highly treasured! Keeping my fingers crossed!
Ayi Gao standing next to Kailahni's empty crib. The crib still has her name tag on it. This photo was taken just after we left Chongqing to head to Guangzhou for the last leg of our trip to China. We didn't receive it until after we returned home.