The time has come for a new blog. The Ladybug site was originally set up to follow the journey of our adoption to bring our Ladybug home from China. We continued the journey by following her life as our daughter. Now that we are embraking on a new journey to bring home our Babybug, a new blog seems to be the best fit for us. This will be the last post on the Ladybug site, and all further posts will be done at our new blog site. I have also transfered over all of the old posts from here to the new site, so if you feel inclined to look back over the years, feel free to do so there. Thank you for following our journey thus far, we look forward to seeing you at our new blog site.

http://redthreaddragonfly.blogspot.com

~~Aloha

I am so excited to announce that we are soon going to become a family of 4!!!

About a year ago we started the long process of adoption again. This time though we felt in our hearts that we wanted to bring home a child with a minor medical need. After several months of numerous background checks, doctor’s appointments, social worker visits, fingerprint appointments, filling out forms, and endless weeks of waiting, our dossier was finally logged-in in China September 2009. We received a call last Tuesday afternoon from our social worker that they had a child’s file they wanted us to look at. I excitedly called my wonderful husband at work and said, “Can you get over here? I just received a call from our social worker, and we have a file to view!!!”

The file was e-mailed to us, and upon opening it we laid our eyes upon this adorable little baby girl. I melted immediately, while my husband mulled over all of the details in the file. However, it did not take us long to review all of the information and come to a decision… This is our daughter!

She is currently 9 months old, and living in Guizhou Province. Guizhou Province is very special to us and close to our hearts because it happens to be the same province where our little Ladybug was born. Yup, another “Spicy Guizhou Girl” will become a member of our family. We are thrilled that the girls will share such a special connection. She is missing the fingers on her left hand, but other than that the medical report states that she is healthy and developmentally on track. So now, we just have to wait to travel. We expect to go over some time this summer, June or July. Of course we are hoping to travel sooner, but there is nothing I can do to make it go any faster. Of course, we will always accept lots of prayers and crossed-fingers… they can always help! So, without further ado, here is our “Babybug!”

~~Aloha

One of the Ladybug’s favorite things to do is to dress up. Her favorite choices are a princess, a chef, a princess, a doctor, a princess… oh, you get the idea. Her favorite person to dress up as is a princess, and Christmas brought her more wonderful costumes to add to her “dress-up” wardrobe. One of the new additions was not of the princess variety, but has jumped to the top of her choices as one of her favorite costumes (and honestly, this one is now mommy’s favorite costume as well). The costume is Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz.

The Ladybug’s Nana F. sent her the outfit, with adorable, sparkly, red ribbons that add the perfect touch to the outfit. Although the Bug played in all of her outfits in the weeks following Christmas, her final choice each day was always her Dorothy Gale costume.

Below are some photos of the Ladybug playing in her outfit, with a final photo of her dressed as Dorothy, watching the Wizard of Oz on television. Enjoy!

~~Aloha!

When we were in China in 2006, we had the opportunity to meet the Ladybug’s foster mommy. She is a wonderful woman who took care of our daughter for the first 7 months of her life. This lady loved and cared for our daughter as if she were her own. They shared a very special bond, that only a mother can truly understand.

We were told early on in the adoption process not to expect any photos of our little girl from before she was united with us. So, we planned on just that. However, the day the Ladybug was placed in my arms by her wonderful foster mother, this amazing woman also gave us a very special gift… a photo album filled with photos from our daughter’s first 7 months of life. We treasure these photos because they are a link to her past and a time before she was our daughter.

For this first Flashback Friday post, I want to share with you a photo of our daughter. The photo is a special piece of our daughter’s history, a history that we cherish dearly. This little girl is so precious to us. We are so very blessed. I hope you enjoy.

~~Aloha!