4 months since Gotcha!

This weekend we celebrated the four month anniversary since our gotcha day! It is unreal how much Mia is growing and changing. She had gained 3 lbs at her 1 year old wellness and 3 month follow up at the Pediatrician's office. He was thrilled with her development. She is doing everything a one year old should do. Woo hoo!

She started taking about 5 steps a day right before her birthday and now - just 2 weeks later she is walking everywhere she goes! It is so funny to see the JOY that every new advancement brings her! She LOVES life! And we love her sooooo much.

WILD HAIR DAY!!!

Sleeping Sisters!

Happy Birthday Mia!

One year ago today a sweet, newborn baby girl was abandoned in front of a street front restaurant in YangXi City, Guangdong, China. The events of that day eventually led her to be our daughter and to celebrate her 1st year of life today, August 21, 2007, as Mia McMath. I thank God for choosing Mia's destiny to be in our family. We are so blessed. She brings so much joy to all of our lives.
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HER BABY DEDICATION
We had a small portion of our service dedicated to celebrating Mia this past Sunday morning at our church. Most people know this as a "baby dedication". Brad worked for about 9 hours indexing all of the the video he took while in China and then editing the select "Mia" parts into an 8 1/2 minute video. It was powerful. I think everyone was crying by the time it was finished. It began by showing the place where she was abandoned, her crib in the orphanage, then her empty crib at our home the day we left to go and get her. At the point where they handed Mia to us for the first time the music starts to the song "When love takes you in" by Steven Curtis Chapman...a song he wrote about adopting their first daughter from China. The video finishes with a clip of us waking her up in her crib this week. She was so cute! As soon as we can get it loaded to UTube I will post a link here so you can watch it too.

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MACY'S MYSTERIOUS TEARS
Brad took Macy on a date yesterday to see the new movie "Underdog". On their drive to Fayetteville they usually listen to silly songs together. Today Macy asked to hear "Mia's song". Brad looked in the rearview mirror moments later to see huge crocodile tears rolling down her face. He waited until the song was finished and asked her what was wrong. She said, "That song makes me sad", and began to sob. He pulled over and held her, talked to her, and asked her why the song made her sad. She couldn't explain, didn't know, she just knew it made her sad.

Macy had watched Mia's video several times before this - and always laughed at the funny parts. Maybe this time she listened to the words about "crying yourself to sleep....", or "you belong here"...or maybe it was just one of those powerful unexplainable moments. Brad was very touched and emotional by the whole thing. One thing is certain. Macy loves her little sister. And her little sister adores her.

Month 2 At Home

For MONTHS Macy and I talked about how one day when we went to Sam's Club where they have the dual child carts - ONE DAY her sister Mia would get to sit with her...and the day finally came in early summer on our first outing to Sam's since returning from China! Woo Hoo!!

I took these pics at my Sunday School Class get together. These were taken on the trampoline at Kenneth & Melissa's house- overlooking their beautiful view.

These two pics were taken on our vacation days in Branson when we stayed in the Kelly's condo. We have stayed there every summer for five years.

Macy had her first powdered donut here at 7 months old and we thought it would be fitting to carry on the tradition with Mia! She....destroyed her first powdered donut!

These girls were EXHAUSTED after a day at Silver Dollar City! It was one of our first big outings with the double stroller that Kellie Vanover blessed us with! Thank God for GREAT strollers and GREAT friends! :)

Mia finally gave it up at White Water while Macy and I went riding the water slides. I returned to this precious sight!

After Branson for 3 days (trying to fully recuperate from our China trip...since we hit the ground running hard when we got home...) we spent the rest of the week in West Memphis with my family. It was the first time they all met Mia!

I love this expression that Mia is making as Uncle Bubba gives her a smooch!

My mom and dad took us to eat at "Big Foot" in Downtown Memphis. This hamburger fed the entire family of 8!

Our Mia is turning into quite the party animal!!!!!!

Sweet Girls

I TOOK THESE PICTURES!! And I think they turned out great! I wanted some pics to have printed that were framable for Father's Day...so I dressed the girls up and took them into town, threw them in the flowers in front of the First National Bank of Berryville...and this is all I got. As you can see....Mia was NOT in the mood! :)

New Experiences for Mia

My lips brushing against her soft baby cheeks at least 1000 times a day.

Daddy saying her name in a high pitched voice and tickling her until she giggles.

Macy's face lighting up when returning from preschool -and running to kiss baby sister. Mia in return throwing her little arm up and down in excitement and smiling at big sister's voice.

Laying in bed with her new family - her on Mommy's tummy - watching Daddy and Big sister giggle and tell bedtime stories.

Being a part of bedtime prayers - we laid in this same bed for over a year praying nightly for baby Mia. Now she lays here with us and we thank God that she is here with us.
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Brad was holding Mia on his chest this week making an elephant sound. After about the 20th time - she started trying to mimick him. She started with a simlar elephant sound and went on to repeat it over and over...her lips and tongue sounding more and more like a motorcycle and spit bubbles joining the party! Macy and I were both laughing so hard -we were about to cry. Macy has been telling people since then, "My baby sister is sooo funny!..."
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Mia had her first visit to see the pediatrician last week. She is in the 60th percentile for height, (27.5 in) and the 5th percentile for weight. Dr. Ball was very interested in her and our trip. He told us that nutritionally formula is going to pack the most punch for her gaining weight - and that other foods are just for her to learn with....so lay on the formula! We are hoping she will gain at least 3 lbs by her first birthday in August. She weighed 14.5 lbs. and is 9 months old now.

She did receive her first round of immunizations too (they have to be re-given after coming home to the states b/c there is no way to measure the quality of amount they received in the orphanage) - and she did GREAT during the shot giving. She only cried a second and I think it was more from me keeping her arms still for a moment than the shot itself. However, starting that evening through the next afternoon she had an extremely high fever....104.2 - and started throwing up everytime I would give her a bottle. I was afraid she was getting dehydrated and we were getting ready to take her back over to the clinic - we laid her down, prayed over her, and started getting ready - but when she woke up an hour later - her fever was down. Miraculously! She was BURNING up when we laid her down - and then it had come down by 4 degrees! Macy has never had a fever like this. She kept down some pedialyte...we cancelled the appt., and she was herself again by evening! Woo hoo!

Transformation of my beautiful Mia!

These pics start with Mia now and go through Mia one month ago - the day we got her. What a beautiful transformation that is taking place!

Oh - what this smile does to my heart! This pic was taken Saturday, June 2 - 2 weeks after arriving home.











I managed to keep the hat on for just a few pictures!








Mia can somehow army crawl faster than any baby I've seen. She is thrilled to be put in the floor and have so much open space to explore.












She is of course getting lots of cuddling! My little photographer Macy snapped this picture during our jet lag recovery week. None of us managed to make it out of pajamas that week b/c we weren't sure when we would be sleeping or when we would be awake!



This was the amazing airport traveling baby! We traveled for 30+ hours the day we came home and both girls were AMAZING! Mia only cried for maybe 15 seconds the entire trip - but when we got in the car to drive home from the airport she screamed her head off....car seats were NOT OK for a couple of weeks!





For someone who had never had a real bath - Mia is a little fish! She loves the water! So did Macy - I've been blessed! This was Mia's first bath in China.



This is Mia on the 4th day in our family. She is starting to smile more and more.







This is Mia the first day in our family. Clean and adorned with a big hairbow - but still checking out all these new things and new people.









Mia is still wearing her orphanage clothes. This is the day we got her - and Macy is excited to show her all of the toys we brought. Mia is not so excited. A little overwhelmed I think.



Mia during the first few minutes after we received her. We are still at the Civil Affairs office where our group received our babies. May 9th 2007.


What a transformation is taking place in our sweet girl! It is beautiful to watch her blossoming before our very eyes. Every day is a new adventure!

GUESTBOOK

Please click on the pink "comments" link at the bottom right of these 2 paragraphs. I have changed the settings so that anyone can leave a comment on our blog now.

I am creating a "Guestbook" here for all of our friends, family, and guests that have followed Mia's blog at some point or another. The messages from all of you mean so much to us - and we wanted to officially keep this record for Mia so that she will one day know of all the people who followed her journey into our hearts. Thank you & we love you all!

At Home Photo

This is the only picture I have since returning home....as you will notice that both girls are still in pajamas...as...umm...I have been all week. Jet lag is for real. Especially trying to get 2 girls to change their clocks from China time to Central Standard time! Ugghhh!

Now that we are feeling human again - I am sure to break out the camera for some interesting pics! Keep watching! :)

Oh my - she is growing up so fast! Even over the last few weeks she has blossomed even more into a "Big Girl" instead of my 'little girl'. I was thinking this week...where did my 'little girl' go to? God has blessed us with such a wonderful, sweet, beautiful little girl...and now he has blessed us twice....as Mia joins us being the wonderful, sweet, beautiful little sister!















This is my mom climbing the Great Wall. It was sooooo steep. I am so happy that she didn't trip and fall and take the crowd down with her! ;)







Noni and Macy at the Great Wall.

Forgotten Photos

Macy wanted to wear one of Mia's hairbows...I think she looks like a Power Ranger Princess!











Brad, Macy, & Mia at one of the bus stops between Yang Xi and Guangzhou.













Happy Sisters!











Go Hogs!

Deleted photos

These are the pics you didn't see from mother's day! We couldn't get everybody to be happy at the same time!

Beautiful, Wonderful, America

I have been on many missions trips. I have always returned home and been thankful for living in America. This trip has taken me beyond any other visit to another country. China is so different. I always wondered why people would want to go to Montana and why they would talk about it being so "great". I have never been there - but always thought these people crazy for calling the middle of nowhere - "great". Now I understand. After being in cities with 16 million and 10 million people for 3 weeks...just seeing land and green grass is beautiful. People are wonderful - but when there are SO MANY...it is nice to feel space again. China inhabits 1/6 of the world's entire population (out of 6 billion people on the planet - 1 billion live in China). It is hard to even try to communicate the massive amount of people. I was overwhelmed by how many people there were. How could you ever know very many?

In America we have the freedom to live anywhere we want. We don't have to get permission or a license to live in a certain city. In China there are so many people - you have to "apply" to move to the city. Many times you are denied b/c the cities are so overcrowded. In China you can not own land. The government owns the land - but you can own a building or house on top of the land.

Our 2 acres of rocks, dirt, weeds, half burned brush pile, huge trees with wonderful green leaves, and our home has NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD! When our family went for a walk down the driveway in our pajamas the other day - no one could see us....it was wonderful! The wind was blowing through the leaves in the trees...the sky was beautiful and blue....and even though our yard is still a wreck and needs lots of work finished on it - IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL to me. I told Brad this and figured he would say I was crazy - but I think he was contemplating agreeing with me (even though the unfinished yard is about to give him a nervous breakdown!)

In the entire time we were in China...I NEVER recall seeing blue sky. The cities are so smoggy. Even the drive into the country to the orphanage was hazy. Maybe in west China near the mountains they have blue sky??? I don't know - but I missed our blue sky and cool breezes and fresh Arkansas air! All we could do was breathe deeply when we got off the plane in Fayetteville! Ahhhhh!

And FREEDOM. I don't think I have ever fully appreciated this. We look a lot at America's downfalls - and yes our culture is deteriorating...but it is still a WONDERFUL country to live in. I thank God in a new way now that I am an American. It really is a wonderful thing.

A couple of things I did observe was that I saw more "cheap" looking/scantily clad women at our 5 hours at the Denver Airport than I did during the entire trip in China with millions of people.

Also - there was an "emptiness" about the people in China that you just couldn't put your finger on. I know we give America a hard time about our disintegrating culture - but there is still a strong Christian presence here. That is what made America so strong and successful to begin with. There were several people I spoke with at the Denver airport that just had something "different" about them. A joy. A peace. Sometimes you can just sense that some people are Christians by coming into contact with them. I did not encounter this at all the entire time we were in China, even though I know there is a strong growing Christian community there.

Maggie and Rosa had made the comment that it would be nice if there is a God - but when you have been taught otherwise... your entire life like they are in China - it is hard to believe in religion. I think that when you have a real encounter with God and experience a RELATIONSHIP with God, (not just churchy religion) YOU WILL KNOW that religion is not the answer, but that God is. And that He is REAL. I know I have NEVER been the same since I embraced these truths...since I asked Jesus to come into my life. And I have studied out the facts - because I don't want to just be RELIGIOUS. I want authentic faith. I want the genuine stuff. What is real? What can I count on? I can count on the Bible - many atheists have set out to disprove it - and changed their minds about it as they researched and found that it is accurate. I am so thankful that I have the peace....REAL peace that comes from KNOWING God. Not religion. I am sick of religion. But God has been AWESOME in my life. I am soooo different now than before I gave my life to Him.

Anyway....I get passionate when I talk about the miracle of my life... :)
I am so thankful to be an American. I am so thankful to know God in a real way. I am so thankful for my family, my church full of amazing friends that are as close as family, and BLUE sky! And the fact that it was 60 degrees when we landed in Fayetteville...and that we have run our air conditioner whenever we wanted since being home....wooooo hooo!

Processing things...

Brad and I were able to spend a couple of hours talking last night - the first chance we have really had. Even in China things were so crazy that we didn't talk like we needed to. He just really wasn't himself on this trip and we were trying to define what got to him. The day we visited Tienanmen Square and saw all of the beggars and sick people really got to him. He was really struggling with fear that Macy would somehow get some kind of illness while we were in China. It was a real battle for him and really drained him. I could tell that he had receded into a shell at some point.

But I know that God works ALL things together for good - and may be using this experience to build Brad's trust in Him. He always has so much faith for everyone else. I guess this was his time to not have to be strong for anyone else. Please pray that we will learn all that God wants us to from our experiences in China and that God will bring new freedom from fear and worry to our lives.

Tuesday night...getting better

Macy was sooo exhausted that she fell asleep on our way into town to pick up our manna from heaven (aka blessed food!). She slept from 7 PM straight through until 6 am this morning. Mia slept from 10 - 1am. She went back to sleep about 3am and is still asleep at 9am! I however never could go back to sleep after 1...so I am running on two hours of sleep today. My mind was just whirling last night and I couldn't sleep. I stayed in bed and rested though. So MAYBE tonight we will have a victory party and ALL sleep through the night! Could you all please pray for our family to recover from jet lag and to get on a good sleeping schedule!? God has been so faithful - and once again we need his help with this sleep thing!

Bring food...see baby

Sounds like cave man lingo, huh? :0) GOD BLESS MILLIE CALICO! Millie made us dinner and we ran by to pick it up....sooo good. I am still on strike from cooking this week! Then we ran by Mark and Carolyn's b/c they had some steaks for us! Krista had a great comment when she brought us food yesterday and was the first to get to hold Mia....."Bring food....it has priveledges....you get to see the baby!" AMEN! And what a blessing these two nights of food have been! :) Love you guys!