1 year "Gotcha Day" Anniversary!!!

One year ago today, December 11, 2005, Todd and I stepped off the plane in the city of Nanning in Guangxi province. This was the day we were going to get Libby!!! We met with the 5 other families who also had little girls from Guangxi province and we boared our bus to the hotel. We were in our hotel room for about half an hour, when we heard someone yell from the hallway, "the babies are here!!!" We were a little surprised as we were not supposed to meet Libby for a few more hours! So, we rushed into the hall and Todd started the videocamera. Then at about 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 11, 2005, at the hotel in Nanning, Guangxi, China, I became a mommy forever. Jing Li Hua was placed in my arms and she became Libby Sofia LiHua Jones forever. Our lives have forever been changed. That little 10 month old baby was now our daughter.

Hard to believe that a year has passed. Instead of a scared 10 month old baby, who was not so sure about her mommy and daddy is now a beautiful, blossoming 22 month old who is excited for Christmas!!! We can't believe how much has changed in a year. Libby is the light of our lives and we could not have a more pefect daughter to fit into our family. Now we are also on the wait for Libby's baby sister, Ella! I can't wait till our journey to Ella as well but I will also remember Libby's "gotcha day."

We are celebrating tonight with 3 of the families that we traveled with in China. So excited to see how their girls have grown! We are hosting the party at our house and are very excited. Here are some pictures from our "gotcha day" a year ago. Can you believe how much she has grown?!?!

Family of THREE!!! - 12/11/05

mommy & daughter! - 12/11/05

First kiss - 12/11/05

One year ago....

Well one year ago today we left the LA International airport for Beijing, China. I can't believe that it has been a year already! So much has changed since then. We flew for 16 hours from LA to Beijing. Todd and I were very excited to be on this flight but also scared to death at the same time. We have almost had Miss Libby for a year..... my how the time flies.....

So much to be thankful for...

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all!!! I apologize for not updating this. I feel like I'm apologizing in every post that I write! I just don't have time to update the blog anymore since having an almost 2 year old who is constantly keeping me busy.

I pray that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We definately did. We have so much to be thankful for this year. 2 years ago at Thanksgiving (2004), we were working on our paperchase and had no idea where our daughter was. We didn't know who she was or where she was or if she was even born yet (which she wasn't!). Then last Thanksgiving (2005), we had received our referral and TA and were just a few weeks away from getting our sweet Libby. We knew who she was and where she was, and I had that picture constantly with me. However, we still did not have her in our arms. Now, this Thanksgiving (2006) we have had Libby Sofia LiHua for almost a year now and she is 22 months old!!! She is just the joy and light of our lives. I know I say that every time, but she is! We are also thankful because we are also on the journey to bring Libby's baby sister, Ella Paige, home! We were DTC the day before Thanksgiving (11/22/06) and we are so excited about it! It is going to be a long journey as the wait for referal is now about 15 months. For Libby, we waited 6 1/2 months. We can't wait to bring Ella home, but we are going to enjoy spending time with Libby for now, since we can't change the wait time for Ella.

Now we are into December. We got the tree up and have started the shopping. This Christmas will be a little different from last year. Last year we got home just 3 days before Christmas and were trying to get over jet lag and enjoy the holidays at the same time. As much as I loved spending December in China last year, I am very excited to be home this year. Last December was just hectic with pack to go, 2 weeks in China and then getting home and bam! CHRISTMAS! It is also going to be a very fun time with Libby. She loves all the Christmas lights and tree! However, she takes all of the ornaments off, so we're working on that.

We have been DTC for Ella for about two weeks now and we don't expect to learn our LID til sometime in January. Please pray for us! Below are some pictures from the past few weeks.

Todd, Kellie & Libby

"I got the remote, Daddy!!!" - 12/3/06

"I love Thanksgiving!!!" - 11/23/06

"Ready to play in the snow, but I'm not so sure..." - 11/26/06

Helping Mommy make the salad - 11/23/06

"Papa sure does like his pumpkin pie!" - 11/23/06

WE'RE DTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought that I had posted about this, but apparently I had not! It is with great joy and thankfulness that Todd, Libby and I would like to announce that we are DTC on Wednesday, November 22, 2006, for Ella Paige!!! We are so excited to be done with the paperchase and now we just relax and wait. The wait is at about double of what we waited for Libby, so it's going to be a long wait. We are praying that the wait will decrease but I don't know if it will. We waited 6 1/2 months for Libby's referral and right now the wait is about 14-15 months. Ridiculous! We are just going to go on with our life as normal since it is a long wait ahead of us and we wont have Ella home until probably mid to late 2008. Now we are wondering how the olympics will affect either our travel or referral. We'll keep you updated on our status. Now we are just waiting for our LID. We probably wont hear about it until sometime in January. LID's are usually about a month after DTC, so we're expecting a late December LID.

Hold on Ella Paige, mommy, daddy and your big sister are on their way to get you!!! : )

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I know that is has been a while since I have updated our blog!!! So much has changed in the past month since I've done it!

We had a very wonderful first Halloween with Miss Libby. She was an adorable little monkey I must say! : ) Libby and mommy went down the street to our neighbors and did a little trick-or-treating and then we went to Nana and Papa's to help them hand out candy and relax there. I think that Libby preferred the handing out candy over actually getting it which is fine with mommy and daddy! It was a wonderful fall evening to be with our family and we loved it. A wonderful first Halloween.

Well we are officially DONE paperchasing for Ella Paige!!! I can't believe it!!! We were planning on being DTC this friday, November 24th, but the CHI offices are going to be closed on friday due to Thanksgiving. SO..... they are sending the dossiars out on WEDNESDAY, November 22nd!!! Yes, we are going to be DTC in just 2 days!!!! Then the wait can officially begin for Ella Paige! We have requested a little girl, ayap, 0-9 months.

We are having our whole family over at our house on Thanksgiving. I will post pictures after the festivities. Enjoy the pictures below!

Libby singing in the hallway!

Reading to her monkey

Trick-or-Treating with Mommy!

At the zoo!

"I'm not so sure about that pumpkin....."

Almost done paperchasing

Well the paperchase for Ella Paige is almost complete. We are in the process of filling out our I171H and are hoping to send it in early next week. We then will just be waiting for that to be done and then we are DONE!!!! The wait to get the I171H back can take anywhere from a week from 8 weeks. We are hoping for about 3 weeks, so that we can then send our paperwork in right away. I am just so anxious to be done with the paperchase especially since the wait from LID to referral is increasing drastically. The wait is up to about 14 months now. That is over double of what we waited for Libby's referral. I don't even know how I'm going to get through this wait! I think it will definatley help this time that I have Libby home instead of just the two of us. She definately keeps us busy and on our toes! Right now, we are expecting a spring 2008 referral which just seems SO far away. However, now we are anxious to see what happens with the Beijing 2008 olympics since that is most likely around when we would be traveling for Ella. I pray that it wont mess up our adoption. However, there is no indication about if it will or not. On top is a picture of Libby with her new "hair care center!" Enjoy!

Happy October!!!

Well I just realized how long it had been since I updated the blog! So much has changed since then! Libby is doing so well and is such a joy and a blessing to our family. She is now 20 1/2 months old which is so hard to believe. We have also had her for over 10 months now which is also amazing. Todd and I both feel as though we have had her forever and then it also feels like she was just placed in our arms in Nanning. Just a little 10 month old baby and now she's closing in on 2 years old!!! Here are a few pictures from this summer and fall. They aren't in any particular order (just the way they uploaded). At the bottom, I will update you on our newest addition!

Daddy & Libby out on our boat - 8/12/06 (18 months)

Libby's Baptism! - 8/6/06 (18 months)

I love this outfit! The crocks are so adorable! - 7/28/06 (17 months)

Libby on her new "playground!" - 9/14/06 (19 months)

First snowfall! We love the NY weather! : ) - 10/14/06 (20 months)

Warming up after playing in the snow - 10/14/06 (20 months)

Picking apples with Mommy - 9/30/06 (19 months)

Libby's 1 year "referral day!!!!" We celebrated by going out for Chinese. Libby is not sure what to order!!! - 10/3/06 (20 months)

Libby is doing more eating than picking of the apples - 9/30/06 (19 months)

Yes, we are in the finishing stages of the paperchase for our Ella! Unfortinately we can't sent our paperwork to China until the 1 year anniversary of Libby's adoption because that is China's rule. So, since Libby wasn't officially adopted until December 12th, 2005, we can't have our dossiar logged in until December 12, 2006. So.... now we are just slowing down a bit so that we can make that cut-off. However, LID's are taking about a month now, so our agency is allowing us to be DTC the end of November and then we wont be logged in until December. So right now, we are planning on mailing our dossiar on Friday, November 24, 2006!!! Just a little over a month away!!!

We have also decided on Ella's middle name! We knew all along that we were going to name our little girl Ella but didn't know about a middle name. We thought about Grace but we wanted something a little different to go with Libby's middle name of Sofia. So we have decided on Paige. We both really like the name and we think that Ella Paige goes very nice together. Also like Libby, we will add Ella's Chinese name once we get her referral. So, we can't wait to bring Ella Paige Jones home!!!!!

~Todd, Kellie & Libby

We're approved!!!!

Well it has taken me a while to update Ella's blog but we have good news that WE ARE APPROVED!!!! We are using Childrens Hope International again and we are approved to being our adoption of Ella. Todd and I are deciding on her middle name tonight so I will let you know when we decide. I'm so excited!!! We are finally paperchasing for Ella Jones!!! : )

~Kellie

Welcome to our blog!!!

Welcome to our blog for our daughter, Ella!!! We are Todd and Kellie Jones and we have one daughter, 18 month old, Libby Sofia LiHua, who is from the Guiping SWI in the province of Guangxi in the People's Republic of China. We adopted Libby at 10 months of age on December 11, 2005. We have now officially started the paperchase for our next daughter and Libby's "mei mei", Ella. We sent in our application today, August 10, 2006!!! We are very anxious to be DTC for Ella. We're hoping for a December 2006 DTC for Ella. We will keep this blog updated on our process to our 2nd daughter from China. Thanks for visiting and we'll keep you posted!

-Todd, Kellie & Libby