Packing, Computer Breakdown and NEW PICTURES OF JILLIANA

Packing!  

Yes, the packing has begun, and I do not like it!  I am a serious over packer!  Mike my wonderful and thoughtful husband took the girls to the desert for two days so that I could make a dent in the packing.  Packing for four little girls and myself (thank goodness Mike packs for himself) is hard.  This time feels even harder having to pack for two climates.  I looked up Xian on the 10 day weather forecast which puts us at the day before we arrive with a temperature of 46 high and 27 low.  On February 7th it shows rain and snow.  Then you go to Guangzhou and you get in the high 70's.  

 Here is the entrance to our room where I have dumped everything I have bought that I thought we would need.  I have been doing this over the last two months.

 The girls carry on's with some of the goodies I am packing in them.  Do you know how many things you need to keep two five year olds and a 7 year old occupied for flying over 15 hours?

 Jilliana's things, sippy cups, bib, toys, puffs, toys

 Jilliana's clothes

 I have all the toiletry items here

Clothes for Emma, Meilynn, and Lily

 Jilliana's suitcase

 We get Jilliana on Valentine's Day.  Here are the valentine gifts for the girls.

 I found these cute necklaces.  This is a special occasion because it will be the first time that Emma is a big sister.  She has always been the baby.  So I got her a big sister one and Jilliana a little sister one.  Lily's has a crown on it and of course Kitty Boo Boo (Meilynn) has a Hello Kitty on hers.  It will also be special for her because she can never find anything with her name on it, like Emma and Lily can.

Beginning to get my clothes together.  I would say that I am now 80% done and that feels good.
I have several lists going of things I don't want to forget to bring and do before we go.  It is a lot different than that first time that Mike and I went to China and it was only the two of us picking up Emma.

I had a computer breakdown this weekend!  My keyboard first started not making the period, and then all of the keys started malfunctioning.  My computer has all of our pictures on it and it is the one that we plan to bring to China, so this was big.  I made an appointment at the Mac store and we were able to take it in today and they replaced the whole keyboard free of charge, and it looks like it is ok.  The worst part of that was that I have new pictures of our little one and I was not able to post them.

I had asked my agency for one last update so that we would know her size.  I got updated sizes and I got updated pictures.  In a lot of the pictures of her that we have she is looking so happy.  In these she looks like someone pulled her in to get the picture for us and she is none to happy about it.  I like that I know what her mad and pouty look is.  I cannot wait to give those cute little cheeks kisses.

It will be interesting to see if the sizes are accurate.  If they are she almost weighs as much as Emma and Meilynn.  They said she is almost 30 pounds and Meilynn and Emma are 32 pounds.  They have her height at over four inches smaller than Meilynn and Emma.  I am taking size 3T for her and I think that should be about right.

And now here she is.......... Jilliana Elise Jihong

Doesn't she look mad here?  Her little forehead is wrinkled and her little eyebrows are so expressive.  I think that they must have just woke her up. Look at the little bunny toy on the ground and it looks like a quilt on the wall.

I love her little pout! And look at that little one in the doorway.

One thing that I have noticed is that she likes to play with her hair things.  If you zoom in on her little hand at her side she has some hair things in her hand.  I know it is cold there, but look at that beautiful light shinning in the room.

Only 14 more days until we get to hold her in our arms.  She has waited and been through so much.  I can't help but think about how traumatic this will be for her.  I remember how difficult those first hours were with Meilynn.  She cried so much and I hesitated for a moment and wondered if we were doing the right thing tearing her away from everything that she knows.  How hard this will be for Jilliana having already gone through the trauma of strangers taking her away and then bringing her back.  What a wonderful God we have who takes us as we are.
He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will  Ephesians 1:5
Thank you in advance for those that will be praying for Jilliana's  transition into our family.