Monday, October 22, 2012

She’s Ours! {Lanzhou, 10.22.2012}

Today was a big day ~ in the eyes of China, Nora is officially ours.  No longer orphan, but our daughter.  We spent the morning at the Civil Affairs office completing paperwork and after a quick stop at the police station for a “family photo” we found ourselves back in our hotel room.

Making It Official (The Red Thumbprints)


The Traditional Photo with the Orphanage Director (Love Nora’s Expression as the Director is Restricting Her from Her Beloved Thumb)



It has truly been a day of discovery and getting to know our little miss.  The girl has definitely got some tricks. 

Top ten discoveries today:
  1. Nora can do amazing splits (Ellison, she may have you beat – sorry, girl!).  We will have to work on this though as little miss needs to seriously develop some hip muscles and control!
  2. As mentioned before, Nora has an endearing comfort mechanism of sucking her thumb.  It really is beyond adorable.
  3. And, not only does she find comfort in sucking her thumb, she sticks her tongue up into her cleft lip while she sucks her lip.  Cute, cute, cute!
  4. AND, she sometimes will take her other hand or her index finger on the hand of the thumb she is sucking, and she will rub a dry spot on her lip.  That she could figure out these comfort mechanisms, genius!
  5. Nora has a “stork bite” on the back of her neck.  I nearly lost it when I saw this ~ so typical of God’s design in all of our LilyKids!
  6. Nora is afraid of her reflection.  The Orphanage Director’s wife told us this yesterday, and it is proving to be true.  This surprised me as one of her best friends in the orphanage is a beautiful cleft kiddo!  Breaks my heart, we will be working on reassuring her that God made her beautiful, she is fearfully and wonderfully made.
  7. Nora has a few tricks, she army crawls and walks a bit beside the bed.  And, we are working on teaching her to clap.  She is a quick learner.
  8. The girl has amazing eyelashes (Ellison, you have her beat on this one, but Nora’s are still amazing).
  9. She has a hearty belly laugh that is contagious.
  10. Nora’s eyes sparkle and say so much about her and her personality, the sweet little personality that we are just beginning to unravel.





10 comments:

Amy said...

Ah, the stork bite! Further evidence of God's hand over all. Love it!

Love that smile! Such a sweetheart!

Much Love!
Amy

Nikki said...

I immediately noticed the sparkle in her eye---the way her whole face lights up when she smiles. Sooo sweet! And the stork bite, too? Once again, awed and amazed at God's perfect plan and design. So awesome! So much I want to say and comment about, but for now I'll just leave you with, "Congratulations on your beautiful new daughter! And Miss Nora, we love you and can't wait to meet you!" XOXO

Elizabeth said...

Love the stork bite!!!! how awesome to make that discovery!!! The pics are great - so glad she is so happy and 'adjusting' well :) Thanks for taking time away and updating for us!!!

Paulette said...

Nora is so beautiful----fun to see her in the cute little outfits you brought for her! Congratulations ---another daughter! God knew all along this day would come.....His will, in His way and His timing. Bless the Lord, O my soul!

It's good for the 3 of you to have this time together....so precious! And just wait till she meets her brothers and sister!!

Unknown said...

Congrats on your special day!
My daughter is Qing Xi Yang that was adopted last week. I guess the nanny said our daughters were very good friends and my daughter has a cleft lip/palate too. Nora is so precious and I would love to meet you sometime and have our daughters see each other again. If you want to see my daughter, my blog is www.monroemadeinchina.blogspot.com. I will be praying for the rest of your adoption journey. Can't wait to talk to you. Nora is beautiful!
God Bless!
Karen

Renee said...

Nora looks like she is one happy little girl! She's beautiful and I can't wait to meet her. Thank you for sharing your journey! Your loving family is truly amazing. I have to say, your daily posts are like Christmas morning for me. I can't wait to get out of bed to see what is little Miss Nora up to today!

Kim said...

The STORK BITE! SERIOUSLY. Imagine God adding that as he formed her in your womb...knowing she'd be in your family today. Wow. His attention to detail is beyond me. Nora is so precious- so precious. Your smile says it all;)

Kim said...

Oh and the striped OSHKOSH dress...Chloe has it in a 3T...perhaps Lydia needs that instead cuz they are begging to match;)

Beth said...

Melt my heart!!!! She is breathtaking.... ❤❤❤

Marie94 said...

Congratulations! What a beauty she is! Enjoy every minute of this journey, I am convinced it is one of His greatest blessings this side of eternity.
Praying you have a wonderful trip!
Robyn