Lilly's 1st trip to Las vegas and Disneyland!

At the end of May Brandon and I with our friend Dianne took Lilly on her first trip to the fabulous Las Vegas! Brandon then flew home and Dianne and I went on to meet my family in LA for my Grandpa Hermans birthday surprise! All of us in LA was definitly a surprise! They went to see the price is right and we took the kids to Disneyland!

Grandma and Grandpa, I think Grandpa is still in shock!

Lilly loved Disneyland. The music is always a hit with her. She danced on Smallworld and we rode winnie the pooh 4 times in a row! She was so cute dancing, we kept going on it.

Las Vegas

My first trip to Margaritaville!

Can I trade this for a pretty blue one like daddy and mommy got?

Look at all these crazy people!

DISNEYLAND

I think I wanna be a mouseketeer Mom!

Oh wait this is better a mouseketeer Princess!!!

Aunt Dianne look at all the kids singing! Are we finished with this line yet?

Look there all singing the same song over and over and over!

Mommy I'm confused is this the good mouse or the bad mouse?

Lauren your silly!

Ryan, Madylin and Lilly on the Ponies

Lilly and my Mom and I watching the parade.

Camping at Bear Lake

Brandon and I took Lilly camping for a few days this week. We wanted to do something just the three of us, since this will probably be the only time that happens! We went to Bear Lake in northern Utah. We had a great time, it is a beautiful place. We stayed in a cabin at a KOA and it was wonderful. I am sure most do not consider this camping, but this is as close as I am getting! We have to cancel out fall Disney trip due to China, and we are now planning a week long Cabin stay around different KOA's in Utah and Colorado instead. Lilly and I LOVED the swing on the porch. I have got to get a swing in my yard.


Lilly and her daddy went in a cave to explore. They had lots of fun. I was planning on joining them until we got to the entrance and the guide assured us that there was only 1 way in and 1 way out and that it was 888 steps round trip, 444 in and 444 out! But that wasn't the kicker, the real reason was that next she tols us that the cave was home to 5 spiecies of Bats and pack rats! I just looked at Brandon and he said ok see you in an hour! I could just see getting 400 steps in and a rat running by me! The guide said "well you may not see one". Well hunny with my lung issues and the steps and the anxiety attacks that rodents cause me I don't think you want to be in the cave that has 1 exit with me if one just happens to scurry by! I honestly think I could have had an ashma attack in there and died! Brandon said when they came out that it was a good thing I didn't go in. 3 other people gave up the trip midway just on the stairs alone. Funny Lilly didn't complain!
We also went to a great farmers market in Logan. What a cute town! We loved it there. Small college town with a hippy feel in the middle of the mountains. Also we drove thru Bringham city and stopped at a yard sale to help a girl go to Guatamala to help in Orphanages. They just loved Lilly. Very nice people in that town. Then we went to Maddox steakhouse for lunch. We had heard so many good things and this place did not disappoint. They had skinless fried chicken! We will be making that drive again soon I think!
Only 2 more weeks until July!!! We should see Rory around the 4th! We are getting very excited around here. I think Lilly is going to love having a sister to play with. We need to start getting Lilly's room ready for her sister. We need to move some stuff and get the crib in there. After looking at an empty crib in there for over a year before Lilly came home we just havn't gotten around to setting up the second one yet. I think we may work on that this week.

Nov. 7, 2005

We are pretty sure that this is the cutoff for the refferals this month. I am numb at this point. It will be 1 more month and then we will see Rory. The only thing that would prevent this is if they did a 1 day refferal batch. It has never happened before but the chance that they would do this on our turn is quite appropriate.
In all seriousness though, we do expect to FINALLY see Rory sometime the first week of July. I am just tired of the not knowing! How old is my baby and WHERE IS SHE???

1 year ago today

It has been 1 year since I called Audrey Leonard at The Family Network about the cute little laughing girl on the website. About 3 minutes into the conversation I blurted out "We want her, That is my baby!" That was the moment that life as I knew it changed forever. I cannot even imagine my life without Lilly. She is the biggest joy I have ever known.

18 month pictures!

Lilly is so pretty in this picture.
She is gonna be trouble when she is in Highschool!This is with her Dolly from the pottery barn.
She is such a cuddle bear.

Look I can stand!
I can also cruise around the room, and chase my cat!

I am so happy today!

Nov. 1, cutoff for China refferals

I know it is not us YET! But it is farther that anyone thought they would get after last month 2 day batch. Also it finally hit me THEY ARE IN NOVEMBER! That is where we are FINALLY they are reffering people with LID'S really close to ours. Rory will be coming home this summer!

Lilly Walked today!

OK...she was walking holding on to the little rolling walker thing. But still it was by herself! She is so close to running all over the place. YIKES!
Sorry I have not posted in awhile.
We went to Chicago for Easter. We had a great trip. Brandon was able to come out as well and everyone got to meet Princess Lilly Monster Smith as my niece calls her! I will post pictures soon. When we returned last Thursday I got this horrible cold that is just now subsiding.
China did do refferals before Easter. However they only did 2 days worth. No one knows what this means for the next few batches. We don't know if we will see Rory's picture in a few weeks or in a few months right now. It was very hard on me this round, I think because I was thinking we were going to be next. I let it start to feel real to me. BIG MISTAKE! I think that the next time I will let it feel like anything is when were in China. This journey to adopt from China has been the terrible. Someone said when I made a comment about China being a rollercoaster ride that it was more like the Tower of Terror. I had to laugh and agree. It really has been tough. I think had we not been expecting a 5-6 month wait 18 months ago it could have been a little better. So now I am going to not focus on it. I think that the next time I post about China it will be with a picture or a little girl. Then it will be all ok.

More pics

Watching Disneyland singalong with her American girl Doll

Happy baby in Pink

Having fun with her cousins! This is one of my favorie pictures!

1st Japanese restaurant

Pictures of Lilly at home

Lilly with her new Boxes that she loves.

First time seeing Mickey!

My friend Dianne and I took Lilly to Disney on Ice today. It was Disneyland adventure.
Well all I can say is that if there was any doubt that Lilly was always my daughter (not my doubts mind you!) today proved that she is definitly mine. Only a daughter of mine at 16 months old, without being able to walk or talk yet could have been that expressive when seeing Mickey and Minnie. She started waving that little finger to the music, then her whole body was rockin. Dianne and I were laughing so hard. Lilly loves the music and was so very excited to watch all of it. The best part was when they say "Where's Mickey?" To the crowd. Lilly threw her hands up over her face like she was playing peek abu with them. It was just too much. I cannot wait until the end of May when we take her to Disneyland for the first time. I think we may have another disney fanatic on our hands.

China news

China did refferals today. They went to Oct. 24, 2005. We are Nov. 9, 2005. Only 16 more days of LID's to go. It could be 1 or 2 months. Personally I think it will be 2 months. So we will have Rory sometime in June or July. It is strange that I feel that it is even close enough to predict. I guess you never really know. It is 2 years this week that we started the process to bring our little girl home from China. It is hard to believe that she will ever be home with us. Lilly is in for a surprise!
Lilly is doing great. She is so funny she has learned to play peek - abu but her hands dont really cover her eyes. She just laughs hysterically the whole time. Also she is standing when holding on to something now. This is great combined with the peek-abu at church. She also loves caribbean music. I have a CD with childrens music from the islands on it. She waves that little finger in time to the music and we think she is singing. We aren't sure what it is that she is singing though. Too Cute. She is just so interested in everything around her.
Heidi

WHY?

I was answering a post on an adoption site today. Someone asked Why your child. I though I would share my reply.

I have no biological children but we are adopting from China as well. We were about a year into that adoption. Waiting for our refferal (much like we still are now!) We had decided that we would probably adopt agian after we got our little china baby home, probably from Ethiopia. I even called an agency and got info on the process. The lady said to not start until we were closer or had our China baby and we were fine with that. Sometimes I would look at Rainbow kids. Mostly looking at special need asian children, really just curious and playing. Then one day in late May of last year I saw this little laughing girl. I looked at her 20 times a day at least. I would smile every time I looked at her. She had this great smile that reminded me of my husband and step daughter when they laugh. I had my husband look at her and he said "yes she is very cute. We are waiting to start another adoption, and aren't we going to Africa?" This went on for a few days and all the while I couldn't stop looking at her. Finally I said I am just going to call this number and see what her story is. Well that is when I talked to Audrey. As soon as she answered the phone I started rambling on about this little girl. Audrey said she was available and I said "we want her, she is my daughter!" Audrey laughs at this now. Well when Brandon came home I sat him down and went over everything financially that we could change so that we could bring her home. I think he got that I wasn't asking anymore.
We were her parents!
The next day we got a call from Georgia. Both Audrey and Georgia are from the Family Network Agency. Georgia said that Christelle (Lilly) was not going to make it and they could not let us proceed with adopting her, we should try to find another baby. This was the most devistating phone call of my life. I felt like I couldn't breath. I mourned and stared at the wall all night. I kept thinking that if she didn't make it I still wanted her. I wanted her to be with my family. Mostly I just wanted her to be home with us. The next morning I got a ton of E-mails from Jenny K, Michelle, Janet, Kodak and Stephanie. Michelle even offered to foster her on a medical visa, so we could get her better. They all wanted to help save that little girl. This was enough to give me enough hope and courage to proceed. By tuesday I had talked to Audrey and told her that we wanted to proceed, we would deal with it no matter what. In my heart she was already our little girl. Over the 8 months it took to bring her home, Lilly was in the hospital about 3 of them and about 3 before we found her. Now she is home. She is peacefully (Thank you God) sleeping upstairs. She sends her days laughing at everything. Taking in the world around her. No one knows what was wrong with her. Maybe a parasite, maybe failure to thrive. Who knows, but I am sure that she must have felt all the love from her mommy and daddy and from all the women here who prayed for her daily. To look at her today you just think she is small. Hopefully tomorrow we will know more, but we may never know why.
Brandon tells people she found us. That she called to me from that web-site.
That she needed me. I think I needed her.
I think it finally hit me what a long road this has been. Thanks for everything.
Heidi

Lilly and her cousins

My sister and Lilly's cousins, Ryan and Madylin visited us last week. We had the kids pictures taken. They are so cute.

It has been busy since Lilly came home. Brandon has had a trip for the Navy and has been working a ton of nights. Lilly has finally started sleeping all night! From between 6-7 PM to 7-8 AM! I wish I could do that. I am getting more rest though. She is moving all over now. Not quite crawling but scooting on her tummy. This is a big improvement from not even wanting to lay on her tummy. I cannot believe how big she is getting. She also gives kisses now. She smiles and then opens her mouth and DIVES at you! It is too cute.

More pictures

A man made a stature of Lilly and I sitting at Walls in the rocker. This is the first time we saw it. It is beautiful.

This is Lilly at the doctor. She is just so pretty.

Hi Alexei! I can't wait to meet you!

Having fun with Nerlande!

Lilly's favorite pastime. Playing cards! Vegas here we come!

Lilly update

Though it is not great I thought I would post a picture of us in Haiti. Don't worry there are more to come. Lilly has been doing great. She does not like me to be out of her sight, but that is understandable. We have been to the doctor and so far everything is good. She weighs 14.5 lbs! We think she gained about 2.5 lbs this month! We go back on the 26th to a pediatric intestin specialist. It is mostly to look at everything and be sure she is ok.
My Mom came to visit as soon as we were home. So Lilly has been to Park City, out to eat and to the Mall (a lot!) . It was nice to visit with my Mom and for her to meet her granddaughter. My sister and niece and nepher are coming next week and so are my grandparents for a few days. We have a week to relax and get a schedule down though.

Home at last

Hi everyone!
We are home! I Utah, with running hot water and nice cosy clean clothes! I
am still in the stage of thinking I am dreaming that my Lilly is here with
us. We got in late and Lilly woke up when we got to the airport to all her
fanefare. My friends and my Mom and Brandon all met us there with a big
sign it was very cute. She hardly cried all day. Many people said to me
that is the best baby I have ever seen on a plane. One lady at the
starbucks in Miami (the most beautiful starbucks I have ever seen!) said
"oh, your daughter is so cute she looks just like you!" uh ok thanks I
guess. Weird. Anyway I wanted to say that I felt tottally safe and
comfortable when in Haiti. I cannot say enough about the heroics on the
part of Marie and Calib. They are really the best. I cannot imagine doing
what they do everyday! Also that I will truely miss Veniel and the staff at
Walls' after a month they are like family to me. Veniels family has now
moved to the guesthouse. Venieka his daughter is such a doll and his wife
is really helpful. They did quite a bit with us when we were there and it
was nice to have that time with them. We are getting settled this morning
so I may not post much in the next few days. Thanks for everyones support from the PAcCgroup, esspecially Jenny and Michelle who listened to me on the phone all the time. Mostly I want to thank Brandon and my Mom who I spoke todaily and they helped with everything they could even though they were so far away. Thanks Becki for calling!!!
Heidi

Still in Haiti

Hello, we are still in Haiti! I think some people were confused about this. Brandon will be going home on Monday. He has to go to Texas for an interview with NASA! How cool is that. He is very excited about hes private tour of Mission Control. Sorry Katie. If he gets the job we can go too! Lilly and I will stay in Haiti. We have gotten everything wrapped up, Even have a Visa apt for Wednesday. However we still have NO PASSPORT!!! The lady at the US embassy is so nice she said that if Wednesday comes and we are still waiting for the passport to call her and we can go the next day or whenever we recieve it. How frustrating! Everything in Haiti has been good. We are really bored though. Last weekend we went to the market on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to the beach! It was alot like going to Labadee, beautiful. We even had lobster, FREE, this lovely family was there and we were slightly drooling over it, ok maybe more that slightly. Anyway I asked where they bought it and they said on the beach. Then they filled up 2 plate fulls and gave us some. Unbelievable! I would love to go back but it is pretty rare that we even went once. That ios all for not. Hopefully I will be in Tampa on Wednesday or Thursday. Grandma make sure the washing machine is empty. Miss everyone.
Heidi

Hello from Haiti

We just want to let everyone know we are here and with Lilly. We are doing fine, though Brandon is a bit sick of playing cards. Lilly is great, she can roll over and she laughs all the time. We have had her with us since we got here. We are hoping to be home on the 23rd. We cannot post pictures because we forgot the cord. We will put some up as soon as we can. We miss everyone. Heidi

Last post before we leave

Well next time I post we will be in Haiti with Lilly. Hopefully moving along on the final papers (VISA). I cannot express my emotions today. In a few hours the long wait to have my family together will be 1 step closer. To top things off today China did refferals thru Sept. 27, 2005. There is only a month of refferaly until it is our turn. It will probably be 2 or 3 months until we see Rory but soon we will all be together. In 6 months we can bring Alexei out and all of us will finally be together.

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone. I will be leaving for Florida in 3 days and 4 hours! Then on to Haiti to get Lilly. This will be Brandons first time seeing his baby girl. I will try to update the blog as often as possible. I do not know when we will be home to Utah. We are hoping in two weeks. This is my favorite picture of Lilly so I thought I would share it. I hope everyone has a safe and blessed 2007.

Heidi

9 more days!

Only 9 more days until we get our little Princess! I am getting very excited. Look at how her hair is growing! Soon I will need to know how to braid it. She does look a bit healthier too.

Going to get Lilly!!

The time has finally come. We will be traveling on January 4, 2007 to Haiti to pick up Princess Lilly. We should be there for 2-3 weeks and then she will come home with us. I am very excited to finally be reunited with my daughter. Finally, we will be together.

1 more

New pictures of Lilly

These pictures were taken by another mom who was in Haiti last week. Soon we will be with her. They are saying the end of this month!

surgery update

As some of you know I had surgery last week. I just wanted everyone to know that I am doing fine. Resting up and saving my energy for the Disney trip and to go get Lilly.
We are waiting to hear a more comcrete date of when we can go pick her up. Hopefully by the end of December.

update

I heard from the agency today. There has been a step added to the hHaiti process. We are still hoping to go for Christmas but it may be January. One of the mom's went to visit her babies last week. She said Princess Lilly is being spoiled as usual.

1 Year since LID

I never thought I would be sitting here without Rory tonight. Funny how the last year has changed so much. It will probably be another 6 months until I see her precious face. A year ago we were so excited. Going thru what we thought was our last Holidays without her.
Now a year later we know that there is nothing certain. Nothing except that God will make things turn out just perfect.
In May of this year, when we thought we would see Rory for the first time, I was looking online just playing around on adoption sites. And then I saw her. The most gorgeous child I had ever layed Eyes on. I knew right then why the timing wasn't right for China yet. If we were at the place we thougt we would be I would not have found my Lilly. The bright spot in these past few months. Someone I cannot picture my life without.
Even though this wait is hard and we want Rory home as soon as possible. I know that God intended for us to have both these beautiful angels. Just in his own time. We look forward to this next year with excitement and curiosity. I no longer think constantly of only what my experience in it will be but the experiences of my daughters. How they will have their lives changed this year in ways they could never have imagined. Sisters from around the world.

New Pics

These pictures were taken last week by Lisa who was visiting Lilly's Orphanage. Thank you Lisa! I can't wait to see Lilly soon!

Lillian Chrystelle is 1 year old!!!

Happy birthday princess Lilly. We miss you.