They are officially ours! (Plus a couple more pics)

Today is the day that Sophia Breanne and Alexis Li officially became part of our family! There is no turning back, and we are soooo grateful! As the 12 families in our group gathered around in a circle and heard it declared that the adoptions were official, my heart just swelled inside with such a peaceful, joyous feeling. Adoption is the most beautiful, Godly experience. We are blessed!

Sophi and Lexi are doing FANTASTIC! We are completely enamored with them both. The biggest struggle I have had is not being able to hold them both at the same time, as I am so in love!

Lexi is almost constantly smiling, and her smile is huge! Yesterday she had me in tears as she was just shaking and nervous around us for the first little while-- it just broke my heart. But now she is comfortable and happy. I had to wake her up this morning, and she was so sweet when she heard my voice. She still had her eyes closed, but she immediately smiled as I told her I loved her. She has the sweetest disposition, and giggles a lot! She has the funniest little walk-- we will need to work on it. But other than that, she seems developmentally on target and continues to amaze us at all she can do. Today we went shopping at the Lotus center. This is essentially a Chinese Walmart, but bigger. While we were there, Lexi became agitated and we realized she needed a bathroom. I took off with her quickly to find a restroom. Unfortunately, it all happened so fast, that I forgot to bring the backpack, which had toilet paper and wipes. Most public restrooms in China don't have toilet paper. Well, the bathroom itself was NOT great, and when I realized I didn't have toilet paper, I panicked. Lexi's tummy had been very upset, and we really needed toilet paper, if you know what I mean! In China, people don't flush their toilet paper down the toilet-- they just put it in the trash, so as not to clog up the sewers. So I looked down in the trash and did the only thing I could think of-- I grabbed the some of the used toilet paper. UGH. To make matters worse, there wasn't soap in the bathroom. I tried not to think about what I had just done, and went to meet the rest of the group. But, alas, Lexi needed to go again. THIS bathroom wasn't as nice as the first, as it was flooded. So not only did I have to again use USED toilet paper, I got the bottom of my pants wet as well. Oh, and my scarf too (as I was leaning down to wipe her.) Just lovely. Jeremy got quite the laugh out of my experience.

Sophi is just amazing. EVERYONE is in love with her. She waves her little foot at people and they just eat it up. Today we bought her a bottle that has handles, and she was sooo excited. She can use her toes to pick it up and give herself a drink. It's such a blessing, because she was having such a hard time learning to use the sippy cup we brought for her. Sophi is smiling more today. Almost any time that we smile at her, her face will just light up with the sweetest smile. As we were skyping with the kids today, she said her first word-- "ge ge," which means "big brother." I think that made the boys pretty happy! Other than that, she has only said the word "ball." She's usually just very quiet and soaking everything in. She's become quite spoiled and will cry if we aren't within a few feet of her. (:

Jet lag has been AWFUL for me this trip. Today was the first day I felt semi-normal. I don't do well on little sleep, and when I get overly tired, I can't sleep well. I was so excited tonight to feel like I could blog without literally passing out at the computer. I'm hoping it will get even better tomorrow, and we'll be able to post all kinds of fun pictures!! The internet connection is VERY slow, and I don't have it in me tonight.

Love to you all-- thanks for your prayers and comments and support. These girls have our hearts. They are amazing, and we know without a doubt that Heavenly Father has placed them in our family for a reason, and is watching over us right now. We do feel overwhelmed at times-- and I don't know how in the world I'm going to do it all when I get home and am more on my own. But I have to trust it will work, as I know these girlies are supposed to be here with us. (:

Feeling so grateful...

Christianne