One Year Anniversary!!

I cannot believe that Danielle has been with us for one year! In some ways it seems like she has been with us forever, and in some ways it seems like I just held her in my arms for the very first time! Last year at this time was the beginning of the hardest few days of my life. We were so excited to see our little Lai Fu Tao - we had been waiting for her for so long, but she wasn't exactly excited to be with us. We had heard people talk about grieving, and we thought that we were prepared for it....well, we weren't. Danielle grieved so hard for her losses. She sobbed for her foster mama, and tried to get out of the hotel room at every opportunity. It is amazing at how much things have changed. She is such a happy, vibrant part of our family. She has attached to all of us, and often points to our family portrait and says "Family". She loves to sing, dance and play with her sisters. Danielle continues to amaze us with her "smarts". She learns so quickly that it is scary. We are so grateful that God has blessed us with 3 amazing little girls - God is so good. We owe our family to God - He has grown our family beautifully...whether by birth or adoption, God has given us an incredible family, and for that I am eternally grateful. Please help me by wishing Danielle a Happy Adoption Day!!

Here is our little one last year at the Civil Affairs Office in Nanning....





And here is a current picture of Danielle and her sisters...



We love you, our little angel!

Halloween Fun

Zoo, pumkins and choir...oh my!

Apple picking and friends

We have been having a great fall! The girls continue to enjoy school. We went on a field trip with Stephanie's pre-k class to a fire station last week and Liz got bored. In front of the captain, she said, "I don't like this place". Nice. I am just glad that this station is not responsible for protecting our house!

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to NC to pick apples! We left on Friday afternoon and came back Sunday evening. It was a great weekend! Steve's mom (aka Nana) was able to come along, and the girls were overjoyed. Danielle is still talking to her on her toy cell phone! We met some friends at the apple orchard on Sat. and picked a whole bushel of apples! Needless to say, we don't need to buy any other fruit for a while! The girls took apples to their teachers and clasmates on Tuesday and everybody enjoyed them. And yes, we still have some left!

Yesterday we spent the morning at St. Mtn park hiking with Frannie and her mom Ellen. We had such a good time hiking on one of the islands. The girls fed some ducks and collected leaves and rocks - yippee. We then had a nice picnic lunch together. I love fall and the cool weather! Enjoy some pictures of our weekend adventures!!

First Day of Preschool

Today was the first day of preschool for all 3 of our girls! Stephanie had a blast in pre-k! She loves her teacher and has a lot of her girlfriends in her class. In fact, one of the girls in her class is Su Su...one of the little girls that was on the same Waiting Child list as Danielle. Both of these girls are from the same province in China and lived about 2 hours away from each other. Things like this make me realize how small our world is and how big our God is! Elizabeth enjoyed her first day in the 3 year-old class with Ms. Jackie as her teacher. Stephanie had Ms. Jackie last year and absolutely loves her - now Liz is the lucky one, and she had a wonderful day and can't wait until school on Thursday! Danielle went to class today, too!!! Once again, God was at work...my dear friend, Cynthia is one of Danielle's teachers! According to Cynthia (who never lies), Danielle did the best out of all of the little 2 year-olds! She cried for a minute when I dropped her off, and cried when she caught a glimpse of me in the hallway, but other than that she did great!! I was so worried about this day, but she handled it like a trooper! Oh, and I started school today, too.....I am an assistant teacher at the girls' school! I am teaching in the Young 3's class. I decided to work here so that I could be close to my girls during the day...and to help pay the tuition for 3 kiddos!!! All in all, it was a great day for all of us - hopefully it is a great beginning to a fantastic school year!

Danielle is 2

This has been a very busy week at our house. First, it was extra special because we were able to celebrate Danielle's 2nd birthday with her! We had a big party for her on Saturday with lots of friends, cake and ice cream. She gets a little overwhelmed if she is the center of attention, so we decided to have her party at a "play house". We went to Miss Jamie's House and had a lot of fun. Miss Jamie's House is an actual house that has been converted into play rooms for kids (no one actually lives in the house). They have a room that is play house, a stage with dress up clothes, a ship with fishing poles, a camping room with tents, and then a big outdoor playground. My girls love to play there - and I do to...less mess for me to clean up. This was the first time that we had a party away from our home, and I must say that I liked it! It was nice not having to clean the house before AND after a party. All I had to do this time was get the paper products, snacks, party favors and make the cake!! Hopefully everyone had a good time - Danielle did, and that is what counts!

Also this week I went back to work....ugh!! I am going to be an assistant teacher at my girls' preschool! All 3 of our girls are going to be going to preschool this year, and instead of doing private speech therapy while they are in school, I decided to work where they are! I am really looking forward to it! I have been a little nervous about leaving Danielle, but God is once again looking out for her! My best friend, Cynthia, is going to be her teacher!! Danielle loves and adores her, so hopefully this transistion will be relatively easy. Danielle has been doing better with me leaving - she has done great with a teen babysitter,and she now goes to Sunday school with Elizabeth (only a few tears initially) - I love being able to worship without my "little distraction"!

Today was another special day for us. We went to court to finalize our re-adoption! Basically, this will give her a Gwinnett County birth certificate, instead of using her Chinese one. We are excited to have completed this process. We hired a great attorney, and she didn't charge nearly as much as some do. We were friends with Crystal before all of us got married and started having children, so we were more than happy to send some business her way. We had no issues at all with any of our paperwork - her fees were worth it for me to not have to worry about doing things right. Besides, if I had done it myself, chances are we wouldn't have even filed our papers yet - it can be difficult to get things done with 3 little ones! The only problem we encountered today was....I left my purse in the Judge's chambers! Steve said that was probably the safest place to have left it - hopefully! We got it back and all was well - just a little embarrassing!!

We are all doing great - keeping very busy with friends, family and life in general. The week before Danielle's birthday party was Ally's party. Ally, Shelby, Frannie and Danielle were all on the same Waiting Child list....and we all live in Atlanta - amazing! See the picture of them below titled "Digit Friends". It is great to have such good friends who are going through the same things that we are. Parenting is hard at times, and great support is so hard to find! Thank you to all of our friends who help us out along the way - we couldn't do it without you!!

Busy summer

Okay, I have heard from some people that they were wanting me to post again - sorry that it has taken me so long!! This summer has just flown by! Stephanie spent 4 weeks in summer school with one of her favorite teachers and had a blast! She loves school and can't wait for pre-k to start on Sept. 2. We spent a week and a half in MN, visiting my parents and we had a blast! The weather was wonderful (much cooler and less humid than Hot-lanta!) We spent a WHOLE lot of time in my parent's swimming pool, and as you can tell from the pictures below, the girls had no fear! We swam every day and had a blast! Our girls are just little fish - they can't get enough of it! Danielle's first swimming experience was great - she had no fear what-so-ever...which is not always a good thing. They miss swimming every day, but now we go to Nana's often to swim, which everyone loves, too.

Everyone is getting along quite well. Danielle and Liz continue to be partners in crime and enjoy finding trouble together. They have become less destructive, though, which is great! All girls have been great helps at home...helping with dishes, folding laundry, sweeping, dusting and making beds. They would much rather help me with the household chores than picking up their toys! I can't wait until their cleaning skills get better - my house may have hopes of actually being clean one day! Danielle's language skills are improving. She is imitating and learning new words everyday! In fact, Steve had to work late tonight, and so they all called him to say good night, and Danielle told him that she loved him! She said, "Wuv you", and Daddy was in heaven! Another HUGE milestone is this...Danielle does not "require" me to sit in her bedroom until she falls asleep! This is huge for me! This transition was relatively easy...hopefully she will do as well when she goes to school! She will be going to preschool for 3 mornings a week at the same school where Stephanie and Liz will go. Whenever we talk about school, she gets very excited. She is very proud of her new lunchbox...she carries it with her everywhere!

Thank you all for your continued interest in our family. All of your prayers are greatly appreciated. We are so very blessed - God has truly outdone himself (if that is possible) by giving us such a wonderful family. Enjoy some updated pictures!

New pictures

Happy Birthday Day!

It's hard to believe, but our little Sweet Pea (Liz) is turning 3 tomorrow (June 6th)! I remember so clearly how she was 2 weeks late and had to be induced...on MY birthday, nonetheless! Yes, Liz and I share the same birthday. I have this feeling, that June 6th will be more her birthday than mine, but that is okay. She is the best birthday present EVER!! We plan on making "our" cake together tomorrow while Stephanie is at summer school. Her big birthday party will be next week, with 12 little friends attending a My Little Pony themed event! She is very excited to be turning 3! I just wish she could stay little forever! Happy Birthday, my beautiful girl!

FAMILY UPDATE

We have been very busy (hence fewer entries)! Danielle has been our daughter for 6 1/2 months already! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. She is adjusting amazingly well. We have left her with friends a couple of times (along with her sisters), and she has done great! No tears. She is definitely getting over her separation anxiety phase (Thank God!). It truly has been hard to be with her 24/7, but as long as it has helped her to be more secure, then it is totally worth it! I have signed her up for preschool next year, and I think that it will be great. In fact, I will be working at the school as well! I am very excited. I will be an assistant teacher (I really didn't want the added responsibility of being lead) in a 3 year-old preschool class. I am really looking forward to it! Stephanie and Liz have been going to this school for 2 years, and we all love it! If I need to work, I can't think of a better place to be....at school with my kids!! I am so grateful that God has blessed us with this opportunity.

God continues to amaze us! His plan to add Danielle to our family is perfect - she is truly our daughter! She is growing bigger and stronger every day. She has the most muscular legs - everyone says she should be a gymnast. Our Naturopath was in awe of her today - the fact that she is so flexible and has no fear. I don't know if that is a good combination though :-) Her new favorite thing to do is hold hands with her sisters when we are walking. It is adorable. She calls her sister's names (or at least an approximation of them) and holds out her hand to them. Very cute! Today, she started coming up to all of us and giving us kisses...she goes from 1 person to the next giving lots of slobbery kisses! She is an angel - most of the time. Don't get me wrong, while she is a beautiful child, she does have her moments! She is getting really good at saying "no" and can be very rebellious at times (and she is not even 2 yet!). All 3 of the girls are playing quite well together (most of the time) and love having each other. We are quite content with our family just the way it is....although Stephanie has been bugging us for a little brother. For some reason she keeps asking us for a baby brother from China named Charlie. Who knows what will happen next - only God does, and hopefully he will make things clear!

Enjoy some current pictures of our family!

Check out my Slide Show!

Can you believe it?

A whole year has passed since we first met our daughter! Our adoption agency's Waiting Child List came out Monday night, April 30, 2007...and that is when we first saw our daughter's face! I remember that night so clearly! I had just gotten off the phone with my friend Amy, and thought, "Why not?" and so I checked my email and there was the long awaited news...the list had been posted!!! I scoured all of the names and DOB of all of the 10 children on that list, and only one met our age requirements....Lai Fu Tao. I did a little bit of quick research on her "special need" and found out that it was no big deal, and then I waited. I waited for Steve to get home from his softball game before I looked at her picture. I just knew that this was our little girl - the one we had been praying for, and I wanted Steve to be here when we saw our daughter's face for the first time. When he got home, we opened the file, and this is what we saw.....

Beautiful, isn't she? It's amazing at how perfect she is for our family. I can't believe that we have only "known" her for a year, it seems like she has been a part of our family forever. We are so grateful that God placed her in our family - not a day goes by where I am not in awe of the miracle that He performed by choosing her for us. We are eternally grateful. I am so grateful that we were able to find our daughter on the List. All of these children need homes and families desperately, and they are all so beautiful. It breaks my heart that there are still 2 little people on the Hope For Children's current Waiting Child List? Why? Go and check them out and maybe one of them are meant to be a part of your family. They all need homes....why not yours! Here is a current picture of our little one...what a difference a year makes!!! To God be the glory!

Check out my Slide Show!

Update

I know that it has been a VERY long time since I have posted, but life has just gotten in the way! Our family is continuing to adjust to being a family of 5 quite nicely. Danielle is a little ball of fire - one that gets into everything!! I always seem to be about 3 steps behind her, needless to say, my house is never clean!! She loves to read books, play outside and dance with her sisters. She is just doing great! Danielle is also starting to talk A LOT! I am now Mommy - all the time. She will run around the house saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" over and over until she can locate me - very cute - sometimes. She is also saying Daddy, jie jie (big sister in Chinese), puppy, book, bottle, more, eat, drink, Man! (she got that from me), shoes, nice (whenever she gets dressed) and she has just learned nasty (because she was putting something nasty in her mouth) - just to name a few. Danielle loves to imitate, and therefore her language skills are really kicking in. Stephanie and Liz love to play dress-up, and now, so does Danielle. Stephanie and Liz continue to be great big sisters and are usually very willing to help. I love having 3 little girls, although it can be very exhausting a lot of the time. I am trying to get more organized, but that is quite difficult with 3 little ones under the age of 5! Maybe I will get my act together by the time they move out.

While Danielle is trying more American foods, she still loves her Chinese noodles! We often go to a restaurant up the street, which she loves! Stephanie has also become quite the little noodle and dumpling eater - she will be ready for a trip to China someday! Anyway, this past weekend Steve took the girls up there to pick up dinner, and met a new employee who was asking about Danielle and where she was from. Ready for amazing? It turns out that her mother is from Laibin, China - Danielle's birthplace! The odds of this are totally amazing - only God could have orchestrated this! I can't help but wonder if she knows Danielle's foster mom, or birth mom. Steve promised to take this girl some pictures of Laibin (she lived there when she was little) and she was very excited about that. It will be interesting to see if we can learn any more about Danielle's birthplace.

Growth

We have had a rough couple of weeks - I have been sick, then Danielle, and this past weekend both Steve and Stephanie got sick. Needless to say, the house is a mess and I have a whole lot of things to get done!

Liz has hit a milestone - she is "paci-free". Liz has always LOVED her pacis, but when she was about 1, she traded her paci for "E" (see photo). For over 1 1/2 years, she has slept with E, and she loved him! Well, last week, the Paci Fairy came and took E away. Liz did great, I cried. I was so sad to see this quirky little friend leave our home! I actually had a hard time holding it together when Stephanie started crying and said, "I am going to miss E!" It was an emotional night. I knew that Liz needed to get rid of it (we don't want her to have to have braces), but it was such a part of her...and it meant that she is growing up. She will be 3 this summer, and I am not ready for her to grow up - I am not ready for ANY of my girls to get any bigger! But I must say, that Liz has done so great without E - we probably should have done this sooner, but we didn't want to take away her E before we went to China!

Danielle continues to do fantastic! Over the past couple of weeks, she has really started to play and interact more with Liz. Since they are so close in age (only 14 months difference), there is some rivalry but lately they have begun to interact and play together just the 2 of them. I have actually been given the highest honor from my youngest daughter - she now calls me Mama! I was very skeptical at first that she was talking about me, but I have come to realize that I am now officially her Mama! Praise God!

This past weekend, I was able to go to a tremendous seminar (along with some great friends)with Sherrie Eldridge, author and an adoptee. It was incredible. She gave such insight into what Danielle may feel and experience as she gets older. So many things to think about. I ache for Danielle because she will never know her birth mother. I just pray that I can help her through all of it. That is why going to these seminars is so important - awareness and education is key. In fact, I may be able to help Danielle with her issues since I am more aware of them and have countless friends and resources to help me help her. I am sure that Stephanie and Liz will have some issues when they get older (don't we all?), and I just hope that I can be as aware of their issues and how to help them. Motherhood is certainly a tough job, but I am grateful that it is mine!

Thank you, Doodaddy!

About 2 weeks ago, I took Danielle with me to get me haircut - total disaster! Danielle cried the entire time - and she was sitting on my lap! Thank goodness I have a great stylist, Brynn, who stayed focused and did a great job, despite the distraction. I kept trying to reassure her that I was enjoying myself, but she didn't listen (next time I will go alone). So, you can imagine how I was dreading a dentist appointment for today!! How could I tell her that I liked getting my teeth picked at - NOT! Well, Doodaddy came to the rescue (when Liz was a baby, she couldn't say Grandaddy, so she came up with the name Doodaddy, and it has kind of stuck)! He offered to meet me at the office and watch Liz and Danielle while Stephanie and I had our teeth cleaned. We were both a little nervous, but all went well! Danielle cried at first, but only briefly, and Danielle and Liz remained happy for the full 45 minutes that I was in the dentist chair! This was technically Danielle's first time with a "babysitter" - other than me or Steve!! They came back to check on me a couple of times, but no more tears!! It does help that I have an awesome dentist that insists I bring my children and enjoys it when they run around the office. Dr. Ashley wants the kids to LIKE coming to the dentist and they do! Liz is very excited to have her own appointment in July! I am so grateful that Doodaddy lives close by so that he was able to help - thank you, Doodaddy! After our appointment, we met Nana and Doodaddy for lunch and playtime at McDonald's. And now, all 3 girls are peacefully napping - God is good!!

Check out my Slide Show!

First Chinese New Year party!!!

On Saturday, we attended our first FCC-Atlanta event (Families with Children from China). We went to their Lunar New Year party and we all had a great time!! We were a little worried as to how Danielle would handle it, but she did great! Only one little melt down during lunch, but that was because she was beyond tired and not overwhelmed. The girls loved to watch the dancers, but they especially loved to watch the traditional Lion Dance! Liz even joined in the parade with DooDaddy (aka Grandaddy). I was so amazed at how well all of our girls did in the crowd - there were over 500 people at this event. Nana and DooDaddy came with us, and I think that they enjoyed themselves as well. Oh! Stephanie won the raffle! One of the vendors at the event was raffling off a handmade quilt, and Stephanie won! I was amazed. She was so excited and has slept with it ever since!

Danielle continues to do remarkably well here at home. She has survived her first ear infection, and is now on her second cold (hopefully it will stay out of her ears this time). She is tolerating riding in the car, and is beginning to enjoy shopping - she has to, since we often run errands together while the other girls are in school!! She is also trying to say new words, which is great to see. Over the past week, she has shown a huge love in books and she wants us to read to her all the time. This is great, except when I am in the middle of cooking dinner! We are getting involved in playdates and having lots of fun together. I must say, it warms my heart to see all 3 of my girls playing, running and laughing together. God really blessed our family by sending this little girl into our lives - she adds so much to our family. It has been good for our other girls as well - Liz is learning to be a great big sister. Life is good - we are just grateful that God is taking such good care of us!

Danielle is a US citizen!

Yesterday we received Danielle's Certificate of US Citizenship! We knew it was coming, but it was still amazing to receive it! It was more emotional than we expected. Along with the beautiful certificate, came a letter from President Bush - it was pretty cool! Now we can go ahead and get her social security number and US passport! She is officially an American! Techinically she became a citizen when we landed in Detroit and the Immigration officer opened her packet, but now we have it in writing - praise God!

Danielle continues to transition nicely into our family. She truly is a Tanski!! We continue to be grateful that God allowed me to quit my job this past fall - it has been good to be able to stay home and take care of the girls. In fact, if I still worked for the school system, I would already have had to call in sick for 3 of my first 5 days back! Liz and Danielle have had colds, and unfortunately, Danielle's cold has progressed into an ear infection and bronchitis. So, IF I had gone back to work, I would already be out of sick time for the rest of the year!! Praise God that I am a full-time mom so that I can take care of my sick kids! They are both doing better, especially since Danielle is taking antibiotics....which wasn't easy at first! She threw a fit and didn't want to take it, but when we clap for her, then she is motivated and takes all of her medicine! This little girl loves praise - and she gets it too, as long as she isn't get into something that she is not suppose to!!! God has truly blessed our family - we have 3 beautiful girls, who we love deeply. Every day is a new adventure - some days are happy adventures, some days are learning adventures, and some days are whiney adventures - just wait until they are teens! The Tanski household will be quite interesting!