Grandpa & His Girls!

We traveled to Grandma & Grandpa's house in March for a visit. Here is Grandpa with his girls! He just loved his grandkids!

And a visit to Grandma & Grandpa's is not complete without some Leila time! It took about 20 pictures to get one where they were all looking!

More Pictures of Lucy's Party

Here a more pictures of the party.

It's Party Time Again!

Here are some pictures from Lucy's second 1st birthday. All of my brothers and sisters came into town to meet Lucy for the first time. It was a little chaotic but lots of fun! Lucy loved meeting all of her aunts, uncles and cousins. The other baby in the pictures is Lucy's cousin Mary.

Lucy's First 1st Birthday

Lucy got to have 2 birthday parties for her first birthday! Since we returned home with her when she was 11 months old, all of our family came over to celebrate her first birthday. We tried to have both Rob's family and my family over on the same weekend, but it didn't work out. So the first birthday party was with Rob's family. Aunt Michelle, Uncle Nolan and Leila came over to see Lucy for the first time. Aunt Michelle made a delicious cake! I don't know who was more excited about it, mommy or Lucy.

Having Fun at Home

Here are a few pictures of Jorge and Lucy being silly :)

After the long journey home, we took about 2 weeks to get back on a normal sleeping schedule. I found myself in the middle of day trying to play with Jorge and Lucy and nodding off to sleep. I would have never believed someone if they would have told me how difficult it was to adjust back to a normal sleeping schedule!

"Who do you think you are?"

This picture says it all! Jorge thought he was excited to have a baby sister, but when he realized that he wasn't the only one to get Mom & Dad's attention, he didn't like it too much. And Lucy was looking at him as if to say, "who are you and why is my daddy holding you?". This didn't last long. Jorge fell in love with his little sis almost immediately and Lucy just adored Jorge. It was amazing how quickly they adjusted to one another.

We arrived at Indy on January 21st around noon. We were so happy to see Jorge! Both sets of grandparents were there to meet Lucy for the first time. She wasn't very cooperative because she didn't want anyone else to hold her except Mom or Dad.

Last Stop Overseas

We arrived in Tokyo on January 19th for an overnight stay before our plane left on the 20th. We did not get to see downtown as we stayed at a hotel that was connected to the airport. The next morning we all gathered and awaited our plane to take us back to states. The top picture is part of the group we traveled with and the bottom picture is Lucy waving at Daddy.

We were extremely excited about getting home to see Jorge. That was, by far, the hardest part of the trip. We missed him so much. He didn't seem to mind that we were away, he was having a blast with both sets of grandparents. We waited to call him until we got to Guangzhou and we were so happy to talk with him. We thought he would cry or be sad when he heard our voices but we could barely keep him on the phone, he was too busy with Nana & Papa!

Hanging out in Hong Kong

Here is Lucy in the Hong Kong airport, waiting with her friend, Katherine, for the next plane ride. We spent a lot of time in airports! Mom was making some cereal and she was looking at it like, "you better give that to me and fast!"

The Journey Home Begins

Our trip home would take a total of 3 days! We left Guangzhou on January 19th and flew to Hong Kong. Here is Lucy hanging out with her 2 buddies, Maggie and Katherine. They played a lot together during our visit to China.

The Infamous Red Couch Photo

One of the things that HAS to be done before you leave the White Swan Hotel is the Red Couch Photo. All of the families in your travel group get together and the children are placed on the couch for a photo. Here is our group of girls and boys.

Isn't She an Angel?

It was another day of touring in Guangzhou and Lucy was ready for a nap.

A Stroll by the Pool

Here are Lucy and Mom by the Pool. It was a little too chilly to swim, but it sure looked nice.

Look a Waterfall!

Here is Dad with Lucy in front of the waterfall that was inside the hotel. Like I said, it was a beautiful hotel!

Off to Guangzhou and the US Embassy

We finally were approved and were able to leave Changsha City and head to Guangzhou for our exit interview at the US Embassy. Here is Lucy waiting for her first plan ride. We left on Saturday January 15th. We arrived at the White Swan Hotel early afternoon. The White Swan Hotel is known as the "Baby Hotel" because it is where most American adoptive parents stay. It was a beautiful hotel. The weather in Guangzhou was a nice change from Changsha. Changsha was cold and dreary almost every day we were there while Guangzhou was in the upper 60's to low 70's and sunny. We did a lot of shopping while we were there. The first restaurant we ate at that afternoon was an American restaurant called (if you can believe it) "Lucy's".

Not Another Picture!

Here is Dad holding his little Princess. Even though this picture doesn't show it, Lucy would just smile at her daddy. She did that almost the whole trip. It was like she was flirting with all the men.

We were still in Changsha City waiting for the adoption to be finalized. We went on a tour of a Embrodiery factor which was very interesting. A lot of the pieces actually looked like paintings. We were starting to get very anxious to get home with Lucy and see Jorge again. It was very hard to be away from him for 17 days!

Nice Hair!

After we gave Lucy a bath we discovered that her hair wanted to stick straight up! It made a fan around her head. We couldn't understand what the Chinese people were saying to us, but we knew they were talking about her hair!

Fun Back at the Hotel!

Everytime I look at the first pictures of Lucy, all I can think about is the scene from "A Christmas Story" where the boy is so bundled up in his snow suit, he can't put his arms down. When we got back to the hotel we decided to see how many layers she had on. We just kept peeling them off, one after another. It ended up that she had 5 layers of clothes! Several of them being rather thick. She looked about 10 pounds lighter. Here she is without all her clothes on! We found out very early how ticklish she was and still is!

Lucy's First Nap with Mom & Dad

After all the families received their children (which took less than 30 minutes), we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. As you can see, Lucy was exhausted but Mom was estatic! There is nothing like holding your child for the first time!

Forever Ours!

January 10th was the day we met our daughter for the first time. What an unforgetable experience! We met in our hotel lobby first thing in the morning and boarded a bus headed to the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Hunan Province. When we arrived we were herded into a room and the doors were closed. Then, a woman appeared with the first child. They called out the girl's name. You saw the family burst out with emotion. It was so moving to watch each family receive their bundle of joy! We anxiously awaited our Lucy to appear. They called her name out and we were so happy! I can't even describe the emotion of seeing your child for the first time. She was so bundled up in clothes, the only thing showing was her face with rosey checks. We showed the woman our passports and signed a paper and she was placed in our arms for the rest of our lives!

Good Bye Bejing, Hello Changsha City!

On Sunday, January 9th we left Bejing and headed to Changsha City in the Hunan Province. The flight was about 3 hours. We were one night away from meeting our daughter for the first time! We had a great time visiting Bejing. We loved the sights and enjoyed the food just as much. Tomorrow is the big day!!!

2nd Day in China

We spent our 2nd Day in Bejing touring Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was really neat to learn about the Chinese culture. We look forward to going back with Lucy some day so she can see what her birth country is like. We also saw an acrobatic show that night which was absolutely unbelievable. I would love to post some pictures but we did not have any digital photos. We were amazed at some of the things these men and women did. I never knew people could bend so much!

What a View!

Our first day in China was spent touring the Great Wall. It was Rob's 36th birthday. What a birthday present, to spend the day on the Great Wall. What a beautiful sight! It was truly amazing. It was quite a work out as well. Walking up the wall proved to be very exhausting. And the way back down was rather scary. The steps on parts of it were so steep we almost had to sit down to get down the steps.

Lucy, Here we come!

We left for China on January 5th, 2005 from Indianapolis at 8:40Am. We flew to Chicago to board our plane to Tokyo, Japan. The flight to Tokyo was a whopping 13 hours. We actually waited on the runway for 2 hours in Chicago before take off which made the entire flight 15 hours! Talk about a long flight! We thought we would get a lot of sleep on the plane but we didn't. From Tokyo we flew to Beijing which was only a 4 hour flight. We arrived in Bejing at 9:15pm on January 6th. That was actually 9:15 AM our time which meant we traveled for a little over 24 hours. We met our coordinator at the airport and her name was Genie. She was great. She took care of all of our arrangements the entire time we were in China. We got to the hotel in Bejing around 11pm and we were ready to sleep!

New Pictures of Our Daughter

We received updated photos of Lucy right before we were leaving for China. These made us even more excited to bring this little doll home.

Christmas Eve 2004

This Christmas was special because we were waiting for our little Lucy. Jorge was very excited about being a big brother. Here Mom is reading a story to Jorge Christmas Eve. He was very excited about Santa coming.

It's A Girl!

Our second blessing came as a little girl named Xiao Ying from the Hunan Province in China. She was born on 2/15/04. We fell in love immediately with this little China doll! Thus Lucy Xiao Ying stole our hearts! We were told we would travel to bring her home in about 2 months. Christmas came early at the Dix household.

It's Time!!!

Rob and I decided it was time to expand our family after Christmas of 2003. We thought it would be great for Jorge to have a little sis! We started the adoption process again right after the new year, 2004. This time around we thought we would bring a little girl home from China. The timeline for China adoptions was about 8 to 9 months after paperwork was submitted. So guess what, "It was Paper Time!" We had our paperwork done and submitted to our agency by the middle of May. We received a referral of a little girl on November 8th.

Elmo Halloween

It's Halloween again and Jorge dressed up as Elmo. He threw a fit putting this outfit on, but eventually was happy wearing. Isn't that smile hilarous? We plopped him the his wagon and took him around the neighborhood. He was so cute saying "Trick or Treat" are at least that's what we thought he was saying.

Birthday Time Again!

Here is Jorge's 2nd Birthday. He was so proud to hold his fingers up to show how old he was.

"I've had enough!"

My belly is full and it's nap time. Too bad Mommy didn't get my out of my high chair before I dosed off! I take after my Daddy, full belly = sleep.

Isn't he such an angel?!?!

Is it Mardi Gras??

Jorge & Leila having some dress up fun at Grandma & Grandpa Dix's house. The two of them have a blast playing together! They wear themselves out after one day!

"Give Me a Kiss, Cousin"

Welcome Home Leila! Rob's sister, Michelle and her husband, Nolan, bring their first daughter home from Russia. Her name is Leila and she was born on July 4th, 2001. She came home when she was almost 3 years old. She is such a cutie! Here is Jorge and Leila's first meeting.

Family Picture

Here is our first professional family photo. It was taken for our church directory when we lived in Kokomo, IN. It's hard to believe that was almost 5 years ago!

"I'm SOOO Thirsty!"

Some water fun at Grandma & Grandpa Vogel's house. What kid doesn't like playing with water? Nice hair, huh?

Knee high by the 4th of July?

Something I have learned being married to a man linked to agriculture is the saying "Knee high by the 4th of July" which means if the corn is knee high by the 4th, it is doing well. Needless to say, the corn was doing VERY well this year!

I Love Pine Cones!

Jorge's favorite thing to do outside was look for pine cones on our pine trees. Forget the swings and slides, it's mother nature for him! That was the ONLY thing he wanted to do that summer.

"Come On, Son"

I had to post this picture because it is one of my favorites. Dad took Jorge into the ocean for the first time as I snapped the picture. Jorge liked the ocean this year. Next year will be a different story!

WOW!

Can you guess if Jorge liked the beach? Our first trip to Flordia with Jorge in May of 2004. We went to Destin with Aunt Patti, Uncle Todd and their little guy (or should I say big guy) Patrick. Jorge and Patrick are buddies being less than 1 month apart. Grandma & Grandpa Vogel and Great Grandma Vogel, otherwise known as Gi-Gi, joined us as well. We had a great time. Jorge loved playing in the sand. One thing we learned from this trip.....vacations with kids is NOT the same as going alone!