Jillian turns 3 (really!)

Jillian turned 3 on October 24th. From the time we sent in our Letter of Intent (the first notice that let China know we would like to adopt Zhang Yu Ying) WAAAAAAAAAY back at the end of April, it was my goal to be in China in time for the big day. We missed it by mere weeks...and I'm not going to lie...it was hard!

But...3 is a big deal...and we couldn't let it go without fanfare. We sent a cake through the sweet Ann at Redthreads. We had used Ann back in the spring to send a care package to Jillian...and despite some serious dogging (all polite, I have no doubt)...we were unable (sob sob!) to get ONE PICTURE!!! Heartbreak city, peeps. Luckily, my agency came through with a few updates through the summer...each with a few photos. They kept us going...and made us fall a little more in love with each glance.

So...the cake. You KNOW I wanted photos. Jim and Lia wanted photos. But Ann, nicely, told us the chance of photos was zero. She asked us if we still wanted to send Jillian a cake. Of course we did. Expecting no photos, I was happy knowing that her day was special and that one day we could TELL her about the cake.

So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up today to 50...(that's right 5-0) photos from her party on the 24th. It has been the most unproductive day as we just keep going back to every photo, every expression, every piece of background art, the other children, the lovely fruit on the table, the way the nannies seem to care for the children...those oh-so cute hair clippies...that delicious smile as she looks at her cake. I am feeling over the top gratitude. For it all. For this child. For those who care for her. For her birth country. For the opportunity we have to call her ours. In 11 days. My heart is full...and my blessings overflowing. So...without further ado...onto the good stuff. The photos that made this mom's heart skip a beat. Happy happy birthday to my "big" little girl. :-)

(and a quick note about the "peace sign" they seem to be giving...I don't know why, but this is common in many photos I see from China. They do have three candles on her cake and do indeed know she is 3! (my mom thought they were having Jillian hold up two fingers...but no worries! She IS 3! :-)).