Happy Birthday Marvelous Miss Madeline!

Today we celebrated Madeline's sixth birthday.  I'm in awe that six years have already passed since I first laid eyes on my precious princess.  She is so beautiful, so smart, so kind and so sweet that I have no choice but to gush over what a wonderful daughter I have.  I am so proud to be her Momma!  She was born at 10:43 pm, weighing a whopping 9 pounds and 3 ounces, and measured 20.5 inches, and today she measures 51 inches and 50 pounds.  What does that mean?  It means she can ride all but TWO of the big rollercoasters at Michigan's Adventure as a not-quite-yet first grader!  We had so much fun at the amusement park.  We were there when they opened at 11am and we closed the place down at 9pm.  Here are some of the hightlights:

Up, up, and AWAYYYYY!

Riding in the ferris wheel

One of the highlights of the day was a big puppy hug from Snoopy, her hero!  To state that she LOVES Snoopy is a major understatement.

You can see it in her smile!

Little sister, Charlotte, was enamored with Lucy, who is just as 'girlie' as she is!

The first "big" rollercoaster of the day for all of us was the MAD MOUSE.  (And a stark reminder that I am NOT in my 20's anymore and now this stuff scares me!)  My kids are adrenaline junkies!

Madeline driving her first car! (with Daddy!)

Charlotte behind the wheel!

Charlotte, my little Motorcycle Mama in training!

They were the only ones on this ride at the time but still insisted on riding together.  The love these two girls share for each other continues to amaze me.

Heads up!  Flying elephants!

The last ride of the day was the carousel, a Maddie 'n Charlotte favorite.

WHAT A FUN DAY!



On the drive home, with the kids sound asleep in the car (totally exhausted!) Matt and I had time to talk about birthdays.  We wonder what birthdays will mean to Elliott.  Will it bother him that we don't know the EXACT date and time he was born, or how big he was?  How long was he?  Did he cry right away after being born?  Was he born at a hospital?  Was he full term?  Does he have siblings?  Did his birth mother hold him after being born?  Was his father present?  We have a pretty good idea of when he was born because of the age that he was placed at the orphanage.  I have confidence that it is accurate within a day or two of the date listed on his referral paperwork.  But birthdays will likely mean something different to him.  I wonder if anyone at the orphanage arranges birthday celebrations, or if he'll be totally surprised at the big to-do that the Beresford family arranges for birthdays.  Will it still be a happy celebration for Elliott on that day, or will he feel sad because he is celebrating it with his adoptive family and not with his birth mother?  Will his birth mother remember him on this day?  Is she thinking of him and remembering his birth?  So many questions on such a relatively happy and benign subject is a reminder of how aware we have to be of his emotions, and to let go of expectations.  I have confidence, however, that his third birthday is going to be FILLED with family, fun, and lots of yummy cake like this boy has never seen before!  I have six months to plan.......  

And as a completely off-topic comment, I have to post a photo of BearBear.  We are dog-sitting for some wonderful friends of ours who are enjoying some southern summer sun this weekend, and Bearbear makes me smile.  He has a huge crush on our beagle, Daisy, snores at least 75% of the day, and sits like a tired monkey.  How do you not fall in love with that?!?!

Oh, and by the way, our Article 5 did get submitted on August 9th as planned.  It is going to be picked up by our Guangzhou courrier on Tuesday, August 23rd and then overnighted to the CCCWA in Beijing.  The CCCWA will then issue us our invitation to come pick Elliott up, and we will schedule the first consulate appointment (US Embassy exit interview & adoption/immigration finalization) we can get.  Travel approvals (TA's) have been averaging 18 to 20 days using data from the 20 most recently invited families, but one family last week got theirs in just SIX DAYS!  It's mind-boggling to think that a month from now we could be boarding a plane to go get Elliott, and six weeks from now he will be HOME with his forever family.  Pinch me!

Here's hoping I get to surprise you with a T.A. post next week!