Zai Jian!

That means "see you again".  And now, we fly.  See you all from the other side of the world.

I hope I can continue blogging in China so that I can give you a glimpse of what life is like over there.  But first, we have to survive the 13 hour flight.

Here's the last picture taken of us in the US:


And here's a bonus pic of Cora with her aunt and uncle that I just had to post:

Thankful

This Thanksgiving, I'm especially grateful that we have time for one last family gathering before we leave the country.  That's right, we're leaving the country - AGAIN.  I meant to announce on my blog earlier, but things just got kind of busy/stressful/crazy in the last month of planning.  It didn't help that Slik was away for 10 days right before we got packed and loaded up.  We are moving to Shanghai, China on another international assignment.  We should be there 2-3 years, but you never know what will really happen.

I have mixed feelings about the move, but now that the hardest parts of moving are behind us, I'm starting to look forward to our new adventure.  Unfortunately, we still have one big hurdle ahead - approximately 20 hours of travel with a 9-month-old.  Yeah, let's not think about that now.

Now, we're just enjoying some down time with our family in Dallas before we fly out this coming Tuesday.  Over the past couple of months, we've made our way around the US on our "farewell tour".  I'm so glad we were able to do this before we leave.  Now, we've got a couple days of rest before we make our big trek back to Asia.  We are definitely going to miss our family and friends, but I'm sure we will make many more friends in the years to come.  Life is such an adventure.

Since the weather is finally starting to feel like fall in TX, here are some pictures from our fall.  We spent a few weeks in New Jersey during the peak of autumn and got to enjoy the fall foliage and squeeze in some apple picking.  I'm not sure when I last got to experience a northeast fall - it's my favorite time of the year.

These are the woods behind my backyard

These are from Cora's first apple picking adventure
  

  

  


Oh, and how could I withhold this awesome pic?  I call it "princess bee and her worker bees."

Cora's Big Day

I know this day was a long time ago, but since I've been giving you glimpses through the adoption process, I thought I'd share the last part of how Cora became ours.

At the end of August, soon after Cora turned 6 months (a day after to be exact), we arrived at the local court to legalize our adoption.  Basically, during the 180 days following Cora's placement with us, we had to complete 5 visits with our adoption agency, including one home study.  Although Cora's birthparents relinquished their parental rights 48 hours after Cora's birth, we had to wait 6 months before we were legally named Cora's parents and thus issued a new birth certificate with our names on it.

So, we woke up bright and early and got to the courthouse early.  This was an appointment we didn't want to be late for.  Good thing, because we were the first ones to go!

Cora, excited for this great day!

In a proceeding that lasted a total of 5 minutes,  we were sworn in, asked a few questions, and legally pronounced Cora's parents.  The judge even gave Cora a little teddy bear and let us take a picture with him.

The hearing was so quick that a friend we invited, who got stuck in a little traffic, just managed to catch the end of the hearing.  But, she was gracious enough to take a few pictures for us.  Thanks Auntie Jeanie!

We're legally the Sliks!

My happy girl!

Truly, a wonderfully meaningful and joyful day for our family!  I am just amazed at what God has done in bringing our family together.  7 years ago, when Slik and I got married, I would have never dreamed that we would end up adopting a child.  Now, I can't dream of our life without our precious daughter!

While I've been away...

(from blogging that is) lots has happened and Cora has grown like crazy.  I didn't mean to take a break from blogging, but sometimes life just gets in the way and I didn't really want to spend my 45 minute nap breaks editing/uploading/blogging my pics.  So, sorry for the hiatus, I'm going to attempt to catch up with a photo dump of our life in the past 3 months.

So, while I was away lazy...

   
Cora learned to sit

and stand up in her exersaucer

She deepened her friendship with her favorite doggie, Uncle Beau

She tried her first solids - avocados.  This was her reaction.

Cora learned to read.  (Not really!)

There were lots of naps

We visited friends

  

We visited family

Cora learned to ride a scooter


She went to the beach for the first time

(Immediately after Slik snapped this pic, a huge wave drenched me up to my knees.  It was COLD)

  

We've really just been enjoying time together and with friends and family these past few months.  As Cora has become more interactive and active, I'm understanding how life as a mom can be so busy even if at the end of the day, all you've done is "played" with your child.  I wouldn't trade these moments for anything though - I just love how Cora has been changing before my eyes.

Right now, we're visiting my family in NJ, so hopefully I can carve out some time to catch everyone up on our lives and some big changes coming ahead :)  So, that's it for now!

Before I sign off, here's a bonus picture of my blue-eyed loves

Easy Infinity Scarf Tutorial

My awesome sister has been visiting me this past month and we've been having a lot of fun spending quality time together.  Whenever we hang out, we have so much fun because we are alike in so many ways.  We have the same silly quirks, enjoy grocery shopping and free samples, love watching cheesy dance chick flicks, and are always having random dance parties around the house.

Last week, she put her high school video project editing skills to good use and filmed and edited my very first video tutorial - it's my take on how to make an easy infinity scarf.

We had a fun time making this and I hope you find it useful and easy to follow.  Feel free to use/share/pin it!

Jersey Girl

Time has been flying by and it's been over a month since I last posted.  Cora is growing at an exponential rate and I am just unable to keep up with her on my blog! It's been a busy couple of months for us as we spent 5 weeks in NJ with my family.  Cora made it through her first plane ride beautifully, which was a huge relief for me.  This trip was Cora's first time meeting most of my family and childhood friends, and most people commented that she was so much bigger in real life than she appeared in my pictures.  Yes, their observations were true, but I've also been lagging in my posting by at least a month, and in baby terms, alot can change in a month!

So here's a run through of our month-long stay in the fabulous state of New Jersey!

We arrived just in time for my brother's graduation from medical school.  Can't believe my younger brother is actually a doctor now! Crazy, and I'm crazy proud of him!

  

  

We took Cora into NYC for the first time - to get Halal of course!

  

A few random pictures taken over the course of our stay:

My little bookworm

Of course we squeezed in a family photoshoot!

  

  


I had such a good time introducing Cora to her Jersey roots.  She's gonna be a Jersey girl at heart, just like her momma!