The Adventure Continues!

Yep! It's true. We are going back to China!

 In the last 23 months I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams! Pretty much my wildest dreams x 1,000,000! I never would've dreamed God had MORE for us.

Let's back up. I've always wanted a big family but due to my "advanced maternal age" and fertility issues I didn't think that would ever happen. Then two years ago we dove in to parenting with two beautiful, perfect girls. Rob said "let's get two now because we are NOT going back to China." We joked on the way over there and I predicted HE would be the first to mention returning. It wasn't 24 hours into our trip that I overheard Rob tell a fellow adoptive parent "when we come back...." Ha!  For some reason, from that moment, I knew we would be back. Then came the days and months...ehm...Year+ of being totally overwhelmed. This parenting gig is HARD! Amidst the "hard" We both felt the tug. We reasoned away that we weren't mentally ready or we weren't financially ready, or really "ready" at all. God saw things a little differently.

A Year or so ago I filled out our medical condition checklist ( which sort of puts you in line) and forgot about it. Then... One thing led to another... And without boring you for hours... we got a match and we have a SON!

It would take forever to share it all but, if you ever want the long story... Let's have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and I'll share the amazing journey in person. It's a good one. One that shows God answering prayers from one side of the globe to the other! One that connects us to people across this country.  One that shows God doing what He does best! We are thrilled to add this sweet boy to our family.

Are we too old? Yep!
Are we crazy? Yep!

Either way... This is what God has called us to and we have jumped on board to grow our family the way HE orchestrated. We are thrilled to be in the middle of this adventure and hope you'll enjoying following along... again! :-)

So... Here's our sweet boy! Meet Henry Nash Taylor!

Our sweet guy is 11 months old and we are praying to get him home in January. That will depend on two governments. We are praying all goes smoothly and quickly and are already in the thick of the process. Our Dossier is almost complete. It was a little easier this go round because I've done it.
Home study approval is our hope for this week and getting documents authenticated. Pretty soon it should all kick in to gear! Can't wait!

This time around instead of bombarding all of facebook-land with updates we are going to have a closed facebook group where you can easily see what's going on.  I'll put blog posts on there too.  If you want to be added to the group, send me a message and i'll add you!

Here we go! We are excited for Team Taylor's next adventure!

In Awe,
Jenn

One year!

One year.

One year ago today we frantically got ready to meet our daughters. 

One year ago today... Our lives turned upside down. 

We are so glad!

Do you remember? Following our blog, Facebook? Waiting for news that we had met them! That we were finally a family? 

Gosh, it seems like yesterday. Literally. Like I was trying to fix my hair perfectly and trying to pick the perfect outfit to meet my sweet babies

We were SOOO nervous. 

Meeting them was the most amazing day of my life.  There are no words to describe our fear, excitement, emotions. As I type this Livvy is leaning her head on my shoulder and I am overwhelmed with the memories of this last year.

I used to complain about how nobody updated their blogs after Gotcha. These families you'd followed throughout their journey, dropped off the map. Now I know. Life happens. My last post was December. A very long time ago. So sorry to those of you who have been waiting. It is an amazing ride. Every single day. We are learning and learning and learning.

A lot has happened. There have been too many firsts to count.  

First Wagon ride in our new wagon.

Both girls have a palate now.  Surgery went great but it was the hardest part of the year.  Watching your babies hurt is horrible.

First Disney shirts

First Day at the Beach!

First Spring in Texas

First loss of a loved one.  The girls LOVED their Poppy.  We all miss him so much.  

First Mother's day! (Also a first for me! :-) ) 

First Bikini.

First pair of shades.

First fun day at a water park with cousins!

First 4th of July Parade!

First hats and summer of fun at YaYa's!!

First Pair of boots!

First Farmer's market and weekend getaway as a family!

First selfie with a selfie stick... hahaha

First monogrammed outfit from Mamaw.

First Day as a beautician.  Bahahahahahaha

It has been an amazing year.  The girls have grown SO much and seem to grow faster every single day.  There isn't a day that goes by that Rob and I don't talk about how blessed we are.  We are in Awe of how God put together this family.  We all fit together like a perfect puzzle.  

Rob and I are still learning how to be Mommy and Daddy.  It's a journey we are loving every minute of, the good and the difficult.  We wouldn't change a thing and are looking forward to what each day brings!

Emily just celebrated her 3rd Birthday and had several little friends come help celebrate.  What an awesome time watching those little ones blow bubbles and play together! 

Next week, Emily is beginning a 3 year old PreK program at the elementary school here and Olivia will start going to Daycare.  It makes me so sad that they're growing up so fast and while i'd love to be home with them every day... they need to be around other kiddos and work on their speech development.  I know it'll be good for them!  We are spending this week getting ready and have our backpacks ready.  Just have to pick out a "first day of school" outfit! :-) I just know she'll be graduating high school before we know it!

Here's to another year of even more "Firsts" and many many "seconds".  Thanks for following along this crazy journey!

Girls, we love you SOOOO much and can't wait to see what each day holds!  We are SO lucky to be your Mommy and Daddy! Happy GOTCHA Day sweet angels!

With Grateful Hearts,

Jenn, Rob, Emily & Olivia! 

aka Team Taylor!

Catch up.

The Ok. So it's been a while, huh? It's amazing how quickly time flies. I say that all the time yet somehow... It still amazes me.

Let's back up. 

Christmas. It was great. While the girls are a little young to "get it" we had fun wrapping presents, putting toys together and preparing for santa's arrival. Even if it was at 2am. 😉

It wasn't great for long as the flu ravaged the house. Taking Livvy and I hostage.

Doesn't this sad face just kill you?!? Poor baby wAs just miserable! 

Rob and Emily stayed clear of us and were spared. Thank goodness! 

Since then there have been Dr Appointments, playing, cuddling, adventures and much much more. 

We decided on a surgeon. He's out of Dallas. I'd hoped the dr in Lubbock would be "the one" but he just didn't compare to Dr Fearon. I could've saved myself a lot of trouble and taken advice from the beginning. Surgery for both girls is Feb 11th. I'm grateful for Dr Fearon's expertise. He caught something in Emily's medical history that needed to be checked out. Hopefully all will be well   Prayers appreciated on that. 

These girlies are really getting close! It's amazing to watch them love each other and play with each other. 

They love fish. Wherever there is an aquarium.., they're mesmerized! 

Livvy demanded to hold Daddy's hand while strolling through the mall. Sweet to watch our family grow! 

This was the only hat she would keep on her head, lol. 

Emily LOVES balloons! She couldn't stop laughing and smiling!

We also got a bike trailer.  I've been dying to get back out on my bike and the girls are really enjoying it! The bonus of it is that it is enclosed! I don't have to stop for sippy cups, shoes, or whatever is being thrown out of the stroller!

We are all really enjoying each other.  These girls are just a blast and add SO much joy to our lives!

Being outside is their favorite! Being at the playground... even better!

With our ups come our downs.  Lately with a lot of extra "stuff" going on, the girls are definitely sensing it.  Emily has had a major stubborn streak and Olivia has had a hard time being away from me at all.  When I put her down she screams for as long as I leave her.  We've had to adapt.  Letting her fall asleep on the couch next to me or in our bed... whatever works at this point! There's a lot of science to adoption and attachment... I have to keep reminding myself that it was a very short 5 months ago that her little world was turned upside down.  Their world's before 5 months ago had been hard as well.  Somewhere in the middle is where I lie.  Right or wrong.  I want to honor and care for that hurt little girl that is afraid of losing all that she knows... and I want to push her to trust us more each day.  I want them both to see that when they wake up, we will be here.  When they go to the nursery at church, we will come get them! We ARE their Mommy and Daddy and will be forevermore.  

We did have our first snow but none of it stuck to the ground.  Still waiting on the fun-snowman-building-sledding snow!  

Much to the dismay of my co-workers they did go to work with me a couple days.  They'll settle in and be less curious and more settled as they get to know the place and people.  We have to start somewhere, right? lol

Finally, Yesterday was Olivia's 2nd Birthday! It's going so fast!  It was so fun making a cake for her and celebrating her life and her part in our family.  

We head to Dallas soon.  The girls surgery to repair their cleft palate is February 11th.  We would certainly appreciate your prayers.  I'm a nervous wreck and we're not even there yet.  I just can't imagine watching my babies go through all this! 

I'll work on being better about blogging... if life will be better about not being so crazy! :-) 

With Love and Hope!

Jenn