Hold on to your seats for some major CUTENESS!

Our agency asked for an update on Max on March 9th, and we had been waiting patiently for news. My heart exploded with love and happiness when I opened an email this morning with our adorable son's face looking back at me. I absolutely can't wait to hold him, show him how much I love him, and make him happy.











Lily giggled like crazy when I handed her my Blackberry with Max's pictures~she's so excited and really is looking forward to having a little brother. Lily looks at Max's pictures all the time and talks about all of the things she wants to teach him.

There are so many times when, out of the blue, Lily will ask questions about Max coming home (she especially wants to know when and especially why not right now). There have been times when we'll be shopping in the store with Lily riding in one of the car-carts and Lily will say, (*as she's pointing to the seat beside her*)..."Hey Mama! Max can sit right here next to me!" Last night we were laying in bed watching cartoons, and Lily looked at me and said, "I'm not going to like it if you hold Max". Lily is showing us how she is really imagining life with Max here with us. We have many talks about how nothing can change the way we love our Lily~that we have tons of love, hugs, and snuggles for everyone.

We learned today that Max's foster family calls him "Tao" or "Tao Tao". I like that :) He is active, but shy with strangers, and doesn't like being held by strangers. (great news on the attachment front!) Max loves to take a bath and play in water (a match made in heaven for this water-lovin', beach and ocean dreamin' Mama!)

A son and a brother!

On December 5th I was giving my very last presentation in my very last class, but little did I know that of all the families in this world God was paving the way for this little boy to us~our agency called us with news of a very sweet and adorable little boy in Kaifeng City Social Welfare Institute, Henan Province...his name is Guo Wen Tao~and this day just so happened to be his 2nd birthday.

We are all so very excited and feel truly blessed. He's the cutest little bugger, and I can't wait to hold him close and shower him with love and attention.

Meet Max WenTao Smith!! I LOVE those cheeks!! We've already started putting together a package to send to him, and now that we have our pre-approval from China we can send it!

Max had his unilateral cleft lip repaired in Shanghai, and will have his cleft palate repaired here at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Max was also born with an atrioventricular septal defect that has been repaired and his latest ultrasounds show no signal of shunting so there's good reason to believe the surgery was a success. We'll be working close with the pediatric cardiology team at The Sibley Heart Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Max has left ventricular hypertrophy and some mild tricuspid valve regurgitation.

Mark and Angela are thrilled to have a little brother! Lily is definitely ready for a sibling to play with~we've been finding ourselves saying "she needs a little brother or sister to play with" a lot more this past year. Join us as we chronicle, "Our Journey: Max Moves West"

New, updated pictures of Lily!!

We just received these new, updated pictures of Lily today! She's adorable...COME ON TA!

Introducing.....Lily!!!!

We found out this morning from HOPE for Children that we are approved to adopt Lily!!! We've been tossing around middle names, but haven't decided on one as of yet. Lily's Chinese name is Han Xue. Xue is her first name, and it means snow. She is in the Siping City Social Welfare Institute in Jilin Province, China! We are just on cloud 9!!!!! Eric and I have been going nuts waiting for the word...it was well worth the wait. We are so thankful! Lily has a Cleft Lip that we think may not be repaired as of yet...we're requesting more current information and hope to find out soon. Regardless, we have a plan of care ready to go through our pediatrician and the craniofacial team of specialists at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. Her birthday is July 16, 2005--she is currently 15 months old. We should be traveling to China to get Lily in the next 3 or 4 months! Geeeesshhhh...we've got LOTS to do! I've bought maybe 3 onesies and a hat so far!!!