Allison was re-adopted in the State of California

We re-adopted Allison in the State of California on November 9, 2007 at the Superior Court of Contra Costa County. This concluded the entire adoption process. We can't believe it has been 21 months since we first started our adoption paperwork. This past 21-month has been an amazing journey. We are very happy to have Allison as our loving daughter. We look forward to the wonderful journey ahead of us.

This is a picture we took with the presiding judge, Honorable David Flinn.


This is a picture Allison standing in front of the court room.


Emma, Christine and Steve's precious 20-month girl, was also re-adopted on the same date. They look so cute together.

On November 7th, we celebrated Lao-Lao's ( Grandma Lynne's) 70th birthday. Allison had a great time. She ate a big piece of the cake.

Allison sports a Cal Poly sweatshirt given by Bradford and Sharon. Hopefully, she will study hard to attend Cal Poly in the future.

Allison's First Halloween and Jasmine's 11th Birthday

Allison celebrated her 1st Halloween dressing up as Eeyore.


Allison also celebrated Jasmine's 11th birthday on October 28th. Jasmine is Allison's sweet godsister.

2007 Scrapbook

We put together a 2007 scrapbook for Allison.

Reunion with Kelly and Avery

Bruce, Maggie, Avery, and Kelly visited us in the Bay Area on September 16. Allison, Kelly, and Avery had a great time.

This is a picture of Allison and Kelly playing rocks.

We also met up with Indigo (far left) and Quinn (far right). Aren't they cute together?

From the left, Kelly, Allison, Grace, Avery, Maggie, Quinn, and Indigo.

Allison started walking

Allison started walking on August 24. She had a great time celebrating grandpa's 80th birthday.

Allison enjoyed a warm summer day playing at grandpa's study room.

Allsion enjoyed a refreshing green bean jelly drink. She finished almost of half of it.
Allison was wearing a blue dress from god-parents. This dress had been worn by god-sisters, Tiffany, Jasmine, and Adelyn, which was a good luck for Chinese tradition.


Allsion posed with god-mommy, Alice. Aren't they cute together?

Allison is crawling

Baby Allison grew quite a bit in the past month. She learned how to crawl and can pull up to stand. She also learned how to scream and wrestle during diaper change. She loved playing with doggie bowels and messing up cabinets. She also enjoyed potty time every morning (we are very proud of her using toilet in this young age). She is indeed joy of our life.

Happy 1st Birthday

Baby Allison celebrated her 1st birthday at Monterey Bay Aquarium today. She had a great time watching sea otters, giant jelly fish, and other ocean wildlife. She also had a great time playing with toys her godparents and god-sisters had given her for her birthday.


Having a good time with grandma Lynne and grandpa Gene.

A pretty day out in the sun

Baby Allison has grown into a pretty little girl. She was able to say "Mama" and "Dada" and crawl a little bit. She loves to dance with music and enjoys her time with Grandma Lynne and Grandpa Gene (Grace's parents).

Sisterhood

Baby Allison is settling down nicely at home. She slept through the night and enjoyed playing with toys.

She also enjoyed spending time with her god-sisters ( from left Jasmine, Adelyn, and Tiffany at Grandma's apartment).

Happy to be at home

We got home late Friday night. Baby Allison was very good and slept through most of the flights. She woke up on Saturday with crazy hair and had fun playing with her new toy.

We introduced our dog Jia-Jia to baby Allison on Saturday. She enjoyed Jia-Jia's company very much. It was very nice to be home. We missed Jia-Jia greatly.

Hooray! We are going home

We are very happy that we are finally able to bring baby Allison home after 15 months of waiting and countless paperwork. We had tears in our eyes when the U.S. Consulate congratulated us on the adoption and announced baby Allison had successfully complete her immigration process. She is definitely worth the wait and all the hard work. She is the best gift from God. We look forward to starting our new life with her in the States.

Baby Allison got her immigrant visa to the U.S.

Baby Allison's immigration process went well. We went to the U.S. Consulate, took oath (there were a total of 54 adoptive families took oaths at the same time), and received her immigration visa this afternoon. Baby Allison would become an U.S. citizen upon entry to the U.S.

Our group will part ways and leave for the U.S. tomorrow. We were very happy that we finally got through all the paperwork and were able to get Allison home but sad to say goodbye to all the wonderful families we met during the trip. All of them has demonstrated tremendous love and patience for the kids. Here is our group picture.



We had a farewell dinner this evening. Baby Allison dressed up as a China doll. You can tell she is having a great time.




Here is a good picture of baby Allison and her pal, baby Kelly.


Baby Allison posed with baby Kelly and her sister Avery.




Baby Allison and baby Kelly went crumbling down after the nice shot. They were so funny.

This has been an amazing trip. We saw many families came here to adopt kids with special needs. We were happy to see over 100 hundred kids were adopted in the past week. We hope one day all children will have homes and parents who love them.

Immigration paperwork submitted

Baby's Allison's immigration paperwork was submitted to U.S. Consulate today. If all goes well, baby Allison will take the oath tomorrow and obtain her U.S. immigration visa.

We stayed at the hotel today just in case U.S. Consulate needs further information. We took advantage of the down time and taught baby Allison how to roll over. She could roll forward now .

We also taught her how to self-feed. She is proudly showing off her teething biscuit and a BDO Baby bip (Thanks, aunts and uncles at BDO, for the beatiful bips and other gifts. Baby Allison loves all of them).

A day in Guangzhou

Our group spent the day touring Guangzhou. The five-goat statue behind us is how Guangzhou gets its name as "Yank Sing" (Goat Town)

It was warm in Guangzhou. Baby Allison looked nice and cool in a hat we bought her at the shopping mall where she was found.

After a long day, she was sitting nice and tight for the dinner. She is a super good baby. She loves to eat, sleeps well, and has good temperament. We feel very fortunate to have her as our daughter.

US Immigration Step 1 - Medical Checkup

Baby Allison did her medical check-up today for the U.S. Immigration application. She weighed 7.3 kg (16 pounds), which was 2 pounds less than when she was 6 months old. The weight difference may be caused by the clothes she had on back then, which probably weighed more than 2 pounds.

Here is a picture of kids in our group. They are all angels adopted from China.

Here is a picture of baby Allison showing off her toys.

Mother's Day

Today is Grace's first Mother Day for being a mom. We celebrated the day at a local Starbucks where Grace got a free drink and a carnation.





Parenthood has been an amazing journey. When we first got baby Allison, she barely could sit. She was also afraid of water as she had never been bathed (according to the people from local adoption agency, kids at orphanages and foster care are normally cleaned by sponge). After teaching her how to sit and introducing her to water, we were thrilled to see her sitting and enjoying the bath.


We also taught her how to hold on things. We were very happy to see her holding the teether.

Seeing her growing and making progress each day has been rewarding and joyful . Her every move brightens up our days and opens our eyes to a whole new world. We have to say thank you, baby Allison, for being our daughter and making this Mother's Day extra special.