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Okay I know I am getting so bad at not updating, but I don't have much time for the internet anymore. So some of these pictures go back a while. Mia turned 2 years old December 20th, it was the weekend before Christmas and not a good time to have a Birthday party and then it was New Years and well we finally had her a Birthday party in January, I don't think she ever knew it wasn't her Birthday, she still thought she was the princess. We did a Chinese Birthday, since it was so close to Chines New Year we got lots of decorations and it was fun, we even bought Chinese candy, some was good, some was interesting!
 
Bring on the Presents! Yeah it's a potty chair baby!
 
Nana did great, we got money! Happy Birthday pretty Chinese Princess!
 
Mia loves to dress up in sissy's gym leotards and her pink cowgirl boots, well
she also like to get into sissy's other things, we'll let you guess what that might be!
 
We actually had enough snow to make a snowman this time, Mia loved the snow, many mornings after
the snow she would wake up asking for snow!
 
Ok, not sure if you can see what is all over Miss Mia. She thought she would have some fun with a pen, so
this is her spending a few minutes on "The Wall" time out place, and I couldn't resist how cute she
looked sitting there, she wasn't upset at all she knew she was in trouble.
 
This is one of those moments when Mia actually wanted to have her pictue taken, it was like maybe she
even wanted to pose for us. Isn't she the cutest thing you ever have seen!
 
I will close with these last few pictures, Mia is such a blessing to me. I am not sure what our life would be like without her. Many days I just love to sit and watch her sleep, she is so sweet and so inocent. One day we will get to share her story with her and let her know that we are the blessed ones to have her in our lives.
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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I know it has been a while since I have posted, sorry please forgive me! We have had some crazy days at our house since Christmas. First we had the great ice storm, wow, we were out of electricity for 11 days, yep 11 long days. We survived with a generator and a camp cook stove. The ice was amazing, it was very pretty, but also very devastating to our area with all the trees down and all the people without eletricity. Here are a few pics of our house during the ice storm, look at my poor little trees we planted last spring. They have sprung back up now.
 
Well then we had a snow storm, not as bad as the ice though, here are some pictures of Mikayla jumping on the trampoline in the snow, what was her mom thinking? This was another day out of school, we have now missed 7 days due to weather.
 
Then Sissy came to the door to give Mia a kiss!
 
Now here is Mia, if you are not around Mia much you will see this is how Mia is, all the time, everywhere. Into everything, even the toilet paper, she loves to unroll the toilet paper, sit in the shower after you have gotten out and it is all wet, and she loves to dig in the cabinets. She loves to get her sister and brothers nintendo's and she loves to run away when you are trying to take these things away from her!
 
 
But here is the best one of all, Miss Mia as sweet as she can be, we love her and can't imagine how life was without her!
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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Mikayla, Mia, Jaycee(Cousin)
Thanks Tata for the picture, we haven't done so well on taking pictures since we have been home.
The kids are all doing great, Mia is loving Blake and Mikayla, and they are loving her. We have been doing some Christmas shopping and Mia is a trooper, she is getting used to the stroller and the car seat is awesome, it puts her right to sleep, even when we don't want her to sleep.
Mia has such a great personality, she has started to give kisses and hugs, and she babbles all the time, I am sure she is saying MaMa, even to her daddy, and even to food. She really does know who her mom and dad are.
We are going to have a great Christmas with our family complete. We have been truely blessed and hope that all our friends and family enjoy the blessings we have all been given.
Tina |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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We made it home. Happy Late Thanksgiving to everyone. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our complete family. It was a long day but we made it through the time change and jet lag. We are on the up side of it, if we could just get out the door with everything and on time we will be doing great.
Mia is doing great, she has been just fascinated by all the new things in her life. New family, new house, new bed, new toys, new food. The new food is her favorite. She loves to eat, and boy did she love Thanksgiving. Mia had a great time at church on Sunday, everyone loved her, especially the boys, dad better watch out.
Sorry we don't have any pics to post, who knows where the cords are for the camera, if we even made it home with them. We will work on that soon.
Thanks for all the posts and encouragement while we were gone, and thanks for just looking also, that reminds us that we are loved.
Love Tina |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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Okay there is a quick review of the past few days with Mia. I am typing this as Tina is putting the baby to bed, packing and wondering where we are going to put everything or if we are going to even be able to check the bags because they are overweight.. We'll see tomorrow.
Although this blog is not finished we are going to spend the next few days enjoying our time with Blake and Mikayla and letting all the family get to know the new little "China Doll." So don't be surprised if we aren't posting for a few days and feel blessed if we do.
Once again, I thank my Lord and Saviour for the blessing of new child and an abundant life. God continues to provide beyond my belief. Tina and I have always said that if we make to China to get Mia it will be a miracle.
Thanks to all those who have posted such encouraging comments. So many to name. We are getting them and we hope to email/call each and everyone and thank you personally for the encouraging words. However we would be amiss by not mentioning some very thoughtful people here. First I want to thank Dana, my sister, for getting the Bon Voyage party together at the last minute.. That was a great blessing in many ways to be with friends and family as we started the biggest part of the journey. I also want to thank Robert, my father-in-law for managing the kids. And ALL those who helped keep them occupied and CONNECTED with us through the internet. Robert, Mom, Carol, Dana, Tamera for working through technical difficulties, Dad for taking Blake hunting and giving him the opportunity and success of shooting his 1st deer. All the friends from gymnastics, etc. I know with thank you's you will usually leave someone out but I do want EVERYONE who has helped, financially also, to know that it is much appreciated..
PRAYERS, PRAYERS, PRAYERS.. We know without a doubt many of you have prayed for specific things for our family. And now as we look back we see that, prayers works.
I could ramble for hours about the joy that we have for each one of you who have followed our journey BUT we gotta airplane to catch.. See Ya stateside.
Thanks
Shane & Tina |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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Today was a great day, really relaxing and a great day for shopping. A friend and I spent some time at the jewelry market today. It was amazing. Mia hung out with dad, they watched a movie and took a nap.
There is a very nice walking area, park close to where we are staying, we see lots of children playing and adults exercising here. They also have some beutiful statues, this one is a woman playing music and the children following her. For some reason Mia was not impressed with metal children, she wanted real ones. She loves people, everytime we get on the elevator and someone else gets on she starts to wave. She really likes older people also, and she has such a great personality they all love her too.
Okay, before I get in trouble let me explain. We had dinner at the White Swan last night with some friends, it was wonderful, maybe the best meal we have had all week. We actually had grilled steak, Shane was loving it.
They had corn on the cob, in little chunks, Mia's friend Katie had a chunk on her table and Mia kept hollaring for it, so we were kind of caught up in the moment of enjoying dinner I gave it to her, I thought she would just suck on it, well I should have known, my daughter and food, she's going to eat, yep she got some off. We didn't let her eat too much, I got in trouble for giving it to her, Shane reminded me our other kids couldn't have corn till they were older. Okay relapse, its been a while since we had a baby.
We finished the day off with a photo shoot on the bed. Isn't she adorable. This is how we get to finish the day off everyday, see her so happy. It is so amazing, we are the luckiest parents in the whole world to have Mia. We can't imagine life without her already. God has blessed our family with 3 amazing children and in just a few days we will all be together again forever.
We miss everyone and hope you are all doing great, we may only have one more post before we leave, we will try. Pray for our safety traveing home and all the friends we have made on the trip. Pray for the wonderful little girls we are bringing home to a new life with us.
Love Ya Tina |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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All the babies that are adopted are required to go through an examination.. It is a very basic examination. However, it is very busy at the Dr. office. I would say that there were approximately 50+ babies and families in this Dr. office. The office is very clean and very noisy.
This is Saturday November 18th at approximately 1030 a.m. when this was taken. There are 3 parts to the exam. You must go to ENT (ear, nose, throat), Weights-Measurements-Temperature, and Exam. The picture on the left is the exam. The picture on the right is ENT.
 
And this picture is weights,etc.
We also went around the area and visited some of the local shops. Because of the weight of the luggage on the airplane I am going to have to pay alot, or leave all but what I'm wearing in Guangzhou.
We also visited a place next door called Lucy's. Lucy's is going to probably get a few of my Yuan (money) because they have fried pork chops, french fries, corn on the cob, and a chocolate sundae, for not a lot of money. Tina and I ate for less than $15. Good Stuff..
Look what else we found at Lucy's -
Yes it does say Oklahoma. We thought that was pretty interesting.
Everything is going well. We are going to go out and take some more pictures tonight. We are having a good time but STILL can't wait to get home and see the family and let everyone meet the China Doll Mia.
Shane
We also stayed in the hotel room a little bit this evening. Here are some pics of the hotel room photo session. We took approximately 200 photos today (not an exaggeration) so if it seems like Mia skins is getting lighter - it probably is. |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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Mia and daddy playing with bubbles! Mia and mommy playing at KFC!
 
Shopping on Walking Street with friends. Did you have to stop rolling the stroller?
 
This is how I like the stroller, moving, This ones for you Carol, a huge Buddha.
 
Biggest temple in this city. Typical street corner, I guess lunch!
There is only 2 things missing from this picture, it is Blake and Mikayla. We are really missing them so much.
We are going to Fuzhou, which is the town Mia was born and found, we are hoping to find the place where she was found, and tour the city she is from, so we can share with her as she gets older. Just a few mores days and we will fly to our last destination to visit the American Consulate and then home forever. Can't wait. We love everyone, thanks for the comments. |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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Yes, we really are suffering her in Nanchang. It really is a small world after all.. McDonalds is a great find after you're tired of the after noon lunch staring back at you (picture tomorrow). A Big Mac, fries, Soda, and GREEN BEAN PIE really hit the spot.. YES A GREEN BEAN PIE!!!! YUM YUM.
Here was another great find. Wal-Mart! Yes, they do have a greeter, express check out, and they also have Pepsi. However, a diet soft drink is very difficult to find around here. We bought some clothes, etc. Prices a little less than the states, depends on what you are buying. I purchased a 2 cd, DVD combo for Yuan 38. Which was a really great buy considering the CD was of a very popular band.... Yuan 50 = $6.25. While we were in Wal-Mart we heard some country music, and some Christmas songs...
KFC WAS EVERYWHERE.. Close to the Wal-Mart there were 4 KFC's 1 inside the WAL-MART strip mall, 1 outside, 1 across the street, 1 on the street behind wal-mart.. Hope you like the dark meat..
Okay so all is well with the baby.. She enjoyed our outings today and was a really great traveller.
Of course we are missing home. We cant wait to get back and see Blake and Mikayla.. Kids we MISS YOU VERY MUCH, and will see you in a few days. Blake and Mikayla really are the best kids in the world! |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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Mia is like her big brother, she doesn't like water on her face or on her. The bath didn't go so well, she was very upset with mommy, but dad made it all better.
 
My arms are so tired, it's not like carrying a sack of potatoes, it's like carrying 2- 10lb sacks of potatoes around. It is worth it though, a little tylenol will help. This is to my family, in our referral it said she sucked towels. Can you guess what she sucks, not towels. She is my daughter so I think you will guess quickly what it is. My mom would tell me it is my pay back.
She is officially ours according to the Chinese Government, they say if you abadon them now you would go to jail for it, who in the world would go through 2 years of paperwork, fly a miserable flight all the way to China, see such an adorale face and then leave this baby, no way, not me ever, she is mine whether she likes it or not!
Of course this it the time thing again, It is 3 or 4 in the morning here and I cant sleep. Will post again soon, we are going to the grocery store and market today, that should be interesting.
Tina |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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We are currently in Nanchung at a place called the Gloria Hotel.. The marriot in beijing was a much nicer place but this will have to do for a few more days. We just finished walking the pedestrian mall which is about 10 minutes from the hotel .. PEOLPE PEOPLE... STORES, STORES STORES.. there stores seemed to be very clean. We ate at McDonalds, but we did have the option of KFC also. Thank God for pictures on Menu's
The adoption proces as far as the Chinese Govt is concerned is now official. We have all the necessary papers except the passport. We will have to wait here until we get that on Friday.
All is well, the baby is now sleeping and we may attempt, after a short rest, to go out and take the families and head back to the "mall."
Rest is kind of difficult.. Currently we go to bed about 8-9 p.m. and wake up about 4.. we try to go to bed later but we just cant,... it's almost like a power nap.. so far it is working out okay... I would like to make it to bed about 10 or so but I haven't made it yet...
I walked to McDonalds with another adoptive Father in our group.. he's about 6' 6" so together we are quite the spectacle.. It was almost like we were a freak show walking down the street. While we were at McDonalds eating, we were sitting by the window and people actually came up to the window right next to us and start what seemed to explaining to there kids who we were.. They were actually pointing.... It was an uncomfortable moment but it gave us pretty good perspective that we aren't in America anymore. |
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| Posted by Shane Tina Keeter at | | | |
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This picture is obviously from the Christmas set. Mia did a great job.
And this one is from the birthday set. Not sure if you can tell but she is actually on her way down. She is doing great when it comes to standing and actually was trying to take a couple of steps in the studio. Of course, I was wanting to run also after being in there for so long. I still think that she will be doing a few steps by Christmas.
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I still got a bargain but I'm not the negotiator I thought I was. I bought Tina a GUCCI purse for $5 US 
