Baptism - March 18, 2007

Katerina was baptized into the Greek Orthodox church on March 18th. It was a lovely ceremony. Even my mother, who was horrified at the thought that Katerina would be naked, thought it was lovely. In addition to the baptism, Katerina received First Holy Communion and Christmation - (anointment with holy oil - comparable to Confirmation in the Catholic religion). All three sacraments are done at the same time in the Greek Orthodox religion.

Oh goody - a bath....where's my rubber ducky?

Little Angel

Look at proud Uncle Bobby's face in the pew behind Katerina!

The Godparents - Nonos and Nona

also known as George & Deb

God Bless Katerina

                                                                  Little Darlin'

Mom and Uncle Lou

It was incredibly special that John & Sue came up from Florida to join us.
They were the last Jet Blue flight that landed in NY on that Friday due to the snow storm. Their Home study is complete and they are working with Great Wall of China agency to adopt Katerina's cousin!

The ladies in the family..and as usual, Mom looks the best

Winter & The Church's Have Arrived

It took a couple of kids from Florida to make us a snowman!

Suiting up

Girls Day Out

Another Member of the Travel Group

I sent Happy Gotcha emails to the 3 other families in the travel group and heard back from all 3 of them. All the girls are doing well. I posted pictures of Jessica McHenry last month when I initially heard from Marcie. I did not receive pictures of Jayce Ayres, but her mother Janet said she would scan some in and send them along. Below are pictures of Katie Saverino sent by her mom, Natalie.

Surprise Picture

I was communicating with a woman on my gongfamilies Yahoo group; a group for people who have adopted from the Pingnan Children's Welfare Institute where Katerina came from. She indicated that her daughter's birthday was the same as Katerina's. I went to the photo section of the website to look at her family photos to see a picture of her daughter. While going through the pictures, I saw Katerina in one of them! The pictures were taken in October 2005 by the staff after the family sent disposable cameras. Katerina was 1 year old.

March 13th - Happy Gotcha Day!

THEN & NOW

A year ago Katerina was placed in Constantin's arms. They boarded a bus, back to the hotel and into our lives. She cried her eyes out as she was taken from everything that was familiar to her. And little by little she came to trust us and embrace her new life.

There are some that dislike the term "gotcha day" saying it trivializes such an important moment, I think it says it all. "I gotcha...and I'll never let you go.

Katerina's First Camera

Katerina has been fascinated with cameras since she first arrived and whenever pictures are taken, she wants to immediately see the "pittures" on the camera's LCD screen. Fisher-Price came out with a Kid Tough digital camera this winter which was sold out everywhere at Christmas time when I tried to purchase it. I finally picked one up yesterday, and Teetah gave it to her as a gift. She slept with the camera and when she woke up at 3am this morning she continued to take pictures. She figured out all the controls herself; how to turn the camera on, take the pictures, look at them, go through the ones taken, delete them, etc. The quality is not great, less than a megapixel, but she's actually taking pictures, and I'd say 1 out of 5 is framed well. She loves it and walks around saying "Say Cheese" or "Smyyyil". Please don't ask why she's sitting in a box with stuffed animals. She saw the box on the way to her room, pointed and said "I need that!"











And here's some of the budding photographer's results:
Mama taking a picture of Katerina taking a picture of Mama. See above 1st picture of Katerina taking a.......etc, etc.






Papous and crib pals

Tea & Cupcake Party

Katerina invited Ya Ya, Papous, Nancy and Carolina to her tea & cupcake party.

Dinner Out With Friends on March 4th

Celebrating the last day of Chinese New Year at a Japanese Steak House!

Crib Mate Update

I emailed the 3 other families who were in our travel group, but I've only heard back from one so far. I am going to try again on 3/13, the anniversary of GOTCHA DAY. The one that responded was Katerina's crib mate when she was in the orphanage; Jessica McHenry. The Ayres girl was in foster care with Katerina and I'm anxious to catch up on how she is doing, as well as the Sevarino girl.



Jessica in China









Some current pictures of Jessica and family