Mia is home! Meeting her brothers.

Mia was able to finally meet her brothers on Friday, March 22.

 






Brendan holding Mia.

 Kaden holding Mia.

 The boys wanted to take her out to play in the snow.  The boots fit!

The boys like to help feed her and rock her. 

Guangzhou March 15-21

 In Guangzhou Mia had to go to the doctor.  She had to get her picture taken for her visa.


Here Mia is with her friend Natalie.  We were on our way to a Mexican restaurant.

 We went on a Safari at a zoo in Guangzhou.  We saw many different animals and a panda of course.

 We went to a park close to our hotel.  It started raining shortly after we were there, so we only got to see part of it.

 This was our last day in China.  Our flight would leave early the next day.

Hangzhou March 14

Thursday, March 14

Mia is starting to crawl and walk around the room.  She giggles and is a silly girl.

Mia is all dressed up and ready to explore Hangzhou.

This picture was taken in front of our hotel.  It was refreshing to see flowers in bloom.  It was early spring in Hangzhou.

Mia was posing in front of some flowers inside our hotel.

Mia and I am in front of the boats at West Lake.

Daddy and Mia in front of a Buddha at the market. 

Mia walking at the park by West Lake.  We had wanted her to sit on the ledge in front of the flowers, but she was on the move.

I thought I would include one picture of West Lake.  It really was a beautiful place.  A nice escape from the large city.

Mia all dressed up and ready to leave Hangzhou. 

We loved our guide, Echo.  She was so kind and helpful to us while we were in Hangzhou.  We all grew close to her during our stay.  She helped us shop, eat and explore a city where we had a huge language barrier.

Mia got dressed up to take a few photos in her birth city.  She posed by the fountain, the flowers and West Lake.  She smiles and giggles in our hotel room, but is quiet in public.  She is doing great!  We are enjoying the time we are getting to spend with her.  

Gotcha Day! Monday, March 11

Here we are in the hotel lobby on our way to meet Mia.  She was sleeping when we first met her.

We arrived in Hangzhou on Sunday.  It is a beautiful city.  Our hotel is within walking distance of a huge lake.  It is nice to see green grass and flowers.  Monday morning we left for the Civil Affairs Office to meet Mia.  It was so exciting to know we were finally going to meet her.  When she arrived in the building she was sleeping and wearing all pink from head to toe.  They put her in my arms and we just admired how pretty she is.  Then I tried a few bows in her hair.  She slept for 45 minutes or so and just looked around at everyone in the room.  Our first day with her was wonderful.  She was pretty quiet and such a good girl.  She just played on the bed in our room.
On Tuesday, we went back to Civil Affairs Office to pick up the adoption certificate.  Yeah!  Our afternoon was free to get to know each other.  We went on a walk to the grocery store.  The grocery store is connected to a mall full of only SHOE stores.  Mia needed a few pairs of shoes.
She took a few steps in the room after her first bath.
Wednesday, we went to Water Town an old China town about two hours away from Hangzhou.  It rained the whole time.  :(  The buildings were really neat.  We were able to learn more about Chinese culture.
Mia has really been walking around the room.  She has crawled and babbled a little bit.  When we are around other people she is pretty quiet and shy.  People from Hangzhou will come up and talk to her in Chinese.  They tell her how pretty she is and smile.  We have an interpreter with us most of the time.  There are not many English speaking people in this city.

Beijing

We have been in Beijing for the past few days.  The Internet system is very different here.  It seems to have certain blocks against certain sites.  We went to the Great Wall.  The steps are very steep and seem to go on forever.  We have eaten a lot of Chinese food and seen many markets.  We saw Tian'an men Square and toured a few Chinese homes.  Last night we had roast duck and walked around a downtown market.  There were many different kinds of foods to eat.
Today we flew to Hangzhou, the province Mia is from.  It is a beautiful city near a lake and it has a large river near by.  The grass is green and there are flowers planted everywhere.

We get to meet her in the morning!  We are so excited to finally meet her.  We will be in Hangzhou all week.  Friday we will be going to Guangzhou.

Mia Kersten Xuan Boyce

We have decided to add to our family through adoption.  It has been a long process.  I have learned to have patience.  Finally, on October 30, 2012 we learned of this beautiful little girl.  We were so excited to learn she was only 10 months old.  We've had her room ready and waiting for her for months.  It is light pink, of course.
 We received this picture of  her wearing the wings on November 20, 2012.  It is one of our favorites. We are so thankful for the beautiful baby pictures.

This is an updated photo we received, February 4.  We liked her nice haircut.  Her hair was finally laying down.  Hopefully, she will like to wear bows in her hair.

Almost TWO years ago we took this photo to send to Holt.  This began our adoption process.  We have two wonderful boys. They are ready for their sister to join the family. 

These fuzzy boots were her cousins.  We can't wait to see if they fit. 

Our adventure begins tomorrow, March 6.  We leave Omaha at 7:24 a.m.  We are hoping a snowstorm doesn't slow us down.  We fly to Chicago and then to Beijing!  I'm sure it will be a long flight.  Sunday, we fly to Hangzhou.  It is in the Zhejiang province.  She has been living in Hangzhou.  We hope to learn many things about the city she was born in.
 This picture was taken in December at our last PIP class.

Kaden and Brendan one windy day this winter.  Brendan holding her Cabbage Patch Kid.  He thought the doll should wear her boots.

We passed out Pink Chinese take-out boxes full of pink treats to announce our match.  Kaden and Brendan reading their fortune.  Deng LingXuan born on December 21, 2011.  She was 91b.  In the Chinese culture their last name is written first.  Her name is Xuan, pronounced like Shawn.  They say it twice.  Xuan, Xuan