We heard from EAC today

China sent our PA on 5/27/10

:)

An Update

Our Precious Girl

So beautiful

She is 30.3 inches tall
Weights 19.8 pounds
Feet 4.7 inches
Chest is 18.1 inches
Head 17.5 inches
and

has

9 teeth

Not bad for 14 months old and strangely almost identical to Sophia's stats from when she was that age. Amelia is a tad taller then Sophia. We all think she is going to be a tall girl.

Thanks Uncle Zhou

The meaning behind her name

Every child who comes from China and I suspect other countries as well come with a name that was theirs before they were ours. Our new daughter is no exception.. I wanted to take a moment and explain her name that she is coming to us with and the name that we have chosen for her....

Her Chinese Name

In China she was given the name Zhan Ci Mei, a beautiful name don't you think? The Chinese write their names differently then we do her in the states. Zhan is actually the last name and this is the last name of all of the children that spent time at the Zhanjiang city Social Welfare Institute (SWI). In Chinese the Pin Yin word can mean many different things based on the pronunciation of the word. When translating her name you really have to look at the Chinese Character of her name to get the real meaning. In Our daughters case Ci is her first name and it means admirable or kind... Mei means plum blossom. Mei can also mean little sister but that is not the Chinese Character that was on her paperwork, Plum Blossom is. We have been calling our daughter Mei Mei for some time when we talk to Sophia about her because she will in fact be Sophia's Mei Mei (Little Sister), and Sophia will be her Jie Jie (GeGe) or Big Sister. I think the meanings behind our daughters Chinese name is beautiful just like she is....

Her English Name

We have chosen an English name for her and it will be Amelia Grace. We have also decided to include part of her Chinese name with her English name in the same way we did for Sophia. There are many different feelings about including the chinese name in their english name. There is no right or wrong just personal choice and this is what we have chosen for both of our girls. We want them to have a piece of their Chinese name...Sophia is Sophia Joy Jinte Rizzo and Amelia will be Amelia Grace Cimei Rizzo both beautiful names for two beautiful girls..

When we picked the name Sophia it was a name that was not popular back in 2005, but a name we both loved. While we waited for Sophia visited my father on that trip we told him we would be adopting a little girl from China. Shortly after telling him about the adoption we began to talk about names for the baby when right out of the blue he suggested the name Sophia, without knowing we were seriously considering it. My father passed away shortly after that trip but a piece of him will always be with us in Sophia because of her name. In Amelia's Case we wanted to keep with a classic and find something that would go with Sophia and our last name Rizzo. So after many names and consideration we decided on Amelia (Riz's great grandmothers name) for her first name. Her middle name will be Grace (Riz's Grandmothers name was Grace on his fathers side).

So , Amelia Grace Cimei Rizzo is our new daughter's name....

Amelia Grace's current home...

True Children's Home
True Children's Home (TCH) is an incredible American-run organization that provides care for medical special-needs orphans in China. The mission of True Children’s Home is to: save a child’s life, fund corrective surgery, provide post-surgical care, place children with foster families, and facilitate the adoption of TCH children. It is their goal that when a child leaves an orphanage and comes to TCH, they never return to the orphanage again. The most needy orphans are brought to one of their homes (Dongguan and Anji) where they are nurtured and given life-changing medical procedures. Children's needs include: cleft lip/palate, heart defects, low birth weight, club feet, hydrocephalus, anal atresia, etc. One hundred percent of donated funds are used to help the children as all administrative expenses are underwritten by founders Alan and Twila True.

True Children's Home is where Amelia Grace is and has been since before her surgery. We feel very blessed......

Please take the time to look at their website. I trust it will move you in the same way it has us....

Some days

are better then you ever dreamed possible....


We had plans today to take Sophia to Little gym and then go to the beach and then home to grill out.Well we left Gym early never made it to the beach and have not eaten dinner yet..

and still today was better then I could have dreamed of..While at Gym Riz's phone rang he said who's area code is 440? I said that is EACI answer it and it was our Case Manager,Chris. She said Riz I think I have a match for you all. He lost all composer and could not gather himself to grasp what was happening. We scooped up Sophia and went outside to take the call. I took the phone and Chris told me all about the file she was looking at. Here are the details


baby Girl

Birthday 3/8/2009 (My fathers Birthday)

she is 14 months old same as Sophia when we got her referral..

She is from Guangdong and was brought to the Zhanjiang SWI on March 9th.

She stayed there until September 14th when she was placed in the Kensasai Children's Foster Home(also know by True Children's Home) (a home for SN kids run by Chinese in conjunction with Westerners I am still digging for info on it) She has been there ever since.


Her Special need is unilateral cleft lip (repaired) and Cleft Pallet We had them send her file to us and our doctor. We reviewed everything and all looks good.. We sent her file on to our friend Jean Wright who is a pediatrician in Charlotte NC. Dr. Jean said she has and is meeting all the important markers. I have been networking all day with local families who have kids with this same issue. She had her lip repaired in Nov. and did very well. It appears from her paperwork and from what Dr. Jean was able to find out that the repair was done at a Operation Smile Hospital.


OK OK I know you want to see pictures






Oh her Name is Zhan Ci Mei-

Zhan-she was in the Zhanjiang City SWI,
Ci -means admirable or kind,
Mei -means Plumb blossom...


and yes we are in love and knew immediately that she was our daughter....so happy so excited can't wait to go and get her....

Love you guys and wanted to share our fantastic Sat.with you all...Love Susan, Riz and Sophia

Photo Shoot of the Grandkids

April 22nd is my in-laws wedding anniversary. We are always stumped about what to get them as a gift. This year I thought of the best idea and I knew they would love it. I called my sister in-law Tabby to ask if they would be interested in having professional pictures done of the grandkids. She and my Brother in law said yes and loved the idea. So a few weeks before either anniversary we took the kids to Portrait Innovations (would HIGHLY recommend them to any parent) and had a profession photo shoot done. This was the first photo shoot for both Sophia and for Christopher and I think they did great…This is just a sample of what they took…

 

 

 

Mother’s Day

I have writers block LOL!!!

 

but had a nice Mother’s Day here are some pictures, enjoy..

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April

April was such a great month for us. We started out celabrating Sophia's and Riz birthday with a mini Vacation. We were sort of lie a traveling band of gypsies.. We had no real plans up until the very last min. when 2 opportunities presented themselves to us at the same time. The first was the opportunity to enjoy a few days of R&R at a great resort in Orlando. So we jumped at this and spent 3 days lounging around the pool sipping fruty adult beverages. It was pure heven if you ask me. Nothing to do or worry about other then enjoying each other. From there we went to spend a few days in our favorite city, Savannah, Ga. There is simply nothing like Savannah in the spring time. From there we headed back down to Florida. Riz decided he was not ready to come home yet and Pricelined a room for us for Easter night. We spent that night on the beach in North Florida again relaxing by the pool. I know I speak for Riz when I say there is just nothing we enjoy more then spending time together, the three of us as a family enjoying some rest and relaxation. We had a great Easter too, Sophia loved searching for her Easter basket in one of Savannah's beautiful squares. The Easter bunny was very good to her this year. On our way home we got some wonderful news about our second adoption. Our paperwork had been sent to China on the 5th So that meant that we were now waiting for our LID or LOG IN DATE. That is when our offical time of waiting begins. It was not long that we had to wait for the LID because on April 19th (our best friends wedding anniversary) we got word the we had our LID it is April 19th

The first time ever I saw your face

I was breathless as your face appeared on the computer screen.The very fist picture of my daughter left me crying happy tears. I looked into those big dark brown eyes and wondered what you had seen in your short little life. Your eyes were so soulful and expressive. You were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. It struck me at that moment that somehow my heart always knew who you were. You were my daughter.....

My thoughts were racing and my heart was pounding as I opened your next picture. I could see more of you in this picture. Meiling had you all bundled up in a pale yellow and red sweat suite. The picture had been taken when you were 8 months old, in November of 2007, I am sure the weather was cold. I could not stop looking at your legs and your arms I wanted to reach through that picture and hug you and never let go.

Daddy convinced me to look at the last picture of you that Kim sent us that day. I am so glad he did because when we opened that last photo we saw your smile for the first time. Your personality jumped right off the page and into our hearts. When could tell from that photo that someone was loving you and taking very good care of you.

All our prayers were answered that day ......We love you Sophia more then words can ever express...

Love Mommy






******April Update to come soon******