(For the record, we had socks on her hands until just before we took the pictures, and they were warmer than her cheeks when we brought her back inside.)
Firsts from this trip:
first family "road trip"
first time in Iowa and in Minnesota
first time being changed in a McDonald's bathroom
first time being changed in a McDonald's bathroom
first time at Grandma and Grandpa's house
first Thanksgiving
first time meeting J's family
first time meeting J's family
first time having cold snowflakes fall on her bare cheeks (not so much fun the first time)
Tomorrow is a big day: no more nablopomo, a 6 hour drive back to Missouri and my birthday!
So, in our letter we overcame our lack of a "picture perfect" curb shot by describing our home and neighborhood: excellent schools, mature trees, quiet street (not a thoroughfare), large park nearby, mural in the nursery, hard wood floors in the house, large screened porch and deck...
, we chose domestic adoption.
J also put up two more stuffed animal nets, after connecting them into a square with zip ties. He put them up as a kind of acrobat's safety net over our basement stairs. In Evie's 
Funny-looking but effective. The nets are advertised to hold up to 30 pounds. No, we have not tested the net by putting Evie into it, and if J does so when I'm asleep I don't want to know about it. This post gets my first "baby proofing" label, but it's more like parent proofing. Our phone is relieved, too.
With each passing week and each passing day, Evie gets more and more excited about play time. I'll try to upload some video of this eventually, but she is so wiggly these days, waving her hands to bat the toys and kicking her legs. She also, unfortunately, likes to wiggle and kick in the bath now. The past two baths have ended up with my clothes and the kitchen floor wet. Perhaps we need to move to the tub? Here is Evie kicking and wiggling in her play gym:
; our SW calls this "the scary book." Why? Because these are 20 things adopted kids wish their parents knew, meaning they have had a good reason not to just mention these things in casual conversation. This book was written by an adopted child who did not have a very open, communicative relationship with her birth and adoptive families, with regard to her adoption. She goes into the emotional and psychological wounds that some adopted kids and adults suffer. Don't read this book first because it will make you feel discouraged about the adoption process. The correct way to read this book is as an eye-opening reality check of what can happen if you don't approach your child's adoption in a healthy way. Other books provide strategies for communicating with your child about their adoption so that these twenty things are minor issues for the child and not major traumas. This book is equally applicable to domestic and international adoptions.
; this book is like an instruction manual for dealing with the issues that arise among the adoption triad, from birth to the teen years (as described in Twenty Things...). J and I appreciated that this book painted a picture of what raising a child in an open adoption might look like. It eases the fear that Twenty Things... created in our minds. This book reminded me of some of my child psychology training in college because it presents adoption in terms of developmental milestones for the child. This book is equally applicable to domestic and international adoptions.
; even though we didn't end up adopting transracially, we were open to transracial adoption and Lucy's adoption was going to be a transracial adoption. Before you consider adopting a child from outside your own race, whether domestic or international, you must read a book like this one. Talk about a reality check, this book lays out clearly what you are taking on by choosing to adopt a child from a different race. It does not discourage you from doing so, but it makes sure that you go into the experience with the knowledge and tools you need to do it successfully. The most significant idea I took away from this book is that for a child like Evie, her status as an adopted child "belongs" to her. The three of us can decide who gets to know what about her adoption; we don't have to discuss it with grocery store clerks. In a transracial adoption, the child's adoptive status doesn't just belong to the child and the family, it is out in the open for everyone to comment on. That brings up extra challenges for the family. This book gives suggestions for diffusing those issues and also helps adoptive families understand why some people will disagree with their decision to adopt transracially, and how to talk to those people.
; this book is the best book out there for International Adoption and if you are considering adopting internationally you must read this book or a similar book so that you know what the entire process will entail. The best thing about this book is that it is easy to compare and contrast the adoption processes for many different countries; the author doesn't write generally about the process and lump South American adoptions in with Asian and Eastern European adoptions. The only weakness of a book like this is that some of the specific requirements to adopt from a particular country can change rapidly. This book also gets into some of the specific "adoption issues" related to adopting transnationally and how to deal with those issues as they arise in your family. 
. We love this blanket; it is the only swaddling blanket we've heard of or found that actually keeps a baby's arms swaddled, since it's their arms that tend to wake newborns up when they startle in their sleep. The first time we used it, Evie fussed and seemed to hate it, but now she relaxes as soon as we start to swaddle her and seems to love it. This in combination with a super-absorbent diaper and a full tummy equals up to seven straight hours of sleep. 
We knew that G would be there, and he had said he would be bringing members of his family (we knew his mom would be there), but we weren't sure about R. When we got to the church, I took Evie back to the nursery to change her out of her romper outfit (her christening gown wouldn't work with the car seat!) and into her gown. As J's mom and I walked back down the hallway toward the sanctuary, we saw G and R and G's family coming in the door at the other end. We were all smiles and after saying hello I immediately offered Evie to R and she beamed with joy as she took Evie in her arms and snuggled with her. Evie was drifting in and out of consciousness the whole morning, and I don't remember whether or not she was awake at that point, but she was a little angel in both behavior and appearance. As R held Evie, I introduced our parents and friends to R and G and his family and we talked about Evie and all of her skills and developments. The time flew by and we had to get into the sanctuary for the start of the service. J and I sat front and center because of our role, and I held Evie through the hour. R and G and G's family sat nearby but behind my field of vision, so I didn't see them a lot during the service. My family tells me that they seemed to enjoy the service. Evie slept through most of it, including the parts where J and I promised to raise her as a Christ-follower. She woke up, however, as I passed her to our pastor and she kept her eyes open as he scooped up water with a seashell and carefully poured it over her head three times. She just gazed at him and the congregation serenely and then went back to sleep as soon as she was returned to my arms. It was adorable. We have video, so I'll try to figure out how to upload that eventually. It was going to write something about why we had Evie baptized as an infant, but Payton was baptized on the same day and Diana put it so well that I'm just going to link to her and say: "
After the service, we asked them to stick around for cupcakes and conversation. We enjoyed chatting, mostly about Evie of course, and sent G home with almost a dozen cupcakes. It was adorable to see R and G cuddling Evie and discussing how she has G's cheeks and R's nose and might have R's blue eyes. We also took some wonderful pictures of R and G with Evie and J and I and Evie with R and G, as well as the whole family, including adoptive and birth grandparents. I'm not comfortable sharing them online, but they will be treasures for Evie's scrapbooks. Here's a picture of us with Evie's grandparents. It is difficult to get them all together at once, so photos like this are going to be almost as rare as photos with R and G!
Here are the cupcakes with chocolate icing:
This is my mom. I don't remember why this picture was taken, but she was the icing queen, mixing confectioner's sugar and butter like nobody's business. The cupcakes were delicious and, of course, we have lots of leftovers. If anybody local wants one, just stop by.
I don't have a pic of J's mom in the kitchen, but here she is with Evie the day before. She was the cupcake grand pooba and master of ceremonies, bringing the vanilla cupcakes with her (pre-made and frozen), along with the recipes and supplies we needed to make the super special M@gnolia Bakery recipe. 
She ran the show, my mom was second in command and I stood there feeling helpless and getting in the way, mostly. I am sadly inept in the kitchen and I'm very grateful to J's mom that she passed on her domestic diva skills to him, so that we eat more than lasagna and 7 layer dip for dinner. But I digress...
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