She's Officially A George!

Well, it's final. Maya is now Maya Sunisa George according to the United States government. The court hearing in San Antonio was no big deal, however I know that can vary from state to state. Ours was painless and almost anticlimatic. I think the whole process lasted less than 10 minutes. Still, it is so nice to have her seen by all as our daughter now.


Our family with the judge that finalized it all!

Our little Marilyn Monroe



Proud Momma

Four Months Here!

Well, Maya has been here four months now and it seems as if she's always been in our family. She continues to thrive in language and in her relational development. Now, don't get me wrong. She has her sibling rivalry with Kora and Jackson that may result in biting or hair pulling, but nothing that's not typical. We celebrate what's typical in this house.
Maya's 19 months and is starting to have some attitude. She tells us "no" on a regular basis and has started stomping her foot at us when she says it. It makes Jason and I laugh, but we try to discourage the behavior(but it's pretty cute).
Our pediatrician said Maya has the language of a 2 year old. I'm tellin' you, she is one smart little cookie. And so much fun to watch grow.
Since my last post, Maya has experienced her first snow and trip to KC. There she met some of her cousins and extended family including three great grandma's and great aunts and uncles. Everyone seems to love her. She does have those chubby cheeks that just make you want to pick her up and squeeze her and kiss her all over. We will be attending my cousin's wedding in a few weeks, where the rest of the Sutherland family will finally get to meet Little Miss.
Here are some pics to update ya'll with. Thanks for checking in with us. I know...I need to post a little more often than every three months. I'll try my best.


Fun at the zoo

Ya'll are crazy



Maya in a dress from Thailand



The girls in their Thai dresses

Love those pigtails!

Kora in her Easter dress

Happy New Year!

Wow. I saw our last post was on Dec. 11th. I'm so sorry. You know how it is this time of year. Christmas, company, and now three kids...I guess I've been a little busy. Well, as I catch my breath and begin a new year, I wanted to share some pictures with everyone. Maya is doing fabulous. Jason and I think she has adjusted the best out of all of us. The older two kids, Jason and I are still trying to get ourselves transitioned into a family of five. The honeymoon is over for Kora and Jackson. They do not want Maya touching their toys. And they've gotten really good at telling Maya "no, no." But they definitely still love her; looking so forward to seeing her each morning. It's sweet.

We are amazed by how well Maya is communicating and picking up English. She says close to 20 words to date, signs about 6 words, makes animal noises(imitates), and points and nods her head in appropriate situations. And she understands everything we say! I can't believe she wasn't exposed to English until she met us. Amazing isn't it?!

Here are some highlights from the past few weeks. Enjoy!




Maya in her Christmas dress

This was our Christmas card pic

Miss Personality

Looking all warm and snuggly

Pigtails!

Maya loves her brother!

And sister!

Daddy and his kiddos

Christmas morning

Maya loving her babydoll from Coco and Papa Jack

Our little stinker!

Kora has always wanted a sister to match

Our first family photo...okay so it's not perfect...Jackson!, but at least we're all facing the camera :)

Together in Texas

Maya liked the plane

Our good friend Kathy picked us up at the airport. Notice Maya is sleeping. She was real excited about being in Houston:)

Well, after 17 hours on planes and 7 hours in airports and a short overnight stay in LA, we made it home to Texas on Friday. Boy, is it good to be home! Jason and I could hardly contain ourselves when we saw Kora and Jackson. Man, did we miss them.
It was such a precious moment for us to finally have all three of our kids together.

Maya has become very comfortable in the house and with everyone around here. She loves following her brother and sister around and getting into everything that she shouldn't. She's quite the curious one. She may think her name is "no, Maya" instead of just Maya. :) We've had fun showing her new things and the kids think she is so funny. She does have quite a cute personality. We look so forward to all of you meeting her.
Speaking of all of you...I can not explain in words how blessed and extremely fortunate Jason and I feel for all the support and love ya'll have given us. Your prayers and calls and just interest in this journey have meant so much to us. Thank you. This experience would not have been as amazing as it was without all of you and your involvement. Praise God for the friends He has given us and the love He has shown us through this adoption.


The first time Kora saw Maya



Finally all my kids together

Jackson loves feeding Maya

Sisters

Maya actually fell asleep during dinner the second night home

That face:)

I hope to keep posting updates on this blog of little Miss Maya and all her new experiences. So please check in every once and awhile.
**By the way, Maya is loving her Daddy now. Thanks for asking.

We're Coming Home!

Sorry I didn't get around to posting yesterday...I wasn't feeling my best. But I woke up refreshed after another great night sleep for Maya. Yay Maya! We headed to the US Embassy with the other two American families and all of us were able to get our children's visas right then and there. So, that means we can come home now!
We hurried back to the hotel and changed our flight to leave tonight. We will get into LA Thursday night around 7pm and have to stay the night in LA. We will then take a Southwest flight to Houston on Friday morning and should be home in time to pick Kora up from kindergarten.(a big surprise for her!) We are so excited to bring this little Thai bundle of energy home for everyone to meet. She has been great today...really opening up to Jason. He's thrilled of course. So, the next time I get on here we should all be in our own beds and enjoying American foods.
Thank you everyone for all your prayers. We are so blessed to call you family and friend.

Government Meeting Day

The morning started great today. Maya slept 11 hours straight in her crib last night and woke up a very happy camper. Let's hope that's going to be her regular sleeping habit. A mother can hope...
All four families and our social worker, Pat, headed to the Thai government building where they host these interviews with all international adopting families. Jason and I were nervous, more I think because we didn't know what to expect. We were the first to go and it went very smoothly. We had an answer to every question and they seemed awfully grateful for us adopting Maya into our, what they called, "complete" family. They were very sweet. Maya was perfect, waving on que as we said goodbye and thank you. It was very cute. We had to wait for all the other families to interview and then for some paperwork to be completed. It was a long wait. All the babies were getting fussy. By the time we were able to head back to the hotel, three of the four children were sound asleep. It was a quiet ride back to the Amari.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, napping, shopping and just continuing to get to know our daughter. It's so exciting to discover her. Her little features, her babbling, her attitude! :), her sweet personality. We are loving her and loving getting to know her.
Tomorrow will be a free day for us. It is the King's 80th birthday here in Thailand and a national holiday. All will be shut down in the city for the big celebration. We will go to the US Embassy Thursday morning and apply for Maya's visa. Hopefully we will be done with our adoption process here in Thailand on Thursday. But that remains to be seen.

Here are a few pictures from the day. Enjoy...And we'll "see" everyone tomorrow.


All dolled up for the board meeting

We're a family now in the eyes of the Thai government(besides a little more paperwork)

Our future movie star

Waiting...

Exploring the fountain

That smile!

Maya is Ours!

Well, its official. As of today, Maya is ours! She was brought to the hotel right around 11:30am and was "placed" with her new family - US! There are certainly still some tears showing up every now and then but for the most part she is doing very well. She has especially taken to Jennifer. It is very endearing to see her reach for Jennifer and snuggle with her. She hasn't been very independent yet as she mostly enjoys the arms of her momma. As for me (Jason), not so much. She and I haven't exactly bonded. I certainly am smitten for her but it appears she has chosen to be a momma's girl for the time being.

After the placement, we went directly to our hotel room for some alone time. At one point she began to cry and Jennifer looked in her mouth and said, "her gums look really swollen." So I stuck my fingers in to feel her gums and sure enough she is teething. Not one, not two, not three, but four molars are coming in. Poor sweetie! She is obviously in some pain. So I immediately picked up some baby oragel and children's tylenol (the Thai versions). After rubbing the oragel on her gums, you could tell she was a new gal. We gave her some tylenol as well for the pain and within minutes she was out for her nap. She slept for 1 hour and 40 minutes which was great because she really needed the rest.

We then headed to the pool area for a late lunch / early dinner. Some of the other adopting families were there and Maya really enjoyed watching the other kids play in the pool. She let her feet get wet but that was about it. Shortly after that, we headed back to the room to give Maya her long awaited bath (I will explain later when we get home). She didn't like the bathtub at all but it was really good to get her cleaned up, brush her hair, and into her new jammies.

That's about it for now. We are so incredibly excited that she is ours now. We feel so blessed to be involved in such a wonderful experience. Below are a few more pics from today. Enjoy!


Tears of joy, right?


The only thing that comforts Maya right now...Mommy's arms!


Proud Papa


Maya's first feeding with us