Easter with Kate

Writing Easter cards.


Dressing as the Easter Bunny.

Coloring Easter Eggs with Mommy.

At Cheekwood with Mommy, Lydia Byrne and Therese Byrne.


With Mommy.

BFF's Lydia and Kate.

Daddy with the girls.

At the Zoo with Nanna.

Picnic cupcakes.

General Update

It's been awhile since we've updated. Eddie posted some of our Disney Trip photos. That was a big event in February. We've had a good winter...no major sickness and all in good spirits. Kate is doing great in school and is such a joy. She and Lydia get to see each other and play a lot. We're looking foward to spring when we can get back to the zoo more often and see more friends for playdates.
Here are some recent and good pictures of the princess. Enjoy!
Christi, Eddie and Kate

Kate and Cinderella

Kate's new bathing suit (yes bathing suit). She loves to dance around the house in her tutu.

Dressed for our one snow day. We built a tiny snowman and threw snowballs.

Mommy and Kate on the carousel at Opry Mills Mall.

Harper, Kate and Griffin all smooshed into the toy plane at a local pizza place. She had a blast.

Wearing Mommy's winter hat. Too cute and it matches her outfit!

Dancing with Daddy in her new Cinderella dress from Granny.

Playing at Lydias...the girls had a great time.

Disney World Trip

Photos from our recent and second trip to Disney World with Kate.

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Love,

The Bowens

A couple of videos ...

...and a few Holiday activity photos to enjoy!

Santas little helper ballerina decorates the tree.

Kate making a gingerbread house at Opryland. We went as part of a Families with Children from Asia event. It was so much fun. Luckily most of the candy went on the house instead of into Kate's mouth!

Kate putting her gingerbread house on the tree.

The happy Bowen family.

November 16, 2008 Kate is Three

Here are a few photos from Kate's birthday party. She had one of the best days of her life. There were 16 kids at a place called Monkey's Treehouse. It's the greatest place on the planet for a childs party. We had it all to ourselves and the kids were super happy. The adults enjoyed having the Titans game on the big TV.

Kate danced and played and loved every minute. The puppet show was a huge hit and the pizza and cake were also popular. Kate still talks about the day.

Kate and Jacob

Cute story: Her current boyfriend from school is Jacob. His mom and I were talking as they played. She was explaining that they were teaching Jacob about Thanksgiving. When asked what he was thankful for his answer was "Kate B. and dinosaurs." Is that not the cutest thing ever?

It was a truly happy birthday!

Two Years as a Forever Family

On November 6, 2008 we celebrated 2 years as a family. We had a special dinner with fellow travel mates David and Lydia Byrne. The date fell on a Thursday this year so after we finished Kindermusic class (which the girls take together), we headed to dinner. They played and had a great time.

We began a tradition that we hope to continue forever. We take a family photo in a similar position as our first official family photo taken moments after we got Kate. Here are the photos in order.

And yes...Eddie and Christi are wearing the same clothes in all the photos. This may be the last year for it but we thought it was fun. In fact, I wore my shirt one day and Kate looked at me and said, "Mommy, your shirt!" and started rubbing my shoulders. The look on her face was amazing. It was like she actually remembered it from the first day we met.

Some days it seems like it was yesterday we were in China and others feel like it was so long ago. Kate is a true joy and we love our life with her. We're looking forward to the years ahead.

Meet Kate Party

My wonderful family threw Kate a party so that my mother's family could finally meet her. My cousin and aunt did a fantastic job putting the party together. Kate had a good time-even without a nap and feeling a bit under the weather.

She played with her cousin Kendall and they took turns on the toy cell phone.

Pictures of Kate

Here are a few random photos of Kate. We've been very bad at keeping the blog updated. She's growing so fast. She's potty training and doing very well. She loves to sing, watch Sesame Street and play with her Daddy. We go swimming at the Y on Saturdays and she likes the water. We're trying to get her to go under but she's not there yet.

Kate is a big girl now and has moved up at school. She likes to play with her friends and is adjusting to the "big room." We feel very lucky to be the parents of such a wonderful and normal 33 month old.

Update 2008

It's been awhile since we posted. Kate is now 2 1/2 and wonderful. She is such a delight. She's talking a lot, loves to sing and of course, being outside is the number one thing to do.

We're going on vacation to Destin in June and meeting up with 3 other travel families. We can't wait to see everyone again. It will be Kate's first beach trip. She's looking forward to it.

Here are some recent photos. We had a photo session on Wednesday at our friends house. Her daughter is also from the same orphanage and we traveled together. The girls had lots of fun and we got some amazing pictures.

Christi, Eddie and Kate

Happy Holidays

Sending everyone our wishes for a safe and happy holiday season.

The Bowens

Today is Forever Family Day!

One year ago today we met Kate for the first time. That day was so special and we think about it all the time. I reread our post from that day and it feels like it just happened. It's hard to believe it has been a year.

And, wow, what a year. We've had so much fun with our little girl. Kate Liang is a true dream. Words cannot express the feelings we have today. It's so hard to believe it's already been a year. Where has the time gone? Our baby is turning into a little girl. She loves to color, sing, play outside, swing and eat!

We're quietly celebrating with dinner out at Pei Wei and then watching our Gotcha Day video. Our hearts are full of love for the wonderful human being that is our daughter, Kate.

Christi and Eddie

November 2006


November 2007

Celebrating Referral Day Anniversary

We celebrated the one year anniversary of our referral with David and Therese and Lydia Byrne at P.F. Chang's.

1 year Referral Anniversary

Today, August 25th is our one year referral anniversary. We're celebrating with fellow Nashville/travel group family the Byrnes. We're going to PF Changs for dinner.

Here's the latest group of photos of Kate. Enjoy.

The Bowens


Crazy Girl Kate

New photos

Kate is growing very very quickly.

Update

Well, it's been six months since we first met our Kate, and we thought we would take the opportunity to add a few more recent photos, and show how much she has grown.

If you are here to follow our journey to Kate, you can see the whole story by going to the archives section of this page and starting with July 2006.

And there are more photos of China at http://www.kateschina.blogspot.com/