A Birthday Celebration for Lily....finally!

Lily Love's given birthday is today! She was found at the orphanage gate in September in 2001, but they gave her an estimated birthdate of August 12. So today we are celebrating Lily!

Here Lily is today on her birthday in her cute school jumper that I just realized she wore backwards to school the whole day! Note in other photos it is wore correctly!


This is the first year she has had a real birthday party. I really am not sure if they notified her of her birthday each August 12 that rolled around, but whatever they did wasn't enough for her to think it counted as a birthday party. She said she has never had a birthday party. Can you imagine your child being almost 10 and never having had a party?

We started the day by waking her up...she is a little sleepyhead. I wonder how many hours sleep she got at the Big O, but I know it's more than what she gets here! Our summer bedtime hours are really late. When we first got Lily she would wake up super early and now she sleeps in. It makes me happy because she is comfortable here, she knows we will still be here and we will not let her miss anything.

Lily got good morning doughnuts and took some to school to celebrate too.
She really doesn't like sweets, but I don't know if the other kids would've thought it was fun to get a piece of fruit or beef jerky at her school celebration. Her dear teacher wrapped her arms around her as the class sang happy birthday to her. She has been waiting for this moment since Johnny had his birthday back in April and she realized just how great birthdays can be!!! She loves being the center of attention and craves it! I think it is part her personality and part from being neglected. We try to give her the center stage as much as we can with four other children!

While she was at school me and a friend Wendy and family made around 230 cupcakes for her birthday party tomorrow! Not that she cares, but again, the party guests really would be disappointed if they didn't see cupcakes at the party tomorrow! Ha. For dinner we celebrated at Panda Express, Lily's choice.....she wanted RICE! I think aren't you tired of rice???? But I think rice is her comfort food!

We have had precious little Lily Love Hook for SIX months now. I cannot remember life without her and Hope. Our lives are richer because of Lily Love! She is a little star. I am so thankful to God we didn't say no to her. It would be a lifetime regret of ours if we had decided we could not take her. I am so thankful to God that He included us in Lily's destiny!

Lily is a gift to us. The transition has been so easy and natural and normal. Even though Lily and I didn't bond at first, and she is learning attachment to her family, I really don't see how it could have gone much smoother! It's been....GOD. There is no other explanation. It's been better than good. We feel His grace! It is real and heavy upon our family!

So here is some fun facts about our Lily we've leaned over the first 6 months with her:

Lily doesn't like ice cream although she tries really hard to convince us and herself of this. Finally after 6 months of wasted treats and such, we no longer buy it for her and try to find substitutes like sorbet or plain fruit or chips. Chips are the default!

Lily could eat chips and rice and never need anything else!

Lily does NOT like to take naps. We've never made her except one day when she needed it, but when she found out that she had naptime at school she instantly moped around. She wanted to know if Johnny had to take a nap. We said no, Johnny is in first grade. Then she wanted to know if he had to take a nap when he was little, which we said of course. Then she wanted to know if Phoebe, Robert, Mommy, Daddy, Grandmommy, Winna, and so on had to ALL TAKE A NAP WHEN WE WERE LITTLE. I think she thought she was being picked on! Being in the Big O for almost 10 years, you have to look out for yourself. So if LIly ever thinks she is getting mistreated or left out or the short end of the stick, she lets you know about it! She will go down the list of every person she knows and tell what they have and why doesn't she have it. Like the other day when she saw Phoebe, Rob, and Johnny all had certain water bottles she picked it up and said, "Where's Lily's?!!!!" in her sounds-mean-but-really-isn't-trying-to-be Chinese accent! I found myself trying to explain to her that she hasn't always been here so they got things before she came that she doesn't have.

In Lily's mind, she doesn't think we are her heroes for coming to save her from the Big O after 9 years...on the contrary, we think she thinks WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!!!!! This explains a lot to us. And I have to agree with her....What took us so long to get our ear hearing God's voice leading us to her!!!

Lily doesn't see herself as a victim and a poor little orphan girl, unless she wants new socks she doesn't need and then she whips out her pouty face and lowers her voice and says that other kids in the orphanage got socks but Lily didn't. : )

Lily is a fighter, a survivor, wild and fun and free! She lives every day to the fullest!

Lily doesn't care for dessert. She would rather go around the table and eat everyone leftovers of chicken an rice!

Lily loves salsa. She eats it in a bowl with a spoon.

She goes outside and picks tomatoes off the vine and eats them by the handfuls.

Lily doesn't waste food...


Lily wants to know everything. She asks tons of questions and needs to know whose it is and where did they go.

Lily wants her hair long so she can SAKE (shake) it...

Lily thinks Jesus' last name is Hook. I bet that makes Him smile.

Lily sings Justin Bieber and praise and worship songs. Baby Baby was the first song she ever heard in China. You should hear her sing Baby Baby with her accent!

Lily is TINY. She wears a size 5 and turned 10 today!

Lily likes Elmo.

Lily thinks she's hot stuff because she is taller than a four year old kid in her class.

Lily likes tea and water. If she tells you anything else don't believe her.

Lily doesn't know how to make decisions. Often she tells you what she doesn't want, then switches her mind. I think she's just so proud someone is giving her a choice she wants to make as many choices in one choice as she can!!!

Lily is afraid to say no.

Lily asks me why I'm so white. I think she just noticed. : )

Lily is just understanding that everyone was a baby once and everyone has a mother that gave birth to them. She told me that her mother gave birth to her and threw her on the floor in disgust. It makes me sad to wonder about this....

Lily wants everything, but then cares nothing about it later.

Lily fills ziplock bags, purses, boxes, bags, and the like with an eclectic assortment of trash, food, knick knacks, toys, and such and then shoves them in drawers or under things never to give a thought about them again. When I go to help her clean her room it's difficult to even know how to start sorting through all the stuff!

Lily wants to GO WHEREVER ANYONE IS CURRENTLY GOING!!!

Lily loves to go sopping (shopping).

Lily loves to swim, get her back rubbed, and snuggle with daddy.

Lily goes into Husband's home office and stands in his chair behind him while he works and hangs over his shoulders and kisses all over him. She is most thankful for her daddy and got the best one in the world.

Here is Lily yesterday on HER FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER IN HER LIFE!!!! When I was buttoning her blouse I broke down in tears....she's so precious and so excited about school. It's like she doesn't even realize that she could've stayed in that orphanage forever and never had the opportunity...she just grabs the opportunity and runs with it...she just thinks, oh yeah, finally going to school! Like she always knew she would!!! I don't know if they didn't have the resources to send her to school or if they thought she wasn't mentally able to learn. But she is so smart!!! She is going to love school!




Four of my five on the first day of school. Phoebe not pictured is homeschooled.