Can you belive it's been over four months?!

That's right, it's been four months, two weeks, and six days since Olivia was first placed in our arms! Time has really flown by and Olivia has changed so much. She's grown bigger

and she has more hair now. Kim is loving the hair bows!

She's full of personality and she's actually quite strong-willed.
She is now a confident walker (and runner), she's eating almost anything placed on her highchair, and she's learning new words and communicating effectively most of the time.

She LOVES to squeal loudly. Glen will tell you that's not much fun for the rest of us. :-) She loves her brothers and the feeling is mutual. She's pretty attached to all of us and doesn't always feel comfortable with others holding her. She is, however, a social butterfly from a distance. She likes to wave and say, "HI!" to people, even if we don't know them.

I will make an effort to update this blog at least weekly. It seems some of you (Hi Taylor! ;-) enjoy looking at it and feel a little disappointed when there are no new pictures posted.

That's it for now. Enjoy the pictures

In Him,

The Buchanans

Just a Quick Update...

Hello all. We are very busy and doing well at the Buchanan house. Olivia continues to adjust to her new family/life. Our main difficulty is sleeping. She wakes up several times a night and really dislikes taking a nap. She feels afraid and needs a little reassurance and then she goes back to sleep usually.

The boys adore her. I am often found de-escalating arguments over who should hold her or feed her. Strangely, they never fight over diaper duty...they leave that to Mom and Dad. :-)

My mom is in town this week. She was excited to get to met her granddaughter. Olivia has charmed her and they have become fast friends.

Mark and Kay, my brother and sister-in-law, will be arriving this evening. This is their first visit and we're excited for them to meet Olivia. I'm sure she will love Uncle Mark and Aunt Kay as much as Connor and Glen love them.

Chris has been on a couple of job interviews. Our plan is for him to get out of the Marine Corp in September but actually begin a new job in August. We know that God will open the appropriate doors and close the others. He has been so good to us and we know we can trust him with everything, including this. We'll share with you His plans for us as soon as He reveals them to us.

I'm including pictures of our three beautiful kids. Connor enjoyed holding Olivia while she slept. Glen was watching TV while wearing his Chinese outfit. The pic of Olivia and me was taken on the first day she went to church. The other pictures were taken while she was trying on some new clothes...little girl clothes are addictive!!

Take care and God Bless.

Olivia Walking

I remember 3 weeks ago when she could barely walk the two feet between the beds in the hotel room. I guess all those laps in the hotel are paying off.

Mommy and Olivia enjoying some time

Feeling human again

Besides an inevitable awakening at 4:30 every morning, we're pretty much back to normal. Olivia is thriving here. She has a new best friend... Dakota (our dog). Lets just say the relationship is symbiotic and centers around meal times.

Two more Thursdays!

We are SO excited to get home. We are a bit aprehensive of the trip though. Our travelling (bus, plane, and automobile) will start at 6AM on Thursday March 8th and end at around 8:30PM the same day. So in one way the flight is only 14.5 hours. Unfortunately, at about 8PM on Thursday (1/2 hour before we are supposed to arrive at our house), we will cross the international date line and it will become 8PM on Wednesday again! That's right. In all, from the time we leave the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China to the time we walk through the front door to our house in Quantico, it will take about 27.5 hours (subtract 11 for the time change)! Here is our itenerary in Eastern Standard Time:

Leave White Swan: 5PM Wed 7 March

Depart Hong Kong: 11:50 PM

Arrive San Fransisco: 11:33AM Thursday 8 March

Process through US Customs - Olivia becomes a U.S. Citizen

Depart San Fransisco: 2:00PM

Arrive Washington Dulles: 7:01 PM

Introduce Olivia to everyone who shows at the airport 7:15-7:45

Arrive home: 8:30-9:00PM

Go to bed: 9:01PM

We can't wait to see everyone.

For those who are already addicts, here is your Olivia fix.

Red Couch Photo