Favorites From China

My phone kind of sucks…I’m sure a lot of you can relate. 🙂  I take a lot of photos and videos so it’s a constant struggle to keep enough space on my phone available.  Recently when cleaning off my phone I went through and picked some of my favorite photos from China.

I snagged this rainbow blanket at a thrift store for $2.  It’s been in our basket of blankets in our living room for a while and has been used 100s of times.  When I started looking to buy Leo his own blanket I realized this was the perfect blanket for him.  Rainbow and already well loved.  I didn’t pack it in our checked bag, but toted it along in my personal bag.  I loved this little visual reminder of Everett.

One of my top favorite plane photos.  These boys.  They kill my heart.  I will never understand how we got so insanely lucky to have them.

In the Los Angeles airport our littlest spotted this rainbow streaming through a sky light and onto the floor nearby.  Every spotting of rainbow anything made me teary and long for our sweet Shuai boy.

More rainbows.  The day we went back to Everett and Leo’s home was also the 9 month anniversary of losing Everett.  One of the very first things we saw when we walked in were these beautiful rainbow pinwheels spinning in the wind.  Instant tears.  We take him everywhere we go.

We had a boys room and girls room while we were in China.  Josh Kelley would send me photos between 4am and 5am every morning of what the boys were up to.  They jet lagged hard.  5am card games almost every morning.  Sometimes Solomon was adorned in a hotel bathrobe. 🙂

Dinners every night together.  Some nights we ate out and sometimes we ate in our room.  This was one of our most favorite places to eat in Zhengzhou.  The food was amazing and the staff were always crazy kind.

Harper keeps us afloat most days.  She is patient and kind and funny and helpful and Josh and I call her our sanity.  She just makes my heart really happy.  I snagged this photo of us shopping one day.  A total favorite.

One of our last photos as a family of 8.  Being able to take all the kids to China with us was such a gift.  It was crazy hard, but I am still so so thankful it came together and actually happened.

The first day we met Leo he would not let go of his Chips Ahoy container.  Even when the cookies were long gone, he held it close.  I love the photos of him sitting with Josh holding his little cookie cup.  What a brave brave boy!

Anyone else pack their bag full of a bunch of smaller bags?!?!?  Just me?!?!  This was basically life in China.  It kept everything straight and more organized and much more manageable.  And that panda bag was a fun find in China.

And my top favorite photo from China…Josh’s photo of Leo face planting off the slide.  I feel like this will be a classic Kelley photo for years and years to come.

I’m really trying to be more consistent with writing in this space because it just makes my head clearer, but then there’s this whole summer thing.  Hoping to be back again sooner than later. 🙂