Our Journey to Family

30 Days of Giveaways!

2010-11-13T09:55:00.002-05:00

Check out my favorite blog for 30 Days of Giveaways!! There is gonna be a lot of great stuff!! Now go and check it out!! If you don't win, there is sure to be a lot of great gift ideas!! Good luck!!

Family photo

2009-09-10T10:30:00.001-04:00

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New Photos (new post below)

2009-08-25T22:39:00.001-04:00

Six weeks

2009-08-25T21:27:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe that Michael has been with me for 6 weeks and home with the entire family for 4 weeks!! I am sorry that I haven't posted many updates, I have just been busy with 4 kids under the age of 6!! I know, I asked for it, and I am glad that I did!! Michael is doing amazingly well. He seems to have attached well to me and is getting closer to his daddy every day. If given the choice, Michael still prefers me, but that is understandable considering I have been with him longer and I am home with him all day. Okay, some specifics...he still eats well. He will try anything that I make and I can't think of a single thing that he has rejected. He loves fruits and vegetables and really is a healthy eater. He is getting better with having his teeth brushed (dentist appt. is scheduled), but still doesn't like it (thus, the bad teeth). He loves baths and still likes to go swimming. He will play (aka steals toys) with his sisters. They really get along quite well - he even enjoys coloring with them. Oh, sometimes he has been known to put on one of his sisters' dresses, which stresses out Daddy!! I have been given permission to go shopping for boys' dress up clothes!! He still sleeps in our bedroom, but in his own bed. He does continue to have some night terrors occasionally, but is actually going to sleep without me in the room! If he wakes up and I am not there he will cry, but otherwise he is doing well. Every once in a while he will even crawl into bed with me to cuddle, which is totally sweet!!

We have spent most of our time bonding as a family so I haven't even started homeschooling yet. I am planning on starting "school" after Labor Day...or soon thereafter. Right now we are trying to get into some routines and get into somewhat of a schedule. I am able to take all 4 kids on errands - they are very well behaved and I have been able to keep track of them all. Stephanie, Liz and Danielle have started taking swimming lessons on Tuesday afternoons which they love, and Michael and I get some alone time (while watching the lessons). A friend of ours is a photographer and he took us out to a local park on Sunday and took our first family photos together - it was great!! I will post some pictures when I get them. Now, I must tell a funny story about our pictures...on Sat. night I trimmed all the girls' bangs and they looked good! After baths, Steve came out and asked how much hair I cut of Danielle. Well, it turned out that she crawled up onto the counter in my bathroom, grabbed my SHARP scissors and cut off her bangs!! All the way to the scalp!! UGH!! I about died!! After church on Sunday, I ran out and bought some hairbows to help to disguise the jagged edges. What a story that makes for our first family photo! Oh well, the pictures did turn out well!!

Since I have been home, Danielle had a birthday! On August 18 she turned 3!! We had a big party for her on the 15th with about 30 children!! It was crazy but fun. We used the pavillion at our church which has restrooms, a playground, and a sand volleyball pit (good for using sand toys). She was so encouraged. She still keeps talking about her party - I think that she is ready for another one!! She had a hard time deciding about her "theme". When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she kept changing her mind...Nemo, Mulan, Care Bear, Pony, Ariel, Monsters, Inc., Tinkerbell...she kept going back and forth! So, I decided just to make a sheet cake and add ALL of the characters that she wanted. She loved it and it was easy!! The only characters that I couldn't find were Monsters, Inc! Bummer! Oh well, the party was a success. I just can't believe that this sweet baby is now 3! She is having a hard week, though. I don't know if she is jumping into the troubled 3s with both feet, struggling with having a new sibling or if she is struggling because it is her birthday week (often times, adopted children struggle with loss around their birthday) or a combination of these. Anyway, I am trying to love up on her a lot and give her the love, security and attention that she needs. In fact, I am trying to do that with all of the kids - which is probably why my house is trashed!! I tell ya, I just can't keep up! The kids are doing well with cleaning up their toys most days, but it is constant! Not to mention the dishes and laundry! Unbelieveable!! THAT is why I can't blog very often!! I am busy, but I am truly loving the life, children and husband that God has given me!! Praise to Him!!

New Photos

2009-08-12T15:24:00.000-04:00

Our Trip Home

2009-07-30T09:58:00.006-04:00

Okay, now that we are home and getting into some sort of routine...oh, and now that jet lag is finished, I thought that I would post about our trip home. Friday night in Guangzhou, Jessica and Adam and Michael and I all went to La Dolce Vita for a wonderful Italian meal. Let's just say, it was great!! Nothing like authentic Italian food in China!! It was funny, they even were having a wedding reception at the restaurant. In the middle of our meal, a small wedding party came in...and guess what...they were Italian!! It was actually kind of weird. About 20 or so people came in (including the bride and groom), and all but 1 of them were not Chinese. In fact, a couple of the men looked like they were Mob - truly not trying to be stereotypical, I am telling the truth!!

So after our last dinner in China, I went back to our room to pack. Let's just say, I bought a little more than I was planning on. My suitcases started bulging and I was wondering if I needed to go and buy another suitcase before the shops closed!! But, I didn't. In the middle of the night I had a revelation as to how to re-organize my suitcases to try and keep them under weight. I know, I should have been sleeping, but stress won. I woke up at 5 am, showered and re-packed. According to my hotel room scale, the weight on both suitcases was going to be tight. I called the bellboy, woke up Michael and checked out of the White Swan. We ran into Adam and Jessica in the restaurant (we were the only 4 in there at 6 am), and grabbed our last breakfast buffet (sigh - they have been good). We left the hotel at about 6:30 am and drove to the airport. While I was waiting in line to check in, I prayed about my luggage - that they would not be over weight and that they would not bust apart in transit - both prayers were answered!! Each suitcase needed to be 23 kg or under...they were both 22+!! WHEW!! When we landed in Atlanta, they were both intact and nothing got broken - praise God!!

We had no trouble with any of our flights. Everything left on time and we even arrived early. We had a 4 hour layover in Tokyo, but it actually worked out fine. We had to take a bus from the terminal that we landed in to the main terminal. It wasn't hard, just kind of a pain. Keep in mind that I am carrying a heavy backpack, laptop, 2 year-old and stroller - alone. Ugh. And we have to go through security in Tokyo. Oh well, at least we don't have to take off our shoes. Well, we managed to get to the correct terminal and grabbed McDonalds. Luckily they take USD, but the change is in Yen. So, my bill was $10 and I received $10 in yen. What to do? Spend it!! We went into a gift shop and bought a water and some magnets (Steve collects a magnet at every place he has gone) for about 840 yen. I have no idea how much that equals, but I still had a little change left, so I was good.

Both flights were full, so we had someone else in our row with us - not ideal. On the way to Tokyo, I sat in the middle and Michael was in the window seat. This worked well, until he fell asleep so I did too. I think that I may have leaned against some poor Chinese man sitting next to me. So, on the flight from Tokyo to Atlanta, I put Michael in the middle. I thought that that would give me somewhere to lean and give the girl on the end a little more room. It worked great, until Michael fell asleep. He slept a good bit of this flight, but he was restless. He likes to roll over, and since his space was limited, he got frustrated and kicked his feet - right on the girl next to him. Sigh. I tried to minimize this, but I am sure that he nailed her a couple of times. I kept apologizing, and she was so sweet about it, but I bet she complained about us to her friends when she landed!! All in all, Michael did great. He complained briefly about his seat belt, but over all was resigned to wearing it. He ate great, and we went through a lot of stickers....there may even be some still stuck on his seat. We arrived in Atlanta 30 minutes early (YEA!), but ended up sitting on the tarmac for 45 minutes until a gate opened up for us to deplane. Sigh. We then had to go through immigration. Our first officer was great and I was glad to get done quickly...until he told me to take the paperwork into another office. Ugh. I get there and there are only 2 people in front of me and 3 officers working - good. Not good. When one officer finished his case, he decided to "go and check things out". The 2nd officer finished and decided to take a potty break. Meanwhile more and more people come in. It was killing me!! I know that people have to go potty, but I just wanted to get out of there!! They really were in no particular hurry. They finally looked over my paper work, stamped Michael's visa with his temporary"green card" and sent me on my way. I had to get my luggage and then get in line with my luggage cart and stroller (not an easy task). I went through customs without any trouble, and then had to "re-check" my bags so that I could pick them up at the main terminal. Okay, done. On my way out, we had to go through security again!! NO!!! This place is killing me!! Everytime we go through security, Michael has a tantrum. Apparently he doesn't like to be yanked out of his stroller in the chaos - who can blame him!! So, I take my laptop out (again), put my backpack through the scanner (again), take off our shoes (only in the US), fold down the stroller (again), pick up cranky 2 year old (again) and walk through another scanner. Oh, and have his water bottle tested. Little Man had been carrying his water bottle since Guangzhou and wasn't ready to part with it. The officer said that I would have to toss it. I guess that 29 hours of traveling was showing when I told him that he has to be kidding me. I told him that I just want to get home!! He had pity on me and told me that he would have to test it. Great - do it. We passed and he got to keep his bottle - another tantrum averted. We finally got on the train to go and see the rest of our family!

When we got off the elevator, I immediately saw Steve and the girls. They came running over and we were finally united - our family of 6. I cried when I held them all - it was SO good to see them!! Our friends Ellen and Frannie came out to welcome us home, too - that was so great!! They are next - hopefully they will be traveling in the next month to bring home Gracie. It is so good to be home!! Everyone is adjusting quite well. We are even sleeping at the right times! We were both tired on Sunday, but I have been fine since Monday morning - seriously, no jet lag!! Thank God!! Michael is smiling, laughing and trying to repeat English words. He has even begun to spontaneously hug and kiss me and Steve. He really seems to be happy here, and I can only hope that he continues to feel loved. He slept great his first night home (despite sleeping a lot on the plane) and we even made it to church together on Sunday morning. We may have been crazy, but I was craving fellowship with my church family. They were so vigiliant in their prayers (so were many others), that I just wanted to go and praise God with them!! It was awesome - singing and praising the Lord with my son in my arms - I had been envisioning this for months!! I am so grateful that God has completed our family.

WE ARE HOME!

2009-07-27T07:42:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to let you know that we are indeed home!! After 30 hours of door to door travel, my family is finally united!! Michael is getting along well with his sisters and is already bonding to his daddy. I will post more about our trip later, now I need coffee!!! It sure is good to be home!! Thank God!

Shopping and visas!!

2009-07-24T08:14:00.001-04:00

I am LOVING being back on Shamian Island - it feels like an old friend!! Originally my adoption agency wanted to put us in a hotel off the Island - and I fought that!! I don't care if the rates were better, by the time we reached Guangzhou, I was ready for some "westernized" culture!! I honestly don't know why my agency wanted to put us up elsewhere - this really is the best place to be!! I am just grateful that the other families in my group wanted to stay here as well - we are all united in this is the best place to stay. Especially after the last hotel our agency picked - again, nice hotel, terrible location!! I must say, that the other 2 families that have been with me have been great. It is going to be so weird not to see them everyday. We all got along great, and as far as I could tell, there were no disagreements!! In fact, everyone was great with helping me carry my stroller up and down stairs as needed. China is not very stroller accessible. Despite the fact that Steve couldn't come and that I missed my family terribly, this has been a great trip. There were so many potential problems that I was expecting when I left the States, but all in all, we made it through as scheduled!! I can only attribute that to God answering all of our prayers!! Praise to Him!!!

So, what have I been doing the last 2 days? SHOPPING!! I came here thinking that I didn't need to buy that much stuff, since I stocked up a year and a half ago, but guess what? I was wrong!! I am hoping to stuff everything into my 2 suitcases, or else I will have to buy another small one - YIKES!! I just returned from shopping with Ann from Red Thread - man, is she the best!! She gets us such great deals that it is so hard to pass up. She said that her shopping guide business has been slow...what are you people thinking??? If any of you are coming to China soon, you need to hook up with Ann!! She can get amazing prices on pearls, jade and traditional clothing, just to name a few! You can save at least 50% of what you would pay on the Island. Call her - she is awesome!!!

Oh, the good news. We had our consulate appt. scheduled for Thurs. the 23rd. Our guide, Helen, took all of our paperwork to the appt and said that she would call us by noon to tell us how it went. Well, Adam's phone rang at 10:30 (he was the contact person with the cell phone - we all shopped together while we waited for Helen's call). So Maria and I were nervous, thinking that there was a problem, but no!!! Everything was great!! In fact, since only 6 families had their appt on the 23rd, they decided to mover our oath ceremony to Thurs. afternoon (instead of Fri). This is huge!! So, at 2:45 we boarded the bus and went to the US Consulate for our swearing in ceremony and to receive our US immigration paperwork (including Michael's visa that had created such a problem before I left). It was great!! After our oath, Maria and I looked at each other and we both had been crying. Everything was done, we were free to go home - PRAISE GOD!! So we all celebrated by having dinner at Lucy's, and then we spent Friday shopping and packing. We are all ready to go home and start our lives with our family!! This afternoon I am going to take Michael to the pool, grab some Italian dinner, pack and go to bed...I leave early in the morning for the airport!! I will be arriving in Atlanta around 7 pm - I can't wait to see my wonderful husband and beautiful girls. This has been a long journey in so many ways, I am glad that it is coming to an end and we can begin our life as a family of 6!! Oh, and I guess that I have to start cooking and cleaning again - not looking forward to that!! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement, I couldn't have done it without any of you. Next post - from home!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!

We made it to Guangzhou!!! (6 pictures below)

2009-07-22T09:48:00.001-04:00

Sorry that I dropped the ball a little - we have been busy!! Monday morning was a free day. Michael and I slept in, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then strolled around the hotel to take pictures of the neighborhood. We are still not sure why our agency picked this hotel. It is nice and all and has a great breakfast buffet, but the neighborhood stinks!! I mean, there is absolutely nothing within walking distance for us to do. Very annoying. We are all a little frustrated with this choice of hotel. Anyway, we ate lunch with Maria, Patty and Brayden at our favorite restaurant around the corner. It is great food, but I was kind of glad that it was our last meal there - it's getting a little old. Michael took a great nap and then we went to the Summer Palace. This was one of my favorite spots! It was absolutely beautiful!! It was super hot, but at least there was a nice breeze coming off of the lake. We are so glad that we made it to this spot - it was great. While we were there, I gave Michael his first ice cream bar - see if you can tell from the picture if he liked it!! I was scolded by a couple of older Chinese women - they kept telling me that his face was dirty. Well, duh! Can't you see he is eating ice cream while it is 90+ degrees!! They wanted me to clean him up, well I just kept walking. What is the point of cleaning him after every bite, he is only going to get dirty again!? Don't worry, I cleaned him up after he finished!!

Oh, this is sad. When we got back to the bus to go back to our hotel, Michael told me (in his own way) that he had to go potty. I tried to tell him just to go in his pull-ups, but I guess he didn't understand me. He did okay for a while, and then he got really vocal about his need to go. I asked our guide to tell him that it was okay to go in his diaper, but my guide ignored me. Nice. So, a little while later he started crying and was REALLY upset. Our guide finally tried to tell him to go, but that didn't work. Our bus driver pulled over, I took the little guy in a grassy knoll and stripped his pants and pull ups off (we already tried to have him pee outside without taking the clothes off, and well, that didn't work). So I have a half naked kid in the middle of Beijing during rush hour - screaming...and not peeing. He refused to go. Well, I thought that maybe he had peed in his pull up - it seemed a little wet. So, I tried to put his clothes back on, but he just screamed louder. What now? Pick up half naked crying boy and put him on the bus!! Luckily he didn't pee on me!! I got him dressed and he was fine...for about 10 minutes. Then he said he had to go potty!!! UGH!!! Luckily we were close to the hotel. As soon as we got there, I ran into the lobby and to the public restrooms - he smiled when he saw the ladies room sign. He was very relieved to to be able to finally relieve himself!! What a nightmare!! I felt so sorry for him, but on a positive note - he does have great bladder control!!

After Michael was better, we walked to Pizza Hut - the first time I had pizza since I came to Beijing. Jessica (one of the 7 year-olds) picked a curry chicken pizza. Curry is not my favorite, but I was willing to try anything - and it tasted great!! Michael enjoyed a slice of veggie pizza - at least he will fit in with our family!!

So Tuesday morning was also free - our last day in Beijing!! Unfortunately, Michael didn't sleep in....he woke up at 6. And that was after a night of at least 2 nightmares or terrors - I don't know which. So needless to say I was tired. We ate and then worked on packing. It was nice getting rid of gifts so that cut down on the weight of each suitcase...I have LOTS of room to go shopping in Guangzou!! We finished up just as Meg arrived and the 3 of us went out to lunch at a french bistro...it was yummy!! We got back to the hotel and checked out. I said a tearful goodbye to Meg, and got on the bus for one last time. It was hard to say goodbye, Meg is just so awesome!! I am so grateful that she was there - I would not have been able to do as well as I did without her. She was a Godsend!!

We arrive at the south Beijing terminal. It is it's own separate airport, and let's just say, we were SCARED!!! It is this tiny hole in the wall building with planes sitting in a weed-infested lot. It was even smaller than the Rochester MN airport!! We really were nervous!! Our guide checked us in and we went through security (after thanking our guide, Michael - he really was great). So, then we were the only Americans in the airport and all of the messages were in Chinese. I was so glad to be here with a group - we had visions of missing our flight! It was an experience!! So we finally board the plane and then we sit - for an hour!!! UGH!! There are messages (in Chinese), so none of us could understand anything!! Well, we did okay, but my son HATED his seat belt. It wasn't even on tight!! It just stressed him out to no end!! He cried!!! I finally got him distracted and he forgot about it for a while, but whenever he remembered that it was on, he had a fit!! Not looking forward to 14 hours of this!!! Oh! And wait until he has to sit in his car seat!! NICE!! Other than 3 or 4 fits of rage over his seat belt, he did great. He even fell asleep - about 30 minutes out of Guangzhou! I thought for sure that he would have fallen asleep sooner since he didn't get a nap - which made him even crankier!! Well, we landed in Guangzhou and found our guide, Helen. She is very sweet and good with the kids. We got checked into the White Swan Hotel and I feel like I am almost home!! We stayed on Shamian Island when we were here with Danielle so this is familiar territory! I am so glad to be here!! On Wed morning, Helen took us to the Chen Clan something...can't remember it's name. It was pretty neat - but it is SUPER humid here - UGH!! I really feel like I am melting!! We did a little shopping, but I am waiting to hook up with Ann to get some better deals (you are welcome, Honey). We even ate lunch at McDonald's - first time on this trip. I am not a huge McDonald's fan, but it never tasted so good!!! We are back in our room and Michael is sleeping peacefully. I am waiting for Helen to come and work on my paperwork for our consulate appointment in the morning. If all goes well with that, I can come home!!! Please pray that there are no hiccups tomorrow morning - I want to come home!!

2009-07-22T09:46:00.000-04:00

2009-07-22T09:45:00.000-04:00

Random Ramblings (see below for other post from today with more pictures)

2009-07-20T23:47:00.001-04:00

The main purpose of this blog is to document my trip to China as I adopt my son, but I also want to share this journey with you!! This post is just going to be a bullet post of random things and thoughts that I may have forgotten to put in previous posts. Some may sound negative, but I want to remember the good, the bad and the ugly!!!

- Chinese dept stores are TOTALLY inefficient!! When you find what you want, the sales person in that dept. holds onto your item and writes up a receipt. You then take this paper to a cashier and pay for it, then you take your receipt BACK to the dept (after stamped paid) and pick up your item!!!
- I miss ice in my drinks
- I am tired of eating every meal in a restaurant - and I am tired of Chinese food!
- I don't miss cooking!
- I am tired of my hotel room....
- but I love having someone else clean my room!!!
- I do not miss doing laundry, but am tired of living out of a suitcase
- Taking a 2 year old to a breakfast buffet every morning alone is NOT relaxing
- Having a 2 year old have random fits is not amusing (can't wait to get home and work on fixing that)
- Chinese cartoons are not funny (at least I don't think they are)
- Pollution makes my throat hurt - every day! (I should have had a chest x-ray before and after my trip just to see!)
- squatty pottys at Tianamen Square are N-A-S-T-Y
- make sure potty door at above mentioned public restrooms is locked - or else above 2 year-old will open - mid stream!!!
- our guide refers to the orphanage as "the college" - huh
- adoption paperwork in Beijing is ANNOYING!!!
- if you ever come to Beijing for more than a weekend, don't stay at the Yuyang Hotel. It is very nice, but not in a nice area of town. There is absolutely nothing within walking distance so you will be stuck in your hotel room...and don't get a massage across the street, it is run by prostitutes (no, that is NOT where I had my massage)
- having a HUGE picture window (with metal blinds) between the shower and the bed is VERY weird, but functional when you are alone with a 2 year old and need to get clean!
- having a government censor your internet access and TV is maddening!!! I guess it does aid in reinforcing Chinese propaganda!!!
- bathing caps (which are required for all people to wear in swimming pools - even children) are NOT attractive!!
- sunscreen is not really necessary when pollution is so thick - at least I didn't need it!!
- I have never watched so much ESPN in all my life - at least THAT wasn't censored!!!
- the hotel maids play sick shower nozzle games...everyday it is pointing a different direction and hoses a new section of the bathroom!!
- never forget to take tissue into a bathroom with you - you never know when a stall isn't going to have any...say for instance the T. Square public one!

Temple, acrobats and hot pots - oh my!

2009-07-20T23:41:00.002-04:00

After Michael's nap on Sunday, we met the gang for an afternoon outing. Our guide took us first to the Temple of Heaven. It was in a nice park and it really was beautiful. Not much to see other than a few "temple" buildings, but they were nice. After that we went to the Flying Acrobats show - it was amazing!!! Michael was not too thrilled to have to sit on my lap, but I wasn't going to pay for another ticket, and besides, he wouldn't have been able to see! Once I gave him some crackers, he was fine. He was a bit scared of the show at times - the music could be a little ominous, but I enjoyed it thoroughly!! It was INCREDIBLE!!! I was amazed at how the performers' bodies could contort and how strong they all were!! I better quit complaining about carrying around one toddler!! Whenever they performed a stunt I was blown away - and then they would one-up it....again and again!! I was amazed at all of the limits that they pushed!! I can't even imagine how their rehearsals go! And who thinks up these stunts? They are mind-blowing!! The strength that these perfomers possess is unreal!! Balancing 6 girls - all of them on one arm...even the anchor girl!! One stunt was done on a bike with a girl peddling and then they added a pyramid of 10 girls - all while the bike is in motion!! UNBELIEVEABLE!! I was very impressed!

We went out to dinner after that at a restaurant that specializes in hot pots. I didn't really like it. Neither did Michael, which was a first!! I was glad that I tried it but was doubly glad that I had half a PBJ back at the hotel!! We were able to talk to Baba (Daddy) and the girls for a while before bed. They made it home after 10 days with my folks. They were worn out but glad to be back at home - I think. I know that they are missing their grandparents, but it will be good for them to get back into a routine (hint! hint!! Baba).

After Michael went to sleep, I decided to try and see if I could get our church service on the web, and guess what? It worked!! It was great to see some familiar faces (even though they couldn't see me) and to hear the wonderful music!! It was very comforting but it also made me more homesick. Hopefully I will be back in the States for the next service. I really enjoyed watching it - I even caught a glimpse of Steve and his Mom as the camera panned the sanctuary...at least they made it!! I must admit though, I didn't make it all the way through the sermon. I am sorry Seth Wortman, but I really did go to sleep during it - at least I turned the computer off first! It was great, I was just too tired and it got too late (11:15 pm). Trust me when I say it wasn't you, it was me!! I am going to go back and listen to the sermon from the archives - it sounded great from what I heard!! Thank you to all of my friends and prayer warriors out there - they are working, keep up the great work!!! God is good!

2009-07-20T23:40:00.000-04:00

Eating Spaghetti

2009-07-19T07:56:00.001-04:00

The other 2 families in my group are great - we all get along really well. One of the dads is scheduled to leave on Sunday and then one of the moms is going to leave on Monday. So both families wanted to see if Meg could come to dinner with us and explain to the two 7 year-olds what was about to happen. Our guide (also named Michael) doesn't quite seem to understand some of these concepts - Meg's Chinese is better than Michael's English. So, since we were all a little tired of Chinese food, Meg took us to a nice Mediterranean (sp?) restaurant. I ordered a salad (with no repercussions - yea!) and spaghetti. I have included some photos of our boy - he thoroughly enjoyed it!! The waiters and waitresses from the restaurant all came to look at him - he was a mess! Luckily he cleaned up well! After dinner we walked around an outdoor mall and then I took Michael home and gave him a bath. He is doing much better at bedtime too - no fits for 2 nights in a row - PRAISE GOD!!

This morning since Rick was leaving, we are going to do our "tourist thing" this afternoon. We are going to see the Temple of Heaven and then go to a Chinese acrobatic show - should be fun! Meg came and met us for breakfast and then we went to a bookstore. I bought a couple of photo books - one about Beijing and the other about the Great Wall. Very cool pictures!! I also got a couple of children's books for Michael that he loves (and they were only $1). We then went to Meg's apartment to do a load of laundry...for free!! I did a load at the hotel and it was SO expensive. Oh well, I am set now until I get to Guangzhou where laundry will be much cheaper. So we hung out at Meg's studio apartment - it was really nice. Quite spacious and modern. It is located in an "artsy" area which was fun. A shopping center (located in the courtyard of her building) is scheduled to open in Aug. and I am sure that will be great. She seems very happy there. We ate lunch at her place, and guess what we had...PBJs!!!! She said we could order out, but I BEGGED her for the sandwich!! It was the best one EVER!! (and guess what Bompa? It was Skippy Super Chunk - your favorite!). Michael ate his all up and loved it!! He was actually quite messy about it, but oh well, he cleans up quite easily. I am just glad to know that he will eat anything when we get home - especially since my cooking is not great!! One more full day in Beijing, and then on Tuesday, we are off to Guangzhou - our last stop before coming home - yea!!! I am ready!!

2009-07-19T07:53:00.000-04:00

Great Wall

2009-07-18T09:14:00.002-04:00

On Friday night, Michael and I went out to dinner with Meg. We were suppose to see her new apartment, but since it had been raining all day she didn't want us to take a chance of not getting a cab home. Apparently when it rains or snows in Beijing, cab drivers go home. So, instead we just went out to dinner. Michael was cranky again. Sigh. In his defense though, I put him down for a nap after our day at the Forbidden City, and had to wake him up about an hour and a half later. It was 5 pm, and I wanted him to sleep at night. So anyway, Meg took me to a nice fresh food restaurant - yum!! I tried to get Michael to eat a quesadilla, and he seemed to like it, until he decided to throw a mini-fit. Meg and I finished our dinner and then we left - with a cranky (and probably hungry) toddler. He did like the salsa though, and ate it all...with a fork, just like Danielle does!! They will get along well!!

I will give God praise though, Michael went to bed without throwing a fit!! That was huge!! I sure needed a break!! We woke up early on Sat, and ate a great breakfast and then met our group at 8 am to go to the Great Wall. On the way there we stopped at a jade store. Yes, it was just like the pearl store from yesterday! We were given a quick lesson in how to distinquish true jade from the fake stuff, were told about some special sales that are "just for us", and then allowed to shop. One sales lady followed me around for a while, hoping to make a sale, but she got the hint when I started to play "kick the can" with a paper cup that Michael had found. No, that probably wasn't proper "jade store" ettiquette, but it's what we did. And no, I didn't buy anything!

Next was the Great Wall. I was really excited to see this, and it did not disappoint!! We stopped at the first gate and decided to keep going. There were SO MANY people at this stop and it was REALLY steep. The next "entrance" was great - not too crowded at all. Since the stroller wasn't going to work here, I brought out the Ergo baby carrier that my friend, Donna loaned to me. It worked great!! Michael really seemed to enjoy riding in it and I had both hands free to steady myself up and down the stairs (I am afraid of heights). It really was amazing!! We walked up and down the wall for a bit and took some photos. Two different groups of school children swarmed me and Michael and wanted to take our pictures...I guess they weren't used to seeing an American woman carry a 2 year old in a baby carrier!! Anyway, I smiled for their photos. One of the women in my group joked that I must be a celebrity. To that I responded that if I was a celebrity, someone else would be carrying my child!!! UGH!! I enjoyed my time there, but was ready to get the carrier (and my son) off - I was SO hot!!!!

On the way back to the hotel, we drove by the Olypic Water Cube and Bird's Nest. They were really cool!! Apparently you can "sit" in the Bird's Nest for $7 USD and you can swim in the Water Cube for about $10. Thanks, but no thanks. It might be cool to swim, but I wonder if I could actually swim a whole lap? Maybe next time I come to Beijing!!!

2009-07-18T09:08:00.000-04:00

Rainy day

2009-07-17T08:35:00.002-04:00

Michael took a good nap on Thursday afternoon and woke up in a much better mood - thank you, God!! We met the group for dinner at a nice (and cheap) restaurant around the corner of the hotel. Then we came home, bathed and went to bed. Michael LOVES taking a bath!!

We woke up on Friday morning expecting to meet our group at 8 am to go for a tour at the Forbidden City, but alas, it was raining!! So, instead our guide moved our departure time to 11 am so that we could go for lunch, the pearl gallery and then to the Forbidden City. I was glad that the time was changed so that I could spend some good quality time on Skype with Steve and the girls. I sure do miss them!! I wish I was going home tomorrow instead of NEXT Saturday!! UGH!! Will the 25th ever get here!!??? Anyway, lunch was great. Pearl gallery...not so much. I am not sure WHY we went to this place, it was really just a pearl jewelry store. They did have fresh water oysters there and they opened one up and showed us inside which was cool (and let us each pick out a pearl from inside the oyster), but then they just wanted to sell us stuff. I did buy a couple of things which were a good deal, but was actually kind of annoyed that we went here as a "tourist" spot - it was kind of tacky to schedule this if you ask me. According to our guide, famous athletes come here to buy pearls for their family - big deal. Well, we did go to the Forbidden City after that - in the rain. It was not pouring (as it was earlier in the morning), but it was still a steady drizzle. We felt like our guide didn't really want to take us...he said that the 2 older kids didn't want to go (but since none of us speak Chinese, we don't really know how he presented it). But we adults were dying to do anything outside of our tiny hotel rooms!! So, the adults won!! Now I had debated about going at all since it was in the afternoon and that is when Michael naps, but I had to get out!! We enjoyed ourselves and Michael seemed to enjoy riding around in his stroller. The 2 dads on this trip have been great in helping me carry the stroller up and down stairs. China is not very stroller-friendly!!
Meg is suppose to come to the hotel around dinner time and wants to take me and Michael to see her new apartment. She is so excited and happy to actually have her own place!!! Tomorrow - the Great Wall!! I am really looking forward to seeing that!!!

2009-07-17T08:32:00.000-04:00

Not the easiest 2 days....

2009-07-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

Okay, so the last 2 days have not been the best. It started out the night of the health exam. Michael refused to go to sleep (maybe the 3 hour nap had something to do with it). Anyway, he drank his bottle and instead of falling asleep, he seemed to get a 2nd wind. He played in bed but would not settle down. Finally, I took away the things that he was playing with and tried to force the issue. He was mad, but he finally did go to sleep - at 10:15. Well, he woke up at 3:30 am with either a nightmare or a night terror. After that he had some mini-fits and tried out various sleeping positions on the floor until 5 am. Nice. So, when he woke up at about 8, he was fine. He ate a good breakfast and seemed quite happy, Mommy - not so much. I was quite tired and the coffee didn't quite give me the extra energy that I wanted/needed.

We met our group in the lobby at 10 & spent the day completing all of our Chinese paperwork - praise God!!! First we went to the Civil Affairs office to get our finalized documents. We bumped into Tammy and Tony (also from Atlanta) again, only this time we got to chat. Their daughter just turned 3 and also gets overwhelmed at times. It must be so hard for these little ones - they really don't know what is happening. After we got our documents, we went to lunch. Michael continues to have no trouble eating - still hasn't refused a single thing!! He eats any kind of veggie (eggplant, beans, cabbage, celery, etc) and he even stole some tofu off of my plate!! Then we headed to the notary office. When we entered the conference room, Tony and Tammy were there again - and had been for over 2 hours!! That's when I knew it was going to be "oh so much fun" to wait. We were there for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Surprise - the kids did great!! There really weren't alot of things for us to do except check over our paperwork and look for errors before they printed and put together our "white books". These are the books that state our adoption is legal and binding. Now, here is the thing. Beijing is the capital of China, so one would think that things would be done most efficiently here - not so. This is the most inefficient process that I have seen!! When we adopted Danielle, we did not have to wait in some room for these books to be made. We also didn't have to wait 2 days to get them!! Many things in China are inefficient, this just happens to be one of them. Well, remember how I told you that Michael slept terribly the night before? Well, you would have never guessed!! He was a happy little angel!! Praise the Lord! I was annoyed a bit, but he did great. After they finally finished our books, we then went to the Chinese post office to apply for his passport (he is still considered a Chinese citizen). Again, no paperwork for me to do, we just waited. This day really was long. We left the hotel at 10 am and did not get back until 4:30!! I didn't feel like venturing out of the hotel for dinner, so we ate in the hotel restaurant. It was quite pricey but good. I decided that a good ole cheeseburger sounded good - and it was!!! Michael was introduced to french fries and ketchup - he ate them all! When I showed him my plate to let him know that the fries were all gone, he took the lettuce from my salad (that had some thousand island dressing on it), and began dipping THAT in the ketchup. Nice. So after that you would have thought that it would be easy to get him to sleep. Oh no, he had to have more temper tantrums. Not as long, but he fought me tooth and nail. When he did go to sleep, he did sleep all night though, thank God!!

Today we went to Tianamen Square. Since our paperwork is now complete (hallelujah), we will start seeing some sights. So we went to the Square. It was interesting to see but quite crowded. We were also suppose to go to the Forbidden City, but there were some dignitaries there and the wait was too long to get in (in a way, still Forbidden). Instead, we went for more Peking duck. The two 7 year olds told our guide that they have wanted to try it, so we did. It's good, but I think that I have had enough of it - especially since it is not cheap!! Now, the worst part of this day was Michael. He was a complete pill all day. He must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something because the littlest things would just tick him off. Now, when he has a temper tantrum, he will either plop his bottom on the floor and just sit there pouting, or he will lay on the ground and kick his feet, or he will throw whatever is in his hands onto the ground, even if it his favorite thing. When he has nothing else in his hands, he will take his shoes off and throw them as well. He has thrown his shoes 3 times today (before 2 pm). Now, in a way it is really sad when he throws a fit....I am able to feel how weak he is. It takes very little strength from me to hold him close when he is thrashing about. Also his voice is quite quiet. It is hard to describe the sound that he makes, but it really is kind of pitiful. We got back to the hotel about 1:30 and I tried to put Michael down for a nap. Same thing as last night - fought me as hard as he could!! He wouldn't take a bottle and just wouldn't quit having a fit. I am open to suggestions for those of you who have BTDT. Danielle grieved at sleep time, Michael just seems mad!! I am hoping that my sweet little boy will return after his nap - he has sure been a pickle today!! I am holding up well, considering. I am more than ready to come home. I miss my family terribly. Everyone else in the group is great, but they all also have each other. When we aren't together, I miss adult company. I do appreciate all of the comments and emails though - I read them often!! Please pray for Michael - I feel so sad for him, he is having a hard time.

2009-07-16T07:57:00.000-04:00

Health check

2009-07-15T09:41:00.002-04:00

Since we are staying so long in Beijing, our agency arranged to have the health check (required by the US Consulate in Guangzhou) done here in Beijing. There is a US approved clinic that can do the same exam (almost) that they do in Guangzhou. Since we will be shortening our time in Guangzhou, taking this step out of the process will be beneficial!! So our poor kids couldn't eat anything before the exam because they were going to have a blood draw. UGH!! We get to the clinic and fill out some paperwork and then we start the lovely process. The whole bit about getting the paperwork in order was frustrating. The Beijing clinic is just not as organized as the clinic on Shamian Island (Guangzhou), where they are used to dealing with these little kids. They were insistent that Michael was going to need 2 vaccinations, to which I fought them tooth and nail!! We are under the "old" rules of international adoption (600/non-Hague family), and therefore, do not need to have any vaccinations here in China. They finally gave up the battle and let me go on to the exam. Michael did great with the dental check and the eye exam. Although, I was very annoyed at the eye exam. They wanted him to sit in a chair and tell them which way the "E" was facing. Really (he's 2 years old). I mean, come on folks let's be real here!!! They finally gave up - ya think?. Oh, another frustrating point was they wanted him to pee in a cup. Keep in mind that he hasn't eaten or had anything to drink since the night before!!! Really - again (oh, as this post continues, remember that I haven't eaten anything either, thus the easy frustration on my part!). Since our first attempt of peeing in a cup failed, they told us to give him water - which thrilled him to no end. Next we went for the blood draw. Now I don't know if Michael was just tired of the chaos or overly hungry, but here is where we first experienced a little defiance from him (praise God!). He did not like me taking his bottle away and he plopped his little bottom on the floor and pouted. I then had to pick him up and carry him to the blood draw station - fun is coming!! They couldn't find a vein in the left arm, so they tried the right - all the while he is squirmming and fussing (not crying, just fussing). Okay, vein found, and tears begin!! Poor little guy cried all through both vials of blood being taken. He was quite annoyed after that - until I started giving him Goldfish - he got happy again. He cried again when they attached electrodes to him for his ECG - not happy with that at all. The technician said that he heart was beating fast but was okay. Huh, shocking - I wonder why!! When we went into the Dr.'s office for the general exam he plopped himself down on the floor again - he was done. So, I had to step on the scale with him and then alone and the doctor subtracted my wt. Nice. I was very encouraged - not!! When Michael realized that he wasn't going to be poked any more, he got happy again. Poor kid had been through the ringer!! On the way out of the doctor's office, the doc was talking to Michael and asked if I was his mama, and Michael said, "Mama"!! Clear as a bell!! That made my day!! So we were then all done with the stations - or so I thought. Michael still had to pee!!! We could not leave until they got his urine sample!!! UGH!! Talk about pressure. I took him into the bathroom and tried to encourage him to go. Finally Meg came in and told Michael (in Mandarin Chinese) he just had to go a little bit and then we could leave and go back to the hotel - and he went!!! PRAISE GOD!! We were out of that crazy clinic as fast as we could get down 4 flights of stairs!! Oh, and we did not need to get a chest x-ray!! Apparently his PPD (skin test for TB) was considered "normal" which is sufficient for entrance into the US. We are cautiously grateful. We are all praying that this is correct and we won't have any issues in Guangzhou - please pray that all is well!!

After that ordeal, we went to a great restaurant around the corner from our hotel and ate like royalty!!! The food was great and Michael fed himself his entire meal! Up until this point I have been feeding him which is good for building attachment. I will continue to feed him, but it was encouraging to know that he CAN do it himself!! We then came back to the hotel and I tried to lay him down for a nap. This wasn't as easy. He was upset about something, and would not cooperate. Now, I do not like it when my kids have temper tantrums, but in this case I am okay. He has been so easy and complacent that I was beginning to worry a little. Every day more of his personality is coming out. We still don't know if he was in foster care or the orphanage, but I do feel that he will be okay. Once he is around his crazy sisters, he will have no choice but to fend for himself!!! He eventually fell asleep and slept for 3 hours!! I decided to let him sleep since his schedule has been so out of whack. Plus, he still has a cold and I figured that he could really use the rest. After nap, I gave him some leftovers from lunch and Meg brought me a ham and cheese sub from a French sub shop. It was really good!! Then we decided to take him to the pool. Meg wanted to swim some laps and so Michael and I hung out at one end of the pool. He looked pretty slick in his biker shorts suit and swim cap!! Me, not so much. He was scared at first, but then he just started laughing!! He cried when we got out of the pool. He seemed to really enjoy it, which is good since his sisters are fish. We made it up to the room to talk to Baba and the 3 sisters. Earlier in the day, Michael began to really look at the picture book we sent him with pictures of us. He even said "mama" and "baba" at the appropriate picture!! He has been carrying that book ever since!!! Today was a crazy day, but he is getting more and more comfortable with me. Oh, on another negative note...Facebook continues to be blocked and now I can't even get sound for CNN. I guess the uprising in the western part of the country is still causing some trouble. But it's killing me!! UGH!!!! Keep the comments coming - it really helps my sanity!!! You can also email me - I am craving more contact with the outside world!!!

He is officially ours!!

2009-07-14T10:31:00.000-04:00

We met our group at 9 am and rode to the Civil Affairs office to complete the paperwork needed to make this adoption legitimate in the eyes of the Chinese govt. We did not need to wait long until it was our turn. As I was walking to our desk, I saw another family already working on paperwork, and I made a guess and I was right - it was Tammy and Tony! They are from Atlanta as well and Tammy and I have become friends via email and phone - we have never actually met in person!! I just thought that it was cool of God to let us meet - even though it was brief!! Everything went like clockwork. Michael was very well behaved and no problems came up. Apparently the officials were very confused as to why Steve had a visa to come to China and he didn't!! I wanted to scream!! Of course he wanted to come, but it is your dump quarantine scares that forced him to stay home with our girls!! Stupid!!! Well, with little fanfare the paperwork was finished and we were on our way back to the hotel. We ate lunch and Michael took a quick nap before we met our group again to go to the aquarium. It was quite nice - Michael especially liked the huge shark tank.

Michael was still quite complacent and quiet today. When we arrived back at our hotel though, he smiled and made some "happy noises" - like he was glad to be home! We went out to a great restaurant with Meg and a friend of hers - it was awesome!! I loved this green bean dish and eggplant dish the best. We had watermelon juice to drink - Michael loved it! We both also loved the duck rolls. At the restaurant, Michael started to come out of his shell a little more. As we were coming in from our cab in the pouring rain, he kept "saying" something. He was visibly upset and looking behind us, but I just assumed that he was fascinated by the rain. When we got to our table, he showed me his foot that was missing a shoe!! Meg went to look for it and it was outside in the street. He had been trying to tell me all along!! He was very happy when Meg brought it back to him. He really loves his shoes - I do too, once I took the squeakers out of them!! I think that I forgot to mention that all 3 kids arrived at our hotel with brand new clothes and shoes - they were all dressed sharply!! Anyway, he is doing well. Loves his bath and goes to sleep well - as long as he has his bottle, thus the bottle rot teeth!!! UGH!!! Still no trouble with walking or potty - no accidents at all - yea God!!!!

2009-07-14T10:24:00.001-04:00

1st Day with Michael

2009-07-13T08:14:00.005-04:00

Okay, so you have seen photos of our son, now I want to tell you about Sunday July 12th. I actually had been able to get a really good night sleep - since Meg had me walking all over Beijing (well, we did do the subway too). But I do think that all of that exercise (in the heat) helped me to sleep off some jet lag - I am actually doing well so far. Okay, so I woke up and had another amazing breakfast with Meg and then I went up to my room to freshen up and pray before I was suppose to meet my son in the hotel lobby at 10 am. I got my cameras and gifts for the orphanage director and some toys that I was hoping would win Michael over and left my room about 9:40 - thinking that would give me some time before Michael arrived to get settled. Well, I walk into the lobby and see the other 2 families talking to their children!! They had come early!!!! I ran over to Meg, handed her my camera and Flip video camera, and walked towards the director who was holding my son!! She tried to hand him to me, but he started crying and grabbing onto her. I told her to wait, ran and got out 2 Matchbox cars to show him. He loves cars, so he was immediately drawn to them. He left the director's arms and started playing with the cars. I took one and we started to play together a bit. He even made some cautious eye contact with me! After about 10 minutes, we all went to a conference room where we had to get some paperwork in order. Michael let me carry him!! He is such a little peanut! It is really hard to tell how different his size is from Danielle who is 3 months older. He is definitely skinnier, but he is a good height. So we go to the conference room and he sits quietly on my lap. After a while I got out some Goldfish crackers and gave him one at time, handing them to him from my eye level to his, making eye contact each time. He ate them all up. After our "business" was done, I took him up to my room and Meg ran to a restaurant and brought us some lunch. Boy, can he eat!! He loved everything that we offered him. I do have to give him one bite at a time, otherwise he will shove it all into his mouth - we will need to work on that. I tried to give him a nap, but after his bottle he shot back up and starting playing with his toys. I brought along a Thomas the Train rev-n-go set and he was absolutely amazed with it!! He couldn't get enough!! After his "nap time", we met the rest of the group and we went to a children's department store - it was absolutely insane!!! I was completely overstimulated, and so was Michael. I have seen that when things get overwhelming, he tends to shut down. So that is what he did while I had to find him a bathing suit - since I left it at home!! Well, I had the choice of biker shorts, swim trunks or speedos - I choose swim trunks. I also bought him a Winnie the Pooh DVD and children's music CD - all in Chinese. He loves the music, not too into the DVD which is just fine!! When we got back to our room, he started to come out of his shell a little more. We walked to get dinner and brought it back to the room, and then I decided to try giving him a bath. He didn't want to, but when I put some of his stacking cup toys into the water, he enjoyed playing in the tub. He did great!! After bath I brushed his teeth, gave him a bottle and lay down with him on the bed. He drank a little, and then wiggled around for a minute and fell fast asleep. He was asleep by 8:30 and woke up at 6:20 am. I was amazed!!

Now, as far as his health. He has a cold, so please pray that it goes away. He is able to walk, climb stairs, etc - there seems to be no trouble with his motor skills at all - PRAISE GOD!!! When I received him, he didn't have on diapers - or even underwear!! OOps!! The director told me that he should have on a diaper, especially at night. I have had him in pull-ups and they have been dry the entire time!!! Whenever he "indicates" the need, I put him on the potty and he goes!! He even had a dry diaper after sleeping all night!! Another answered prayer!! Now, he does have bad teeth. His top 3 or 4 teeth look like they may have bottle rot. I am guessing that he goes to bed with a bottle of milk stuck in his mouth. Luckily they are baby teeth and they will fall out - probably sooner than later. The other thing that came as a surprise is that it turns out he may not have been in foster care at all. All throughout his referral report it tells of a foster mother, but the director said that he had been in the orphanage the whole time. Meg pursued this, and the director finally admitted that she didn't know for sure and that she would double check. She made a few phone calls, but hasn't heard anything yet. She will let our guide know when she finds out. We are not refusing to adopt him since he was in the orphanage, it just was a little bit of a shock. All is well though. He is becoming less shell-shocked as time passes. He will be just fine. He is definitely more active when we are in our room instead of when we are with the rest of our group. Things are going so well - your prayers are definitely working!! I am so grateful for all of our prayer warriors - we couldn't be doing this without you!!! I will give more updates soon!!!

I FINALLY HAVE OUR SON !!!

2009-07-12T09:41:00.002-04:00

I am not going to post a lot right now, but let me just say thank you for all of your prayers. Michael is in shock, but is doing REALLY well!! He is making eye contact with me which is great!! I even got my first smile out of him when I brought out his Thomas the Train set - he loves it!!! He is trying to make it work himself. After a big bottle of water, he even indicated that he had to go potty, so I put him on the toilet and he went! PRAISE GOD!! He is walking well and is absolutely beautiful!! I couldn't be more pleased with how well things are going. After doing some paperwork, we Skyped Daddy at 11:45 pm (ET) and they got to meet!! Michael was pretty quiet, but I know that Steve and his son are going to be great buddies!! GOD IS GOOD!! I will post more soon!!!

2009-07-12T09:27:00.003-04:00

After a restless sleep, Michael's finding place!!

2009-07-11T11:14:00.000-04:00

After a restless sleep, Meg and I enjoyed a fabulous breakfast buffet, switched my hotel room - to a king size room and then left to explore the city. Our first stop? Michael's finding place!! It was only a 15 minute cab ride. We found the gated neighborhood and then had to locate the actual building. It was only about 1-2 buildings from the entrance, and I was glad to find out that it was actually a health clinic!! His paperwork did not specify this fact! I was relieved that he was found here, it makes me feel like his birthparents wanted him to get proper care. We walked around the neighborhood. Meg said that it appeared to be a typical middle class neighorhood. She also said that it was likely that his birth parents didn't live there but maybe one or both of them worked there, and maybe still do (imagine having to pass every day the place where you left your child). Anyway, we walked around and were even able to see the police station where Michael was taken after he was found. He spent a couple of weeks in their custody before he was sent to the orphanage.

Next we decided that we needed some pampering. So we went to Starbucks and then Meg had a pedicure and I had a 45 minute back, neck and shoulder masssage. It was wonderful! I felt so relaxed after that. Well, at least until we went to Carrefour (a huge store, like Walmart). It was absolutely crazy!! NEVER go there on a Sat. afternoon!! We bought a few things including a stroller for Michael! Yikes!! We then dragged this big stroller box to the place that Meg has been staying with friends - the Finish Diplomatic Compound!! She sure has some interesting friends!! We got back to the hotel, checked out the pool, put the stroller together and then freshened up for dinner. We met Michael (our guide) and the 2 other families in my group that just arrived today and we went out for the infamous Peking Duck. It was delicious!!! The entire meal was absolutely yummy!! Now I am full and tired. I guess I just need to go to bed so that I will be well rested to meet my son in the morning!! All of us (the 3 families) are worried about our poor children - their little worlds are about to be rocked. The other 2 families are both adopting 7 year-olds (one boy and one girl). Please pray for all of their health and emotional well-being!! Next post - pictures of our son!!

See below for pictures...

2009-07-11T10:51:00.002-04:00

Well, I MADE IT!!!

2009-07-10T22:35:00.005-04:00

Well, I MADE IT!!! I cannot tell you how happy I am to be in China right now!! The pre-trip has been one of the most stressful things that I have gone through!! But, due to God's grace (and a few miracles that He allowed), I am in my son's city - BEIJING!! I left Atlanta on Thurs. 7/09 at 2:20 pm and flew to Tokyo. After a 2 hour layover, we left for Beijing and arrived here at about 10:20 pm (10:20 am ET). The trip over was very easy and safe. My wonderful husband worked some magic and I was able to fly business class all the way to China - praise God! It was great! I was able to stretch out and get some sleep - as well as watch a couple of movies. I am now in the Yuyang Hotel and it is very nice. I am in a room with 2 single beds since I thought that Meg might be staying with me, but that has changed. She has a place not far from here so she will stay there and come hang with me during the day. So after breakfast, I am going to see if I can switch to a room with a king size bed. Hopefully that won't be a problem - with Meg on my side, she will get it done!! When I arrived at my hotel, I hooked up my computer and was able to "see" my family via Skype. It was so good to see them, I miss them so much! I so wish that things had been different and that they were able to come, but now I just need to stay positive and get our son home!! I can't believe that in a little more than 24 hours he will be in my arms!! What a miracle - God is good!! Oh, so far I have avoided quarantine! I forgot to put my Tylenol in my carry-on (people have been taking it an hour before landing just to make sure they don't have an elevated temperature), but I passed the hazmat temperature scan drug-free!! Oh - there is a temperature scanner at the entrance to my hotel!! Let's just hope that after walking around Beijing in 100+ degree weather and then stepping into the hotel, that I don't register a fever! Talk about pressure!! Thank you for all of your prayers - I would appreciate if you would keep them up - they seem to be working!! Please pray specifically for my son's physical and emotional health - thank you and God bless!!

AMEN!!!

2009-07-09T09:44:00.002-04:00

Prayers have been answered!! I am going to China as scheduled!!! Thank you to all of my prayer warriors!!! Next post will be from Beijing!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!

I NEED PRAYERS!!

2009-07-08T20:15:00.002-04:00

Without going into specific details (mainly because I am just overwhelmed and numb at this point), there is a chance that I won't be able to leave on Thurs. I know that with God anything is possible, I am just praying that His will be done. Having said that, I would appreciate you all to pray for this MASSIVE mountain to be moved. In order for me to be able to keep my scheduled flight, a true miracle needs to happen - I have no doubt that God can do it, I just hope that He chooses to do this!

Leaving on Thursday!

2009-07-04T22:10:00.002-04:00

I cannot believe it is finally time to meet our son!! I am leaving on Thursday and will be in Beijing on Friday night at 10:30 pm. I will have a day and a half to get settled and get prepared to meet Michael on Sunday the 12th at 2 pm (2 am ET)! More good news? I will be flying to Beijing in style - business class all the way!! Now, I wasn't able to get business class on the way home, but I will be so excited to get home I really won't care!! Plus, Michael will have a seat and he won't take up as much room as another adult. I am hoping that there will be less people in business class, and therefore, less of a chance of being exposed to swine flu! I have bought all of the supplements that my naturopath has recommended to boost my immunity and keep me H1N1 free - let's pray that it works!! I am looking forward to meeting Meg at the airport - she will be staying with me at a hotel for the first few days. After our official appointments are finished, I will then stay at Meg's apartment until I fly to Guangzhou on the 21st. I am still praying that everything will work out and I can arrive home on the 25th as scheduled!! I will be so ready to come home and unite my entire family together! Steve will be taking the girls to visit my parents while I am gone so tomorrow I will be packing all of our suitcases so that we can enjoy our last 2 days together - relatively stress free?! Please pray for safe travels (for all of us), Michael's physical and emotional health, no quarantine for me, and for Steve and the girls - thank you!!!!

Life has been crazy!!

2009-06-23T21:55:00.002-04:00

I am sorry that I have left you hanging...things have been quite a mess! We did get our travel approval (see previous post), but we have yet to travel. We were unable to make the necessary appointments in China due to the swine flu. So, for a couple of weeks we waited - and nothing. Well, last week things started to open up again and yes, we have our travel dates!! I will be meeting our son on July 12 - PRAISE GOD!! While we are glad that we are finally going to bring him home, it is coming at a price. Our original plan was for Steve, Danielle and me to travel together to bring him home. I was good with this plan and was hoping beyond hope that it would work out. Unfortunately, it will not. Our new plan is for me to go to China - alone. Due to the H1N1 virus, things are quite tight in China, and we don't feel that we can risk taking Danielle. IF one of us were to have a fever when we land, we could be put in quarantine. IF a person sitting within 3 rows of us (in either direction) tests positive for swine flu, we could be put in quarantine. IF while in quarantine, one of us tests positive for swine flu, that person could be separated from the rest of the family and hospitalized - they could even put Danielle in the hospital without us going with her. Do I really think that this will happen? No...but we can't take that risk. So, our plan is for Steve to stay home with our 3 little ones, while I travel half way around the world to bring our son home. I am so sad that it has come to this. I have been praying that we could all go as planned - especially Steve, but we have to do what is best for all of our children - and we both can't leave Danielle for 2 weeks. That is why we decided that I need to go. If Steve were to go, Michael would bond with him, and then when they return home and Steve leaves for work, Michael may feel abandoned again. We can't have that. Since I am a stay-at-home mom, we decided that it would be best for me to go so that I can bond with Michael and learn about his wants and needs and so that we have a relationship before he meets his crazy sisters!! Steve and I have prayed about this and feel at peace with our decision. Steve is disappointed that he can't go, but he knows that we need to best meet the needs of all of our children. He is an awesome dad and I know that our girls will be well taken care of, but I sure am going to miss them like crazy!! Please pray for us - we can use all the help that we can get! I promise to update more over the next few weeks. China here I come!!!

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!

2009-05-27T21:29:00.002-04:00

Well, after over 4 weeks of waiting, we finally received our TA (travel approval)!! Praise God!! Now, in theory, we should be able to make our appointment to get our son; however, we are not able to make those appointments due to the swine flu scare. UGH!! A lot of provinces have been restricting adoption business, but they seem to have lightened up and are now letting people in...all except for our son's!! Double UGH!! Apparently, the civil affairs offfice will be closed for the rest of the week for holiday, so we are praying that we can get our appointment (and then make travel plans) next week!! Please pray with us! There are so many families that are waiting to go and get their children but they are stuck! Very frustrating! But, I have been praying (and continue to pray) that God gets us to China at the time He wants us to be there...it is just so hard to be patient! We are also looking into a housing situation...we would love your prayers for that to work out as well (if it does, I will be sure to tell you!). Thank you for all of your prayers! Stay tuned...things will hopefully start moving so we can bring our son home soon!!!!

Lots Going On

2009-05-05T21:03:00.002-04:00

I know that it has been a while since I posted, but things have been a little crazy! We had been a little thrown that our LOA (Letter Of Acceptance) had come so quickly! We were expecting at least a 3 month wait, instead of 1 1/2 months. So, as you can imagine, we were busy trying to "guess" when our travel dates would be and plan accordingly. I was a little sad, because technically, we shouldn't leave until June 19th (because of child care), and I want to get to China ASAP. Well, let's just say that a few things have cropped up that may make it virtually impossible to leave before then. Obviously, the swine flu is a possible hindrance! It is going to take a little bit longer to receive our visas - apparently they are slowing down that process, probaby to stall people from traveling into China. I have also been hearing rumors that our son's orphanage has closed it's doors, which I can't say that I am surprised about. So, swine flu may definitely impact our ability to leave before June 19.

Before we received our LOA, we had been praying for our "leaving" date to be June 19 - that is my mom's last day of work for the summer, and she is going to watch Stef and Liz while we are gone. Once we got such an early LOA, we were trying to figure out a way to leave earlier than planned. Well, another road block presented itself about a week and a half ago....my mom was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer. She is scheduled for a lumpectomy on Friday but they won't know for sure how much tissue will have to be removed until the surgery. After that they are planning on doing 6 weeks of radiation. My mom is in good spirits and truly believes that everything will be just fine (so do I). In fact, she still wants to watch our girls, but I definitely don't want to take them to her house before she finishes work and radiation. She doesn't need anything extra on her plate right now. Luckily, my dad may be able to take some extra time off from work to help out. I ask all of you to please put my mom in your prayers. I am sure that most, if not all of you know someone with cancer, and how scary it is. Thank you for your support and prayers!

So now we are still waiting for permission to travel, and as you can see, even if we get TA soon, we may have to wait. In some ways that is okay - I am desperately trying to get my house in order before we leave - and I have a whole lot to do!! Next Friday (May 15) will be my last day of work at my daughters' preschool, and frankly, I am relieved. I can't wait to be able to stay home and take care of my children! I have enjoyed working this year - I have made a lot of great friends, but I am totally ready to be home 24/7 with my kiddos. In fact, I just bought the curriculum that I am going to use next year when I homeschool Stephanie (kindergarten) and Elizabeth (pre-k)!! I went to a homeschool conference this past weekend, and I am totally excited about next year! I was a little worried about homeschooling, but now that I have my curriculum, I am good to go! I can't wait to get started! I will wait - but it will be hard. Between now and when we leave for China, I am trying to clean out closets and toys so that we can be more organized for life and for school. I must admit that whenever I start to feel good about the stuff that I get rid of, then friends give us clothes or more toys! UGH! However, most of the toys have been for Michael and who can resist free clothes, so I am TOTALLY grateful...I am just a little overwhelmed at times! Hopefully things will get better after this weekend - I have put it on our calendar to clean out the garage! YEAH!! Closets are next!!

Anyway, that is about it for now - isn't that enough?! I have a HUGE to-do list of things that need to be completed before we travel, and I am starting to make a dent in it - which is great, but sometimes I start to have a mild panic attack (sort of joking) when I realize that we could be traveling in about 6 1/2 weeks!!! WOW!! So close and yet so far...now if China doesn't close it's doors, we will be good! Please pray for our son. We pray continually for his health - physically and emotionally. His little world is about to be rocked. Poor little guy has no idea that his life is about to change forever. Thank you for your prayers for Michael, our family, and my mom - I truly appreciate it!! God bless!

LOA TODAY!!!!

2009-04-15T22:13:00.005-04:00

Our God is an AWESOME God!!! This afternoon, we received the call from our agency rep that they had received our LOA today! We are in total shock! We have only been waiting for 58 days! The average wait time has been 90-120 days! Now, this LOA (Letter of Acceptance) means that the Chinese adoption officials have reviewed our paperwork and have given us approval to adopt our son, Michael Jianyang! The only thing that is between us and our boy is our TA (travel approval). Apparently, it will take about 4 weeks to get this piece of paper, and once we receive it we can make our travel arrangements! Technically, we could probably leave around the end of May or early June. We may not be able to leave that early but we are going to try and get to China ASAP. Not only is it a miracle that we received our LOA in only 58 days, but today also happens to be Steve's birthday. Nothing can top receiving approval to adopt a son! Glory to God! And now, since we have this approval from China, we can FINALLY introduce our son to you:

VERY Productive Spring Break

2009-04-11T21:57:00.004-04:00

Well, Danielle is potty trained!! YIPPEEE!!! Don't ask why, but Monday morning (the first official day of spring break), I thought, "Hey, we have a week off from school, why not potty train Danielle?" Crazy, huh? I knew that we were going to be stuck at home for a couple of days (since the weather was going to be cold - 40s), so what better way to pass the time? We had tried to casually train her a couple of times before, but after sitting on the potty for a while, she would get up and promptly wet her pants - UGH!! So, Monday morning, we tried it again. I put her in panties (and rubber pants), and what did she do? Wet herself - 3 times. But, on the 4th try, she actually went in the potty! Major party time! After she realized that going on the potty wasn't so scary, she kept her pants dry. On Wednesday, we had some friends over for a playdate, and right in the middle of playing, Danielle came up to me and said, "I have to go pee-pee really bad!"...and she did - in the potty!!! We have been golden ever since. I took all the girls to the playground on Thursday...Danielle stayed dry! I took the girls to a local bounce house on Friday...and Danielle stayed dry! And yes, she has been in panties every day since Monday...including all outings! Now, she was doing great with #1, but #2 was going to be tricky...or so I thought. Well, yesterday she went #2 in the potty and hasn't had any trouble! She is still sleeping in diapers, but tonight before bed, she said she had to go potty, and she did...in the potty, not her diaper! Praise God! She was my easiest child to potty train yet! Sorry for all the "potty talk", but I am just so proud of her - and she is too! So maybe we didn't get to go on a fancy spring break trip, but we sure accomplished a lot!!!

How Awesome is God?!

2009-04-08T21:42:00.007-04:00

God is absolutely amazing! Let me tell you just one reason why...Meg! For those of you who followed our trip to Danielle in Nov. 07, you may recall what a God-send Meg was. Meg is Steve's step-sister (really, she is our true sister by heart) who has lived and studied in China...and is perfectly fluent in Mandarin. When we went to adopt Danielle, Meg (by the grace of God) was already in China and was able to be with us for half of our trip. Because she was able to come with us, we were able visit Danielle's hometown and experience "real" China. It was amazing! Well, when we started the process to adopt Michael, Steve had said that we need/want Meg to go with us again. We had no idea if that would work out or not, but it has been our secret prayer for months. Last night we found out that God has answered our prayers! Meg is going to be in China from June through Dec of this year. Not only will she be in China, but this time she will be living in Beijing!!!! Let's just say, that will work out perfectly for us! We are hoping to go to get our son some time this June or July...and Meg will be available! She offered to let us stay in her apartment, while that would save us money, it might scare her away! So we will probably stay somewhere else and hang with Meg during the day. Hey, we may save money anyway - we may not need a guide as often! I would much rather see Beijing with Meg - she translates for us exactly, not what people may want us to know! Plus, she is a ton of fun! Meg knows the city of Beijing well, so we would be in great hands! Steve and I got off the phone last night and thanked God for this answered prayer! Everything seems to be falling into place so well. Another thing that we discussed was possibly taking a side-trip to Danielle's hometown. With Meg, we would be able to do this. In order to go to Laibin, we really would need a guide 24/7, and Meg is more than willing to do this. Now we just need to see if we would be able to meet Danielle's foster mother - wouldn't that be cool? God is good! Now just to get our LOA and TA....come on, let's go get our son!!!!!

Patriotic Practice

2009-03-25T14:24:00.003-04:00

I received a Flip Video camera for Christmas (Thanks Mom and Dad!), and I have been thoroughly enjoying it! It is great - it fits in my pocket so that I can use it whenever something "video worthy" happens. We are looking forward to using it in China this summer. It will be great for those unexpected video-ops when we don't have our camcorder available! So, I decided that I need to try and post a video, since I have never done it before! All 3 of our girls have learned the Pledge of Alligence at school...I am so proud of how well they know this (especially Danielle who is only 2 1/2)! Enjoy!

Friends, New Ride and Snow

2009-03-08T23:16:00.004-04:00

Six beautiful girls...all brought home within the past 2 years!

Add 2 more fair-haired sisters...

On Saturday, we spent the evening at Ellen and Frannie's house for another "digit" get-together. This was the first time that we have been all been together since Faith and Alaina have been united with their forever families. We are so glad to have them home! However, there are still 2 children missing...our little Michael (who, by the way, will obviously have his pick of lovely girls) and Frannie's little sister, Grace. Hopefully we will be able to travel together to pick up our children this summer - God willing.

It is consignment sale time here, and I have been slowly stocking up on clothes, books and toys for all of the girls, and especially Michael. We are trying to get some "boy toys" so that Michael won't have to play with Barbies and princesses. Get a load of the ride that is waiting for him!!!

I will leave you with a couple of pictures of our "snow adventures" from last weekend. Yes, we even get an occasional snowfall in Georgia! Note that since my poor snow deprived kiddos don't quite know what to do in snow, so they tried eating it...off of various surfaces...slides, swings, playhouses, mittens, etc. Enjoy!!!

Snow Pictures

2009-03-08T23:15:00.001-04:00

Recent pictures of the girls

2009-02-18T16:53:00.003-05:00

A little info about our son

2009-02-18T15:22:00.004-05:00

Okay, I know that you may want to know a little bit more about our son. I cannot give too many details, but I will give you some! He is from a LARGE city in China, where we will probably have to spend close to 2 weeks before we go to Guangzhou to finalize the US portion of our adoption. Unfortunately, that means close to a 3 week trip. While I LOVE China, it is going to be so hard to be away from Stephanie and Liz!!! But I digress. Michael (the name that we will give him) turned 2 in Nov. That means that he will only be 3 months younger than Danielle! It is hard to imagine that he is already that big! We have missed out on so much of his life already. We did find him on the SN (special needs) list. He has "cleft spine", which could be a form of spina bifidia. We will not know for sure what this all means until we get him home. I will say, that earlier this week we received updated pictures, measurements and answers to 10 questions from an organization called Ladybugs N Love and everything sounds good! He is growing appropriately and walking well! He is absolutely adorable (I will post pictures as soon as I am able). On his medical reports, it says that he is an extroverted boy, bright, active and talkative. Apparently he loves music, and loves to play with balls and cars. Oh, it also says that he is sometimes impatient and obstinate...huh, does that sound like anyone else we know (all 3 of our girls fit these descriptions). So, when I read about his personality, I knew that we had found our son. I would be lying if I said that we are not a little concerned about his SN, but we are totally trusting God on this!! We have been researching worst case scenarious, but praying that he will be okay. This adoption has been a lot harder than Danielle's. Paperwork, changes in processes and in the economy have made this a challenge. Please pray for quick travels to China so that we can bring our son home. Also, with the economy the way it is, we are also praying that there will be no changes in employment or income that would make this adoption impossible. We know that God is giving us this boy and we are so grateful! Thank you all for your love, prayers and support!!

Update and EXCITING news!

2009-01-22T16:03:00.002-05:00

Okay - I know that I haven't posted in 2 months...we have been busy!!! I had foot surgery on Dec. 18th, and therefore, had to have all of our Christmas shopping and wrapping all done before that, since I was going to be immobile for 2 weeks! So, that is what I did in my "spare" time. Christmas was great! The girls enjoyed performing at church and in their school Christmas programs. I must say, they were the cutest ones in both groups (no, I am not biased). My mom and dad were able to come to our house for a week to celebrate Christmas and to help out with the kids (while I recovered). The girls had SO much fun spending the week with Momma and Bumpa - lots of fun was had by all! After my parents left, we spent a week at Steve's mom's house. This was not planned and she only lives about 45 minutes away, but we had to have some work done at our house and we couldn't stay at our house while it was being done. It was a little inconvenient (since I was still on crutches), but the girls and Nana enjoyed the time that we all got to spend together. Steve liked it since I couldn't have him work on my honey-do list! We all had a great time together celebrating Jesus and His birth with all of our family.

I will definitely be updating more frequently (although not daily since I am certain that you don't want to hear about our daily adventures). Having said that, I have to confess that it is discouraging to post and not get comments. I know that people are following our blog, but I want to hear from you! When you are silent, I get silent! I will probably only be posting through the summer, because after that I will be just too busy to keep up with blog-land. Why would I be more busy after the summer? Well, it is because we are adding one more child to our family! We have just received our PA (pre-approval) for a little BOY!! Yes, we are adding a son to our family of girls! I am not sure what info I can technically share, but just know that he is adorable! He turned 2 in Nov which makes him 3 months younger than Danielle. So you see, I will be even busier with 4 kids under the age of 5! UGH!! I know that we are a little insane, but hopefully God will sustain us and give us the strength and patience that we need to survive. Our dossier (adoption paperwork) is done and shoule be sent to China next week. We are hoping and praying to travel in June. We would love to travel earlier and not in July - we want to beat the bad heat, but June is probably a safe bet. Please keep us in your prayers. We are excited to bring our son home!

One Year Anniversary!!

2008-11-19T15:11:00.006-05:00

I cannot believe that Danielle has been with us for one year! In some ways it seems like she has been with us forever, and in some ways it seems like I just held her in my arms for the very first time! Last year at this time was the beginning of the hardest few days of my life. We were so excited to see our little Lai Fu Tao - we had been waiting for her for so long, but she wasn't exactly excited to be with us. We had heard people talk about grieving, and we thought that we were prepared for it....well, we weren't. Danielle grieved so hard for her losses. She sobbed for her foster mama, and tried to get out of the hotel room at every opportunity. It is amazing at how much things have changed. She is such a happy, vibrant part of our family. She has attached to all of us, and often points to our family portrait and says "Family". She loves to sing, dance and play with her sisters. Danielle continues to amaze us with her "smarts". She learns so quickly that it is scary. We are so grateful that God has blessed us with 3 amazing little girls - God is so good. We owe our family to God - He has grown our family beautifully...whether by birth or adoption, God has given us an incredible family, and for that I am eternally grateful. Please help me by wishing Danielle a Happy Adoption Day!!

Here is our little one last year at the Civil Affairs Office in Nanning....

And here is a current picture of Danielle and her sisters...

We love you, our little angel!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-02T21:59:00.000-05:00

Zoo, pumkins and choir...oh my!

2008-11-01T19:33:00.001-04:00

Apple picking and friends

2008-10-19T23:09:00.002-04:00

We have been having a great fall! The girls continue to enjoy school. We went on a field trip with Stephanie's pre-k class to a fire station last week and Liz got bored. In front of the captain, she said, "I don't like this place". Nice. I am just glad that this station is not responsible for protecting our house!

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to NC to pick apples! We left on Friday afternoon and came back Sunday evening. It was a great weekend! Steve's mom (aka Nana) was able to come along, and the girls were overjoyed. Danielle is still talking to her on her toy cell phone! We met some friends at the apple orchard on Sat. and picked a whole bushel of apples! Needless to say, we don't need to buy any other fruit for a while! The girls took apples to their teachers and clasmates on Tuesday and everybody enjoyed them. And yes, we still have some left!

Yesterday we spent the morning at St. Mtn park hiking with Frannie and her mom Ellen. We had such a good time hiking on one of the islands. The girls fed some ducks and collected leaves and rocks - yippee. We then had a nice picnic lunch together. I love fall and the cool weather! Enjoy some pictures of our weekend adventures!!

2008-10-19T23:08:00.000-04:00

First Day of Preschool

2008-09-02T21:48:00.003-04:00

Today was the first day of preschool for all 3 of our girls! Stephanie had a blast in pre-k! She loves her teacher and has a lot of her girlfriends in her class. In fact, one of the girls in her class is Su Su...one of the little girls that was on the same Waiting Child list as Danielle. Both of these girls are from the same province in China and lived about 2 hours away from each other. Things like this make me realize how small our world is and how big our God is! Elizabeth enjoyed her first day in the 3 year-old class with Ms. Jackie as her teacher. Stephanie had Ms. Jackie last year and absolutely loves her - now Liz is the lucky one, and she had a wonderful day and can't wait until school on Thursday! Danielle went to class today, too!!! Once again, God was at work...my dear friend, Cynthia is one of Danielle's teachers! According to Cynthia (who never lies), Danielle did the best out of all of the little 2 year-olds! She cried for a minute when I dropped her off, and cried when she caught a glimpse of me in the hallway, but other than that she did great!! I was so worried about this day, but she handled it like a trooper! Oh, and I started school today, too.....I am an assistant teacher at the girls' school! I am teaching in the Young 3's class. I decided to work here so that I could be close to my girls during the day...and to help pay the tuition for 3 kiddos!!! All in all, it was a great day for all of us - hopefully it is a great beginning to a fantastic school year!

Danielle is 2

2008-08-22T14:35:00.004-04:00

This has been a very busy week at our house. First, it was extra special because we were able to celebrate Danielle's 2nd birthday with her! We had a big party for her on Saturday with lots of friends, cake and ice cream. She gets a little overwhelmed if she is the center of attention, so we decided to have her party at a "play house". We went to Miss Jamie's House and had a lot of fun. Miss Jamie's House is an actual house that has been converted into play rooms for kids (no one actually lives in the house). They have a room that is play house, a stage with dress up clothes, a ship with fishing poles, a camping room with tents, and then a big outdoor playground. My girls love to play there - and I do to...less mess for me to clean up. This was the first time that we had a party away from our home, and I must say that I liked it! It was nice not having to clean the house before AND after a party. All I had to do this time was get the paper products, snacks, party favors and make the cake!! Hopefully everyone had a good time - Danielle did, and that is what counts!

Also this week I went back to work....ugh!! I am going to be an assistant teacher at my girls' preschool! All 3 of our girls are going to be going to preschool this year, and instead of doing private speech therapy while they are in school, I decided to work where they are! I am really looking forward to it! I have been a little nervous about leaving Danielle, but God is once again looking out for her! My best friend, Cynthia, is going to be her teacher!! Danielle loves and adores her, so hopefully this transistion will be relatively easy. Danielle has been doing better with me leaving - she has done great with a teen babysitter,and she now goes to Sunday school with Elizabeth (only a few tears initially) - I love being able to worship without my "little distraction"!

Today was another special day for us. We went to court to finalize our re-adoption! Basically, this will give her a Gwinnett County birth certificate, instead of using her Chinese one. We are excited to have completed this process. We hired a great attorney, and she didn't charge nearly as much as some do. We were friends with Crystal before all of us got married and started having children, so we were more than happy to send some business her way. We had no issues at all with any of our paperwork - her fees were worth it for me to not have to worry about doing things right. Besides, if I had done it myself, chances are we wouldn't have even filed our papers yet - it can be difficult to get things done with 3 little ones! The only problem we encountered today was....I left my purse in the Judge's chambers! Steve said that was probably the safest place to have left it - hopefully! We got it back and all was well - just a little embarrassing!!

We are all doing great - keeping very busy with friends, family and life in general. The week before Danielle's birthday party was Ally's party. Ally, Shelby, Frannie and Danielle were all on the same Waiting Child list....and we all live in Atlanta - amazing! See the picture of them below titled "Digit Friends". It is great to have such good friends who are going through the same things that we are. Parenting is hard at times, and great support is so hard to find! Thank you to all of our friends who help us out along the way - we couldn't do it without you!!

2008-08-22T14:34:00.000-04:00

Busy summer

2008-08-05T23:01:00.002-04:00

Okay, I have heard from some people that they were wanting me to post again - sorry that it has taken me so long!! This summer has just flown by! Stephanie spent 4 weeks in summer school with one of her favorite teachers and had a blast! She loves school and can't wait for pre-k to start on Sept. 2. We spent a week and a half in MN, visiting my parents and we had a blast! The weather was wonderful (much cooler and less humid than Hot-lanta!) We spent a WHOLE lot of time in my parent's swimming pool, and as you can tell from the pictures below, the girls had no fear! We swam every day and had a blast! Our girls are just little fish - they can't get enough of it! Danielle's first swimming experience was great - she had no fear what-so-ever...which is not always a good thing. They miss swimming every day, but now we go to Nana's often to swim, which everyone loves, too.

Everyone is getting along quite well. Danielle and Liz continue to be partners in crime and enjoy finding trouble together. They have become less destructive, though, which is great! All girls have been great helps at home...helping with dishes, folding laundry, sweeping, dusting and making beds. They would much rather help me with the household chores than picking up their toys! I can't wait until their cleaning skills get better - my house may have hopes of actually being clean one day! Danielle's language skills are improving. She is imitating and learning new words everyday! In fact, Steve had to work late tonight, and so they all called him to say good night, and Danielle told him that she loved him! She said, "Wuv you", and Daddy was in heaven! Another HUGE milestone is this...Danielle does not "require" me to sit in her bedroom until she falls asleep! This is huge for me! This transition was relatively easy...hopefully she will do as well when she goes to school! She will be going to preschool for 3 mornings a week at the same school where Stephanie and Liz will go. Whenever we talk about school, she gets very excited. She is very proud of her new lunchbox...she carries it with her everywhere!

Thank you all for your continued interest in our family. All of your prayers are greatly appreciated. We are so very blessed - God has truly outdone himself (if that is possible) by giving us such a wonderful family. Enjoy some updated pictures!

New pictures

2008-08-05T15:35:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Day!

2008-06-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe, but our little Sweet Pea (Liz) is turning 3 tomorrow (June 6th)! I remember so clearly how she was 2 weeks late and had to be induced...on MY birthday, nonetheless! Yes, Liz and I share the same birthday. I have this feeling, that June 6th will be more her birthday than mine, but that is okay. She is the best birthday present EVER!! We plan on making "our" cake together tomorrow while Stephanie is at summer school. Her big birthday party will be next week, with 12 little friends attending a My Little Pony themed event! She is very excited to be turning 3! I just wish she could stay little forever! Happy Birthday, my beautiful girl!

FAMILY UPDATE

We have been very busy (hence fewer entries)! Danielle has been our daughter for 6 1/2 months already! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. She is adjusting amazingly well. We have left her with friends a couple of times (along with her sisters), and she has done great! No tears. She is definitely getting over her separation anxiety phase (Thank God!). It truly has been hard to be with her 24/7, but as long as it has helped her to be more secure, then it is totally worth it! I have signed her up for preschool next year, and I think that it will be great. In fact, I will be working at the school as well! I am very excited. I will be an assistant teacher (I really didn't want the added responsibility of being lead) in a 3 year-old preschool class. I am really looking forward to it! Stephanie and Liz have been going to this school for 2 years, and we all love it! If I need to work, I can't think of a better place to be....at school with my kids!! I am so grateful that God has blessed us with this opportunity.

God continues to amaze us! His plan to add Danielle to our family is perfect - she is truly our daughter! She is growing bigger and stronger every day. She has the most muscular legs - everyone says she should be a gymnast. Our Naturopath was in awe of her today - the fact that she is so flexible and has no fear. I don't know if that is a good combination though :-) Her new favorite thing to do is hold hands with her sisters when we are walking. It is adorable. She calls her sister's names (or at least an approximation of them) and holds out her hand to them. Very cute! Today, she started coming up to all of us and giving us kisses...she goes from 1 person to the next giving lots of slobbery kisses! She is an angel - most of the time. Don't get me wrong, while she is a beautiful child, she does have her moments! She is getting really good at saying "no" and can be very rebellious at times (and she is not even 2 yet!). All 3 of the girls are playing quite well together (most of the time) and love having each other. We are quite content with our family just the way it is....although Stephanie has been bugging us for a little brother. For some reason she keeps asking us for a baby brother from China named Charlie. Who knows what will happen next - only God does, and hopefully he will make things clear!

Enjoy some current pictures of our family!

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2008-06-05T22:43:00.001-04:00

Can you believe it?

2008-05-01T17:40:00.008-04:00

A whole year has passed since we first met our daughter! Our adoption agency's Waiting Child List came out Monday night, April 30, 2007...and that is when we first saw our daughter's face! I remember that night so clearly! I had just gotten off the phone with my friend Amy, and thought, "Why not?" and so I checked my email and there was the long awaited news...the list had been posted!!! I scoured all of the names and DOB of all of the 10 children on that list, and only one met our age requirements....Lai Fu Tao. I did a little bit of quick research on her "special need" and found out that it was no big deal, and then I waited. I waited for Steve to get home from his softball game before I looked at her picture. I just knew that this was our little girl - the one we had been praying for, and I wanted Steve to be here when we saw our daughter's face for the first time. When he got home, we opened the file, and this is what we saw.....

Beautiful, isn't she? It's amazing at how perfect she is for our family. I can't believe that we have only "known" her for a year, it seems like she has been a part of our family forever. We are so grateful that God placed her in our family - not a day goes by where I am not in awe of the miracle that He performed by choosing her for us. We are eternally grateful. I am so grateful that we were able to find our daughter on the List. All of these children need homes and families desperately, and they are all so beautiful. It breaks my heart that there are still 2 little people on the Hope For Children's current Waiting Child List? Why? Go and check them out and maybe one of them are meant to be a part of your family. They all need homes....why not yours! Here is a current picture of our little one...what a difference a year makes!!! To God be the glory!

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2008-03-27T15:14:00.001-04:00

Update

2008-03-27T14:16:00.002-04:00

I know that it has been a VERY long time since I have posted, but life has just gotten in the way! Our family is continuing to adjust to being a family of 5 quite nicely. Danielle is a little ball of fire - one that gets into everything!! I always seem to be about 3 steps behind her, needless to say, my house is never clean!! She loves to read books, play outside and dance with her sisters. She is just doing great! Danielle is also starting to talk A LOT! I am now Mommy - all the time. She will run around the house saying, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" over and over until she can locate me - very cute - sometimes. She is also saying Daddy, jie jie (big sister in Chinese), puppy, book, bottle, more, eat, drink, Man! (she got that from me), shoes, nice (whenever she gets dressed) and she has just learned nasty (because she was putting something nasty in her mouth) - just to name a few. Danielle loves to imitate, and therefore her language skills are really kicking in. Stephanie and Liz love to play dress-up, and now, so does Danielle. Stephanie and Liz continue to be great big sisters and are usually very willing to help. I love having 3 little girls, although it can be very exhausting a lot of the time. I am trying to get more organized, but that is quite difficult with 3 little ones under the age of 5! Maybe I will get my act together by the time they move out.

While Danielle is trying more American foods, she still loves her Chinese noodles! We often go to a restaurant up the street, which she loves! Stephanie has also become quite the little noodle and dumpling eater - she will be ready for a trip to China someday! Anyway, this past weekend Steve took the girls up there to pick up dinner, and met a new employee who was asking about Danielle and where she was from. Ready for amazing? It turns out that her mother is from Laibin, China - Danielle's birthplace! The odds of this are totally amazing - only God could have orchestrated this! I can't help but wonder if she knows Danielle's foster mom, or birth mom. Steve promised to take this girl some pictures of Laibin (she lived there when she was little) and she was very excited about that. It will be interesting to see if we can learn any more about Danielle's birthplace.

Growth

2008-02-25T14:40:00.003-05:00

We have had a rough couple of weeks - I have been sick, then Danielle, and this past weekend both Steve and Stephanie got sick. Needless to say, the house is a mess and I have a whole lot of things to get done!

Liz has hit a milestone - she is "paci-free". Liz has always LOVED her pacis, but when she was about 1, she traded her paci for "E" (see photo). For over 1 1/2 years, she has slept with E, and she loved him! Well, last week, the Paci Fairy came and took E away. Liz did great, I cried. I was so sad to see this quirky little friend leave our home! I actually had a hard time holding it together when Stephanie started crying and said, "I am going to miss E!" It was an emotional night. I knew that Liz needed to get rid of it (we don't want her to have to have braces), but it was such a part of her...and it meant that she is growing up. She will be 3 this summer, and I am not ready for her to grow up - I am not ready for ANY of my girls to get any bigger! But I must say, that Liz has done so great without E - we probably should have done this sooner, but we didn't want to take away her E before we went to China!

Danielle continues to do fantastic! Over the past couple of weeks, she has really started to play and interact more with Liz. Since they are so close in age (only 14 months difference), there is some rivalry but lately they have begun to interact and play together just the 2 of them. I have actually been given the highest honor from my youngest daughter - she now calls me Mama! I was very skeptical at first that she was talking about me, but I have come to realize that I am now officially her Mama! Praise God!

This past weekend, I was able to go to a tremendous seminar (along with some great friends)with Sherrie Eldridge, author and an adoptee. It was incredible. She gave such insight into what Danielle may feel and experience as she gets older. So many things to think about. I ache for Danielle because she will never know her birth mother. I just pray that I can help her through all of it. That is why going to these seminars is so important - awareness and education is key. In fact, I may be able to help Danielle with her issues since I am more aware of them and have countless friends and resources to help me help her. I am sure that Stephanie and Liz will have some issues when they get older (don't we all?), and I just hope that I can be as aware of their issues and how to help them. Motherhood is certainly a tough job, but I am grateful that it is mine!

Thank you, Doodaddy!

2008-01-30T15:09:00.000-05:00

About 2 weeks ago, I took Danielle with me to get me haircut - total disaster! Danielle cried the entire time - and she was sitting on my lap! Thank goodness I have a great stylist, Brynn, who stayed focused and did a great job, despite the distraction. I kept trying to reassure her that I was enjoying myself, but she didn't listen (next time I will go alone). So, you can imagine how I was dreading a dentist appointment for today!! How could I tell her that I liked getting my teeth picked at - NOT! Well, Doodaddy came to the rescue (when Liz was a baby, she couldn't say Grandaddy, so she came up with the name Doodaddy, and it has kind of stuck)! He offered to meet me at the office and watch Liz and Danielle while Stephanie and I had our teeth cleaned. We were both a little nervous, but all went well! Danielle cried at first, but only briefly, and Danielle and Liz remained happy for the full 45 minutes that I was in the dentist chair! This was technically Danielle's first time with a "babysitter" - other than me or Steve!! They came back to check on me a couple of times, but no more tears!! It does help that I have an awesome dentist that insists I bring my children and enjoys it when they run around the office. Dr. Ashley wants the kids to LIKE coming to the dentist and they do! Liz is very excited to have her own appointment in July! I am so grateful that Doodaddy lives close by so that he was able to help - thank you, Doodaddy! After our appointment, we met Nana and Doodaddy for lunch and playtime at McDonald's. And now, all 3 girls are peacefully napping - God is good!!

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2008-01-28T23:36:00.001-05:00

First Chinese New Year party!!!

2008-01-28T15:06:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, we attended our first FCC-Atlanta event (Families with Children from China). We went to their Lunar New Year party and we all had a great time!! We were a little worried as to how Danielle would handle it, but she did great! Only one little melt down during lunch, but that was because she was beyond tired and not overwhelmed. The girls loved to watch the dancers, but they especially loved to watch the traditional Lion Dance! Liz even joined in the parade with DooDaddy (aka Grandaddy). I was so amazed at how well all of our girls did in the crowd - there were over 500 people at this event. Nana and DooDaddy came with us, and I think that they enjoyed themselves as well. Oh! Stephanie won the raffle! One of the vendors at the event was raffling off a handmade quilt, and Stephanie won! I was amazed. She was so excited and has slept with it ever since!

Danielle continues to do remarkably well here at home. She has survived her first ear infection, and is now on her second cold (hopefully it will stay out of her ears this time). She is tolerating riding in the car, and is beginning to enjoy shopping - she has to, since we often run errands together while the other girls are in school!! She is also trying to say new words, which is great to see. Over the past week, she has shown a huge love in books and she wants us to read to her all the time. This is great, except when I am in the middle of cooking dinner! We are getting involved in playdates and having lots of fun together. I must say, it warms my heart to see all 3 of my girls playing, running and laughing together. God really blessed our family by sending this little girl into our lives - she adds so much to our family. It has been good for our other girls as well - Liz is learning to be a great big sister. Life is good - we are just grateful that God is taking such good care of us!

Danielle is a US citizen!

2008-01-11T20:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we received Danielle's Certificate of US Citizenship! We knew it was coming, but it was still amazing to receive it! It was more emotional than we expected. Along with the beautiful certificate, came a letter from President Bush - it was pretty cool! Now we can go ahead and get her social security number and US passport! She is officially an American! Techinically she became a citizen when we landed in Detroit and the Immigration officer opened her packet, but now we have it in writing - praise God!

Danielle continues to transition nicely into our family. She truly is a Tanski!! We continue to be grateful that God allowed me to quit my job this past fall - it has been good to be able to stay home and take care of the girls. In fact, if I still worked for the school system, I would already have had to call in sick for 3 of my first 5 days back! Liz and Danielle have had colds, and unfortunately, Danielle's cold has progressed into an ear infection and bronchitis. So, IF I had gone back to work, I would already be out of sick time for the rest of the year!! Praise God that I am a full-time mom so that I can take care of my sick kids! They are both doing better, especially since Danielle is taking antibiotics....which wasn't easy at first! She threw a fit and didn't want to take it, but when we clap for her, then she is motivated and takes all of her medicine! This little girl loves praise - and she gets it too, as long as she isn't get into something that she is not suppose to!!! God has truly blessed our family - we have 3 beautiful girls, who we love deeply. Every day is a new adventure - some days are happy adventures, some days are learning adventures, and some days are whiney adventures - just wait until they are teens! The Tanski household will be quite interesting!

Hope For Children

2007-12-30T22:38:00.000-05:00

We used the adoption agency, Hope For Children, to adopt our beautiful little girl. We are so grateful to this agency for all of their help and support during this journey. When I first moved to Atlanta 12 years ago, I was introduced to this agency through the church I was attending. Steve and I both volunteered at their annual golf-a-thons (and many of our family members pledged $...thank you), and helped in many other ways. Who would have known, that 12 years later, we would actually be using them to adopt our own child! We are grateful to Dave, the director and founder of HFC for his heart for children and especially adoption. Every time I look at Danielle, I feel blessed. I cannot tell you how well she is doing! Even though she has been with us for a little more than a month, it seems like she has always been a part of us. I am so grateful that God put adoption on our hearts - I can't imagine not having Danielle in our family...she is a perfect addition! It also warms my heart to see children who need families, to find one. I have posted a picture that is very dear to me - it is a picture of Danielle and 3 little girls that were all on the same Waiting Child list. All of these little girls were on "the List" that came out on April 30th, and they all have families now! Praise God! I write this, because I want you to realize how incredible adoption is - it is truly from God! Please, follow this link to our agencies website, http://www.hopeforchildren.org/index.htm and watch the video on the lower left corner of their homepage. Thank you and Happy New Year!

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2007-12-26T15:53:00.001-05:00

Danielle is doing GREAT!

2007-12-26T14:36:00.001-05:00

I am sorry that I haven't given any updates sooner...but life is definitely busier having 3 children under the age of 4! Danielle couldn't be doing better! She is such a delight and a wonderful addition to our family. She is sleeping in her own crib in her own room by herself! No more tears at bedtime, and she doesn't cry for her foster family anymore. We still let her look at pictures of her foster family, but instead of crying, she smiles and says, "Mama". I am her mommy, but her foster mom will always be her Mama. Meg (Steve's sister who was with us in China) is going to send a letter from us to Danielle's orphanage with updated pictures of Danielle and a request for pictures of the rest of her foster family. Please pray that we can obtain these photos - they will mean a lot to Danielle when she gets older. Speaking of Meg, she is in the States for a few weeks and we were able to spend a couple of wonderful hours with her and her boyfriend yesterday! It was so good to see her again...I really have missed her! What we didn't expect was Danielle's reaction...as soon as she saw Meg, she burst into tears! Not tired or angry tears, but sad and scared tears! We were totally surprised, but it makes sense...Meg was there when we first received Danielle, and she was the one who tried to comfort her by talking in Chinese. Also, Meg left us a little over 48 hours after we got Danielle, and she was at the peak of her grieving. Poor little Danielle! She was probably afraid that she was going to be taken away again. It was hard to see Danielle cry like that again - it was just like how she cried in Nanning. The good news is, she didn't cry for very long, and after only about 10 minutes, she began warming up to Meg, and by the end of her visit, Meg was holding Danielle and they were both smiling! Praise God!
Besides a wonderful time with Meg, we had a wonderful Christmas! We ejoyed spending lots of time together with family and friends. Danielle has been doing amazing! She is very social but still knows who her parents are and is really attaching well to us all. Last night at Nana's, she was looking at pictures of Stephanie, and was trying to say her name! She is smart as a whip! We have been teaching her signs and she picks them up after showing her only once. We are also seeing more of her personality. She seems to be use to being the little princess of the family, and she is having a little trouble understanding that we have 3 princesses here. She loves to look at pictures of herself and gets into everything imaginable. We thought that our house was childproof, but we are finding out that it is not!
We are so grateful that God has blessed us with such a beautiful little girl! She truly makes our family complete! We love how she fits right in with us - she is a blessing...all of our girls are blessings. We hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Our love to you all!

Tanski Family transitioning well!

2007-12-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

Danielle is transitioning really well into her forever family. She is holding her own with her 2 older sisters and they are adapting to her. We have had some sharing issues, but what do you expect with a 4, 2 and 1 year old! Lots of toys are going into time out, but other than that, things are going well. Danielle is already sleeping through the night! For the first few nights, she woke up around 11 and wiggled in her bed and played her music box until about 1 am, but she has slept good otherwise. On Saturday, she slept in until 11:30 am until I finally had to wake her up! She still took a nap and went to bed that night - what a good girl. She still cries when we try to put her to sleep, but after a little bit of cuddle, she rolls over into her crib (which is next to our bed) and goes to sleep. She is kind of a light sleeper, but hopefully that will change after living in our loud house! We are truly amazed at the difference a few weeks make! I have often heard how resilient these little kids are, but I had no idea what a joy she would so quickly become! I mean, I have always loved her, but it was hard to see her grieving and I would not have imagined that she would accept us so quickly. I am so grateful, though - God truly answers prayers! We do have to work a little on her shopping skills - she is not too thrilled to sit in carts for a long time. Hopefully when we go to the store without sisters it will be better - on our first trip to Target, Danielle and Liz had it out a bit - Liz is meeting her match!! But Liz is also very sweet to her - I really think that they will all get along well. Oh! Yesterday, Stephanie informed us that she now wants a brother - she wants 4 kids in the family she said. Then, we had TLC on last night and she saw the show "Jon and Kate Plus 8" where a couple, through fertility treatments, had twin girls, and then 3 or 4 years later tried again, and had sextuplets! The show is about their life with twin 6 year olds and 6 3 year-olds!! Stephanie then changed her mind and said she wanted 8 kids!! Good grief!!! Even though things are going well, I am not sure that I could handle that many - right now I am completely content with 3!! I will be even happier when we get our schedule all worked out!! We are surviving, but are grateful that my mom is still here - we will see what happens on Thursday when she goes home!!!

Finally...pictures!

2007-11-30T22:11:00.001-05:00

Back in the USA

2007-11-30T21:19:00.000-05:00

Praise the Lord! We are back on US soil! When we landed in Detroit on Wed. afternoon, I was sure that someone out of our group (Steve and I and the Miller family) would kiss the ground! We probably would have if we weren't being rushed through customs! We arrived back in Atlanta at 6 pm on Wed, and after stopping off for some Chinese take-out (yes, you heard right), we finally made it to the comfort of our own home and our 2 little ones! Steve and I cried after seeing Steffi and Liz - it felt so good to hold them in our arms! Liz has grown - she is a little girl now! They both welcomed Danielle willingly, and all of them were playing together within minutes - what a sight to see! Oh, I wanted to let you all know how well Danielle did on the flight. We were totally dreading the return trip home, but she was great! She took some good naps and ate well - things couldn't have gone better! We were surely blessed. Danielle is already making her mark in the family - her grieving has all but disappeared and she is laughing, goofing off and running all over the house as if she has lived here forever. Liz is a little selfish with me, which I expected, but they are working things out - Danielle can sure hold her own! Danielle has also done well with the time change - she has only woken up twice each night and goes back to bed after a bottle and a little looking around. She is awake and playing during the day - we are starting to get on schedule...except that she has been sleeping in until 10 am! Can you believe it - that is NOT typical Tanski child behavior - but we love it!! Actually, Liz has been sleeping in until 9 am - grandparents must have worn her out! In fact, my dad and niece left this morning - a whole day early. They said that they wanted to give us space, but I think that they were too tired to keep up! My mom will be staying here until Thurs - and I am grateful for that! We ventured out to Target today - boy, 3 kids sure is interesting! We got everything done, but I can tell you that I will be running errands on days when 1 and 2 are in school!! I am sorry that I haven't posted anything for a while - the last few days in China were very busy, 2 travel days and yesterday I was just exhausted! I also had to be available to 3 little ones who were trying to get use to things! I do want to thank you all for your love, prayer and support - we are all doing well, and hopefully we will be able to introduce our newest member to you all soon!!

2007-11-25T04:15:00.000-05:00

I am happy to report that Danielle is doing great! She still cries for her mom and grandmother at bed time and at naps, but she no longer is grieving all the time. We have given her pictures of her foster mom, and when she first saw it, she dropped her head back and screamed in pain. It was so hard to watch. Now when she is grieving, she goes and gets the pictures to show us. We all shed some tears together, and she moves on. I must say that watching a 15 month old grieve is the absolute hardest thing I have ever had to go through - and many of you know some of the hard things that I have had to go through. This is the worst. I am just grateful to God that he is healing her heart - please keep up the prayers. We had a great dinner last night at the White Swan Hotel (another big adoption hotel that is absolutely beautiful). One of the guys who plays softball with Steve has a brother (Richard) who just moved here to Guangzhou with his wife (Tisha) and 2 daughters. Tisha is working at the US Consulate - although not in the adoption department at this time. Anyway, we were able to meet up with them for a wonderful dinner. Their daughters are beautiful - ages 4 & 15 months, so Tao Tao wasn't the only one making a mess at the table. Oh!! She finally drank something! At dinner she drank a liquid yogurt that is very popular here. She also began to show us that she can eat! She loves fruit (especially mandarin oranges and dragon fruit)...in fact, she ate 4 oranges at lunch and 4 at dinner. She wanted more, but we couldn't in good conscience do it - we didn't want her tummy to get upset! She really is doing well. We are glad that she is eating, but now she is boycotting the bottle - go figure. I actually think that the bottle reminds her of her mother, but at least she is getting food now. She is a cutie - very busy and always exploring. For those of you who know our other 2 girls, you know that she will fit right in! Right now, Steve and Tao Tao are out on a tour of a flower pagoda, and I am alone in the hotel room. I went on a shopping expedition with a local - Ann (from redthreadchina.com). She was fabulous! I bought all of the souveniers that I needed/wanted and then some, for a fraction of the price that I can find around our hotel. It's almost embarrassing what I spent on some things! In fact, she just came back to my room with her friend who is a finger painting artist - wait until you see what this young man (age 22) can paint with his fingertips and nails! It is breathtaking! I bought a number of pictures from him for such a steal! But at least he gets all of the money instead of only 40% of the jacked up prices here on Shamian Island (where our hotel is). It is also cool that I was able to meet and talk to him - so now I can honestly say that I met the man who painted our pictures!! I am a little disappointed that I missed out on our tour, but I am so glad that I went shopping! Like I said, I bought all that I could possibly need and we will still be bringing money home. It was worth paying Ann $10 per hour for her help and bargaining skills - I couldn't have done it without her! I just wanted to let you all know that things are really going well now - and now that shopping is done, I am ready to go home. Only 2 more days before we fly home and I am more than ready! I am so grateful for all of your comments, prayers and support. Keep them up - we need them. I know that you all want pictures, and I am sorry that I haven't posted more. Computers here are ridiculously slow and I really haven't had the time to fiddle with it! I promise to post a ton when I get home. I was going to try to post some now, but Steve has the camera. Hold on - only a few more days and you will have pictures - I promise!! Love to you all!

2007-11-24T03:21:00.000-05:00

Well, we made it to Guangzhou - the last leg of our journey, before returning home. We also have great news....yesterday (Friday) and today, Fu Tao woke up without crying! This was a first! She still cries for her mom before she goes to sleep, but she is definitely adjusting! On Friday was the best day we have had so far. She still prefers Daddy, but she is smiling and interacting more and more. Our flight left Nanning at 6:50 pm last night and it was full of adoptive families; however, our little one was the one that cried the most. She actually did really well considering that her naps had been messed up, and she was probably hungry from hunger strikes this week. Amy gave her a lollipop, and let me tell you, our little country girl knew how to work it! She tore it up - but she was a sticky mess (and so was Daddy). We arrived at the Victory Hotel late last night and had a bit of difficulty getting her to sleep, but once she was down, she stayed down. Finally, this morning our little girl ate a great breakfast! She still won't eat congee, but this was the first day that our Asian Princess ate rice - go figure! After breakfast, we went for her physical exam - that was not fun! The place was packed and it was her naptime! We actually went through the exams quite quickly and then it was back to the hotel for naps. While Daddy and Tao Tao napped, I worked on our paperwork for the US consulate...we are finally done with paperwork and fees! WHEW! We went to Lucy's for lunch (where Steve and I had cheeseburgers and Tao Tao tore up some noodles and ate 4 mandarin oranges!). Then we tracked down a stroller and bought her squeaky shoes! Right now she is squeaking all over our suite! Very cute! So all in all, things are getting better and better every day - thank you God! Oh, the clerk at one of the shops here told us that she was "spicy" - very accurate description. Although we are enjoying our time here, we are ready to come home. After I complete my shopping list, then I will be good to go! Our love to you all! Oh, and Stephanie and Liz are doing fantastic - all that worrying for nothing! Again - thank you God!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T01:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We sure miss the turkey and all of the fixin's...but to be honest, it doesn't even feel like Thanksgiving Day! Instead of the big family feast, we went to visit a buddist temple and a beautiful park. We climbed the 9 stories to the top of a pagoda to see a beautiful view. Daddy carried Fu Tao all the way up and all the way down, even though she is very good at steps! This little girl sure can move! She runs faster than any 15 month I have ever met, and she even alternates feet going up stairs (this info is important to the therapist in me). Oh, and she can even peel her own bananas! Okay, the bananas get a little mutilated, but she can open them quite easily. She hasn't eaten a whole lot for us - I guess that she is sort of on a hunger strike, but when she does eat it is usually fruit, noodles, cookies and crackers. She did eat some french fries at breakfast and some McDonald chicken nuggets for lunch. She is doing a little better today, but she still cries for her mom and grandma. It is heartbreaking. When we are in the hotel room, she grabs our finger and leads us to the door as if to tell us, "Take me home". Poor little one doesn't understand that she is home. She did wave to her big sisters today via Skype, and I know that they will help her to feel more at home. And no worries, little Tao Tao will definitely be able to hold her own! She is a little feisty one! We were able to develop some pictures that her foster family took for us, and there was one picture of her playing with chickens - no lie! She definitely lived in rugged conditions, but I bet she would give anything to go back. Please keep praying for her to love her new home and family. We know that she will, we just hope that it's sooner than later. We had to say good-bye to Meg yesterday...that was very hard. Even though I had never even met her before, I really connected with her. I was very sad to see her go - yet again, more tears shed! She will be coming to the States over Christmas, so hopefully we will see each other - hopefully with a more adapted Fu Tao! All in all, we are hanging in there. We desperately miss our girls, family and friends and can't wait to come home, but we are enjoying China. Thank you to everyone who posts messages to us....we long for more (oh, Camille - I could not find a single can of Pringles in Laibin!). We love you all and hope that you eat some turkey for us! I will try and post more pictures - I know you all want them, but honestly, our focus has been on Fu Tao - we are doing everything we can to help her during her grieving process - we welcome any suggestions!!

Officially ours!

2007-11-20T03:38:00.000-05:00

Well, it is official...Lai Fu Tao is officially our daughter! We went to the civil affairs office this morning to pay our fees and put our thumbprints where they needed to go, and that was that! That was the highlight of our day. We found out that we will not be able to tour the orphanage or meet the foster family. That was a disappointment, but we do understand and do not want to cause trouble. Although we feel that it would mean so much to Danielle for us to meet them, we are going to be able to contact the family through the orphanage, and I am glad for that. If we return to China when Danielle gets older, then we can meet the foster family...and we will. We have every intention of bringing her back one day so that she can visit her birthplace. Now for the hardest news...Danielle is grieving very hard. She is so sad and misses her Mama and Nana (grandmother). She cries for them at sleep time, and sometimes during the day, but bed time is the worst. She just fell asleep after crying for 45 minutes. Her little heart is breaking. It is so hard to watch. We try to remind ourselves that this is actually a good thing - she needs to grieve. It also means that she was so loved by her family and she loves them...hopefully she will be able to love us soon too. She hates being inside - especially in our room. She cries almost non-stop when she is in here, so we try and get out as much as possible. She is attaching more to Steve at this point, but does want me to carry her sometimes, and will go outside with me alone. If we are in the room she prefers Steve, but will go back and forth, as if she doesn't know who to turn to. She is so missing her family. It is hard to watch other families with children who are not having as hard of a time. I know the facts and the reasons, but it is still heartbreaking. I keep telling myself that it will get better, but it still doesn't help sometimes. We did get some photos of her first year of life, and Meg just took 2 disposable cameras full of pictures to get developed, so hopefully we will see what is on them soon. Meg has been a God-send. She is such a big help! She ran out and got baby shoes for us last night, as Fu Tao came to us barefoot! The one thing that I didn't pack! Steve and I are both sad that Meg will be leaving on Wed - we will definitely miss her. I have so enjoyed getting to know her - we actually are a lot a like, and I can honestly say that I love her dearly! Okay, I will end on a positive note - Danielle finally ate real food! She has been surviving on bottles and Cheerios, but at lunch today, she ate noodles...from a chopstick! How cute! She really ate a good amount for such a little one! She is tiny - wearing 9 month clothes perfectly. May be getting ready for 12 months soon. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a brief update. Please pray for all of us...Steve and I are so sad for her - it is the absolute hardest thing that we have had to go through. Please pray that God heals her heart - He is the only one that can!

2007-11-19T18:30:00.000-05:00

WE HAVE HER!

2007-11-19T17:10:00.000-05:00

Well, after a Monday morning of going to Walmart to buy diapers and snacks, it was finally time to go and get our little Ah Tao (foster family nickname). We boarded a bus with the Pinson family, Michael our guide and Meg to take about a 10 minute ride to the Lottery Hotel where we would at last get our little one. When we got there, they took us up to the 4th floor where there were a number of "waiting rooms" with couches and toys. We could hear children crying and we all wondered if they were ours! Michael told us that we would probably have to wait for about 10-15 minutes before our girls would come in, but after I snapped 3 pictures, I heard Michael announce SuSu's name! Tears came to my eyes as I saw the Pinson family finally united! And then, "Lai Fu Tao"! I cannot tell you the emotions that I felt! She was crying, but did come to me. Cheerios definitely helped. You could tell how scared and sad she was. We then went outside for a bit in order to get away from all of the commotion of more families being united - what an amazing experience! We went back to the hotel and did some paperwork - Fu Tao fell asleep leaning against me. When she woke up, we took her outside to get some air and food. She loves being outside! Whenever we are inside...she tries to lead us out again. She is definitely going to fit right in with her big sisters! She really was a different girl outside...she was pointing and babbling - we even got some smiles and giggles. I had been kissing her cheek, and one time she spontaneously leaned over and kissed my cheek! All of her reports say that she loves music, noisy toys, to be outside and to laugh - she is very social! We haven't seen a lot of that yet, but I have no doubt that we will. She actually began to prefer Daddy last night! She comes to both of us, but Daddy took her out for a walk, so now she wants him. In fact, last night she fell sleep on his chest and he was freaking out a little! He loved that she wanted him, but really couldn't stand the thought of not being able to move freely! We scooted her over, and all was well. At this moment, BaBa (daddy) and his little one are sleeping soundly. I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know that we have our little one and that we are working on bonding. Please keep us in your prayers - we know that you are, we definitely feel them! Thank you and our love to you all!

Check out our "In China" Slide Show!!

2007-11-19T07:48:00.001-05:00

2007-11-18T19:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday (Sunday in China) was our last day in Laibin. After breakfast, we strolled the streets for a while before our driver came to pick us up. While walking around, we came across a middle school and an elementary school. They are definitely different than the schools I am used to seeing! They were at least gated, but they were located right in the center of the block with shops all around. We did not go into the complex, because we didn't feel that would be appropriate, but we did take pictures!! We left Laibin a little sad, but completely grateful to have had the experience. I can tell you that visiting Laibin was the best thing that we could have done. We are looking forward to sharing our adventures with Danielle - it is going to be so incredible to tell her how much we loved her birthplace - I hope that she will enjoy hearing about it. Anyway, our driver picked us up as scheduled and drove us all the way to the Majestic Hotel. We were suppose to stay at the Wharton, but we found out right before we left Guangzhou, that the government needed the hotel for something and we got bumped - everyone got bumped! But all is well, the Majestic is absolutely beautiful. When we arrived at the hotel we found out Aisha Cooper, who works with us at Hope For Children in Atlanta, was already checked in. So we stormed Aisha's room, having Meg yell stuff in Chinese. I think Aisha was too scared to open the door! We met up with Michael, our guide while we are in Nanning, and the Pinson family to head out for dinner. Once again, we were fed like kings! I have been loving the food...although I will be ready for a nice juicy steak when I get home! After dinner, Steve, Aisha and I went for a massage! Oh yeah!!! It was a fantastic hour long massage for $12!! They found knots on me that I didn't even know I had, but boy do I feel good now! We will be meeting Danielle today at 3:30 pm (2:30 am your time) today! I just can't even believe it! We are going to run out to get some clothes laundered and to get diapers and snacks, but other than that, our main focus will be on our little princess. Please pray all goes well & pray God wraps His arms around her in order to make her feel safe in such a scary situation. We have no doubt in our mind that God has orchestrated the entire process and that He destined Danielle to be our daughter since the beginning of time, but we still want Danielle to feel as safe and secure as possible. Please continue to pray that we can go back to Laibin to tour the orphanage and especially to meet the foster mother. God can do anything - we just pray He wants us to meet the foster family as much as we do!! Thank you all for your posted reply comments (they're very encouraging), love, support and especially your prayers - we couldn't have done this without them!!
P.S. We are having some difficulty downloading pictures, basically because it is taking a ridiculous amount of time. We are having to jump through a lot of hoops to even access our blog! I have sent some pictures of Laibin to a friend, and hopefully he will be able to post them sometime on Mon (your time). When we get back to the States, I will post even more!

Saturday in Laibin

2007-11-17T18:20:00.000-05:00

What an absolutely INCREDIBLE day we had exploring Laibin! Having Meg as our "tour guide" gave us the best experience ever - to interact with the Laibin people and to experience the "real" Laibin. We started out our day with a delicious authentic Chinese breakfast in the Laibin International Hotel (remember, no Western influence here at all!) and then we were able to talk to Steffi and Liz via webcam. It was so good to see them! They keep asking where Danielle is - it will be fun to be actually able to have them all meet! Our first stop of the day was to finding Danielle's finding spot. When Danielle was abandoned, she was left on a bridge head - and it turns out that the bridge was only about 3 blocks away from our hotel. When we found it, we were so grateful to see that it was heavily travelled. There was a city park on one corner, stores on 2 corners, and a corner with well-maintained "rest area" with a lot of ricksaw taxis parked nearby and lots of people! We don't yet know the exact spot, but maybe when we come back to Laibin later in the week, we will be able to get that information. It was a very emotional moment, where all of us shed some tears. I can't help but think about Danielle's mother...all of the emotions that she had to be feeling then and even now, wondering whatever happened to her daughter. Every time that we have crossed that bridge, I wonder about that day and I wonder if she does too? Does she work in one of those shops? Does she have to cross that bridge & pass that spot every day going to/coming from work? We will never know. I also can't help but wonder if Danielle was abandoned mainly because of the cyst on her neck. She was about 1 month old when she was found, and maybe her family knew they would not be able to pay for her medical expenses and wanted to give her a chance. There is not health insurance here...if you have a permit to live in the city, the city will pay a fraction of the cost (about 10%?), but getting treated for a simple thing like a common cold could easily cost $100 (which is a lot of money in China). If you have moved into the city illegally from the country you cannot even go for medical help because 1) you probably couldn't afford it, and 2) you run the risk of being shipped out of the city. We have been learning a lot about the socioeconomics of the Chinese people, and we can't help to wonder if this played a huge part in Danielle's abandonment. We then strolled through the city park and were followed by 3 little girls...who giggled all the way. We were able to take a lot of pictures of people in the park (with their permission) and we were the object of photo taking ourselves. We were kind of like celebrities to them! The school-age kids would say hello, and laughed at us when we would say "ni hao" (mandarin for "hello"). Many were curious to see the "foreigners" and they were even more amazed when Meg started talking to them in "excellent chinese". We think an older man, the curator of the park, may have called the police out of concern for the "foreigners" taking video, photos & causing such a stir with the people. When Meg noticed the police showed up, she told us it was time to keep moving. Steve really enjoys talking (with Meg's help) to anyone showing interest, and it was unfortunate we had to go. We caught a cab to the train station in order to plan a way back to Nanning. We went through a very poor area of the city. The train station itself was full of poor and homeless people. We even saw a man openly shooting up with heroin right in front of the bus station. Well, the train didn't pan out - only hard seats available, and Meg told us that is something we did not want to experience. Our next idea was to hire a driver, so outside we went to the rows of taxis. Once outside, people started walking toward us - very curious about us, I guess. But when Meg said, "Let's get out of here" - we did. We hopped in the first cab and we were gone! The driver drove us to the orphanage, where we were able to take a few pictures of the outside of it and the store fronts around it. It was a very non-descript building - it just looked like a regular store front. We couldn't help but wonder if our daughter was actually inside. Our driver then suggested taking us to a brand new "scenic area / tourist attraction" about 30 minutes outside of the city, and we jumped at the chance! We drove past beautiful condos in a gated community - all for government officials only - and through a few small farming villages. Quite a comparison! The countryside was beautiful (except for the haze of pollution) and very poor. It was like we were watching a PBS special - water buffalo pulling carts, people washing their clothes in the river, run-down houses, people cooking outside...was Danielle from this part of China? We will never know. We got to the park, which turned out to be a kind of outdoor musuem dedicated to Pangu. The ancestors of the people here are credited with the origin of this mythology regarding the creation of humanity. They believe in a mythical story about 2 twins (a boy and girl), who were sent down from heaven with the purpose to procreate and therefore, started the human race - like a Chinese Adam and Eve. Meg had a little bit of difficulty understanding the story, so we are going to check it out some more later. It turns out, we were the very first foreigners to visit, which was a big deal, evidenced by the following we had. The tour guide was ecstatic to be able to share with us this rich history. We took a boat ride and toured the grounds. One girl, Qin Yu Wang (a junior in high school) followed us around and liked to practice her English with us. Everyone was so nice and wonderful - we had an amazing time. On our way back into the city, we decided to stop at the city square. It was quite pretty and bustling with people. Again, 3 little girls followed us around - they asked us where we were from and after we told them "America", they said, "Oh, we are from China." How cute is that?! We grabbed another cab back to our hotel, and went to a tea house right in between our hotel and "Danielle's bridge". We spent a couple of hours tasting different teas and talking with the shop owner & his employees. It was a great experience! Steve and I bought a tea set and some tea - very yummy tea, I might add! After a little down time, we then went out for dinner at the Laibin Grand Hotel - and it was, again, very tasty! I am actually enjoying the food more than I thought I would - at least most of it! We then ventured through a night market right across from our hotel. We bought some dried fruits, candy and jewelry...we even got to see (get this Bumpa) a kung fu presentation by a group of Shaolin priests (just like Grasshopper)! At one point (while we were talking to the monks), I realized that we were totally surrounded by at least 50 curious Chinese people (mostly men). This was a little unnerving, especially since I was wearing our money belt (no safe in our hotel room). But they were all very friendly and just wanted to get a glimpse of the foreigners. Many people (most) have never actually seen or met any Americans...Laibin is just not the main place tourists visit. The city only has a population of about 40,000, but we loved it! As you can see, we had a very busy but gratifying day. I am so glad that we decided to come and explore Laibin. We are so thankful that we have had the experience that we did - to experience the real Laibin. Meg and the talents God has given her are a gift from Him. We are so grateful to God for how He put this trip together for us. It was great to experience Danielle's birthplace the ways we did. Steve would prefer to stay here the whole time. If we had a guide from the city, we would not have seen and felt all that we did!! Thank you God for giving this to us and to Danielle - it will be so amazing to be able to share this day with her when she gets older. (We promise to post pictures soon - experiencing technical difficulties)

Made it to Laibin!

2007-11-16T17:48:00.000-05:00

After an okay nights sleep at the Victory in Guangzhou, we ate a fantastic breakfast and met the Millers...another Hope For Children family (we will be able to spend more time with them when we return to Guangzhou on Friday). The Millers had their new little girl, Sarah Beth, with them already and she sure is a cutie! Her older brother (Noah) and sister (Abby) were all about holding her! Sarah Beth was enjoying all of the attention! At 5:15 am, my friend Donna knocked on our hotel room door to introduce us to her daughter, Shelby. Donna and her family were all packed up and ready to leave China for their return home! Shelby was a little doll - our prayers go with them for a safe trip home! After breakfast we were able to have a video conference with our little ones back home (we used Skype and it worked wonderfully - just a little advice for any of you planning a trip over here - and computer to computer is free!!). Anyway, we enjoyed talking to Stephanie and Liz - they seemed to be doing fine - Stephanie is the one who cried, and Liz just kept dancing for us! Go figure! I was more worried about Liz (2)!! We were so grateful to receive a comment from Ms. Frankie, the girls' preschool director, telling us that they did great in school. Thank you Ms. Frankie - you are the best!!
Okay....on to travel tidbits. We ate our first McDonalds at the Guangzhou airport before we left for Nanning - it was very good, the real thing! After an hour flight on a Chinese airline (included drinks and a heavy snack...NWA didn't even give us peanuts on the way from ATL to Detroit...if you wanted a snack you had to pay for it!)....we arrived in Nanning, where I had my first encounter with a squatty potty and I am very proud to say, without incident! Well, now we had to figure a way to get to Laibin..by train, bus or car? We first tried to rent a car/driver - too expensive at the airport. We then decided to go by train (since a car/driver was too expensive). So we grabbed a cab and CRAMMED all of our stuff into it...barely. All the cab drivers were making fun of us for being so packed into this little car. Steve asked the driver & he responded he had never carried a larger load of people/stuff. On the way to the train station, Meg, Steve's sister and our guide at this point, talked our driver into calling one of his friends to drive us to Laibin in their own car (2.5 hours), and thank you, God, it happened!! We got here (Laibin) at about 7 pm, checked into the Laibin International Hotel, and then ventured out to find dinner. Meg took us to a restaurant and ordered for us a huge traditional dinner. And you know what...it was excellent!! We had so much food and it was all so flavorful and delicious!! We had duck soup, whole boiled chicken (served in a bucket with the boiled, bald head staring at us), a thin, flaky type bread, cabbage, spinach, rice & a root made into a special dessert (Steve described it as carmelized Dunkin Donuts Minchkins covered in honey - Meg gave Steve a hard time for saying Dunkin Donuts - living in China she misses certain things from home & didn't appreciate being re minded of them). After dinner, we came home and crashed - I slept from 9 pm - 5 am solid...Praise God!! Let me tell you though...we are in REAL DEEP REMOTE China. No western style anything, no McDonalds...nothing!! This is all China. We got a whole lot of stares walking down the street. Laibin is not a tourist attraction. People are not used to seeing foreigners. Meg says they think we're Russians. Oh, and yes, we had to cross a street a couple times. For those of you who have been to China you know what I am talking about! There are no cross walk signs here - you cross at your own risk! We weaved in and out of bikes, scooters and dodged cars...in the dark!! A little unnerving, and if I had to go by myself, I would probably still be standing on the corner. Now, it wasn't as bad as Nanning or Guangzhou, but running out into the middle of traffic goes against everything I had been taught!! And I am sure that we will have to do it again many times, unless we only go places on the same side of the street as the hotel! Today, we are going to explore Laibin, talk with the Laibin people who are willing (through Meg) and see Danielle's finding spot. I will definitely post again about everything that we see - and by then, I should have some great photos! Thank you for all of your prayers and support - all is going well so far and in about 48 hours, we will be getting ready to go and get our little princess!! We can't wait!! Our love to you all!!

WE ARE IN CHINA!

2007-11-15T11:21:00.000-05:00

Well, after more than 24 hours of traveling, we finally made it to Guangzhou, China and the Victory Hotel! We had a great travel experience - all filights were on time, we found all of our gates (in fact the gate that we had to find in Detroit for our flight to Tokyo, was just across the hallway), NW served us good food, we met up with Joe, Amy, Josh, Ryan and Kris in Tokyo for the last leg of our trip, and we got all of our luggage. We are checked in, and getting cleaned up for hopefully a good nights sleep before we head to Laibin tomorrow afternoon. While I miss our little ones terribly, I am SO glad that we didn't bring them along.....what an exhausting day!! All of our flights had crying infants and children, and I am so grateful that they weren't ours! I am praying that God will help Danielle to handle such a grueling trip! I am also praying that I will be able to stay awake on the way home to take care of her. I was able to sleep A LOT, and Steve slept very little. Despite all the sleep, I am still exhausted! I just wanted to give you a quick update before I go to bed. Keep sending us comments - we so enjoy reading them. And Nana, please give Steffi and Liz huge hugs and kisses from us - tell them that Mommy and Daddy love them very much and that we miss them!!!

China here we come!!

2007-11-13T00:22:00.000-05:00

Can you believe that it is finally time for us to go and get our little girl!! Steve and I leave at 9 am on Wed. morning!! We will arrive in Guangzhou, China at 10:40 pm on Thurs. I will re-post our itinerary, so that you will know where we are and when!! I promise to post as often as I can. I know that we will be busy, but we truly want to share this journey with all of you!! Please join in by posting your own comments! We would love to hear from all of you!! You do not have to have a blog to post! All you do is click "comments" and then click anonymous - you can type a comment and just sign your name. Please sign your name - we want to know who is leaving us messages! We will be able to read all comments even while we are in China. So please post away as it will be great to hear from you while we are away :) Here is our itinerary:

Nov 14 - leave for China
Nov 15 - arrive in Guangzhou, China
Nov 16 - fly to Nanning, take train to Laibin City, Guangxi Province
Nov 16-18 - spend the weekend exploring Laibin City - Danielle's birthplace
Nov 18 - take train back to Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Province
Nov 19 - go to Civil Affairs office and meet Danielle for the first time!!!!!!!
Nov 23 - fly back to Guangzhou
Nov 24 - Danielle's physical exam
Nov 26 - Consulate appointment
Nov 27 - oath ceremony
Nov 28 - return home - land at 5:32 pm!!!! Danielle will finally get to meet her 2 big sisters who are so excited to meet her!!

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-11-08T22:09:00.001-05:00

One Week to Go!!!

2007-11-07T22:49:00.000-05:00

Well...in one week will be on our way to China!! We have been busy getting ready and taking care of pre-schoolers!! I have bought everything that I need to take with us (except for snacks-which is on my "to do" list for tomorrow), and everything is already in a suitcase. All we have left to pack is our clothes! We are still debating on what clothes to take, but we do know that we will be packing light and doing laundry a few times!! Two of my good friends, Tracy and Cynthia, came over this week to help me organize our house - I am so grateful for their servants heart and their help! I couldn't have done it without them!! Steve heard from his step-sister today, and she let us know that she booked our hotel rooms in Laibin!! We will be staying at the Laibin International Hotel over the weekend of Nov 16-18 - it is one of the few hotels in Laibin designed for foreigners. We are so excited that we are going to be able to spend time exploring Danielle's birthplace - but not as excited as meeting our daughter! It is so amazing to think that next week at this time, we will be flying to Tokyo and then on to China!! Danielle will be in our arms in less than 2 weeks!!!
We received some great news today from our county's DFCS - we were approved to receive a $2000 grant for our adoption!! This will certainly help to cover some of the expenses - praise the Lord!! This specific grant is for children with special needs and it sure was a blessing to receive the phone call today. God certainly is helping with the hardest part - financial. God has really been helping, though, through this grant and donations from family - THANK YOU!!
Oh! I have to share this with you....Steve had to go out of town on business earlier this week, and he got home late Tuesday night. When Liz saw him, the first thing she said was, "You get Danielle?" We have been talking with her about Daddy and Mommy leaving to go and get Danielle, so she apparently thought that since Daddy was gone, he must have gone to get Danielle. How sweet is that!! Let's just hope that she is happy to see her sister when we really get home. We continue to pray that Steffi and Liz do well with our absence - everytime I think about leaving them for 2 weeks, I get so sad. I know that they will be in fantastic hands, but I am going to miss them like crazy!!!

Red Thread Quilt

2007-11-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

Tonight my good friend, Celeste, took time out of her busy life to help me shop for some quilting materials to make a quilt for Danielle. Many people who adopt from China make what is called a 100 Good Wishes Quilt. To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. I loved this idea, but decided to go a different route. I came up with the idea to make a Red Thread Quilt. Posted on the top of my blog is the explanation of a Red Thread Journey: 'Chinese folklore says there is an invisible red thread connecting those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.' I thought that it would be really neat to make a quilt that Danielle could have and cherish, that had the names of all of the people that helped to bring her home. So...what I am going to do, is have everyone who played a part in this adoption (case workers, notaries, oprhanage directors, foster family members, etc - the list is endless), sign a piece of fabric. I am then going to embroider over their signature with red thread and piece the quilt together with some silk fabric that I am planning on buying in China. Tonight I purchased the "signature" fabric and some accessories. I am very excited about this and I hope that it turns out like I am envisioning it to be. I really hope that in the future, it will really be meaningful to Danielle. I am hoping that she will be amazed at how so many people came together for a common goal - to bring Danielle home to the family that God destined her to be a part of forever!!

Safe travels and shopping

2007-11-01T21:22:00.000-04:00

Our friends, Donna and CJ made it to Beijing today! They will be spending the weekend in Beijing, and then flying to Nanning on Sunday to get their daughter Shelby on Monday! How exciting! Shelby is from the same province as Danielle, so Donna and CJ's trip will mirror ours exactly. We will be diligently following their blog so that we can learn what we need to do/not do for our trip and so that we can watch their journey unfold.

I am grateful to have been able to cross one more thing off of my huge "to do" list today. Amy and I went shopping in order to buy "gifts" for the orphanage director, nannies, notaries, and other people that we will run into while completing adoption paperwork. It was a huge relief to complete this task - I surely didn't want to buy anything cheesy but didn't want to spend a ton of money! One thing I didn't realize was how many things are made in China!!! The biggest challenge of the day was to find items that were NOT made in China - try it next time you go shopping!!! The only "gift" that I have left to buy is one for the foster family. What do you buy for people who have taken such great care of your daughter for the first year of her life?! We are also praying that God allows us to meet them - if it will be beneficial for Danielle when she gets older.

Last night we took Stephanie and Elizabeth trick-or-treating...well actually, we took them trunk-or-treating at a church down the road. It was great - people decorate their cars and pass out candy to lots of little kids! They even had a festival in the gym with lots of games, crafts and moon walks. The girls had a great time and we all enjoyed the candy!! Although, this morning, Stephanie asked if we could go "real trick or treating"...she said that she wanted to go to people's houses instead of the church party. So much for being grateful!! We are all looking forward to next Halloween, when Danielle will be with us!!
Sleeping Beauty and Word Girl

More Preparations

2007-10-31T01:00:00.000-04:00

Time continues to dwindle - we leave in exactly 2 weeks!!! We have been busy shopping, planning, organizing - trying to get ready for our trip and trying to get our home ready for our new daughter. Part of this included helping to throw a shower for our friends Joe and Amy over the weekend. We had a wonderful time celebrating SuSu (see picture)! We have such also been getting great travel tips and advice from wonderful friends: Ellen, Lucy, Donna, Teilynn, Denise, Kelly, and Jill. All seems to be falling into place, it's amazing to think that in 3 weeks we will have Danielle - how incredible! God has been so good to us during this journey and we can't wait to see how Danielle transitions into her forever family. We are so blessed that God has allowed us to give this little girl a home and a family who will love her forever! However, we know that Danielle may not react the same way, at least initially. She has been living with a foster family since she was about 2 months old, and from what we have seen in pictures, Danielle is dearly loved. While we are overjoyed at finally getting our daughter, she may not be - we pray that God will help her to adjust to us quickly. I have added another excerpt from A4everfamily.org:

For the last six months or more, the expectant parents have been busy. They've painted a room, bought little tee shirts, shoes, and diapers and gone over the baby name book at least a hundred times. Daily, if not hourly, their thoughts turn to the baby waiting for them, thousands of miles away. They take out the precious photo and examine it again and again, wondering "How much older will he look?" The hearts and minds of these loving parents are never too far from this baby. For the baby, however, these folks haven't even been a fleeting thought. Somewhere, often in a far away country, the baby has already experienced immense loss. For nine months, he lived and breathed with his mother. He learned to know her voice, her smell, her moods-both good and bad-and her sleep. At birth, he abruptly lost everything he had grown to love. He may show signs of grieving at the time, or he may store the loss deep in his brain and body, at a visceral level that will become more obvious with time. At the time of birth, a child perceives himself as being one and the same as his birth mother. He does not recognize that they are two separate individuals. Physically, his respiration and heart rate regulates in sync with hers. Emotionally, he sees the world through her eyes. Her anxiety is his. Her joy and contentment are his. So what happens when a part of him, the part that regulates not only the physical, but also the emotional, disappears? Perhaps he is placed in a foster home at birth. He spends his days getting to know the smells, voice, tastes, and moods of his new caretaker. Although it is hard to trust, having already lost a mommy, he enjoys the soft touches and the warm feeling he gets when she fills his tummy. He feels confused and worried, not knowing who this person is and what happened to his first love. If he spends time in a hospital or orphanage, his little body grows increasingly anxious. After all, he can only focus about nine inches from his face, and the images that move in and out of that space are constantly changing. In both cases, the sheer separation from the birth mother can put his body on high alert. The primitive part of his brain, the "fight or flight" center, works overtime, flooding with cortisol, sending the body messages akin to that of an adult who senses his life is in danger. "Will I get food?" "Who will comfort me?" "Will I survive?" A variety of factors-genetic predisposition, prenatal environment, ongoing transitions, early environment-contribute to the level at which the child is affected. The initial abandonment alone affects his brain and body, with hospitalization, foster homes, orphanages, multiple placements, and pain increasing the potential for long-term attachment issues. And then, without warning, it happens again. Just as he is getting accustomed to the new caretakers in his life, he is suddenly handed to a stranger. This person's hair, skin, smell, and voice are all wrong. The stranger takes him to a place filled with people. They go and go and go for what seems like an eternity. Eventually, the child is handed to more strangers. Bright lights flash everywhere. Nothing smells right. Nothing sounds right. Nothing looks right. The adults are in love. The baby is in shock.

Preparing for Danielle

2007-10-26T00:55:00.000-04:00

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything new in a few days, but things have been crazy!! Getting shots, ordering money (China wants crisp US money), making lists, writing down schedules for grandparents, shopping for travel essentials, and taking care of little ones - all things that take up so much time! Another important thing that we have been doing is getting ready to help Danielle transition into our family. We have been trying to prepare Steffi and Liz for Danielle's arrival. Liz often says that she misses Danielle and wants her to come home. In fact every time that we pray (even at meals), this precious 2 yr old reminds us to pray for Danielle. Stephanie (4) makes up words and says that she is speaking Chinese. In fact, she came up with some Chinese nicknames for her and Liz: NiNi and NuNu. They are very excited about their new little sister. We have been trying to explain to them that Mommy and Daddy will be sleeping in China for many nights, but that Nana, Momma and Bumpa will be with them. We are going to take along our laptop that has a webcam, and hopefully that will help all of us - being able to see each other! I sure am going to hate leaving them!! We also have been reading about attachment issues with adopted children and talking with adoptive parents. Our hearts break thinking that Danielle has had to and will have to deal with grief at such a young age. The illustration in the previous post, truly brings me to tears, thinking that Danielle at 15 months old has already experienced tremendous loss. We pray daily for her and that we will be able to provide a secure environment where she can express herself. Please help us and pray for that as well. Please pray for Steffi and Liz to do well while we are gone, please pray for our parents to have an easy time with our girls, please pray that we will have safe and healthy travels, please pray that Danielle grieves and then bonds quickly with us as her forever family, please pray for her foster family and their loss, please pray for her birth parents for their loss.

Immense Loss: Walk a Mile in Baby's Booties

2007-10-23T01:30:00.000-04:00

Okay....here it is.....I found this illustration at http://www.a4everfamily.org/ about what adopted babies might be feeling - just presented in terms of what we can relate to. I will let it speak for itself.......

Imagine for a moment… You have met the person you've dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse. You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancée. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For the first time in your life, you understand what is meant by "soul mate," for this person understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow. The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonderful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day's events, but relaxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the world…the person who will be with you for the rest of your life. The next morning you wake up, nestled in your partner's arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for his face. But IT'S NOT HIM! You are in the arms of another man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man? Where is your beloved? You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. The new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back,...even trying to stroke your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay. Your beloved is gone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him? Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn't speak your language-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn't seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened...that your sweetheart is gone. You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact. Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradually you are learning to trust this new guy. He's finally learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don't understand his bedtime songs, you like the lilt of his voice and take some comfort in it. More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive. Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking you? You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and up to a room filled with people. Many are crying. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried. The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you. You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy. The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar face starts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy. The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guy tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to "get along." You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation. Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of people are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another guy who hugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kisses your cheek. Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair. Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you've ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you've never heard before. He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you're used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for the black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black. You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in bed for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to asleep. People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy's hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one other, marveling at how quickly you've fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to be a part of the happiness. Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you're hanging on for dear life, you've learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for the next one to come along. Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly. A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take the cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait. --Written by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp, analogy courtesy of Dr. Kali Miller

This is what it is all about...

2007-10-22T01:45:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in earlier posts, we were blessed to find Danielle on Hope for Children's Waiting Child list. This list contained pictures and brief medical descriptions of 10 beautiful children. Danielle was #6 on that list. Joe and Amy's daughter, SuSu was #5. These are 3 more children that were on that list and now have a forever family: Ally (with her sisters), Frannie and Shelby. Shelby's mom and dad are getting ready to go and get her - they are leaving on the Oct. 31st! Ally was brought home in July, and Frannie came home in early September. Danielle, SuSu and Shelby are all from the same province - and they will get to be friends once they all get home!! It is truly amazing that we can be friends with half of the children on that list. Ally and Frannie's story is very amazing as well! They were both in the same orphanage in China! Before their parents were able to bring them home, they were friends! And now they only live about 30 minutes away from each other!! When they were in China, Frannie was called Emma by her caregivers, and little Ally still calls her that! We spent the afternoon with Ally, Frannie and Shelby's parents on Sunday and it was so wonderful to see how well these little girls are doing. They have gone through such dramatic changes in a few short months and yet they are dealing with it so well. God has given them such loving families - these little girls are truly blessed! Our prayers are now with Shelby, SuSu and Danielle, that they will transition easily into their forever families and that Frannie and Ally continue to blossom!!!

Family and Friends

2007-10-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

Many of you may want to know what we are going to do with our other daughters (Stephanie, 4 and Elizabeth, 2) while we are in China. Well...we are leaving them at home. Initially, we went back and forth about taking them with us, but then we realized that would be insane!!! Can you imagine taking them on such a long flight! Not to mention getting them to eat meals without battles - in a restaurant 3 meals/day for 2 weeks!! So, we decided to leave them here. However, we are very blessed, because we have incredible caretakers to stay with them. For the first week, Steve's mom (Nana) will be staying with them, and the second week, my parents (Momma and Bumpa) will come down. We are so grateful to them for being so willing and eager to take time off from their jobs to take care of their grandchildren. I will admit, I am very sad about having to leave my girls, but I also think that it is very important that both Steve and I travel to China. So, since I have to leave my girls, I could not think of anyone else I would rather leave them with!! Okay, I am aware that I may have to de-program my girls from spoiling grandparents - but I am good with that. I just want my girls to feel totally loved and safe, and I know that they will be well taken care of! When Nana is here, 2 dear friends have offered to help in way that they can -- Cynthia and Robin. They have offered to have Nana and the girls over for playdates, meet at the park, or they could even bring their children over to our house so that they can play outside on the swingset. All of these distractions will hopefully help Steffi and Liz to miss us less!? When my parents come, they will be bringing my niece, Mikael (12) and I am sure that she will help to keep the girls occupied. Please remember to pray for Steffi and Liz while we are gone - they are very excited to get their new sister, but have never been away from us for an extended time, and they could have a tough time. Thank you!

More miracles!

2007-10-18T12:55:00.000-04:00

Steve and I have been married 5 1/2 years and were introduced to each other by some very dear friends, Joe and Amy. I met Amy in Oct 1995 at church (after I had moved here from MN). She spend time studying the Bible with me and helped me to develop a wonderful relationship with God. In Nov of 1995, Amy and another dear friend, Paulette, baptized me!! What a wonderful day that was!! Four years later, Amy's husband Joe, met Steve (he was and still is one of Steve's customers), studied the Bible with him and baptized him!! After Steve's baptism, Amy and Joe introduced me to Steve. Steve then asked me out on a date, in which we went sailing with Joe and Amy. It was love at first sail!! About 2 years later, Steve and I became engaged, and we were married in Feb. 2002 - with Joe and Amy as our best man and matron of honor. I tell you this so that you see how dear these friends are to us - through this amazing couple, God put Steve and I together. Well, when Steve and I finally decided to start the adoption process last December, we found out that Joe and Amy had already started the process. We had no idea that they were going to do this!! At that time, we thought that it would be amazing to be able to travel to China with them. The chances were slim, since they were further along in the process, but with God, anything is possible! Well, it turns out that God truly does answer prayers - even better than we could ever imagine! It turns out that we will indeed be traveling together!!! Joe and Amy found their daughter on the same Waiting Child list where we found Danielle - and here is the kicker - both of our daughters are from the same province!!! We will leave for China on the same day, and spend 2 weeks together as we both expand our families! It will be so wonderful to be able to have such wonderful friends with us - and to share this experience together! God is good!

A Huge Kiss From God!

2007-10-17T09:09:00.000-04:00

When we began to plan for our trip to China, we were originally going to spend the weekend in Beijing before receiving our daughter. I thought, how can you go to China and NOT see the Great Wall?! Well, plans changed, and we are not going to see the Wall. Instead, we decided that we would try to go spend some time exploring Danielle's birthplace. This did pose a slight problem - we would need to find a guide who would be willing to go with us. We weren't too worried about finding a guide for a day trip, but we really wanted to spend a few days there so that we could truly experience Laibin City. Well God is good!! We found out Sunday morning that Steve's step-sister would be able to go with us!! Meg is living in Harbin, China and is fluent in Mandarin! She has a PhD in political science at Harvard, and her dissertation is on urban reform and municipal politics. She is in China this year conducting three case studies of three cities in the Northeast, the former industrial area of China that has had a more difficult time during the reform period (since 1978). In more simple terms she studies social science or sociology to general people in China. Meg is an expert at going into unfamiliar cities and learning everything that there is to know about that city in a very short time!! Who could be a better guide?! An expert AND family! She has already helped us out a ton by translating a letter for Danielle's foster family! Currently, Meg is researching what hotels we can stay at, what sights we need to see, etc. We are so excited to be able to spend time in Laibin - we are planning on taking lots and lots of pictures and videos to share with Danielle (as well as buy local arts and crafts). We are very grateful that Meg is so eager to go with us and we are grateful for all of her help. She will also get to spend a couple of days with us after we receive Danielle. So as you can see, we could not have planned this any better ourselves - only God could have orchestrated such a perfect scenario!! Thank you, God!!

Our Travel Plans

2007-10-16T10:48:00.000-04:00

After months of waiting, we have finally been able to book flights and arrange hotel rooms for our trip to China! Here is our current itinerary:

Nov 14 - leave for China
Nov 15 - arrive in Guangzhou, China
Nov 16 - fly to Nanning, take train to Laibin City, Guangxi Province
Nov 16-18 - spend the weekend exploring Laibin City - Danielle's birthplace
Nov 18 - take train back to Nanning, capital city of Guangxi Province
Nov 19 - go to Civil Affairs office and meet Danielle for the first time!!!!!!!
Nov 23 - fly back to Guangzhou
Nov 24 - Danielle's physical exam
Nov 26 - Consulate appointment
Nov 27 - oath ceremony
Nov 28 - return home - land at 5:32 pm!!!! Danielle will finally get to meet her 2 big sisters who are so excited to meet her!!

About Lai Fu Tao

2007-10-15T19:54:00.000-04:00

Our precious little girl is from Laibin City, Guangxi Province,China. She was found at a bridge when she was about a month old.She was found with only the clothes on her back - no note, no name, nothing!! Her birth date was estimated to be August 18, 2006. She was initially placed at the orphanage in her town, but was placed in foster care within a few months. She has been in foster care ever since.When Fu Tao (Fu means 'lucky or blessed' and Tao means 'peach' - very appropriate for a GA girl!) was found, she had a lump on the side of her neck. The doctors diagnosed it as a lymph cystic hygroma. Basically, this means that a portion of her lymphatic system didn't close properly in utero, and created a balloon of lymph fluid above her shoulder. From what doctor's have told me and what I have researched about it, this in itself is not a life-threatening condition. In fact, it is quite correctable. At the time we received her medical records (May 1), no surgery had been performed. Since the lump itself was not painful, they weren't going to repairi t - unless it got bigger...which it did. From what I have learned, the only way that Fu Tao's condition could be dangerous would be if it enlarged to the point where it constricted her airway. We did find out that her lump had grown to the point where they needed to perform the surgery. Fu Tao, by all acounts, did very well during the surgery. We even received photos of her before and after her surgery and she was in great spirits!! She sounds like a real trooper! In the pictures pre and post surgery, she was 8 months old and she was already standing! From what information we have received, it seems that she is meeting all of her developmental milestones dead on!! Needless to say, we can't wait to finally meet her and bring her home!!! We will be giving her the name Danielle LaiAnne (Lai is her surname - probably given to her because of the city she was found in: Laibin City).

How God gave us our beautiful girl!

2007-10-15T19:52:00.000-04:00

When we first started this adoption journey, we wanted to bring our daughter home as soon as possible. The idea of waiting over 2 years to adopt was hard to accept. So throughout the entire paper chase process we prayed that God would make it clear when and who needed to be a part of our family. We were very open to the idea of adopting a child with mild special needs. Due to the ages of our other children (3, 2), we really wouldn't be able to give a child who had significant needs the attention and care that they would need. Also, according to the new Chinese regulations, there had to be at least 12 months in between the ages of our youngest and our newest! That is very limiting. The way that China handles children with special needs, is they send adoption agencies a list of children who the agency tries to place with families that they are working with. Well, in December '06, China changed their regulations in regards to adoptive parents criteria (i.e. no longer could single people adopt), but they also decided to change their Waiting Child (children with special needs) procedures. The new way of doing things sounded very complicated and we weren't sure how well it was going to work. In Jan. '07, we found out that there was going to be one more list before the new system took affect! We prayed desperately that God would make things clear! We had to pray that there was a baby, at least 12 months younger than our youngest, and with very mild special needs. So we waited and prayed. In Jan, the list was suppose to come out at "any time". Well, it didn't. In fact, the long awaited list didn't come out until April 30! After months of waiting, God picked the perfect time to deliver! I had been talking to my friend Amy, who was also anxiously awaiting this list, and I had told her that I found out that our agency had the list, they were just waiting for the medical information to get translated. As soon as I hung up with her, I casually decided to check my email, and there it was! The announcement that the list had been posted! I immediately checked it out and there were 10 children on the list. I looked at all of the birthdates, and out of 10, only 1 of them met our age restrictions! I immediately called Steve (who was on his way home from softball) and told him about the list and the child. I begged him to hurry, because I didn't want to look at Lai Fu Tao's picture without him. When he arrived home, we opened her online file and saw her beautiful face!! I immediately cried, because I knew then and there that she was our daughter. We immediately emailed Hope for Children and requested to review her medical records. The policy is to allow 2 families at a time to review her records for 7 days. At the end of those 7 days, a committee decides which family gets to pursue the adoption!!! No pressure there!!! We gave her file to 2 pediatricians, who felt good about her health (I will discuss her condition later) and we decided to pursue adopting her. So, once again we waited. This time to hear if we would "get" her. The day that the committee was to meet, they found out that Lai Fu Tao had had some necessary surgery, so they decided not to pick a family until we both could review the updated medical information. UGH!! More waiting!! So a week or 2 went by, still no news. One day, on my way home from work, Steve called me and said that he heard that there was only one family reviewing Lai Fu Tao's medical. Panic! Did we get bumped? So I prayed in the car, and Steve made the call to Hope. He found out that the other family backed out!!! Praise God! And more good news - no other family was able to review her records!!! So we found out 2 days later that Lai Fu Tao was our little girl to pursue!! God is so good!! Lai Fu Tao is 14 months younger than our Liz and she has a mild condition (lymph csytic hygroma) that has already been repaired. There is not a doubt in my mind that this little girl was given to us by God. Although I was not able to birth her, she is our daughter all the same. Only God can perform these miracles - and I am grateful to Him!!!

How and Why the Journey Began

2007-10-15T19:40:00.000-04:00

We are often asked why we want to adopt. It's hard to explain, but before Steve and I even met, we both had thought of adoption. Our "plan" was to have a couple of biological children, and then adopt. Why? I don't know, except to say that it is something wonderful that God has placed on our hearts. All throughout the scriptures, He tells us to take care of widows and orphans. In James (James 1:27a) it says: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world". We want to give a home full of love and security to a child who doesn't have one. This is why we have started this journey.

Steve and I first went to an informational meeting at HOPE for Children (our adoption agency) in early December of 2006. We walked out of there convinced that this was what our family needed to do. We wanted our children to be close in age, which meant that we needed to get the process started! At the time, Stephanie had just turned 3, and Elizabeth was 1 1/2 - the perfect time to add another child to our family!!!! At the meeting we learned that there was about an 18 month waiting time from when all of the paperwork is submitted to the Chinese adoption agency and when you actually receive your referral (the picture and information about your child). All of this really meant that it would be at least 2 years before we could travel to China, so, you see, it wasn't too early to start planning for daughter #3 (Ha! Ha!)! There was one way that we could travel sooner - that was to find a child on the Waiting Child List....this list has children with various special needs, including (but not limited to) children with cleft lips and palates, heart conditions, missing limbs, hepatitis, etc. Well, first things first, we needed to start with the ENORMOUS amount of paper work (i.e. paper chasing) - a daughter would come. So Steve and I began to track down birth certificates, marriages licenses, scheduled physicals, worked on financial spreadsheets - it was crazy and very time consuming. We seriously began this paper chasing process at the end of January 2007, and were told that a new Waiting Child List could come out anytime. So we waited and worked on paperwork and completed our home study visits. Finally, in April, we had all of our "stuff" together and we had only one piece of the puzzle left before our dossier (final product containing all of our paperwork) could be authenticated and sent to China - we needed to get fingerprinted by USCIS (Immigration). Oh, and by the way - still no List! On April 14, 2006, we received a letter in the mail giving us an appointment time for our fingerprints - 11 am on April 25! We were very excited to finish our puzzle. We made it to the fingerprinting office in downtown Atlanta, and stood in line for our turn. When we made it to the door, the guard put us in another line on the other side of the door. Little did we know that this was the "turn away line"! We were told that even though we had an appointment time in writing, that they had overbooked and we would have to come back another day, or we could go to their main office (20 miles away) and ask to be seen that day. Such drama!! Well, we went to the main office - we had to! Our girls were at a friend's house, and who knew what would happen next time - the same thing, probably! Thank the Lord, that this worked! The main office gave permission to the fingerprinting department to do our fingerprints that day (along with about 7 other couples who did the same thing that we did!). That was just God! So, despite some minor complications, our fingerprinting was completed! The last piece of the paperwork - finished!!!! When our adoption agency received this final approval, they had our paperwork (dossier) authenticated and we were DTC (dossier to China) on June 7, 2007!!!