Adoption Overseas - Waiting for Katie Grace

KATIE GRACE'S HEART IN MORE DETAIL

2012-01-11T11:24:00.010-05:00

I was only able to post a quick update after surgery. This post is a little more detailed for those who have been asking.

Also, I am adding just a few precious photos of our little angel. I know she is so delicate as she is recovering, but if you saw the fight she put up after surgery, pulling out her breathing tube and yelling for me, fighting the nurses, even after they gave her medication that would "calm her down in a minute" NOT, you will know what strong girl she is. She is a survivor. She was back to playing and giggling again by the time we arrived home the following day, in fact it has been hard to get her to not "jump, run, or climb."!

When we received Katie Grace's file for adoption, we knew of 2 heart defects. A VSD and PFO. These are usually considered minor or correctable. In other words, these holes could close as she is growing, she could just live fine with them or if necessary, the VSD could be closed and this is done often and successfully. The PFO is usually left alone. We also knew that she had Pulmonary Hypertension which is common with a VSD.

Upon her 1st visit to the cardiologist. We found her VSD to be very large. Much larger than most, causing much stress to her lungs and damage. The cardiologist said she needed surgery in order to have a full life, but that her lungs probably wouldn't allow the surgery. This was very concerning news.

Upon her 1st visit to the cardiac surgeon, they also detected a 3rd defect. An ASD. On more hole on the anterior. (you can google all of these defects to get more details if interested). He scheduled that Cardiac Catheterization to be done immediately. This specialist however felt she would be a candidate for surgery. This was encouraging!

During cardiac catheterization surgery, they found yet 1 more defect, a PDA. Now a total of 4 defects. This one will also need a repair. They also found the lungs to have sustained damage, HOWEVER the heart and lungs were giving pressure. This is good! The Dr believed she will still be able to receive surgery and will meet w/his team this week to discuss if they agree she can handle surgery, when she will have it, and what type of patch they will put on the VSD. The bad news is, her lungs are struggling and have a small amount of time to get this done. The good news is, the type of pulmonary disease can be reversed, if she has surgery, with medication over time.

We will hear from the Dr in the next few days and they will give us a surgery date. She will need to have open heart surgery in 3-4 weeks. Keep this in your prayers and that again, she will stay well and free from any cold. My oldest daughter now has the cold that has gone through the house, UGH!

Thank you for your love and prayers!

JUST A BRIEF UPDATE

2012-01-09T18:06:00.002-05:00

I wanted to post a quick update because I am so grateful for my dear friends who are praying!

Katie Grace is in recovery. You all are right, what an agonizing wait it was indeed!

So the Dr came and spoke with us and he was maybe not quite as joyful as he was pre op, however, generally positive.

He said that her VSD was very large. They detected yet another defect, a PDA, making 4 now. VSD, ASD, PFO, and PDA

He feels she is most probably a candidate for surgery. He will
consult w/his team this week and meet w/us on the plan and dates. Most likely in 3 -4 weeks.

He also said her lungs have sustained damage. This damage means that the heart surgery can be risky so keep praying! The good news, after the surgery, this type of lung damage is reversible w/medication. Praise the Lord!

She has had a hard time coming out of it all this afternoon and evening. Pulled out the intubator tube and then fought like a pro wrestler, throwing one of her all time great tantrums that I haven't seen for awhile for 25 min! :) She is still having low oxygen and breathing issues and vomiting even at this time, 6pM.

Thank you and know that God is so good.

MID SURGERY...

2012-01-09T13:58:00.001-05:00

Our Katie Grace is now 4 1/2 hours into her heart and lung catheterization surgery as we speak. They have called me about 4 times now and have updated me on her progress from the surgery room. All is well and they are still checking her heart chambers for pressure levels at this time.

Keep your prayers coming.

THIS IS HOW I FEEL ABOUT HEART DEFECTS! TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY.

2012-01-08T10:07:00.008-05:00

Our 16 year old Christina took Hua Hua outside for a photo shoot, and wow! She really took some cute shots! Of course what an adorable model! This first picture of Hua I think sums up how we feel about heart defects!!

Tomorrow, Monday Jan 9th, Katie Grace Hua Hua goes into APH for her Lung Catheterization Surgery. This surgery will determine whether or not her lungs have the capacity to handle the heart surgery that is absolutely necessary. If you recall, the 1st cardiologist we saw was not optimistic. The surgeon however, was optimistic! For those of you with heart babies, Katie Grace has a large VSD, she also has a PFO and they just detected an ASD as well. 3 holes. The VSD is the most damaging for her. We trust and believe that God has already taken care of this situation and given her heart and lungs all that they need for a full and healthy life.

I haven't posted the date for this surgery until today, I know many have asked, because we already had to cancel once due to a cough she had a month ago. She has to be free of any cough or runny nose. She has been free of any issue this entire past 4 weeks. Unfortunately I came down with a cold this week and so has her brother Joshua who she plays with constantly. I just wanted to cry!! I have been washing and sanitizing hands and doing everything to avoid this. So far she is clear and she is less than 24 hours from surgery. She has sneezed a few times though.

We will arrive at the hospital at 7AM. They will begin surgery at 9AM and she will be put under anesthesia. They will use line through her leg and up to her lungs for this surgery and it will last for 4 hours. Then she remain overnight tomorrow night.

Asking for your heartfelt prayers my dear friends and family!!!

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!!! AND HAPPY DIA DE REYES!!!

2012-01-06T07:57:00.008-05:00

Today is a day to celebrate the day our Matthew was born!! As I have mentioned on occasion and is no secret, I was married once before. Matthew and Christina's heritage from their dad is Puerto Rican. On this day of January 6th, (which is also celebrated as The Epiphany) in Puerto Rico and many South American countries, they celebrate Dia De Reyes! or Three Kings Day! This day represents the day that the 3 kings arrived to see the Newborn Savior, and they were bearing gifts. In Puerto Rico, Santa Claus was not quite a big deal at all up until recently. He was more a tale and and a stocking might be filled along with a big feast and music was held on Christmas, but Dia De Reyes was the big day for gifts. The children would put a box of grass under their bed for the camels, and the grass would be tossed around the room in the morning and the box filled with gifts!

Well, Matthew was born on Dia De Reyes, his full name is Manuel Matthew Castro. Manuel, bearing his dad's name, a translation of Emanuel meaning "God With Us", and Matthew meaning "Gift From God". So his name fits the feeling of the season and what a gift he is indeed on this day that represents the bearing of gifts for one another!

He is a kind and gentle soul. Helpful and thoughtful and always the one to know when someone needs assistance or a kind word. He is also full of boy energy and often plays outside with his friends all day and loves sports, plays violin, and video games too!

The True Spirit of Christmas - You HAVE to read my friend Amy's post about HER Christmas.

2012-01-05T07:44:00.008-05:00

Just hop over to her post for just a quick few seconds, I swear you'll be hooked to read the rest!!

Many who read my blog are in the adoption community or just have a heart for the orphan. As I have expressed on a few occasions, being a true missionary is something I feel I may have somehow missed out on, although adoption and representing children in court is definitely a form of mission work! I still am so enthralled and drawn to the true missionary; living out their life on the mission field, just their family, the needs of the people, and God are what they live daily. As you can see by my favorite books list on my side bar, this is what read about often!

Amy at Amy's Assorted Adventures lives it. She and her family picked up and moved to Zambia and run an orphanage. If you have a moment, go over and read her post, The Other Side Of Christmas Week and then The Other Side Of Christmas Week Part Two and experience her heart wrenching and joyful post and what it means to live out the true spirit of Christmas by giving of yourself fully.

Go Amy!

Wonderful Christmas Moments!

2011-12-27T22:48:00.016-05:00

Well I have good news and bad news about the pics I have from Christmas. The good news is, I have pics from Christmas! The bad news is, we COULD NOT locate ONE camera in this house on Christmas Eve. So we had to take some photos with Matthew's Ipod touch. Can you imagine??? Well, I had my camera, but couldn't find the charger and the battery was dead and we couldn't find the other 2 cameras. Boo :( , Soooo some of these pics are low quality and Matthew was taking them which leads to the fact that I have only 1 pic with Matthew in it. Otherwise, we had a wonderful and blessed time!!

Hua Hua and Joshua, cute as buttons underneath the tree. Love those faces!

Just had to post this pic. Hua was NOT having this moment. She and Josh play together non stop, but sometimes he really is a rascal. He kept putting his hand on her shoulder and she did not want him to. Look at his face and at hers!

Christina joined them to make this moment so sweet! Just wish Matthew was there too and it would have been perfect!

Joshua and Hua Hua opening their first present addressed to both of them from Lolli and Pops.

It was a wooden Nativity! So cool and fun to play with!

Then a very special couple of presents. They each received a wooden growth chart to hang on their bedroom walls, handmade by Pops! Joshua's has dinosaurs on it! He loved it!

Hua Hua's had Minnie Mouse and the Gang on it! She LOVES Minnie Mouse!

Hua Hua opening a gift! She is asking me, what is it????

Joshua received a Kinex Double Shot Rollercoaster from Santa!! He was excited about that!!

Matthew with a new Lego Kit. The boys love to work on Lego kits.

Christina with a gift card! What better gift for a teenage girl?? Go Santa! She sure looks cute in the morning.

A Lego/Dinosaur creation by Joshua. Both people are being eaten.....

Hua Hua put on that adorable Tutu sent to her by Mimi and wore it all day! She loved pushing her new dolly in the new dolly stroller!

Have I mentioned how much she likes to eat??? She LIKES to eat! She is always the first one at a table even if you are just starting a meal, LOL! Here she is, as she saw me setting the Christmas table, she was ready to eat!!

I know this picture is terrible quality, but I just had to add it. Hua Hua just looks so cute in her Panda Bear hat and Tutu Leotard and Christmas Bib.... :)

Merry Christmas From Our Family To Yours! May God Bless You!

2011-12-25T18:04:00.004-05:00

Be Joyful today! What blessed news it is to know that our Lord was brought into this world to bring Peace! PEACE! That is something to be Joyful about!

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

Do We Love Her Like Our Own?

2011-12-21T10:09:00.004-05:00

Somebody recently said something to the effect that in light of Hua Hua's heart defect and the possibility that "if she does not pass this upcoming test", this test being this heart and lung catheterization that will determine whether or not she can move on to the life saving heart surgery she needs, that "at least she will have had precious time with us here, getting love that she would not have received at the orphanage in China".

It is clear that this person meant this with kindness and mercy in regard to our situation and please know that I do understand the sentiment they were attempting to convey! In fact for one split second, I almost agreed....almost....

I nodded, feeling somewhat defeated and downcast as we had just received this alarming report, and thanked this person as they walked away, however, something inside of me suddenly began to bubble forth with new power and silently bellowed:

"No, that is not right!"

And again, "No!" with growing indignation.

And then A LOT of indignation. Dare I admit it felt like the teenage boys who play basketball in our neighborhood might say, "awww h@ll no!"

Deep within me it was the "No!" of a parent whose child's life is on the line!

The "No!" of a mother bear protecting her cub!

The "No!" of a mother whose own FLESH AND BLOOD needs rescuing and that mom will fight to the end to see it happen!

When I peered deeply into the meaning of the sentiment the person attempting comfort conveyed, It felt as if it would apply to how you MIGHT expect a parent to feel about an ADOPTED child. As if just a few years, or ever 6 or 7 years, or even the more "hopeful" 14 or 15 years, with her would be enough because she was not our actual flesh and blood and at least she would have that much more than nothing. Well it is true it may be more than she would have had in the first place, but you see..... WE can't imagine NOT having her forever! For the FULL ride!! She MUST be here with us and the thought of her not being here is unimaginable!

Can you imagine losing any of your children? Your 3 year old? Your 8 year old? Your teen? I think not! We are as attached to her now as we are our very own little tummy grown munchkins who run around this house causing havoc, and we certainly will be just as attached if not more so in 3 years or in 10 years.

How is adopting our Katie Grace Hua Hua like having our own child? Well, let me share our birth story!........

Planning a child - After much prayer and discussion and research, we decided to adopt.

The road to Conception -1 and 1/2 years it took. It was a long and winding road through programs and agencies and waiting and waiting for a referral for a child.

We're Expecting a girl!! - We received a file and referral of a little girl, 2 1/2 years old, sweet and shy with a heart defect. Our joy was overwhelming!!!

"You have a "glow" about you!" - You go around planning every detail, clothing, room, toy, imagining your future together and all that goes with it, and you just glow with anticipation!

Gestation - Our "gestation" was another year and we worked so hard to accomplish every detail to get to that day. Finally, we traveled around the world to bring her home!

Labor and Delivery - Our first day together was full of tears and fears. It was joyful, intense and painful. She cried and cried off and on all day and I held her. We were afraid and ecstatic all at once.

Those first weeks home - Our first weeks home from the orphanage were exhausting with not enough sleep. Crying, clinging, insecure child. Learning to communicate and what to feed.

Those first weeks home were also wonderful as you study this new little person - We played and hugged and kissed and sang and danced and learned to know each other.

After a couple months you settle and are back to work - Back to work part time for me, missing my new little one, calling to check in frequently. Happy the siblings love to play together.

So here we are 4 months home with our new daughter! She is not 4 months old however, she is 3 years old. But we love her just like you love your 4 month old biological birth daughter after coming home and getting to know that precious face. She did not come out of my belly, but I birthed her in my heart and mind and she came to us through hard labor. We love her and will fight for her health and for her to be with us.

AND just a disclaimer, I hold NOTHING against the person who made the comment meant to comfort. That was meant in sincere kindness. This was all for ME! For me to build my strength for the fight and know God has a good plan, a plan to heal and strengthen!

I don't want to just imagine that she came home just to get a few years of love. I don't believe that is God's will. I refuse to believe it. I believe He wills for health and life and family and future and that is what I am standing on today for our daughter! I want her to live a full life just like any parent wants their child to live a full life!

UPDATE on Hua Hua's Heart and late coming Thanksgiving Pics!

2011-12-16T19:54:00.012-05:00

So you may have noticed that the date for Katie Grace Hua Hua's Lung and Heart Catheterization Surgery was to be on Dec 14th which was to determine if she would be able to have the heart surgery she needs. We went into the Hospital on the 13th for her pre-surgery work up and the Cardio surgeon decided that we would postpone the catheterization for 3-4 weeks due to the fact that KG recently had a cough and cold. She had just gotten over it and was free from coughing but he said that if there was any remaining inflammation in the lungs due to the cough, that could cause complications. He wanted her to have at least 3-4 weeks free of a cold. We of course want to do what will be best but it is hard to wait to find out if she is going to have the life saving surgery she needs! Please pray that she will stay well for the next 3 weeks because these kids keep bringing home colds and it is really getting frustrating!

This Dr was not the same Dr we saw originally. This Dr is the director of the entire Cardio unit at AHP and specializes in Pediatric cardio care. He had more positive words and outlook for us and we felt encouraged by our visit. He felt she may indeed be a candidate for the surgery she needs, but of course we won't know for sure until the cath. God is so good though and has a good plan for her life!

One unfortunate part is that the Dr believes they detected yet a 3rd heart defect on her cardio echo sonogram. So for you "heart" parents, in addition to her VSD and PFO, he believe there may also be an ASD. The ASD though, can also be closed in surgery as well if she can have the surgery, so it is correctable, so that is a positive within the negative.

Sorry, I am so behind on blogging, but here are are a few fun pics from Thanksgiving!

Joshua and his classmates worked hard on studying American Indians and making costumes for their Thanksgiving presentation.

Joshua insisted, the night before the celebration, that I "dress as a Pilgrim", LOL! Well, I had no Pilgrim clothes so thankfully his teacher had a spare bonnet for me to borrow!

Hua Hua excited to share in the feast with the kids at school!

Just a cute pic of Hua Hua having a doughnut at church! So sweet is she!

Thanksgiving at Jacob's parents lake house is such a special time! The kids loved every minute!! Katie Grace loved her first bite of fried turkey (Pop"s style) and all of the fixins!

PSALMS 147:3 He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. - Our little girl's heart is in need of a miracle.

2011-11-18T10:57:00.003-05:00

Those amazing words are written by the psalmist believed to be King David speaking of the Lord's ability to heal us body, mind and soul. I understand that the words, "He heals the broken hearted.." are meant to express the feelings of the abandoned, the forlorn, the outcast but in this case, I have taken hold of the this promise for our Katie Grace who literally needs a healing in her physical "broken heart".

Our sweet little Katie Grace has had her broken in her life on more than one occasion. Having been abandoned at 9 months, living in an institutional setting where longtime friends and caretakers may come and go, and then leaving the place she knew to come to a new family. These are huge life changes that cause a broken heart and I thank God for giving her a smiling face and a joyful disposition everyday!

We knew when we looked at Hua Hua's medical file (we still call her that at home, it's her Chinese nick name :) hwa hwa) that she had 2 "minor/correctable" defects. We had our Dr review her file an he said that 1 of the defects, a PFO is so common that many people have it and don't know it, it is most likely a non- issue, which we found to be true in her case. He said the other defect, a VSD may need correction at some point in her childhood, but is a very common correction for a cardiologist to perform successfully. This is true, but at her cardiologist appointment, there is a major problem. The VSD hole in her heart is very big. It has caused her heart to labor, which has caused her lungs to labor for too long. The heart needs the surgery soon, but the cardiologist believes her lungs have developed too much damage to be able to handle the correction of the heart.

On December 14th, Katie Grace will go into Arnold Palmer Hospital here in Orlando and they will catheterize her lungs to check the the capacity of her lungs and determine if she can have the life saving heart surgery she will need. If she does not, there is nothing they can do to improve the lung function, she will not be able to have the surgery ever. Please pray that she has that strength! We believe in hearts that she does. If you saw her, you would believe that she does. She did not have many of the signs on the checklist they asked about. She does not tire easily, she does not breath hard, she does not get blue lips or fingers or toes. She is active and healthy!

Her lung oxygen saturation levels were low, but she was also sick with a bad cough at the time and I know that can cause low levels, her cough is totally gone now.

Thanks for your prayers and I will keep better updates!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2011-11-04T16:20:00.018-04:00

Hua Hua LOVES her Minnie Mouse! She takes her everywhere and sleeps with her too. So I thought, what better choice for a costume than Minnie?? She looked SO cute!

She was so excited to put on her Minnie dress and she loved her ponytails, ears and nose! She squealed for joy! She really smiles a lot, I promise, LOL! I just can't seem to get her to smile a real smile for a picture yet. This is her photo smile. :)

Joshua wanted to be Spider Man AGAIN this year. He insisted. So I thought, great, just re-use your old costume if that is what you want. Then the night before Halloween he cried because he decided he wanted to be Mario. Well, I said, "it's a little too late to make a change now". Then that day I was shopping and saw this Mario costume, the last one left, happened to be in his size, marked at 1/2 price. Well of course I knew I had to get it and boy was he excited!

I have no idea why they both posed at the same time looking away from me off into the distance, but it made me laugh! These two are two peas in a pod. Always together.

Here's all 4 of the kiddos. Christina decided if Katie Grace was Minnie, she would be too. So we just got her that tutu and she did the rest. That turned out adorable. Jacob did Matthew's horror make-up, finished his hair later, and bloodied the shirt. A bit gory for my taste, but oh well, boys just like to go the extra mile!

Early in the evening on Halloween, we have a tradition of going over to visit our long time babysitter Jean at her community club house and their celebration. She likes to show of the kids to all her old folks friends. They are really like grand kids to her.

What could be cuter than these two sisters???

There the kids are with Jean. She is dressed as a Japanese Lady. She always wins her clubhouse costume contest.

The first of many tastes of candy for that evening!

One sweet little Mario taking a break from his mustache to eat some candy. Giving me the "don't even think of taking my candy" look.

Time for the children's costume parade! They all had some really fun costumes!

Katie Grace is shy sometimes, but only for a moment. She loved the costume parade and won 2nd place! She lost to a cute chubby baby lion. :)

Back home and ready for Trick-Or-Treating. Joshua, our neighbor Amber and Hua Hua ready to go. Hua doesn't even know what she is in for with this candy collecting that is about to occur! All of the neighbors were so happy to see her and ooohed and ahhhhed!

Matthew always sticking close by to make sure she is safe and sound. He is a great big brother.

Matthew with his best buddies, Elijah and Hunter.

DID SOMEBODY SAY FOOTBALL??

2011-10-10T14:53:00.008-04:00

So I had this plan to post a whole bunch of awesome pics of all of our fall football activities, because if you have followed me for any length of time you will know that we are all about football around here! First of all, I will say War Eagle! We are Auburn fans! We watch college football every Saturday (well all weekend long really) and try to be festive and wear our Auburn Orange and Navy for the games, but that is after a long morning and afternoon of Pee Wee football supporting the Ridge Lightening, Matthew's team, and the night before that, the Ridge Community High School Bolts football team, where Christina marches in the marching band. So we are at practice ALL week for one child or another and at games ALL weekend ALL fall long.

The only problem is, I really don't have many awesome pics like I had planned. Every time I have everyone dressed up in their game day colors, it rains or I forget the camera, or the photos come out bad. So I just decided I will start posting what I have today and go from there!

Today is dedicated to Christina's and Marching Band. As you can see these are early season pics because they aren't even in full uniform yet. Also, a couple cute pics of her in her homecoming dress.

2 fun videos too. More fall football pics to come. :)

This first video is Christina's band in the stands during the game. Last year they had a band almost twice this size but with cut backs in the arts in schools, a lot of the seniors moved on and not as many young musicians came in from middle schools. They still have a great band and a great program though! They have so much fun. You can see Tina with her sax on the end near the middle.

I'm glad that when Jacob volunteers to help the band each week, he can really go the extra mile! He was formerly the Drum Major for Auburn University and so when the HS Drum Majors had to leave the other night, he was able to take over for a few minutes and lead the band!

Homecoming dress pics I found on her desktop :)

An unusual moment of the whole family together in one spot!!!

Almost 7 weeks home!

2011-10-06T11:57:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't been on much to post! We have been very busy here at home and I don't have any free time as yet to blog and visit blogs like I used to. I hope things will settle at some point so that I can do this more often and I miss visiting all of my friends blogs!!

Katie Grace XiHua is doing wonderfully!! She is so sweet and is adjusting SO well. She has a good disposition and is easy to care for on a daily basis. She is sweet and helpful and loving. She is still stuck to me like glue and has panic and that is still tiring, but we work it out. She loves her siblings and they love her. She loves her daddy too and actually lets him hold her now, but only when I am gone, LOL!

I finally have slept a "full" (my usual 6 hours) night and in my own bed for 3 random nights this week!! That is something to cheer about! Sleeping on her floor on a sleeping bag and waking up to crying many times a night is very draining, and uncomfortable so I am looking forward to more sleep!

"Hua Hua", as we still call her at home has learned many English words and understands almost everything I say to her. She is bright and quick to learn. She fits in so well in our family and we just love having her brighten our day!

She LOVES to dance! Here is the sweetest video I caught of her dancing the other day. :)

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY JOSHUA!!

2011-09-29T09:00:00.010-04:00

I want to give a big Happy Birthday shout out to my super 6 year old Joshua today!!!!! He is such a wonderful boy and makes my heart full of joy! He loves to read and talk about all kinds of facts. He loves science and skyscrapers and dinosaurs and legos. If you sit down together with a book on any of these subjects, you can have a long discussion about the facts and he will be so happy! Happy Birthday Joshua. I hope Kindergarten and your 6th year rock!

He has been saying how much he would like a "surprise party", LOL! So we gave him a surprise Birthday party this past Sunday! It was fun and here is a video of the surprise moment. Also some other pics from the party. I'm sad to say that the camera I was using had most of the pics come out blurry so I only ended up with a small bunch of good pics.

Surprise Face!!

mmmmm.... waiting for cake!!! Still room after pizza?? Of course!!

Good Friends :)

Worms in Dirt... ewwww!

Painting "pet rocks" was a hit!

3 CUTE LITTLE RASCALS TOGETHER FOREVER and "Mom, I think we got the best little girl in the orphanage."

2011-09-13T08:59:00.004-04:00

This little girl has these boys wrapped around her little finger! All day long she calls their names, "Josssuaaa!!" "Mapheeww!!!" and they run over to her and help her with whatever she needs. She comes with me in the morning to help wake them up in their rooms and calls them to come down from their bunks. She is so excited to see them get off the bus and Joshua runs over to kiss her as Matthew casually and cooly (because he is 7th grade now you know) picks her up and gives her a hug. She loves them and wants them to play with her and calls them over all day long. Even Matthew's 7th grade friends hug her and she has gotten to know and like them. :)

Joshua (5) was the baby of the family and let's not kid around here. This transition has not been easy on him. In fact, he has had some real big changes in behavior while giving up the baby spot. He has been acting particularly difficult and defiant and crying more at the smallest things. So, we have been working with him to help him move into big brother spot. But the neat thing is, he doesn't resent Katie Grace in any way he just resents not being the baby and me not having 4 arms instead of two. And I totally get that. It is hard when I have to hold her a lot with her fears of being left behind and being stuck to me and him not getting the attention he used to get. So I am trying to do my best. But he does adore her now and that is a relief. He kisses her a lot and says things like (in a baby talk voice) "look at this sweet baby" and she pushes him away with a grumpy face because he is way over kissy and gets in her space! Then he laughs and then she laughs too. But she still loves him just the same and he does her.

Last night on the way home from football practice, Matthew (12) said, "Mom, I think we got the best little girl in the whole orphanage." and Joshua (5) said, "I do too!" Then I said jokingly, "So you don't think we should trade her in for a new one?" and Joshua said, "NO!!" I said, "That's good, cause we would never! She's for forever."

Quick addendum and edit to the last boo hoo post this morning.. :)

2011-09-12T13:56:00.005-04:00

So when I said that no one has come by to visit or has even called me and mentioned only two that had, I had failed to mention that Jacob's parents were here when we got home and have been SO helpful! They have been beyond wonderful! I didn't add them to the visitors because they had been a part of the welcome home and well, just part of the family! But when I read my previous post, it sounded as though I left them out. I just assume everyone knows they are a part of the family and always here for us, but I should never just take that for granted or assume everyone knows how awesome they are! Anyway, I just wanted to correct that.

Also, I think I am just having sort of one of those boo hoo downer days, so don't take this too seriously! In fact, I was thinking... We have only been home a little over 3 weeks, but we adopted Katie Grace 6 weeks ago. So the fact that no one here locally has called me or to ask if they might see her, is not that unusual if you think of only 3 weeks for goodness sakes! It just feels longer to me. Like Leah said on her comment, they may feel like we need time to settle in. And we did, I could just use a little diversion from playing dollies hour after hour now! So..........

This morning, after writing my last post, I remembered my dear friend Karin wanted to do some playdates soon. She is a friend who I work with at Disney who pretty much stays at home now with her 2 year old daughter and lives about 20 minutes away. So I called and sure enough she was ready and going crazy for someone to come over! I headed over and the girls played for 2 hours. Karin is Japanese so she made noodles which is Hua Hua's favorite and we all ate with chopsticks and everyone was so happy for the company. We are planning to do this 2 days a week!

3 weeks home!

2011-09-12T09:00:00.010-04:00

Sorry I have not had a lot of time to post. It is not easy to get time on the computer with this little chickie following me around and still stuck to me like glue! She likes to press the buttons on the computer when I am on it so I just usually end up giving up!

Over all Katie Grace Xi Hua is adjusting quite well. She is very good natured, bright and learns as she goes. She is very observant and wants to do things like we do them, so she watches and learns quickly, whatever it might be.

Her tantrums have numbered down considerably. She may only have a couple per week. When she wakes up from a nap, she used to have a big tantrum everyday. Then it became just a long crying jag, now it is about 20 - 40 minutes of serious grumpiness without much crying. I have to work with her through it- she won't let me leave her side, but won't let me touch her. Once it is over, she is a sweet as pie again!

She is still very attached to me, Mom. Now the attachment is good, yes! But the fear and panic is not so healthy. I am working with her to not fear being left behind in her own home. She panics if I walk too fast away, even in the house. But yesterday for the first time, she played with our little neighbor girl, Amber (7), who loves to come over. She let me go out of the room several times to do my housework and only called me a lot and checked on me now and then but didn't scream and run after me. I even got a shower in without her standing at the shower curtain, yay!

She is learning to share more and more everyday and really loves her siblings and mom and dad so much. We hug and kiss and hold hands a lot all day. We play and sing and dance and watch shows together.

I however, have to say, am feeling a little bit down. It is not easy sitting in a house all day on a floor playing dolly or "kitchen" with a 3 year old hour after hour day after day and doing house work in between. I know, I know, that's what moms do! Don't get me wrong, I really am attaching to Katie Grace quite well and she is so sweet, but this is not unlike the feelings of the blues after having a baby and you feel pretty cooped up and disconnected with everyone. No one has come to visit or to see our new daughter or even called to say hi, except our awesome babysitter and my wonderful neighbor Liz. Actually 2 others have messaged me and said they would visit. But that is it! I guess adopting is not exactly like having a bio child in the eyes of the world? Or maybe once you have a few already, people probably figure it doesn't really matter anymore and you got it down to a science. :) That has been a bit of a disappointment and I feel a little out of it. I have to say, I have been feeling better though when I get out in the evenings to football practice or wherever and just out of the house for a bit.

Here are some great pics from this past week:

Here is a cute one of Kate Grace in her too big slippers and backpack she wears around the house and packs with all kinds of things! If you can't find something, it is usually in there, like my phone, someone's shoes, etc!

Daddy gets a little extra love from the boys! Nothing like those hugs to give you some more energy for the day!

Just a cute little face to see everyday!

Swimming pool time with Matthew and Joshua. Thank goodness she lets Matthew take her in too so Mom can take a break and take some pics!

Joshua and Hua Hua all grubby after playing in the dirt after football practice, being silly and having chicken nuggets for dinner.

BANGS, PONYTAILS AND MY VISION

2011-09-01T09:18:00.005-04:00

Katie Grace Hua Hua came to us with bangs (hang in there, this is kind of a neat story when you get to the end!) but they were too long and hung over her eyes, so I have been barretting them to the side, which is super cute, but I am re-clipping that barrett every 20 minutes when she is playing! So, I decided to recut her bangs yesterday. She was so good and just sat on the bathroom countertop for me as I cut them. She LOVED her bangs and said, "mai lee!" Pretty!! I can still barrett them if I want to but they are short enough to stay out of her eyes when playing.

Then, as most little girls love, she grabbed some hair bands I had on the counter top and wanted me to put some ponytails in her hair, so I put a pair of ponytails in, one on each side like I used to wear when I was little.

Suddenly, I realized I was re-creating the little girl from my vision! The little girl that I had to go and find from my dream I had almost 3 years ago. Here she was in front of me! She couldn't be more real! The very reason we set out to adopt our little girl in Asia. You can read about that vision here. You see, 3 years ago, I was already advocating for children here in foster care as a GAL and had a heart for children in need. Also, in the past, I had pursued the adoption of a little girl from foster care and that child was not able to be adopted at that time much to my heartbreak. Adopting internationally was not really a thought until I had this dream and "told" the little girl "I will be there soon". Then this journey began and here we are today with our little Katie Grace Xi Hua!

One fav photo I missed...

2011-08-30T08:39:00.003-04:00

Dressed for pee-wee football game day, Christina (16) and Hua Hua (3) watching Barney on Mama's bed together. Apparently Christina is remembering her former love for Barney and happy to pass it on to her little mei mei... :)

The Past Few Days....

2011-08-29T12:26:00.008-04:00

Our little Katie Grace 'Hua Hua" is doing very well! She is really adapting and is quite the little trooper as this past week has been very busy with school in session as well as dance, marching band and football beginning for the big kids. She just goes along without much trouble. When she does get agitated, and starts to cry, then it does still escalate into a tantrum, but these are even less dramatic and more like crying fits as opposed to screaming like before.

She is more patient and plays and shares better. She knows that her food is indeed coming and that food is not going to "run out". She can see that her toys are here to play with and that sharing does not mean that she will lose everything.

Katie Grace is smiley and cute and makes silly fun faces and loves to giggle. She LOVES to be tickled! She plays well and adores her siblings.

She is still totally attached to mama and panics if I go in another room and close a door. She will allow our oldest daughter Christina to take her a little farther away from mama, for instance at our son's football game the other day, Christina took her to the concession and to the bathroom which was a big step! She won't really let anyone else carry her much except Matthew occasionally although she does sit in daddy's lap now for a bit if he will tickle her ribs!

Our family babysitter Jean, who has been coming to babysit our kids as they have grown for years, has been coming over regularly this week and Katie Grace likes her. I will have to go to work this Thursday and Saturday evening for 4 hours and Jean will be here Thursday evening because Christina has band practice. Please say a prayer that Katie Grace will not be traumatized when I leave!

Here are our latest pics:

1st bowl of ice cream!!! So cold but she loved it!!

Joshua's first day taking the school bus! Sometimes we drive, but sometimes they take the bus. He was very excited to take the bus with big brother Matthew!

Katie Grace loves playing on the back patio with her cars and slides. She also loves her little parasol!

Matthew's first official football game of the season. Hua Hua and Christina all set with snacks, tent and chairs. Let's just say that it is hot her in Central Florida. SO HOT. But we stay under the shade. Matt loves to play football though! Katie Grace even yells Go Maphewww!

The boys all worn out from the heat after the game.

It's tickle time with daddy!

Ok, so she LOVES Barney! Christina loved Barney when she was little and we still have some VHS tapes of Barney so I thought I would try it. Well it is the only thing that "hua hua" loves to watch. She is enthralled. She dances and giggles and sings! I always said there is something about Barney!

SO happy to watch Barney on mama and baba's bed!!!!

BACK TO SCHOOL

2011-08-25T08:37:00.011-04:00

Christina, Matthew and Joshua went back to school this past Monday. I was sad to see them go so quickly after we got home, but glad to get into a schedule here at at the house.

Katie Grace watches them go in the morning and says "bye bye" and when they come out of school she squeals and jumps and giggles and yells, "Tina!!!! Mafffewww!!! Joshua!!!!!!" It is the cutest thing to see how excited she is to see them after school, I will try to get those moments on video if possible. Just priceless.

Joshua started Kindergarten this year. He had half day pre-k last year so this is going to be a change for him. He had a very hard time with us being gone to China, especially as it got longer, and is having a little bit of a hard time with not being the "baby" anymore with new little sister getting so much attention. Especially when she is so much of a mama's girl right now and wants me only to hold her. Although, as the week rolls on, he seems to be relaxing about it much more and enjoying being big brother. I am really hoping soon Katie Grace will be more comfortable to stay with daddy so that I can go to Joshua's school and volunteer in his classroom. Jacob and I and Katie could go have lunch soon though!

Here are some pics from first day of school.

Boys all dressed in their uniforms ready to go. Thier mei mei (little sister) sticking close by. :)

Christina is a junior in high school this year, can you believe it?? She is a great honors student and involved in a lot of activities so she is ready for a busy year. She and Katie Grace have already been on the computer making funny pics to put on Christina's facebook page!

Joshua heading out to the car with his Sponge Bob backpack. Oh was he happy to find Sponge Bob! Yes, we are Sponge Bob friendly in this house. He is the ultimate optimist! :) :) :)

Did I mention how much Katie Grace loves Matthew?? She sticks by him a lot. In fact he may be my second care giver for her at this point! Matthew is going on 13 and is starting 7th grade. I've mentioned many times here what a tender spirit he has and she saw it right away. She loves playing with all 3 siblings but holds onto Matthew the most right now.

Joshua and daddy.

Joshua's Kindergarten classroom and his teacher, Ms. Kaiser.

Ready for a great 1st day!!!

Ok, we sort of had to peel her little hand off Matthew's and tell her we would see him later. She was not thrilled about us leaving the boys at that place. It may have seemed a bit like a orphanage to her with lots of rooms and kids. She had a concerned look as we left. She was so happy when we returned to pick them up!

YES, WE ARE HOME!!!

2011-08-24T04:31:00.011-04:00

Sorry I haven't had time to post since we returned home! You can imagine how tired and busy we have been getting settled in over the past few days. We have 24 hours and 4 flights home. Katie Grace "Hua Hua" ("Hua Hua" is what she calls herself, but it almost sounds like "Qua Qua" or phonetically "Qwa Qwa", obviously her nickname for her Chinese name "Xi Hua", isn't that cute?!) did a great job traveling - she was awesome on the international flight, but did throw 1 dinger of a tantrum one of our domestic flights, but oh well, we made it anyway!

She was jet lagged and a bit in shock at the new changes again upon arrival. New home, new siblings who were happy to see her, new grandparents happy to see her, new everything. She slept for almost 18 hours. I was getting worried and then she woke up a happy little girl and has been doing quite well since.

On top of that, Monday was first day of school for our other 3 kids which we went to dazed and confused due to jet lag and China bodyclocks, LOL ! Thank goodness, Jacob's parents stayed just a couple extra days to help us get our brains going again! They are so wonderful, cooking and helping us with the kids and in the house, I miss them already!!!!!

We (she!) were sleeping on China time for the first couple of days, ( I was getting NO sleep and was starting to get really out of it. I slept only 1 hour on all flights combined too) then on day 3 she stayed up all day until 6:30 PM and went to bed so we were able to get onto US time. I am still waking up early, (it's 4:30 AM right now) but happy to get on schedule!

Her adjustment, I would say, is going well. Some of the behaviors that were really trying earlier like yelling at us to get things, being really demanding, tantrums for not getting things, have decreased day by day and it is only the first week. She likes to play with her animals and dollies. She likes to play with her little kitchen and "food". She is learning to share a little. She is still stuck to mama and needs mom to do all of her care at this point. She is a very happy little girl for the most part as we go through the day. She still is very nervous about others helping her with things or if someone wants to show her how a toy works, she thinks they are taking it and she grabs it and hides it! She is getting a little more relaxed though.

Tomorrow I will post some pics of the first day of school and try to write more! Also, I have 5 million videos from China that I need to upload to youtube (unpublished) so that I can post them here and also send to the moms and dads who are waiting to see their kids from our orphanage visit. Here are some pics of her first few days.

What a wonderful welcome this was and what a joy to see my kids, I can't tell you! Thanks to Jacob's parents, Lolli and Pops for making this happen! Why don't I have them in some of these pictures?? That really stinks!!

Jet lag baby and on China time sleeping all day wherever she would walk to and just lay down! Then I would just grab a pillow and put it under her head!

Jet lag Jacob fell asleep playing with Katie with a lamb on his head, HA!!!!

So guess what, she loves pancakes! But honestly, who doesn't????? Thanks Lolli for making pancakes!

She loves to play with her Minnie Mouse. She actually thinks it is funny to squeeze Minnie's nose and make her cry and then hug her and make her feel better. Umm, not sure if that is nicest game, lol, but at least she makes her feel better! Of course it doesn't help when we say (in a Minnie voice, "owwww my noooose, give me a kisssss")

Daddy picked me up out of the car yesterday for the 1st time!!!!! This was a milestone that I let daddy pick me up!! I let him pick me up once more later in the day, but only once. That is progress though!!!!!!!!!

She saw her tutu and just loved it and wore it around the house! She also loves buttons. Remotes, phones, computers.....

Playing on the computer, taking funny pictures with Christina, Joshua and our neighbor girl Amber who plays here a lot. They were laughing a lot at the pics!

Playing on the school board with Joshua. I love those sweet faces!!!!!!

Leaving Guangzhou Tomorrow.

2011-08-19T11:27:00.005-04:00

First of all I want to say, Christina, this is my last post! Thanks so much for doing this for me my dear daughter! I would not have been able to blog once I got here because it didn’t work out as I had planned, so thank you!!!!!!!!!!

We leave Guangzhou tomorrow evening and fly to Beijing.. Then we stay overnight at the Airport Hotel (only for about 6 hours) and then fly from Beijing to Seattle. Then from Seattle to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Orlando. 4 flights! I’m pretty sure that I have plenty of little toys and treats to keep her busy for some of it!

We will miss Guangzhou and Shamian Island and our stay has passed so quickly. But we are also definitely ready to get home to our kids and home and family!

Katie Grace Xi Hua is doing better everyday. She is such a wonderful little girl. She is quite affectionate with me much of the time with lots of hugs. She wants me to carry her 80% of the time which can be tiring, but good for boding. She still has some digression some mornings where she will wake up and not want to interact or hug or even hold my hand, then by afternoon she is happy again. She is making progress with daddy, laughing at him. Squealing and giggling when he passes by in the swimming pool like at sea creature She tries to “get” his feet with her animals when he is “sleeping” and he reacts and she laughs. She feeds him noodles with her chopsticks. So that is all great! Still no holding though. :)

Here are some parting pics.

Matthew, Joshua and Christina, we will be home soon! We miss you all so much and cannot wait to hug you and give you kisses!

Lolli and Pops, thank you so much for taking such good care of our kids while we are gone. We don’t worry while they are in your hands and that is a blessing.

Katie Grace Xi Hua loves the playroom over at the White Swan! She loves Barney a lot too! Robbie, this picture with Snoopy is for you!!!!!!

Yay for slides!

She’s in a little bed with her babies, on a “cell phone”! Ha! I haven’t even been on one here!

We had our US Consulate appointment today for her visa!

We will miss our awesome guide Lily!!!! She is the best!

We will miss all of our fun foods and trying new things. Of course I will look forward to eating some of my old favs again too. :)

Will will really miss our dear friends Lisa, Michael and their new daughter, Mikaela. It wouldn’t have been the same without them here with us.

Swimming in the pool was a hit! She loved it so much, I though she might swim away if she could!

She makes the cutes little faces!

We went to the park daily for a fun activity!

The view of Guangzhou from our pool.

Guangzhou Zoo.

2011-08-19T11:05:00.004-04:00

We went to the Guangzhou Zoo yesterday (Wednesday) and had a great day! Katie Grace Xi Hua loved the Zoo and laughed and smiled as we approached every new exhibit! This zoo was really beautiful and I was glad we went!

Guangzhou and Shamian Island Continued.

2011-08-17T16:43:00.004-04:00

This was some sort of Choir practice that was occurring several days a week in the park. There was a leader and she had a music chart and was directing and teaching. The singers sang beautiful and loudly. I have video and will post the videos when we return. I wish I could understand what they were singing and I don’t know what it was for. I recognized the words to one of the songs and it began with “Wo ai ni” “I love you”. Many in the group were dressed nicely in skirts and blouses. Anyway, if anyone sings in a choir and complains about their rehearsal, imagine rehearsing outside in 98 degree weather! We take so much for granted.

I thought this was just the cutest!!

We attended Church on Sunday and a Christian State Church just a few blocks away. The service was in English and Chinese. The room was packed and the music was beautiful. We really enjoyed this beautiful opportunity.

Everyday that you walk down the streets and through the parks of Shamian Island, you will see photo shoots happening. Most of these shoots are wedding shoots, but many are also modeling shoots as well. I am not convinced that all of these beautiful and perfect looking couples everyday are actually bride and groom, I imaging that many times it it a shoot for a bridal magazine and other magazines as well. The island has the perfect backdrop for a shoot.

Guangzhou and Shamian Island.

2011-08-17T16:31:00.004-04:00

thought it would be nice to share a few posts about Guangzhiou and specifically Shamian Island, where the Victory Hotel is. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, Guangzhou is a massive city located in Guangdong Province in southern China. There are over 12 million people in Guangzhou. We are staying on Shamian Island which is a very nice area of town - only an island by the fact that it is surrounded by canals on 3 sides and backs up to the great Pearl River. The island is very nice and somewhat “higher end” and I would say a bit westernized.

We have completely enjoyed our stay at the Victory Hotel. The staff has been wonderful and our room is fresh and clean twice a day. We have a great breakfast buffet with both Western and Chinese items to chose from that we have really enjoyed every morning. The hotel is right next to a Starbucks (awesome!) and lots of shops with fun items for gifts and shopping. Walking distance to a park with slides for Xi Hua too.

More fun pics!

2011-08-16T21:43:00.003-04:00

I just want to say thank you again to my daughter Christina for posting all of these posts for me! You are the a wonderful daughter Tina!! I love you!

I miss my kids a lot a lot a lot.

Some more fun pics and update on bonding.

2011-08-16T21:40:00.001-04:00

We have been so busy going in and out of the room on outings and to appointments, it is hard to find time to get onto the computer. When she is taking her nap or has gone to sleep for the night is the time I can get on here for a bit! I wanted to give a quick update on how she is doing and how we are bonding. The first 4 days increased well with lots of hugs and loves by day 4. I though we might be in heaven! But day 5 she woke up and decided she didn’t like me, too much that day, LOL! She wouldn’t hug me or let me carry her or hold my hand. She was just mad I guess and well, that’s ok!! She has the right to be mad sometimes. We had to go out for some appointments and I had to gently convince her (with the help of our guide) that she must hold my hand for safety. Well our first stop was the medical check up which she wasn’t too thrilled about and she threw the first of several tantrums we have had. The tantrum has been set of usually by taking away something that she cant’ have or not letting her do something and results in screaming at the top of her lungs for about 5 -10 minutes and nothing will quell it. I cannot pick her up during it. She doesn’t throw herself down or anything, just stands in one spot, so we just have to let her cry it out. But the Chinese people walking by don’t politely ignore you, they stop and stare, LOL!! Oh well!

Now before you get too worried, in between these moments this little girl is a bundle of joy, is really entertaining, and is doing great! Day 6 and 7 improved, but with a few tantrums and today, day 8 was a really really a great day with no tantrum!! She likes to be carried sometimes, but most of the time prefers to walk and hold my hand. Several times a day she comes and gives me hugs and smiles in my eyes, but other times, I will say, “Can Mama have a hug” and she will shake her head No! He-he! She lets me give her kisses on the cheeks a lot but doesn’t really give me kisses but that is fine. She loves to play baby with her dolls and have me play with her and “fly” her on my legs on the bed! She’s very snuggly at night.

She still won’t let Jacob hold her, but will let him pick her up to push the elevator buttons. Today they made great progress. She fed him noodles with her chopsticks. She laughed when he was blowing bubbles and swimming toward her in the pool. She was tickling his feet when he was napping and he laughed she she loved that. So these were big steps for her with Jacob today!

She HATES the stroller. LOVES the pool. She feeds herself with chopsticks and utensils. Can open and close water bottles and drink from it herself. She goes to the bathroom and wipes herself. (I help her a little although she would probably like to do it alone!) She wears a diaper to bed. She talks a lot and speaks clearly. She has the cutest little munchkin voice! I can’t wait to post video when we get home!! She speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin. She eats and eats and eats and eats!

The Finding Place.

2011-08-14T21:17:00.001-04:00

One of the very special places we were able to go and visit was Xi Hua’s “finding place”. This is the place where she was left at 9 months old and was found and brought to the orphanage. I do feel that this is a very personal part of her life, but at the same time, it is well known that the children are often left to be found and that is how they end up in an orphanage. It was clear by the location of Xi Hua’s finding place that she was intended to be found quickly. Someone left her with care in a busy place. A round-a-bout garden in a busy part of town. Our awesome guide, Lily and our driver, along with an assistant from the orphanage, took us about 30 minutes further from the orphanage and searched for the address and here we found the “flower bed” where our precious little flower was found.

We took pictures of the area from across the street and then we walked over and took a picture there as family as if to wrap up that moment in history in a sense I guess. We also took a picture (our guide’s great idea!) of the store nearby with the address in case we or she ever wants to find it again in the future.

Orphanage Visit Part 2.

2011-08-14T21:11:00.003-04:00

Orphanage Visit.

2011-08-14T20:54:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, (Friday) our guide drove us to Zhongshan City where we visited the orphanage where Xi Hua spent her first 3 years. Upon our arrival we met the Director of the orphanage and he greeted us kindly and we all took a photo. We then went on a tour with Ms. Zhong who runs the orphanage. She is amazing. There are over 400 children who live on the grounds of the orphanage and over 100 more who live in other homes. We we asked to see various children for families waiting, she knew who they were and where they were at that moment.

The orphanage is well funded, clean and well staffed. The staff cares for the children well and they have many children to care for. The children have matching tee shirts, pants, pajamas and shoes and 3 meals a day. It is still clear when you see the children their desire and or lack of much adult interaction. Some were frightened, some clung to us. One little girl, who was blind, felt her way across the room and literally clung to Jacob, saying “I want a mama and baba” in Chinese. We heard her say Mama and Baba and we asked our guide what she said. Our hearts just melted inside. We had to peel her off, precious baby. She was about 4 or 5.

Xi Hua was okay until her favorite nanny came running to hug her, calling her name. She froze and didn’t know what to do and then she began to cry because she didn’t want to stay. She loved the nanny but had made a decision to not stay and thought she was going to have to stay. So I picked her up and she began to calm. She cried again and clung to me when we went into her crib room. She did not want me to drop her off in her crib! When we went tot he cafeteria and she started to help me pass out stickers to all of her friends, she was happy again. She realized she was a part of “the farewell party” and passing out stickers as a way of saying goodbye was great!

We hugged and loved as many little friends as we could.

The Pearl River Cruise.

2011-08-11T11:43:00.002-04:00

We took a cruise down the Pearl River on this awesome looking dragon river boat. Our friends, Lisa, Michael and their daughter, Micayla joined us and it was really cool to see all of the amazing buildings along the river in Guangzhou. Guangzhou is a HUGE city. 12 million people. The city is unbelievable. The cruise was well worth it and they served a meal and tea. The tallest tower is the CCTV tower. It is one of the world’s tallest towers. almost 600 meters tall. I know my Joshua LOVES towers and knows all about the CCTV tower. So he will be excited that we saw it and took pictures!! It is the 4th photo from the bottom, Joshua!

Photos from Thursday.

2011-08-11T11:39:00.002-04:00

Hi! Katie Grace XI Hua is having a great day and so are we! She has been smiling and giggling a lot more today, always happy in the room, but shy when we go out. She loves to eat eat eat! She also loves, hair bows and jewelry - very girly! She still gets sad at bedtime and in the van. No temper tantrums as yet.

We pretty much hung around today, watched her favorite program “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf”, did a little walking around the “island’ and also stopped at Starbucks, yay! This evening, we took the Pearl River cruise. I’ll post those pics too!

Day 3 with Katie Grace!

2011-08-10T12:00:00.003-04:00

We just keep moving in a positive and wonderful direction with our little girl. She is so bright and apt at all she does. She thinks about everything and learns quickly. She loves to giggle when we are in the room playing, but still gets very nervous when we go in the van to offices to do official business. She is the most precious little thing and makes the cutest pixie faces when she is being silly. She definitely will not even let me place her in the crib, so in the bed she is, stuck to me like glue. :)

We made a little progress by this evening that I could walk into that bathroom without her going into a panic and chasing after me. In other words, she was able to sit and play without feeling like she was going to get left behind without me. She will let Jacob play with her more, but still won’t let him pick her up. She is bringing him some of her toys thought, so I think that is good! She likes me and needs me and lets me give her little kisses on the cheek, but doesn’t return affection too much. I don’t expect her to! I am just writing what it is like for those of you who will be going on this journey soon, although each child is different you might have a feeling of what to expect. She has come up and hugged my legs today randomly and it wasn’t out of need, so that was some affection. So sweet.

Ok, so she may only weigh 23 lbs, but this girl is eating! She loves her Congee. This is rice that is cooked a very long time and watered down so it almost looks like grits (for you southerners) and it has little bits of chicken in it or other meats. This is what she ate for all meals at the orphanage or maybe occasionally noodles. She will eat a bowl of Congee, plus fruit, plus crackers and anything else she can have. She will finish it all!

She LOVES the purse I brought her and takes out her little chapstick and puts it on a lot. And carries her purse everywhere.

The girl in the first picture is Micayla (sorry if I spelled it wrong!) We have been with another family this week on all official outings and have had dinner with them and will do some touring together as well. Lisa and Michael and their newly adopted 11 year old girl. Micayla, is so pretty and smart and wonderful! She speaks some English and is also so sweet to Katie Grace. This family is a joy to be with.

Back to Civil Affairs Office for Interviews Today.

2011-08-09T16:08:00.003-04:00

Today has come so far. I can tell you how brave and wonderful our little Katie Grace Xi Hua is. She slept in bed with us, stuck to my side, and woke up frightened because I was in the bathroom and she didn’t see me right away so she cried and put on her shoes and grabbed her purse (she loves the purse I got her) and she went to the door of the hotel room. I’m not sure if she wanted to get out of here or didn’t want me to leave her! Bless her heart. She is afraid we will leave her wherever we go, can you just imagine?

But as the day has gone on, we have played and hugged, and we have seen lots of smiles. She seems more comfortable little by little. She still wont let Jacob hold her but allows him to help her with things. She is showing her independent side. When we go walk, ;she doesn’t really want to hold hands unless she is nervous. So I have to keep very near and and eye on her or tell her that we have to hold hands for safety. She holds her purse like a big girl and everyone comments on how absolutely cute she is and how she walks along like a big girl. She is tiny by the way, 2T clothes are falling off of her.

She watches and thinks about every detail of everything. She is detail oriented. When I do something. She will remember and do it the same way. She opens things and throws away the trash. When she plays she is very organized, lining up her color crayons and toys in a line and then putting them all back and closing containers. She can eat and hold utensils and doesn’t spill.

We are enjoying every minute with her and learning about her as she opens up!

Oh, and she also started talking some today when she was playing. Up until then, she has been silent.

We returned to the Civil Affairs Office for Interviews and completed the adoption. I thought she might cry when we returned there but she marched right in and it seemed not to phase her, thank you Lord!

Gotcha Day Part 2! Back in the hotel.

2011-08-08T23:20:00.003-04:00

Gotcha Day/Forever Family Day!

2011-08-08T23:02:00.003-04:00

Our Gotcha Day was an unbelievable experience. Let me first say that I am keeping this somewhat brief because we have an appt to go to and I wanted to get some pics posted. We have MUCH better videos of our Gotcha moment than photos, but unfortunately, I cannot email them to my daughter to post because they are too big, and I cannot go on youtube here to have here post them from there. I will try and have Jacob drag them into imovie and shrink them. We didn’t have anyone help us to take pics or videos for us, so he had to take a video as they brought her out to us, then we took these pictures about 20 minutes later.

When they brought her out, she walked right up to us. She said Mama and Baba at Ms. Zhong’s prompting. She let me pick her up and hold her. After about a minute, she began to cry at the realization and she became hysterical. We knew this might happen with her being 3, and several other kids in the room in her age group 2 -4 years old were all screaming. We took her in another room and played for a bit with some finger puppets Jacob took out. He really got her to calm a little. She then cried and cried and our hearts broke as she left the nanny and orphanage director. Can you imagine her fear and pain?

She was beautiful and tiny. Ms. Zhong had her dressed in a dress and shoes and had a backpack with snacks an a special photo album of Xi Hua with her friends. Even pics of her as a baby that I have never seen. As we got into the car she cried and then sat quietly. We returned to the hotel and she played with some little coloring books and crayons. She cried again as our guide left, the only other Chinese person in the room.

That evening she and I, Annie, had a lot of bonding time with toys, coloring and taking walks. Jacob blew some bubbles and she liked that. She will let him help her with things but is very wary of him. She is probably not used to having men around at all. She WOULD NOT go into the crib. She screamed and held onto me like a baby kangaroo and I couldn’t peel her off. We took off the front of the crib, because it is low and you can. so it was like a little bed and tried to see if she would lay down there, but no way. She actually wanted to sleep on my chest, but I finally got her to lay next to me on our bed. She is stuck to me like glue, follows me everywhere in the room! She is so precious and we love her and we get a smile occasionally. This is amazing. She is an amazing girl.

The Great Wall.

2011-08-07T18:13:00.002-04:00

Visiting The Great Wall is a once in a lifetime experience. I can’t imagine coming all the way to China and not having seen it. What an amazing, breathtaking sight. Due to the mist and fog in the mountain, my camera does not do the true scene justice. The view was so beautiful. The lush green mountains and the winding wall.

We actually took the cable car up to a certain section of The Wall and then continued up from there. The wall was very steep and difficult to walk up. Some people were helping very old parents up that wall like it was something they had dreamed of doing and now they finally were there at 80 +

We are so glad we did this! Oh and yes, and for my friends from work who are following along, yes, we are doing a “Hoop Step” on The Wall! That was not easy because people in China STARE at me and my blonde hair as if I am an unusual fascination. So I kept telling Jacob, “you know that idea we had about doing a photo of the Hoop on the The Wall, I just cant’ because the people won’t stop staring at me!” So we almost didn’t do it, ;but there was this little “off shoot” wall of the The Wall and not as many people were there so we did it and another post from the Hoop show. The people stared more, LOL.

Touring Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City.

2011-08-07T18:09:00.003-04:00

Beijing has so many wonderful things to see, but it is quite smoggy. So most of our photos look like this. We first stopped in Tiananmen Square on Saturday. There were a lot of tourists on a Saturday in August!! We moved onto visiting the Forbidden City, a vast complex of historic rooms halls and courts where the Emperors of the Ming and Ching Dynasty lived and held court for many centuries. Really beautiful and fascinating! The lion you see below is made of pure jade.

Beijing Shatan Hotel.

2011-08-07T18:00:00.001-04:00

We arrived last Thursday. This was our Hotel, the Shatan. We enjoyed our stay and the staff was excellent! Just trying to catch up with posts now that my sweet daughter, Christina has agreed to post for me from home. I am emailing everything to her and then she is posting for me! I love you Tina!!!

Beijing Fare.

2011-08-07T17:49:00.003-04:00

We enjoy trying many foods here in China. Well I should say Jacob enjoys trying many foods and I am stick with what I think I know! We had the BEST dumplings and green tea at The Dumpling House! I could’ve eaten there everyday! I didn’t really love the night we had noodles because the bean paste the put on top of the noodles has a stale grease taste and it is served cold, but Jacob liked it. Jacob also ate the “Flavored Donkey Meat” and the “Edible Tossde Fungus” at the breakfast buffet. I had to pass on those..... but loved my colorful light breakfast.

Trying Again

2011-08-07T09:29:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I am trying AGAIN. Now I am only sending 2 photos. If this works, I will have to post about 5 posts per day with only 2 photos per post, ugh! Oh well, if it works, alt least it works. The last email did not post the photos with it even though I made them smaller. I hope this works. These are of our Hotel in Beijing. The Shatan Hotel. We really liked it there and the staff was really helpful!

WHERE ARE WE ????

2011-08-07T07:46:00.001-04:00

We are here and I really hope this posts. i should have taken folks advice and found an outside source to blog through as my email posts have not been sending at all. I am trying again and shrinking my photo sizes. We were in Beijing for 2 1/2 days and had a rough start. We did enjoy our Hotel and walking around Beijing. See pics. More pics to come. We did end up touring yesterday and saw many wonderful places which I will post about shortly if this post actually works. We are in Guangzhou now today and tomorrow......IS GOTCHA DAY!!!!! OR FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!! Or whatever Happy sort of day you like to call it!! We can hardly believe we will hold our little Katie Grace Xi Hua tomorrow at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LEAVING IN THE MORNING!!!

2011-08-02T21:00:00.003-04:00

We are heading out in the morning! I will be blogging along the way as best as I can! Love y'all! Can't wait to get our cute lit' bug!!!

CAN I GET A WHAT WHAT (or a Whoot Whoot!! FOR THE PACKING WOES??!

2011-08-01T11:47:00.003-04:00

I have packed, downsized and re-packed 3 times, and... I am about to do it again. Someone emailed me today and said she will go to China with just carry-ons. Another told me she had 2 full limit large check-in suitcases. I am somewhere in-between.

I have to have 8-10 gifts to give. A gift/donation bag for the orphanage. Clothes for Xi Hua. Some small books and toys for her to stay occupied, especially on the flight home. Medicines, mini toiletries, my small amount of clothes. Something nice to wear for court days, which means one nice pair of shoes.. this adds up!!

Ok the good news is.............. We are leaving in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are coming baby girl!!!!!

SURPRISE LITTLE LAST MINUTE UPDATE ON XI HUA THIS MORNING!

2011-07-28T22:12:00.004-04:00

I was so happy to wake up to an update on Xi Hua from the orphanage this morning!! 2 photos and her growth. It was just what I needed to get me through this last minute packing, paper gathering, house readying, kids' activity signing up-ing, and yes, still working! I love these precious photos. She has gained a pound, yay for 24 lbs!

Email Posting Test 4

2011-07-23T20:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, so test 3 didn't work with trying to post 4 large pics by email so
I will try 3..

Email Posting Test 2

2011-07-23T19:43:00.001-04:00

Now I'm going to try a larger quality photo for the test... :) please
excuse me.... :)

Email Posting Test

2011-07-23T19:40:00.001-04:00

I'm testing to see if I can post to my blog from email so that I can
blog from China....

WE HAVE TA!!!

2011-07-14T08:48:00.002-04:00

I am happy to announce that we have Travel Approval for China!! I was trying to be clever this morning and find a T and an A to put in the picture above... let me just tell you to never google images of T and A, LOL!!! Or maybe you'd like to, who knows?? Anyway, we have TA and we are so happy that we are doing the happy dance, and well, mixed in with the slightly nervous dance back and forth, which is an odd combination of moves, but... YAY!!!

We should be traveling the first week of August. Jacob and I will travel only. We will fly into Beijing and spend 2 days there seeing the sights. I thought it would be just a sin to travel all the way to my daughter's home country and not spend a couple days seeing the beauty of it, so we will take 2 days seeing the great wall, Tiananmen Square, the Temples, The Forbidden City, Etc. Then we will go onto Guangzhou where we will literally receive our precious daughter the next day! We spend 12 days in Guangzhou accomplishing various appointments and then fly home. Jacob's parents will be coming to care for the kids during this time, thank you Lord for them!

I don't have our exact departure date, but I believe it might be August 3rd. I will have it very soon though! Keep you posted. Now, off to get A LOT done!

MANY MORE NEW PHOTOS!

2011-06-19T22:34:00.009-04:00

A dear fellow orphanage group friend and fellow blogging friend, Heather, is in China right now adopting her daughter who was the next bedmate and friend of my daughter. She sent me several new pics of our daughter with her friends. (and a couple of older pics that were given to her by the orphanage). What a blessing and a joy to receive these! How wonderful of her to do this for us. She also has video she will send later!!!!

Look at that sweetest face ever! hmmm... I see Mickey Mouse on those bed sheets. I happen to know him personally. I will have to set up a meeting eventually. :)

Tiny little hands. So precious. My friend said she is very little but bright, lively and healthy. She will probably wear size 18 months, (she's 3 1/2) when we travel for her.

Looks like she really loves her friend. Look how she is squeezing her, LOL! That is the daughter of another group friend. We will all hope to keep in touch.

I love to see her here just having genuine fun and laughter and not looking too serious or apprehensive. Xi Hua is the one in the middle with her arm up.

Just happy fun!

This photo is a little older. She is holding the blue cup.

This is older too. Xi Hua is in the front eating the fruit. What a sweetie. I hate that I am missing those baby years.

WE RECEIVED OUR NVC LETTER YESTERDAY!

2011-06-07T07:48:00.003-04:00

Slowly but surely we are one step closer - we received our Nation Visa Center letter yesterday stating that they have received our I-800 approval and they will mail forward to the US Consulate in China.

Now we wait for our Article 5 (which honestly, that is the one part in the whole process that I don't really understand what exactly it is, lol). We should receive that in about a week.

Then 3-4 weeks later, we will receive travel approval and travel 2-3 weeks after that!!

WE HAVE I-800 APPROVAL!

2011-05-31T10:21:00.002-04:00

This post is a few days late, but I just wanted to share that we received our I-800 Approval on Friday! For those of you following my timeline to compare with your upcoming dates, that was 25 days after LOA. This is our final immigration document and it is good to know we are moving quickly toward travel now!!

Now we await our NVC (National Visa Center) letter any day now. Then our Article 5 which should be in about 2 weeks. 3-4 weeks after that, we will receive TA (Travel Approval) and we will travel 2 -3 weeks after that!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!

2011-05-27T17:14:00.003-04:00

Yes, it is Birthday week around here! Happy Birthday to my loving husband, Jacob. He is my best friend and boy do we like to laugh a lot! There are times when we get to laughing so much. It's usually about something crazy that happened at work or about one of our funny work friends. We also enjoy talking about everything and anything that is on our minds. He supports my ideas, hopes and missions totally. I love him tons!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET 16

2011-05-23T16:40:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday Christina! She is sweet 16, and yes it's true, she is pretty darn sweet. Ok, well she does have an opinion with a splash of occasional drama :) , but I have to say that having a teenager is not anywhere as bad as people make it out to be! Whenever I say I have a now 16 year old daughter, people will usually say either, "oooh good luck with that" or " oh wow, how's that going?". Why do people automatically assume having a teenager is a negative thing? Anyway, it's a very positive thing for us and we love every minute as a family. She never complains about going as a family to sporting events, kids' concerts, church, or wherever. She is respectful, GREAT with kids, a good student and loves girl time with me. Happy Birthday to my little girl who is growing up too fast!

WE RECEIVED AN UPDATE!

2011-05-15T16:45:00.002-04:00

We received an update, along with 3 new pictures of our waiting girl, Katie Grace Xi Hua!

Here is what the update said:

Please forward this to the Haines family.

Xi Hua's personality is quiet and shy. She is afraid of strangers. Her physical development is good and is going to the preschool in our orphanage. She is studying in the little tod class. She can feed herself and can climg up and down the stairs. She likes to watch cartoon, listening to music, likes to play games with other children and outdoor activities, and play toys. Her height; 84 cm; weight: 10.5 kg.

We are so happy to have new pics of her little preciousness and are glad to hear she is developing well!

MOMS ROCK!

2011-05-11T13:01:00.008-04:00

Super busy week and I haven't had a chance to give Mother's Day shout outs! I hope you beautiful moms out there had a great Mother's Day and were treated like queens. :)

I am so thankful for my mom. She instilled in me my faith in God without placing judgement or legalism within it. She was so kind and affectionate when we were kids - lots of loves and hugs! I NEVER once heard her talk badly about another person. If she did, I never heard it! Who can say that about themselves? She never spoke a negative word about a person of another race or socioeconomic background. Pretty awesome mom to have and I'm so glad for the grace she passed down to me.

Below are a couple pics of my wonderful mama, Alberta, aka Mimi!

I also am so grateful for my mother in law, Susan! She is so much fun to be around. She is very generous and does so much for our family. "Lolli" is totally a hands on type grandma. She and Pops love to take the kids and they always do awesomely fun activities. We appreciate them so much!

Below is a photo of Christina and Matthew's Abuela, Altagracia. Even though am am divorced from their dad for many years, I still maintain a lovely relationship with his parents. They are kind and loving and generous. The kids love to go to Puerto Rico and visit and enjoy all of the delicious foods "Lela" prepares!

WE HAVE LOA!!!

2011-05-02T17:54:00.003-04:00

We are jumping for joy here at the house today as we received good news!

I was really starting to get weary. We passed 20, 30, 40, 50 days of waiting, and when I asked some others about their wait, someone told me they waited over 100 days for LOA! So last night on the way home from work I said something like this to God, "Ok PLEASE, it has been too long don't let us wait past tomorrow. I don't think I can take it! Please don't make Xi Hua wait any longer!" This morning we got the call on day 60... LOA! Letter of Acceptance. Our final approval.

So this is not concrete, and someone who has recently been through this, please share your timeline from here. But what I am gathering is this: About 2 more weeks for I-800 (immigration) approval. Then perhaps 2 weeks for Visa notification. Then a couple weeks for Visas. Then we wait for TA and plan for travel. So about 12 more weeks-ish??

We are getting closer!!

HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

2011-04-25T09:05:00.006-04:00

^{1 Peter 1:3-4
3} Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

Hope you all had a wonderful, fun, family filled Easter! Here are some pics of our weekend.

Matthew and Christina dyeing Easter Eggs

Joshua enjoying the Easter Egg dyeing!

The Easter Egg Hunt at our church on Saturday

Me with the boys

Easter morning after the Easter Bunny's visit. Happy candy eaters.

Me with the Florida Highway Patrol guy. Ok, so actually that is Jacob, but we did laugh about Jacob looking like FHP this pic!

Easter morning before church.

Easter morning outdoor service at church.

Pray For Kirill! Click here to read their story.

2011-04-20T20:40:00.002-04:00

Please click on this post title to read about this family and their desperate hope to bring home Kirill.

Waiting.... waiting..... waiting.... for LOA.

2011-04-05T10:11:00.002-04:00

Not much happening on my blog lately. I have been SUPER on-the-go, working like a maniac, and of course, taking care of my busy family and home.

We are 5 weeks into the final "big wait" of this process. This wait can be anywhere from 20 - 60 days. We are waiting for LOA (Letter Of Acceptance), which is the final approval from China. Once we receive that, we will be heading through our last couple months, with a couple more immigration docs, and then.... Travel!

JOSHUA LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH!

2011-04-01T08:52:00.004-04:00

Joshua is 5 1/2 and he lost his first tooth this week! He was SO excited, jumping up and down, and he couldn't wait to put it under the pillow for the Tooth Fairy! I know that the Tooth Fairy is unusually generous in some parts of the country :), in fact, I know a house where when the Tooth Fairy visits, a $20 bill is left for each tooth. Wow! Really??? But here at our home, the Tooth Fairy visits and keeps it pretty simple :). After all, I think it is meant to be just a token of fun, not another opportunity to well...overindulge. Heck, when I was a kid, it was never over 50 cents! So Joshua put his tooth under the pillow, and sure enough the Tooth Fairy came and left him two $1 bills and some change. Joshua popped up at 6 AM and immediately looked under his pillow. You would have thought it was Christmas! He was jumping for joy with his treasure!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

2011-03-10T09:41:00.003-05:00

It's my Birthday and I am posting this picture because I need the strength of Captain America to wrangle this busy family for another year!!

My age?? Let's just say I am over 40 and leave it at that. :)

I took the kids to Denny's this morning for my free "Grand Slam" Breakfast. Oh yeeaah, happy tummy.

I told Jacob I only wanted 1 thing for my B-Day. A traditional Puerto Rican Birthday Cake. We found someone to make us one! He also got me some needed items for my camera. :) :) :)

I am so thankful to God for another year of love, family, friends, faith, health and life. I look forward to and welcome whatever new adventures He has in store for us! As long as He is in the boat, I'm going for the ride!

INTRODUCING KATIE GRACE XI HUA! She is currently 3 years old as of 3 weeks ago.

2011-03-04T14:35:00.018-05:00

So we received an email today from our agency that we have LID for our little girl, Katie Grace Xi Hua (pronounced she-wah)!!

Xi Hua just turned 3 years old. She has 2 minor heart defects. She lives in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China.

LID is means Log In Date. Which means our dossier has been accepted and now we wait for LOA (Letter of Acceptance (or Approval?) ) This next wait will be anywhere from 20 - 60 days. After that we will be moving quickly toward travel after a few more documents.

So guess what this all means??? I can now post pictures of our little girl!!! And even more exciting is the fact that I have many pictures to share because a few families who have recently traveled to our orphanage as they were adopting their children took pictures for us! What a blessing that is!!

Here we go. I am posting them in order of youngest to oldest. Captions are below each photo:

Xi Hua's Finding Photo. This is the photo that is taken at the child's finding date and is attached to her original information. She was 9 months old and obviously quite frightened by her situation.

This is the referral picture we received of Xi Hua with her medical file. She is approximately 2 years and 7 months here. She only weighs 16 pounds and is not very tall either. Just a tiny girl.

Here is another of her referral photos. She looks so apprehensive in many photos, precious girl! She needs a mama.

This is Xi Hua this past December, 2010. She is 2 years 10 months here.

Our friends from our CWI yahoo group took these photos. She is looking as if to say, "don't come any closer, Mister!"

Still not so sure about this man with the video camera.....

"Wait a minute, I see myself in the camera viewing screen!"

"I like to see my sweet little pixie face!"

"I don't get to see my reflection very often, this is a hoot!"

These next 3 photos were taken last week! Xi Hua walking into the cafeteria for lunch.

Putting her lunch smock on.

Precious little angel waiting for lunch.

"Is it coming yet?"

One Of My All Time Favs!

2011-02-27T22:24:00.006-05:00

On the lighter side, I just wanted to share one of my very favorite scenes ever! We love to do family movie nights and we like to have the kids watch some of the classics. We have watched so many Alfred Hitchcock classics and also a lot of old musicals. Since we are theatre performers, we love to be inspired. My kids love the show "Singin' In The Rain". You have to watch and be amazed by the Tap Dancing talents of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Not just tap dancing, but they are triple threats. I haven't seen anything like this since. Unfortunately, I cannot embed the video from youtube, so just click on this link below and you just have to see it! It will make your day!! :) :) :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKlub5vB9z8

Consider Becoming a GAL or CASA in your county!

2011-02-24T11:16:00.004-05:00

I hope to continue to post every few months about my volunteer work as a GAL (Guardian Ad Litem, also called a CASA Court appointed Special Advocate) in the foster care system.

I feel it is important to volunteer or do outreach, adopt, speak out or relieve suffering on a global level as well as right in our own community. There are so many ways we can help no matter what walk of life in which we may find ourselves. We always say, "I wish I could do something..." Well then, do something! Anything! Just step out and make a choice and do something. You will personally grow and change so much through your volunteer experiences.

Being a court assigned child advocate is a priceless opportunity. Every child deserves to have a voice. Not from the parents' point of view, not from the caregiver's point of view, not from the case worker's point of view, but from THAT child's point of view. Taking everyone's input consideration of course, but working solely for the best placement of that child who finds themselves in a lonely, vulnerable and fearful situation through no fault of their own.

Proverbs 31:8-9

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.

DON'T BUY INTO THE LIE

2011-02-14T20:21:00.015-05:00

There has been some buzz being perpetuated by a small percentage of people who believe they have the answer to the complex issues of the world's orphan problem. The lie is that adoption is only the drop in the bucket of a worldwide problem and that if we care so much about orphans we would just send money or mind our own business if it is not in our backyard. It may be a drop, but every drop counts. I actually had someone tell me, "there are too many kids, ONE can't possibly make a difference" and "let those countries with high numbers of orphans take care of their own problem, it's not our problem". I say we should consider adoption in addition to giving of our finances and time and work toward family preservation and national preservation goals first.

- I believe adoption is not only a blessing to both the family and the child, but I will take it one step further and declare that every well functioning family, who has an extra space for a bed and is throwing away food at the end of a meal, should highly consider adoption. Come on, think about your life... In the end wouldn't we want to say that we didn't hoard everything in our "circle", but that we had space in our homes and hearts for one more precious little soul? Wouldn't that be amazing??!!

- There are approx 550,000 children in U.S. foster care. Of these, 127,000 are available for adoption. Since we as "the church" claim to have a responsibility toward the orphan - I read that if ONE family from every ONE church in America would adopt ONE child from foster care, and the rest of that church's congregation would be willing to help that family with support in some way, there would be zero children waiting to be adopted from foster care! Awesome thought!

- Adoption domestically or internationally is valid and valuable! EVERY child deserves a home. YES, I AGREE and I will say it again.. preserving a national and ethnic heritage should be the first goal! But we have to look at the facts and the facts are, there are 147 MILLION orphans in the world. We have to put THEIR human rights first IF national ethnic preservation is NOT possible for that individual child.

- Can we properly parent a child of another ethnicity? Of course we can! It is 2011 and a multi- ethnic family is acceptable and beautiful. What is this, the dark ages? Why would we have to look at skin color in order to love? We are past that and can embrace and help the child learn of their culture and heritage.

- Adoption IS a ministry! We as parents often times would like to be involved in outreach or ministry of some sort. Many of us are average working families and missions may not be possible, yet, but you know what I can do? Be a MOM! I am good at being a mom and if that is the case, one thing I can do is parent another child. This is a sacred job and is beyond valuable.

- Why don't we just send our money to a feeding program or an orphanage? We do. And we will continue to do so! In fact I would venture to say that most families who adopt are also the very same families who give of their time and money on a regular basis to charity. And yes, adoption is expensive, but it is PRICELESS in view of the child's options. The investment is an entire human's life! Building a child who will be a productive part of society and will go out when they are adults and make a difference!

- Hadn't some children been adopted illegally? Sadly yes. This issue is constantly being scrutinized and the process has become extremely stringent now. This has to be considered and highly scrutinized. Corrupt practices must stop. But, we cannot throw out the idea of adoption because there are a percentage of evil-doers. That would be like never sending your child to a Dr because some Dr's were accused of malpractice. Adoption must remain an option. There are many very solid and dependable programs. It be a part of the puzzle.

Don't buy into the lie. Adoption is an option for ministry. A valid, giving, healthy, valuable option.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY XI HUA!

2011-02-08T06:29:00.003-05:00

I was not able to get onto the computer yesterday, so first thing this morning I wanted to post:

Happy Birthday to our little Katie Grace Xi Hua! Yesterday was her 3rd Birthday. She has celebrated 3 birthdays without a family. That breaks my heart! The good news is that she will never celebrate a birthday again without us!

I pray that somebody remembered that it was her birthday. I pray that she got a hug. We asked, through our agency, that a cake be ordered for her and her group to share. I hope that happened!

As each week passes, my desire for her to come home intensifies. Every week, we miss out on a milestone. Every week, we are not able to teach her love and affection. Every week, she goes without the bond of a family. Every week, she learns a behavior that we will have to work with.

Everything moves so slowly! It will still be about 4 months until we can travel to get her. I should be able to post photos of her very soon. God keep her safe and prepare her heart.

JUST SOMETHING FUN! JOSHIE OUR SUPER LEARNER

2011-02-02T22:32:00.003-05:00

Joshua is in Pre -K. He has always been what I call a "super learner". From the time he could speak, he had all of his letters, shapes, colors, and basic numbers memorized. He would point at them in his books and ask me to repeat them again and again. Sometimes, I would actually have to gently force and redirect playtime so that we didn't just keep looking at those shapes.

My other kids are smart but Josh is unusually advanced. The big kids love it and laugh all the time when he amazes us with a reading or an amazing Lego replica of the Burj Kalifa or the Taipei 101.

I don't sit and push him at all. He WANTS me to read to him A LOT and he asks a lot of questions and then remembers it all.

Jacob and I have this joke line "We're planning to call the institute". We have people i.e. family members, teachers, friends, etc. say to us all the time, "you know, he is very smart." And I will say, "yes, he is." Then they will say it again "no, he is veeery smart", and they will keep staring at me like, what are you going to do about it? So finally Jacob and I started saying just as a joke, "we are planning to call the institute". I have no idea what the institute is, but we are hoping that will please the person asking, LOL!

Anyway, I was reading an article the other night and Joshua was sitting next to me on the couch and started reading it out loud. So we video taped it.

EVER HAVE ONE OF THOSE WEEKS? THEN A GREAT MORNING OF INSPIRATION!

2011-01-30T16:33:00.006-05:00

I am usually a super positive and energetic person, but we have had a pretty hard week. Our beautiful dog, Ginger, dying was the biggest blow to us. To add to it, I had a couple other things slow me down:

I pulled my hamstring muscle in a show I dance in, at Disney. I pulled it to the point that I can't even lift up my leg to put it into my pants today. (and I have to perform in that show tomorrow, only God knows how).

Then I woke up this morning to get everyone ready for church, and I felt a virus down deep in my chest and cough beginning. (and I have to also sing in that show I do, so I need my throat to be healthy.) Ok, so anyway I thought, no problem, take cough med, go to church.

THEN I get in the car with my daughter to go and pick up her boyfriend to attend church with our family, and the "check engine" light comes on, ugh! Are you kidding me??

Now, I am not one of those "the devil is under every chair" kind of people. I do know there is a devil, and we need to be on our guard. But I don't think everything that goes wrong is the devil. Things just sometimes go wrong or they are meant to go wrong for a better good. But, I had this feeling that I was being overwhelmed so as not to attend church today. So I decided, we are going no matter what!

We arrive at church and guess what, a special guest, A MISSIONARY, is speaking at our church today! It was just the encouragement I needed after I finally shared my "I Have A Secret Dream" post a couple of weeks ago here, and suddenly a missionary comes to speak! Our church is growing, but has not had a Global Missions or Orphan Care ministry as yet. They have a community feeding center and outreach, but I have been praying for a global outlook! This was such an encouraging and heart wrenching presentation today, and I feel that it opened up the hearts of our people to begin considering the SUPER importance of a Mission/Orphan Care program. I was meant to be there today as another step for what God has in store!

WE HAVE I-800A APPROVAL!!

2011-01-29T23:11:00.003-05:00

Ok, so things are moving along, a little more slowly than I had hoped, but honestly what else is new, LOL! This whole journey is long and slow. But will be soooo worth it!

We have had our home study and dossier authenticated and ready for about a month. We had our fingerprints done on January 4th and from there have been waiting for this approval. Now that we have it, we need to authenticate it, and then our dossier will be off to China.

Chinese New Year begins in a few days I believe, so that will slow things down for a few weeks. I imagine we will have "Log In" about 2 weeks after dossier arrives in China and then we begin our wait for LOA (Letter Of Approval) which takes up to 60 days. Then following will be a couple other important immigration docs.....

GOODBYE DEAR OLD FRIEND

2011-01-25T09:35:00.007-05:00

We lost our beloved family dog, Ginger, last night. We've had her for nearly 15 years, since Christina our oldest was 1 year old. She was so sweet, loving to the kids, and a friend to me through thick and thin. Always right there by my side. She died as we sat around her and pet her. We cried and cried. I will miss her beautiful fluffy golden coat and her gentle brown eyes always looking up at me with kindness.

I don't have any puppy pics of her scanned, but here are some from the past several years.

A-MAZ-ING. THIS VIDEO "SHOUTS" WHAT MY HEART FEELS AND IT REALLY MOVED ME TO THE POINT THAT I MUST SHARE!

2011-01-14T09:41:00.005-05:00

Through our conversations, I would venture to say that most of my "blogging friends" that I chat with here are Christian. But I also know that I do have some very dear friends here who are not Christian, and I am so joyful for all of my friends as we live in love and acceptance of each other.

This video has a strong Christian message. If you are Christian, as I am, you will see the biblical responsibility this video charges us with. If you are not, I still feel that the message of this video is raw human kindness and responsibility, and should tug at the heart of anyone, of any faith, to act and bring relief to the hurting people in this world!

I love the passion with which this man, Eric Ludy, speaks.

Just imagine YOUR child.

(you will have to first scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause my blog music! Please watch this!)

I HAVE A SECRET DREAM.

2011-01-11T10:47:00.006-05:00

I have a secret dream.

I am an actress. I perform on stage doing theatre, singing, dancing, comedy. I do commercials and hosting. That probably sounds a lot more glamorous than it actually is! LOL! My husband does the same. We have been blessed to work for many years, but we are still basically the old title of "staving artists" when I gets right down to it!

So you might think that my secret dream is to "make it big" in a movie or on Broadway. Be a Star! Earn the big bucks! At times in my life, that has been the dream, but deep inside my heart, my true dream keeps creeping up as something completely different.

I dream of being..... A Missionary. There I said it. I never really say that.

I continually read missionary books, watch missionary videos, and dream of travel to far off lands, starting an orphanage, or a feeding center, getting medical help to the needy and just being there with the people.

When the thought of traveling to Africa or China and working in a orphanage or with a feeding mission is more exciting than an exotic trip to Europe, that's unusual! Does anyone else feel that way?? Please share!!

I know you will say, "How could you be a missionary, Annie?" Impossible! You are married. You have (soon) 4 kids. You have family, a job, a house payment, cars, people, futures to think of. I Know! I TOTALLY agree! I know it is a ridiculous idea for us to be missionaries. It's not even close to what we do!! So WHY do I keep dreaming I could do that??

I have made steps to fulfill (quell?) this desire. Things I can do HERE. I am a Guardian Ad Litem, working with children in the foster care system. My daughter and I spent many Saturdays volunteering at the homeless shelter. We are adopting our precious daughter. I blog. We "give". I love all of these and these are all steps that God has given us to take.

But instead of quelling my desire to travel to far off lands, those things just INCREASE my desire! UGH! So, there must be something more in the future. Something. I really don't know what it is. It may be something I'm not even thinking of. It may be totally different. But I just know there is something.

Jeremiah 20 :9

But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!! 12 YEARS OLD!!!

2011-01-06T12:23:00.003-05:00

Matthew. What a boy. He is such a sensitive, considerate and helpful young man! Matthew is always willing to lend a hand, when my other kids sigh. :-) Matthew is always the one to give hugs and to ask me if he can do anything when I'm not feeling well. Don't get me wrong, ALL of my kids are SO special to me and have their own special traits. They are helpful, and of course all do caring things. I'm just saying that today, I would like to honor Matthew's especially thoughtful, considerate nature. That trait is his gift from God. Happy Birthday Matthew!

WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, WITH A BITTERSWEET TUG.

2010-12-25T19:40:00.005-05:00

We have had such a blessed Christmas! Christmas Eve Service at Church with carols and the Bible reading of our Lord's Birth. Home last night and enjoying presents, cookies, cheese, crackers, eggnog, hot cocoa, music. We awoke this morning to gifts from Santa, yummy breakfast, more gifts, friends stopping by, delicious meal, playing with toys and watching movies.

What a festive time! What a wonderful family time!

But there is a bittersweet tug. You see, we have a daughter. But she is not here. Everyday, I have been able to keep going along and perform our daily responsibilities and enjoy our family, but last night, it really hit home. She is there. We are here. She is SO little and SO far away. What is she doing? Do they have any sort of a Christmas celebration at the orphanage? Is she safe? Warm? Did she get a hug yesterday? Today?

Many families mention how, when they bring their adopted child home and begin to bond, they begin to grieve the loss of that child's young childhood they've missed. I can see how that will be.

Praying for our little girl tonight. Our little Xi Hua. Katie Grace. God, keep her in Your arms. Keep her safe from harm. Keep her healthy. Calm her fears. Dry her tears. Attend to her needs. Put joy in her heart. Let someone be hugging her and giving her positive words. Prepare her heart, in a way that only You can, for us.

Amen

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Some moments of our Holidays thus far. Hope you are blessed with Family, Love and Joy!

2010-12-23T15:17:00.008-05:00

Joshua's Moment With Santa

Joshua and his best friend with Santa. Joshua is obviously thinking hard to answer Santa!

Santa also came to Joshua's Pre-K class!

The kids listening to Santa's story.

hmmm... what do I want??

Matthew's middle school Violin Christmas Concert. Here he is with 2 of his best buddies.

Christina dancing in her Christmas Recital - beautiful girl.

Joshua and Matthew with their good friend waiting for the Christmas Parade in our town!

Christina Marched with her HS Marching Band in the Christmas Parade!

Of course Santa at the end of the Parade is who everyone is waiting for!

We love to celebrate Christmas and especially to remember the reason Christmas is celebrated!

^{Isaiah 9

⁶ For to us a child is born,} to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

A COUPLE OF EXCITING THINGS TO SHARE!

2010-12-19T22:00:00.003-05:00

First of all, I want to say that precious "Dalton", of whom I posted earlier, now has a family!! Yes, it is true, the little guy who said "I need a mama too", will now really have a mama! I am going to remove that post with his photos for their privacy, but just wanted to let you all know he will have a family!

Secondly, I have been blessed with new photos of our little girl we are adopting! Last week, another mom/friend from our orphanage's y*hoo group, was in China adopting her daughter. I had given her our little girl's name and asked if they might be able to see her while there. Not only did they see our little girl, but they took 6 beautiful photos of her!!! AND to top that her husband said he also got a video of her that he will send to us once they get home and he has a chance to upload it and email it to us! She is a tiny, precious girl, with a cute little pixie face, and I can't wait to share photos with you all. Once our dossier is in China and is logged in, I will share! Hopefully next month!

MOVING ALONG.....

2010-12-08T20:38:00.002-05:00

Our home study is approved, has been sent to the agency and for our I-800A approval. Our agency has had several of our documents authenticated and have sent the rest for authentication. We feel a great deal of relief as we complete the first major hurdle. Home Study and Dossier! One authenticated it will all be sent to China and then the wait for LOA (Letter of Acceptance) begins. It sounds as though that wait time for LOA can range from about 30 - 60 days. In the meantime, we have some other documents to work on.

So... we are happily moving along!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND HAPPY AU FOOTBALL!

2010-11-27T22:33:00.004-05:00

These photos don't look like much is going on, but they do say a lot about what I am thankful for:

I am thankful that God gave me my family.

I am thankful for family coming to visit.

I am thankful for family time together... eating, laughing, sharing, giving, receiving, planning, talking, hoping.

So if I haven't mentioned before, we love football. If it isn't Matthew playing pee-wee football, or Christina in the marching band at the HS football games, then it is Auburn football season. I did not attend Auburn, but my husband and his family sure did and boy did I get hooked into the craziness. (ok, seriously.... maybe not as crazy as them.)

Thanksgiving weekend is the beginning of the bowl games and the biggest game this week was the age old rivalry of Auburn U and the U of Alabama. What a game!

First quarter, look at these faces.... not so good. Alabama came out like gangbusters and Auburn looked like they weren't sure what game they were playing.

End of the 1st half - Auburn decides to play some football! Did you happen to notice the new TV Jacob's parents gave us for our early Christmas present??!! What an amazing surprise! Thank you!!!

Happy faces as Auburn pulls ahead and holds the game, winning by 1 point! Undefeated this entire season. One more win and we go to the national championship!

I am thankful for many things. These happy faces give me a happy face. For that I am very thankful.

DOSSIER READY AND SENT TO OUR AGENCY TODAY!

2010-11-24T19:50:00.003-05:00

Just take a look at all of the paperwork we have completed! All lot of time, driving, filling out, notarizing and requesting went into these papers. We have completed our first big chunk and this is such a relief, but there will be more.....

By the way, it is exactly 2 years since I had the dream of a little Asian girl waiting for me. I know that by this time next year, we will be celebrating with her as a part of our family. What a joy that will be!