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Thursday, February 25, 2010
Great ideas!
Thank you all for your encouragement and some really great ideas! We're going to try them all and see what works. Today was a better day, Thank God, so we're extremely thankful for that. Some of the ideas had to do with taking the negative and turning it into a positive by engaging Lily's help with Jing Jing and really celebrating her role as a big sister. One friend had additionally thought having Lily help with things that are more nurturing like helping put lotion on Jasmine for example. She also suggested having mini-one-on-one time with both girls by literally bouncing from one girl to the other and having 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there while the other one is occupied w/a play activity. We're going to continue to reinforce discipline/time-outs when she doesn't behave and try to help her put herself in Jing Jing's shoes. Hopefully between all of these ideas and switching their rooms around, we'll see a little bit of progress. In all of this, we continue to trust God for strength and wisdom and discernment as we see what works and what doesn't. Thanks again everyone and we'll continue to keep you posted!
Bad day
Hi everyone. I just wanted to do another quickie update to ask again for your prayers. Yesterday was such a bad day for me. I think I shared that Lily was acting out quite a bit but yesterday it started first thing in the morning and went ALL day! It was a very discouraging day and to top it off, Jasmine was quite cranky as well which left us both completely drained and discouraged last night. I just want to ask for wisdom and discernment as we try and figure out the best way to handle Lily's behavior as well as give both girls the attention and love that they need. It feels like a fine balance a lot of times. I think the worse part about it is that Lily seems to have no remorse whatsoever when she's confronted and it's that part that REALLY bothers me. Please pray for wisdom and discernment there. I really long to see her heart connected to her decisions (I guess by heart, I mean conscience.)
We are going to try a couple of things to see if they help. The main one has to do with making sure that she still has a personal space. (That was a recommendation of Adoption.com) So, we're going to separate the girls and bring their play room into their rooms which will require us to move around some furniture this weekend. Additionally, we're trying to work it out so each of us has some one-on-one time w/both girls every day if not each week. Again, we're still trying to figure out how that will look so we'd appreciate your prayers as we continue to try and figure out what will work and what won't. If anyone has any great ideas, please feel free to pass them along! We're totally open.
Also, I do have a slight update on Jasmine's tests. It looks like she does NOT have acid reflux, which is awesome, however the radiologist did see some kind of twist or kink either in her intestines or stomach that he would like further testing on. We don't know what this means but are awaiting our pediatrician's call on what test they want to do next. We're praying that everything will come back normal and for wisdom and discernment for the doctors. Everything in her wrist appears to be normal (so weird!) but our doctor may have us take her to an orthopedic surgeon to further consult on that one so we'll keep you posted. All of her lab work appeared to come back normal but unfortunately the lab messed up (twice now) on one of the tests so we'll have to take her back in a third time to repeat that test.
I think that's it for now. Thanks again, everyone, for all of your encouragement and support! We could not do this without you and without God. We are trusting Him to guide us in this as He knows both of our daughters' hearts better than we do. Thank you, God, for not leaving us alone!
We are going to try a couple of things to see if they help. The main one has to do with making sure that she still has a personal space. (That was a recommendation of Adoption.com) So, we're going to separate the girls and bring their play room into their rooms which will require us to move around some furniture this weekend. Additionally, we're trying to work it out so each of us has some one-on-one time w/both girls every day if not each week. Again, we're still trying to figure out how that will look so we'd appreciate your prayers as we continue to try and figure out what will work and what won't. If anyone has any great ideas, please feel free to pass them along! We're totally open.
Also, I do have a slight update on Jasmine's tests. It looks like she does NOT have acid reflux, which is awesome, however the radiologist did see some kind of twist or kink either in her intestines or stomach that he would like further testing on. We don't know what this means but are awaiting our pediatrician's call on what test they want to do next. We're praying that everything will come back normal and for wisdom and discernment for the doctors. Everything in her wrist appears to be normal (so weird!) but our doctor may have us take her to an orthopedic surgeon to further consult on that one so we'll keep you posted. All of her lab work appeared to come back normal but unfortunately the lab messed up (twice now) on one of the tests so we'll have to take her back in a third time to repeat that test.
I think that's it for now. Thanks again, everyone, for all of your encouragement and support! We could not do this without you and without God. We are trusting Him to guide us in this as He knows both of our daughters' hearts better than we do. Thank you, God, for not leaving us alone!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Settling in
Hi everyone. Sorry it's been a week or so since I last posted. We've had a rough transition home and, while some things are still rough, we're getting over some humps with Jasmine. Thanks so much for all of your prayers! Seriously! It's the prayers and encouragement that are getting us through right now so thank you for making a difference!
So, Jasmine seems to be settling in nicely. We're finally getting some sleep as Jasmine has slept through the night for the last 6 nights! Yeah God! This week, Jim went back to work so I've been trying to muddle through on my own and adjust to our new "old" schedule again but this time with 2 kiddos. Lily, on the other hand, is now starting to act out quite a bit and every day since we got home has felt like a battle with her. I'd really appreciate your prayers as I feel like I'm at my wit's end right now and really need God's wisdom and discernment to help get her settled in and to know when to nurture and when to discipline. I'm still exhausted from everything so that hasn't helped either. It's funny because I really thought that I had prepared myself for how hard it would be with Lily adjusting to a new sister but I think when I saw how well she did in China, I hoped that it would go easier than it's going. I guess, as is true w/most things, there's really only a certain point that you can prepare yourself to and after that, you just have to go through it.
As far as the tests go, we were able to get all of the lab work done by the weekend and then her upper G.I. and xrays of her wrist were done on Monday. We're now waiting for all of the results to come back. It does appear that she does NOT have acid reflux but something else did come up that the Dr. wanted to check his films further on. No idea what that was but we're praying for a clean bill of health and are hoping to hear back this week on all of the results. We will definitely keep you posted.
As tough as things have been, we wouldn't change a thing. We know that God's plan is WAY better than anything we could ever imagine and we KNOW that this is God's plan for our family. We have no idea how God's going to take care the rest of the adoption expenses, how we're all going to bond & attach or how to best come alongside of Lily but we KNOW that He is in control and that He loves us and He WILL NOT LEAVE US OR FORSAKE US! Praise God that even in our toughest times, He is there and gives us everything we need. We don't deserve a thing from Him and yet He still blesses us and provides for us. Amazing! Please continue to pray for us as we work through this tough time and we'll be in touch soon. We love you all!
So, Jasmine seems to be settling in nicely. We're finally getting some sleep as Jasmine has slept through the night for the last 6 nights! Yeah God! This week, Jim went back to work so I've been trying to muddle through on my own and adjust to our new "old" schedule again but this time with 2 kiddos. Lily, on the other hand, is now starting to act out quite a bit and every day since we got home has felt like a battle with her. I'd really appreciate your prayers as I feel like I'm at my wit's end right now and really need God's wisdom and discernment to help get her settled in and to know when to nurture and when to discipline. I'm still exhausted from everything so that hasn't helped either. It's funny because I really thought that I had prepared myself for how hard it would be with Lily adjusting to a new sister but I think when I saw how well she did in China, I hoped that it would go easier than it's going. I guess, as is true w/most things, there's really only a certain point that you can prepare yourself to and after that, you just have to go through it.
As far as the tests go, we were able to get all of the lab work done by the weekend and then her upper G.I. and xrays of her wrist were done on Monday. We're now waiting for all of the results to come back. It does appear that she does NOT have acid reflux but something else did come up that the Dr. wanted to check his films further on. No idea what that was but we're praying for a clean bill of health and are hoping to hear back this week on all of the results. We will definitely keep you posted.
As tough as things have been, we wouldn't change a thing. We know that God's plan is WAY better than anything we could ever imagine and we KNOW that this is God's plan for our family. We have no idea how God's going to take care the rest of the adoption expenses, how we're all going to bond & attach or how to best come alongside of Lily but we KNOW that He is in control and that He loves us and He WILL NOT LEAVE US OR FORSAKE US! Praise God that even in our toughest times, He is there and gives us everything we need. We don't deserve a thing from Him and yet He still blesses us and provides for us. Amazing! Please continue to pray for us as we work through this tough time and we'll be in touch soon. We love you all!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Mini update and prayer request
Hi everyone! I still want to update on our last day or so leaving Hong Kong and San Francisco but wanted to give you a little update on what's been going on since we arrived home. We continue to need prayers for rest as the past couple of days since we arrived home have been really brutal. The jet lag has really affected all of us and, on top of that, Jasmine hasn't been sleeping much at night so we're additionally exhausted from that.
So, the main part of this update relates to Jasmine's first visit with our pediatrician yesterday and the main part of our prayer request. We found out that she definitely has a severe allergy to milk and probable acid reflux, double ear infection and a broken wrist that was not treated! The obvious emotional trauma and loss aside, no wonder our girl has been hysterical at night! We will be taking her in on Monday for an Upper G.I. to test for the acid reflux & x-ray her wrist and ask for wisdom and discernment for our doctor as we try to eliminate all of the physical things that have been bothering her for quite a while. Our doctor will also be doing some blood work and stool samples to test for parasites, hepatitis, iron levels & vaccination levels (many orphanages water down their vaccines). We ask for your prayers over all of these things, that she would be healed physically as well as emotionally and mentally from all that she's been through. Additionally, we know that she has some slight delays, which will also be evaluated, but are hopeful that clearing up some of the physical symptoms (i.e. broken wrist) & lots of love and nurturing will help get her caught up. We'd like to ask for prayer for us for wisdom and discernment to help figure out the best ways to love and nurture her while still getting the rest we need to be the best we can for each other and her. And obviously, prayers for bonding, attachment, healing and REST would be HUGELY appreciated as well.
We'll be meeting w/our caseworker on Sunday afternoon and have already gotten some fantastic support from our agency so once again, we are incredibly thankful for CCAI! Thank God for them! Seriously!
One last prayer request is the financial end of things. We were turned down by the last of the grant agencies so between whatever medical bills and the $3600 we were short for the adoption, we're needing & trusting God to still provide. Please pray that our faith would remain strong and for God's provision.
As far as Lily goes, she was absolutely AMAZING during our trip but now that we're home and reality has sunk in, she's having a harder time and is acting out. We ask for your prayers for us and Lily that we have wisdom and discernment to love and nurture her through this big change in her life. She is doing fantastic at preschool and has transitioned beautifully back into her class and routine so Praise God for that!
Before I close, I do want to share 1 last praise. After the Doctor's visit and some of CCAI's fantastic resources, we tried something slightly different last night w/Jasmine's bedtime and raised 1 side of her mattress to help w/the acid reflux. She slept for about 7 hours straight. PRAISE GOD! She slept which meant we all slept! We're trying the same thing tonight and hoping we stumbled onto a few keys to night time sleep. We'll keep you posted.
Well, once again, thank you all for all of your prayers and encouragement. We've been blown away by all of the support and feel so blessed to have you in our lives!
So, the main part of this update relates to Jasmine's first visit with our pediatrician yesterday and the main part of our prayer request. We found out that she definitely has a severe allergy to milk and probable acid reflux, double ear infection and a broken wrist that was not treated! The obvious emotional trauma and loss aside, no wonder our girl has been hysterical at night! We will be taking her in on Monday for an Upper G.I. to test for the acid reflux & x-ray her wrist and ask for wisdom and discernment for our doctor as we try to eliminate all of the physical things that have been bothering her for quite a while. Our doctor will also be doing some blood work and stool samples to test for parasites, hepatitis, iron levels & vaccination levels (many orphanages water down their vaccines). We ask for your prayers over all of these things, that she would be healed physically as well as emotionally and mentally from all that she's been through. Additionally, we know that she has some slight delays, which will also be evaluated, but are hopeful that clearing up some of the physical symptoms (i.e. broken wrist) & lots of love and nurturing will help get her caught up. We'd like to ask for prayer for us for wisdom and discernment to help figure out the best ways to love and nurture her while still getting the rest we need to be the best we can for each other and her. And obviously, prayers for bonding, attachment, healing and REST would be HUGELY appreciated as well.
We'll be meeting w/our caseworker on Sunday afternoon and have already gotten some fantastic support from our agency so once again, we are incredibly thankful for CCAI! Thank God for them! Seriously!
One last prayer request is the financial end of things. We were turned down by the last of the grant agencies so between whatever medical bills and the $3600 we were short for the adoption, we're needing & trusting God to still provide. Please pray that our faith would remain strong and for God's provision.
As far as Lily goes, she was absolutely AMAZING during our trip but now that we're home and reality has sunk in, she's having a harder time and is acting out. We ask for your prayers for us and Lily that we have wisdom and discernment to love and nurture her through this big change in her life. She is doing fantastic at preschool and has transitioned beautifully back into her class and routine so Praise God for that!
Before I close, I do want to share 1 last praise. After the Doctor's visit and some of CCAI's fantastic resources, we tried something slightly different last night w/Jasmine's bedtime and raised 1 side of her mattress to help w/the acid reflux. She slept for about 7 hours straight. PRAISE GOD! She slept which meant we all slept! We're trying the same thing tonight and hoping we stumbled onto a few keys to night time sleep. We'll keep you posted.
Well, once again, thank you all for all of your prayers and encouragement. We've been blown away by all of the support and feel so blessed to have you in our lives!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
We're home!
Yea God! As you saw, from Jim's earlier post, we are home! We were unable to post anything once we flew to mainland China due to the government restrictions on blogs. We had no access to any blogs, facebook or twitter and so could only send out limited emails. So sorry for the long absence but hopefully this will help you all get caught up!
It was a harrowing trip home as there was a lot of turbulance and we're completely exhausted from the trip & jet lag and from dealing w/Jasmine's tough times. There's more to update but for right now, please continue to pray for us as the last few days home have been extremely rough. Acclimating our bodies back to this time zone has been tough enough but we've had multiple sleepless nights because Jasmine has been inconsolable for hours on end. Please pray for wisdom and discernment and REST!!!! We are so beyond depleted right now and really need God's hand on our family.
For now, please feel free to go back through the blog and read the stories and see the new pictures. It took me about 3 hours to update and I've not even tackled the videos or our facebook yet! I'm trying to do this while things are still fresh so I can have these memories forever. Thanks so much for your prayers and we'll talk to you soon! :-)
It was a harrowing trip home as there was a lot of turbulance and we're completely exhausted from the trip & jet lag and from dealing w/Jasmine's tough times. There's more to update but for right now, please continue to pray for us as the last few days home have been extremely rough. Acclimating our bodies back to this time zone has been tough enough but we've had multiple sleepless nights because Jasmine has been inconsolable for hours on end. Please pray for wisdom and discernment and REST!!!! We are so beyond depleted right now and really need God's hand on our family.
For now, please feel free to go back through the blog and read the stories and see the new pictures. It took me about 3 hours to update and I've not even tackled the videos or our facebook yet! I'm trying to do this while things are still fresh so I can have these memories forever. Thanks so much for your prayers and we'll talk to you soon! :-)
2/13/10 – Departure Eve
1 more day until we leave! Yea God! Hi everyone. We wanted to say thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement. You have all been absolutely amazing in supporting us and we thank God for you all the time. We have not had the quiet times that we had hoped while we’ve been gone, we’ve been brought to the brink (especially me) and back and yet God has still NEVER forsaken us nor stopped watching over us. We don’t deserve such an amazing God.
It’s hard to believe that this part of our journey is almost over. In so many ways, it feels like months and months since we’ve been gone. We’ve really been able to experience quite a bit of Jasmine’s culture and as enjoyable as that’s been, we are so ready to get home and get back into some routines. We are completely counting on God (“Counting on God” by Desperation Band has become our mantra for this whole journey) to finish the bonding and attachment that He has already completed in Heaven. I’m reminded again how, with God, there is only NOW and NOW has been finished. It helps remind me that I don’t need to do God’s job because it’s already done. I just need to focus on my part. It’s amazing how relieving that is!
At any rate, this will be my last post until we get home. We’ll continue to need your prayers as we expect the first few weeks to be rough and exhausting as we acclimate back to a 15 hour time difference and the exhaustion from the trip, not to mention adjusting to a new family member & her adjustment to us. We’ll be clinging to God to get us through and can’t wait until things begin to level out a little. We’ll be overwhelmed a lot and will need your prayers and encouragement to get us through the tough times ahead. Thank you again for partnering with us on this journey! Much more to come!
It’s hard to believe that this part of our journey is almost over. In so many ways, it feels like months and months since we’ve been gone. We’ve really been able to experience quite a bit of Jasmine’s culture and as enjoyable as that’s been, we are so ready to get home and get back into some routines. We are completely counting on God (“Counting on God” by Desperation Band has become our mantra for this whole journey) to finish the bonding and attachment that He has already completed in Heaven. I’m reminded again how, with God, there is only NOW and NOW has been finished. It helps remind me that I don’t need to do God’s job because it’s already done. I just need to focus on my part. It’s amazing how relieving that is!
At any rate, this will be my last post until we get home. We’ll continue to need your prayers as we expect the first few weeks to be rough and exhausting as we acclimate back to a 15 hour time difference and the exhaustion from the trip, not to mention adjusting to a new family member & her adjustment to us. We’ll be clinging to God to get us through and can’t wait until things begin to level out a little. We’ll be overwhelmed a lot and will need your prayers and encouragement to get us through the tough times ahead. Thank you again for partnering with us on this journey! Much more to come!
Jing-zilla takes the Consulate
Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been a couple of days but things have finally wound down and we are so ready to get home! Wednesday (our time) we went to the Guangzhou Zoo for ½ day and had a great time. The zoo is so beautiful with tons of Banyan and Hong Kong orchid trees and many others. I can tell that Guangzhou must live up to it’s moniker, “city of flowers” in the spring and summer as it’s gorgeous in winter. We were reminded a little bit of the San Diego zoo because of all of the gorgeous scenery that surrounds all of the walkways in the zoo. We had a blast seeing all of the animals and it was a refreshing change of scenery for the morning.
Wednesday afternoon was our appointment with the Consulate so we went on a bus with about 34 other families staying at the White Swan. It ended up being a rough afternoon as Jing Jing had not napped enough. She ended up pitching the fit of the century (REALLY) while we were waiting with all of the other families in the waiting area. That was a fun time. NOT! At any rate, daddy took over and gave mommy a break and she calmed down quickly after that. (Yeah, mommy’s pride took a severe beating.) Later (much later) we were able to joke a little bit about Jing-zilla (no disrespect intended) emerging and taking the consulate. It’s funny the things you laugh about when you’re beat up and tired! Sometimes humor is the only thing left.
Thursday morning, after our bed tried, unsuccessfully, to kill us again, we decided to spend some quality time outside as it was a rare gorgeous day out. (Normally winter time is rainy season so we’ve seen a lot of rain.) Jim & Lily did a local park while I stayed w/ Jing Jing to make sure she got a nap in. After we decided to check out the swimming pool which is outdoors to see if we could do a little swimming while it was hot and nice out. Apparently, there’s no heater so the water was a chilly 69 degrees! We actually went in anyway and tried to convince ourselves it was hot. Ridiculous but we had fun!
Later that day we took Jing Jing to the clinic for the third time because we could still hear garbage rattling around in her chest and wanted to make sure we stayed on top of it. Thankfully this time they gave her a nebulizer treatment which helped clear up things dramatically. Yea God! The other “yea God” was we emailed our pediatrician w/some questions relating to her treatment and they got back to us immediately with some answers, so we’re very thankful. We’d appreciate your prayers for both girls as we get ready to head back to the States, that the flight would go smoothly for them and us and that we’d figure out the right mixture of sleep so that we can all get a jumpstart back on to our time zone.
Today and tomorrow will be uneventful days for us as almost everyone has left and most of the shops will be closed for Chinese New Year. We’ve done over half of our packing today and expect to finish the rest tomorrow, as we’ll be leaving early Sunday morning to get to the airport. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to walk as this bed is seriously debilitating us both. ;-) We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to update our blog and facebook page once we get to Hong Kong and may try to upload some pics and journal entries then. Otherwise, we’ll be updating you all when we get to San Francisco on Sunday. Thanks in advance, for prayers for safe travels.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers. Despite some really rough moments, we’ve had good ones too and believe that God has had His Hand on us this whole time. We feel so incredibly blessed and thankful that He loves us so much! Truly, what an amazing God we have! We can’t wait to see you all soon!
Wednesday afternoon was our appointment with the Consulate so we went on a bus with about 34 other families staying at the White Swan. It ended up being a rough afternoon as Jing Jing had not napped enough. She ended up pitching the fit of the century (REALLY) while we were waiting with all of the other families in the waiting area. That was a fun time. NOT! At any rate, daddy took over and gave mommy a break and she calmed down quickly after that. (Yeah, mommy’s pride took a severe beating.) Later (much later) we were able to joke a little bit about Jing-zilla (no disrespect intended) emerging and taking the consulate. It’s funny the things you laugh about when you’re beat up and tired! Sometimes humor is the only thing left.
Thursday morning, after our bed tried, unsuccessfully, to kill us again, we decided to spend some quality time outside as it was a rare gorgeous day out. (Normally winter time is rainy season so we’ve seen a lot of rain.) Jim & Lily did a local park while I stayed w/ Jing Jing to make sure she got a nap in. After we decided to check out the swimming pool which is outdoors to see if we could do a little swimming while it was hot and nice out. Apparently, there’s no heater so the water was a chilly 69 degrees! We actually went in anyway and tried to convince ourselves it was hot. Ridiculous but we had fun!
Later that day we took Jing Jing to the clinic for the third time because we could still hear garbage rattling around in her chest and wanted to make sure we stayed on top of it. Thankfully this time they gave her a nebulizer treatment which helped clear up things dramatically. Yea God! The other “yea God” was we emailed our pediatrician w/some questions relating to her treatment and they got back to us immediately with some answers, so we’re very thankful. We’d appreciate your prayers for both girls as we get ready to head back to the States, that the flight would go smoothly for them and us and that we’d figure out the right mixture of sleep so that we can all get a jumpstart back on to our time zone.
Today and tomorrow will be uneventful days for us as almost everyone has left and most of the shops will be closed for Chinese New Year. We’ve done over half of our packing today and expect to finish the rest tomorrow, as we’ll be leaving early Sunday morning to get to the airport. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to walk as this bed is seriously debilitating us both. ;-) We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to update our blog and facebook page once we get to Hong Kong and may try to upload some pics and journal entries then. Otherwise, we’ll be updating you all when we get to San Francisco on Sunday. Thanks in advance, for prayers for safe travels.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers. Despite some really rough moments, we’ve had good ones too and believe that God has had His Hand on us this whole time. We feel so incredibly blessed and thankful that He loves us so much! Truly, what an amazing God we have! We can’t wait to see you all soon!
Guangzhou & the Pearl Market
Hi everyone! I wanted to write a little bit about Guangzhou. We have to say that it actually might turn out to be our favorite amongst all 3 cities that we’ve been in. We’ve arrived during their winter, which is their rainy season. Most of the days have been warm but so far it’s rained every single day we’ve been here except for the morning of our clinic visit. While the traffic is still pretty thick around town, the drivers don’t try to kill each other the way they did in Chengdu. The Hotel that we’re staying at, the White Swan Hotel, is located on Shamian Island, which is right next to the Pearl River, which is the 3rd largest river in China. My favorite part about this area is the HUGE Banyan trees that line the streets near our hotel. Most of these trees are older than 100 years old and form huge canopies over the sidewalks and streets. Guangzhou will be hosting the 2010 Asian games in November so they’ve been doing a massive facelift to spruce up this already gorgeous city. Most of the buildings near our hotel have scaffolding surrounding them as they complete the renovations. Our guide, Jason, told us that they’ve already been working on the renovations for a few months already and will be continuing those for another 3-6 months, all paid for by the government.
Yesterday, we had the privilege of going to the pearl market and I have to say it wasn’t quite what I expected. I was thinking it would be this huge outdoor marketplace with all sorts of vendors and booths but that was not the case. We arrived to this huge mall (at least 7 stories tall) and it was filled from top to bottom w/jewelry wholesalers of every possible kind. Many stores had already closed up shop for Chinese New Year but many were still open. Our guide, Jason, took us to a specific vendor, otherwise we would have been overwhelmed by the choices. We did get each of our girls a small pearl pendant to give to them either as a graduation gift or a wedding gift, but we could have bought full on pearl necklaces, bracelets and earrings of a variety of qualities of pearls and them designed however we wanted.
Today was mostly a free day. Our guide, Jason, presented our paperwork to the US consulate so we had to stay in our rooms for about ½ hour in case the Consulate had any questions about our paperwork. Thankfully, everything went smoothly! Yea God! So tomorrow morning, we’ll go visit the Chengdu Zoo and in the afternoon, we’ll go to the Consulate to take our oath. Once again, thanks to Jason & our agency, all of the hard work is done for us so we’re basically finished with all of our paperwork. On Thursday, he’ll pick up Jasmine’s visa and we’re all done until we leave!
We can’t believe we only have about 5 more days here! Yea God! As amazing as it’s been, we’re really ready to come home and get into a regular routine. Things have definitely gotten better so thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement! I know I say that a lot but I REALLY mean it! We still have a ways to go towards attachment but bonding has begun and the foundation is laid. We’re trusting God to knit our hearts together as He did with Lily.
Jing Jing’s cold seems to be getting better. It did get into her chest a little bit but it appears that all of the meds the docs gave us seem to be working. We took her back to the clinic today to check her progress and we’re given a few more days worth of meds to hopefully knock everything out. We ask for your prayers for complete healing for her so that our return flights home won’t be completely miserable.
Lily’s also doing much better. Those 2 days where she seemed to be really grieving the loss of her birth mom, have eased up a bit and now we’ve added Daisy to our prayers at night. Once again, we’re trusting God to heal her precious heart and give us wisdom to know how to deal with things and hopefully handle them in a way that will promote that healing and trust in God. She’s still dealing w/jealousy off and on but that’s also normal. Again, that routine at home will be really helpful in getting us all into a groove again.
As for Jim & I, we’re really hanging in there thanks to your prayers and God’s grace! This has been extremely stressful, emotional, exhausting and amazing and God’s really given us the strength to pull together and get through this as a team. We are so incredibly thankful! We would ask your prayers as this has brought up more feelings of grief from our former church situation, that God would continue to heal our hearts and help us forgive and let go and let God be our defender and protector. It’s funny how sometimes these happy times can be so bittersweet. You appreciate what you have now because of what you went through and yet with the new, you grieve what was lost. Over the last year, we’ve experienced a new house, new neighborhood, new church, new friends & new family member and yet it’s been a year of loss as well. But in and through it all, God has shown Himself to be ALL that we need! Praise God for His incredible faithfulness and love! “Who am I that you are mindful of me?”
Well, needless to say, we can’t wait to see you all soon! We found out that our flight into Hong Kong was cancelled so they’ve put us on an earlier flight, which means we’ll have a 10 hour+ lay-over in Hong Kong, before we leave for home. We’d really appreciate your prayers over our flights and both girls doing well on both flights as well as prayer for something that we could do besides sit around the airport for 10+ hours. We could take a train back to Disneyland as it’s a very short trip from the airport but aren’t sure if we can get tickets or not. Please pray that we wouldn’t have any other cancellations and are able to work out those details. Well, talk to you all soon and thanks again for the incredible difference you’ve made in our lives! ☺
Yesterday, we had the privilege of going to the pearl market and I have to say it wasn’t quite what I expected. I was thinking it would be this huge outdoor marketplace with all sorts of vendors and booths but that was not the case. We arrived to this huge mall (at least 7 stories tall) and it was filled from top to bottom w/jewelry wholesalers of every possible kind. Many stores had already closed up shop for Chinese New Year but many were still open. Our guide, Jason, took us to a specific vendor, otherwise we would have been overwhelmed by the choices. We did get each of our girls a small pearl pendant to give to them either as a graduation gift or a wedding gift, but we could have bought full on pearl necklaces, bracelets and earrings of a variety of qualities of pearls and them designed however we wanted.
Today was mostly a free day. Our guide, Jason, presented our paperwork to the US consulate so we had to stay in our rooms for about ½ hour in case the Consulate had any questions about our paperwork. Thankfully, everything went smoothly! Yea God! So tomorrow morning, we’ll go visit the Chengdu Zoo and in the afternoon, we’ll go to the Consulate to take our oath. Once again, thanks to Jason & our agency, all of the hard work is done for us so we’re basically finished with all of our paperwork. On Thursday, he’ll pick up Jasmine’s visa and we’re all done until we leave!
We can’t believe we only have about 5 more days here! Yea God! As amazing as it’s been, we’re really ready to come home and get into a regular routine. Things have definitely gotten better so thanks so much for all of your prayers and encouragement! I know I say that a lot but I REALLY mean it! We still have a ways to go towards attachment but bonding has begun and the foundation is laid. We’re trusting God to knit our hearts together as He did with Lily.
Jing Jing’s cold seems to be getting better. It did get into her chest a little bit but it appears that all of the meds the docs gave us seem to be working. We took her back to the clinic today to check her progress and we’re given a few more days worth of meds to hopefully knock everything out. We ask for your prayers for complete healing for her so that our return flights home won’t be completely miserable.
Lily’s also doing much better. Those 2 days where she seemed to be really grieving the loss of her birth mom, have eased up a bit and now we’ve added Daisy to our prayers at night. Once again, we’re trusting God to heal her precious heart and give us wisdom to know how to deal with things and hopefully handle them in a way that will promote that healing and trust in God. She’s still dealing w/jealousy off and on but that’s also normal. Again, that routine at home will be really helpful in getting us all into a groove again.
As for Jim & I, we’re really hanging in there thanks to your prayers and God’s grace! This has been extremely stressful, emotional, exhausting and amazing and God’s really given us the strength to pull together and get through this as a team. We are so incredibly thankful! We would ask your prayers as this has brought up more feelings of grief from our former church situation, that God would continue to heal our hearts and help us forgive and let go and let God be our defender and protector. It’s funny how sometimes these happy times can be so bittersweet. You appreciate what you have now because of what you went through and yet with the new, you grieve what was lost. Over the last year, we’ve experienced a new house, new neighborhood, new church, new friends & new family member and yet it’s been a year of loss as well. But in and through it all, God has shown Himself to be ALL that we need! Praise God for His incredible faithfulness and love! “Who am I that you are mindful of me?”
Well, needless to say, we can’t wait to see you all soon! We found out that our flight into Hong Kong was cancelled so they’ve put us on an earlier flight, which means we’ll have a 10 hour+ lay-over in Hong Kong, before we leave for home. We’d really appreciate your prayers over our flights and both girls doing well on both flights as well as prayer for something that we could do besides sit around the airport for 10+ hours. We could take a train back to Disneyland as it’s a very short trip from the airport but aren’t sure if we can get tickets or not. Please pray that we wouldn’t have any other cancellations and are able to work out those details. Well, talk to you all soon and thanks again for the incredible difference you’ve made in our lives! ☺
We’re in Guangzhou!
Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve emailed. We got into Guangzhou late on Friday night our time and it’s been a little busy ever since. We’re staying at the White Swan Hotel, which is where most of the adoptive parents stay when they come through here and it’s absolutely gorgeous! They have a huge koi pond and waterfall on the inside of the hotel and it sits right on the Pearl River so it’s absolutely beautiful. Much nicer than the other hotels we’ve stayed in.
So on Saturday, we all met up in the Swan Room (as the other family in our group is staying in a different hotel), which is the cutest little play room right in the hotel for all of the families to bring their children. We had to do some Visa paperwork, which took all of ½ hour thanks to our awesome CCAI guide, Jason! I have to say that this is really where you want to have a rockin’ agency – in country! SERIOUSLY! In Chengdu, 1 lady who was traveling alone got held up because she didn’t have a certain piece of paperwork that her agency didn’t tell her about and we breezed right through every part. Jason made the Visa paperwork easy and then walked us through getting Jasmines’ Visa paperwork and her doctors’ visit.
So the visit to the doctor was an interesting experience! Jasmine has to have a physical for her Visa/immigration paperwork. There were about 50+ other families there who were also adopting and so it was total chaos in the clinic! Once again, I was so thankful for CCAI because Jason walked us through each station and we were able to breeze right in and out of that clinic no problem. Because he had done whatever paperwork , we were able to jump ahead of those 50 other families who didn’t have that paperwork completed when we arrived! So, a word to the wise – if you’re planning on adopting internationally, find out about their in-country process. Do they have reps in-country that actually live in-country who can walk you through things? How happy are the families who adopted? If the in-country experience wasn’t good – run!
So, once we finished with the clinic, we were off for the rest of the day. Lily and I tried to go swimming while Jasmine was sleeping but realized that the pool wasn’t heated so it was a cold 50 degrees or so. Oh well! On Day 3 in Guangzhou, which was yesterday, Jason arranged a cultural tour for us. First, we went to a Buddhist monastery, which was about 800 years old. Apparently, everyone heads to the temple to pray or do whatever to make penance for the past year and start fresh for the next year. So, needless to say, the monastery was very crowded w/all sorts of people making their offerings to Buddha and praying to him. I originally thought it would be interesting to go and when we were told that the priests would give the babies a blessing if we liked, thought that would be a nice cultural experience. I have to say that we both wanted to weep over these precious people who were bowing down and worshipping this metal idol. When we got to where the priests were doing the blessing, we decided to refrain, as they were blessing the families w/water that was offered to the idol, not to mention the families were asked to take off their shoes and bow before the idol. I had to walk out, feeling grief over watching people worship this fake god and not the 1 true God. They didn’t know what they were doing was wrong but I could almost feel God’s grief over people He loves, worshiping other gods.
The rest of the tour, other than being in the pouring rain, was less eventful. We got to go to a museum to view a variety of Chinese art, which was really spectacular. The Chinese artists really put other artists to shame with their amazing detail in the their carvings or paintings. It’s really incredible.. After that we went to a store that sells a variety of porcelain, paintings, embroidery, jade and other items – all handmade. Then yesterday afternoon, while the girls were sleeping w/daddy, I hooked w/the girls from our other family group to do a little shopping and haggling! I did pretty well, once I got the hang of things, and would love to go shopping again just so I can try out my newly acquired haggling skills. ☺
Today, we’re going to a pearl market where they have a variety of types, sizes and colors of pearls at a wholesale price. I don’t think we’ll really buy much even though we were told to expect prices 1/6 of what we would pay in the US. It’ll be fun to go, and see what it’s like.
So that’s been our itinerary over these last few days. Physically and emotionally, it’s been much more difficult. We’ve been tired from having Jasmine not sleep well and sore from carrying her in the mai tai and sore from the traveling and rock hard beds. Jasmine’s cold has been getting worse so we finally had to take her to a clinic on the 3rd floor of our hotel (yup, they have a clinic too!). They prescribed a few different medicines for her that seem to be helping so we’ll see if that’ll do the trick. On top of that, Lily’s been having a rough time. Seeing Jasmine adopted and that process has really brought a lot of feelings and questions to the surface about her birth mom, Daisy. She’s been expressing grief over missing her birth mom and being worried about her and wishing that she was with her so that things could feel “normal.” I so understand that desire for “normal”. For the longest time after my miscarriage, the desire to not have that hole in my heart and to have back “normal” was my deepest desire. I eventually learned, over time, how to live with the hole and to accept a new “normal” in my life but that was a huge struggle for me. It’s breaking my heart to see my daughter struggle with that and yet I know that it’s important for healing, for her to go through this process. My dad, who is a social worker, has assured me that this is a good thing that she’s going through this now rather than stuffing it and acting out later so that’s helped us to feel a little bit better. Ultimately, my precious daughter’s healing is in God’s hands and I need to trust Him to heal her as He’s healed me.
So, this has been quite the couple of days and yet, we’ve felt God’s presence throughout all of it and are so thankful for Him, the one TRUE, LIVING GOD! Thank GOD that He is a living God! I can’t imagine how desolate and hopeless life would be if I worshipped a God that was made by man and wasn’t even alive!
Well, Jasmine has started to stir so I’d better get going so I can finally update you all. Thank you again for all of your prayers! You are all making such a difference and I can’t thank you enough for being warriors on our behalf! ☺ I can’t wait until we can see you all again and introduce you to Jing Jing!
So on Saturday, we all met up in the Swan Room (as the other family in our group is staying in a different hotel), which is the cutest little play room right in the hotel for all of the families to bring their children. We had to do some Visa paperwork, which took all of ½ hour thanks to our awesome CCAI guide, Jason! I have to say that this is really where you want to have a rockin’ agency – in country! SERIOUSLY! In Chengdu, 1 lady who was traveling alone got held up because she didn’t have a certain piece of paperwork that her agency didn’t tell her about and we breezed right through every part. Jason made the Visa paperwork easy and then walked us through getting Jasmines’ Visa paperwork and her doctors’ visit.
So the visit to the doctor was an interesting experience! Jasmine has to have a physical for her Visa/immigration paperwork. There were about 50+ other families there who were also adopting and so it was total chaos in the clinic! Once again, I was so thankful for CCAI because Jason walked us through each station and we were able to breeze right in and out of that clinic no problem. Because he had done whatever paperwork , we were able to jump ahead of those 50 other families who didn’t have that paperwork completed when we arrived! So, a word to the wise – if you’re planning on adopting internationally, find out about their in-country process. Do they have reps in-country that actually live in-country who can walk you through things? How happy are the families who adopted? If the in-country experience wasn’t good – run!
So, once we finished with the clinic, we were off for the rest of the day. Lily and I tried to go swimming while Jasmine was sleeping but realized that the pool wasn’t heated so it was a cold 50 degrees or so. Oh well! On Day 3 in Guangzhou, which was yesterday, Jason arranged a cultural tour for us. First, we went to a Buddhist monastery, which was about 800 years old. Apparently, everyone heads to the temple to pray or do whatever to make penance for the past year and start fresh for the next year. So, needless to say, the monastery was very crowded w/all sorts of people making their offerings to Buddha and praying to him. I originally thought it would be interesting to go and when we were told that the priests would give the babies a blessing if we liked, thought that would be a nice cultural experience. I have to say that we both wanted to weep over these precious people who were bowing down and worshipping this metal idol. When we got to where the priests were doing the blessing, we decided to refrain, as they were blessing the families w/water that was offered to the idol, not to mention the families were asked to take off their shoes and bow before the idol. I had to walk out, feeling grief over watching people worship this fake god and not the 1 true God. They didn’t know what they were doing was wrong but I could almost feel God’s grief over people He loves, worshiping other gods.
The rest of the tour, other than being in the pouring rain, was less eventful. We got to go to a museum to view a variety of Chinese art, which was really spectacular. The Chinese artists really put other artists to shame with their amazing detail in the their carvings or paintings. It’s really incredible.. After that we went to a store that sells a variety of porcelain, paintings, embroidery, jade and other items – all handmade. Then yesterday afternoon, while the girls were sleeping w/daddy, I hooked w/the girls from our other family group to do a little shopping and haggling! I did pretty well, once I got the hang of things, and would love to go shopping again just so I can try out my newly acquired haggling skills. ☺
Today, we’re going to a pearl market where they have a variety of types, sizes and colors of pearls at a wholesale price. I don’t think we’ll really buy much even though we were told to expect prices 1/6 of what we would pay in the US. It’ll be fun to go, and see what it’s like.
So that’s been our itinerary over these last few days. Physically and emotionally, it’s been much more difficult. We’ve been tired from having Jasmine not sleep well and sore from carrying her in the mai tai and sore from the traveling and rock hard beds. Jasmine’s cold has been getting worse so we finally had to take her to a clinic on the 3rd floor of our hotel (yup, they have a clinic too!). They prescribed a few different medicines for her that seem to be helping so we’ll see if that’ll do the trick. On top of that, Lily’s been having a rough time. Seeing Jasmine adopted and that process has really brought a lot of feelings and questions to the surface about her birth mom, Daisy. She’s been expressing grief over missing her birth mom and being worried about her and wishing that she was with her so that things could feel “normal.” I so understand that desire for “normal”. For the longest time after my miscarriage, the desire to not have that hole in my heart and to have back “normal” was my deepest desire. I eventually learned, over time, how to live with the hole and to accept a new “normal” in my life but that was a huge struggle for me. It’s breaking my heart to see my daughter struggle with that and yet I know that it’s important for healing, for her to go through this process. My dad, who is a social worker, has assured me that this is a good thing that she’s going through this now rather than stuffing it and acting out later so that’s helped us to feel a little bit better. Ultimately, my precious daughter’s healing is in God’s hands and I need to trust Him to heal her as He’s healed me.
So, this has been quite the couple of days and yet, we’ve felt God’s presence throughout all of it and are so thankful for Him, the one TRUE, LIVING GOD! Thank GOD that He is a living God! I can’t imagine how desolate and hopeless life would be if I worshipped a God that was made by man and wasn’t even alive!
Well, Jasmine has started to stir so I’d better get going so I can finally update you all. Thank you again for all of your prayers! You are all making such a difference and I can’t thank you enough for being warriors on our behalf! ☺ I can’t wait until we can see you all again and introduce you to Jing Jing!
Shopping in Chengdu
Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement this morning after I emailed our little prayer request to you! Jing Jing’s teething and had gotten up w/a slight fever and was pretty fussy. After I emailed, she fell asleep in the Mai Tai w/Jim and slept for 2 hours! Poor little sweetie! Our guide, Anita, had told us that typically days 3 & 4 tend to be more rough because the babies begin to realize that they’re not on vacation and start to recognize that things are changing and different. We’ve noticed that first thing in the morning and bedtime are the rough times for Jing Jing so thank you for your prayers over those times for all of us! Tomorrow we’ll be flying to Guangzhou and leave around 5:45pm. It’s a 2 hour flight which means we’ll be getting in right when the girls will both be tired so we’d appreciate your prayers over that as well.
Today was our shopping day in Chengdu so, while Jim stayed w/Jing Jing in the room, Lily & I went w/our group to Jinli Street to shop for cultural souvenirs. We were able to find a few treasures that were all hand-made and specific to this city and province to have for Jasmine as she gets older. It was so much fun to walk down this street which felt like an alley from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The street was festively decorated for Chinese New Year with both sides lined with a canopy of red lanterns and all of the quaint shops tucked into little nooks and crannies. I wish you could have been there! There’s so much character and energy to this city that I have to say that, despite my initial intimidation, I’ve really grown to love it here. I will truly miss Chengdu after we leave. The people have been so warm and welcoming towards us that I’ll always treasure having come here. Of course, it helped to have a little blond haired celebrity in our midst! ;-) Lily continued to charm and once again we were mobbed several times with people wanting to take pictures with her and give her hugs. Reality back at home for her is going to suck! ☺ After coming back to the hotel and getting all of our Adoption documents from Anita, we all decided to go to the local bookstore to pick up a couple of baby books in Chinese & English for our kiddos. It was one of the biggest bookstores I’ve ever seen – at least 3 stories tall and filled to the brim w/every kind of topic known to man. We were able to buy a couple of baby books w/English and Chinese as well as a couple of puzzles w/both Chinese and English. They’ll all be great little treasures to have from our trip to Chengdu.
On a quick side note, we did hear back from the grant agency who turned us down last time and they have turned us down again. We have 1 more that we haven’t heard from yet but are continuing to trust God in all things. He will not let us down and we praise and thank Him for that!
We’re now settling down in our room to have dinner and get the girls off to bed so I’ll say goodnight for now. I’ll try and email tomorrow, otherwise I’ll for sure email the day after tomorrow. We love you all and seriously thank God for you! You have all been so amazing and we LOVE that we get to share this journey with you! Praise God for His incredible faithfulness and grace! He has been so good to us and we are continually grateful for Him! God is so good!
Today was our shopping day in Chengdu so, while Jim stayed w/Jing Jing in the room, Lily & I went w/our group to Jinli Street to shop for cultural souvenirs. We were able to find a few treasures that were all hand-made and specific to this city and province to have for Jasmine as she gets older. It was so much fun to walk down this street which felt like an alley from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The street was festively decorated for Chinese New Year with both sides lined with a canopy of red lanterns and all of the quaint shops tucked into little nooks and crannies. I wish you could have been there! There’s so much character and energy to this city that I have to say that, despite my initial intimidation, I’ve really grown to love it here. I will truly miss Chengdu after we leave. The people have been so warm and welcoming towards us that I’ll always treasure having come here. Of course, it helped to have a little blond haired celebrity in our midst! ;-) Lily continued to charm and once again we were mobbed several times with people wanting to take pictures with her and give her hugs. Reality back at home for her is going to suck! ☺ After coming back to the hotel and getting all of our Adoption documents from Anita, we all decided to go to the local bookstore to pick up a couple of baby books in Chinese & English for our kiddos. It was one of the biggest bookstores I’ve ever seen – at least 3 stories tall and filled to the brim w/every kind of topic known to man. We were able to buy a couple of baby books w/English and Chinese as well as a couple of puzzles w/both Chinese and English. They’ll all be great little treasures to have from our trip to Chengdu.
On a quick side note, we did hear back from the grant agency who turned us down last time and they have turned us down again. We have 1 more that we haven’t heard from yet but are continuing to trust God in all things. He will not let us down and we praise and thank Him for that!
We’re now settling down in our room to have dinner and get the girls off to bed so I’ll say goodnight for now. I’ll try and email tomorrow, otherwise I’ll for sure email the day after tomorrow. We love you all and seriously thank God for you! You have all been so amazing and we LOVE that we get to share this journey with you! Praise God for His incredible faithfulness and grace! He has been so good to us and we are continually grateful for Him! God is so good!
Giant Pandas!
Hi everyone! So today is Wednesday (or Tuesday for all of you back in the States) and today we went to the Panda Reserve in Chengdu! We were able to sleep in a little longer which was nice. We were wiped out! Most mornings we’re up by 5 or 5:30am but today we slept in until about 6:30. I think both girls would have slept longer if I hadn’t woken them up. At any rate, today was a tougher day with Jasmine. She was pretty fussy this morning which could be because she was tired, it was rainy or she was grieving or a combo of all 3. A lot of people don’t realize it, but babies do grieve. People assume that when you adopt an infant, everything’s ok, the baby doesn’t know or remember anything but that’s not true. They may not have a clear memory like an adult can remember details but they remember being abandoned. They remember being alone and not having anyone answer their cries. They miss their birth mom and their nannies and they grieve. I have to say that one of the toughest things about being an adoptive parent is figuring out when your child is crying over brushing her teeth because she's tired or if she’s crying because some fear of being abandoned again has been triggered and came up. We have a new “normal” that we’re constantly trying to figure out which makes parenting an extra challenge. But I also have to say that those same challenges turn into incredible rewards when we’re able to figure out a tiny piece of what our child is grieving and help them get it out so they can heal.
So, despite the rough morning, we all had a fantastic time at the Panda Reserve. It was gorgeous, our walk way lined with a canopy of green bamboo trees. A light misty rain was falling and it was cool but not so cool that we were cold. We were able to see not only the giant pandas, but also red pandas! We paid a little extra so that Lily & Jim were able to sit and hold and pet one while I took pictures. If Jasmine hadn’t been sleeping….oh well! ☺ Lily was in hog heaven! You know how she loves animals! We took a ton of pictures!
The afternoon, we gave Jasmine her first bath! Well, first bath with us anyway! We held off until today because apparently bath time at the orphanage was a little traumatic. It was more like an assembly line and the kiddos didn’t get a chance to play so most didn’t always have fond bath time memories. We obviously didn’t want to add one more thing for her to be traumatized over so held off until today. She did really well and really enjoyed playing a bit so it turned out to be a good idea. ☺ The rest of the afternoon, we hung out and eventually got out of the room and did a little more shopping before we came back to the room to eat dinner and get the girls to bed. Bedtime was definitely much more traumatic tonight. I don’t know if she’s just really missing her nannies or what but please pray for her and for us that we’d have wisdom to know how to best handle the situations as they come up.
Well, I’m pooped so I’m off to get this emailed off to you all. Thanks again for all of your prayers and we’ll be talking to you soon! Tomorrow (Thurs. for us) we’ll be doing some shopping for cultural souvenirs and then Friday afternoon (I think) we’ll be flying to Guangzhou for the last leg of our trip! We can’t wait to get back to see you all. Talk to you soon! ☺
So, despite the rough morning, we all had a fantastic time at the Panda Reserve. It was gorgeous, our walk way lined with a canopy of green bamboo trees. A light misty rain was falling and it was cool but not so cool that we were cold. We were able to see not only the giant pandas, but also red pandas! We paid a little extra so that Lily & Jim were able to sit and hold and pet one while I took pictures. If Jasmine hadn’t been sleeping….oh well! ☺ Lily was in hog heaven! You know how she loves animals! We took a ton of pictures!
The afternoon, we gave Jasmine her first bath! Well, first bath with us anyway! We held off until today because apparently bath time at the orphanage was a little traumatic. It was more like an assembly line and the kiddos didn’t get a chance to play so most didn’t always have fond bath time memories. We obviously didn’t want to add one more thing for her to be traumatized over so held off until today. She did really well and really enjoyed playing a bit so it turned out to be a good idea. ☺ The rest of the afternoon, we hung out and eventually got out of the room and did a little more shopping before we came back to the room to eat dinner and get the girls to bed. Bedtime was definitely much more traumatic tonight. I don’t know if she’s just really missing her nannies or what but please pray for her and for us that we’d have wisdom to know how to best handle the situations as they come up.
Well, I’m pooped so I’m off to get this emailed off to you all. Thanks again for all of your prayers and we’ll be talking to you soon! Tomorrow (Thurs. for us) we’ll be doing some shopping for cultural souvenirs and then Friday afternoon (I think) we’ll be flying to Guangzhou for the last leg of our trip! We can’t wait to get back to see you all. Talk to you soon! ☺
Adoption day is complete!
Hi everyone. We finalized our adoption today and I learned what a squatty potty is. First, the good news….Jing Jing is ours forever! We went to the registration & notary offices today and finalized our adoption! It took a few hours between both offices to finish up the paper work but Yea God, it’s done. It’s hard to believe but it’s so incredibly amazing. God is so good.
The rest of the day we tried to take it easy. We did venture out for a little walk through some of the streets and shops. Jim has been trying to drag me out of the hotel for the last couple of days but I’ve been so intimidated by the traffic, I’ve not ventured out too often. Ridiculous I know, but between the culture shock (mainland China is VERY different than Hong Kong), lack of any English signage or language and the crazy traffic (and I am NOT KIDDING), I’ve been a big chicken. But we did venture out for about an hour or so, walking through all of these outdoor shops, now getting noticed for having a Chinese baby with us as well as little blond Lily. We really have found the Chinese people both in Hong Kong and here in Chengdu to be extremely warm and friendly. I have to say that the city itself has really grown on me. Hong Kong had a lot of gorgeous mountain scenery as well as beautiful skyline. Chengdu is beautiful in an entirely different way. There aren’t as many high rises as in Hong Kong but the buildings have a different kind of beauty that’s hard to describe. It’s common to walk along and see bike after bike after bike lined up along the sidewalk for blocks and blocks. There are as many pedestrians as cars and it’s been fascinating to watch them all navigate the craziness. There are shops of every kind stuck into every nook and cranny and on every street corner there’s some kind of salesman or shop owner beckoning you to come shop their wares. It’s a fascinating city and I’m enjoying getting over my fears and exploring a tiny bit before we fly out to Guangzhou.
Things with Jing Jing are going well. We had a good day all day. She started to crawl today which she wasn’t doing yesterday so it’s amazing to see her start to thrive a little more. She’s been making great eye contact with us and smiling and laughing a little more also. Our bedtime was a little rough, in part because we had a group dinner to celebrate our adoptions. That kept both of the girls up a little later than would be their regular bedtimes so they were both wiped out by the time we got back to the hotel. But all in all, I feel like we’ve had a better chance to bond with her today and slowly we’re getting a feel for what she likes and doesn’t like. It’s definitely trial and error at this point but it’s going better than I would have imagined. Thank you all for your prayers for us on this – we can tell you’ve been praying for this transition for our family!
So, before I sign off, I have to share about the squatty potties. I had heard some rumors about the potty situation here (hey, I’m a mom of 2 young kids, what can I say? Potty is a big part of our vocabulary!), but I had prayed those rumors weren’t true. The rumors are true. ;-) So, while we were at the registry office, Lily announced that she had to go potty. I didn’t think anything of it but went to take her along w/the other little girl in our group. I had Jasmine in the Mei Tai and walked Lily into this little bathroom and looked down….flush with the floor was a little hole. Ummmm, so if you’re a guy, this is no problem but if you’re a girl, well, you get the picture. So, if you can imagine me trying to hang onto Jasmine so she doesn’t slide out of the Mei Tai head first into the hole, while trying to lower Lily w/o her touching the disgusting floor……yep, that was my squatty potty experience! Needless to say, I waited until we got back to the hotel! ☺
So, on that note, I’ll finish this update and again thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. We’re experiencing God’s provision and miracles every single day and are so incredibly thankful that He loves us and how He’s in the tiniest of details. We’re so thankful for our 2 precious girls and how each day we’re bonding a little bit more as a family. And, we’re so thankful for you all. ☺
The rest of the day we tried to take it easy. We did venture out for a little walk through some of the streets and shops. Jim has been trying to drag me out of the hotel for the last couple of days but I’ve been so intimidated by the traffic, I’ve not ventured out too often. Ridiculous I know, but between the culture shock (mainland China is VERY different than Hong Kong), lack of any English signage or language and the crazy traffic (and I am NOT KIDDING), I’ve been a big chicken. But we did venture out for about an hour or so, walking through all of these outdoor shops, now getting noticed for having a Chinese baby with us as well as little blond Lily. We really have found the Chinese people both in Hong Kong and here in Chengdu to be extremely warm and friendly. I have to say that the city itself has really grown on me. Hong Kong had a lot of gorgeous mountain scenery as well as beautiful skyline. Chengdu is beautiful in an entirely different way. There aren’t as many high rises as in Hong Kong but the buildings have a different kind of beauty that’s hard to describe. It’s common to walk along and see bike after bike after bike lined up along the sidewalk for blocks and blocks. There are as many pedestrians as cars and it’s been fascinating to watch them all navigate the craziness. There are shops of every kind stuck into every nook and cranny and on every street corner there’s some kind of salesman or shop owner beckoning you to come shop their wares. It’s a fascinating city and I’m enjoying getting over my fears and exploring a tiny bit before we fly out to Guangzhou.
Things with Jing Jing are going well. We had a good day all day. She started to crawl today which she wasn’t doing yesterday so it’s amazing to see her start to thrive a little more. She’s been making great eye contact with us and smiling and laughing a little more also. Our bedtime was a little rough, in part because we had a group dinner to celebrate our adoptions. That kept both of the girls up a little later than would be their regular bedtimes so they were both wiped out by the time we got back to the hotel. But all in all, I feel like we’ve had a better chance to bond with her today and slowly we’re getting a feel for what she likes and doesn’t like. It’s definitely trial and error at this point but it’s going better than I would have imagined. Thank you all for your prayers for us on this – we can tell you’ve been praying for this transition for our family!
So, before I sign off, I have to share about the squatty potties. I had heard some rumors about the potty situation here (hey, I’m a mom of 2 young kids, what can I say? Potty is a big part of our vocabulary!), but I had prayed those rumors weren’t true. The rumors are true. ;-) So, while we were at the registry office, Lily announced that she had to go potty. I didn’t think anything of it but went to take her along w/the other little girl in our group. I had Jasmine in the Mei Tai and walked Lily into this little bathroom and looked down….flush with the floor was a little hole. Ummmm, so if you’re a guy, this is no problem but if you’re a girl, well, you get the picture. So, if you can imagine me trying to hang onto Jasmine so she doesn’t slide out of the Mei Tai head first into the hole, while trying to lower Lily w/o her touching the disgusting floor……yep, that was my squatty potty experience! Needless to say, I waited until we got back to the hotel! ☺
So, on that note, I’ll finish this update and again thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. We’re experiencing God’s provision and miracles every single day and are so incredibly thankful that He loves us and how He’s in the tiniest of details. We’re so thankful for our 2 precious girls and how each day we’re bonding a little bit more as a family. And, we’re so thankful for you all. ☺
Our first night
Hi everyone! So our first night w/Jing Jing went really well. I think I told you all that after we took care of the constipation, our little sweetie began to feel much better. We were able to get some great family play time in and even went into the swimming pool for a little while before bedtime. Anita, our CCAI guide, had given us a heads up that she might wake up in the middle of the night and if so, just give her a little pat and say “Hala Hala Hala” which means “it’s ok” in Mandarin and then she’ll go back to sleep. She only woke up once and we did as directed and right back to sleep she went! Thank God ‘cause I am seriously homicidal if I get too sleep deprived! Our bed is roomy but not very comfortable so I’ve been waking up w/knots in my back. Thank God that I have a chiropractor appointment set up for when we get home!
I had another “Yea God” detail that I wanted to share with you. A few weeks after our match, we sent a care package to Jasmine w/a few different items of either toys or clothes and a baby picture book of our family. Our agency had given us labels in Chinese to put on the pictures so that way everyone could be identified. They also let us know that there was no guarantees that we would get them back or that they would get passed along. So I’ve been praying that of all the items, I’d love to have them give her the picture book & a little teddy bear that I had sent her. My “yea God” is that they did give those 2 items to her and they returned them back to us so they’ll be keepsakes for her! I love that even those tiny details are ones that God cares about!
Thanks everyone for all of your prayers! We can’t wait to get back so that we can post some of these videos and pictures! Our itinerary tomorrow is to go finish our adoption paperwork w/the registration office and the notary. Once complete, our adoption will be final! Yea God! Well, I’m going to finish this so I can get off to sleep. Talk to you soon!
I had another “Yea God” detail that I wanted to share with you. A few weeks after our match, we sent a care package to Jasmine w/a few different items of either toys or clothes and a baby picture book of our family. Our agency had given us labels in Chinese to put on the pictures so that way everyone could be identified. They also let us know that there was no guarantees that we would get them back or that they would get passed along. So I’ve been praying that of all the items, I’d love to have them give her the picture book & a little teddy bear that I had sent her. My “yea God” is that they did give those 2 items to her and they returned them back to us so they’ll be keepsakes for her! I love that even those tiny details are ones that God cares about!
Thanks everyone for all of your prayers! We can’t wait to get back so that we can post some of these videos and pictures! Our itinerary tomorrow is to go finish our adoption paperwork w/the registration office and the notary. Once complete, our adoption will be final! Yea God! Well, I’m going to finish this so I can get off to sleep. Talk to you soon!
Gotcha Day – Part 2
Good evening, everyone! Well…..we’ve got her! It took us about 40 harrowing minutes to drive to the orphanage! I have to say that I’ve never seen anything like it! Lanes, lines, signs, lights, pedestrians, other cars and buses – they mean absolutely nothing in traffic in Chengdu! We narrowly avoided 1 accident on the way but managed to arrive safely – Praise God! At any rate, once we arrived, they brought us into a room at the orphanage where we started our paperwork and suddenly looked up and there she was! We barely had a chance to get our cameras out and start shooting before they were walking over to us. I, of course, sobbed my little heart out and the next thing I knew, she was in my arms. She did get a little overwhelmed and due to us arriving at nap time, promptly fell asleep in my arms. She’s beautiful and seems to be in good health despite a good case of constipation. We’re so incredibly thankful for our CCAI rep, Anita, who has been with us every single step of the way. We ended up being at the orphanage for a total of an hour and then braved the crazy traffic to get back to our hotel. The afternoon was a little rough for a while but once we were able to treat the constipation and get some fluid into her, Jing Jing (her nick name. We’ll eventually call her Jasmine but want her to feel as comfortable as possible.) started to perk up and play a bit with us. We even got a couple of smiles and thankfully, the evening has gone much better than the rest of the day!
Thanks to all of you for your amazing support and powerful prayers on our behalf! We are continuing to trust God in all areas of bonding, sleep strength and multi-tasking! Our itinerary has slightly changed. Tomorrow, we’ll go back to finalize our adoption paperwork at the registry & then the notary. I believe that everything is final tomorrow, instead of Wednesday. Wednesday, we’ll be touring the Panda reservation and on Thursday, Anita made plans for us to shop for cultural souvenirs for part of the day. On Friday, we depart to Guangzhou.
That’s the scoop for now but in the meantime, enjoy 1 of the pics of our new little girl!
Thanks to all of you for your amazing support and powerful prayers on our behalf! We are continuing to trust God in all areas of bonding, sleep strength and multi-tasking! Our itinerary has slightly changed. Tomorrow, we’ll go back to finalize our adoption paperwork at the registry & then the notary. I believe that everything is final tomorrow, instead of Wednesday. Wednesday, we’ll be touring the Panda reservation and on Thursday, Anita made plans for us to shop for cultural souvenirs for part of the day. On Friday, we depart to Guangzhou.
That’s the scoop for now but in the meantime, enjoy 1 of the pics of our new little girl!
Gotcha Day – Part 1
Good morning from Chengdu! Well, it’s definitely looking like our communication will be more limited while we’re here! Sniff, sniff. At any rate, we’ll see if we’ll have a better ability to communicate when we get to Guangzhou. We’ll be here until 2/5 and then we’ll fly to Guangzhou for the remainder of our trip. In the meantime, we’ll still keep a journal and take lots of pics that we hope to share with you, worse case scenario, when we get back into the states!
So TODAY is GOTCHA day! Yea God! It’s hard to believe that this day has finally come! We’re going to be meeting in the lobby of our hotel and will actually get to drive to Jasmine’s orphanage to get her and Bodie (the new son of the other family we’re traveling with)! We’ll have an opportunity to meet the nannies and see where she’s been living this past year. We were told that she has been told that she’s going to be adopted so we’ll see how she reacts when she sees us. I had sent a care package to her months ago w/a little baby book with our pictures in it and I’ve been praying that they’ve been showing her the pictures all of this time. Regardless, God has been preparing our little daughter for us just as He’s been preparing us for her and we are trusting Him to work all of those details out!
At any rate, thank you all for your prayers and support! We'll be talking to you soon!
So TODAY is GOTCHA day! Yea God! It’s hard to believe that this day has finally come! We’re going to be meeting in the lobby of our hotel and will actually get to drive to Jasmine’s orphanage to get her and Bodie (the new son of the other family we’re traveling with)! We’ll have an opportunity to meet the nannies and see where she’s been living this past year. We were told that she has been told that she’s going to be adopted so we’ll see how she reacts when she sees us. I had sent a care package to her months ago w/a little baby book with our pictures in it and I’ve been praying that they’ve been showing her the pictures all of this time. Regardless, God has been preparing our little daughter for us just as He’s been preparing us for her and we are trusting Him to work all of those details out!
At any rate, thank you all for your prayers and support! We'll be talking to you soon!
Chengdu
Well, we have made it safely to Chengdu! We left this morning around 11:10 on Air China to Chengdu and made it to mainland China. Talk about 2 different worlds! The brown smog left a very thick layer over the city and the traffic was the craziest we’ve ever seen! Our CCAI rep, Anita, picked us up after we came out of baggage claim and directed us to the van where the other family in our group, Jon, Amy, Jill & Kai were waiting. We took a very harrowing ride through the city to our hotel, the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Anita will be staying with us at the hotel as very few people speak English here – way different than Hong Kong! She gave us all of our instructions and more details to our itinerary for the next few days while we’re here in Chengdu.
Tomorrow is the day we get Jasmine. We’ll actually get to go to her orphanage and see where she’s been living. Our other family will be adopting a little boy from the same orphanage so we’ll all be going together. I have to say that as excited as I am, I’ve also been feeling overwhelmed and a little afraid. What if I don’t bond well w/Jasmine? What if she doesn’t bond w/us? What if I can’t handle 2 kids? Then what? What if I don’t love my 2nd child as much as I love my first? I continue to wrestle w/giving these worries over to God. I give them over and then take them back, give them over, take them back. I wish I could just give them over and be done with it. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s God’s job to knit my family together and He’s already done that. I just need to do my part. He hasn’t left us alone to our own devices for 1 single part of this adoption so why would He start now?
So, something that you can pray for (besides me setting my fears in God’s hands & leaving them there) is our adjustment to mainland China. It’s VERY different than Hong Kong and won’t be as easy as Hong Kong. Food-wise, it’s going to be a much bigger challenge than Hong Kong, especially for Lily, which causes us more stress. Please pray that even in these details, we’ll be able to leave them in God’s hands and trust His provision. Thank you God for prompting me to bring the snacks that I did!
Thank you all for all of your prayers and your support! We couldn’t do this without you! We’ll update you soon!
Tomorrow is the day we get Jasmine. We’ll actually get to go to her orphanage and see where she’s been living. Our other family will be adopting a little boy from the same orphanage so we’ll all be going together. I have to say that as excited as I am, I’ve also been feeling overwhelmed and a little afraid. What if I don’t bond well w/Jasmine? What if she doesn’t bond w/us? What if I can’t handle 2 kids? Then what? What if I don’t love my 2nd child as much as I love my first? I continue to wrestle w/giving these worries over to God. I give them over and then take them back, give them over, take them back. I wish I could just give them over and be done with it. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s God’s job to knit my family together and He’s already done that. I just need to do my part. He hasn’t left us alone to our own devices for 1 single part of this adoption so why would He start now?
So, something that you can pray for (besides me setting my fears in God’s hands & leaving them there) is our adjustment to mainland China. It’s VERY different than Hong Kong and won’t be as easy as Hong Kong. Food-wise, it’s going to be a much bigger challenge than Hong Kong, especially for Lily, which causes us more stress. Please pray that even in these details, we’ll be able to leave them in God’s hands and trust His provision. Thank you God for prompting me to bring the snacks that I did!
Thank you all for all of your prayers and your support! We couldn’t do this without you! We’ll update you soon!
Hong Kong Disney
Hi everyone. So, as promised, I just wanted to share about our experience at Disneyland. What a blast! First, we decided to take the train as Disney is on Lantau Island and we were in the area of Kowloon. We were a little intimidated but had gathered some courage after wandering around a few places by ourselves so, armed w/our trusty map, we set off to find the station. We actually did amazingly well, considering it was our first time wandering around a foreign country w/o assistance! We eventually figured out the maps to Disney and finally purchased our tickets and set off on our adventure. Disneyland itself really turned out to be a magical experience for us. We continued to be objects of focus, primarily because of Lily. We had been told ahead of time how the Chinese are fascinated w/blond haired little girls and that definitely turned out to be true. Everywhere we went, people were interacting w/her, sometimes touching her hair or asking to take pictures w/her or asking for hugs. Disney was no exception! She made all kinds of friends while we were waiting in line to get in. We decided to purchase a stroller (mostly for our overly heavy & uncomfortable backpack & coats which we didn’t end up needing) and while we were doing that we were approached by 1 of the park employees who asked if we would be the Grand Marshalls of the Disney Parade that afternoon at 3:30. We thought they were putting us in a drawing w/a number of families so we agreed, thinking what an honor it was to be nominated. (Ha!)
At any rate, we set off on our adventure checking out all of Adventure land and then to lunch & then Fantasyland. We stood in line to take pictures w/2 of the princesses and had another one of those celebrity moments w/Lily. When it was her turn to take pictures w/the princesses, people came out of nowhere and were lined in a semi-circle around her like paparazzi, cameras in hand, shooting pictures of the little blond American girl. It was really hysterical to watch! She just charmed the socks off of everyone she met.
Ironically, one of the last rides we decided to check out before we went back to see if we had won the Grand Marshall drawing, was “It’s a Small World.” While we were in line, we met a guy named Jeff from Orlando on the same ride. We got to chatting and come to find out that he and his wife had adopted 2 little girls from China! What are the odds?! He’s currently working in Germany was out here on business. We had a great time sharing w/each other about our adoptions, our girls, etc. After saying goodbye & joking about it being a small world, we just shook our heads and thought, once again how we LOVE how God is in the tiniest of details!
But, the best was yet to come. When we got back to City Hall, we found out that there was no drawing! They had chosen our family (let’s be honest – they chose Lily) to be the Grand Marshalls of the Disney Parade! What a trip! They had us relax in a little room while they got things ready. They had embroidered Mickey Mouse hats w/each of our names and gave us padded hands to wave in the parade. We even got an official certificate! They walked us through the streets to the Grand Marshall car and made an announcement about the Youngs from the United States of America. It was so surreal! The whole time, Lily was waving like she had been born to do it.
We left after the parade finished, too wiped out to do anything more but go back to the hotel, eat dinner and go to bed!
At any rate, we set off on our adventure checking out all of Adventure land and then to lunch & then Fantasyland. We stood in line to take pictures w/2 of the princesses and had another one of those celebrity moments w/Lily. When it was her turn to take pictures w/the princesses, people came out of nowhere and were lined in a semi-circle around her like paparazzi, cameras in hand, shooting pictures of the little blond American girl. It was really hysterical to watch! She just charmed the socks off of everyone she met.
Ironically, one of the last rides we decided to check out before we went back to see if we had won the Grand Marshall drawing, was “It’s a Small World.” While we were in line, we met a guy named Jeff from Orlando on the same ride. We got to chatting and come to find out that he and his wife had adopted 2 little girls from China! What are the odds?! He’s currently working in Germany was out here on business. We had a great time sharing w/each other about our adoptions, our girls, etc. After saying goodbye & joking about it being a small world, we just shook our heads and thought, once again how we LOVE how God is in the tiniest of details!
But, the best was yet to come. When we got back to City Hall, we found out that there was no drawing! They had chosen our family (let’s be honest – they chose Lily) to be the Grand Marshalls of the Disney Parade! What a trip! They had us relax in a little room while they got things ready. They had embroidered Mickey Mouse hats w/each of our names and gave us padded hands to wave in the parade. We even got an official certificate! They walked us through the streets to the Grand Marshall car and made an announcement about the Youngs from the United States of America. It was so surreal! The whole time, Lily was waving like she had been born to do it.
We left after the parade finished, too wiped out to do anything more but go back to the hotel, eat dinner and go to bed!
Monday, February 15, 2010
We're Baaaackkkk!
Hi Everyone. We made it home safely tonight - a bit worn out, but grateful that our girls survived the trip. Donna will be updating the blog more this week. Apparently, in mainland China, blogging and Facebook are not allowed, so Donna kept a journal of updates that she'll post, along with new pictures. Thank you all for your prayers and support. We never could have done this on our own. Praise God for His faithfulness. We'll be in touch soon.
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