Quickie Post

There are many things I want to write, and lots of new pictures I want to post, but for tonight I am too tired. So I'll just quickly post a couple cute pictures of the girls.

Prayer Request

I know that the other week when I posted a prayer request, many of you told me you saw it and prayed. I did not list any details, but lets just say your prayers were answered. Thank you so much. I have another request I would like to share. Bedtime creates great anxiety for Faith. As soon as she even sees her pajamas or hears the word 'bed' she starts to cry and she cries from then on (through stories, teeth brushing, rocking, etc.) until she falls asleep. Of course we don't understand what she's thinking. Most families we talk to who adopt girls like her talk of this same issue. It does get a little old (well, it gets very old) and also it's such a shame for her that a time that is soothing for most kids is very troublesome for her. There are other issues, but I hoped that maybe you would join with me in targeting this one right now. Thank you so much. Your prayers make a difference.

Back on the Bandwagon

Insignificant photo?? I think not! Faith is headed for her very first band practice which will from this point on, be a major part of her life.

We were so glad to be back to worship band practice. A month off seemed like forever. Christian had a field day with my camera during practice. We were calling him the paparazzi.

Yesterday we called it a major milestone when Faith said, "Jesus" for the first time. We have been trying to get her to say Jesus and singing Jesus Loves Me all the time and yesterday she finally said "Jesus" when we were looking at a picture Bible. We marked it as being of Major Importance.

Craft Time

Gracie decided that she and Faith should make crafts. The funny part is Faith actually listened to her.

The Road We Travel

The road has been hard and I haven't always written everything or told anyone some things because some things were too painful to share. I am thankful beyond words to be on this side of the process and more than anything...to be on this side of last week. I want to thank all of you who prayed and let you know your prayers were answered! I think I was somewhat prepared for all the things we went through in China, but I was completely unprepared for what we faced during our first week at home. Looking into the eyes of a child devoid of love, caring, or joy was bone chilling. I will never forget the look in her eyes. I will also never forget the day that look disappeared. I won't go into details but I will leave it at saying this:
We are pleased to announce that we now have a normal, happy 2 year old.



Faith still has issues common to adoptive children. She becomes insecure very easily. She does suffer from night terrors but from what I've read from other parents, hers are not too bad. She will just all of a sudden scream in her sleep in the middle of the night...it sits you straight up in bed....fun. She gets very sad and starts to whimper when she sees her pajamas or when we tell her it's time for bed. And of course her language. Here is my main prayer for her right now: That her English would develop really quickly so that we can tell her about Jesus!

Back in June, I sent a disposable camera to the orphanage. I was amazed when the orphanage director handed it to me on our gotcha day. I was really excited to see the photos when I picked them up today. However, it was very disappointing. They just snapped the whole role of her walking around right outside the office of the orphanage. Nothing much to see except that I was appalled by seeing the terrible exposure her split pants offered her. The pediatrician told us last week that what I thought was some type of diaper rash is really scarring from cuts and abrasions. In the pictures she was sitting on cement steps and a stone parking lot. Does that make ANY sense??!?


Faith is enjoying riding a tricycle and even went for a family bike ride on the back of daddy's bike.


I have been trying to spend lots of time with my parents, my aunt, etc. to get her used to them and she is doing well. Today she walked happily around my grandparents living room without shying away.

Love to you all.
Glad to be on this side of things.

The Great Outdoors and Worship Music

Last night we went to an outdoor church picnic where Mitchell's band was playing. What a nice evening. How wonderful just to be outside on a nice evening doing our very favorite thing...listening to music!






















Mitchell and Ben Russell

Multi-Cultural Experience ??

Chinese girl eating tortillas in an American home.

And now...I have a sister.

Praising God for Milestones

If I could mark two days as milestone days with Faith: the first would be the day we left Nanchang...and the second would be today. I cannot describe to you the heaviness God lifted off my heart today, and some of the fears He allowed me to see past. Today, yesterday's glimmer became a shine. Faith woke up this morning without crying... and that was a first. I looked at the smile on her face and could see that something was gone. Perhaps it will be back tomorrow, but today its absence allowed me to see her..just her...for the first time, not the anger or the sadness or the fear, but her. There was a sweetness in place of the anger and smile in place of the sadness, for the first time. I realize tomorrow may be completely different, but for today, it was beautiful.



Faith did not want to sit still to pose for this photo, but I liked it anyways. I took this on Mom's front porch. I might take them back up to try to get one where everyone's smiling because all of Mom's flowers made such a pretty backdrop.
OUR BLESSINGS!



WELL IF THIS ISN'T AMERICAN, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS!








...on having siblings...


Faith went Wal-Marting for the first time today.
It's incredible when the ordinary becomes beautiful. Like shiny clean floors and thousands of choices, or the absence of any smells but soaps and freshly baked bread.
Ahhh...



No one could hope for a better Pappy! Tonight my dad said (or perhaps it was my mom) "When she learns English, you'll be able to tell her that you're keeping her." I won't comment on that, because that is its own deep thought to ponder.


Love to you all.
Trusting in Jesus.

A Successful Evening

Well, we had two successful outings this evening. First we took Gracie to ballet class. Faith sat in the studio doorway and watched the girls almost the whole time. I wanted her to watch them because I thought it would be so good for her to watch ballet class. Then we went to church. We actually sat through the entire lesson in youth group (with a bag of cheerios of course) and didn't cry (neither one of us). The most amazing part was that after youth, Faith got down and actually walked around among everyone. She SMILED and even fed Matt Hepner cheerios :) !!!

Then, Faith had her VERY FIRST trip to McDonalds! She wasn't real keen on her hamburger, but I wish I had had my camera along to capture her eating her first McDonalds french fries (because they're so good for her, you know).

Today was the first time she looked at our puzzles and put some of our board puzzles together. And tonight, she sat and looked at board books by herself for the first time. I have tried to look at books with her many times, but they meant nothing to her. Tonight she sat and turned the pages and actually looked at the pages. She also said, "gonna go to the potty" today. She was just immitating me but we'll take whatever we can get!

Thanks so much for praying. Please continue to do so. To watch a little girl with such a sadness about her spirit is really heartbreaking. The Lord knew I desperately needed to see a glimmer today. I must confess I have been struck with the fear that perhaps her heart is too sad to learn to love. I am hanging onto Jesus with all my might.

Love to you all.
Paying for Faith.

A Plea for Prayer

I have an earnest prayer that some of you are still reading along. I got up this morning and cried about this task that seems insurmountable to me...teaching love and joy to a child who has no concept of love and joy. I really need your prayers.

Love to you all.
Praising God for family and friends.

Being Home

I could not possibly write about how good it is to be home and have my words be sufficient. When our plane touched down in Chicago Friday at 12:30am, I cried. To the other mom's with whom I exchanged blog addresses while in China, I want to say...We made it, and isn't it incredible to return home. I could never have imagined how difficult it would be to be away from my little ones for 15 days. I wanted to hold them forever when our family met us at the airport. We came home to our SOFT beds, clean water, green grass, clean streets, etc....and boy are we more thankful for it than we have ever been before. When we got home, I held my kids and tucked them in and then had a good, long cry.

I have wanted to write, but we have been so tired I have not even felt like I was able to write. We have learned that jet lag is a real thing, and that jet lag coupled with a toddler who doesn't sleep at night makes us absolutely dead on our feet. I didn't realize what it would take out of us physically. We are all so very tired and struggling with minor illness, I think, just due to being so run-down.

Well, 2 days home and we have already made our first trip to the emergency room with Faith. Today we were headed to Delgrosso's Amusement Park for our church picnic and the kids started yelling, "Mommy, Look at Faith!" She was having convulsions in her car seat. I ran to the back of the van and pulled her out of her seat and she was burning up. She was shaking from head to toe and her eyes rolled back in her head. Now, I know this happens to many kids, but I have never had it happen to one of my kids before and it scared us to death. We took her to the emergency room. They got her condition stabalized and then did blood work and a chest x-ray. If you remember back to my post from China about her chest 2-rays and MRI, they told us she had a calcium deposit in her lung and it would never hurt anything. This was wrong. They did chest x-rays in our hospital today and she actually has a lung infection. Several doctors in China looked at her chest x-rays and MRI and none of them knew she had an infection. They told us here at our hospital that if it had gone another week untreated, it could have become life-threatening. The amazing part is that we were supposed to travel a week later than what we did. Our travel date got moved up by one week at the last minute...God knows what He's doing.

If you are still reading this, thanks for hanging in there with us. We would like to ask some specific prayer requests. First, Faith is doing much better here during the day than she did in China. She is much happier. But, she has cried most of the night every night since we have been home and we are exhausted! Please pray that she would begin to sleep at night for us. Second, the language barrier is really difficult. Please pray for her to begin to pick up her English very quickly so that she can communicate with us. I've been thinking tonight about 'not offering any sacrifice that costs us nothing'. I have needed this thought today. I don't think I ever could have envisioned how difficult this whole process has been and is still.

Love to you all.
Trusting in God for adjustments.

Things to Say

There are so many things I want to write. But, it will have to wait another day. Matthew did get to post the video he took on Gotcha Day. You can find it below. I will try to post tomorrow.
Love to you all.
And I'm so glad we don't have to miss you anymore. :)

Home, Sweet Home!

I just wanted to let you all know that everyone is home, safe and sound! I'm sure Cherie will have a story for us later. I don't have the details, but I do know it included missing a flight in Chicago and getting into Dulles around 12:30 am - and not getting to sleep till 6 am this morning. More will be coming once they've all had a chance to rest, but for now, knowing they're all home is enough. Please keep praying for Faith's adjustment. Her new, strange, wonderful life is just beginning.

--- Cherie's Aunt Lou

One Step Closer to Home!

Sorry this post is so late in the day, but we just got to our hotel in Shanghai and it is one o’clock in the morning. Our flight here was delayed. We were met at the airport in Shanghai by guides who cannot speak a lick of English. They wanted us to carry all our luggage, kids, strollers, etc. up 2 flights of stairs. It took us a while to show them that they could drive the cars around to the door on the floor where we were. Then we drove around Shanghai for an hour because they were lost and didn’t know where the hotel was. So… we are finally here. We get picked up in ten hours to head back to the airport. Needless to say, we are just a tad bit irritable.

Our guide, David, got us to all our appointments today and then got us checked in at the airport in Guangzhou, which, may I add, is a beautiful airport. We are really missing David tonight here in Shanghai and appreciating him all the more.

After breakfast this morning, we took our red couch photos. It’s tradition - everyone takes photos of their kids on the red couch at the White Swan before heading home.

After that, we, and all the other adoptive families who have been staying in Guangzhou this week, went to the U.S. Consulate where we received the all-important “Brown Envelope” that may not be opened for any reason. Lisa and Sue, you know. It is all the information concerning your child that you hand in to immigration at your port of entry (Chicago for us). As soon as our plane lands, our child is a U.S. citizen.

All the families had to take an oath at the Consulate, and there was something really incredible about standing in a room with 30 adoptive families and taking an oath together as we all begin our journey home. After the oath, the director said, “Your long journey is now over. You are DONE.” Everyone cheered, and some cried. We were not permitted to take any cameras to the consulate.

Before I came to China, I felt like… the orphan problem is so huge and this is only one child… but this week at the White Swan I went to breakfast every morning to a room full of little ones who, one week before, sat in orphanages all over this country. And now they sat at a breakfast table with a Mommy and a Daddy. Most of them were two or three years old - all of them had gone it alone thus far. Now here they sat, and it was really incredible. Today, 30 children here in Guangzhou began their journey home

So, now we have a toddler again... A toddler who has never been in a house before... A toddler who doesn’t recognize or understand the things we have or the way we live... A toddler who doesn’t yet know what ‘boundaries’ are, and has absolutely no concept of the word ‘no’... A toddler who cries out of frustration because no one can understand what she wants... A toddler who, we can tell, had to fend for herself some. We have our work cut out for us! She is cute, adorable - and stubborn as can be!

As we rode on the bus to the airport, I wondered what she was thinking about. She wouldn’t let anyone hold her. She sat up really big on the bus seat with her little arm on the windowsill and looked out the window the whole way.

I watched her and thought about how far she has come in this world all alone. She looked so little sitting there so big, and I wondered about all the things she has been through on her own. I thought about a two-year-old little girl who doesn’t belong to anybody, and it made me cry.

I cannot even begin to tell you how it feels to know we’re flying out of China in the morning. We are elated! You know there’s no place like home, and I just feel like bursting into a stanza of “America the Beautiful” - but I’d wake everyone up. When Mom and Dad dropped us off at the airport, Dad said, “Don’t worry, fifteen days will go fast.” However, it feels like we’ve been gone a really long time. But... we’re almost home!! We would appreciate your prayers for safe travel.

Christian and Gracie, see you really, really soon. I cannot describe how much we’ve missed you!

Love to you all.

Miss you like crazy.

We are packing !!!! Yes, Packing!

We headed out for a little bit of last minute shopping this morning. It is so extremely hot! We are really tired of sweating. As soon as you walk out of the hotel door you sweat like crazy. This picture was taken last night...

I have to tell you all this... just now, Mitchell was standing by the door and Faith was in the crib. She yelled, just as plain as day, "Mitchell !!" really loudly because she was trying to show him something. He now says he’s the only one who has a real name.

Well, I'd better get to work. Our luggage gets picked up in a little while.

Lisa, we stopped in at Jordan's again this morning. When we were leaving, he asked if he could shake our hands... he held all our hands together, and then leaned close and whispered, "God Bless You."

I'll try to write tonight from Shanghai.

Love to you all.

Miss you like crazy.

Almost There...

This morning we had a nice breakfast with the Samuels, another family in our travel group, then we met with David to sign some paperwork which he took to the consulate in preparation for our oath appointment tomorrow. Early afternoon Mitch and Mitchell walked to the electronics market while Matthew and I took Faith to the playroom.





By the way, here is an assortment of the Pringles at the 7-Eleven behind the hotel...

YUM !!!

Then we took cabs downtown to a shopping area. It was an interesting experience. The stores are really, really tiny and there is just an incredible volume of people!!!! Mitchell got a watch and we got a few movies for about a dollar each.

We were talking to some other people here adopting and they have been sick... we have tried to be VERY careful with what we have eaten… almost there.

Tomorrow we head to the U.S. Consulate to take our oath and be on our way.... Hoooooorayyyy! Our flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai leaves tomorrow evening at 8pm. We get to Shanghai about 10pm.

Love to you all.
Miss you like crazy.