Six Month Mark--11/17

We have been home for six months now. It has been one of the hardest six months of adding a child ever! No matter how many books one reads about adoption, they cannot prepare you for the reality of day to day living. My desire is to be honest in my posts so I have only shared little snippets of our daily struggles, so, at the six month mark, which several of my friends who have adopted share with me is a turning point, I'll reveal a little bit about the hard times and end this post with the incredible joys of adoption. 

1. We've never had sibling rivalry before so imagine getting a child who immediately hits, kicks, pushes, screams, etc, our Nicholas. I've shared before about how she'll let everyone into her personal space except for Nicholas. It breaks my heart because he so sweet. 

2. We have never had a child throw tantrums. Now, not only do we have a child who throws herself on the the ground screaming and kicking when things are not going quite right, she throws tantrums in public places as well. Very embarrassing.

3. We have figured out that Hannah comes from a very neglected environment. She would eat us out of house and home, if we let her.  She would also be satisfied playing in her crib all day--which we do not do. Sad. 

4. We also suspect that discipline was carried out with an extremely firm voice and punishment must have been big. She only understands that she is in trouble if we speak in a very, very firm voice and discipline is big. This is exhausting for me. 

5. We have never had a child know how to manipulate situations. She is a master at this trick putting her toe on the line all day long. 

6. We have strong willed children. We thought we had seen it all, as we have one who, at times, has had me in tears by the end of the day. By comparison, Hannah tops it all in the strong willed area.

7. Somehow, we weren't expecting a child who could not communicate in Chinese. She was taught to scream for everything in hopes that her need would be met so her first response is always to scream.

8. We were expecting a child who was developmentally delayed. We were not expecting a child with holes here and there in her development.  

9. I was not prepared to need to talk with Dan about our discipline tactics every single night. I was not prepared to having to second guess everything that we did during the day, because, after all, I read all the books. 

10. I was not prepared for being emotionally exhausted at the end of the day. I was used to being physically exhausted with our other precious ones. 

11. We were not prepared for a child who scratches herself until she bleeds when situations make her anxious.

12. When we look at her referral pictures, we saw a very cute, sweet, girl that we fell in love with all our hearts. Hannah is the epitome of a strong willed, loud, hurricane going through the house. 

The joys:

1. Despite Hannah's poor treatment of Nicholas, he still loves her and tells her often.

2. We know that her strong will helped her overcome her circumstances and will help her be strong in the the Lord.

3. We love watching our children love her unconditionally even though on many days she turns our home upside down with her "antics."

4. We see so much progress in Hannah! She walks, runs, turns in circles, dances, and tentatively tries out the stairs, goes down the slide and sings songs!

5. We see Hannah starting to ask us nicely for her wants.

6. Hannah says "Thank you" without being reminded and says it with a grateful heart. 

7. Hannah gives hugs, kisses, and loves to be held. 

8. Hannah has a wonderful sense of humor.

9. Hannah has a fairly good command of English. She can even put two words together!

10. Hannah has not lost all of her Chinese. She sometimes combines both languages in one sentence.

11. When we meet new people, she points to herself and says, "Hannah." Then, points to me and says, "Mommy!" 

12. When she is hurt, she comes to us for comfort. 

13. Hannah notices when one of our family members is gone and asks where they are. She just started asking where Dan is during the day! A huge milestone for us! Frequently, during the day, she points to everyone and says their name. Some siblings she still calls by their Chinese name. Some now have their English name.

14. We are a semi-bilingual family.

15. God has brought SO MANY people into our lives through adopting Hannah. I'll write about this in another post.

16. While I am emotionally exhausted at the end of the day, I am not weary. Gods grace sustains me! 

For me, caring for an extra person is not at all hard. It is the caring of the personality that comes with the sweet precious one that has been challenging! I think that at six months that must be the time when my learning curve has peaked. I finally feel as though we have a plan to do each day well. I remember that at the six month mark of birthing our other children I also felt this way. 

Adoption has been an incredible experience! God's hand is so over it all! I am still often amazed when I look at Hannah that just a half a year ago, her life and ours were so different! We are so blesssed by this firecracker given to us by Our Father!

Happenings

Here's our latest:

1. Nathaniel scored a goal on Saturday! 

2. Dan's Mom visited us. His Uncle also came and went for a short visit. Dan's Mom was a teacher so she took over the writing assignments while she was here and helped in lots of other ways, too. 

3. We are loving our new church home. We are considered a medium sized family in this community! 

4. Hannah is speaking so much English! We are amazed!

Hannah's been home for a little over five months. It's been an amazing time.  I'll share more in another post. 

In the meantime, we pray today for our country! May God move in the hearts of His people to elect godly people to office.

Another Funny Story

The night we were in Monterey, we ate at a Chinese restaurant. The waitress asked me if I was from China. I said, "No, I was born in the States," I gestured to Hannah and continued, " but my daughter is from China." The look of confusion on her face was so funny. Than, Dan explained that Hannah was adopted from China. She still looked confused. We got a good laugh about it afterward. 

Happenings

It's been such a long time since I've posted. Each year, time seems to be more illusive as the demands on homeschooling increase. I'll just share some of our happenings.

1. Elizabeth scored a goal on Saturday!! 

2. We took a trip to go Whale Watching and to the Monterey Bay Aquarium last weekend. We took a two and a half hour boat rider to see the whales. It was so amazing to see these huge creatures! Our children were making fun of me when they found out that I was wearing four layers of clothing. However, when Hannah got sea sick and threw up all over me, including my hair, I was grateful for the four layers. I peeled off two and put on my jacket. Hannah seemed more upset that she had messed up her clothes than that she threw up. Shortly after Hannah threw up, Nicholas threw up. I've known Nicholas for longer so I could see it coming. I managed to get a bag for him and all was well for the reminder of the trip.

3. This past weekend Dan's Mom and Uncle came to visit for one night. They left Sunday to go visit their brother and sister-in-law and will be back this coming weekend.

4. We do not allow words like stupid and shut up in our home. Seems to destroy the peace a bit when words like that are used. However, as little as they are spoken here, our bird seems to pick them up very quickly. One morning the bird was going crazy and calling for Benjamin, who is her favorite person, I was getting very annoyed as her call is bone shattering. I looked at her cage and realized that she was on Dan's shoulder. I asked Dan, if that sound was annoying him and much as it was annoying me. He said yes, then, immediately asked Benjamin to come get her. When Benjamin appeared, she looked straight at Dan and said, "Stupid!" and hopped happily onto Benjamin's shoulder.

5. It is official. We have left our church and have been attending another church in the area. The transition has been a smooth one thus far. We love the family oriented worship service and discipleship time. We love that they share a meal together each week! We are looking forward to getting to know this new community.

Pictures!!

Nicholas and Hannah are enjoying the soccer games! (I think if you click on the pictures they can be blown up a bit.)

Two really neat soccer players! Elizabeth had a really great game, dribbling the ball down the field several times for her team! Benjamin also had a great game, stealing the ball several times and running hard to get to the ball first!

Four really tired soccer players!

Nathaniel and Hannah enjoying each other!

Soccer and Other Stuff

Soccer season is in full swing. Yesterday was the first game day, and it was just beautiful outside! The four older children play and between them we have 8 soccer practices each week and four games on Saturdays! For those of you who do not live in Turlock, the eight soccer practices sound really difficult to plan, but the practices are all within three minutes driving distance from our home. So the schedule really isn't as rigorous as it sounds. Saturdays turn into Family Soccer Day as we cheer each child on to play their best. I forgot our camera yesterday so next week, I hope to have some pictures up with children in uniforms.

How's Hannah? I haven't written much lately about how she is doing so I thought I'd give you an update. When we brought her home, we (and the doctors) saw several inconsistencies in her reactions, behaviors, and emotions. These inconsistencies have now bloomed more fully! She is a very spirited and charming little girl. (Notice the inconsistencies even in my description of her.) Dan and I just know that with her persistent and stubborn character and her charming personality she is going to win many souls to Christ! 

For those of you out there who are readers, I just finished the book Safely Home by Randy Alcorn. It is a work of fiction about Christians being persecuted; however, many of the events have actually happened. The setting is in China, but it represents persecuted Christians worldwide. I usually don't recommend books to people. You know, different strokes for different folks. But this book is very moving! We are SO fortunate to live in a country that allows us to worship freely. I know you all know this, but this book made me think even more about our religious freedoms. I am sure that there are those who are persecuted at work, neighborhoods, etc. in the US, but it doesn't even come close to those who die a physical death for Christ in other countries. Alcorn also reminds us of several other truths, but you'll just have to go get the book!

China's One-Child Policy

Many people have asked us about China's one child policy so we thought we'd share a little about what we know about China's one child policy. The Chinese government initiated this policy so that they would be able to control their ever growing population. Most people don't understand why they would "abandon" all these girls. In Chinese culture, it is the son's responsibility to look after his parents when they grow old. The daughter-in-law marries into this family and is responsible for caring for her in-laws. Therefore, no one will be available to care for her parents when they grow older. Consequently, in a culture that dictates that a family may only have one child, it is favorable to have a son. 

In the rural areas, families can have more than one child because they are farmers and need help on the farm. In addition, if the family is a minority, they, also, are allowed to have more than one child. In some areas, if a family has a daughter first, they are given permission to have another child.

In order for a family to have a child, they must present a certificate stating that they have been given permission to have child. This child will be given free government schooling. If they have an "illegal" child, that child will not get free government schooling and the family is fined heavily for having this extra child.

Concerning the earthquake victims: Many of the children who perished were only children. If a family would like to have more children, they must apply for permission to have another child. A friend of mine brought up the fact that many of these children were middle schoolers and possibly many of these parents are too old to have more children. If a family had more than one child, they could declare that the legal child perished and apply for this second child to become legal, thereby, giving that child the right to an education. I have also read that many Chinese families are stepping forward to adopt children orphaned by the earthquake.

Many children who wait to be adopted are special needs children, like our Hannah. Special needs children raise many red flags in America, but in China a special needs child could be simply a birthmark, a burn or scar, a cleft lip and palate, a limb deformity, or something more serious, such as, a major heart defect or autism. In China, children who have obvious physical defects are destined for a life in the streets; they will never hold a job. In many instances, if the birth mother chooses to keep this child, she will be shunned from all family members. In addition, most Chinese cannot afford the health care for these children. (The wait for a special needs child from China is 9-12 months; ours took 14 months due a paper chase nightmare. However, in the very recent months China has changed some policies hoping to shorten the waiting period. The wait for a healthy baby is two and a half to three years.)

The Chinese government has no tolerance for those parents who choose to abandon their child. When a child is found, a finding ad is placed in the newspaper for a certain number of days with the child's picture and where this child was found. If the parents come forward, they face a heavy fine. We are so fortunate that the orphanage gave us Hannah's finding ad. I can say with certainty that it is doubtful that any parents come forward. We, Americans, are shocked that these parents would abandon their children. Due to their culture and circumstance, sometimes these parents are left with no choice. Unfortunately, infantcide is also prevalent in this culture.

As Dan and I pondered this word abandon, we decided that this was a word that we never use to describe Hannah's parents. We know that out of love, her parents placed her in a place to be found. (We found out some interesting information on Gotcha Day about her story, but it is her story for her to share some day.) It truly is out of love and desperation that these birth mothers and fathers place their babies in places where they would be found quickly. Common places that babies are found are swaddled in a market place, the steps of the local police, and the steps of the orphanage. It is very likely that these parents watch in hiding to make sure that their precious bundle is taken in by others. People have asked if notes are ever left with the babies. Usually not, but sometimes it does happen. Notes will state their birth date. In some remote areas, paper is hard to come by and people are uneducated. 

We traveled with three children for most of our trip and the response to us having three children was incredible. The Chinese people love children. One person that we met would love to have more children, but her husband works for an important cooperation and would be fired if they chose to have more than one child. 

There you have it: China's One Child Policy in a nutshell, as accurately as we can tell anyway.

Our First Day of School

This is our annual first day of school picture. You can't see it, but Hannah is holding the word "day." I think if you click on it you can see it blown up a bit.  All things considered, we had a good first day of school.

This was taken in my parent's backyard. We spent one night with them after the Above Rubies Family Camp.

A couple of days ago, Nathaniel found this praying mantis in our backyard.

I've been doing quite a bit of sewing lately. I've never sewed boutique clothing, but I've been interested in learning because Elizabeth loves to have matching outfits; the girls are so far apart in age that it's difficult to find matching clothes in the stores. I thought I'd share a couple of outfits I made with you. I saw this skirt that someone was selling for forty dollars. Elizabeth and I both loved it, but I didn't want to pay forty dollars! So with some scrap fabric, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own pattern. I think that I'll probably applique some flowers in the shirt to compliment the outfit. 

I made this jumper for Hannah with scrap fabric, too, because I didn't know if I'd like the look of it or not. She loves it and prefers dresses over shirts and shorts. Unfortunately, because both pieces of clothing were made from scrap fabric, the girls still don't have matching outfits. However, that means I get to shopping at the fabric store!! 

Too Cute!

Yesterday, we had just sat down for dinner. We prayed. Nicholas turns to Hannah and says, "Hannah, I missed you when you were in China." Brings tears to my eyes!!

Family Camp

We just came home from Above Rubies Family Camp (www.aboverubies.org) where we had the privilege of hearing Colin and Nancy Campbell speak. This is our third year attending and we LOVE it! Colin and Nancy are so refreshing; they have six children and over 30 grandchildren, to top that, they adopted four teenagers last year. They have become our mentors. Nancy reminded us ladies about God's characteristics as He gently leads His children so must we, as mothers, gently tend our flock and lead them using God's shepherding characteristics as our model. On days when it just seems like too much is going on, Isaiah reminds us that God gently leads those that have young! 

In Colin's first session, he talked about how the mother is to be the Queen of the home! I LOVE this!! I have been telling my family for years that I am the Queen. They all roll their eyes at me and here is Colin telling them something that I've known for years! Humph!! Then, he went on to talk about hilarious mothering. Dan just rolled his eyes at that because I don't think he thinks I need any more encouragement in this area! Then, I looked back at Dan's brother, who for some reason thinks I am crazy, and gloated! He, too, rolled his eyes at me. I know that my family was thinking about our drive to camp which should have taken us seven hours and we were on the road for ten! I began to get slap happy and our children were getting fussy. So I took out my pretend bullhorn (my two hands) rolled down the window to the very slow, moving traffic and said, "Make way for the Queen, please move to the right! The Queen is coming now, please move to your right a little faster!" The children thought this to be quite funny. No one was moving out of our way. So I said, "Please go home to your families right now and make way for the Queen!" Still, no one moved. I am not sure why I suddenly found in my hand some toilet seat covers so I tried to sell them over my bullhorn. No takers. Our children were laughing but Dan was getting embarrassed and said, "You need to stop. There are people coming with their windows rolled down." He promptly rolled up my window and put the child lock on the windows! Hilarious mothering!

Seriously though, sometimes a little craziness goes a long way as we parent our children! It's very easy for me to get stuck in all the seriousness and forget to have fun! Some days I know that I am so busy that the end of the day comes and we didn't really enjoy each other; we just "did" the day. I really don't want to just "do" the day. Each day is an unwrapped gift from God; He gives it to us with all the trimmings, ribbons and with much flare. Somehow I envision that He gives us the gift of each day on a silver platter and on a white linen tablecloth. Some days it is easy to just unwrap the trimmings and miss the wonderful gift inside because I get distracted. I pray that I finish each day well. That I run the course He sets out for me avoiding the obstacles of the enemy who so easily entangles me. That I live for each moment taking the time to plant His seeds of truth in the little lambs that He has given me. That my life would be a reflection of His love and that it would be a life that our children would want as well. And finally, that I would have the courage to live the life that He wants me to live. 

Answer to Prayer Request Number 3

The girls who had their cleft palate surgeries are doing well! They were released one day early! Praise God that the doctors think their surgeries were so successful that they won't need another surgery! This is huge because these two little ones had worse case scenario palates and the doctors were very concerned that they would have to go back in again. Continue to hold these little girls in your prayers as they recover!

Another little girl in our travel group had some tumors removed from her stomach while in China! Praise God again! They took her in for an appointment and this precious one is perfectly healthy!! 

What a MIGHTY God we serve!!

Answer to Prayer Request Number One

Praise God!! I just called whatever phone number one needs to call the night before jury duty and guess what?? Yep, you guessed it! I do not have to report!! God is just simply amazing!! He is amazingly good ALL the time!! I was really feeling very sad about being away knowing the anxiety that it would bring to Hannah. I was bracing myself for a rough week or more; I feel like we really just recovered from me being gone that one Saturday a couple of weeks ago. Her scabs just healed yesterday from two weeks ago as she continues to open them up with her scratching. Oh, I am SO relieved!! Healing the emotional scars of our little one will take time and lots of love and any change in schedule seems to be a two steps forward, three steps back kind of a process. We have noticed that any time I am gone seems to bring about some anxiety that usually seems to come out the next day.

Another Olympic funny......Tonight, as we were watching the women's gymnastics (We tape it to watch the next day.) I was commenting about " When I was in the Olympics yada yada yada...." Benjamin said, "Really, Mom? You were in the Olympics?" "Of course" I replied. He says, "Which event did you compete in?" We just happened to be watching the balance beam so I said, " The balance beam!" To which the room erupts into laughter!! I, personally, didn't see anything funny about my response. Matthew pipes up and says, "Oh, yea, Mom. Well, what medals did you win?" I very humbly reply, "I won a bronze and a gold!" To which he quips, "Well then, where are they?" Of course, by now I have to tell the truth. So I solemnly tell them, "I had to sell them to have all these children!" Laughter erupts again.

A Few Prayer Requests

1. I have jury duty tomorrow so I will be gone all day tomorrow. Please pray that Hannah will do well. We are thankful that Dan will home with our children. However, I was gone all day a couple of Saturdays ago and even though Dan was home with our children, Hannah did not do well. When I came home she had 6-7 new open sores. (Her self-soothing action is to itch herself until she bleeds.) While she was delighted to see me, she was really mad. She screamed, "Mama!!" Came running. Immediately stopped. She was mad at me for the first 40 minutes of me being home. We went through some pretty major regression that lasted at least a week! 

2. Continue to pray Hannah and Nicholas' relationship. They seem to being doing better, but they still need prayer.

3. Two little girls from our travel group had their cleft palate surgeries today. Pray for wisdom for doctors, quick healing, rest for their parents. Most of all, pray that the bonding that has since taken place will continue to grow and that these little girls will continue reach out to their parents for comfort. 

A funny.....we've been watching a fair amount of the Olympics these past few days. Elizabeth asked me yesterday, if I have ever competed in the Olympics! 

Time Is Flying!

Wow! We cannot believe that it is August already! I haven't written in awhile and thought I'd catch you up on the latest.

Dan has one more week of summer school teaching. Then, he'll be busy preparing for his fall classes which start the week of Labor Day. 

Elizabeth has discovered the joys of cooking and has been cooking up a storm! I am thinking that she'll be ready to cook an entire dinner pretty soon! Matthew already cooks for us once every 7-10 days. 

Benjamin has been reading up a storm. 

Nathaniel has probably won the record of playing the most games in a single week! He could play games all day. 

Nicholas has been joining me in bed in the middle of the night and is getting a good workout

by using me as a punching bag! 

Matthew's obsession with computers has grown to new heights! 

Hannah continues to thrive. Lots of new words. A couple of weeks ago we took her back to Oakland where she saw about 8 different doctors in one day. The cranio team agreed with us and told us it was our call as to when we schedule surgery. We'll probably wait a year hoping that she will be more emotionally ready to handle surgery. She was only able to complete 1 out of 3 tests for hearing. Somehow, she didn't get that if she was screaming and kicking she couldn't hear anything. I was deaf by the end of it and wouldn't have passed the tests either!

My friend came back from China with their little girl last Friday. She is adorable! Another miracle blessing from above!!

New Pictures! Hannah's Birthday and Roasting Marshmallows

Hannah opening her birthday present at my parent's home. She really did not want to tear the paper! Very upsetting for her! She loved the toys though! Thanks, Dad and Mom!

Dan teaches a class the Summer B session so he is gone two evenings a week. We try to do something fun when he is gone those evenings. Last week, we decided to try roasting marshmallows over candles. It was fun to watch the different reactions of our children when their marshmallows caught on fire. Some calmly blew theirs out and moved on. Others freaked out and blew so hard that it blew other peoples' candles out. We had a great time and are looking forward to roasting s'mores soon!

Nicholas enjoys a very roasted, toasted marshmallow!

Elizabeth and Benjamin hard at work!

Matthew roasts his marshmallow!

Nathaniel roasting marshmallows!

Hannah enjoys hers just the way it is right out of the bag!

We Are Back!!

We had a wonderful time in Southern California! While we were gone, it was over 100 degrees in Turlock! We left town just in time! Hannah did great at my parent's home! She even gave my Mom a couple of hugs! My Dad received a couple of high fives; men still make Hannah nervous. The only time that she flipped out was when my Mom asked her to try on a jacket. I was already holding her, but she leapt further onto me, clung to me for dear life, buried her head in my shoulder and screamed bloody murder. Needless to say, we put the jacket away. 

My Mom took us to see the Terra Cotta Warriors displayed at the Bowers Museum. The exhibit was very well done. Each of us received an audio telephone-like gadget at the beginning of the tour. The audio was very informative. The details on warriors were spectacular! The workmanship was incredible! We also visited with my Uncle and my cousin and her two year old little girl. In addition, we enjoyed the pool in my parents subdivision. All our children enjoyed the water. We did have to tell Hannah not to drink the water. Inside I am sure she must be thinking, "What all this water and I can't drink it? What a waste!"

Hannah turned two on July 12. We celebrated early at my parent's home with cake and candles. Hannah seemed to know exactly what to do with the candles though she has seen us blow them out. She could not stand to rip the wrapping paper off of her present. We tried to encourage her, but she just really could not bring herself to tear paper. She was quite upset. Obviously, she has received some sort of instruction in her past about tearing paper which gives us insight as to why a just turned two year old can read paper book without tearing a page. Once we got the paper off, she was delighted with her gifts.

After a few days, we, then, drove down to Del Mar and enjoyed time with Dan's side of the family. We had the third annual Davies/McClellan/Renfro Reunion. We love visiting with everyone and catching up on the year! All the children have grown tremendously. We basically turn into beach bums for several days. The Davies family all tan; the McClellans and the Renfros seem to fry. We snorkeled, belly boarded, and got sand all over everything. 

Hannah did not fair so well during our time at the beach. All the people wanting to touch her and give her attention made her nervous. We chose not to celebrate her birthday again so as not to give her more unwanted attention. I don't think other people noticed how nervous she was, but we did. Lots of scratching. All things considered, a good time was had by all.

Our children now speak this half English half Chinese language. At my parents house, Nicholas was asking for something and none of us understood what he was saying. As he repeated what he was saying to us, he was getting more and more frustrated that no one understood what he was saying, as the frustration level was growing, the volume was growing, and words began to smear together. This is what it sounded like to us: "I'DLIKEASHAODONUT!!I'DLIKEASHAODONUT!!!!!" We were each muttering this phrase when it dawns on one of the kids that he was using the Chinese word for small and that all he wanted was a small donut. We laughed over that, but I don't think Nicholas thought it was too funny.

On July 14, Nathaniel lost his two bottom teeth. The first one came out while he was eating an apple. He couldn't find the tooth so we think he probably swallowed it. The second one came out while we were talking, and he was fiddling with it. We can hardly tell that he lost his teeth because the permanent teeth are already half grown in. He also can swim; he just can't quite admit it yet.  While in Del Mar, he was madly swimming away in the baby pool and I said, "Oh, look, Nathaniel, you can swim. Let's do it in the big pool." He replied, "I know I can swim, I just don't want to do it in the big pool." We did swim yesterday and I convinced  him to swim in the pool over the steps where he can stand up. I am sure that by the end of the summer he'll be swimming! 

My friend left today to go bring her daughter home from China. I am so excited for her and her family! God has blessed me through her friendship. We have journeyed together this past year to our daughters. She has offered me much advice and support; this is their third China adoption. Plus, they have four boys just like us. I can't wait to meet their newest daughter who is just a few months older than our Hannah. Please pray for them: safe travels--she travel with her sister and 4 year old daughter, that their new daughter will adjust well, that her hubby and children will do well without Mom.

Pictures!!

Nicholas gets into Mommy's lipstick!

The Davies Six Pack

Sisters!

Mommy makes "the sisters" matching skirts! Elizabeth is in heaven!!

What a cutie!!

Our first family photo! 

Vacation or a Trip?

We leave tomorrow for what most families would call a vacation. We call it a trip because vacation implies rest and relaxation, and really, who gets rest and relaxation when traveling with children? When we get back, we'll need a vacation! We'll be spending a few days with my parents in southern California. I am sure we'll celebrate Hannah's second birthday with them; her birthday is July 12. Then, we'll meet Dan's Mom and a bunch of Davies for our yearly reunion at the beach. We'll celebrate Hannah's birthday again with them! 

Hannah loved her first fourth of July! We figured she would either be scared to death or just delighted. We are thankful that it was the latter! She was so delighted that she was screaming and making all sorts of noise. When we travel, it will also be either extreme as well. I suspect that it will most likely bring on some anxiety. 

I just finished Hannah's two month post placement report. On the one hand, I cannot believe that two months have passed already, and on the other hand, I cannot believe that it's only been two months since Gotcha Day! Hannah seems to have always been with us.

Hannah walks around the house saying, "Shao Rui!" (her Chinese name) very loudly. To which we respond, "Hannah!" Then, she says, "Uh-uh." We still call her by her Chinese name and her English name. She answers to both! Unprompted by us the other day, Hannah said her first sentence, "Daddy whay lie!" which means, "Daddy is home!" 

I do remember that I promised pictures. My computer person is occupied this week doing other computer projects for Dad. He is learning a lot and this is good!

Two Doctors Appointments and Some Pictures

Yesterday, we took Hannah to the Developmental Neuropsychologist that works with the International Adoption Doctor in Oakland. She was wonderful! Poor Hannah was very anxious during the entire appointment. The doctor was so kind and had a very soothing voice and just played with Hannah for about an hour and a half. Our appointment was longer due to some melt downs. As expected, Hannah is a little behind in some areas, but we aren't worried at all. Hannah has progressed so much in the almost two months that we have had her that we think that she'll catch up quickly. The doctor is recommending that a physical therapist come to our home once a week and we'll re-evaluate in six months. 

After our morning appointment, we had a intake appointment with the craniofacial nurse at Oakland Children's Hospital. In July, we will get to have individual appointments with each doctor and they will come up with the game plan for treating Hannah. We were so relieved when the nurse agreed that it wasn't necessary to have surgery so soon since Hannah's situation is not serious. We could just see massive amounts of regression in her if we proceeded so soon and what the nurse saw of Hannah's personality she agreed! Praise God! 

It was a long day for Hannah. She was so happy to be home!! 

Today, I showed Hannah pictures of her foster family. I was going to show her last week, but I thought I'd ask the Developmental Neuropsychiatrist first. Hannah is so emotional that I didn't want to set her back. She told me to go ahead and show her now which I was relieved because I don't want her to forget them. They are an important piece of who her. She sat through the first few pictures. I asked her who they were. She said some jibberish Chinese words. Got up. Came back to sit down. Looked at another few. Said some more jibberish. Shook her head. Got up. Came back to look at another. Shook her head. Frowned. Said no. Came back acted like she wanted to sit with me, but went across the room. Climbed in a chair. (Amazing she can do this now.) Looked at me. Shook her head. Said no and frowned. She was not happy. I felt so bad that this part of her life brings her so much sadness. I don't know if she just misses them and doesn't want to see their pictures or if her memories of being with them just aren't happy memories. She does exhibit several institutionalized behaviors which we have surprised us. We may never know and that's ok. We are just thankful for this family who took care of her. I will take the doctor's advice and put these pictures in an album within her reach to look at in her own time. 

Another Summer Music Camp Season Comes to A Close

Today, we went to the final performance of Summer Music at Stanislaus 2008. Hannah had a great time attending her fourth concert! Due to the length of the concert and it's occurrence during nap time, we only stayed for the pianists. (Nicholas was very disappointed that we didn't stay to hear the "big, big drums.") The pianists performed on the first third of the program; it lasted "only" an hour and a half. This year we had a record number of high school students so I ended up teaching more than we had originally planned, but Hannah did great with Dan while I taught. By the end of these past two weeks, she seemed quite at home on campus though we still held her everywhere we went. 

I had a wonderful time teaching this week. The high schoolers are more focused than last week's junior highers to a point where I had to encourage a few of them not to take things so seriously! I taught three classes a day. One master class I taught had four Chinese students.  I asked them if they had lots of Chinese families where they lived to which all four responded with a resounding yes. One girl told me that there are more Asians in her school than Caucasians. I shared with them my experience of being one of two Asians in the whole entire school--the other Asian was my brother which doesn't really count. The mass response was, "That's really bad!" Growing up, it was bad. I'm over it now though.

Those of you reading from afar we are having a large number of wildfires here. Please pray for the wildfires to become under control and the quality of the air to improve. It's pretty awful here in the Central Valley. Many organizations have cancelled their outside activities. Think Beijing without the smokey smell. It is smokey, just not the Beijing smoke that follows you inside. Oh, I should share that we aren't anywhere near the wildfires right now; the wind carries it to where we live. However, a few weeks ago we did have a wildfire about one mile where we live. Fortunately, it was brought under control rather quickly. Praise God because it stopped within 100 yards of two very nicely sized propane tanks located at a local business. 

Just another funny: Nicholas has been waking up very early because Dan has been leaving early and he doesn't want to miss out on seeing him in the morning. I was telling him that he hasn't been getting enough sleep so he has bags under his eyes. Before going to bed, he was looking in the mirror at himself and he said, "Mommy, do I have bags under my eyes?" I replied, "Yes, you do have bags under your eyes because you have been waking up too early in the morning." Nicholas replies, with a voice of wonder, "Well, Mommy, where ARE the bags? I don't see them!" 

One more funny: The other day I was cutting hair. Nathaniel sits down and announces, "Mommy, I think that I am getting too big for this!" He is all of six years old! Nathaniel's new term for tacky glue is "taxi" glue! 

I will try to get new pictures up some time this week! 

Hannah's First Concert

I took all the kids to the camp concert today. It was the shortest camp concert yet coming in at just a hair over and hour and a half. We were concerned about how well Hannah would do considering that she babbles all day long and when we ask her to be quiet she looks at us and continues talking as if she has no idea what we are saying--which she does. She did really well. There were just a few times when she would say "MA!" and then remember that she was to be quiet. She LOVED the music. She conducted, bounced up and down, swayed back and forth, and played with her shoes the entire time. OK....there were a couple of restless moments. Once I thought that she was going to have a tantrum, but she managed to pull herself together and move on. She loved clapping when the pieces were over. She was also a bit anxious the whole time and started her self-soothing action which involves a lot of scratching; she will scratch herself until she bleeds. We try to distract her which only works some of the time.

Today's concert was performances by all the small ensembles. Tomorrow, we get to go to another concert which will be all the large ensembles performing; the pianists will be playing their solo pieces that they worked on all week. This particular group of Junior High pianists has been fun to teach. I judged a competition this past spring and many of these pianists were in that competition; it was fun for me to get to know them outside of the "competition arena." This group seemed to be more about having fun than focusing on their piano playing, but they will leave tomorrow having made new friends whose interests match their own. Actually, a few of them don't want to leave tomorrow. Most of them plan on returning next year, it is always rewarding for me to see them return and hear how they have grown during the school year.  

This week and next week is CSU's Summer Music Camp. Dan is the director and the two weeks are very full of non-stop activity. I teach every year and this year we debated the wisdom of me teaching but in the end decided that if I didn't teach our children would never see Dan because he watches our children while I teach. We didn't want Hannah to forget who Dan is in her life.

Hannah is still uncomfortable in public places. Men still frighten her. Certain situations still are scary for her. This week at camp we've seen many Asian people and she was terrified, particularly when they came up to me and began to talk to me. 

Despite the above, she is trusting us more and more which is great! The downside of trusting us more and more is that she is acting up. It appears that the acting up is coming out of an "I wonder if I behave badly, if they will still love me?" and "I wonder if I have the same rules as the other children?" type of attitude. Interestingly enough, the first morning after the almost nightly "standoffs" began, I was expecting the usual grumpy, cute, little girl to greet me, but she was as happy as could be! Praising God for His goodness. She calls me MaMa many times an hour, seemingly to test out how nice it sounds! What a lovely sound to me as well!! 

We have several friends waiting for their last documents before travel--they are adopting from China, one family adopting a child from Uganda, and one family finalizing their adoption from the US (They already have their child.) Please pray for these families waiting for these last papers to arrive in a timely manner so that they can travel to get their precious ones. May God pave the way for them in the coming weeks and may God prepare the hearts of their little ones to receive their forever families! 

Just An Update

A couple of posts ago I asked for prayer for our two younger children. This is how God has answered that prayer request. A couple of days ago we were eating dinner when out of the blue Nicholas announces, "We need to go to China to get another baby!" Then, today while our children were putting their allowances in their wallets, Nicholas asks, "Does Hannah have a wallet?" I said, "No, she's too little to have a wallet." To this, Nicholas replies, "We need to get another baby before she gets bigger! Then, we'll have two babies!" I am so grateful that God has been revealing Nicholas' heart to us in this way. We still pray for softened hearts. Based on the little things we see, we know that one day they'll be the best of friends! Watch out world!! 

Each week we see Hannah coming out of her shell more and more. She is becoming physically more sure of her steps. When we brought her home, if we walked by her, she'd fall down which would lead to an impressive display of emotion on her part. She now can spin, walk and change directions without falling, get on and off of the rocking horse without help, and run!! Running is new just in the past couple of days. Her verbal skills are catching up; she has lots of Chinese sounding words and some Chinese words that are pretty clear. Lots of baby signs. She now has three English words! Bird, Poppy, and the new one.....drum roll please......... NO. We think that it is really funny that every time we say dog (We have a dog next door) Hannah says dog in Chinese. We ask her, "Say dog" Hannah says dog again in Chinese. She is starting to wake up happy and ready for play! She knows that if Dan or I leave that we will be back. Big milestone because for awhile I couldn't leave her. She squeals with delight when we come home. Another huge milestone is the tantrums have become less and less. 

As I think of all our joy these last few weeks as we have welcomed Hannah home, I can't help but remember the grief and pain that Steven Curtis Chapman and his family have been facing. Please continue to pray comfort and peace on this family who lost their five year old daughter, Maria, to a tragic accident. The Chapman family founded Shao Hannah's Hope, named after one of their three Chinese daughters. Shao Hannah's Hope offers grants to families that are adopting children. They have helped more than 1600 families bring their children home. Because of their visibility, many other families have stepped out to adopt children. Their latest project is to come to completion this summer as they build an orphanage for special needs children in China. If you'd like to learn more about Shao Hannah's Hope, please visit www.shaohannahshope.org

Four Weeks Ago Yesterday

We received Shao Rui Hannah four weeks ago yesterday! Gotcha Day was an experience! The poor thing just cried and cried. We finally got her all calmed down and asleep and they wanted to take a picture of the three of us with her eyes open! Literally, I think she was asleep for all of three minutes, and we had to wake her up again. In the midst of her crying very loudly, really it was more like wailing, we were filling out paperwork. About two hours of papers. We are amazed at the amount of paper that we have accumulated! Not complaining because we'd do it again in a heartbeat! I know we'd all move mountains for our children! 

I have to share with you what she was wearing! She was wearing yellow long johns that we had sent her during that cold, cold spell in February. Over the long johns was a pink and white striped, spaghetti strapped-like dress, complete with pink tutu. On the body of the dress in silver letters was written the word, "Diva." She had on squeaky  blue sandals. I wish that we had taken a picture of her in it, but she had wet her clothes so I had to change her into something else. She was just too cute!

Today, we had an appointment with the International Adoption Doctor in Oakland. She was very helpful and affirmed some things that we had already been thinking and doing and gave us some suggestions. Most children who come from institutional care and foster homes are somewhat developmentally delayed but catch up quickly. Shao Rui Hannah has already made leaps of improvement in so many areas; we are sure that she is just the brightest little 22 month old from China. We knew that Shao Rui Hannah probably wasn't going to like going to the doctor, but she REALLY REALLY doesn't like doctors. She was so wiped out from wailing that she fell asleep after Dr. Curtis was done examining her. Fortunately before the wailing began, Dr. Curtis was able to see Shao Rui's happy self. Interestingly enough, when we came home she seemed to have taken a step back in that she wouldn't let Dan hold her. She would play with him but just wouldn't let him hold her. I don't know if she was just mad that he didn't stay with her at the doctors office--Dan and the big kids went to the museum during Shao Rui's appointment--or if she just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to leave her. I did try to sneak out to do a quick errand tonight, but she wasn't going to let me out of her sight so she went with me. 

Funny story....we had to wake our children up early this morning to get to Oakland for the appointment. When we were in China, we had three out of five flights that left very early in the morning. We would have to wake up the three sleeping children, when children should not be awake--neither should adults--to catch the these flights. This morning as we were eating our very early breakfast, Nicholas pipes up and says, "Are we going to China?"

Home for Two Weeks Already!

We've been home for two weeks. I can't believe it!! I think that I left part of me in China as I really am looking forward to going again. China left quite an impression on me. 

Shao Rui Hannah is doing well. She is a different person! We are glad!! She is now spending more time off of my lap and more time running around with everyone else. I was able to get away the other night with some friends and she kissed me goodbye and was not upset with me leaving her! She greets Dan with a smile when he comes home from work! She knows lots of sign language and is gobbling it up. What a relief it must be to her to be able to communicate her needs! (Her previous method involved throwing a temper tantrum until she got what she needed.) Her English words consist of: bird and Poppy (the name of our bird). We are working on parts of the body and she's catching on! The other day I taught her how to put her dishes in the dishwasher; she was so proud of herself! Her favorite past time is taking on and off her shoes. She LOVES her shoes! 

She still will not get down in a public place which for now is fine with us. She loves playing in our backyard though. 

Our children are loving having a toddler in the house. Nicholas and Shao Rui Hannah have some issues to iron out. They share a room, and it is cute to listen to them talking to each other before going to sleep. Today at nap time, Nicholas would say, "MaMa" Shao Rui would say, "MaMa." Nicholas would say, "Daddy."  Shao Rui would say, "Daddy." And so on. Pray wisdom on us and a softening of Shao Rui Hannah's and Nicholas' hearts. 

While Shao Rui is picking up baby signs and English, we are picking up more Chinese. I know that I've said it before, but God is SO good that she can understand my broken Chinese. We've had some issues come up where it was so helpful that I knew that she understood what I was saying in Chinese because I knew with certainty that she wouldn't understand it in English. It's is very cute to hear all our children count in Chinese and speak Chinese to Shao Rui. We speak both Chinese and English to her. We'll see how long this lasts. 

We just stand amazed at God's goodness and His shower of blessings on our family! 

Pictures

I was going to get these up last week but toward the end of the week I came down with a sinus infection that slowed things down. I am grateful we were all healthy in China! The antibiotics that we took to China came in handy when we got home! I took one of our children to the doctors for an annual exam and asked him to take a peek at Hannah's ears because she's had a cold for over a week. She has an ear infection. Again, those antibiotics came in handy!! I can only post four pictures per post. Enjoy!

Dan and Matthew on the Great Wall of China.

Gotcha Day! The lady in the yellow  is Shao Rui Hannah's foster mother. I think that the lady in red also helped care for her as she was able to answer questions as well. The man in the picture is the director of the orphanage; he is holding his 3 year old daughter. The lady next to him is his wife. Poor Shao Rui Hannah was wiped out!

I took this picture while we were waiting for our driver in Kunming. There were several men doing street repairs. They were digging with shovels and mixing concrete on the street--no pails. Notice that the man is hold a long nail. He was banging that hammer on top on the nail to break up the concrete. It looked like his goal was to break up all the concrete around that small square that he was sitting on. In the states, we would use a jack hammer and it would be done in minutes. I wonder how many hours it took him to complete the job. 

In the evening, I would take Nicholas downstairs to the play area in our hotel. It gave us some alone time and gave Dan some bonding time with Shao Rui Hannah.

More Pictures

Kunming: Entrance to Green Lake Park. Beautiful park to walk around!!

Guangzhou: I always see this on other peoples' blog and thought it deserved a place on our blog. All babies are given a medical exam here. And we are given yet more paperwork!

Dinner anyone? In Guangzhou, this tasty dish was offered at a restaurant. Some of the other tasty treats offered were water beetles and turtles. We were served an American style Chinese dinner. It was delicious. 

This is inside the White Swan Hotel. Taken right after the red couch picture (see below.)

The infamous red couch picture. A tradition  for families adopting children from China. We get the children from our travel group together, put them on the red couch and take a picture. At one point, several of the children were looking at the two girls crying as if to say, "What is the problem?" Shao Rui Hannah was not happy to be out of my arms. I had such high hopes for a pleasant picture; I don't know what I was thinking when she had never wanted to leave my arms for anything before the picture.  A few hours later we met up with our travel group for an evening out. One of the ladies asked me if Hannah was feeling better. I told her that she was feeling just fine at the red couch picture, that is just who she is! The Chinese would say that Hannah is spicy!! At least the other little girl had an excuse; she was not feeling well. 

We took tons of pictures, but I think that is all I'll share for now. We are missing some of our pictures on our camera as a folder "magically" appeared within the camera. Stored all our photos of the beginning of our trip on itself. We are experiencing difficulties getting them out of the folder. Advice is welcome.

Our Six Pack

I took this picture the other night and thought I'd share it with you all. Shao Rui Hannah is doing well. She's taken some steps backwards but that is to be expected. She will let Dan play with her, feed her, and even brush her teeth, but she won't let Dan hold her yet. She is permanently attached to my lap/hip these days. As my friend, Cindy, would say, she is a "velcro baby." I am very happy about that because it means that we are bonding but that also means getting nothing accomplished during the day. However, this bonding time has been a good reminder to me about what's important. Therefore, we are spending lots of time playing together and reading books. The kids have enjoyed a lighter school schedule. 

Shao Rui Hannah is picking up some important baby signs--though it seems like it's still just much easier to scream. Our children are picking up some more Chinese. It's an even trade. Thankfully, she is sleeping through the night. Now, if we could just get Nicholas over his jet lag....

Today was a landmark day! She called me MaMa THREE times! Up until now, she has refused. She did call me MaMa in the Kunming airport, but I think it was an accident. When we first taught her the sign for MaMa all she could do it shake her little head. I don't blame her! Goodness, we hardly know each other at all. She did say Guh-Guh right away in China. She gets that one on the money and calls her brothers Guh-Guh. Still working on Jie-Jie (big sister). In China, she did call Dan Bah-Bah so she does know that he is her Daddy; she's probably just mad that he leaves her everyday. Yes, as the Chinese would say, we have a "spicey" girl! 

I will try to post more pics in the coming days.

Earthquake Victims

My heart has been heavy this past week as I think about the earthquake victims in Chengdu and the surrounding areas. While we have been rejoicing over our precious gift given to us on May 6, others, half across the world, have been mourning the terrible loss of their precious gift. Because the earthquake occurred at 2:38 p.m. almost all the children were in school. Due to China's One-Child Policy, most of these families lost their only child. This child represented their only hope. Many children have become suddenly orphaned. The news clips and newspaper articles are heart-breaking. Hannah is from Zhaotong, Yunnan. 3,000 homes were destroyed. One loss of life. Many injured. 

Amazingly (only ordained by God's hand), all orphanages are safe and all children are fine. However, some are need of repair and items for babies. Please pray that these children will remain safe until their families can bring them home. 

In addition, China is facing a virus that is fatal in young children. We washed hand religiously while there. Please pray that God would protect these children and their caretakers. Pray for families waiting to bring their children home. We have several friends waiting for those last pieces of paper before travel. The wait is brutal. 

If you feel led to aid in helping the relief effort, please visit www.lovewithoutboundaries.com or www.halfthesky.org

Please join us, in praying that God would be glorified through this tragedy. Pray that the people would see God at work and draw near to him. Pray that His Word would be spread.

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matt. 18:20

We Are Back!!

I am so sorry not to have been able to post in Guangzhou! It was non-stop activity the whole time we were there. I'll  briefly fill you all in from our last post. Obviously, blogging in China did not go as I had intended. Sometime later this week, I will post pictures as well.

Monday in Kunming we went to Green Lake Park which is within walking distance from our hotel. It was beautiful. Lots of trees and lots of people. In China, the retirement age is 50 for women and 55 for men. The majority of the people there were the "older" population. They had many open areas where ladies gathered to "exercise." It really looked like Chinese dancing to us. Lots of ladies walk around knitting scarves and sweaters. We received Hannah's paperwork and passport in the afternoon. That evening we met with Mrs. Zhou, who is the director of Civil Affairs in Kunming (we met her on Tues at Gotcha Day), her daughter and a translator. They are gathering information about different colleges in the United States. Small world because the translator went to Indiana University where I went to college then spent some time in Cleveland where I was born. 

Earthquake....we didn't even know that there was one. We did feel the beds sort of roll around nap time but ignored it. Two families from our travel group were in the province of the earthquake and have quite a story. We were so glad that God protected all of them.

Tuesday, we relaxed before catching our afternoon flight to Guangzhou. Our flight was delayed due to the earthquake. I was so excited to see the other families and their new bundles and wanted to go visit the one family that had arrived before us, but Dan said that it was time for bed. 

Wednesday, it SO FUN to meet these precious other girls! They are all adorable!! Hannah really opened up in Guangzhou especially on Thursday when she could look at lighter skinned people and not whimper. In the morning, we went for the medical exam and get visa pictures taken. That evening we ate together at a Chinese restaurant. We'll post pictures later of some of the offerings.

Parts of Guangzhou reminds us of the midwest. Situated on the river it is quite lovely. We stayed at the infamous White Swan Hotel. Lots of adoptive families stay there. It was amazing to actually be there and on the final leg of the journey. It is a gorgeous hotel with a waterfall and a fish pond. 

Thursday, we spend 2 hours in the afternoon doing more paperwork. We were all so grateful for Alison our guide who led us through all of them. That afternoon we took a group picture and the infamous red couch picture which I'll maybe post later. Our group was treated to PaPa John's Pizza. Then, we were off for a river boat cruise. 

Friday morning, the ladies went to a pearl store and a bookstore. In the afternoon, we went to the Oath Ceremony. We were told it is an anti-climactic event and it really was. They say about 2 sentences. We say "I do!" They say, "Congratulations!" We all clap. Then as if we haven't done enough paperwork, they advise us of what to do with the brown envelope that they give us that day. 

Hannah still won't let me put her down in public places which really is ok with me. One of the ladies asked me to put her down so that she could play with all the other little girls in our travlel group. She refused. 

She adjusted fabulously to our homecoming! I was amazed that I was able to put her down in our great room without tears. She played with all of our children. It was very obvious to us that her foster family showed her the picture album we sent her often; it is one of her prized possessions.

I missed our children terribly. It was heaven to see them again!! 

We are so thankful for this journey! Every time a child is placed in a family whether by birth or adoption, it is truly a miracle. God's miracle! We are so thankful that we said yes to God. We are blessed beyond measure. 

Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY from China!

To Our Mothers:

Thank you so much for all you've done for us through the years. Loving us and sacrificially giving to us! You are the best! We love you both!!

Love, Dan and Joyce

To My Six Pack- Matthew, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Nathaniel, Nicholas, and Hannah

I am so blessed to be your Mother! You all are the BEST gift ever!! I love you and am so proud of each of you!!

Love, Mommy, the Q of A

I wasn't planning on writing anymore than the above, but we are waiting for our picture to post. Yesterday, we visited the street where my Dad lived. The picture is right around the corner from that street.

Today, we visited Yunnan Normal University Business School. One of the waiters befriended us and invited us to visit his school. It is situated in the foothills of the unversity. Our understanding is that 40% of the students pass the exam that allows them to attend a university. Then, this afternoon our two youngest children took an almost four hour nap. They are exhausted and we were so glad that they were able to sleep so long today. Tomorrow we have a free day and will visit Green Lake Park which is down the street from our hotel. I believe that our finished paperwork should also come tomorrow. Tuesday afternoon, we are off to Guangzhou and probably won't post again until Wednesday if we find a computer.

When we get home, we will have to post some other pictures. Plus, we'll be able to zoom in more than we can here.

Saturday May 10

Yesterday, Shao Rui had a break through with Dan. They played together for quite a while. She was even brave enough yesterday to walk from breakfast to the door of the hotel. Up until then, she would only sit and play on the bed. When we would go out, I would carry her. We knew that day three would bring us a break through!

Today, she has felt comfortable enough to walk around our room. She seems to feel safe with Dan as long as we are in the room and I am there with her. When I left just now, she burst into tears. She still doesn't feel quite safe enough to walk when we are out and about which is just fine with us. Every day we see more and more of a happy little girl who LOVES to play games. She also babbles quite a bit. She can say her Chinese name and every now and then she wants something will say, "Shao Rui wants" in Chinese. Today, she has also been trying new foods and will try just about anything in sight! Her favorite seems to be noodles.

Our boys are doing well. We are sort of a spectacle. Everyone looks at Nicholas. So far he seems oblivious to the stares. We have many conversations with the people in the streets or the places where we've visited. People can't quite understand how I can be an American when I look so Chinese. LOL!! Yesterday when Nicholas and I were going to the elevator after playing at the Children's playground in our hotel, people were going to let us go up with them in a fairly full elevator. I told them that we would just wait for the next elevator to come. As the door was closing, a man said to me, "OH! You speak English very well!!" I got a kick out of that!!

Yesterday, we went to the Ethnic Minority Village. The clothing was so beautiful and colorful! Amazing the crafts they can create by hand. They had little villages of each of the minority groups. Quite fascinating. Shao Rui was a little nervous when we entered one little house. Makes me wonder what her home has looked liked for the past 22 months.

Today, we visited the street where my Dad used to live. Took pictures and saw these two pagodas that he remembered always being there. Then, our guide took us to a silk factory. Fascinating.

My computer genius us upstairs relaxing so I can't post pics today. I'll try tomorrow....

Benjamin and Elizabeth: Enjoy dancing for God tomorrow. We will be praying for you! We know that it will go well. Nathaniel enjoy watching them!! We loved hearing your voices this morning!!

Just some pictures

We cannot view our blog in China I'll just do a quick recap.....Thanks Cindy for posting yesterday.

We are having a great time! We did Beijing in a day. Saw the Forbidden City,and Tianmen Sqaure Pictures do not do its enormity justice at all. It was just gigantic. We toured a Cloisoinne Factory and ate lunch there. After lunch we went to the Great Wall, Jade Factory, and drove through Olympic Village. We all climbed the Great Wall including Nicholas. Dan made it to Tower 5, Matthew to Tower 2 and Nicholas and I climbed a third of the way to Tower 2. I made him stop; he was not happy with me, but I knew that what goes up must come down--I ended up carrying him halfway down. The view was spectcular. Our guide was just wonderful and gave us lots of insight into China.

Kunming has been wonderful as well. We arrived Tuesday afternoon and rec'd Hannah at 2:30. She screamed for about 30 minutes and then she fell asleep. She is being very brave and courageous. Tuesday she didn't seem to care who held her but by Wed morning she decided that she prefers me to Dan. Poor Dan. She is now at a point where she wimpers when Dan is looking at her. This morning she did the same thing when a tall caucasian man entered the elevator as well which made Dan's ego feel much better. We are just letting her grieve and Dan is doing his best to just ignore her and wait for her to come to him on her own terms. She does enjoy watching him play with our boys. We are seeing glimpses of her personality which is one of laughter and fun. She loves to play little games with us and read books. For now, we are continuing to call her Shao Rui (Ray) or Mei Mei (little sister) and she will answer to both. Last night, she finally decided that it was safe to speak to us. Little by little she is trusting us. She does understand my broken Chinese--Too bad the same doesn't hold true when we go out.

Ok.....we tried to post more pics but they are not coming through at the moment. We did get to meet the Foster Mother and visit with her for a short time. What a blessing!!

Thank you all for praying for us.

Benjamin, Elizabeth, and Nathaniel, we miss you very much. We know you are having a great time with Grandma and tomorrow with Po-Po and Gong-Gong as well. Nathaniel you will be pleased to know that you now have a new pen pal--a little 6 year old boy who lives in Beijing!! We met his Dad on the plane!!

Praising God from whom ALL blessings flow!!

In China update

Just received a quick note from the Davies family, they have Hannah! They are having internet problems so Joyce asked me to forward this to you.

FWD:

Please just relay the message that we are doing great. Had a FULL schedule in Beijing! Arrived in Kunming yesterday. Got Hannah in the afternoon. Had a whirlwind of paperwork to do while Hannah screamed. She eventually fell asleep. She is doing great but grieving which is to be expected. She prefers me and can tolerate Dan if I am not in the room.
I will maybe try again to post in a couple of days....Unfortunately in Kunming all the internet cafes are in Chinese and does us no good.

THANK YOU!! Hope you are doing well! Thanks for praying for us! We are still healthy!!

Love, Joyce

Leaving!

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. " Isaiah 43:5

Tomorrow is the day we leave!! It is an indescribable feeling. In a few short days, we we hold our daughter--Gotcha Day is Tuesday, May 6 sometime in the afternoon. China is 15 hours ahead of California.

We arrive in Beijing Sunday afternoon. Monday, we spend sight-seeing with the 6 other families in our group. Tuesday, we all fly to the provinces where we will receive our children and do more paperwork. After a week in our provinces, we all meet up again in Guangzhou to do even more paperwork for a few days. We'll be home in 2 weeks!

I am hoping to be able to blog while we are gone. If not, a friend of ours has offered to keep you all updated if we have problems getting through. 

Thank you for joining us in our journey!

It All Belongs to God

The following is just ramblings from my heart that I wrote awhile ago and thought I'd share with you all some things we've learned along the way.....

It's really not about us but about His grace that sustains us through trials and frustrations. Before we were matched with Hannah and just collecting paperwork, we lived for each day's mail. Our collecting of documents to China took nine long months. We had 16 documents that made up our dossier (the stack of papers that goes to China that describes our family and who we are) and almost every single one of those had some sort of issue due to negligence on the part of someone in charge. Very frustrating. It got to the point that Dan would come home and say, "What's the latest saga?" One day he said to me, "Doesn't it just make you want to scream?" My response was, "No, I just want to cry because each day we don't get this document is one more day that Hannah spends without us and we without her!" When all was said and done our dossier was almost a half an inch thick. 

We were matched with Hannah (Fu Rui) on Ocotber 4. I remember that call vividly. It was 11:10 in the morning. We were sitting on the couch schooling. I answered the phone and Dana, from our agency, was on the other end. I asked her how she was and she said, "I am fine, but you are going to be even better by the end of this call!" She proceeded to tell which child we had been matched with and it was the little girl who had grown in my heart deeply. (I was so sure that she was ours that one morning I woke up and announced to our family that she was the one. They looked at me like I was insane.) While we were wildly rejoicing that we were finally matched with our daughter, the hardest thing was knowing that when she was cold, hungry, or crying we weren't there to comfort her or provide for her! We hold fast in knowing that we serve a God who protects these helpless ones left in situations that grieve His heart. 

I found this poem and thought I'd share it with you all....

Kisses in the Wind

We hold you in our hearts and touch you in our dreams.

You are here with us, at least that's how it seems.

We know you wonder where we are...what's taking us so long.

But remember child, We love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...

Because tonight, just as always, We blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until we can be with you.

We promise you, our darling, We are doing all that we can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.

But for tonight, just as always, We blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.

And let the angels bring the kisses that we send to you each night.

--Unknown

This journey has made us realize even more that ALL belongs to God. That God does have the best in mind for us even if it doesn't seem like it at the time and that all things are for HIS glory and in HIS timing. Sometimes the most discouraging times are the times that we see God working His wonders in our lives. I think that He delights in knowing that we serve Him with our hands held palms up in relinquishment of all that we think we are and think about how things should be so that we can praise Him for who He is so that He can use us warts and all for His glory. Reminds me of that old hymn....Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee; Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my love, my God, I pour at Thy feet its treasures store; Take myself and I will be ever only, all for Thee.

All for His glory.