It's Official...She's Ours!

...At least from the viewpoint of China, she is!

Yesterday, I signed a bunch of papers taking custody and temporary guardianship of Kylie.  Today, we went back to the same Civil Affairs office.

Before we left, I fed Kylie from some of the breakfast buffet at the hotel...

She had some watermelon, hash brown, yogurt and applesauce, which she seemed to like.  Then it was back upstairs to grab our stuff for the trip to finalize the adoption from the Chinese side of things.

This is me putting my thumb print on all the documents.  They asked me questions like how old I was (and yes, I never can remember and had to count on my fingers!), what my job was, why I wanted to adopt from China, did I know she was special needs and did I still want to adopt her.  It was all I could do to choke back the tears and answer, "yes, of course!"

I even had to put Kylie's hand print on the papers.

In about an hour (most of which was waiting), it was over.  And she is officially ours.

After we returned, we took about a 45 minute rest and then we dropped off some laundry to be done and then our guide took us to another Chinese restaurant.  The chicken we got was really good, but do you notice anything odd?

Kylie is about to wake up from her nap and then we are meeting friends for dinner!



The first 24 hours....

Kylie is napping, but should be waking soon.  However, I wanted to give an update on how the first 24 hours has gone.

Kylie is a very happy girl.  I finally had the chance to look at the CD of photos the orphanage gave us and there are so many of her smiling even from her earliest days there. 

Kylie is also a very active baby.  Which means, she is ALWAYS moving, playing, looking etc.  This is great except it's hard to sit at a restaurant and eat because she gets tired of being in one place for too long.  And it's also hard because while Deanne and Jenna can help, they are limited to what they can do.

Kylie took her first bottle about 6pm last night and it took her forever.  However, if truth be told, I probably wasn't using the cleft bottle to it's fullest potential.  Since she has a cleft palate, she has to chew the nipple of the bottle.  The cleft bottles are soft and can be squeezed to help get the liquid out.  She worked really hard but only ended up eating about 2 oz.  She went right to sleep when 8pm rolled around.  I stayed up checking emails and blogging since they said she usually takes a 10pm bottle.  By 10 when she hadn't woken up, I figured I'd better get some sleep.  She finally woke up at midnight.  I fed her a bottle which she took all of and she fell back asleep, albeit about 90 minutes later.

She slept for an hour and woke up crying again, so I changed her (though she wasn't wet) and then after a while, laid her back in her crib.  It appeared she was up for the day, but I wasn't, so I slid my hand through the crib slats and fell asleep with her holding my finger.  I honestly don't know when she fell asleep.

She slept until about 6:30 even though 6 is her waking time.  I got her  up, let her play with Jenna while I made her bottle and gave her about 1/2 of it.  We Skyped with some family and then headed downstairs for breakfast.  I fed her some watermelon which she was OK with, along with tiny bits of hashbrown, some yogurt and applesauce.  We had to meet our guide at 8:45am in the lobby and so I gave her the rest of her bottle on the van to the Civil Affairs office, which she finished and promptly fell asleep.

She slept about an hour and then woke up for the van ride back to the hotel.  I gave her more applesauce and put her down for a nap about 1:00 but she didn't go to sleep until about 1:30.  Again, I fell asleep with my hand through the slats of the crib and her holding my finger long before she did.

I'll post another blog about what we have done today, but wanted to get this one up before she wakes up.

Since there's not been a picture in this post, I'll leave you with a few from the orphanage CD from her earlier days.

What we have waited for...

I know you all have been waiting for a post and I apologize it took me so long to get one up, but things have been...BUSY!  I know you are most interested in pictures and I promise I'll get them up but I want to journal and remember as much as I can about this day.

This morning, we all slept in and skyped with our families etc.  We made it down to breakfast about 8:30 and met my friend Audrey.  Audrey is here with her 18 year old daughter and mother in law!  I was so glad to see a "familiar" face!  They were getting their precious at 10:30 from another orphanage.  So we chatted a while and then went our separate ways.

We basically just hung around the hotel for a while waiting for time to pass.  We each did a little video for Kylie and took pics as our last few moments in our lives as we knew them.

We skyped with our families some more and then finally it was time.  We headed down to the hotel lobby a little early to wait.  We got down there just in time to see our guide already there.  I gave her a crash course in using my camera (which she didn't need) and we loaded up in the van.

We got to the civil affairs office about 1:35 and they weren't due there until at least 2pm.  The office was a very cold (in temp and looks) building.

Our friends Katarina and Steve arrived.  Their son is in the same orphanage as Kylie.  Since they live in Chicago, they are on all the same flights with us, thought not in the same hotel.  We had to wait in the lobby since the doors weren't yet unlocked to the Civil Affairs office that is used for adoption.

There were several families there waiting on their children.  3 were from Kylie's orphanage and the others from other orphanages in Jiangsu.  All of a sudden, there were women walking up with babies and both myself and our guide Nancy was trying to figure out which was her!

Kylie was actually the 2nd baby coming in.  As soon as Nancy confirmed this was the right orphanage staff, I handed her my camera and well....I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story...



No, she's not crying...she is smiling.  Not only smiling but laughing and kicking and moving all around.

But yes, I AM crying...and Jenna is happy as can be!! 

This is my friend Katarina and her son from Kylie's orphanage.  The two boys wore yellow, the girl wore red. These outfits are traditional Chinese dress.

We finally got to sit down after standing for what seemed like forever.  There was an older child with her new parents who was having a very difficult time.  She was crying the entire time they were there.  Kylie was very concerned about that child and kept looking at her with a worried look on her face!

Here I am, signing all the papers.  And Kylie is still looking at the crying child. 

This is the "family picture".  The "real"picture is taken with just the parents and child, but our guide was so good to make sure Jenna was included on a few. 

This is the orphanage director (next to me), Ms. Chang (I think) and then Kylie's nanny next to Jenna.

In the van and on our way back to the hotel.  We did make a quick pit stop to buy formula and rice cereal. 

Here we are...back at the hotel.  Kylie loves her nesting cups and I was signing more papers for tomorrow.

We played and got to know each other the rest of the afternoon.  I have a CD of photos and a baby book the orphanage put together for me.  It was so sweet!  I haven't even had time to look at the CD yet and it might be a while.  Kylie took about 2 ounces of a bottle, which is way less than what she is used to.  But given what has gone on in her short life, I guess that is to be understood. 8pm is her bedtime and then they said sometimes she takes a 10pm bottle.  She went right to sleep at 8pm and now we are waiting to see if she is going to wake up.  I'm starting to get tired, so I'm going to lay down now, knowing I might be up in just a few minutes.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers.  I can honestly say they were felt and I could not have imagined this day would go any better.  I know the worst/hardest is probably yet to come, but so far, it's been so much easier than I thought.

I hope to post more later.  Until then, keep those prayers coming!

From Beijing to Nanjing...

So, we woke up this morning to a surprise in Beijing this morning...

Yep.  That's snow.  All winter long, I waited for snow at home and I ended up having to come 1/2 way around the world to get it!  It wasn't really on the roads, but it was very beautiful on our trip along to the airport. 

Trying to get checked out of the hotel was a fiasco.  I called for someone to help with our luggage and they brought up 2 bottles of water instead.  I guess somehow the word "luggage" didn't translate the way I thought it would.  Then, I had to put a deposit down on the room...which was fine...we only used part of it and got the rest back.  The problem was I was so tired and jet lagged when we got to the room, I had no idea where my receipt was.  Luckily, our fabulous guide, Gloria, got the money back for me.  I did end up finding the receipt in my luggage when I got to our next destination.

Speaking of our next destination...

We made it!  We got checked in and through security in plenty of time.  We even boarded in a timely manner.  However, due to some kind of maintenance on the runway, we sat on the plan about an hour before taking off.  Somehow we made up time and was only about 30 minutes late.  Our guide, Nancy, was waiting for us.  She is older and very soft spoken, but very kind and knowledgeable.

We had about a 40 minute ride to our hotel which, admittedly, looked a little scary on the outside, but woooweee on the inside...

Something I learned about China before I left is that it is fairly uncommon to have 2 beds in a hotel room.  We did have two in Beijing but the hotel was one of the few that offered it.  In this hotel, the Mandarin Garden, there are two rooms with two beds.  We have one of them.  Check it out....

Yes, we are on the executive floor!  So needless to say, this room is way better than the last one!  You have to scan your room key on the elevator to get to this floor. 

And this is our view.  The night life is VERY active outside our window.  Of course, we are 10 floors up, so it's not too bad.

After we got here, we went to the convenience store to get some bottled water.  I've read about some interesting snacks in China and here's the one I snapped a picture of in the store.

Mmmm....prawn flavored chips.  No.  I did NOT get them. 

So, that's about it for what has gone on today.  We really just took some time to settle into this hotel, unpack a few things and relax.  Our guide took us to a Chinese restaurant down the street from our hotel.  It was nice and better than that Chinese food we had in Beijing, I gotta be honest...I can't wait to have some Mexican food and some pizza when I get back!

As for our plans tomorrow....it's the big day!  I have asked a hundred questions about tomorrow.  Here is what I know.  We will meet our guide downstairs in the hotel lobby about 1:30pm.  We'll drive to the Civil Affairs office in Nanjing where we will get Kylie about 2pm.  For all of you on central time, that will be about 1am on Monday morning.  :)

I'll spend a few minutes there doing paperwork, getting a family picture made and then we'll head to a supermarket where we can get formula or whatever else we might need for her.  Then the rest of the day will be here in the hotel room getting to know Kylie. 

That's what I know for now.  Pray for Kylie and for all of us as the day we have waited for arrives!

I will post here just as soon as I can!

Beijing Day 2

Today was freezing cold.  We thought it was supposed to be a high of 58 today, but it was not nearly that warm!

Our first stop was at the jade factory.  We learned all about the different kinds of jade and even saw some things being made from it.

The jade is very beautiful and I really enjoyed looking at all the lovely things.  I even bought me and Jenna something.  If you can see the round balls in this picture they are called the Happy Family Balls.  They start from a square piece of jade and then are carved one inside the other so in the end there are 3-4 balls in each other to represent the family generations.

I would have loved to have had a jade bracelet or other piece of jewelry, but despite jade being quite inexpensive here, it was still more than I wanted to spend seeing that I have so much time left to go on this trip.

After the jade factory was the Great Wall.  I was very disappointed that it was so cold and foggy because it made climbing nearly impossible.  Not to mention the sheer number of people on the wall made me very nervous.

But we did climb quite a ways and now we can say we did it.  But in the end, I was frozen and just wanted to get down without tumbling down.  :)

From there, we went to lunch at another Chinese restaurant.  I didn't get a picture of this one, but it was much like the other.  The food here was better we thought.  And we talked our guide, Gloria into eating with us.

After lunch, we went to tour the Hutongs on a rickshaw.  Hutongs are little narrow alley-type neighborhoods in Beijing.   It is a very historical part of Beijing and so many of them were torn down before the country realized what an important part of history they were.  We got to enter into the home of a woman who lives in one.  I wanted to take pictures, but didn't want to invade her privacy too much.

The rickshaw ride was quite interesting.  It was cold and it was crazy with the cards, other rickshaws, pedestrians and other vehicles trying to share these narrow alley/roads.



We stopped to tour a museum/historical home of the wife of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen who was very much a revolutionary in China. 

Once we were done with the rickshaw tour, it was back to the hotel.  I talked Deanne and Jenna into venturing out on our on for dinner.  Plus, we really wanted to see the night market.

This is where you can find Chinese delicacies such as starfish, snake, scorpions and sea horses.  I didn't have the nerve to take pictures but Deanne got some video.  I'll upload it for you later.  :)

Then it was on to scout out dinner.  This is where we ended up...

PIZZA HUT!  And it was delish!  A little piece of home!

And now we are off to bed as we have to be up early in the morning.  We have a 10:45am flight to Nanjing tomorrow.  Then the countdown is really on to get Kylie!  Up until now, it's seemed almost like a little vacation.  Now, it's feeling for real!

I'll leave you with one last special picture for my good friend, Elizabeth Yancey...

Fancy Yancey in China!

OK folks, the Tylenol PM is kicking in.  My next post will be from Kylie's province Jiangsu!

Beijing Day 1 Continued...

Our day is staring a little earlier today than yesterday, so while Deanne is getting ready, I'm gonna finish this post for you die hard blog readers.  :)

After Tienamen Square and the Forbidden City, which was a LOT of walking, we went to lunch.  We went to a little local restaurant and they served us several dishes.

We had duck, sweet n sour pork, cooked cabbage and chicken.  Of course there was rice as well.  It was pretty good.  Jenna didn't eat much but she was so tense from Tianemen Square that I think she just wasn't hungry.

After we left lunch, we headed for the Temple of Heaven.

The place where we are standing is supposed to be the sacred place where the Emperor stood when he prayed to the god of heaven.  Not sure if that's our God or not, but we thought it was pretty good.

After the Temple of Heaven, it was off to the Silk Factory which we all probably enjoyed more than anything.

From a single cocoon, they can get a solid strand of silk.  It was an amazing process to see.  We ended up buying Jenna an outfit from there, but that was it.  There's so much more to see that I didn't want to spend too much here in Beijing.

After that, we stopped by a convenience store to grab some bottled water and coke (hello Diet Coke!) and headed back to the hotel to rest.

For dinner, we took a taxi (that was an adventure in itself!) down to another hotel to meet my online friend Christine and her family for dinner.  That was pretty much the highlight of my day!  We've been chatting online for some time and it was the best to be able to meet her in real life.  We have so much in common!  She's a working mom, has two sons, one of which is Jenna's age, is adopting a girl Kylie's age and who has cleft lip/palate (lip repaired).  It's just amazing how God can bring folks together.  I was a dork and took my camera but didn't get a picture.  :(

I did meet a couple other adoptive families from Rumor Queen....and one couple who is getting a son from Kylie's orphanage and who lives in Chicago.  So we are literally going with them all the way through China together.

OK, time to get ready for the great wall!  I can't wait!  Be sure and check Jenna's blog shortly...she's about to do one too!

Beijing-Day1

It's 9pm here and we are exhausted, but I know how I hate to be waiting on a blog and them not to post, so it's going to be a super quick overview...

Gloria our fabulous guide!

The Chinese are infatuated with blonde, white people.  They will stop and ask to have pictures with you.  We figured this would happen, but it was no more than 7-8 minutes and Jenna was quite freaked out.  This is her fake smile.  Our guide shooed them away after this and Jenna hung on to me for dear life all around Tienamen Square.

And here we are...Tienamen Square with Chairman Mao in the background.  There were TONS of people here.

The Forbidden City.  And I'm getting tired, so only 3 more to go... (I was tired at this point in the tour too!)  But the rest of the day will have to wait till tomorrow.  I'm sleepy...the Benedryl is kicking in and I'm the only one up.

We had a busy day and am looking forward to another busy day tomorrow!

A Few Pics from the Trip over

We went to bed last night about 9:30pm and all three of us were awake at 3:30am.  I figure that's pretty decent all things considered.

So, here are a few pics from our trip on the way over...

Our last picture as a family of three!

Our pilot friend, Jason Canada who just happened to be in O'Hare flying to Houston when we were there.  He is AWESOME!  He got Jenna into the cockpit of his plane.

 

 

This is one of the movies from the plane.  Yes, it's Breaking Dawn.  LOVE.

 

Here is the sign our guide was holding when we finally landed.  I was so relieved to see her!  We have already met one family at our hotel adopting. 

 

This is our hotel room in the Novotel Beijing Peace Hotel.  It is a tiny room.  But for our purposes, it's not too bad.  It's clean so no complaints.

I'll leave you with this pic...Jenna took it and this is what it looks like after traveling 24 hours, 13 solid on an airplane.  Giddy that we are on the plane to the hotel.  Looking forward to a bed!

 

OK, we are off to do some sightseeing! More to come...

Welcome to Beijing!!!

OK, this post is going to be quick and might be a bit rambling since we are super tired.  The trip started out pretty good.  BNA to Chicago was on time and we arrived early.  As we were chatting on the plane, a pilot boarded and sat in one of the empty seats in front of us.  Turns out, he goes to church with us and is a friend of Steve's, Will Beasley!  Will was kind enough to escort us all the way to our terminal to board the flight to Beijing.  However, even though it was only 10am, we found out our 1pm flight was already delayed to 3:30pm. 

Luckily, our good friend and pilot, Jason Canada, was also in Chicago and came by and took us to lunch.  It was a great way to pass the time and since his flight was going out well before ours, he took Jenna on a little field trip.

We got back to our terminal in time to realize that Deanne's seat was not with ours any longer.  When we tried to change it, we were met with attitudinal (is that a word?  It is now.) gate agents.  Apparently, not only did a system change make boarding mass chaos, but the delay ended with a change in equipment and a whole flight full of seat changes.  There were a lot of unhappy people it sounds like. 

Despite Deanne sitting far away from us, the flight was an uneventful as one could get and Jenna did excellently!  I think I slept maybe 4 hours (not consecutive) and Jenna probably slept 5.  We got through customs and our bagging quickly and then found our guide, Gloria waiting for us!

We took about a 30-40 minute drive through Beijing to get to our hotel.  There was some confusion at the hotel and it appeared that I didn't actually pay for the hotel so I had to exchange cash to cover it.  I'm glad I brought enough.  Anyway, we finally got upstairs and then couldn't figure out how to use the internet.

But here we are.  We are about to go to bed.  It's already 9:30pm here and our day starts at 9:00am tomorrow.  I know it's late, but I'm gonna get a shower, take some benedryl to open my ears and see how it goes.

Tomorrow is a multitude of sightseeing stuff, but I'm too tired to remember.

Thanks for all the prayers.  They are so needed.  I'm tired and cranky.  :)  BTW, if you have my cell number, don't bother texting.  I forgot to turn off my twitter feeds and weather warnings etc, so I cut my texting off so I don't have to pay for all that.

I do have access to my home email address, so comment here, Facebook or email me!

More later! 

As You Are Reading This...

As you are reading this, I am likely flying over the ocean (or North Pole) on my way to get Kylie!  If you have just 30 seconds, please pray for our safe travels.  Pray that Jenna, Deanna and I can get some rest on the plane.  Pray for our health when we touch down in Beijing and for the weeks ahead of us.

Pray also for Steve...for those of you who have ever had a spouse travel internationally without you, it's unnerving to not be able to contact them while they are in transit.  Pray for his peace and for him to be able to rest.

The next time you hear from me, we'll be in a hotel room in Beijing!

Wheels Down in Chicago!

We are here in Chicago! Our sweet new pilot friend, Will, sat right in front of us on the flight and escorted us to our terminal.

Unfortunately our flight, which is supposed to leave at 1:00pm is already delayed until 3:30 for servicing. Although inconvenient, That's perfectly fine with me! I want them to be sure our plane is in perfect working condition before I get on it!!

Our other pilot friend, Jason, is here too and we are about to go have lunch with him! How fun!

Next post...Beijing!

Down to Hours...

We are literally down to hours before we are on our way to China.

Holy cow.  Did I just write, "on our way to China"???!!

We received another $100 today.

The suitcases are in the car and the carry ons are pretty much packed.  I had a backpack which weighed about 3857263 pounds with my oversized laptop.  As an aside, when I got this laptop, it was as a replacement (free) for the one that had crashed.  This was the same model just a little upgraded and had a huge screen.  It's super nice at home, but boy what a pain to travel with.  I was not looking forward to toting that thing around everywhere on my back, but that's all I had.

Until my sweet neighbor, an adoptive mommy with two sons from China (the youngest arriving just 3 weeks ago), came to bring a dinner dish back to us and noticed my huge backpack.  She offered to let me use her ROLLING bag for my laptop.  Unfortunately, the oversized laptop didn't fit in the laptop compartment, but it did fit in the actual case.  So now, my back is happy because I don't have to carry the backpack!  It's the little things...

So, anyway, I'm about to head to bed since my night will be shorter than usual.  My next post might be from Beijing!  Or it might be from Chicago.  Or maybe from here.  Who knows...

In the meantime, keep those prayers coming.  We are overwhelmed at the sheer number of those of you who have offered your prayers.  I literally stand amazed...and humbled.

Thank you friends.

Our China Schedule

This is my last post (for a while at least) from American soil!  Yes, our bags are packed and most of our carry on stuff is ready.  I'm wrapping up a few things at work today and then the real adventure begins. 

There are so many emotions swirling around inside me and I know Jenna feels it too.  There's excitement, nervousness, FEAR, self doubt etc.  Prayers for all those are needed.  If you need a reminder, you can find our specific prayer requests here.

After my post on Sunday, I have learned I'm not alone in these feelings.  I guess I never stopped to think that anyone else might have these feelings because so many families I have encountered are beyond excited.  And we are...it's just mixed in there with a bunch of other stuff.  But I'm so glad to see those comments knowing we are NOT alone!

I know a bunch of you are following along, so I wanted to post our itinerary here.  China time is 13 hours AHEAD of our time here.  So at the time of this posting, it's 7pm on Tuesday night in China.

Wednesday, 3/14
Leave Nashville at 7:40am (United) to Chicago for arrival in Chicago 9:27am
Leave Chicago at 1:00pm to Beijing, China

Thursday, 3/15 (Now, China time)
Arrive Beijing at 3:40pm
Depart for the Novotel Beijing Peace hotel
Dinner and rest

Friday, 3/16
Breakfast and rest
Afternoon Hutong tour of old Beijing and lunch

Saturday, 3/17
Tour Great Wall of China, Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and lunch

Sunday, 3/18
Depart Beijing for Nanjing (Jiangsu) at 10:45am to arrive at 12:45pm
Arrive at Mandarin Garden Hotel, lunch or dinner and rest

Monday, 3/19*
GOTCHA DAY!! Forever in our arms.
*Kylie's orphanage is 3-4 hours away, so we expect the timing to get Kylie will be later in the afternoon.  As soon as I know, I'll try to post some times!
Quick Wal-Mart run for Kylie essentials!
Bonding at hotel

Tuesday, 3/20 - Wednesday, 3/21
Bonding at hotel
Other Nanjing sightseeing and adoption stuff (more to come on this).

Thursday, 3/22
Orphanage Visit (travel 3-4 hours to Kylie's orphanage in Lianyungang City)

Friday, 3/23
Flight to Guangzhou, Guangdong (times forthcoming)
Arrive at The Garden Hotel in Guangzhou
Dinner and rest

Saturday, 3/24 - Monday 3/26
Guangzhou sightseeing and shopping
Other adoption paperwork and stuff (medical visit etc.)

Tuesday, 3/27
Consulate Appointment (this finalizes the adoption on the US side).

Wednesday, 3/28
Pick up Kylie's Visa and take afternoon/evening van ride (about 4 hours) to Hong Kong.
Arrive at the Marriott Hong Kong Hotel
REST and pack up!

Thursday, 3/29
Flight departs Hong Kong at 11:10am
Arrive Chicago on Thursday, 12:37pm
Clear customs, grab some...lunch?  dinner?  Who knows!

Depart Chicago at 4:50pm to NASHVILLE!!!  We are almost there!
Arrive Nashville, United flight 5825 at 6:17pm
WE ARE HOME!!!  HOPE TO SEE YOUR SMILING FACE AT THE AIRPORT!!!!

We would love to see anyone and everyone who wants to welcome us at the airport.  I can assure you, seeing your sweet faces will be the best thing in the world after being gone so long.  I will probably weep with joy.  I totally wish I was kidding!  And if you have cameras or video, bring those!  We have a photographer friend coming who will be getting shots of all of you and us, so come with a smile!

Also, as we journey, please feel free to comment on our blog while we travel.  The comments really do make a huge difference.  And if you need me, email me at sandysignr AT charter DOT net.  I'll have access to that email.

Away we go!!!!

Speechless...alternatively titled...God Shows Up Part II

It's unusual for me to post twice in one day.  So you must know I have something important to say.  I'm blogging tonight not to brag or ask for attention for any particular person.  I am simply brought to my knees tonight in gratefulness to a God who just doesn't quit.  Praise God  that He doesn't.  And I want to journal here for me to come back and remember when I doubt.

I mentioned in this post how I don't understand why God continues to provide even through my doubt and unfaithfulness.  Then today happened...again...

One of those "strangers" I mentioned in the earlier post is actually the friend of a friend.  I have lots of lots of virtual friends who are adoptive moms.  These girls are as close to my heart as one can be that you've never met.  One of these sweet moms has become such a dear friend to me.  She pointed another adoptive mom (also adopting a cleft baby) to my blog.

This mom recently contacted me and gave me her blog and we exchanged an email or two.  It was in her first email to me that she said she wanted to make a donation to our adoption and wanted to know what address to send it to.

Today, I received her check in the mail.  Steve called because he'd gotten the mail and had seen the envelope.  He wanted to know who was sending it (as he did not recognize the return address name) and whether he could open it.  I told him he could and I could hear the paper rustling as he opened the envelope.

What I heard next was from Jenna....a huge gasp of surprise, then, "WHOA!!!!" and then silence.  Enough silence that I wasn't sure if we were still connected.  Finally, Steve squeaked out, near tears, "It's a check for $1,000!!"

Yes, my friends, God sent us $1,000 through another adoptive mama who had been equally blessed through her fundraising.  I found myself absolutely speechless.  And for those that know me, that is quite unusual.

So, I'm here telling this story not to applaud this generous donor (because I know she's reading).  Though I barely know her, my guess is she would not want her name mentioned here.  She didn't give for the recognition.  She gave, because like my former co-worker, it's what she felt God was leading her to do.

I want you to see how God is working.  That is undeniable.  And it's not just the $1,000.  It's the $50, the $200, the $10 and the $20 for all the t-shirts everyone bought.  Every single dollar has served to get us to this point. 

I am as humbled as I can possibly be.  I feel like I should be on my face before God thanking Him for being a God that pursues me.  He is not satisfied to get us "almost there" or "close".  He's going to blow us out of the water.

And you, my friends, are witnessing a miracle in the making. 

Jump on board because God isn't done yet.

Matter of fact, it looks like He's just. getting. started.

Important Information for our Friends and Family

As we get ready to board a plane to China this week, there is something I need to address here on the blog and I really need you to read on all the way through to the end.

We love all of you...our friends...our family...our church family.  And we cannot ever repay you all for the support you have shown us over not just this adoption journey, but the last few years.

As you can imagine, adoption is different than giving birth.  The way we relate to Kylie in her early days with us is different than if I had given birth to her.  So, I want to be sure to address this with everyone so everyone can understand why we choose to do what we do. 

We can't wait to meet Kylie and we can't wait for you to meet her!  Read on and please, PLEASE don't hesitate to ask us if you have questions! 

Dear Family and Friends,

After over 18 months of waiting, our precious Kylie is finally coming home!  We know that each of you reading this letter has in some way, supported, loved and prayed for us.  Because we have seen firsthand your care for Kylie and our family, we want to share with you some information that we hope will best equip everyone around her to assist us in laying the strongest and healthiest foundation - emotionally, physically and spiritually.

In many ways, Kylie will be like Jenna who entered our family through birth.  We will parent like other Christian families as we bring both of them up in the instruction and discipline of the Lord.  But there will be a few, initial differences.

For a while now, we have researched bonding and attachment in children, especially those coming home through adoption from an institutional orphanage setting.  There is one thing we KNOW:  God's design is PERFECT!  His plan for parents and children is a beautiful and meaningful picture of His love for us.  Attachment between a parent and child occurs over time when a baby has a physical or emotional need and communicates that need.  The primary caretaker - usually Mommy - meets the need and soothes the child.  This repeats between a parent and child over and over to create trust within the child for that parent.  The baby is hungry, cries in distress, mom feeds and calms the baby, which teaches her that this person is safe and can be trusted.  By God's very design, an emotional foundation is laid in the tiniest of babies, which will affect their learning, conscience, growth and future relationships.  The security provided by parents will, ultimately, give children a trust for and empathy towards others.

Children who come home through adoption have experienced interruptions in this typical attachment process.  The loss of a biological mother at an early age can be a major trauma on their little hearts.  The woman who carried Kylie in her belly for 9 months and whose voice Kylie knew, gave her up after birth.  So, Kylie has started her life not experiencing that typical attachment other babies do.  The good news is that we can now, as Kylie's parents and forever family, rebuild attachment and help her heal from these emotional wounds.  And yes, even tiny babies have emotional wounds when they do not have this attachment in their early days.

When Kylie comes home, she will be overwhelmed (as will we!).  Everything around her will be new and she will need to learn not just about her new environment, but also about love and family.  She has not experienced God's design for a family in an orphanage setting, although we expect she was very well cared for. 

The best way for us to form a parent/child bond is to be the ones to hold, snuggle, instruct, soothe and feed her.  As this repeats between us, she will be able to learn that parents are safe to trust and to love deeply.  We are, essentially, re-creating the newborn/parent connection.  Once Kylie starts to establish this important bond, she will then be able to branch out to other, healthy relationships.

Kylie will have what may seem like a lot of structure, boundaries and close proximity to us.  Please know these decisions are prayerfully and thoughtfully made choices based on immense amounts of research and instruction from trusted adoption mentors.  We will be doing what we believe is best to help her heal from those interruptions in attachment as effectively as possible. 


We are overwhelmed with gratitude for all of you who have prayed over us, and shown your love and support over us throughout this journey. 

We hope as many of you that can will welcome us at the airport when we return.  We can't wait to see you and for you to meet Kylie!  We can't wait to tell this sweet girl how each of you prayed for her before we even knew who she was!

(Letter copied, in part, from another adoptive mom)
Why are we telling you this??  Because you will actually play an awesome and vital role in helping our sweet girl settle in, heal, and lay a foundation for the future. There are a few areas in which you can help us:

The first is to set physical boundaries. It will help us immensely if adults limit what is typically considered normal, physical contact with Kylie. This will (for a while) include things like holding, excessive hugging and kissing. Children from orphanage settings are prone to attach too easily to anyone and everyone - which hinders the important, primary relationship with parents. Waving, blowing kisses, speaking to her or pats on the arm or leg are perfectly appropriate and welcomed! Kylie should know that the people with whom she interacts are our trusted friends.

Another area is redirecting Kylie's desire to have her physical and emotional needs met by anyone (including strangers) to having us meet them. Orphans often have so many caretakers that they, as a survival mechanism, become overly charming toward all adults. A child struggling to learn to attach may exhibit indiscriminate affection with people outside of their family unit. It may appear harmless and as if they are "very friendly" but this is actually quite dangerous for the child. To share this is difficult for us because we have snuggled, cared for, fed and loved so many of your children. Please understand that we want nothing more than to have Kylie hugged, cuddled and cherished by ALL of you. But until she has a firm understanding of family and primary attachments, we would be so grateful if you direct her to us if you see that she is seeking out food, affection or comfort.  For a while, she'll be close by our sides, but this is all information to keep in mind while she adjusts to her new life.

I Just Don't Understand...

Please read all the way through this blog.  I apologize for its length, but it's important you get the whole story...

So many times when I sit down to blog, I write a blog entry and set it to post at a date in the future.  This keeps my ideas flowing and gives me the ability to have something posting as often as possible.  But today's post is written in real time.  I have these feelings that are so intense right now and wanted to get them all down before time diminishes their intensity.

Lately, I have felt numb regarding our adoption trip.  I know I should feel excited, but I have just felt...nothing.  I've been in planning mode and I have attributed my lack of excitement to that.  Later, I hope I'll be thankful seeing that I'm already packed and don't feel rushed to get stuff done.  We'll see. 

The last few days have been almost sad for me though.  I keep thinking about leaving Steve, missing weeks of church and even missing work.  Because our floor at work will be remodeled while I'm out, I had the task of packing up my office before I leave, which I mostly did on Friday.  It felt like I was leaving and not coming back.  Everything I do now feels like "the last time".  Last time to eat dinner with my sister and niece as a family of 3, last Saturday as a family of 3, last church service as a family of 3.  Don't get me wrong...we have longed for, prayer for and waited for Kylie.  We can't wait to have her.  But this overwhelming sadness has come upon me and I think Jenna is feeling it too.  She's complaining about weird ailments (my stomach hurts, my ear feels funny etc.)

But let me just share with you how God is working...if you read this post, you'll know, this adoption is not completely paid for.  When we come back, we'll owe close to $10,000 on a credit card which we have used exclusively to pay the travel expenses of this trip.  I have a $4500 reimbursement coming from my company which is for adoption (yes, it is VERY awesome), and we'll have about $500 in our savings that can round that up to $5000.  $5000 is left for us to pay.

Last Sunday, a woman in our church came up to me and handed me a card.  Inside it was a $200 check.  The same Sunday, a sweet friend who is like a mentor to me wrote me out a $50 check.  Within a few minutes of that, I delivered two t-shirt to someone who handed me $40 in cash.  In the span of 1 hour, nearly $300.  This past week, I've had 3 people tell me they are putting money in the mail.  I have no idea how much they are giving, but of these three, they are all total strangers to me.  People who friends have pointed to my blog and felt that God was telling them to help.  TOTAL STRANGERS.

Then on Friday, a good friend, with whom I used to work emailed me to wish me well on my trip.  She said she had something to give me for the trip and when could we meet.  We met in he Petsmart on Saturday where she handed me a card.  She told me that she had been praying for me throughout this journey asking God all the while how she could help.  She had not gotten a clear answer until she read the post I linked above.  That's when she knew it.  She gave me $400 cash for the van trip to Hong Kong.  $400.  Did you notice in that post that I never mentioned any other dollar amount?  Why would I have even chosen to tell you all that the van ride would cost $400???  There are about 50 other costs involved with the international travel.  Why?  Because God needed to confirm for her what she was to do.  And yes, I cried in the middle of Petsmart.  And I cried in the middle of the Dollar Tree while I was trying to tell Steve.  And I'm crying now as I write about this HUGE blessing.  When I get on that van to begin the long journey home, I'll be thinking about this friend.  And I'll be praying God is blessing her in that VERY moment for helping us.

But that's not even close to all...this morning as I was dropping Jenna off for Sunday school, another dear friend (and adoptive mommy) handed me a check.  I knew better than to open it inside, so I waited until I got to my car.  Another $200.  And I cried all the way home...to where I sit now.  Crying.  And lest you misunderstand and think I just have "rich" friends, nothing could be further from the truth.  These friends, sometimes strangers, are just like us.  They work, provide for their families and love God.  They ask Him how to help, and then they obey.  And I can't wait to pay them back by paying it forward to others.

That's what I would have said. 

But thankfully, that's not what He said.

He says, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!" (Malachi 3:10)

"For nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

And I say, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24b)

I don't understand why He loves me the way He does.  I just know that He does.  I'm so far short from what He wants me to be.  But praise Him, He is NOT. DONE. WITH. ME. YET.

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way

And oh, how He loves us
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so
how he loves

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how he loves
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
(David Crowder Band, "How He Loves")

Prayer Requests

Wednesday night my Bible study girls prayed over me as I embark upon this big part of our journey to Kylie.  As they prayed over me, they touched on so many things that need to be prayed over.  So as my friend Stacey recently said, if you are the praying type, here's how you can be praying for us specifically:

Kylie
*Health-pray that she is healthy and remains that way throughout the duration of our trip.  I have meds for a variety of illnesses that might occur, but it would really be un-fun to have sick baby on top of everything else.
*Her heart-Kylie is leaving EVERYTHING she has ever known to go with people who don't sound like her, don't look like her and don't act like her.  She is going from the only place she's known for a lengthy van ride to us, then to a hotel, then out and about etc.  For a child who has never seen anything but the inside of a hospital and orphanage, that is terrifying.  Please pray that God continues to prepare her heart to know us even though she's never met us.
*Bonding-Pray that this happens as easily as can be expected.

Jenna
*Health-I really worry about Jenna getting sick.  She's never been on this long of a flight before and I am praying her immune system is rock solid.
*Pray for her safety-China is a VERY. BIG. PLACE.  There are lots of people in China.  We've had discussions about always holding on to me, Aunt DeeDee or the guide no matter what.
*Pray for her heart-remember, for 10 years, Jenna has known life as pretty much an only child in the good ole USA.  She has known the love of a mother, father, sister, brother, family, friends, church and God.  It's quite the bubble she's lived in (we all have).  She is going to see things that she never knew existed.  She will see an orphanage full of children who have no mother or father.  I want this to impact her, but it will be hard for her sweet hard to digest.  Also, pray for her as she tries to bond with Kylie.  She is having a hard time understanding how Kylie wouldn't just love her right away like our friends Wylie, Nonie and Mary Brooks do.  Also, she has been our only child for 10 years.  Pray she feels our love as never ending no matter what.  It breaks my heart to think she might think we love her less, or not at all, now that Kylie is here.
*Pray against fear-Jenna's pretty fearless.   I want to keep it that way.  Pray that Satan doesn't get a foothold in this area.

Sandra
*My bonding with Kylie-I have read a lot lately about mom spending so much of their time making sure their new child bonds with them.  But this is NOT a one-way street.  I need to learn to bond with this child I've never met.  It's not like I carried her in my womb for 9 months...even though I have longed for her and prayed for her that long.  Post-adoption depression is real.  Pray against that with me.
*Patience-Oh my, yes I know what happens when people pray for patience.  One of my biggest fears (because I know myself too well) is that I will take my frustration, fatigue, fear out on Jenna.  I already know that at home Steve and Jenna get the brunt of my bad moods.  I will be jet lagged, irritated and scared out of my mind.  Please, PLEASE pray that I will remember to take my sweet girl's heart into consideration before snapping at her.  I can't bear the thought of her thinking that it's all Kylie's fault that I'm being hateful to her.  This is probably my biggest failure as a mom even now.
*My health-Again, I have tons of meds for what might ail me, but I need my strength.  I can get sick all I want when I'm home with Steve, but I really, really need to stay well (and rested...HA!) while in China and on the way back.

Steve
*Health-Those of you who know us, know this goes without saying.  I have a tremendous peace about this with Katie here, but he is still prone to kidney stones and crazy things.  I need to be with him if something happens (trust me when I say HE does not need ME as much as I need him!).  I just want to know he's well.
*His mind-I can't imagine how it must feel to send your wife and daughter (and sister) literally 1/2 way across the world to pick up your daughter and not be going.  Satan could certainly have a field day with this.  Pray that Steve has peace about the way we have arranged this.  And pray that his heart will be protected as Kylie comes home and tries to bond with him.  And pray that he does not worry.  I'm the worrier in the family, but when you are here by yourself, it's easy to think of things to worry about.
*His loneliness-Remember Steve doesn't work outside the home.  So not only will nights be lonely, but so will the days.  Our church family has already made plans to surround him during the time I'm gone, so he might not have a problem with this as much as I think he will, but let's pray for it anyway.  And thanks in advance to those who are going to be loving on him while I'm gone. 

Deanne and family
*All of the above-Not to short change Deanne, because I'm sure she has prayer requests of her own.  However, everything in the above applies to her.  She is going to be leaving a husband at home, alone and 2 grown daughters and 3 grandkids.  Those who love her most are not used to her being away from them for this long.  It is so much easier to be away from your family if you know they are healthy and safe.  Also, Deanne is going to be my surrogate husband while in China and wow...that's a tall order.  I'm going to be leaning on her to help me with Jenna, but she'll also have to balance that with how much (or how little) she can do with Kylie.  Imagine walking this journey with someone only to be limited in what you can do with the new child.  It won't be easy.   For anyone.

So, that's a lot, but there are so many things to pray for.  I'd also add that the long 13 hour flights to go quickly and on time etc. 

We can't say it enough...we covet your prayers....

The Best Deal Yet

This past weekend, I scored the best deal for Kylie that I think I ever have.  There is a little kid's consignment store here in our city and both Jenna and I love to shop there.  It seems busy a lot, so I think they'll be around for a while. 

Anyway, I stop in there periodically and buy Kylie and outfit or Jenna something.  I bought a few pair of shoes for Kylie this weekend.  I also bought her a bunch of big lego-ish building blocks.

But this...

...was the best deal.  This is a TMX Tickle Me Elmo.  I had never seen such a thing until I saw one in our nursery area at church.  This thing is hilarious and amazing!  It falls over laughing and rolls over, sits back up etc.  I looked at them when I first saw them in the nursery and I remember seeing they were way too expensive for my budget.

When I came across this one at the consignment shop, I couldn't remember exactly how much it was, but I knew the price on it was a good deal.

If you click here, you can see the price on Amazon.   That's right...$129.  Of course, it's new on Amazon and the one I bought is used.  But you wanna know what I paid for it?

$8.50.

I'm not kidding.  I don't think they knew what they had on their hands, but I sure did!  I put new batteries in Elmo and he's as good as new! 

I figure if Kylie doesn't like him, then I'll take him because I sure do!

Preparing to Leave...

In one week from today, I'll be flying high on my way to get to Kylie.  I keep getting 3 questions so I thought I'd answer these questions here.

1.  Are you getting excited?  Well.  Yes, of course I'm excited.  But I am in planning mode now and between home and work, I really haven't taken time to think about getting excited.  But I'm getting there.  Jenna is excited and Deanne is excited.  And I'll be excited too.  Probably as soon as I allow myself.

2.  Did you get all the money you need raised?  No, we didn't raise the entire amount.  There is a lot of cost to traveling to China.  We have airfare from the states to Beijing, from Beijing to Jiangsu, from Jiangsu to Guangzhou and from Hong Kong back to the US.  We are taking a van from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, which is about $400.  That's not to mention the hotels in Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  I am flying Steve to Chicago to meet us when we come back so we can fly to Nashville together as a family.  So I have purchased airfare and hotel for that too.  Plus, we have tours in those areas.  We have put all our travel so far on a rewards credit card.  We are praying that some last minute grants come in before we leave.  We will have to pay the rest of what's due this week.

3.  Do you need anything?  Right now, the thing we need most is prayer.  Our lives are about to change in a major way.  And that will look different for everyone in the family.  In a few days I'll blog about specific prayer requests.  But until then, just pray for our family as we prepare for the days ahead.

Jenna's Wild Ride!

An adoptive friend of mine, Julie, made a suggestion a while back that I've been mulling over since she brought it up.

When Julie went to pick her daughter in December, she not only wrote on her daily blog, but she also copied her post over to a blog just for her journey to China.  That way, should she decide to blog to print, it's all in one place.

I have thought about that and if I might want to do something similar.  But besides that, she gave me the idea of starting a blog for Jenna to journal her journey.  Jenna will have my point n shoot camera in China taking photos of the things she wants to remember.

A few weeks ago, I asked Jenna what she thought of the idea and she has jumped on the bandwagon and hasn't let up.  I have debate on whether to go this route or not, but in the end, I believe it will help her writing skills and since she loves to write...

So, without further ado, introducing... Jenna's Wild Ride.  Click there and hop over.  Remember, she's 10, so enter at your own risk!

TWO WEEKS!

Two weeks from today, I will hold my baby girl in my arms for the first time ever.

TWO

WEEKS

Measurements Update!

We just got measurements update on our sweet Kylie!  It's been very hard to get updates from China lately...not sure why...just what we were being told.

It looks like her weight is going up...she's 20lbs 15oz,  but all the other measurements were identical as the ones from December.  We did find out she has 3 teeth! 

This is most likely the last information we will get on her until we get her.  I'm thrilled to know she's gaining wait and according to the measurements, I've got the clothing sizes right.

I'm going to try and blog a few more times between now and the time I leave...so keep coming back!

Blogs

As you know, if you have visited my blog much before, I am a self-proclaimed "blog 'ho".  I read a LOT of blogs.  Like, ahem, 83 blogs.  Lucky for me not everyone blogs every day or else I'd never keep up.

I started out with what I call the "classics".  These are well know blogs (at least in the circles I run in) and people know them by name.  Then, I had family and friends and these are folks I know IRL (in real life).  Then when I started the adoption process, I had adoption blogs.  When I got into the adoption boards, such as Rumor Queen (my guilty pleasure), I started adding China adoption blogs to my blogroll. 

Slowly but surely, I inched upwards towards 100 blogs.  Here and there I would drop a blog for whatever reason.  Many times, the blogger just stopped blogging all together.  Another time, I became annoyed by the blogger for something she did that I didn't think was right.  Over time, my tastes have changed and so has my blogroll.

Now, the majority of the blogs I read are China adoption blogs.  And because of that, I happen to have several families traveling in the next 2-3 weeks and many of them left today meaning they are flying high over the North Pole right now on their way to China, so their blogs are quiet.  I've added a few to my blog roll over there so you can follow along.

Enjoy!