We are in Beijing!

The flight was really long...and it didn't help that the guy in front of us could have powered the plane all by himself with his own gas...yikes!

 

Happy New Year!

Waiting to leave for Beijing.

Now in SF! One more flight to go until CHINA!

We are in SF!

One flight down, one to go (for today anyway)!

New Pictures!

Well...we are getting ready to leave. We head out to the airport in about 8 hours! EXCITING! The Christmas lights are down, the stockings put away. We decided that having her come home to a house decorated like Christmas and then taking it down just after she arrives would be adding one more change in her already upside down world.

We are packed, and there are lists for the kids taped all over our walls. {I will try to take a picture, it's kind of funny.} We have to be to the airport extra early, which means we are waking up at 3 am.

We also celebrated my other daughter's birthday today. She will turn 17 next week. What a wonderful young woman she has turned out to be. She is going to be so helpful while we are gone. Thank you my sweet Kylee! I love you more than words can say!

And what a wonderful surprise when I received these pictures of our little girl today! Just before we leave. She has grown since we last saw her. I wish time would just stand still over there so I wouldn't miss another moment! I will have her in my arms in 6 days! Let's hope she wants to be in them as much as I want to hold her.

Thanks for all your lovely words of encouragement and support. And for all you quietly supporting me, I also feel your love and support.

Soon we will all be (Jee ah) {HOME}

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The Savior loved Children, what a beautiful time of year to be adding a daughter to our family :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

This week will be gone before it gets here. We are so busy; getting ready for Christmas is a task in itself for a mother, then add company and a trip to China, while simultaneously preparing your 3 children that are staying home to manage their own busy lives ( all 3 are playing basketball, which means daily practices and several games a week X 3 people)

This is when I say to myself...(BREATHE) and I remember why we are so busy, what the season is about and I become thankful for the busyness and the people in my life that have been supportive of our family. My children had over 20 families in church yesterday offer their support 24/7 while we travel to meet our daughter and their sister. I have no doubt they all mean it, and there will be many lovely, wonderful friends checking in on my babies. Even if my babies are all are teenagers, or almost. We have the support of Spencer's girlfriend who has been so generous with her time and is staying with the kids, and then her parents who came over last night to go over the kids daily schedules and are ready (and even excited) to attend the games and cheer on the kids in our place.

Merry Christmas! Here is our Christmas card. We truly have {JOY} in our home and in our lives!

This little spicy Hunan girl has made a {soft spot} in our hearts

This little girl is the reason we decided to move forward with our adoption dream. She is so charming and has everyone wrapped around her little finger. We were at Jensen's basketball game and she got a hold of my camera. You can visit her family blog at http://ourlittlechinagirl.blogspot.com/

Test text...how cool is this I can remote blog by texting!

{Gratitude}

Our daughter is so blessed to benefit from the non profit group International China Concern. Below are their plans to celebrate Christmas. Her orphanage family is all she knows, and I am so grateful she will be spending the holiday experiencing a small piece of Christianity with the nannies and caregivers that have taken such good care of her. She is loved, what more could a mother ask of others, than to love her children.

"As we have all noticed Christmas is fast approaching and plans are underway here in Heng Yang to give the children a fun Christmas. It is not the same as in our Western countries - it can't be, but we try to make sure that the reason for Christmas is remembered, that the kids and staff get some good food into them, and that a lot of fun is had.

This Christmas in Heng Yang we are planning several different parties with the different groups of kids. An evening party on the 23rd will involve most of the older children and their caregiving staff, they will have a special dinner with their "family groups" and then they will come together to do items and plays about Christmas. All the kids are to come in costumes related to Christmas, we are expecting angels, shepherds, kings, stars and animals to turn up. It will be chaotic, but fun.

On the 24th during the day we are going to hold a very special interactive party with our more severely disabled toddlers and children where they will have one on one adult support to participate in the fun. The therapy department are arranging this activity to involve also sorts of visual and sensory things related to Christmas for this group of special kids. Then, in the afternoon of the 24th we will hold our baby and toddler group party. The caregivers plan to make dumplings to eat together and the kindergarten and care groups are arranging all sorts of songs with actions and plays.

On the evening of the 24th our foreign volunteer team will carry candles around the welfare centre (including both ICC and those under government care) to sing carols to the babies, children, elderly and staff. The Chinese always love this tradition and always join in the caroling.

I am planning this year to set up a little photo shoot for our kids to have a special Christmas photo. I am not sure how the quality will be on my camera and with homemade props, but the idea is to get the kids in a Christmas scene looking cute, they are all so cute, so that won't be hard.

Wishing you all a really wonderful Christmas and that in the hurry of it all you have time to stop and remember the reason for it. I know two families amongst you will be busy preparing to come pick up your babies in the New Year - enjoy the process as you get ready for your little bundles and know that they are having fun this Christmas while they wait for you."

The funniest post I have read in a long time...

Check it out :) My friend Daniel... he is so talented when he writes; he puts me in stitches. He out did himself on this one. I can't wait to be a grandmother, who knew? http://gospelaccordingtodaniel.blogspot.com/2009/11/revenge-is-sweet.html

We get to see Hong Kong!

We just got off the phone with our travel agent. We are confirmed to leave Seattle on December 30th...travel to Beijing for a 3 day tour before we travel to meet our daughter in her province, Hunan. From there we will travel to the American consulate in Guangzhou, finish up her paperwork and her visa, then travel by train to Hong Kong where we will get to stay overnight and fly home. Loving it!

An Update on Faith SiSi...{my SpiCY HuNaN GiRL!}

Si Si has had another bout of tonsilitis. And was very sick.

She is potty trained, rarely has accidents (but she actually did just today but they say it is rare). She wears nappies overnight still though. You can buy diapers at supermarket stores here if you don't want to carry too much.

She likes to eat and is not a fussy eater (accept for like most kids she is not great at eating her greens), she likes to eat adult food including spicy food (the local cuisine is spicy) and she likes all snacks such as biscuits, fruit etc. You can get stuff that she would like locally at supermarkets as well. She drinks from a cup. She eats breakfast at 7 am, lunch at 1130, dinner at 5 pm and snacks before bed.

Si Si, like most kids, loves toys and so I would make sure you have some interesting stuff to play with and she will be happy. I think I have mentioned before she is a strong personality, she does have tantrums sometimes, but you can expect that the sudden changes may confuse and upset her.


From the sound of things I am so glad we are going during their winter, I would hate for her to have to suffer through with her tonsillitis reoccurring so often. (4 times since September)
It also sounds like she will fit right in with her strong personality...we have been well prepared by her older brother Dallin. Maybe now he will learn what it's like to live with a young, strong person :) Is it wrong to think pay back? I am also excited to know she is well on her way to being potty trained. ( we were told this would be a big challenge due to her birth defect.) If you want to look it up she has been diagnosed with Agenisis of the Corpus Callosum. Basically she is missing some conective tissue between her left and right hemisphere in the brain.

Please pray that she will have an easy time bonding with us, and that her suffering will be short. I really just want to cry when I think of that moment, and how scary it will be for her. I will be the cause of her pain and fear, instead of the one that is suppose to comfort and protect her. We would also appreciate prayers for our children who so willingly are staying home. We will be missing New Year's with them, and my oldest daughter's 17th birthday :(

I am so blessed to have understanding children who want their sister home as much as we do. It has been such a miracle to watch their love grow as we prepare for her. I am sure she will bless our lives much more than us hers.

And finally we would be very ungrateful if we failed to mention the wonderful sisters in our church who are bringing our children dinner every other night while we are gone. That is a lot of service!!!! How blessed are we!

We leave in 20 days!!

Horray!

Got our TRAVEL Approval and our dates!!!!!

I just got a call from our agency, and we are most likely leaving for China on December 30th and will arrive home with our daughter on January 12th. With a gotcha date of January 4th !!!!! That is just 27 days from now!!!!

Seriously time for TA...

Ok, so my TA must be close because I am having the worst two weeks ever. I deserve that good news!

It all started two Sunday's ago, when I was driving down to church for an early morning meeting. I was pulled over by a cop. ( and not for speeding which is a first) it seems my tail light was out, but my break lights were fine. It would be just a warning once I showed him my driver's license. Well, when I left the house I grabbed my scripture bag and not my purse ; so no license. Then he asked for my registration, wouldn't you know it, we didn't sign them. Finally he asked for proof of insurance. ( I know I put that in the glove box) Couldn't find it. At this point I just laughed and said, " Well officer I am 0 for 4 this morning you hit the jackpot." He told me each infraction would be a $125.00 ticket, totaling $500.00. He went and looked up my license, and I was sure this was one of those trials everyone talks about when adopting. I knew there would be opposition, and I was ready for it. He came back to the car and told me he was only giving me a warning...I have never had a warning in my life, I always get the ticket. I almost kissed the fella. Still it rattled me that I was so unprepared, and I am sure my kids lost my insurance card while digging through the glove box for a tissue or a dvd.

Then we had Thanksgiving...I have a slight herniated disk in my back and it decided that was the day it wanted to bother me. When the back hurts, my happiness starts to fade quickly. I mustered through the long weekend, only to find myself in bed again the next Sunday morning exhausted, and with a great excuse to miss church. I knew Heavenly Father would bless me if I made the effort, so I got ready for church, and sat through 3 hours of church in great pain.

Monday I got news from my son who is serving a mission for our church, that they no longer can eat out with other families for dinners, due to a wheat allergy his commpanion has. Without nightly dinners, my son will struggle financially, as they only have a small budget monthly for food. He will have to cook every meal for himself now. While I understand, it is worrysome because he is diabetic, and needs a variety of good food and nutrients to sustain his health.

By Wednesday my back slowly started to feel better. That is when Thursday decided to stress me out.

Thursday evening I was throwing a baby shower for my employer's daughter. I was very nervous and wanted it to be perfect. I woke up early, began my daily routine of exercise and scripture reading with the kids, then went outside to start the car for my morning car pool...the car was frozen over, this would cause us to run a little late, I quickly scraped the windows, and jumped into the car. My first obstacle was the school bus, it beat me to the corner and had it's red lights blairing so I had to stop. Once all the children boarded, I zumed around the corner, and was coming to a stop for my first pick up, when I hit their parked car. I called and explained the situation, and they were very sweet about the incidend, but still we have an unexpected financial burden now during Christmas and the adoption. I came home and just felt so stupid. My husband was so sweet about it also. That night the baby shower was a success, and I was emotionally,physically and financially drained.

We were also hoping for TA this week. Others have been getting their travel approval with our same timelines, and ours didn't come. I was dreading church this Sunday because I knew everyone would ask, and I would have no answer...again.

Saturday one of my close friends, whom my husband baptised sent me an email that she no longer wanted to come to church with us... I feel so sad, and confused... I just cried. Having that sisterhood in the gospel is a real connection, and I was just heartbroken.

So...here I sit on Sunday afternoon, worried and wondering what other trials await before we finally will get to travel for our daughter.

Chart of families waiting for travel approval...we are almost at the top :(

LOA-TA means days from your letter of acceptance to your travel approval. We are at 67 days.

Do You Have Room? I love this message :)

{Another Darling Outfit }

Those sparkling "Chucks" are so fun! I am thinking this is a Gotcha day outfit :)