Life with 5

Thought I was going to get to do a 2 week update...well how about a 5-6 week update?! Blogging is just usually at the bottom of my list, also don't know if that many read it... Flight home was long and exhausting, but we mad it ok. Baby boy had a rough time especially the 1st couple of weeks because of being left and his new "twin" sister. But by now he has taught her how to get into everything and they are used to each other. It is very much like having twins and keeping us busy! But in a lot of ways its still hard to believe and doesn't always seem like we have 5 kids, I don't know, hard to explain... And I've been realizing it kind of strange because I'm obviously so much more bonded to baby boy. Became even more aware last night when baby girl had a really rough evening and night and I was having a hard time and we even stayed home from church today. But I had to remind myself, we have only been home 5 weeks, even though it feels much longer! I need to give her and myself grace! Overall she is coming out of her shell and becoming comfortable, like I said, getting into trouble with her younger brother! She is happy most of the time, she is still eating like crazy, has been walking for a couple of weeks, and trying to talk to do signs. Still trying to find my new groove overall, hopefully will get a good one this summer. Older kids are finishing up schoolwork. Rod and Austin are going on a missions trip to AZ with our church for a week in July. Naomi is taking an art class and going to a horse camp a couple of times for the day. Austin is also going to do a rock climbing class and an animation class. Rod and Austin are going to the cabin by themselves for a couple of days in June and then Naomi and I are going to stay at my grandpa's near the beach in Aug. I will also have a new nephew end of June or beginning of July and another one in Sep. I may go to the homeschool conference in July. We are also planning on going to homeschool family camp in Sep. It sounds like a lot maybe, but we are mostly staying home and continuing to adjust. Would appreciate prayers for continued bonding and adjustment, dr. appts. and evaluations!!

Today we had our appt. at the US consulate. Feels so good to be DONE! As soon as we land in SF, Noelle will be a US citizen! Its hard to believe after all the paperwork and waiting that we are done and bringing our daughter from China home. Again, getting a little sad to leave China and our new friends, but cannot wait to get home and see our boys and other family and friends! After the US consulate we came back to the hotel for awhile and then went to Shamian Island for shopping and eating at Lucy's. Last time we were here we stayed on the island, but this time we are far from it. It was fun to be back there and to go to the shops that we went to last time. It was hard to have only a few hours to shop when last time I had several days! This evening has been spent organizing and packing. We hope to sleep in a bit, have a late breakfast, Skype with our kids one last time, check out of the hotel early afternoon and then go have one last lunch at a really good Chinese place we went the other night. We will then leave for Hong Kong around 4:30. Our flight leaves the next morning around 10 am. We will fly to Tokyo with our new friends from Oregon, then on to SF. Now the journey really begins, right?!

Havn't been able to blog for a couple of days because we couldn't get on the internet the first evening and day and we have been busy! It has been so awesome to reconnect with our group and meet everyone's sweet children, its just so much fun! The first day we were here we all had to go get a medical exam for all the kids so they could be cleared to leave China and go to the US. It is so neat to see all the other adoptive families from other agencies who are bringing children home, its just amazing. This was a new clinic from the last time we were here and is so much bigger and nicer. I miss being on Shimian Island but the China Hotel is SO much nicer than the White Swan. We will never stay in a hotel this nice again! After the medical exam we went to a huge store. It was like a Super Wal-mart or Target and a kicked-up Winco all rolled into one, pretty cool. In the afternoon we had to organize all our paperwork for the US consulate with help from our guide. Then we went to an awesome Chinese place for dinner, it was soooo good! Noelle is doing pretty good. She still struggles some at bedtime, but no more screaming fits or crying for hours, and is sleeeping all night the last couple of nights. This morning she was pretty fussy when we were out. The breakfast buffet here is amazing, so we aren't eating much for lunch. Today we went to the Guanfzhou Folk art museum. We went here last time we were here. One of the pics here is in front of the museum, the carvings are amazing and very old, hundreds of years. Then one of the other pics is of a ship carved out of ivory, the detail is amazing. Tomorrow morning is our appt. at the US consulate then we go to Shamian island for shopping and eating at Lucy's. The 16th we pick up our kids visas in the afternoon and then drive to Hong Kong. So we won't get there til evening and leave the next morning, so won't really get to see much, but can at least say we have been there. Its hard to believe that this journey is almost over, after all the waiting, paperwork and preparation. It has been an amazing journey. I am getting a little sad to leave here and to say good-bye to new friends, but anxious for my boys and home. Praise God we are still healthy and getting some sleep! Please pray for continued health and a smooth trip home. We are supposed to arrive in Fresno around 2:45 in the afternoon on the 17th. Thank you for all who have prayed for us and blessed us with donations, and support and friendship.

Shopping and orphanage visit

Last night instead of screaming bloody murder for an hour, she fussed off and on for several hours, not sure which is worse, but feeling tired with less sleep, so in my book, more sleep is always good, so tonight I guess I will vote for screaming for an hour...we'll see what happens! Today we got to go to an old part of town that is now a shopping area. It was really nice and fun to look around. Bought a Starbucks cup that says Fuzhou, the city we are in and where Noelle was found. We also enjoyed an icecream cone. All the people watch us and take our pictures. Naomi is a good sport about it and feels famous that everyone always wants to take her picture. We came back to the hotel for awhile and then met our guide and took a taxi to the orphanage. This one has 200 children, 100 of them are in foster care as Noelle was. But she spent her first 2 mos. of life in the orphanage. It is similar to the one that I saw in Wuhan when we came to get Caleb. It is eye-opening and heartbreaking, just no way around it. Naomi brought candy to pass out to the kids, they were excited. It breaks my heart to see the rooms full of cots! Breaks my heart to see the older kids who have spent their whole lives there! It breaks my heart to see a baby looking at us from a crib, beggging to be held! It breaks my heart to watch 3-4 babies sharing one bowl of rice all sharing the same spoon. Its just not right! But I know God is there and He sees and He is their father. Naomi and Rod also got to go on bummper boats today with another family on the lake. We have really enjoyed this beautiful city. We are anxious to meet all the new kiddos from our group. In the morning will just be at the hotel. Tomorrow afternoon we will pick up our kids passports and then fly to Guangzhou in the evening.

Rough night and temple visit

Noelle was really grieving last night. She took most of her bottle, but then was just very restless. I tried to rock and comfort her but she just squirmed. I put her to bed but she didn't want to sleep. Rod picked her up, then she screamed for an hour. We were surprised that no one came to our door. We have been through this before and we read about it, but nothing can fully prepare you. It is nesscesary but heartbreaking. She finally cried herself to sleep in Rod's arms and slept all night. Today she has been fine. Today we visitied a buddist temple. It was a busy offering day as it is most popular to come to the temple on a new moon and half moon. We also found out our guide is buddist, so please pray for her! The temple was interesting to see, but very difficult to be there. There was much offering of incense, food, and bowing down before these massive statues. My chest felt heavy as we were there. It was good for Naomi to see this and for her to visibly see how our God is not dead, but is ALIVE and working in our lives. We don't have to work to try and please Him or stay on his good side. Rod also felt very oppressed and we were walking around with hundreds of people who will go to hell unless someone brings them the gospel. We just had a snack in our room for lunch then went for a walk around the lake. We also walked through a nearby amusement park. Austin would love the roller coaster! Came back to the room for baby's nap and took turns exercising in the gym. Tonight we think we are giong to venture out to the restaurant nearby again. Last night we stayed at the hotel and had "Western" food, hotdog, hamburger, and fish and chips. Tomorrow we are giong to see an agricultural area and go shopping. In the afternoon we are going to visit the orphanage. Noelle was only there the first 2 mos. of her life, but we really want to see it and Naomi wants to pass out candy to the orphans there. It will be a neat but hard experience. Thank you for all your prayers. We are all feeling pretty good and staying healthy. The bird flu is continuing to spread through China, so we are trying to be extra careful.

This pic was from yesterday in front of the civil affairs office after we had signed the paperwork to make her adoption official. Still can't believe we have her and that we have 5 kids now!! Wanted to post some more pics, but Rod is off exercising and I don't know why the other pics didn't download... It was a nice day here today. I FINALLY slept better last night so I feel so much better. Noelle woke up at 2 am crying. She actually took her pacifer, she wouldn't the night before, and I held and rocked her until she went back to sleep til 7:30! She still isn't taking a lot of liquid unless we spoon feed it to her, but if that's what we have to do for now, than we do it...Overall she is doing very well. We love her sweet little laugh. She loves to play. After breakfast we went to Panda World. It was so cool to see pandas in person. After that we went to see an old style house, similar to the Hutong tour that we did in Beijing. Then we went and did a tea ceremony and tasted 3 kinds of tea. We bought some Black Dragon Ginger tea, very yummy! We had instant noodles in our room for lunch then went for a nice walk around the lake. She took a good nap while we took turns exercising in the gym. Tonight we will probably just eat in the hotel, as they are warning us to be careful because of the bird flu. Last night we went to a restaurant near the hotel that our guide said was safe. It was good, but very loud, busy, and smoky. Tomorrow we are going to visit a temple and I 'm not sure what else we will do. Thursday I think we will visit a museum and hopefully go to the orphanage in the afternoon. Friday we fly to Guangzhou to complete the adoption with the US consulate and do some site seeing and shopping. We can't wait to get there and meet all the new children in our group. We quickly bonded with the families in our group and have been sending e-mails to each other with encouragement and questions. This process just bonds you together like nothing else! We are having to stay in this city while all the paperwork is processed and passports for the kids can be issued. Our boys back home seem to be doing well and we are so thankful for my parents and friends who are taking care of them!! We miss them! Please pray for continued health for all of us, here and there, that Noelle will drink more (she is eating well), that we will all sleep well again tonight, safety, continues good bonding. Thank you so much for your support and prayers!

Here she is!

We are now the proud parents of 5 kids and another daughter!! We had a good 2 1/2 hour flight to Fuzhou. We are right on the coast among green hills. It is beautiful here!! This city has a population of about 7 million. It is so much quieter and clamer than Beijing. We got settled into our room and then went for a walk around a lake that is in the middle of the downtown area. Have to take pics of that tomorrow. Our guide is also helping 2 other adoptive families who are not with our agency. One family has their 10 year old son here and they are adopting a little boy,also their 5th child, but 1st adoption I think. They are form Illinois. then there is a family from TX, Houston area, who I think has 2 little girls, this is their 1st adoption and they are adopting a little girl. We look forward to getting to know them more tomorrow. We thought we would be by ourselves here but will be doing things with these two families so that will be really nice. We are already missing all of our new friends from the Bethany group. After our walk we came back to our room to wait for our guide to come back with the money she had to exchange, then we went to a confewrence room to wait for the children to be delivered. The other two families children came first and our daughter was last. Tears just came as they brought her into the room. It is just so amazing! She cried and they had to take pics of her and us for the paperwork. But she stopped crying when we gave her a snack and Naomi played with her. She even played the game like Joshua does of throwing things on the floor, you pick them up then they throw it on the floor again. After we signed some paperwork we came back to our room. She was pretty happy most of the time, even laughing and smiling. She and Naomi are really bonding. We had pizza and Congee (rice porridge) delivered to our room, it was best to just hang out in here with her. We are wanting to be more adventurous this time, but they want us to be careful as there are cases of Bird Flu in the Shanghi area. We tried her bottle and pacifer and she wouldn't ake either, so I rocked her as she cried for "mama" for 20 min. or so before falling asleep. That was heartbreaking! But God is giving us strength and it is part of the process. So who knows how the rest of the night will go! Tomorrow we have to go and finish up paperwork then go to Wal-mart to get supplies. Her size 3 diapers are too big and I think we will need some 6 or 9 mos.clothes as the 12 mos.clothes I brought look too big. I think that is about it for now and I am so tired! Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers!!

Our lives are about to change!

Today was a nice day. It was still a little chilly but the sun was out and the sky was so blue and clear which is rare here! We went to the Forbidden City was was built in the 15th century and was where the emperor lived. We also went to Tienimen square and a Hutong tour riding on rickshaws through the old houses of the city. It was a wild ride! Then we all went out to lunch together. Came back to the hotel for awhile and Naomi and I walked to a Starbucks nearby. We then had a meeting with Bethany's China coordinator. She remembered us from 2 years ago, so it was fun to show her pictures of Caleb. She kept saying what a large family we will have! She told us that tomorrow afternoon our daughter will be brought to our hotel. So that will be different than how we got Caleb. Tonight we went to an acrobat show. Naomi was really amazed. We didn't really want to go out to eat so we just grabbed something to go from McDonald's. (yes I ate McDonald's!) We have to get up at 4:30 in the morning so we can all catch flights to our different cities. Its so mind boggling that I will be a mom again tomorrow afternoon! Its just so hard to describe. It is amazing! It is amazing to be here again and to have this priviledge again. Everyone is our group is excited and nervous. Two of the couples are becoming parents for the first time, they are the most nervous!!! We have all bonded the last couple of days and are sad to have to part tomorrow. But we will meet back up in 5 days with our new children. That part is so fun, to meet everyone's kids! I better TRY and get some sleep. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We would love to hear from anyone reading this. Please pray especially for our big day tomorrow!

Beijing

My brain is pretty foggy so hopefully some of this will make sense and there won't be too many misspelled words... We had a very long flight, none of us slept, but read and visited with the couple we know form the Bay area. Also a couple in our group from Oregon was on our flight with their 9 year old son who Naomi enjoyed hanging out with today. So she isn't totally getting away from having brothers! :) There are 5 other families in Beijing with us and two more families will join us in Guangzhou. We arrived in Beijing in the afternoon on Thursday. It is the capital of China and has about 20 million people. We got settled into our hotel and then ventured out on the street and found a restarant with our friends from the Bay area, who also speak some Mandarin so it was very helpful!! We had a wonderful dinner. We crashed last night about 9 or so. I slept good for a few hours then began waking up a lot and then we were all awake for good at 5am. But it worked out becuase we got to visit with my parents and the boys this morning. So good to see and tak to them and play peek-a-boo with the baby. Miss him SO MUCH! they are doing well but please continue to pray for my parents and our friends who are caring for them! I'm sure the little boys will really start to feel us being away today or tomorrow. Today we went to a Cloisinne (I know I'm spelling that wrong!) factory where they make all kind of things out of copper and then do beautiful designs and painting on them. After that we went to the Great Wall. It was really neat and a different part than what we saw two years ago, so that was cool to see a whole different area. After that we went to a jade factory to see how they made all sorts of jade items and had lunch there. We drove back into the city to the Olympic village. Last time we were here we just got to drive by it, so it was neat to walk around in, although it was very cold and windy. We rested in our room for a few minutes then ventured out with our whole group in search of Peking duck. We found the place our guide told us about, but all it was Peking duck pizza. Not exactly what we had in mind. So we found anothe rplace and ordered a variety of things and it was good. But we had to get Naomi a hamburger from McDonald's on our way back. But she has done very well so far trying new things. Tomorrow we are giong to the Forbidden City, Tienimen Square, and a Hutong tour where we ride rickshaws and tour old houses in the city and get to takl to a family who lives there. That was my favorite tour last time. then tomorrow evening we are going to try and find Peking duck again and then go a an acrobatic show. Sunday morning we fly to Fuzhou and in the afternoon get our baby girl! Just a couple more days! So hard to believe! It is definately neat being back here again and feeling more comfortable, confidnet and brave. Please pray that we sleep well the next couple of nights and that baby's poor little heart will be prepared for this most difficult change in her life.

Hard waiting

It has been an emotional week that could continue until we have our travel approval and CONFIRMED travel dates. Yes, I have been probably having my hopes too high, but was being realistic too by trying to be prepared. Last week we were waiting for confirmation that our papers from US consulate were issued on the 5th. Never got confirmation but our agency said they didn't hear anything was wrong, so it should have been issued on the 5th. At that point we were praying for a miracle to go on the 20th. Then found out from another family who is just ahead of us that we really want to travel with, that no one else could be added to the group on the 20th as there are no more consulate appts. So there was going to be another group on the 27th. Then we found out today that there isn't going to be any group on the 27th because of a holiday the following week in China. So now a group will go April 3rd. So today some tears fell. I know God is in control and His timing is perfect. My heart is just aching to go get our daughter, hold her and bring her home. Its just hard! Please pray for my emotions and that God will give me strength and that we will get our travel approval this week so that we can for sure go on the 3rd. I don't think I can take another delay! But April 3rd will be alomost exactly two years to the day that we left to go get Caleb in China, it was April 6th.

Getting there...

Havn't posted again for awhile! I always have lots of thoughts of things I want to say, but its just seems easier to just do a quick update of our progress on facebook. International adoption is all about hurry up and wait and then do it again, and again! Things were moving so fast for us. We got matched unexpectedly, LOA 2 weeks later. Then we had to start waiting for things. Then holidays here and now holiday in China. My good friend told me the other day that its like we were on this super fast moving train, our heads were spinning, and then all of a sudden it came to a stop. I said yes, that is what it feels like. Nothing has ever totally stopped, but Jan. was a long month of waiting! I did learn some lessons though from waiting for Caleb and Joshua, two very different journeys. I certainly havn't been as anxious and totally consumed with it constantly as I was before. Don't get me wrong, I think about my daughter all the time and do want to hurry up and get her yesterday! But I think I have learned to rest in God a bit more, even though it is still hard. No one but a fellow adoptive parent understands that it feels like being 9 months pregnant and being told, oh sorry, you just have to keep waiting! So our paperwork went to China on Tuesday to the US consulate and hopefully has arrived. The consulate will be closed the 9th-13th for Chinese New Year. We have to wait for an approval called Article 5 to be issed by the consulate. After that we wait for the Chinese government to issue our travel invitation/travel approval. We thought for sure we would go in March, but had an almost 2 week delay waiting for our fingerprints that our immigration officer didn't know were already done and our paperwork was just sitting there! So we are right on the edge of going in March, if not then April. So yes, I will be diappointed if we don't go in March, again the 9 mos. pregnant thing. But I am trusting in God's timing. I am still trying to prepare because if we do go in March we may not have a lot of notice. Trying to be stocked up on things, buying things for the trip and for Noelle, cooking, baking, and still trying to raise funds. I cannot wait to be Noelle's mommy and hold her and love her and have her belong to our family. God does not leave us as orphans but comes for us. Please pray for these final weeks of hard waiting, for all of the preparation for everyone and everything, and the rest of the finances we need.