Challenge, Charmer and China Girl

Seriously!

2011-03-27T20:02:00.005-05:00

My my how time gets away from me! I have not been anywhere near this blog for a LONG TIME. We have been doing well here, the kids are keeping me very busy. Riley is thirteen now, he is in 7th grade and on the go constantly! I don't know where he came from really... Rick and I are not the most social people. Rorey is 7 (for 2 more months) and he is doing great in 1st grade. He is starting soccer next week and has become quite a good stakeboarder! Ellie turned 7 recently, she is in Kindergarten this year and her teacher says she is a wonderful example to the other students in her class. She is really excited to move on to 1st grade next year.

Riley's newest love

2010-06-14T12:25:00.005-05:00

Riley has found a new love. He has always been crazy for baseball, but this year he decided to join the track team. Being a sixth grader we weren't expecting too much this year. They don't really have a "sixth grade" team. The sixth graders have to compete with the 7th graders and really spend their first year just practicing and figuring out what events they like. Riley started in pole vailting and fell in LOVE WITH IT. He did really well and went to most of the meets with the 7th grade group. He broke the 6th grade meet record and can't wait until next year! Luckily for him Rochester is finishing a new indoor athletic building which has a pole vault area so he is hoping to get to practice this winter! In the meanwhile he is doing baseball this summer.

Rorey turns 7!

2010-06-14T11:57:00.004-05:00

Rorey's birthday was May 19th! He turned 7 and had a great birthday! We had a family party and combined it with Mother's Day. He picked out a "SpongeBob" cake and got lots of cool presents! We had a wonderful family day and ate lots of cake!

Ellie is 6

2010-06-14T11:40:00.003-05:00

Ellie turned 6 years old on March 26th!! I can't believe how fast she is growing up! We had a family birthday party and combined it with Easter. She was so much more comfortable this year with all of the attention focused on her. Last year was her first real birthday party, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. THIS year, was a totally different party! SHE LOVED IT!!

April 2010...REALLY?

2010-04-15T16:43:00.005-05:00

WOW, right OK it's April 2010. So how bad of a blogger am I? Like the worst super bad blog lady ever! Rick had been out of state since April 09, but he is finally home!! YEAH!! So maybe I can try to get some blogging done again!! What hasn't happened since October, so I'll just try to keep going from here and throw in some pics from the last 6 months every once in a while.

Happy Gotcha day

2009-10-16T19:49:00.004-05:00

WOW she is really enjoying that cupcake!

My three beautiful children

Ellie and Mom ~ year number one!!

Tuesday October 6th was Ellie's "Gotcha day." We had a little party for her and she got to use the "you are special "plate for her dinner. She also picked out a cute little Hello Kitty cake with cupcakes around it for dessert! She loved the attention but wasn't sure exactly why we where doing these things. She said to me at least four times....but Ma I still 5. I would repeat again that it wasn't her birthday it was her adoption day. The day we came to China and got her! I think next year she will understand everything much better!! Hopefully by then she will also be less upset by the idea of this whole adoption thing. She had it good in China, great foster parents and big sister, "school" all day at the orphanage with special friends, and all the sugary bubblegum she could chew!! (Which did eventually lead to very unpleasant dental visits here in the U.S. ~ but that is another whole post!) I like to think of my son Rorey, happy here with us and then some Chinese family shows up and takes him off to China to be their son. Really that is how it was for Ellie. She "knew" that they were not her forever family. But her heart didn't know!! From four months until 4.5 years she lived with them, then WE showed up and took here away from all of it!! So I try daily to remember how hard that would be for such a little girl. I know she is attaching to us, it's just a slow process. Three steps forward, two steps back!! Hey that still adds up to one step forward!!

Year one down, a lifetime to go!!

2009-10-07T19:19:00.003-05:00

Tuesday was the one year anniversary of Ellie's adoption! I'm in awe that a whole year has actually passed! It seems like just a few months ago we stood in that dark government hallway anxiously and watched our four year old daughter walk into our lives. After nearly two years of deciding and planning and chasing paperwork there she was. Our lives will never be the same again, and neither will Ellie's. I'd like to tell you that this year has been wonderful, that Ellie fit right into our family, that it was easy. That would not be true. Adopting any child is a challenge, but an older child is a large adjustment. Was is worth it? Absolutely! Would we do it again? Definitely! We love her and she loves us, but Ellie is smart. She knows she lost her past to be here with us, and sometimes she is still upset about it. I encourage her to talk about China and her foster family as much as possible, but remind her that this is her "forever family." I tell her it is OK to cry because she misses them, but not OK to scream for them when she is in trouble for hitting her brother. We are teaching her that she is Chinese and that it's a good thing. I never want her to feel uncomfortable with who she is, or be ashamed that she was adopted into our family unlike her brothers. Life has changed forever here in our house. Not just for us and Ellie but also for our boys.

Grocery store outbursts and Ellieisms

2009-09-24T07:20:00.008-05:00

I have been meaning to write this post for months, tell you all the cute little things that Ellie says...well actually hillarious things that she says. I have waited too long, becuase I have forgotten many of her little "Ellieisms" but here is a list ...the ones I can remember.

1 Ma, I can't like that.

which means she doesn't like something.

2. Ma, I China.

she says she is Chinese
3. Ma, that risey
thats crazy
4. Ma, I so scary
I'm scared. but I agree with the scary sometimes!LOL
5. I want Wardy hair.
she wants a buzz cut like Rorey...NOT going to happen.
6. yes a,
still with the yes a
7. UUMM...taste good.
which can mean tastes good, smells good or I like it, or I'm hungry.
8. I no know
I don't know
9. Calls herself : Ellie Clark
which is Rorey's middle name, she acts like she has never heard her middle name which is her Chinese name....Sha Mei. I ask...don't you remember the first 4 years of your life???
10.We are called Ma, Ba, Ge, and Ge.
I don't know if they use these terms in China? But normally its Mama, Baba, Gege
11. Calls her teacher by her last name only: example: bye Renshaw.
no Mrs or Ms etc. I asked if she was former military.
12.Wingo you tweet?
Ringo you want a treat? (our dog)

Her latest outburst happened Monday while she and I were at the grocery store. I picked her up from school at 12:15 and we headed out. She was sitting in the cart like everything was fine, asking for potato chips and sorting all of our food into piles when out of the blue she says: " I....you.. I China at my house. At lou Baba house. You come, we (makes the action of flying) fegee(airplane) YOUR house.
then she sat there with a disjusted look on her face and stared at me. I just looked at her with my eyes big and smiled at the 2 ladies who turned around to see who was yelling. I finally said ...yep!
She always catches me off gaurd with this stuff!! She only talks about it when it is just the two of us, and around here that doesn't happen very often. So I was speechless which also doesn't happen very often. I wonder what will happen next Monday afternoon????

First Day of School

2009-08-29T13:41:00.004-05:00

Waiting on the bus

Two cool for school

Happy ...thank goodness

Miss sassy

School started last week, and although I was so excited to get ALL THREE KIDS in school it still made me a little sad when that bus drove away. Riley is in 6th grade this year, and it's his last year in middle school. Next year he will be moving to the junior high!! I can't believe it!! My baby is 11 years old...... it's amazing how fast time goes by. Rorey turned six in May, and he started Kindergarten this year. He still wasn't really sure that school was for him. He cried at the meet the teacher night, and wouldn't sit and listen to the teacher read a story. Luckily the first day of school was better, and he got on the bus with out tears. We never planned to send Ellie to Kindergarten this year, but since the school denied her any services until she was "enrolled" in school we really didn't have any choice. Ellie is going to half day Kindergarten this year so she can attend "English as a second language" and get caught up on her social skills. I am considering this year her "pre-K" year since she was not able to be in Pre K last year. Next year Ellie will start Kindergarten over again..... full day. Hopefully by then she will be nearly caught up with the kids starting Kindergarten. She is LOVING school. Loves to be around the other kids, color, and play outside on the playground. Things are going really well so far. BUT check back in a few weeks!!!

The "Chinese"

2009-08-12T19:33:00.003-05:00

Well this one is pretty obvious.....Ellie is the Chinese one in the house. Challenge and Charmer have done very well adapting to a new little sister, considering how much she is like them!!! I can't believe we could go half way around the world to adopt a child and find one as similar to us as she is!!! Everything about her (except her looks of course) fits right in with our family. She is bossy like Riley, she is whinny like Rorey, she needs glasses with the same issue as Rick, she hates vegetables like Rorey and has the weirdest shaped toenails....just like both boys!!!!!! She is tough and independent and was made for us!!

Charmer Extraordinaire

2009-08-03T17:07:00.005-05:00

Oh yes...son number two. Rorey started out as even more of a challenge than Riley. He was a terrible baby, cried for 2 months straight.....day and night!! Rick started wearing earplugs to bed once he had to go back to work. Rorey even frazzled my mother, who would occasionally come at night so I could get a few hours of rest. As he grew I realized that even though I didn't think it was statistically or genetically possible....he was even MORE stubborn than Riley. He only slept on his terms, he only ate on his terms, he only talked on his terms... (which didn't happen until he was 3) We won't even get into the potty training issues we had with him, because that is another whole post!! You may be wondering how I survived this, which I wonder myself when I look back on it. The answer is also the reason why Rorey is aptly named "the charmer." It's because he IS a charmer. Even though he is extremely opinionated, obstinate, contrary, willful, independent, & unyielding, he is sneaky!! He has figured out how to deliver his ideas to people and manipulate them while still being congenial , amusing, considerate, and sympathetic. He loves to hold the door open for me (and all his girl friends) and always says "lady's first." He loves to hold hands and escorts his little friends by the small of the back into preschool class. He has made wedding plans with at least 3 girls from pre-school, and a few older girls that do not return his love!! He tells me he is never moving out of my house and will be my buddy for ever. He tells me I am the "best cooker ever" ... even when all I made was Easy Mac. He can be soooo sweet, but there is virtually nothing I can do to change his mind when it is made up. So where does this leave me?? What is going to happen to this kid??? Will he be a politician? Maybe a con-man?? He says he is going to be a chef, but I don't think that is where his talents lie. So I'm in the same boat... same problem new kid, I have to mold him and make the best of his gifts. Channel them in a positive direction. God made my kids with difficult personalities for a reason ...he has big plans for them. I don't know what they are but luckily God does!

Challenge....OH MY!!

2009-08-01T08:37:00.006-05:00

God has a sense of humor doesn't he?? Riley has been the "challenge" of my life since he was born. Why you may wonder>> Well I guess that starts with me. I'm shy, Riley is extremely outgoing. I'm introverted, Riley is NOT. I like to be quiet and relax, he can't sit still for more than 3 minutes. I don't go outside much, Riley wants to be out every second available. I'm reserved around strangers, Riley would talk to ANYONE, ANYWHERE at ANYTIME! He doesn't care what other people think, he dresses like he's living on the streets and still has the girls and teachers at school twisted around his finger. He is a leader at school, so many kids wanting to be his friend. Which makes me nervous that he will get them in trouble. Riley is too smart for his own good, I have always had to make complete explanations for EVERYTHING, He won't take BECAUSE for an answer. He started doing multiplication in the back seat of the car on the way to pre-school. He was upset when I told him " yes that is times ... multiplication" He thought he had invented something new. He had the vocabulary of an eighty year old man at the age of 3. He is a whiz with anything electronic. He acts hyper but can turn it off instantly ...... if it's in his best interests! He is mean to the little kids at home. He can't keep from hitting them in the head when they walk by. BUT he is super wonderful at the sitter and so helpful, she says he is a great big brother.

I guess he just saves all the bad stuff and crazy behaviour for me. (well most of it) So the challenge is to mold him, to try not to break his spirit but still keep his feet on the ground. To make sure he never turns from his faith. To make sure he never forgets that GOD is in control, no matter how smart Riley thinks he is. He has wonderful traits........very challenging traits to channel , but his future is full of endless possibilities!

Second verse same as the first!

2009-08-01T08:30:00.002-05:00

As some of you might have noticed I decided to change the name of our blog. Since the "slow Chinese boat " did finally arrive in China and bring us back to the US with our new addition I thought it was high time to dock the boat. I really didn't want to start a totally new blog, so a name change was in order. If you know my family personally I'm sure this name will make perfect sense, if not keep posted.....it will!!

One tooth two teeth...tooth fairy let's go!!

2009-07-30T15:14:00.003-05:00

ONE FRONT TOOTH

NO FRONT TEETH!!!

Rorey has been holding on to his front teeth for way tooo long!! His left tooth has been loose for....hum maybe 2 months or more!! The right was a little bit loose until it came in contact with a fast moving soccer ball. As you can see in the top picture, it actually came out first...thanks to Riley and his good kicking abilities!! But the pitiful left front tooth was just hanging there (and I mean hanging...) Today just happened to be the day for pictures and last night I broke the news that the tooth HAD TO GO! So after 10 minutes of craziness and Rorey hyperventilating before I could even get a hold on the tooth, I told him we would tie dental floss on it and pull it out. He agreed, let me tie the floss on, and didn't even know what had happened when it flew out of his mouth and onto the coffee table!!

Now we can stop singing...."Does your tooth hang low , Does it wobble to and fro, Can you tie it a knot? Can you tie it a bow? Does your tooth hang low??

I told him last week that his tooth was making him look like a hillbilly...because it was hanging really low on one side and moving around. He looked at me and said "who is hill billy??" I love this kid.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...OH MY

2009-07-18T21:03:00.004-05:00

We love penguins

Sea Lion show was great!!

Riding the train ...one more time!

Don't these kids know I HATE snakes!!

We went to the St. Louis zoo a couple of weeks ago...it was during the really HOT , Africa hot, heat advisory weather!!! We knew it was going to be bad so we were prepared with lots of water bottles and snacks, light clothes and the foreknowledge that we would be completely drenched with sweat!! Which we were!! But all in all we had a lot of fun and the kids did pretty well considering. Ellie was excited to see EVERY animal there was and Rorey was really pumped up over the stingrays that you could touch. We bought some kind of pass so we could see everything and ride the train as many times as we wanted to, which was great and kept the kids happy. I think we all enjoyed the sea lion show very much, and we even got a little sprinkling while there. After like 6 hours we packed up and headed back to our hotel for some swimming, even me!! I usually don't swim, but after a day like that it was wonderful!!

Spring/Summer update

2009-07-17T10:49:00.002-05:00

Gosh where do I begin?? I have been ignoring this blog for soooo long that I forget what has happened since I last posted!! Several people have "cyber yelled" at me for neglecting my blogging responsibilities, so I'm going to try and make a regular post at least once a week. HAHA!

Let's see, since Easter, hum......Rorey turned 6 in May, Rick was home for a week and we went to the current river in June, We celebrated 4th of July with my parents (Ellie loved it), I spent 186 dollars on school supplies last week--What a shocker going from one kid to three in school!!

Other than that we are just going along as usual. Ellie is really good with English now, she is as "spicy" as ever.. worse actually! Riley has grown up and wants to pick out ALL his clothes. I can't pick anything out for him anymore. (even if it is something he would pick out also....it stinks if I pick it out) Rorey is still as sweet as ever, and he is really excited to start school. My Dad had open heart surgery, did great and is back to babysitting three days a week for the kids.

Easter Fun

2009-04-22T18:18:00.003-05:00

Here is a look at the beautiful Easter eggs that we colored this year. On Easter morning we got up early and headed to church at 8 o'clock! It was a wonderful service with great music and a good message. Once we returned home Nana Sandy and Papa Jim were here to visit the kids and watch the Easter fun. The kids all searched for their Easter baskets...including Ellie....even though she had NO idea what we were doing!! LOL My parents also brought baskets so Nana hid them outside for the kids to find. Did I mention that we had the Severns over for Easter dinner? Oh yeah...I cooked.....the whole deal. Ham, cheesy hashbrowns, fried apples, cinnamon coffee cake. My mother-in-law brought layer salad, my sister-in-law brought deviled eggs. etc.
Everything actually turned out really well and we had a great meal. We also had an egg hunt after lunch...Ellie had a blast. Another holiday first for the books!!

Ellie turns FIVE!!

2009-04-22T14:07:00.005-05:00

Happy birthday to Ellie!

The princess bike

Ellie turned 5 years old on March 26th! Well at least that is her "official" birthday!! Only God and her birth mother know the exact day, so we will just have to go with it. We had a "Dora" birthday party on the 28th ...the following Saturday. Although Ellie was really excited about the party and the presents, she got very embarrassed when all the attention turned to her and we sang "Happy Birthday." She loved to open all the gifts, and she even remembered to say thank you several times! BUT the highlight was the gift from both sets of grandparents..a new princess bike!!! She also got great Dora dolls, a wonderful doll house, more doll stuff, a movie or two, what else? I can't keep track people!! So am I crazy? We now have two 5 year olds in the house! It can be a little crazy around here sometimes...especially when Riley also kicks in his two cents worth!! WOW madhouse!!

Wow I'm behind!!

2009-04-15T13:49:00.004-05:00

Hey everybody...sorry I'm so bad at keeping up with this blog! I have to admit that I've been lurking on facebook WAY to much! I have to set some new guidlines for these time sucking computer past times!!

Since I last blogged ...Ellie has turned five (which means we now have 2 five year olds!!), we reached the six month mark of Ellie's adoption, and we had a great Easter. This weekend we are having a "mini reunion" of China families here in town. It started as a "Urumqi" group....but has grown to include others. Ellie has not seen three of the children since they were adopted in April and August of 08. I can't wait to see how she will react to being with them again. Meah is 8 now, Drew is 5, and Tonito is 4. There will be other kids there also..... from other areas of China. So stay tuned.....I promise I'm going to get caught up on all of our latest adventures!!!

Valentines Day pictures

2009-02-21T20:13:00.006-06:00

Ellie with "Greatgrandma"

Rorey sitting on "Nana Sandy"
Riley being....well Riley!

Rick the life of the party!!
Ellie's first Valentines Day

On Valentines Day, we headed to T-ville to visit my Grandma in the nursing home, and then to my parents house to visit them! We went out to dinner with them and my cousin Tony joined us also. As you can see our family is easily entertained, the kids had great fun wearing the ice cream cone covers on their heads. The kids got candy from Nana & Papa, along with some other fun items, and we had a nice afternoon .

School districts...ugh

2009-02-19T10:43:00.005-06:00

I have to say that I have heard many horror stories from many families about dealing with school districts. And I had my own when it took me 3 months to get a return phone call from our special ed provider(SASED) regarding getting Rorey into speech therapy.(nearly 3 years ago) BUT I have never been more disgusted than I am right now, since we received a letter from SASED and I had to tell Ellie she can't go to school anymore. Apparently they changed their minds about her eligibility. Now how in the world am I going to explain to a 4 year old who speaks limited English that it isn't her fault, that she didn't do anything wrong, but...even though it was the highlight of her week, even though she drastically needs this, even though they let her come for 3 weeks, it's done....no more. What makes me most upset is that apparently they have been using these "sessions" to further evaluate her (which we were never told) and have now concluded that she doesn't qualify. If I had known that, I would have approached this differently, I would not have told Ellie it was a long term thing. I would not have called it "school ...like Rorey and Riley." Now I have a devastated child who I can't console because she can't speak English. BUT she doesn't qualify for English as a second language.(ESL) Does anyone else see the irony in this?

OK I'm done whining, even if no one reads this I feel better just getting it off my chest.

Play day at the library

2009-02-12T17:04:00.002-06:00

Rorey and Ellie in the play house
Rorey's awesome "castle"

Since I've been such a bad blogger lately thought I would throw in a couple of pictures we took at the library last week. These kids love to go to the library....

play house, Lego table, loads of books, DVDs to check out....What else could you ask for? The only problem we have there is the very loud voice of Ellie reverberating from one end of the building to the other!! She does not understand the concept of an "inside voice"!!

School Rocks

2009-02-12T16:08:00.005-06:00

First day of school pictures

Ellie has been kind of jealous that the boys are going to school and she is stuck at home everyday. So finally after much "discussion"(I'm trying not to be sarcastic) with our special education provider, Ellie has started going to English as a second language class (ESL) twice a week. She is sooo happy! She is very proud and she tells us all about it, shows us her stickers, gives us a 2-3 paragraph explanation of what she did(..most of which I can't understand!!) HAHA! The teacher goes to our church, and she is super nice...Ellie loves it! She is learning more English everyday, but we still have trouble understanding some of it!
On the other hand Ellie has been teaching Rorey more Chinese everyday, and they seem to have their own language going on......I like to call it Chinglish. Who knows what in the world they are talking about most of the time! Next year Rorey and Ellie are both going to go to Kindergarten. Ellie will only go half days, and take the ESL classes while she is there. Then the next year Rorey will move on to First grade and Ellie will start into a normal all day Kindergarten. We have decided that is the best plan we have available to us, and we don't want her to struggle in school because she is still learning English.

The English "floodgate" has opened!

2009-01-19T14:22:00.003-06:00

Everyone has told me that Ellie would have a speech explosion after being here for three months. She has learned a lot since October, but it has seemed to be only a word here and a word there. (and in a sentence with Chinese also) Well the 3 month mark came on January 16th, and everyone was sooo right! In the last week she has been spouting LOTS of English, phrases and sentences. Since we know some Chinese she still talks to us and us to her in Mandarin sometimes, but she has been putting it all together the last week. Yesterday morning she found me in the laundry room getting ready for church. (unfortunately our clothes don't normally make it back up to the closets!) In her pathetic whining voice said "Mama...I want sausage." The child loves meat!!! I just looked at her and asked "did you say you want sausage?" She said yes....with an a on the end yesa. Wow I said.........that was a great job! But, NO we have to get to church......... eat a poptart!

Urumqi Reunion

2009-01-11T18:42:00.005-06:00

Grace and Ellie together again!

Brooke, Vickie, and Grace (sleeping beauty)

Rorey making the moves on the girls!!

Ellie and Kelsey together again!

Last Saturday we braved the cold weather and drove up to Joliet to meet up with some "cyber friends"..Vickie...her daughter Grace (who came from Ellie's orphanage) Grace's big sister Brooke, and Kelsey.... another friend who visited Ellie and Grace in China before they came home. Grace is sooo sweet as you can see, she is a year younger than Ellie, and came home a year ago in October. We planned to meet at Chuck E Cheese...which was a zoo obviously because it was a Saturday afternoon! The kids played for a while and then we went to TGI Friday's to get some real food, and where we would be able to hear each other speaking without screaming across the table!! Grace feel asleep in the car on the way to lunch, so Vickie had to hold the poor little thing while she was trying to eat ! She did finally wake up and then decided to snack on Ellie and Rorey's french fries. Rorey was sitting right there helping to feed her and then asked Vickie if she wanted to go on a date!! He is so full of .....something!! Grace is very tiny compared to Ellie, not that Ellie is very big! Of course compared to her brother Ellie is very tiny, so everything is relative I guess!! Ellie was looking at Grace's picture before we left to drive up that day, and it was obvious to me that she remembered Grace. But it upset her when she saw the pictures from her orphanage of Grace as a baby, and when I said we were going to see her. Maybe she thought we were heading back to China? Or perhaps it just brings back memories of leaving China? We never know when something is going to send her over the edge! Hopefully in a few months Ellie will be able to tell us why she is upset by certain things, and we will be able to help her deal with her fears. We had a great day, and it was so fun to finally "see" each other after all of the e-mails and blog reading!!

Christmas is COOL

2009-01-06T19:31:00.005-06:00

Ellie climbing on Uncle John

Riley checking out one of his gifts

Ellie and her new doll from the Severns'

Rorey, Riley, Ellie and Teresa checking out the stockings

Thacker cousins at Nana's house

Christmas Eve ..Rorey, Ellie and Daddy

Christmas was on the back burner around here this year, as has been this blog if you didn't notice! LOL! We are still trying to adjust to our new family dynamics, and I just was not in the holiday spirit!! Apparently Ellie has never heard of Christmas....she stared at us like we had lost our minds when we drug the huge Christmas tree bag up from the basement and started putting a tree up in the middle of the living room!! We did get some baking done, which Ellie enjoyed helping with. (and eating) Rorey, Ellie and I also made a gingerbread house, which they loved. But they got really mad when I threw it away and wouldn't let them eat it!! We decided to spend the night at my parents house on Christmas eve, so we could be there for the family soup supper and then go to church that evening. Ellie is so funny because she LOVES to sing! She knows several songs in Chinese and now she knows Jesus loves me and Jingle bells in English! But at church on Christmas eve we were singing lots of songs that she does not know, and she didn't care she was still singing along ....really loudly.... in her half English half Chinese mumbo jumbo talk!! People were looking at us. She was that loud. So Santa had to find us at Nana and Papa's house, which of course he could easily do. All of the kids got way to many presents and had lots of fun opening all of them. We had Christmas dinner for my mothers whole family at her house, people came and went for lunch, and desserts, and then dinner (yuck, who can eat again?) We had to come home Christmas day evening because I had to work the next day. When we got home I realized the kids hadn't opened the presents from Rick and I!! I'm so mean I made them wait until Saturday morning.. we had our own little Christmas morning!! Then Sunday morning we got up and made our way to Rick's parent's house for Christmas with his family! These have got to be the three most spoiled children I have ever seen!! We had a nice day and the kids got even more presents from Nana and Papa Severns, Aunt Debbie and Aunt Teresa!! WOW it looks like a toy store threw up in this house!! Where in the world are we going to put all of this?? It is time for some serious cleaning!! Luckily Rick's Mom offered to take some toys to her house for the kids to play with when they go to visit them. I'm definately going to take her up on that offer. So that is our Christmas in a nutshell!! Nothing crazy, no dramatic moments, just Ellie looking at us like we were totally out of our heads.

Sorry I'm slacking!!

2008-11-19T12:07:00.003-06:00

Time has been going by really quick!! I feel like I don't have time to get anything done!! I have to go back to work December 1st, and I'm trying to get a lot of Christmas stuff finished before that. Well I'm trying! It's not really working out as I had hoped. There never seems to be enough time in the day. Ellie wants my attention every three seconds. Every mark of the crayon, every puzzle piece
placed, every pop bead snapped, she wants me to see. How many times can you say "wow," or great, or pretty before you start to lose your own mind? She is still rattling off long paragraphs of Chinese, and then sighs at me when I say "I don't know what you are saying." She obviously understands much of what we say, but I think she thinks we are going to learn Chinese instead of her learning English!! Although I did teach her to say" I'm bossy" LOL

Weekend with Nana and Papa

2008-11-10T10:38:00.003-06:00

Maybe she will be a pilot?
Just doing a little shopping

Rorey riding with "Mr. Boney"

Three wild animals in a cage!

WOW that's just scary!!

We just got home from spending the weekend with my parents, and Ellie was really good!! She didn't seem to mind going there and staying 3 nights. She slept with Rorey in Nana's room on the pull out couch bed, and they had a load of fun!! Riley and I slept in the spare bedroom.....which is more like a dorm with 2 twin beds and a double bed in there!! The kids didn't have school Thursday and Friday because of parent teacher conferences and then today because of Veterans day. It was great timing for a long weekend at Grandma's house. We also went and visited my grandmother who recently had to go into the nursing home. Ellie has seen her at her home, and did great, but the nursing home made her start crying and get the "doctor's office face." She calmed down after about 10 minutes, I guess she figured out that it wasn't scary after all. On Saturday we took the kids to a children's museum in Decatur. It is pretty cool, Riley has been there several times and Rorey one other time when he was small. Ellie had lots of fun, her favorites being....bubbles.....water table.....shadow wall.....and the climbing area. Also we went to church with my parents... to the church I grew up going to. There are still many people there who remember me and have helped us out during this adoption journey. Everyone was so excited to see Ellie!! She was a little shy, but no crying or fits. She even went into the preschool room with Rorey for 2 hours with no problem. This girl ROCKS!! Then we went out to lunch at the Chinese restaurant where my parents and half of my Mom's family go EVERY Sunday!!

The people there have been anxiously awaiting Ellie's visit!! I guess they where very excited when she came in, and talked to her for quite a while. (I was on McDonald's duty, bringing food for Rorey and Riley) Ellie ordered won ton soup and fried rice with shrimp and pork. By the way she is going to enjoy the left overs for lunch today!! HAHA! We had a fun weekend, and now I'm trying to get all the laundry done!!

English as a second language

2008-11-05T16:41:00.003-06:00

We are still hearing a lot of Chinese around here, although it seems like she understands much of what we are saying to her. She knows when we say to put her clothes on, put her shoes on, take a bath, brush her teeth, but we haven't heard much English. I have had to look up some wonderful Chinese words like....share, be nice girl, be quiet!! Well last night I was putting her to bed and she grabbed her little stuffed pig and said......Mom this one is a baby. I just stared at her for a second like English was my second language!! Then I said yes it is, it is a baby pig then I said it was a blue baby pig and she repeated blue baby pig. Today at the store I told her that Rorey had to go to the bathroom, and she turned to me and said Mama where is the bathroom? I don't know about you, but I'm impressed!! I promise we didn't learn any Chinese that fast.

Halloween Pics

2008-11-05T14:41:00.005-06:00

Spidey, Hobo, & Sunshine

Pumpkin Time

Halloween was kind of up in the air this year....we didn't know how Ellie was going to react to all of the excitement!! It isn't surprising that she LOVED it!! She laughed crazily as Riley chased her around the house in his "hobo, vampire, army guy" costume, and loved Rorey in the Spiderman getup also. She enjoyed being a "sunshine bear" even though she has no clue what a "sunshine bear" is!! We went to the "trick or trunk" at the Methodist church first, and they also have a free wiener roast there. Ellie tried her first smore, which she did not care for at all!! She seems to have an aversion to chocolate! I know it's pretty obvious that she is not my biological child, but this just seals the deal!! (Also she does not like Mac-n-Cheese, but we will discuss that in a later post) Anyway after the trunk deal we went to my friend Michelle's house and we all went trick or treating in her neighborhood. She has 6 children...5 bios and 1 new adoptee from China. So 4 of hers and 3 of mine went out and ran the streets, with parents chasing, and yelling, and reminding to say Thank you etc. Wow I was beat after all of that!! Tons of candy, what else do you need to know?

Pics of the Princess

2008-10-29T15:00:00.004-05:00

On the porch with our pumpkins

Princess Oh Yeah!

Posing , posing, posing

GQ Ellie

Tuesday we took Ellie to her first Doctor's appointment here in the US. It went OK........after we finally got into the room and the doctor came in. Ellie freaked out when 1. they weighed her 2. they measured her height 3. they took her blood pressure. 4. they took us to a real room 5. they made her put on a gown 6. they made us wait for 30 minutes for the Dr. to come in! Once the doctor came in the interpreter told Ellie that all she wanted to do was talk to Mom and Dad. and that she was an auntie....not a doctor!! HAHA It worked. The doctor also had an occupational therapy student with her who had toys and markers to distract Ellie with. Things were fine after that while we talked for 45 minutes or more!! Once the doctor wanted to listen to Ellie's lungs, heart etc. she was calm and didn't freak out!! She went to the bathroom in a cup with no problem, of course then we come to the ugly part!! The nurse came to do the TB test.......bad bad bad!! Daddy had to hold her for that and I held her arm. Next we headed to the lab for so many blood tests that the list was hanging to the floor like Santa's list of bad kids!!! I think they took at least 9 BIG vials of blood, maybe more I lost count. We have to have her tested for everything just in case. You can't always trust the Chinese medical reports. Also she was tested to see if she needs her shots again. Daddy had to hold her for this too! I held her arm....it was more like arm wrestling than anything else!! After a total blowout and complete psychotic break, it was finally over and we left the hospital while she was still crying hysterically!! She fell asleep in the car after about 5 minutes and was still mad at us when we woke her up an hour later. It wasn't long before she came back around, and was fine last night here at home. So now what? Rorey woke up at 2 Am sick. I got him back to bed, but this morning he started throwing up!! Luckily he hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night! I just hope that we can keep from spreading it around to the rest of us!! Lysol here we go!!

She's holding out on us!

2008-10-29T13:43:00.003-05:00

Well it's official she is holding out on us!! Ellie has been saying a few English words, but mainly has been bombarding us with whole paragraphs of Chinese and then staring at us like we are stupid!! Well today I was in the laundry room and Rick stuffed some clothes down the chute which promptly clogged and I had to get it unstuck. I keep a long pole in the laundry room for just these occasions, and as I pulled it out she said as plain as day.....what is that? I think it shocked her that it came out of her mouth because when I turned and said ...did you just say what is that? She grinned really big and shook her head yes. Now I wonder what else she could say if she wanted to. What a stinker!!

Amazing Ellie

2008-10-26T18:16:00.005-05:00

Big brother Rorey, Little sister Ellie, and ringo the dog!! In their PJ's ready for bed!!

Still posing every time we get the camera out!!

Our new family picture

Things are going well! We have been getting used to each other, getting back into a "normal schedule"......well at least Riley and Rorey!! They both are back to their regular activities. Riley is in 5th grade, and Rorey is in pre-school three days a week. Rick and I are still off work and I will not be going back until December, so plenty of time to let Ellie start to feel at home here with us. Rick will be going back to his normal work as of November 2nd. (many of you will understand what I'm saying!) Hopefully we will all get along well and things will be under control sooner rather than later! We are taking Ellie to DR. Laddage in St. Louis this Tuesday and we are praying that she will not act like she did in Guangzhou!! WOW crazy girl!!! Also I'm going to get a dentist appointment for her ....and Rorey who has never had a "successful" dentist appointment either!! Which would mean he would sit in the chair and or let them look in his mouth!! HAHA At church today Ellie went into the 4 & 5 year old class with her brother with no problem!! She spent the entire time in there and was just fine!! I was very surprised!! We spent the rest of the day out and about at the park, apple barn, and then another park. It was soooo windy I've got windburn on my face and chapped lips!! Ellie took a big dive at the park off of a piece of playground equipment and fell face first into the dirty mulch! She had dirt in her mouth and her feet went up over her back and head!! I thought she broke her neck!! She has NO FEAR!! She is like a loaded gun, constantly running from one thing to the next, with no regard for her safety. You should see her in the pool!!! I will NEVER be able to take her and Rorey swimming by myself, one of them would end up dead for sure!

Our friend James and his wife made Ellie some "pig feet with eggs" over rice and brought the left overs to our house for her. It looks disgusting, but smells really good and she LOVES it! They have helped us so much by talking to her, explaining things, and calming her down when she was totally consumed with grief!

Also we went to visit my parents on Saturday in my hometown, and ended up going out to lunch at one of the Chinese restaurants there. They where talking to Ellie for 20 minutes and the son spoke very good English so he was telling us what she was saying. She is very funny when she sees other Chinese people, and they all tell us she is very smart! Ellie seems to know that they are her grandparents and is giving them hugs and kisses when we leave. Luckily since my father is our babysitter when I'm at work....three days a week. Hope she gets really really used to Papa Jim before December hits!!

Ellie has been sleeping great the last 5 or so days. She isn't even crying when it is time for bed. She lets me rock her in the rocker for a few minutes, then gets up and gets in her bed willingly and goes to sleep until morning!! Can you guys believe that? Also you might have noticed the haircut....Rick's Mom cut her hair for us, and Ellie seems to like it! She was always pushing her hair out from her face, and now it doesn't bother her. I'll try to keep up with the blog, as much as I can so keep checking in!!

Settling In

2008-10-21T10:16:00.005-05:00

We are still alive, finally getting over the jetlag and feeling like humans again!! Ellie is doing extremely well......during the day! When evening comes it's a different story! She gets really upset and doesn't want to take a bath or take her clothes off to put on PJ's. She knows what is coming.......bedtime!! She cried last night hysterically for about 30 minutes so we called our Chinese friend James and he calmed her down on the phone. He said she is asking to go home.
I feel for her because I felt this way anytime I was away from my family when I was a kid. She fell asleep in the bed after only 3 minutes of crying, and slept until 9 this morning so once she is in bed it's not that bad!! I know she is feeling really awkward about bonding to us, like she is betraying her China family!! The better she does with us during the day, the worse it is in the evening. Over all it has been very good, a pretty smooth transition considering she is 4 years old, and left her foster family of 4 years to come here!! Rorey is being great with her....too good sometimes!! She has taken advantage of his sweet personality several times so I had to explain to him not to let her take toys or hit him with out telling me. She can be a stinker!! Riley is back in school and got all of his work done finally!! Poor kid picked up a stomach bug on the way home somewhere! He woke up at 4 AM on Saturday throwing up. He had a fever and a bad headache. He had to stay home from our "field cookout" with Rick's parents and sisters on Sunday.....(when they meet Ellie) so my mom came and watched him. Rick's dad is a farmer and is in the field now, so we went to the field and had a cookout/picnic. Today we are taking Ellie to James' house around lunch time and then they are cooking Chinese food for our dinner and bringing the food and Ellie back to us at 4PM. She will probably be seeing the Wang family often. Also we have an appointment at the school tomorrow to speak to them about getting Ellie into some kind of program. She is really bored and needs to be with other kids. Rorey's preschool is just not prepared to take on a child who speaks no English!!
I'm not sure what we will end up doing about school etc. She should start Kindergarten next year, but I don't want her and Rorey in the same grade.
We will have to wait and see, I just don't want anything negative coming out of this for Rorey, because he is such a soft hearted precious boy!

We are home!!

2008-10-16T22:11:00.002-05:00

Well we are here, after two plane flights and a 4 hour van ride. We made it home without any major throw downs.. Ellie was great on the plane, actually amazing! She slept off and on and just sat there the rest of the time!! I think I might have been more upset than she was!!
It was so great to see my Mom when we finally made it through the immigration paperwork and headed out of there!! And of course Rorey !!! I think he grew an inch while we were gone!! He is so excited and happy to have Ellie home with us, but we will see how long that lasts!!

Thanks to everyone who followed our journey.....and for all the comments, they keep you sane and help you remember that eventually you will be home and back to normal!

Last day in Guangzhou!!

2008-10-15T01:22:00.003-05:00

Riley with fast friend Will, who is traveling with his family
Red couch picture
Our travel group
Farewell dinner with our travel group

Yeah!! Tomorrow we are starting home!! We will fly out of GZ at 9:30 AM and then land in Beijing at 12:30. Then we will get on our United flight at 4:00 Pm and land in Chicago at 4:15 Pm on Thursday afternoon. I am so excited to come home! I just want to drink tap water, use my own bathroom, sleep in my own bed, and most of all see my baby boy....Rorey Clark!!! I miss you so much buddy, I can't wait to get off that plane and see your sweet little face!! I have to warn you that your new sister can be a real stinker!! She sometimes hits and bites if she doesn't get her way, so I'm warning you before we get home that you have to be a real good boy and not hit or bite her back!! We have to teach her to be good like you are, OK?
Mommy loves you and I'll see you really soon!!

Thank God for Starbucks

2008-10-13T21:23:00.004-05:00

Our lifes blood!! Coffee!!!
We love you Starbucks!!

Riley after another long night sharing a bed with the princess!!

You do not know how much I mean that! It is like a tiny US here in Guangzhou!! They even have a real TOILET!! Not a squatty potty, but an honest to goodness toilet!! WOW I knew I loved Starbucks, but now there is no doubt!! We have gone there several times, and all the American families seem to feel the same way we do. We are sitting in the room now, waiting for our guide Elsie who is at the American Consulate now, applying for Ellie's (everyone's children in our group) visa. We have to wait here in case she has a problem with our paperwork, so she could get ahold of us if need be. After we get the all clear we are planning to go out shopping with the Skiles'. Hopefully also to Starbucks!! We love you Rorey!! Only a few more days....big kisses to you!!

Thank you Deb

2008-10-13T21:13:00.004-05:00

This post is for Deb Wakefield who made this pretty little robe for Ellie before we left for China! She likes it, and of course was posing all over the room with it on!!

We want to give Deb and her family our condolences as her mother Mary past away the day before we left for China. She was a very nice lady, and Deb was a wonderful daughter to her even when it wasn't easy!! Love you guys!! See you soon!

Monday Medical exam

2008-10-13T08:38:00.004-05:00

Health clinic we went to for medical exam
Let me look inyour mouth little girl Total panic has set in
across the street from the medical office
one of the many ficus trees here

Today we all met and took the children to get their "medical exam." I use that term loosely! Ellie has obviously been to the doctor before as she had a absolute FIT!! Even to stand on the scale to get her height and weight!! She went crazy at the ENT portion, and totally psychotic when it came to the general exam, where they wanted her clothes off and for her to lay down etc. WOW! Then because of her diagnosis of "cognitive delay" coupled with her wacko behavior they made us see another Doctor who basically just asked us questions and her....also our guide
who translated answers for us..like can she write, does she know what a pen is for? I told them she can count to thirty and has already learned several English words!! Then they said OK... you can go. I think this is why she first was labeled with this diagnosis....because she was extremely uncooperative with the doctors and refused to speak to them. So..... Does this remind you of anyone??? Like maybe Rorey who refused to speak at all until he was nearly 3 years old!!
STUBBORN!!! They are going to be quite the couple these two mule headed children of mine!!

More pics of Guangzhou

2008-10-12T08:18:00.003-05:00

Christian Church in Guangzhou!!
Ellie playing at the park
One of the many "weird" signs we have seen
Model Ellie with Baba
White swan hotel lobby

First day in Guangzhou

2008-10-12T04:56:00.006-05:00

Children practicing their english on us!
Ellie at "Lucy's" eating french fries!!
BIG ficus trees!
Steven with Zak
Riley as a monkey

We arrived here in Guangzhou yesterday afternoon, Ellie did well on the flight, and fell asleep as we landed!! Of course! On the way home we will take care of that with some Dramamine!! Oh yes.....and we will take off from Beijing at 4PM so hopefully she will be tired anyway. I am not looking forward to that flight!! Today we met two other families for breakfast, which is a great buffet with all kinds of food. I think most families live off of the breakfast, as it has some American food also. Then we all went to church!! There is a Christian church right down the street!! They have a Chinese/English service at 11 Am!! Very interesting to say the least!! We did sing some English songs, and they had a translator....who some had trouble understanding. After church we went to Starbucks and met the Skiles family. They are adopting Zak....and sweet little boy who is 2 years old. They are very nice folks, from Indiana. We then went to Jordan's children's shop which is run by a very nice Christian man named Jordan. By the way Vickie....we gave him the gift and he was very excited to get it! He said thank you very much and greetings to you and your family!! He made a drawing of Ellie's name with the Chinese characters and meanings. We did purchase some things from his shop...some souvenirs etc. Later today we took some laundry to be done and then did some shopping. Wow it's different here!! You have to bargain with the people who are selling things!! They say....very good price for you..... Yeah right!! We played at the park, where Riley was amazing all the locals with his monkey genes on the highbar!! They were all just standing there staring at him!! Then we ate at Lucy's...which is American food....well as close as it gets in China!!! We are headed to the pool now and Riley & Ellie can't wait!! gotta go....Pictures to follow after swimming!! Love you Rorey Clark!!!

Guangzhou

2008-10-11T06:04:00.002-05:00

We flew to Guangzhou today, it was a OK flight, about 5 hours. It was chilly when we left Urumqi, but when we landed here in GZ, it was warm and muggy!! It isn't horrible, just warm especially after being in Xinjiang where it is cool now. We came from the north-west part of China to the south-east coast area. We saw our friends the Skiles out and about with thier new son Zak. He is around 2, very cute and very tiny!! He comes from a more southern area where the people tend to be smaller. Tomorrow we will probably meet up with others from our group, it is a free day and we are going to go to church with the Skiles down the street from the White Swan. I thought Christianity was not really acceptable here, but they have a church in GZ!!
I will post some pictures tomorrow, and give you an update on our plans!! Love you Rorey!!

More pics last day in Urumqi

2008-10-10T08:05:00.003-05:00

View from the top of red hill
These are the stairs I said no to!
Sha Mei and Baba rode the bumper boat!
bridge at red hill park

Last day in Urumqi

2008-10-10T07:22:00.004-05:00

View from our window
Lunch of noodles with beef
"Very famous"noodle restaurant workers
Family pic at Red Hill Park
Sha Mei on top of the "red hill"
Today is Friday and we are flying out of here tomorrow morning!! It has been a very special time here where Sha Mei was born and started her life, but I am homesick....mainly Rorey sick , and ready to move on to the next part of the trip. Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou, where we will have our American Consulate appointment, and we will get Sha Mei's visa for her passport, which will allow her to enter into the US. Today we didn't do anything in the morning, we waited for Jessie to go and retrieve Sha Mei's passport and then she helped us to get all of our paperwork and money ready for Guangzhou. After that was done we walked to Red Hill Park which is in the middle of town about a 20 minute walk from our hotel. It has a big "mountain" right in down town Urumqi!! Riley rode a carnival ride there and Rick and Sha Mei rode the little bumper boats. She is in LOVE with Baba. Then they climbed the big hill. I went part way and then waited for them to come back down. I have had enough stairs for the next 2 years!! Everyone was staring at me and doing the double take! Strange, white skinned, tall, big nosed, American

lady standing on the pathway alone. I seemed to draw a lot of attention!! When we got back Jessie took us to a small family restaurant one street behind the hotel. It was very delicious ....noodles with beef and vegetables. "Very famous" that is the catch phrase here in China!! The workers where very interested in us, Sha Mei, Riley and his blond hair, and asked Jessie all kinds of questions!! I will post some of the pics from today and also some from tonight of our view from the hotel!! Love to everyone! Especially you Rorey!!

We love you Rorey

2008-10-09T22:16:00.002-05:00

I'm writing this post for Rorey, who is our wonderful 5 year old son who stayed home with Nana and Papa in Illinois. We love you so much and miss you alot!! Sha Mei knows you are her brother and points to your picture and calls you ge ge......big brother. She is very cute, but very strong willed! Sound familiar Rorey? One week from today we will be coming home to see you! I can't wait to give you a big hug!! Love you buddy!!

Xin Sha Mei

2008-10-09T19:21:00.003-05:00

This post is to explain Sha Mei's name, as more than one person has asked me. The first name
is actually her last name, Xin......which all of the children in her orphanage have.... It means
"new" and comes from the first part of her provice name, Xinjiang. Her name Sha means desert.. or sand. Which is very good for this area because there is alot of desert in Xinjiang. Her
next name Mei means rose. So her full name is New Desert Rose. We think it is very pretty,
the orphanage director chose her name and we told her it was very good.

Even more pics!!

2008-10-09T08:44:00.003-05:00

Heavenly lake with snowcapped mountains in the distance.
Very old monastery at Heavenly lake

Crazy people ride these up the mountain in summer
Houses of local minority

More pics of heavenly lake

2008-10-09T08:37:00.004-05:00

Our guides Jessie and Jing with Sha Mei!!

This picture is for Sue Reid....there is your backpack at Heavenly lake!!

Day trip to Heavenly lake

2008-10-09T04:28:00.004-05:00

Today we started out at 10:30 to Heavenly Lake, which is located up in the mountains near Urumqi. We drove nearly 1 1/2 hours to get there. Once you arrive at the "park" you have to take a small bus up the twisting, turning, near-death cliff mountain road. The kind that when you look over the edge from the vehicle your life flashes before you kind of mountain road?? You know what I'm saying?? I don't like to drive these in a car.....I really didn't like it in a bus!! But obviously we survived. Once you finally get to the top of the mountain then you walk up the rest of the way....about 15 minutes, to the actual lake. It is a beautiful sight with mountains on both sides of the water and also behind. There were snow covered mountains in the distancce, and they have already had snow this fall. We then took a long winding trail to see a smaller lake and the water fall and stream that come from Heavenly lake and head down the mountain. It was very beautiful. We went down, down, down stairs to get to it, so unfortuantly we had to go up, up, up stairs to get back!! WOW Ok, the great wall was worse, but this was pretty bad also!!
I'm still coughing from my slight asthma problem that only kicks in when I'm getting too much exercise. Add in the fact that we were like 6000 feet up, breathing in cool air, I couldn't breath really well while up there. Can you CIAR girls overnight me an inhaler?? Just kidding!!
Sha Mei walked most of the way, but fell asleep on the way back in the van. At the top of the mountain they have an area for the local people....can't remember starts with a K....anyway they
sing and dance on a stage there, I'll put up a picture of that also. As we headed back down
we stopped at the resaurant and had the Nang bread...."pancake bread" it was very good, they cook it in a big stone oven and stick it to the sides of the walls of the oven. Also we had some mutton soup.that was very good also.

More pics

2008-10-08T18:56:00.005-05:00

Here are more pics from our day yesterday. We were not allowed to take pics at the museum.

Anyone who is wondering yes these are dried snakes. Also seahorses in the jar!! Apparently

they make tea out of them and then drink it. Some sort of medicine!! I'll take my western

pill popping anytime!!!

Pics from Grand Bazaar

2008-10-08T18:46:00.004-05:00

Rick couldn't get our computer to work, so he put our pics on to the hotel computer. Hope they like them! These are of the Grand Bazaar, fruits, clothes , pomegranate juice which Riley had to try.....tart to say the least!! Riley also had to have one of the traditional hats seen in the picture. His is black and white.

New room, Bad computer!!

2008-10-08T06:09:00.002-05:00

While we were out today at the mummy museum the hotel called and said they wanted us to move to a new room. We said why?? They said they had repairs to do on the floor we were on and it would be noisy. So after we returned today we started packing everything up and the bell boy loaded us up and moved us to a new room on the 21st floor. The only problem is that this room doesn't like our laptop so we can't put any pictures up!! I can use theirs to blog without
pictures. I know all you guys really want is the pics, so we will have our guide Jessie try to help us get it fixed tomorrow.
So today we first went to the Museum of Xinjiang History. It was a very modern beautiful building with displays of many interesting things. They have areas to show many of the local minorities including Uygers.....who actually make up about 51% of the people here. They had exhibits of ancient relics, clothing, houses, jewelry, musical instruments and more. I think about 10 minorities were represented in the displays. There are actually many many minority groups here. I think she said around 48??? here in Xinjiang province. We also saw the mummy exhibit and had a museum guide who spoke English fairly well. It was very interesting, as these mummies are not the type found in Egypt for example. The mummies here are naturally made from the dry weather, and because they were buried in sand. They were very well preserved!! They had clothes on, hair, fingernails etc. Riley liked this and Sha Mei seemed to also. When we had finished at the museum we headed to the Grand Bazaar which is a local market here in Urumqi. First thing we did was eat at a traditional Uyger restaurant. I had rice with chicken, which I shared with Sha Mei. Rick and Riley both had noodles with mutton and mutton kabobs. Sha Mei can put down the meat when she is hungry!! She was eating our meal, and Rick's mutton. Our guides asked for ours to be "not spicy" so it took a little longer for us to get our food. I forgot to mention we have a local guide today and tomorrow.....Jing. She is from here in Urumqi and is very nice and speaks very good English. You may see her in our pictures when we ever get them on here!! We also have had about 20 different types of hot tea while we have been here. Today at the Uyger restaurant we had a local tea, and I could tell it was different from the others we have tasted. I must be getting the hang of it!! After eating we went thru the bazaar and saw all kinds of nuts, fruits, dries fruits, all for sale. We did buy some raisins...Sha Mei seemed to like them very much. Xinjiang is very famous for it's grapes and melons at this
time of year. We also saw clothing, jade, carpets, furs, Chinese medicine items.....very interesting!! Many very odd things that they make tea out of and drink!!! ICK is all I can say!!
We went to the market this evening and are back in the room for the night now. Hopefully we can get some pictures up tomorrow!! Love to everyone!

Earthquake

2008-10-07T19:05:00.002-05:00

I just heard on the news(CNN the only English channel here) that there was an earthquake in Tibet. I didn't catch when it was, but we are fine and didn't feel anything. Just didn't want anyone to worry about us! We are quite far from Tibet, even though it is right under this
province of Xinjiang. We are off to the Grand Bazaarr today and then the mummy museum.
Riley is very excited about that. I'll post pics tonight!! Love to all.

More Urumqi Pics

2008-10-07T04:05:00.003-05:00

Oh yes did I already mention the word princess?? I wanted a girl and I got one! She is constantly wanting her picture taken and stopping traffic posing every 10 feet!! She also loves to take the camera and take pictures herself!! Did you see the great one of me??....She took that.

Also we went swimming today after we got back from our adventures. Last night she wanted to go really badly, and was laying in the floor pretending to swim because we were not responding to her wishes!! Rick called Jessie and had her tell Sha Mei that we would go swimmimg today.

Jessie told us this morning that she also told Sha Mei that she should go to sleep with her new Mama and Baba and should not cry. Sha Mei responded with ...yes I know that. She is something else, just like her two brothers!! Of course we wouldn't know what to do if we had a quiet, shy, obedient child!!! LOL

Hey Skiles' if you read this leave me a comment with your blog name. I can't find it. I know the password....it's easy. Hope all is well with the three of you.

Day out in Urumqi

2008-10-07T03:43:00.004-05:00

Today was a free day for us, normally you would stay close to the hotel and let your child get more acquainted with you. In our case, since she is doing so well and she is old enough to understand what is going on we decided to go out shopping with our guide Jessie. Sha Mei needed a different pair of shoes, because the ones she had on when we got her were boots. They are very nice new boots, but when we get to Guangzhou it will be hot weather and she will be wearing some dresses and shorts. We also needed some taller socks for her to wear with her boots while we are here in Urumqi. Jessie took us to a big department store where we bought her a cute pair of shoes and some longer socks. After that we walked all around several blocks from our hotel and looked at all types of people, shops etc. Then we decided to try and find the book store. After walking for nearly 15 minutes and asking about 4 different people we did find the bookstore and purchased 2 word books for Sha Mei with chinese characters and pinyin chart.

After this we were getting hungry so we stopped at a very small family restaurant a block from our hotel. Jessie said they had traditional Xinjiang food there including mutton. (which Rick had asked to try) It was very good, and Sha Mei ate a lot of "rice with meat." Jessie thought maybe her foster family had made this type of food for her.

Notice the pin striped size 4 Levis jeans? She was pretty happy with her new clothes.

Urumqi Info

2008-10-06T21:16:00.002-05:00

This post is for Kim, Becky, Dianna and Vickie!!! Kim.....I asked your questions to the director(that was the women in the pictures) She said that two of the children are still there. She gave me their names also. Secondly she said that the women in the picture was Drew's nanny . That she would have been the nanny for 6 children.....the six boys in the picture. She was very happy to see Drew and said he looked well. Becky.......I gave her all the pics from you of the weekend and also of your three children together. She was very happy to see them and said they looked
very well also. I asked her to show them to the foster mothers. Dianna.......I asked her about Sha Sha , and she said yes, the girl with a vision problem?? I told her that she had a new diagnosis and that she can see quite well in dim light, also that the bright light blinded her and that she was partially color blind. She seems very surprised that Gillian could see so well, and was very pleased to know she is well. Last but not least, Vickie.....I gave the director the gift for
Graces' foster mother, and she looked at the picture albulm and was so surprised at how big she looks! I told her she is very healthy and well. That made her very happy.
Our guide Jessie told us that the director chose Sha Mei's name and we said that we liked it very much. She seemed fond of Sha Mei, and was very nice and pleased to hear about all of the children.

Night number One

2008-10-06T17:58:00.002-05:00

It's morning, Rick, Riley and I are up. It's only 7:00, so Sha Mei is still asleep. I can not believe how great she did last night!!! I gave her a bath, which she didn't really want.....but had great fun once she got in. She learned the word hair while she was in there because she didn't like it when a hair would float around in the water!! Once we came out of the bathroom the boys were in bed asleep so we sat on the floor and played with her panda bear beach ball. I turned on the TV, and started flipping htrough the channels. She saw a show she wanted to watch......Just do it. Some of you may have seen this before, where the contestants run through a obstacle course and usually end up falling in the water?? She loved it, and has obviously watched it before!! She would yell out everytime someone started to do the course"just do it" in English!! When I saw her yawning, I motioned for her to get in bed.......and she just got in bed next to Riley with her stuffed animal and blanket from Nana Sandy. I was on her other side on the rollaway bed. She closed her eyes and went to sleep in about 2 minutess......that was it!! No crying ........ nothing!! She slept all night, even though I had to move her back up to the pillow two times...she moves around alot ! We are meeting Jessie at 8:00 for breakfast, so I better get ready!! Love you Rorey!! Can't wait for you to meet your sister!!!!

More Pictures

2008-10-06T06:04:00.004-05:00

I forgot to mention that She Mei had like 6 layers of clothes on today, and we so far have only gotten 1 layer off of her, but soon we will be getting in the bath tub, and figuring out just exactly what she is wearing!! Also the curly part in her hair was just barretts with fake hair attached. She has very pretty dark hair, it is soft and has gotten fairly long. She was doing a dance in the last picture here, and the director says she loves to sing and dance!!

Did I call her a princess??

2008-10-06T05:34:00.003-05:00

OH MY goodness didn't I call her a princess?? Well boy was I ever right!! LOL I can not believe that anyone EVER thought this child was "cognitively delayed" She is as smart as a tack!!

The direcctor of the orphanage talked with us for quite a while and she said that Mei Mei was very bright, she is in Kindergarden already, and she has been running the foster home. They gave us a formal portrait of her with her foster Mom and Dad and sister. She has already learned several english words, including...... Hello, OK, Riley, thirsty. She counts up to like 30 or more....... I couldn't keep track, of course my Chinese isn't as good as her's!! HAHA She was shy with us for about 2 minutes, and ever since she has been laughing and playing, holding hands with Riley and has used the bathroom 4 times(which is a big deal in the adoption world), she ate

french fries with ketchup this evening. She ordered her own lunch of Chi fan...cooked rice....and

stir fried vegetables!! We couldn't order for ourselves but she did!!!! The director said this is the type of child they would call a "little adult" which means she talks in long sentences and uses words like an adult. Just like her brothers!! HAHA She also rolls her eyes at you all of the time ....just like Rorey does!!! We are very happy, and are overwhelmed by how wonderful she is!!! Rorey she knows your picture and calls you big brother. More later,Love to everyone

Urumqi Pics

2008-10-05T19:28:00.002-05:00

Monday Morning

2008-10-05T17:09:00.002-05:00

We slept pretty well last night, I did take a nap yesterday afternoon, well all three of us did. I just could NOT keep my eyes open!! So last night at 8:30 I took 2 tylenol PM's and we all went to bed. I couldn't believe Riley slept in the afternoon and then slept again and didn't get up until Rick and I woke up at 4:30. We are getting ready to go to breakfast, and then we will meet our guide Jessie in the lobby at 9:45. We should get Sha Mei at 10:00 AM. I'm a little nervous, but not as bad as I would have thought I'd be!! I did have a few waves of panic while we where in Beijing.....mostly at night when I was laying there and couldn't sleep!! I would think, why did I do this?? What was I thinking?? Our life was fine the way it was!! But I think that is normal, as I had the same thoughts when Riley and Rorey where born. I'm sure things will be perfectly fine and in a few months we will wonder how we ever got along with out her. I'll post some pictures tonight, well hopefully if we can get this hotel computer figured out!!

Urumqi

2008-10-05T00:06:00.002-05:00

We are here in our hotel in Urumqi... 4 hour to get here. It was fine, nothing compared to flying to China!! Jessie has been telling us all about Xinjiang, the local customs and different ways of doing things here. She also has talked to the director of Sha Mei's orphanage and she said that Sha Mei was very healthy. She said when she was small she acted like a special needs child, but is now caught up with all of the kids her age. She also said that she loves "beauty" Which Jessie seemed to think meant she likes "girly" stuff. I agree and told Jessie that Sha Mei always has on bracelets and hair clips and fingernail polish in the pictures we have gotten in the past. We are heading out in a few minutes to go to the market for bottled water, and then get all of our paperwork ready for tomorrow morning. I'll post more later!! Love to all!!

Computer Trouble

2008-10-04T15:20:00.003-05:00

Sorry I have had some trouble getting to our blog and keeping on time with the info!! It's 4 AM here, and we are getting ready to leave for Urumqi. I woke up and thought it was morning but when I looked at the clock it was only 10:59!! I was miserable the rest of the night, snoozing a litttle then waking up and getting nervous again. Hopefully tonight we will sleep better as we will be settled into the hotel in Urumqi until the 11th. Tylenol PM here I come!! We are getting Sha Mei tomorrow morning, then going to do all of the paperwork. I hope to post pictures of her that evening. For now here are some more pics of our tour yesterday, and some of our"beijing duck banquet"!! Also one of the many photo shots for Riley with the locals!! HAHA he is eating it up! I think these girls thought he was much older than ten, They were nervous and laughing like he was a movie star!!

Love you Rorey, can't wait to see you!!

Oct. 4th Beijing

2008-10-04T06:12:00.004-05:00

We woke up this morning at about 2:00 AM, and thought it should have been 8:00AM!! We did try to go back to sleep, and ended up at 5:45, which isn't to bad I guess. had breakfast at the hotel here.....big buffet and had "normal" food! We met the other two families in the lobby at 8:30 to start out on our touring. First place we went was Tianamen square, which lead us into the Forbidden city. It was a cool cloudy day, with LOTS of people milling around since it is a national holiday here this week. After we were done at the Forbiden city our guide Jessie had reservations for us at the "Beijing duck Banquet" restaurant! We had several different foods including the famous "Beijing duck" dish. It was very good, and even the two boys in our group enjoyed the meal. Next we took off for the great wall. I think they should change the name to the great stairs!! I have never seen so many steps, all of different depths and heights, in a row before. Wonderful place to say "I have been there" but enjoy the pictures because unless you are in tip top shape you are going to DIE on the way up the thing!!! Only three of us out of our group went all the way up......that being Rick, Riley and Will(son of another couple with us) Laurellee aand Steven made it to the wall part, but didn't follow it to the end, I made it about 2/3 of the way and said "this is good enough!!" the other couple Dana and Steve(can you beleive another Dana?) went up partially and turned back also.(they are Will's parents) Tomorrow morning we fly to Sha Mei's city....Urumqi, Xinjiang province. we have to meet Jessie in the lobby at 5:30 AM. WOW that's early. Jessie is going to Urumqi with us, and will be the one who helps with all of our adoption paperwork. We take off at 7:45 and arrive at 11:45.

We Made It!!

2008-10-03T06:34:00.002-05:00

Well we are a here!! HORRIBLE That is the first word that comes to mind when I think about
that plane ride!! Awful, long, cold, uncomfortable and time warping. It took 12 1/2 hours to get
to Beijing, which after 3 hour we started saying "only 9 1/2 more hours" We left Chicago at 12:33 Pm, when we arrived here in Beijing it was 3:00 pm the next day!! We feel like we have been run over by big yellow buses!!! Tomorrow we will be going to the Forbidden City and the Great wall. I promise to try to get some pictures on the blog after tomorrows outings!! Riley is out cold in his clothes, maybe I'll just leave him there!! We gotta get in bed, just wanted everyone to know we are here safe and sound! Love to everyone, but especially Rorey!! Love you!!

We are on our way

2008-10-01T21:18:00.003-05:00

This is my last post from this side of the world! We are taking off tomorrow morning at 4:30AM for Chicago O'Hare International airport!! Next time I post we will be in Beijing China! Everything is packed away in the rental car, and we are ready to take off!! I still can't believe we are this close to getting our daughter. WOW! This has been a very long journey........very long. I just hope Sha Mei is prepared for our arrival, she may be the only one who IS calm!!
Just joking, Rick will be cool as a cucmber I'm sure! I on the other hand will NOT BE! Say a prayer for our safe travels tomorrow, and check back later for an update!!

Negative Mono Test

2008-09-30T07:34:00.003-05:00

Thank you to everyone who said a prayer and was thinking about our son Riley the last few days. He tested negative for Mono yesterday afternoon, and is feeling fine!! Not a minute to soon, as we are leaving this Thursday, TWO DAYS FROM NOW!!!! I'm off to my last day of work until December!!!

Five....Four.....

2008-09-28T14:51:00.003-05:00

We now have 4 days until lift off!! Rick finally made it home Friday afternoon, and we have been busy doing some last minute shopping , laundry, and packing! My internet has been acting up again, so I haven't been able to post for several days. This might be good as I have many other things to get done!! Riley had to go to the doctor on Saturday because of swollen glands in his neck. We are waiting on the strepp test, and praying that it isn't the dreaded MONO!!! Wouldn't that just be great?? So everyone reading this say a prayer that Riley doesn't get really sick while we are in China! Anyone who doesn't know...... he is going with us!! I'm thinking positively, it's just a virus, it's just a virus, it's just a virus. We are so happy, so excited, and so ready to get our arms around this daughter of ours!!

Someone Pinch Me!

2008-09-21T15:52:00.004-05:00

Eleven days, I repeat eleven days and counting until we are "leaving on a jet plane". Still I'm in a fog, I'm not even nervous really! Just going about my life like a deer in headlights, like nothing special is happening! People ask me if I have any news and when I say yes we are leaving a week from Thursday they freak out because I'm so cool calm and collected! Perhaps I'm in a dissociative state. I think I am!! Luckily I'm not psychotic enough to "FORGET" we are leaving
next Thursday!! I just don't think about it until someone asks. Why get all worked up, what's the big deal. It's just a little 2 week trip half way around the world, with our 10 year old son, leaving our 5 year old son, to bring home our new non-English speaking 4 year old daughter! Never mind the fact that I hate to fly, Riley has never flown, Sha Mei (who has possibly never even been in a car!!) has never flown. Rick has been out of state since July 7th, and will be home "sometime next week". I'm not packed, Riley's not packed, Rick's not even unpacked!! Sha Mei is the only one who IS packed! Come on, what could possibly go wrong?

Somebody pinch me please!!

15 days and counting!

2008-09-17T08:25:00.002-05:00

We have 15 days until we leave for China!! WOW I still can't believe it!! We have waited sooo long to get this child home with us! It will be a YEAR in October since we first saw her little face on the waiting child list from CHI. It has been so hard to know who she is, what she looks like, how old she is, and not be able to get to her!! I'm sad that we have missed so much of her younger days, but I'm praying that she has been well loved and cared for while waiting for us.

Today I'm doing some more packing, and my king sized bed is covered with luggage and backpacks and toiletries in zip lock bags! It has been hard to limit our suitcases to 44 lbs. each (which is the limit for inside China and we are taking 3 flights while there) At least once we have Sha Mei we will be able to have 4 suitcases instead of three and that will help!! Obviously there will be some shopping done while we are there!!

Itinerary Finalized!!

2008-09-14T13:45:00.003-05:00

We only have 18 days left until take-off, and we have our finalized itinerary! I have posted it day by day in the sidebar so you can keep track of where we will be everyday while we are gone.(Mom) China is 13 hours ahead of us, so if it's 7 PM here it will be 8AM the next day in China. We are leaving here on the 2nd but won't arrive until the afternoon of the 3rd there. Reversely on the way home we leave China the 16th at 4:10PM and arrive at O'Hare at 4:15Pm the same day!! What fun!! I wish the flight was only 5 minutes!! HAHA I have a feeling we will ALL be consuming some Bonine, Dramamine, Benadryl....Whatever it takes to make it back with out any ugly outbursts!! (I include myself in that comment!!) Keep us in your thoughts, especially Sha Mei.. as this is going to be the hardest on her. She is leaving everything and everybody that she has known and starting a new life with US!! No special people, no super people, no special education teacher, just our plain old family with 2 kids, cat, dog, mortgage, car payment, screaming boys and long timeouts!! She will not know what to think for quite some time I'm sure!! So if you don't see us out and about, at church, at work, at the park, don't worry, we are just trying to help her adjust to a new life. And this could take some time!!

Visas Are In The Building!!

2008-09-09T19:36:00.005-05:00

Today our lovely postal carrier delivered our passports back to us,
containing our Chinese visas!! Yahoo we are legal to enter China!! We have 23 days until we take off!!! Wow I can't believe it!! I still feel like I'm having an out of body experience!! I keep thinking I've forgotten to do something, or I need to do something, but what?? It's just pure anxiety, it's keeping me up at night and distracting me during the day. By the time we leave I'll be exhausted!

First Day of Pre-school

2008-09-05T13:50:00.010-05:00

Well here we are!! Rorey's first day of Pre-school!!! It was so much fun, we went to Wal-mart and did some shopping for our China trip, during which Rorey was on his best behavior! Before we left Rorey got his favorite treat, "chicken balls" And yes before you ask me, chickens do have these!! OK--- popcorn chicken --

Next we went to our second home away from home......... Starbucks!!! Man I love this kid!!! And you want to hear the best part??? He always gets the same thing at Starbucks,......... A glass of water!!!! So he got his water, Mom got her fix, we took a picture of the coffee making employee and headed to Good Shepherd Pre-school!! Rorey was so excited to go, and so happy when I left, I'm at home right now with no children here-both at school-WOW for the first time ever!!! Of course this will be over in 4 weeks when we add the little princess to our family!
I guess I better enjoy the peace and quiet now!!!

Itinerary Finalized!!

2008-09-03T08:24:00.004-05:00

It is done, set in stone, totally confirmed!! We are leaving for China on October 2nd!!!! YAHOO!! I got the flights arranged last night and it is a done deal!! I just can't believe it is finally happening! Still waiting on our visas to arrive back here, but they are now at the Chinese consulate in Chicago and will be overnighted to us next Tuesday. Now I need to concentrate on packing, preparing Rorey for our absence and getting Riley's school work taken care of.

Here is our itinerary for China::
Oct. 2nd.....leave US
Oct. 3rd......arrive in Beijing
Oct. 4th......sightsee in Beijing
Oct. 5th......fly to Urumqi
Oct. 6th......GOTCHA DAY!!!!
Oct. 7th-10th...sightsee in Urumqi
Oct. 11th....fly to Guangzhou
Oct. 12th....SHOP in GZ
Oct. 13th....Ellie's medical exam
Oct. 14th....American consulate appointment
Oct. 15th....receive Ellie's visa
Oct. 16th....Fly back to Beijing, then on to US!!!
arrive in Chicago Oct. 16th 4 PM!!!!!

A big THANK YOU to all of you who have helped us along the way!

Travel approval!

2008-08-31T14:38:00.006-05:00

Friday our travel approval was received by our adoption agency, which means we are completely approved by the Chinese government to come there and finish this adoption!! Children's Hope has ask for consulate appointments for us, and we should have verbal confirmation on our itinerary by Tuesday. Once everything is confirmed then it is time to purchase flights and arrange inside China travel. WOW I'm still that deer in the headlights!! It is so surreal!! After this long and this many setbacks, I'm waiting for the .....wait somethings come up!! I really don't think that is going to happen, but it happened soooo many times on our journey so far, it is like second nature now! I've been nervous for over a year and coming down from that and feeling "normal" is harder than it would seem.

MORE PICTURES

2008-08-28T17:11:00.002-05:00

Is this not the sweetest little girl? Hopefully we will say the same when we finally get to see her face to face. These pictures are from July of 07' when Ellie was 3 years old. The children were putting on a show for the visitors that had come to thier orphanage. This is Ellie with her best friend, who was adopted and left China last fall. It looks like she is the smallest one, as her outfit was falling down in nearly every picture we have.
I can't believe that five weeks from today we will finally be on our way to our little sweetheart!!

Visas Please

2008-08-28T16:06:00.004-05:00

Last week we received a travel packet from our adoption agency giving all kinds of info about traveling and paperwork etc. We were given the go ahead to get our visas from the Chinese consulate in Chicago. For anyone who is not a world traveler a visa is a big stamp inside our passports that gives us permission to enter China. It is only good for a certain number of days, depending on the type of visas you apply for. I filled out paperwork for Rick, Riley and I, attached our really unattractive photos to the forms, wrote out a big check, and express mailed all of it to a courier who will deliver and pick up from the consulate in Chicago.
Hopefully they will return to us within two weeks. Just one more step towards the light at the end of this adoption tunnel!!

School starts!

2008-08-21T17:20:00.005-05:00

Riley started 5th grade on Wednesday the 20th, and I can't believe that he is already 10 years old! (soon to be 11 but going on 18) Tonight we have a parents only meeting at school to talk about the curriculum, meet the teachers, band info etc. I'm going to drop the China trip bomb on them and let them soak it in for the next few weeks so they can figure out what to do about the classwork that he will be missing. He is going to be missing 12 school days, well maybe 11... that is if our school is off for Columbus day. This is the trip of a lifetime and I feel that he should go. How often does a 10 year old boy get to spend two weeks in China?

TENTATIVE TRAVEL DATES!!!

2008-08-15T18:33:00.006-05:00

Surprise!!! That is what I found today on my e-mail when I arrived home!! Children's Hope has given us our tentative travel dates for China!! This all revolves around getting appointments for us at the American Consulate in Guangzhou to apply for Ellie's visa. If for some reason we can't get appointments when they are planning them, we will have to change the travel dates. Let's keep our fingers crossed and pray that it will all be approved, and finalized as planned!! We are scheduled to leave the US on Thursday Oct. 2nd and return on Thursday Oct.16th. WOW it feels so sureal!! I'm in a daze, like a deer in headlights!! I'm not sure if I want to yell Yahoo, cry or Throw up???
Maybe I'll do all three!!

LOA OFF TO CHI

2008-08-07T21:29:00.004-05:00

The boys and I spent the entire day at home waiting for the "package " to arrive via UPS!! Literally, he didn't come driving up until after 6 PM. It did finally show, and we opened up our LOA with great excitement!! I signed, filled out forms, gave a DNA sample(just joking) and prepared it to go back out!! OH yes I forgot wrote out a big check!! We high tailed it to Fed-ex and got it mailed off and then celebrated by going to the boys favorite spot----McDonald's playland!!! YAHOO It just happens to be right next door to the Fed-ex Kinkos.

Now what?? We WAIT AGAIN!!!! China will be sending us our TA(travel approval) next. This should arrive in 2-4 weeks, and give us the dates that we can travel.

What do you think of my little girly girl? One thing we noticed about 27 pictures ago is that she ALWAYS has on a bracelet, and also some hair bling. Can't wait to dress her up in all of her new clothes!!!

OUR LITTLE PRINCESS

2008-08-06T20:23:00.005-05:00

Well we are official now, so bring on the pics!! Sorry I'm picture happy tonight, but I'm so HAPPY!! Is this like the cutest picture ever? This is from a group who went to Ellie's orphanage earlier this month!! This is like a real time photo just a week or two old!! This is what she really looks like right now!! I can't wait to get this girl in my arms. The time is coming closer every day.

Thank You GOD!! LOA

2008-08-06T14:23:00.003-05:00

I got the call today from our agency that our LOA/SCL arrived at their office today!!! YAHOO. This is our official referral for Ellie, they have approved us to adopt her and we should be traveling soon!! (Well 8 weeks or so) That is soon in comparison to how long we have been waiting already!! Unforutately October is tricky time to travel in China due to a national holiday and a large 2 week trade fair that goes on in Guangzhou(GZ). The American consulate is in GZ and we will spend the last week there waiting for our consulate appointment to get her visa to travel here to the US. We will just have to keep waiting and trusting in God to work it out for us and keep Ellie safe and healthy as she waits for us. We are REALLY HAPPY!! and the weather for our trip should be perfect!! The only problem is that Riley will have to miss some school, but luckily he is a good student and will be fine. So tomorrow I will spend my day peeking out the window waiting for the UPS man to stop by!!!

RUMORS

2008-08-03T20:06:00.004-05:00

I guess the "rumor" that no one would be working in the CCAA during the Olympics got all the way back to CHINA!! They made a statement saying they would continue to work on adoption documents, but with a smaller staff than usual. This is great news for us, it will only keep our process rolling!! Our friends the M's got their LOA this past Friday for the SN little girl they are adopting!! We are so excited for their family!! There is a possibility that we could receive our LOA this next week. I'm not going to get my hopes up just in case it doesn't come, but it would be wonderful!! The sooner the better. Poor little Ellie probably thinks we are never coming!! We have been PA(pre-approved ) to adopt her since last December!!
On another note, the foot thing?? I went and I looked at the shoes in the size they say her foot is! I made Rorey put on a pink shoe with rhinestones and girly designs(he LOVED it) and I still can not believe that she would actually wear that size!! It is the size Rorey wears, and he is 8 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier!! She is going to have some REALLY BIG feet if the measurements are correct!!! Although, my co-worker S. has two nieces adopted from China and she says they both have long narrow feet.
And still it's making me crazy(crazier) not to be able to buy her some shoes!!

Waiting on LOA

2008-08-01T18:58:00.003-05:00

We are still waiting on our SCL/LOA from the Chinese government, and it really could arrive at any time!! If we don't hear anything by August 8th , then we will have to wait until AFTER the Olympics. The Chinese adoption office is based in Beijing also, so there will be no one working on our papers until the Olympics are over with. In reality it is only about 2 weeks, but it will feel a lot longer!! Once we receive our papers & sign and return them to China we will wait again for our TA(travel approval) It will give us a window of time that we are approved to travel within to finish the adoption. Hopefully within 8 weeks of our LOA. So we really are getting close!! Everyday it gets harder to wait, I wonder more what she is thinking, I wonder if she is ready to come home, I start to get nervous everytime it comes to mind. (like once every 4 seconds) Let's hope they are preparing her for our arrival!! She has a photo albulm of us, our house, her brothers, grandparents and our dog and I hope they are showing it to her everyday!!
So say a prayer that we will be hearing something soon!! REAL SOON!!

YAHOO UPDATE!

2008-07-27T15:59:00.003-05:00

Well here they are, the long awaited update photos!! I can't believe how grown up she looks! We also received her new measurements and she has gotten bigger since October. I'm not real convinced about the accuracy of these measurements, but it gives us an idea. I think maybe they weigh them and measure height with clothes & shoes on. I'm also thinking they might measure her foot inside a shoe. According to the new info her foot is bigger than Rorey's!! NO WAY! He is a year older, 7-8 inches taller and he does not have a little foot!! Either way a dream has ended, no shoe shopping for Ellie until we have her foot with us (and the rest of her of course) Also I was very happy to see she still has all of her long hair!! I was hoping they hadn't cut it OR shaved it off!! It has grown quite a bit and seems to be hanging down her back!! It will be easier for me to "do" if it is long enough to pull back. Since all I'm used to is wild cowlick ridden short cut boy hair!!

We are happy to have new info, but are still waiting anxiously on our SCL/LOA. Hurry up China!!

Picture This

2008-07-21T19:12:00.004-05:00

Well I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to put Ellie's picture on my blog!! This is a picture from July 06. We think she is so pretty!! I can not wait to get her home with us. She is four years old now, but in this picture she is two. We are waiting anxiously for our LOA/SCL from China. Hopefully it will come really soon!!We love you Ellie, and we will come as soon as we can!

Christmas in July

2008-07-16T17:12:00.003-05:00

Hey it's 94 degrees outside, so what does Rorey want to do this afternoon?? Go swimming, no way. He wants to watch Scrooge!! So here we are hold up in the AC, eating popcorn and watching "A Christmas Carol". Next it's going to be "The Grinch" and then he's going to want to watch "Elf". Both of my boys have a Scrooge obsession, Riley has watched it so many times he knows every word. He also used to make us pretend to be the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, while he played the part of Scrooge. My Mom especially loves to play that game!! HAHA!

Adoption Grant $

2008-07-16T14:38:00.004-05:00

A few months ago we were awarded a $1,500 matching grant by Lifesong for Orphans. I was sooo happy because I didn't think we really had a shot at getting any assistance with our adoption finances. They were very supportive of our choice to adopt an older, waiting, "special needs" child, and offered us this opportunity. The donation period is over and we raised more than our goal!! So we also get the full grant!! Thank you God for coming through even when my
faith was not always 100%. I have tried REALLY hard to not worry about how we are going to pay for this adoption, but it is so hard for me to let go and put it in God's hands.
I think it was easier for me to put the selection of our daughter into God's hands than our financial issues. The day I truly laid down my will about selecting a child (which is a very stressful process) is the day I came home to find a VERY unexpected e-mail offering us Ellie. Those of you who have not adopted or have waited for a referral may not truly understand the pure anxiety that this type of decision brings.
I trust that God has chosen this child for our family, a decision that only he could make perfectly.

Fourth of July getaway.

2008-07-08T19:46:00.008-05:00

EVOLUTION?? NO WAY!!!
We spent Friday the fourth of July and Saturday the 5th at the Creation museum in Petersburg Kentucy. It was so great!! Very new and very nice!! Great theaters, movies, and special effects. A cool planetarium, dinosaur walk thru, Noah's ark rooms, guest speakers, beautiful outdoor trail with fun suspension bridges, and a petting zoo. The boys enjoyed themselves and it was nice to have people with PHD's explaining how the evolution theory(and I use that term lightly) has more holes in it than swiss cheese!! If this is something your family would be interested in, check it out !!

Filling the closet!

2008-06-29T18:42:00.002-05:00

I've been shopping!! We are hoping to travel in October at the latest, and found out that it will still be rather warm in all three locations that we will be visiting in China. Probably 70-80 in Beijing and Urumqi, and probably mid 80's in Guangzhou (although not as humid) So this means we need to take summer clothes with us for Ellie!! I'm in heaven because things are going on sale now, as the stores are gearing up for the winter clothes and Christmas decor!! So Saturday Rick and the boys watched me while I perused Target to find something to go with a shirt I bought that says"little girl, big dreams" on the front. I picked up two cute little skorts to match the shirt and a super cute bathing suit for Ellie!! They all were on sale and I love a bargin!! Ellie more than likely will not want to go swimming, but with her big brother Riley partaking she might decide to try it!! I definately want to be prepared just in case!
Now if I just knew how big her feet are!!!!

Getting closer!!

2008-06-18T15:48:00.007-05:00

Well I'm still crossing my fingers, but I think our internet is finally back!! Yahoo!! No e-mail or blogging in the comfort of my own home for nearly 4 weeks is enough to push me over the edge! Not that there is much to blog about right now, we are waiting on China to send our LOA. We are expecting it in about 7-8 weeks! Then we should have a good idea when we will travel.

For now we are getting Ellie's bedroom ready, buying some dolls and cute clothes etc. Things I've never really looked at before since we have two boys! It is feeling REAL finally, and every time I think of how close it is my stomach flips over!!! What if she doesn't like us? What if she doesn't want to leave China? What if I don't know what to do with a GIRL!!

Also it's going to be really hard to leave Rorey here, even though he will be in hog-heaven, staying at my Mom and Dad's house! Maybe even going on vacation with them if we travel at the right time!! And then of course there is the flying!!!!!!!!!! AUGH!! I'm going to need medication!!

STILL NO INTERNET!

2008-06-13T09:24:00.002-05:00

Well I can't believe it, but we still have no internet service!!! These people are crazy if they think I'm paying the bill this month! Really nothing is happening with the adoption right now as we are waiting for China to approve all of our paperwork. We will be expecting a letter and official referral in late July or early August giving us an estimated travel time. So I will keep you all informed if anything else happens!

YAHOO!!! LID

2008-06-05T15:45:00.001-05:00

Well I called CHI after whining in my last post and they had received our LID this morning!!!
Our date is May 30th! So now we wait for China to OK everything and say come get her!
I'm very excited, but also sort of nervous! I'll keep you all updated!

Still No Log In Date!

2008-06-05T12:06:00.001-05:00

Well as you can see, we still have no LID. Our internet is still not working correctly, not that we noticed since we had no power after Monday nights storms until Wednesday morning at 7:30. The boys and I went to my parents Tuesday night, since we didn't have water either!! Rick stayed home alone in the dark, and hooked up a generator. Next time this happens at least we will be able to flush the toilets!!
I guess I'll call CHI and try to figure out why there has been no word about our log in date. We are DTC as of May 9th!!! Most people have the LID 3-4 days later!! This is actually what I should have expected since NOTHING else has gone smoothly thru this process. Well I take that back, one thing did go smooth- Picking Ellie- Thank God!!!

Computer Blues

2008-05-29T16:57:00.004-05:00

Sorry everyone, our Internet has been on the fritz for the last week! I'm at the library now trying to give you a little something to read!! We are still waiting on a LID. My social worker said today that she would check on it. My friends and I have noticed that surprisingly things seem to be going faster than they used to with the LOA's and traveling dates!! This is good news for us, as we now are only waiting for China to give us the go-ahead!! Of course in the same breath (or typing cramp) my stomach starts to flip over every time I think of it! The flying, the new child, the whole language thing, my boys, the bathrooms in China!! Bathrooms are important to me and I'm in big trouble once we leave our hotel in China!! The good bathrooms in China are like a urinal, but set in the floor! They are called the "squatty potty." The average ones are just like going out in the woods here in the US- in an alley or empty spot behind a building somewhere. This is bad for me!! I can't even go in a porta-potty!! Oh well, Ellie better appreciate my sacrifices!

Sick boy has birthday party!

2008-05-18T20:10:00.005-05:00

Today was Rorey's 5th birthday party! Unfortunately he started in yesterday with a fever and complaining of a stomach ache. After sleeping all night, this morning he had a 102.7 degree fever, was crying and saying his stomach hurt again! I had to go to church because I was singing on the praise team for two services so Daddy stayed home with Rorey. I loaded him up with Tylenol and took off! Amazingly he was doing fairly well when I got home, so I loaded him up with Advil and we went on with the party!! Poor little thing had fun opening presents, but didn't eat much cake and ice cream because of his stomach problem. He is such a trooper! What do you want to bet he picked up this little germ at Chuck E. Cheese on Thursday?

DTC Finally!

2008-05-12T20:06:00.003-05:00

It's official, we are DTC as of Friday May 9th!! For thoses of you who don't know the lingo that means we sent our "documents to China." We should have an LID soon. (log in date) Of course the earthquake in China may slow us up, but right now we aren't sure what will happen.

Happy Mothers Day!

2008-05-11T17:33:00.007-05:00

Welcome to our Mother's Day "free show." There was dancing, singing, laughing, you name it the boys did it! They looked pretty cute all dressed up in their play clothes, especially Rorey in the sombrero! Riley loves to wear the derby hat that belonged to my Uncle Bob before he passed away. I keep thinking next Mother's Day there will be three little cast members performing in our family room! Can't wait!

Brothers to Be

2008-05-09T19:17:00.005-05:00

Well we decided to add a little human interest to our boring blog with some pictures of our big brothers to be! Both of these pictures were sent to Ellie in her little photo album of our house, family, dog, etc. Hopefully they are preparing her for the transition by showing her these photos everyday and explaining who we are!! She may need some extra explaining when it comes to Rorey! This picture shows his true personality! Riley of course is Mr. cool as usual, posing like he is in GQ magazine! All four of us are getting really excited and

a little nervous as this process seems to finally be coming to fruition! The realization that we are adding a new child to our family, and a four year old one at that has caused a little anxiousness but mostly happiness with our boys. We can't wait (well at least I can't) to get some girl stuff in this place!

Ni Hao! (hello)

2008-05-08T20:35:00.003-05:00

Tonight Rick, Riley and I started Chinese leasons!! Of course all we learned tonight is how much we don't know! In addition to speaking, James is also going to teach us Chinese cooking once a month. He said Riley "has good tone." In Chinese there are four "tones" and if you say a word in the wrong tone it means something different! Hopefully by the time we go to China we will at least be able to ask for the bathroom! HAHA! We hope to keep Ellie speaking in Chinese, Riley learning and maybe even Rorey (once we get him to speak English correctly!)
It was exciting to start this new "family project", and I feel like a one hundred pound weight has been lifted off of my chest since our paperwork is out of here!