A month with many ups and a big down.....

I am sorry for not posting sooner, but we have been pretty busy lately. First I will begin with the good stuff. Jon, Natalie and I went on our first family vacation! We packed up the car and drove to Franklin, North Carolina to pan for rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Yup, that's right! Got right in the dirt, sloshed it around and found some pretty rocks. Jon is having a couple of them polished and cut, I can't wait to see what they will look like. The gems, in their natural state, look just like plain, old, junkie rocks to me! We had a great time and Natalie loved playing in the muddy water. Near Franklin was Cherokee, which is a Cherokee reservation. We saw a lot of really cool artifacts and learned a lot about the Cherokee culture.

Next stop was Daytona, Florida. Anyone that knows Jon, would say....well, of course! We got to Daytona USA with just enough time to tour the track, see the IMAX movie and get a picture taken. Natalie loved all the noise. During the movie, when the engines started up, she squealed with laughter. Our little adrenalin junkie!

The next morning we were off to Disney World. You can't go to Florida and not stop there. I think it a state law. LOL We stayed at a great Disney hotel, the Port Orleans - Riverside. And it lived up to its name. It was like being in old world Louisiana on a plantation by the water. Natalie loved the Magic Kingdom, though she was not too tolerant of the heat or waiting in lines. Ah well, that's what you get when you take a two year old. Live and learn.

The whole reason for our trip to Florida was because we were having a reunion with our Great Wall China Adoption travelmates from Natalie's adoption. There would be all seven families that travelled to China to receive our daughters, all from the same orphanage and all born in May, 2005. But more about that later.

On our third day at DW we met up with the D's, Jack, Bonnie, Ryan and Keira. Natalie and Keira took up as though they had never been separated. It was so cute to see them call each other "Baby!". I wonder if they really do remember each other......we will never know. Jack got us a room at the Dolphin hotel, so we could be close to them. It was very elegant and posh. The pictures do not do it justice. As a group, we went to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, and then Animal Kingdom on Thursday. It was so much fun sharing that with them. We had dinner with Winnie the Pooh and Friends at the Magic Kingdom. Natalie fell in love with Piglet and Pooh.
Then we went on the infamous, It's A Small World ride. Again, a BIG hit with Natalie. Animal Kingdom was great, but very crowded and hot. I think it would be better in the fall/winter when you can really stop and look at all the animals. Friday, it was Star Wars Day at MGM!!!!! The D's begged off (smart people - lol) and Jon went to frolic with all the other little boys and middle aged geeks. Sorry Honey. Natalie and I joined him, in the evening, after it began to cool down. Actually, it was a lot of fun.

On Saturday, we all left for the beachhouse, near Clearwater, where the rest of the gang were beginning to arrive. It was one of the most memorable weeks in our lives. All the girls have grown so much. The transformation from scared babies to beautiful, healthy, happy little girls was almost enough to burst your heart.
The girls took to each other as though they had never been apart. By the end of the week, they were calling each other by name. Even though there were seven 2 year olds, there was no fighting over toys. The girls got along so well. Everyone was wonderful and a great time was had by all. It's so amazing that you can take seven families, from different parts of the country and different walks of life, and everyone will get along as though they had been friends for a lifetime. I guess sharing one of the most emotional and joyous times of our lives created a very strong bond. We have already begun planning our next reunion.




OK, not to the not so happy......

As you know, we were finishing up our dossier (which had already been sent to our agency) and it was about to be reviewed and sent to Vietnam. Our next step would be to wait for our referral. Well, on Monday, June 4th (when we were leaving Daytona, actually sitting in the parking lot of a place for Jon to get his Visa pictures taken) I got a phone call from Kathy, our FTIA rep, saying that we should hold off on sending our workbooks and money because Vietnam is changing their adoption procedures. It seems, because there have been so many families submitting dossiers for matching, they have gotten overloaded. So, the IAD in Vietnam have stopped accepting family dossiers until they get more caught up. What this means to us is............according to Kathy, we are still on the same timeline for referral. What has changed is that we will wait to submit our dossier until we are close to receiving our referral. FTIA will tell us when to start gathering all the updated documents (our I-171h and homestudy should be ok). We will have to have everything re-authenticated at the Vietnamese Consulate. Then it will be submitted to the IAD in Vietnam.

Needless to say, Jon and I were very upset. Though we were able to put this in the back of our minds until we got home. It was very upsetting to see our finished dossier sitting on the dining room table, knowing that it will all have to be re-done. I am sorry, but it still gets me upset just writing about it. (It's not that I am angry at anyone. I understand that this is one of many things that are out of our control. It's just that we worked SO VERY HARD to get this dossier done, ran all over Lansing rushing to submit it to the agency. And now we have to do it all again. The VN authentication alone will be another $500!)

(This was taken minutes after Natalie was placed in our arms for the first time)

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We Are So Blessed

We have the opportunity to pray and wait and plan and hope and dream and work for our child. Circumstances don't allow us to take our child for granted - ever. We do all these things for so long and at such great emotional cost, that when our child is finally in our arms, we truly cherish every minute. Every second...

We are blessed to be in our child's life. We are blessed that God planned for us to be a family, and that we were given the opportunities that brought us together. We get to see all the best parts of mankind in our wonderful children. All the goodness and potential and innocence and ambition and confidence and love. And what a beautiful sight that is...

We are blessed to have run this race. It is long and, very often, it is practically impossible to complete. But we run anyway, and believe in ourselves and our child enough to do the impossible. We run, knowing that at the end of this great race, a child is waiting for a chance at a wonderful life. And we get to be the ones to give her that life.

We are blessed that when our child laughs, we are the ones to hear it. And when our child cries, we are the ones she looks for. When our child feels pain or joy or accomplishment or excitement, she shares it with us.

We are so blessed to have had the chance to see life from a different angle. To see that things don't always go as you planned them out in the 5th grade- but that better things are in store. To be part of the few who feel constantly misunderstood. To be one who always has to be on guard against the rude and ignorant comment. To feel the frustration of not having the perfect comeback to that comment until three hours later. Our kids can use those experiences and lessons we have learned. We are deeper, stronger, more compassionate people because of this journey. And the world our children live in is better because we have grown in these ways.

Our child is blessed. She is patted and hugged and nestled and rocked and kissed and squeezed and taught and tickled and corrected and praised. She is told of her value in God's eyes. She is certain of her value in our eyes. And she never wonders if she will be cared for tomorrow or the next day...she sleeps comfortably each night,safe in our care.

We should tell our children we are proud. We have saved and scrimped, prayed and begged, planned and schemed, worked and worried, and hoped endlessly for them. We have dedicated years of our lives to finding them and bringing them home to their forever family. And we have given our whole hearts to them even before we ever saw that precious face.

Now that is love. And parents who adopt know all about that...

Author unknown

Where does the time fly

It's hard to believe that May is almost over. The months seems to have flown by. We celebrated Natalie's 2nd birthday this past Thursday and tomorrow is mine. I will not elaborate on which one.






We are finalizing our plans to go to Florida. There is a re-union of all the families that travelled with us to Chongqing, China get our daughters. This is the first re-union and everyone will be there! We can hardly wait. We are driving down, with a few stops on the way. We are going to spend a couple of days at Disney World. One of the other families is meeting us there and we have planned a lot of fun activities! Then we are all going to Clearwater, where the 'out-of-towners' will be staying at a beach house. They were able to squeeze us in. It will be fun because we will all be staying together in the same house. The beach house is divided up into seperate sleeping areas and bathrooms, for privacy, but has common eating/living areas. I know that the babies will have a great time getting to know each other again. I can't wait to see how all the other girls have grown.


Here are the Girls of Qianjiang Social Welfare Institute, Chongqing Province, China. From left to right are Jillian, Jade, Logan, Keira, Natalie, Anna and Micah. They were all born in May, 2005 in the same city, Qianjiang. They were playmates at the same orphanage, Qianjiang SWI and were adopted on the same day, March 28, 2006. The families all used the same adoption, GWCA and became acquainted, thanks to the internet. We chatted on-line for many months before meeting in China. Though this will be our first re-union, I hope that they will continue for many years.

I've been tagged!

Since this is my 1st time being "tagged", I'm not exactly sure what to do...so bear with me. I am supposed to revel 7 things about myself. OK, here goes......

1. Like Rony, I also married a much younger man. I won't go into specifics. Let's just say that I robbed the cradle.

2. I went to Northern Michigan University in Marquette for a couple of years. I LOVED it up there and would move back in a heartbeat.

3. I have always had a calling to adopt because I was adopted as a baby. I never felt bad about being adopted, instead I always thought that being adopted made me 'special'. I hope my daughters feel the same way. One of my favorite stories is something my dad told me once. He said that when he first saw me at the orphanage, I grabbed his finger and wouldn't let go. He said that was the moment that he knew I was meant to be his daughter.

4. I have a few hobbies. Quilting (not the best, not the worst), reading (though who has time anymore?), and shopping (which I have passed on to Natalie and hopefully Nora).

5. I have to admit that I like Yanni. Shameful, I know but it's true. And I like all that New Age/Meditation stuff. David Lanz is another favorite and Jim Brickman. I am a sucker for anything piano.

6. One of my addictions is starch. If I had to pick only one food group to eat from, it would be breads and pastas. Give me a warm loaf of homemade bread and some creamy butter and I am in heaven. Too bad it's not low calorie!

7. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would have been to China and am planning on going to Vietnam, I would have told you that you were crazy! I am terrified to fly! How I got half way across the world, I'll never know. Chalk it up to the power of prayer. And a mother's determination to get her child and bring it home!

Dossier is off to FTIA

I just got back from mailing our finished dossier to our agency. Wooo! What a relief to get it done, signed, sealed and now being delivered. I got some really nice photos of our house. Jon even asked "Is that what our rooms realy look like? I couldn't tell from all the clutter." Comedian!

As I was packaging up our dossier, at the post office, I realized that I had forgotten to bring my finished workbook. Rats, well, I can send it with Jon's. I just wanted to get as much in as possible. Oh well.