Thursday Morning!

Well Ellie was wide awake this morning at 5:10 am. Mackenzie and Ainsley got up at about 5:45. I got some good sleep last night which was great. I did wake up multiple times but I was able to go back to sleep which was good. I was in bed by 6:30 last night as I was not feeling well. Everyone else ate at KFC but I was so sick I threw up there...I am pretty sure I was experiencing dejavu as the same thing happened when we were in China the last time. I was pregnant with Mackenzie and KFC's mashed potatoes were the only things that sounded appealing. We went there and I promptly had to throw up..of course they don't have the traditional bathrooms that we have but squatty potties. I can assure you the experience wasn't pleasant and not one I wanted to repeat. Fortunately I ended up getting sick in a KFC bucket and not the bathroom. Jeff walked me back to the hotel with Ellie and got her ready for bed while I crashed on the bed. I think I was out because I remember nothing till waking up at 11:30 or so. We all got a pretty good night of sleep and feel good. We will be getting ready and heading to breakfast at the buffet here at the hotel. One might think that the Western Restaurant serves Western food...but then you would be mistaken. Their selections for breakfast are quite amazing! Nothing like you or I would probably envision as breakfast foods. Though they did have some amazing potatoes yesterday morning that were great. They did have bacon and eggs too which allowed Mackenzie and Ainsley to survive. We are having some R&R today and packing up our stuff. We are leaving one suitcase open for stuff today and trying to get everything else packed up. Hopefully we will have a great day with Patrick and Kim and Moyer as they will be leaving tomorrow early afternoon. We will be VERY sad to see them go as we have had soooo much fun with them. It is difficult when you live in different countries to see each other often though we have seen quite a bit of each other the last few years. But it is always a bit sad since we know it may be a while till we see them again, especially with the so VERY cute Moyer! Patrick and Kim have been lifesavers for us on this trip and though I know that God would have worked in out even if they weren't here I can't even tell you how thankful we are that they have been here for us. They have done babysitting, translating, encouraging, shopping and a plethora of other things. I think Patrick has kept the Chinese people a little more honest since they knew he could speak Chinese. Patrick and Kim's Chinese is amazing! We have told them that when they adopt we will come over and be there for them and do some translating too. They are encouraging us to stay away:) Just kidding. We now realize why people adopt in groups. There is a definite need for community when you are in a culture so foreign from your own. I just wanted to post to let you know I am doing better and that I have been so encouraged by everyone's prayers for us. I have definitely felt them in the last few days and needed them. Please continue to pray! ,I want to post the video that Jeff mentioned yesterday of the Chinese kids saying Hi to the girls...it was so amazing. The girls were done wanting pictures by the end of the day!

A Fun and Tiring Day

Steph and all 3 girls are already asleep tonight - they were out by 8pm. We had a fun day together today. Ellie started out pretty cranky this morning. We were concerned that she was taking a step backwards in the progress she made Tuesday. Then we went upstairs for breakfast. She downed a ton of food, and seemed to perk right up. We talked with the US doctor this morning over breakfast, and set up a plan for a physical at 2pm. Then we headed off for some sightseeing. Kevin, our guide, took us on a fun boat ride on West Lake in Hangzhou. We all had a blast. Ellie did really well on the boat and walking around the gardens at the lake. I posted some pics of the lake and a video of some Chinese children saying hello to Mackenzie and Ainsley. Mack and Ainsley were like rock stars today - everyone wanted to get their picture taken with the cute white girls and everyone was staring at them. I think Kenzie enjoyed it, but Ainsley got tired of all the picture requests. Tough life as a rock star..... Then we were off to lunch at a nice Chinese resteraunt, and then did a little shopping at a silk shop. Found some cute outfits for the girls. I think the highlight of the day was when we got back to the hotel. We let Ellie walk around in the hallways with the girls. She LOVED it. This was a big step for her to run and play with the girls in the hallway - interacting, giggling, and having lots of fun. Check out the cute video of her in action. She had a physical after that. Dr Jerry basically concluded what we expected. She is making more and more progress each day, and it is impossible to say what delays are from being in an orphanage vs. a mental or physical problem. He was very encouraged with her progress overall. We hung out with Kim, Patrick and baby Moyer this afternoon and evening. We took a walk out to get some KFC, and Steph started feeling a little sick and very tired. I brought her back to get some rest with Ellie while Patrick and Kim took the other 2 girls to see a water fountain/light/music show. And now we are all in the room to hopefully get some good sleep tonight...... Please keep praying for Ellie and her progress. Also for Steph getting the rest she needs - she woke up at 3am today and needs to get more sleep than that. Our plan for Thursday.....lots of R&R. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Wednesday

Well..we are all up bright and early. I believe the 3 girls were up at 5:15 and so I decided to turn the light on as the room is pretty small. Jeff was definitely wondering why I decided to do this but once the girls are up pretty much impossible to keep is dark and quiet. I tried to post last night but wasn't able to get on so I will post this morning and maybe try again tonight. Yesterday was rough but we did see some progress with Ellie. She did a lot of mimicking of us and had some good time with both myself and jeff. We attempted to get a hearing screening done at the hospital but it was crazy. Terrifying to say the least! Hospitals in China are nothing like hospitals in the US. Our guide had the orphanage director come down and one of Ellie's nannies, who pretty much took Ellie from us. By the time they actually find the hospital, which apparently they didn't know where it was, I was pretty upset. The hospital had people EVERYWHERE...the lines were insane and even though it was like 11:30 we wouldn't have been able to get in till the later afternoon. Jeff and I decided not to do the hearing screening and just come home. We finalized the adoption from China's standpoint yesterday and she is officially ours. We all napped yesterday which was great and we were able to locate a fan which helped me sleep some last night. Ellie seemed to do better last night with some of her self-soothing behaviors which was good also. We will see our travel group doctor this morning at the breakfast buffet which we have yet to go to...we have just been eating in our room. Hopefully he will be able to give us some encouragement and suggestions on what to look for for with Ellie and how to best help her start to come out of herself.

Scared, Nervous and Ellie

I know that may not be the best way to start out the blog but today has been a pretty emotional day. We were very excited today to finally meet Ellie. The orphanage people were a little late, so we were there first. When they brought Ellie in and I got a glimpse of her I was initially excited but to be honest also terrified. As I watched her interact and then as my friend Kim talked with her nanny I became more concerned. We were initially told she spoke 2-3 words back in May and I was assuming that probably her vocabulary had increased. When Kim was talking with the nanny that brought her she said she says absolutely nothing. She also looked to me like a down syndrome baby. I pretty much shut down emotionally and was completely overwhelmed. Jeff and our guide got us through the paperwork...and the language barriers. We asked a few questions and then it was done. She wanted nothing to do with me and arched her back a lot which I am still concerned about but finally we were able to get pictures done and headed back to the hotel room. She seemed to calm down and was interacting a little better in the room. But as soon as we headed for dinner at the buffet upstairs, it was more crying and arching her back. We have decided to spend the next few days staying low-key and keeping her environment as consistent as possible to see how she adjusts. Ellie got a bath tonight and played with the girls. Mackenzie and Ainley love her, and she started to interact with them some. We are still concerned about her lack of talking, and plan to talk with the doctor on the trip but haven't yet been able to reach him. Please continue to pray for wisdom and guidance for us. I am pretty scared and nervous but have to trust that God is in control. I am also exhausted so please pray for rest for all of us.

First Night in Hangzhou

Well, we are up after our first night in Hangzhou. We got in last night around 6ish. Our guide came to pick us up and we found out that we have a different guide. His name is David and he seems nice. Not sure why we have a different guide..it seems he said something about the other guide being too young? No idea. We also met up with our friends, Patrick and Kim Smith and their baby Moyer who is tooo cute. It was great to finally get to see them. They will be here all week with us helping us out. We really have no idea what the week is going to look like but you can pray as I am a bit nervous and not sleeping that well. We were all up 6 this morning but I was awake much earlier...3 something I think. We will be meeting our guide at 1:30 and meeting Ellie at 2 I believe. We will then do some paperwork for her passport I think. Not sure what they day will look like but excited to finally be meeting Ellie! Last night on our way to our hotel, we were stopped at a stoplight and we saw a guy run down the middle of the road chasing after a taxi. After watching him catch the taxi and hit it...loudly yelling...in Chinese of course..and then opening the taxi door..our guide looked back and said that the taxi apparently had hit him! He seemed no worse for the wear as he was able to run after the taxi but what do I know! He obviously was expressing some extreme displeasure with the taxi guy...my guess is there were some Chinese expletives involved though since I don't swear in Chinese I don't really know!
Our room isn't very big..we were thinking that it would be much bigger so you can pray we make it. 5 of us in a little room...with only 2 twin beds...not sure how it will all play out. That's about it for now. I obviously hope to post later today once we get Ellie but not sure if we will have the time or not. We will post some pics as soon as we can!

Good Morning from BJ!

We are up bright and early this morning. I woke at about 5:15. Not sure why but I did. I slept a bit more last night. The girls each woke once but went right back to sleep and then at 6 everyone needed to go to the bathroom so we have really been awake since then. Jeff is still in bed but he handled the girls last night when they woke so that was nice. I am feeling a bit more rested. We spent the day yesterday just hanging out, relaxing and talking. Sue took us to a Chinese restaurant and we had LOTS of great food. I am pretty sure the girls didn't think so though! Chinese food has never been their favorite but it makes me glad that we packed some American food just in case! Mackenzie ended up coming home and eating PB&J. Mackenzie did try some of most of what we gave her though which is improvement. Sue ordered these awesome green beans and I could have eaten the whole platter. And then there was meat sticks, rice, sweet and sour chicken, chicken with peanuts, Chinese french fries (apparently they are hand cut with a cleaver but are REALLY thin)and some bread. Ainsley promptly fell asleep about 10 minutes into the meal. She almost fell off her chair! So I held her the rest of the time. Then a Chinese woman came up and started talking to me about Ainsley. Sue didn't know what she was saying either but we think she wanted to get Ainsley a mat to sleep on and put her down..however since I had no idea where she wanted to put her, Sue sent her away after several attempts to communicate with me. One would think the completely lost look on my face would have given me away!:)
We were all in bed at around 8:45 last night. This morning we are going to get ready and head to church with Matt, Sue and their other house guest Pam who is here on sabbatical from Taylor to do some teaching this month. We will have lunch, pack up and head back to the airport to fly to Hangzhou. We will try to post again tonight to let you all know how it went! We meet up with Patrick, Kim and Moyer this evening in Hangzhou and they will be there the rest of the week with us!!!! We are so excited! I would post some pictures but then you would all know that we are still in the same clothes we flew in...pure laziness..but they are so comfortable:)

Hopefully you will all hear from us tonight in Hangzhou!

Beijing!

We have finally arrived. Actually we arrived late last night but were too tired to post then. Everything went very well all things considered. The kids did fantastic and we had a good trip. I am not a fan of flying as I get quite motion sick. So by the time we landed in BJ I was ready to be done and never get on a plane again but hopefully I will have recovered for tomorrow's flight! Our flight from Tokyo was delayed by about an hour and a half so we didn't end up getting into BJ until about 11 pm. Our friends the Bassetts, who we are staying with, picked us up and got us back to their place safely. Thank-you Sue and Matt!! We are here today and will probably be relaxing and getting caught up on sleep. Jeff and Mackenzie just got up at about 11:15. Ainsley and I have been up since 8. Actually Ainsley woke up several times and so I didn't get nearly as much sleep as Jeff. The girls didn't sleep much on the flight. Ainsley slept about 1 1/2-2 hours and Mackenzie 45 minutes. Ainsley actually fell asleep under the chairs at our gate in Tokyo. I got a picture of it and will post it. It is pretty cute! That's all for now. We will post tomorrow sometime! We are thankful for all the prayers and for arriving safely. Only 2 more days till we have Ellie!

Travel Day!!!!

We're at the Cincinnati airport waiting for our flight and wanted to make one last post before we leave.

Here is a picture of us just before we left the house this morning. Hopefully our next post will be from Beijing.

See you then!

Getting ready to travel

Well I thought I would post even though I don't have any exciting new pictures to add. I am learning to use the video on our camera since we have decided to bring only our digital camera with us. I like the video feature that it offers and both Jeff and I want to keep everything simple and just enjoy the time we have in China with Ellie.
This weekend will be spent doing last minute stuff and packing. Seeing exactly how many suitcases we will need to bring, etc. So it will be busy but at least we have several days next week to do any last minute details. We have already taken care of many things so I am feeling pretty good about the next few days. We leave on Thurs morning from Cincinnati but have quite a bit planned before that happens. The girls have a birthday party, school, ballet and Awana. So lots to do but time will fly as it already has. I can't believe we have less than 6 days left!! Actually 5 full days till we leave! Please keep us in your prayers as finish packing and especially as we head to China at the end of the week. My biggest concerns that you pray about are the girls and how the handle the long flight and jet lag. Adjusting to Ellie and her adjusting to us and handling the jet lag for me. I always seem to be hardest hit by it and I am not sure why that is but pray that my internal clock can at least semi-adjust!

The Countdown Begins

Well...today marks the 2 weeks left before we travel day! As I was laying in bed last night trying to go to sleep, all I could think about was Ellie..and what we still have left to do...and then Ellie again....and then how we were going to get all of our stuff from the airport to our friend's home in Beijing..and then Ellie. I fluctuate from excitement to nervousness at the drop of a hat and don't know when the next time will be that I have a decent night's rest. Unless is is within the next few days from pure exhaustion. Jeff has been gone right now for 9 days. He has been in Italy and France on business while I am at home keeping the fort held together. Some days it feels like I am duct tape and some days only scotch tape, but overall the days have been ok. That is until yesterday. He was supposed to come home yesterday but unfortunately his plane has some technical problems so they weren't able to leave. Why can they not send another plane? Who am I to question...apparently they just can't. He was supposed to be home at 3 in the afternoon...then I got a message on the machine saying there were technical problems and it wouldn't be till after 5 when he got home. Then he called at about 1:30 our time...7:30 pm his time to tell me the bad news....not coming home today. He apparently will be home THIS afternoon at 4. My day then seemed to drag because I miss him and his sanity...and 9 days without his sanity is a LONG time if you know what I mean! Ainsley has been telling me "you hurt my feelings mom" in a VERY loud voice multiples times each day. One would ask...what exactly is it that I did...did I yell at her? Did I take away all her dollies? Nope...apparently anytime she gets in trouble and I have to tell her to go to her room hurts her feelings. This could be a LONG life for her. So anyway...I didn't get to bed till late as I was up doing things and I couldn't sleep and I was up with Ainsley at least twice...and as I lay in bed, not sleeping, all I could think about was Ellie. So I LOVED reading my friend Jennifer's post from yesterday. I didn't read it until this morning, after a what felt like an entire night of being awake thinking about our adoption, and it was a great encouragement to me. I haven't asked her if I can copy some of it but hopefully she doesn't mind...

I have to believe this dream was just a little bit of encouragement from God to start on this journey I feel might be our hardest yet. As Greg and I talk about how tough her adjustment might be, we do the research on her medical, emotional, and physical needs, and I think about all the tedious paperwork and numerous logical issues ahead, I feel overwhelmed. It didn’t help today as I was trying to engage a social service provider for our home study, I was “blown off”. The reason left on our voicemail was “we don’t service Smyrna”. I know that’s not the real reason, you don’t just not provide a service to one town…I had felt things go downhill when I said Tessa was 9. It would not be nice of me to reveal who this home study provider is, but now that I’ve read through their website, I have to wonder if they are in the business for the “right” reasons. I did ask once this afternoon “God, is this a roadblock telling us to stop?” Yes, we could stop right now- no money has changed hands yet, no commitments have been signed- it would be so easy to just stop here. In adoption, there are many points at which you can exit. But- you can’t just stop when you are called. When you are called, you press on knowing you will be given the tools, endurance, knowledge, and funds to move forward. When you are called, your mind and body get tired with the workload, but your heart stays focused on bringing home the child. So, I made another call and waited for an answer. The answer came from a social worker with another agency who, after I filled in the blanks on our situation, laughed and said my husband will have a lot to deal with “with all that estrogen in his house”. I guess I know who will be doing our home study!

So Jennifer, thanks for your encouragement to me and all those out there wondering why they are adopting. God has called us to this little girl and no amount of fear, sleepless nights and chaos will change that fact. We are excited and blessed that He has allowed us to do this and will be just as blessed if He allows us to do it again one day. Only two more weeks to go till we bring you home, Ellie! We love you so much and look forward to the day we can hold you in our arms and call you ours!

Patriots Rock!!!

So though the experience was not close to the joy of childbirth or the anticipation of adopting our little girl from China...it still was an amazing night. Jeff and I acquired tickets to go see the Patriots play the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati for the Monday Night Game of the week. It was amazing!! For all of you Bengals fans out there..sorry...but for all you Patriots fans...go PATS!! It was my first ever live NFL game and it was soooo cool. The lights, seeing live ESPN coverage, and of course seeing the Patriots in person. I am still in amazement. I prayed and God answered. We were not spat upon, jeered (too much), thrown up upon nor did we have beer poured on us. So overall I think the night was a huge success. I am sure that had we had tickets higher up in the stadium maybe it would have been a bit rougher for us. However, I was practically spitting distance from Tom Brady and wow...so cool. We were four rows behind the Patriot's benches and I got some pics of Belichek, Bob Kraft, Brady, Bruschi and Randy Moss. I could have gotten so much better shots but of course my camera died shortly after turning it on. Amazing that we had the camera in the first place for any of you that know me well...I have resorted to placing it in my purse wherever we go so that I don't forget it. Which leads us to the night's problem of having the battery die. since it is in my purse all the time I forget to charge the battery!! If I take it out to charge it I then forget to put it back in my purse and the vicious cycle begins again. I am pretty sure my friend Jill would be HIGHLY disappointed in my lack of picture taking ability. I probably ought to take classes from her or something but alas...
Anyway, it was an amazing night of football and fun and I am so thankful for the experience. I think Jeff had fun too:)

Adoption Open House/Baby Shower

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who came to Elliana's shower/open house or who were unable to come but gave us monetary gifts! You don't know how much we as a family appreciated it!! And a HUGE thank-you to Sophia Lewis for organizing it and doing so much work. I hope you were all able to have fun because we did...and thanks for all the money and gifts as it is a huge help to us. We appreciate each of you so much. Here's a picture of the poster board that Sophia and I put together. I liked it:) I of course got no other photos as the camera was not out...leave it to me! Hopefully we remember if for China!

King's Island

I wanted to post with a few pics of our recent annual trip to King's Island. P&G has their annual family day there every year and the girls love going. They were a bit disappointed this year because when compared with Hershey Park there weren't nearly as many "fun"rides that they were able to ride. "Fun" means any ride mom wouldn't go on...which was pretty much any ride that went in a circular, up and down, side to side motion...so you get the picture:) But we did manage to still have lots of fun and get some cute pics! Hope you enjoy!