Pondering the Last 5 Months

Today, on December 21st, Rayanna is 21 months old.  On Christmas Day we'll have had her for 5 months!  Since I'm sure I won't have time to post then (and since it's just me and a sleeping Rayanna home right now), I thought I'd write down some of the thoughts I've had lately . . .

 . . . I think it's amazing how one little baby can bring so much fun and happiness to a family.

 . . . I think it's quite a blessing that she has no hearing problems and is catching up very well developmentally.  Whether a misdiagnosis or a miracle, we're so happy she's healthy!

 . . . I think my perspective has changed enormously over the past 2 years.  2 years ago I would've thought the clogged-tear-duct surgery Rayanna's having tomorrow was a big deal and quite scary.  Now I hardly even thought about it other than getting babysitters for the other kids!

 . . . I think 4 children is the perfect number for me to have, and I feel like our family is complete now.

 . . . I think it's surprising to find out how much I've missed having a baby and toddler!  We've flown through about 18 months' worth of "stages" in 5 months' time.  It's going so fast!

 . . . I think it's precious how snuggling a sleepy baby can ~pause~ all of life's cares and demands.  Holding her comforts me and fills me with such peace and contentment that I forget about everything else and just want to keep holding her forever.

 . . . I think it's fun and exciting to see how much three big siblings can love their baby sister, each in their own unique way, but all of them so affectionate toward her.

 . . . I think it's phenomenal how a child can be so completely bonded to her parents of only 5 months, and probably have no recollection of her life before she joined our family.

 . . . I think it's astonishing how much we love we can feel for this precious little girl that 5 months ago we had never even met!

 . . . I think it's unbelievable that we've only had her for 5 months!  It seems so long ago that we were in China trying to get her to take a bottle, so long ago when a bottle was the only thing she'd eat, so long ago when she could only crawl, so long ago when we had no idea of the fun personality hidden inside that quiet little girl, so long ago that we were a not-yet-completed family of 5.  It's only been 5 months, but it feels like she's always been in our family, always been a part of us.

 . . . I think adoption is a beautiful and amazing experience.  Of course, giving birth to children is beautiful and amazing too.  No matter how our children come into our families, they certainly are a blessing from the Lord.

Our first day together

Our little barrel of fun

And Baby makes 6!

MY Baby

OK, so I know you're not supposed to be glad when your children cry. But this was special. . . today was the first time Rayanna cried when I handed her over to the nursery worker at church! She knows I'm her mommy!!! Never have a child's tears made me feel so happy! (In case you're worried, she got over it very fast and proceeded to be the happiest baby in the nursery. So don't feel bad for her or anything!) =)

Today's also the 2-month anniversary of Gotcha Day. It was two months ago we first met our beautiful baby.

The Girls

New accomplishments for both of our girls this week!

Yesterday, Rayanna had a developmental evaluation and an audiological evaluation at Kennedy Krieger.  The audiology tests showed almost everything normal.  One test (which I think measured the movement of the ear drum) was slightly different than it should've been.  (It made a broad graph rather than a pointed one, whatever that means.)  He said this could be due to the ear infection she had a few weeks ago, so he wants to retest her in 3 months.  Other than that everything is normal, and her hearing responses were within the normal range.  So she's definitely hearing!  Praise the Lord!

Rayanna's developmental tests showed her to be around a 9-month level, meaning a 50% delay.  This doctor also wants to see her again in 3 months to see if she's catching up.  Only then would she be able to determine if there's any disability or if it's just a delay due to lack of stimulation.  Our guess is that her delays are due to lying in a crib staring at the ceiling for her first 16 months of life!  We really don't think there's anything wrong with her that love and attention won't fix.  And, as if to prove what she can do, Rayanna took her first steps this afternoon!  Two steps all by herself, and then she stayed there without falling over! We're so proud of her.  :)

Tabitha, too, had a major accomplishment this week.  Heath was giving her a bath yesterday, when she said "Daddy, there's poopy coming!"  So he put her on the toilet, and sure enough . . . success!!!!!  That's exciting for any young child's parents, but for a child who is 4 years old and not guaranteed to ever have bowel control????  That's REALLY exciting!  Now, of course this could be a coincidence, just a fluke, so I'm trying not to get too excited.  BUT, it could also be a major answer to prayer and evidence that she will indeed have full bowel control one day!  Please continue to pray with us that that will be the case!

One more medical thing (as if there weren't enough).  Last week I took Tabitha to the ENT to check her hearing (all normal), her nose bleeds (nothing too concerning), and her nasal speech.  This doctor thinks that her nasal speech is caused by velopharyngeal dysfunction.He wants us to go to the cleft clinic at Johns Hopkins for further evaluation and possible surgery.  Hooray.  I can't wait.  I find my reaction almost comical though.  Looking back, I probably should've been a little upset or worried getting news like that.  And before all we've been through with Tabitha I probably would have been.  But it didn't even phase me!  I almost expected it.  Poor Tabitha . . . as if she hadn't had enough to deal with already!  That appointment's on the 26th, and Rayanna's opthamology appointment is on the 27th.  And that should be it for this month!

One Month

It was one month ago today that we met our little Rayanna for the first time, and it's been 3 weeks since we arrived home with her.  On the one hand it's gone really fast!  But on the other I feel like she's always been with us.  She has eased her way into our family with very little fanfare!

HOWEVER, the honey moon is definitely over.  While I'd still call her an easy baby, she's starting to show us she's not all flowers and bubbles.  For one thing, she has not taken a real nap this entire week!  A couple of days were my fault (letting her fall asleep in the car and trying to skip her pre-nap bottle), but the other two days there's no excuse!  The last few nights she's also waken up once or twice.  She goes back to sleep fairly easily, but after such a perfect start it's not fun to have that happening!  She's also been more grumpy.  While we can now put her down without hysteria, she's taken to the more usual toddler behavior of whining and fussing when she wants to be picked up.  She also would hardly eat today (except her bottle) and got very mad and loud when I tried to get her to eat her baby food!  But, nonetheless, she's usually still pretty content and happy.  It's just that I've had my bubble burst, finding out she's not perfect.  ;-)

She's continuing to become more interactive, and she's working hard on all her motor skills too.  She's pulling up and cruising all around now.  She's also starting to get inquisitive, which means I need to work on some more serious child proofing!  Until now she hasn't seemed curious about anything, but now she's starting to get into things.  Even though it's a hassle, I'm so glad to see her interested in her environment and learning new things!

She really is a precious little girl and a delight for all of us.  Here's a picture of our little sweetie, one month after gotcha day.  (I tried to catch a smile, but it wasn't happening today.)

Back Online! (And slightly shaken!)

Well, we finally have our cell phone and internet service back!  Turns out a tower was hit by lightning during the big storm Thursday.  I really realized how dependent I am on it when I couldn't use it for almost 6 days!  I couldn't contact anyone at all, for anything!  Couldn't pay bills, look up information, or even look at my calendar! I've always been one to value "real" things and want a hard copy of everything.  Only recently did I surrender to an all-online calendar and email storage.  Perhaps I should go back to my old ways!

Today we had (hopefully) our final ostomy problem.  We were at Borders perusing their going-out-of-business sales when Tabitha announced that her bag was leaking.  I figured she meant urine, since the valve occasionally opens by accident.  But, no.  Much to my dismay it was the OTHER bag.  Somehow the velcro closure had decided to open of its own accord, and there was liquidy poop all over the inside of her dress and running down her legs.  Fortunately we made it to the bathroom without an audience and were able to clean her up well enough to finish our errands.  It was my first shopping outing with all 4 kids, and it would've been smooth sailing if not for that.  GROSS.  Hallelujah....we only have a week left!

Anyway, the "slightly shaken" part of the title comes from having my first-ever experience with an earth quake!  Actually, I guess there was supposedly one here last year, but it was much smaller and I was asleep and didn't know anything about it.  This time was quite different!  Heath's mom (Stephanie) was here, and we were in the living room with the kids when the house started shaking!  My first thought was a wind storm, but it was perfectly sunny weather outside.  While it kept shaking, my mind raced through all the possibilities I could think of, but came up with nothing!  It only lasted about 3 seconds, but it was the strangest feeling.  Stephanie figured out what it was; otherwise I don't know if I would've ever thought of that.  I mean, this is Maryland, not California!  It turns out (if you haven't seen the news) that there was a 5.8 quake in Virginia, and it could be felt from New York to South Carolina!  Yikes!

In less dramatic news (but just as exciting to me), I have our school planning pretty much finished.  When we get back from Cincinnati we'll be ready to go!  Ethan starts 2nd grade, Jesse starts kindergarten, Tabitha starts preschool, and Rayanna hopefully continues to be an easy baby.  =)  I've got my schedule all made up.  It'll be great, as long as everyone cooperates and I don't plan on having any free time.  Ai yi yi.  It'll all be worth it in the end, right fellow home schooling moms?  =)

Our Cincinnati trip is just days away.  Besides the obvious excitement of getting rid of the ileostomy, I'm excited to see a couple of friends and my mom too!  It should be a good trip.  I had been worried about taking a trip so soon after getting back from China, but I think it'll be fine.  We've had lots of wonderful meals brought by families from church, Rayanna's been a pretty good baby, and this transition has gone much easier than expected.  I think this first family "vacation" might turn out to actually be fun!  =)

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors!

Before adopting kids I think our only visits to doctors were for shots.  (Well, that and the occasional need for dermabond and/or staples in our boys' heads.)  Since Tabitha joined our family we've become very familiar with doctors and hospitals though!  Rayanna seems that she won't need nearly as much medical help, and yet . . . we'll still have seven doctor appointments in her first two months home, not counting Tabitha's surgery!

Today I took the girls to get their hearing checked.  Babies in this country have their hearing checked at birth, but that wasn't done for our girls (as far as we know), and we have reasons to question hearing for both of them:  Tabitha because of her speech delays, and Rayanna because of the unexplained doctors' comments on her referral.  So I made an appointment for them both at the ENT for a hearing check.  I thought we were actually seeing the ENT, but I guess I mistakenly scheduled us only for the audiologist's hearing check.  It was really quite useless.  Tabitha was too shy to cooperate in the sound booth, and Rayanna just didn't react to much.  The doctor doesn't want to say that she has a hearing loss though, because it could just be that her developmental stage isn't where it needs to be for her to react as expected.  (The test they do on newborns can't be done on toddlers because they're too active; the child must be perfectly still and quiet while the device is put into their ears and the test is run.)

So, here's the plan:  the week we get back from Tabitha's surgery in Cincinnati, she'll go back and see the ENT this time.  He'll clean her ears and check her palate and nose, since she has sounded congested for a couple of months and always has a nasally voice.  Then, at the same visit, we'll go back to the audiologist and hopefully she'll cooperate with the hearing test this time.  For Rayanna, we're going to go to the Kennedy Krieger Institute, where they can do a test that actually monitors the brain waves to see if the brain is registering sound.  No cooperation required!  (They also have an international adoption clinic that will do a developmental evaluation and some other things, so hopefully we can do all of that at once.)

I also just called the opthamologist about Rayanna's possible tear duct problems.  The earliest they can get us in is September 27th, and the visit will take 2 hours!!  I can only imagine what "fun" things they have planned for her.  =(    Any volunteers for babysitting during these appointments will gladly be accepted!  Dragging four kids to doctor appointments is torture for all of us, the doctor included!  (Fortunately, I was able to drop the boys off with Heath at work today so they were spared the agony.)

On the 28th we leave for Cincinnati to get rid of those awful bags!  Hooray!  I am SO excited to be done with all that, and I know Tabitha is too!  She seems to have a small infection around the hole where one of the tubes goes through her skin into her bladder.  We've contacted her urologist about it; just pray it doesn't get any worse.  I'd like to make it these last 2 weeks without any further complications!

I'm actually looking forward to our trip out there.  We're all going so that we can be together as much as possible.  We'll switch off who stays with Tabitha and who's with the other kids, and we'll do some fun stuff in the area like we did when we were out there in February.  Also, my friend Kelly is coming from Illinois, and it'll be great to see her and her kids!  And my mom might even come too!  So we'll turn it into a big party for everyone.  =)

I'm hoping 2011 will be the last year of constant medical issues.  I know there will always be some things to deal with, especially for Tabitha, but I really hope it slows down!  Fortunately, none of this is life threatening, and all the kids are in very good health.  We're quite thankful for that!

Rayanna's Accomplishments

Rayanna had a very productive day yesterday!  She crawled all around the living room for the first time, pulled up on the coffee table to stand several times, and even willingly ate baby food!!!  She's on a roll!  She's eating much better, sleeping very well, and really coming to life!

Her ear infection is better, and her eyes are a lot better than they were but still tearing a lot.  The pediatrician wants us to see an opthamologist to see if she has a clogged tear duct, which would mean a quick surgery to fix it.  And Tuesday is our appointment with the audiologist/ENT to check her (and Tabitha's) hearing; I think we'll also do her blood draw that day for all the lab work to check for a million and one things.  By then we'll be done with the antibiotics and eye drops (which she HATES), and have nothing else until the next round of shots.

Here's a video of her laughing and crawling.  (Don't mind the dog.)

Our First Days Home

Well, so far this adoption has been 150% easier than the last one!  I don't know if it's the difference in the girls' ages, Tabitha's medical needs, their personalities, or just my frame of mind, but this time has been a piece of cake compared to the last one!

The big kids love their new little sister.  They all want to hold her and help feed her.  Tabitha's a little aggressive with her love, but other than that they're all getting along well.  Ethan's old enough that he can really help a lot, and even Jesse is great at entertaining her and playing with her.  We've had a few successful times of getting her to sit on the floor without being held!  Once Heath and I are out of sight she'll stop crying and be content for quite awhile.  I think she's very used to being alone in a crib, so once she can't see us she goes back to the complacency of her early life.  She's coming more and more alive though!  Last night I was tickling her and she just laughed and laughed.  It was so cute!

Ever since we got her, her eyes have been goopy, and the last couple of days she's had a fever.  Her doctor exam was today, and we found out that she has conjunctivitis (pink eye) and an ear infection!  Not to mention she's getting her molars.  With all of that, plus the huge changes she's undergone, it's unbelievable to me how good she's been.  She does get fussy, but nothing like I'd expect from a baby who's dealing with so much!  I can't wait to see what she's like once she's settled in here and healthy.

She's still not eating much.  I'm hoping once she feels better she'll have more of an appetite.  And we'll start working more seriously on getting her to eat solids.  She still refuses anything but her bottle, and even that she doesn't want very often.  Hopefully it's just from the sickness and stress, and she'll improve quickly soon.

Wednesday we go back to the doctor to check her tuberculosis test (PPD).  I was ready for a lot of screaming when the nurse pricked her, but she barely fussed!  She cried a whole lot more than that when I put her in her car seat!  On Wednesday, if her fever's gone and eyes/ears are better, she'll also be getting shots.  I hate to do that to her when she's just learning to trust us!  But since the PPD didn't bother her much I'm hoping the shots won't be a big deal for her either.

Heath's going back to work tomorrow, so the real test begins.  How to manage 4 kids?!?!?  But I'm not terribly worried since things have been going so well.  Honestly, I'm more worried about having to go back to managing Tabitha's ostomy and urine bags!  It's been SUCH a nice break from that while we were in China and then these few days while Heath's been home.  But I guess reality is about to come back, and I need to prepare myself.  At least it's only for 3 more weeks!!

I feel so incredibly blessed today.  Four beautiful children, the world's greatest husband, a beautiful home, wonderful friends, salvation by God's grace, and so many other things as well.  These past couple years (with Tabitha's issues) have been extremely difficult for me, but I feel like we're starting a new chapter of life, and it's gonna be a good one!

Home Sweet Home!

We've made it safely home and are now a family of six!  We got home around 1am last night (Thursday morning). I can't decide which was worse . . . the 48-hour trip and spending the night in the airport on the way there, or the 28-hour trip home with a "lap baby" and not feeling well.  I got a cold the last couple of days in China, and that airplane air is horrible!  Plus, when you're holding a baby and trying not to wake her up, it is VERY difficult to get comfortable!  I thought I would go crazy several times and was so tired I was physically weak and had to have Heath carry Rayanna lest I drop her!  We also had to claim and recheck our luggage at both layovers which just added to the fun.  But the long flight on the way home did have TVs for every seat with hundreds of selections, so that helped the time pass.  It was 3 hours from Guangzhou to Beijing, 13+ hours from Beijing to Newark, and then a 5-hour layover!  Our final 1-hour flight from Newark to BWI was delayed, but fortunately they were able to switch us to a flight to DC instead, so we got home about the same time.  However, our bags went to Baltimore, and we are still waiting for them as of 9:00 pm Thursday.  If we ever go to China again we are flying DIRECT, and maybe even first class.  At this point I think it would be worth every penny!!!

Heath's dad was nice enough to pick us up and drop us off at our house so we could sleep before getting our kids.  We dragged ourselves inside.  I noticed the boys' light was on so we went to turn it off and saw a note on the floor outside the girls' room:  "Beware!  Pink Inside!  Welcome Home!  Love, Kelly et al"  We opened the door and were absolutely astonished!  Our dear friend Kelly Hills had painted and decorated the girls' room!  She'd asked me awhile back if we were going to paint it since it was still blue from when the boys had it.  I said I'd like to, but I never got around to it.  And when Kelly paints, she means business!  It is absolutely gorgeous!!!  She even made curtains and added little accessories around the room.  I got all teary eyed standing there admiring it and knowing how much work she put into it.  What a wonderful surprise.  Today whenever I walked in there I just felt so cheerful!  It's really, really awesome.  Kelly, you are truly an amazing friend.

After this great surprise we then attempted to go to sleep.  But Rayanna lost a bit of her "perfect baby" status last night.  She would not sleep.  She just screamed!  And this wasn't her sad/scared cry, it was angry!  Didn't she realize how absolutely exhausted we were and that anyone in their right mind would simply pass out in bed at the first opportunity?!?!  At 2:00 Heath took her into the other room, and we were going to take shifts staying up with her so we could each get some sleep.  But, being the wonderful guy that he is, he never woke me.  So I slept from 2-10, and Heath and Rayanna slept from about 5-10.  I'm really hoping that's just jet lag and not a new problem!

Once we were all awake we went to pick up the kids.  They had a great time with Heath's parents!  Mom & Dad, thanks so much for keeping them for us!!  Everyone enjoyed meeting Rayanna (though she's been really crabby today due to her lack of sleep).  It was so good to see them after so long.  It was a very nice break, especially from the medical stuff, and I felt truly refreshed and excited to see them again.  We loaded up their truckloads of stuff and the dog and headed home.  The older kids have all been excited to hold Rayanna.  Tabitha's a bit vigorous in the attention she gives her, but everyone really likes her.  I think the fact that she's more of a baby than a toddler will make this transition a lot easier than the last one.  She can't really do anything to make anyone mad yet!  And she certainly isn't going to dominate the household like another little girl did a couple years back!  ;-)

We got some groceries, unpacked a little, and played outside.  It was so nice out this evening!  (Either that, or I just got used to southern China humidity and anything feels good compared to that!)  Now the kids are all in bed, and Heath and I are just waiting for our luggage.

Timeline results:

From referral to meeting Rayanna:  5 months and 4 days

Entire adoption start to finish:  1 year, 4 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days

I'm so thankful for each of you who prayed for us, encouraged us, supported us financially, or helped in any other way.  We appreciate all of you!  God has truly blessed us with four beautiful children, and a wonderful trip to China.  Safety, financial provision, health, joy . . . so many blessings that I know I don't deserve.  Thank you, Lord, for your amazing grace!

It feels good to be home, and I'm very excited to begin our new life as a family of six!

Our Last Day

Well, our time in China has come to an end.  Today was a non-eventful day....did a little walking around, went to the pool, had dinner at a "French" restaurant, and now we're packed and ready to go.  We head out from here at 8:30 tomorrow morning and get home in the wee hours of Thursday morning. 

 

This has been a really good trip.  Other than our night in the Beijing airport, everything has gone really, really well.  Rayanna is an absolute delight, we've had a very nice time here, made some new friends, and get to go home with a new daughter!  Praise God for so many wonderful blessings!

 

I was holding Rayanna as she went to sleep tonight, here in our quiet hotel room, and I got to thinking that it's the last time I'll have so much peace and quiet!  Having a baby who needs to be held all the time is one thing when she's the only child and you have no other responsibilities.  But when we're home with 4 kids and all of life's demands I know it'll be a lot more challenging.  I'm very thankful that she's such a contented baby...hopefully she will stay that way, and the transition will go well for all the kids.  I'm very excited to see them, and I know they'll love their new little sister!

 

Thanks for all the prayer and encouragement and for following along on our journey!

Monday

Today was a pretty fun day.  This morning we had our consulate appointment.  We had to leave at 7:10, which meant waking up Rayanna, but she did well.  We took the (quite anti-climactic) oath, which basically just says that everything we said on our documents is true.  We turned in our papers, and they'll have Rayanna's visa ready tomorrow.  After that we tried to go to an interesting market area, but it turned out to be a modern shopping area.  Loud, busy, modern, and expensive.  But the cool part was when we turned down a back alley and explored.  We got to go through these tiny little roads and see the "neighborhood."  That was very interesting.  The amount of contrast here amazes me.  There is old and new, rich and poor, andh one extreme is usually right next to the other. 

After we got back Rayanna took a really long nap.  When she woke up she drank a full bottle, and then about an hour later she drank another full bottle!  This second one was the first one she's cried for.  Every other time you can't even tell she's hungry.  She hardly ate yesterday, so she seems to be on an every-other-day eating schedule!  But we were very proud of her for downing two full bottles today!  =) 

For dinner, Clint & Angie (the couple who adopted the same day as us from the same province) came to our room, and we had Papa John's for dinner.  We just couldn't take any more of the humidity and decided to take the easy way out.  And it was good!  Well, Angie and I took the easy way out . . . Clint & Heath walked to Papa John's and got the pizza, but Angie and I stayed with the babies in the air conditioning.  Thanks guys!  :)   The babies played and even interacted a little bit, and we all talked for awhile.  Heath got Rayanna to laugh by tickling her, which you can see in one of the pictures.  After our friends left we went down to the pool.  I was shocked, but Rayanna actually enjoyed it!  She didn't smile, but she splashed around and didn't act at all afraid of it.  The water was pretty warm, so I'm sure that helped.

Tomorrow's our last full day here!  Yay!  This has been a really nice and relaxing trip, and we couldn't ask for an easier baby.  But I'm ready to see my other three babies too.  I'm glad we'll be going home soon!

Sunday

This morning we got to attend church!  We'd never been to church in China before, so I was really glad we got to do this.  It was a Chinese/English service, so most of it was translated for us.  The songs were not, but one of them was "As the Deer."  The rest were in Chinese.  I couldn't understand the words, but it was very beautiful.  The pastor spoke about prayer and how its purpose is not to achieve our own will, but God's.  After that a lady gave her testimony.  It's always neat to see Christianity outside of America and be reminded of how big the Church really is.  It's not confined to our country or our traditions, but encompasses people of every nation.  When we all get to woship the Lord together in heaven, won't it be wonderful?!?! 

For lunch we went to a Thai restaurant.  I'd never had Thai food before.  The noodles were very strange.  Wide, flat and slimy.  But they tasted really good!  This afternoon we rested in the hotel room and then walked around a bit and had dinner.  I don't remember having so much down time when we were here two years ago, but Heath says we did.  I guess I spent most of the time sick in bed, so it's all a blur.  We still have 2 full days here, and the only appointment is the consulate appointment first thing tomorrow morning.  I think we're going to be pretty bored!  And walking around the shops is dangerous because I keep buying stuff! 

Heath's feeling better.  But now I have a sore throat, so I hope I'm not getting sick!  Rayanna continues to develop her personality.  We don't know what she was like before we met her, so it's hard to tell if this is her normal personality that was just suppressed during the first few stressful days of meeting us, or if she never had much expression and is suddenly developing it quickly just from the change in her environment.  Either way, she is super cute!  Today we've had to coerce her to eat again.  Yesterday was the only day she's really been hungry and drinking full bottles.  Today she's uninterested again and cries if we try to make her drink her bottle.  But if she's hungry she doesn't act it--she seems very happy.  She hardly fusses and is pretty content as long as we're holding her.  She's getting much harder to hold though!  She's getting more and more squirmy, climbing all over us.  You'd think she'd want to get down and play around, but she doesn't.  Just loves to be held.  I'm really glad she's feeling secure with us though, so all the holding must be working.  She's actually played on the bed a few times today, sitting next to us instead of on us, so I think we're making progress! 

I'm starting to really miss the big kids.  I've been doing really well being apart (and actually enjoying this "vacation" from them), but it's been long enough, and I'm ready to see them!  I'm very thankful to be able to see them every day on skype though.  It's amazing that we can be completely on the other side of the world and see them in real time, live!  Everything seems to be going well there.  I know Mommom & Granddad are probably very tired, but I think they'll make it!  ;-)  The kids seem to be handling it pretty well too.  But I can't wait until we're all together again.

Well, that's all for today. 

I forgot the pics

These were supposed to go with the last post.

 

 

Saturday Shopping

We've had a very fun afternoon walking around the little island.  It's really nice and peaceful here, compared to the rest of the city.  You can actually cross the street without wondering if you'll make it across alive!  After Rayanna's nap today, we went out to do a little shopping.  I know some people love the shopping experience in foreign countries, but I hate it.  Everywhere you go, a salesperson leeches onto you as soon as you come near.  Not only do they want to show you every little thing you might possibly want to buy, but they follow you around incessantly!  I was trying to make a decision about something, but I couldn't even think because she kept talking to me!  When you finally do decide you then have to argue about the price.  Of course you get some great deals, but I'd rather just go to Target, shop in peaceful solitude and know exactly how much everything costs.  I also hate car shopping for all the same reasons, by the way. 

 

But we did to into two shops that I really enjoyed.  One was run by a husband and wife and their little 2-year-old boy.  The man played the calabash flute for us and made it look so easy!  He also had a CD of him playing, so we bought that.  It's really beautiful, soothing music.  On the way out, the lady gave us a free fan for Rayanna and gave me my choice of a free bracelet.  I chose the one in the picture just because I thought it was pretty, but after I chose it she explained the meaning and I realized it was a fitting choice!  The large bead means "happy family" and the four small ones are for 4 children.  Perfect!

 

The other shop I enjoyed was Jordon's.  I remembered him from last time.  I think it's the only place in the country where you can shop at your leisure and not be pressured to buy anything at all!  He does a free calligraphy of each adopted child's name, and he is very friendly and talkative.  He told us all about his experience in Nanchang and about growing up in the countryside.  When we were ready to go it was pouring down rain and thundering really loud.  He unwrapped one of the umbrellas he had for sale and told us we could borrow it!  Definitely the best place to shop in my opinion!

 

The other picture is a T-shirt that I found quite funny.  The caption means "Serving the People."  But the funniest part was that the lady saw me looking at it and said, "Very popular!"  I'm sure she has no idea why it's popular, which makes it even funnier!  I thought of several people who I'd love to buy it for, but we only have so much suitcase space, so I decided just to take a picture of it. 

 

After shopping we had dinner at Lucy's, the American-ish restaurant here.  We were going to have Chinese, but it was pouring rain and that was the closest thing.  We both got hamburgers and french fries, which were really good.  And, wonder of wonders, Rayanna let me give her a piece of a french fry!  At every meal we try to get her to taste something, but she never will (except for the first morning when Heath got her to try a bit of congee).  But this time she actually opened her mouth and ate it!  She almost gagged on it though, and refused to take anymore after that.  But isn't it nice that her first real food was a french fry?!.  She really didn't know how to chew it, so I think we're going to have to go through all the typical baby food stages:  rice cereal, Gerber baby stage 1, 2, 3, etc, before we can get to real food.  She's had two full bottles without coercing today though, so I think she's really making progress.  AND, I was holding her on the bed while we played with some cups, and she actually slid off of me a little at a time until she was sitting on the bed not touching me!  I don't think she realized it, but she was on her own!  Then a little later she'd been sitting/lying on Heath on the bed and ended up standing there pretty much on her own!  As soon as she realizes what she's done she grabs back on for dear life, but she's definitely getting more comfortable.  I'm hoping before we leave for home she can sit comfortably on her own without panicking.  Otherwise that first ride in a car seat is going to be very traumatic!

 

Tomorrow we don't have any official business to do.  We were supposed to go on a tour to the Folk Art Museum, but since we saw that last time we decided to skip that and go to the church here instead.  I'm very excited about visiting a Chinese church, since I've never had the opportunity to do that before!  They have a Mandarin/English service, and I'm not sure if it's mostly local people or tourists that go, but I'm definitely looking forward to it. 

 

I hope everyone is doing well back at home!  Thanks again for the comments and encouragment and prayer!

 

 

 

Guangzhou Day 1

Well, I take back what I said about the weather.  This morning it's very humid and getting hotter.  It's not as bad as Nanchang for sure, but still yucky.  When there's a breeze it feels pretty good though.  We're right on the Pearl River, so there is a bit of a breeze, and it's a pretty area.  We're on Shamian Island which is a part of Guangzhou that is built in European style, so it doesn't feel much like we're in China here.  The US Consulate used to be right on this island, but now it's moved into the city so we'll have to take a bus there when we go on Monday.

 

I did enjoy our delightful breakfast this morning.  And at lunch time today, Rayanna drank her first full bottle!  We've had to coerce her to eat every time, and she usually won't drink more than half a bottle.  But today she guzzled down the whole thing!  She still wants nothing to do with solids, even rice congee, which supposedly she's had.  But at least she's getting an appetite.

 

This morning was her medical evaluation.  They've changed the law so that we can do immunizations at home.  I'm really glad about that because that part was a nightmare for Tabitha!  Even without shots, Rayanna was still quite traumatized by it all.  Remember . . . she just can't bear to be set down.  First we had to set her in a chair for a picture.  I wish I could scan and post the picture--she was NOT happy, to say the least!  Then we had to lay her down for a quick exam, then to be weighed, then to be measured.  Every time she just screamed and screamed.  When we got back we had to change her diaper, so she screamed again.  But she did calm down each time as soon as we picked her up, and she's definitely getting more comfortable with us holding her and passing her back and forth.  The exam went fine.  Her referral had classified her as special needs for "possible hearing or mental abnormality," but this doctor was confused as to why they would've put that (as are we), as everything seems completely normal.  We're going to have her hearing thoroughly checked when we get home, but she seems to respond to sounds just fine.  As far as mental ability, we thinks she's OK too.  She's obviously delayed, but after seeing the orphanage I'm pretty sure her environment is to blame for that; it doesn't seem that she has any real problems at all.  Praise the Lord!

 

Heath's feeling a lot better than yesterday but still not up to par.  Last time I spent most of our Guangzhou time sick in bed...hopefully this time isn't HIS turn to do that! 

 

We don't have a lot of requirements while we're here.  We had the medical check today, tomorrow a little sight seeing, Monday the consulate appointment, Tuesday we just wait for the visa to be delivered, and then Wednesday we head home.  All of those things just take a couple of hours each, so it should be a pretty relaxing week. 

 

We missed the boys on skype this morning, but Tabitha and Granddad were there to talk to us.  Tabitha seems to be doing well, though she's been asking for us to come home.  I must say, I'm very impressed with how involved and hands-on Granddad has been!  He's even been doing a lot of Tabitha's medical stuff!  Heath's parents have been keeping the kids pretty busy, so hopefully the time's going fast for everybody.  It sounds like the kids are most concerned about what presents we're going to bring them when we get back!  =)

 

That's all for now. 

 

note to Kelly and Brief Update

Kelly--Hmmm....I guess I should consider the placement of those pictures!  Yeah, doing it by email I have no clue what the actual post looks like.  So, no . . . she's not blossoming into a water buffalo.  It was just a picture I couldn't resist sharing.  =)

 

Everyone--We are now in Guangzhou at the beautiful White Swan hotel.  We have a king sized bed!!  (I didn't know those existed in China!  This is my 5th trip here, and I've never seen one before tonight.)  AND our room is arcticly cold....it's awesome!!  AND outside there's a breeze--almost like a nice summer's evening rather than the boiling cauldron that was Nanchang.  AND we had no flight troubles.  AND we get to eat the most awesome breakfast ever in about 10 hours.  AND, last but not least, Heath is feeling better and Rayanna's sleeping soundly.  I'm a very happy camper right now!  =)

 

 

Our Blossoming Flower

The above picture is for all the Veggie Tales fans.  =)

Rayanna is doing great today!  She's been so much less panicky!  We still can't set her down, but we can change positions without her crying and even pass her back and forth to each other.  It used to be that whenever we moved she'd cry, so this is definite progress!  She's also gotten rid of the vacant look in her eyes and is getting more inquisitive.  Today while I was talking with someone she just stared intently at my face, never looking away.  I don't know if she was trying to learn my face or figure out what this crazy language was, but it was very precious.  She's also been making cute little noises, saying things likes "ga ga ga ga", blowing bubbles and playing with her spit (which I normally wouldn't encourage but am very happy about for her)!  I think she's starting to come out of her shell and becoming more like a normal baby.  We're very excited to see her progress!

On the downside she woke up twice last night.  Hopefully that's not a sign of things to come!  Also, Heath has a really bad chest cough and a fever.  Please pray he gets better quick and doesn't share it! 

I just got to meet another family who's adopting from the same orphanage.  She had asked me to take pictures of her daughter there, so we got together to talk about the orphanage and the girls and all.  It was neat to meet their family!  They'll get their daughter on Sunday, and it's their first adoption, so it was fun to be able to share our experiences with them.

This evening we (along with the family who got their baby the same day as us) fly on to Guangzhou and the second half of our trip.  Let's pray we don't get stuck in any airports this time!!!

Another Day

I can't respond to comments on the blog since I don't have access to it here.  (I'm sending these posts by email.)  But I wanted to say thanks to everyone who's commenting!  It's so nice to know people are "with us" on this trip, and your encouragement and prayers are appreciated!  Kelly Hills . . . funny you mentioned the water buffalo song.  Heath was singing it on the drive to/from the orphanage.  Fortunately, not loud enough for anyone but me to hear it.  =)

After we got back from the orphanage yesterday, Rayanna was very crabby.  We discovered that she's getting her molars!  She sucks her thumb a lot, but we noticed her gnawing on it on the side of her mouth, and sure enough . . . there was a tiny tooth poking through!  The other side is swollen too, so I think that's making her miserable.  Not to mention her world being suddenly turned upsidedown.  Tylenol seems to help with the teeth, but only time will help with the other stuff.  She still can't bear to be set down for even an instant.  I hope she's over that by the time Heath goes back to work, or I will have a serious problem!  This isn't the typical whining of a baby who wants to be held, it's a panicked cry.  And even if we just change her position from one arm to the other or from standing to sitting, she cries.  But, like I said, she does sleep well.  So we are VERY thankful that once she falls asleep in our arms we can lay her down for the night and she's fine.  She did wake up once last night, but went back to sleep within 15 minutes of holding her.  She's not wanting to take a nap this afternoon.  She fell asleep while I was holding her this morning, and I think that ruined it for her afternoon nap, even though we were told she takes two naps.  I'm hoping she goes to sleep though or it'll be a long evening! 

She continues to be very serious, but every now and then we'll see a little half-smile or hear a little coo.  It's rare though.  Most of the time she's either silent, or she's crying because we aren't holding her just right.  But those little glimpses of happiness give me hope that she'll be a lot of fun once she's used to her new life! 

We haven't really done anything else since the orphanage trip.  Tonight we might meet up for dinner with two other adoptive families, and then tomorrow we'll fly to Guangzhou.  I'm looking forward to breakfast at The White Swan already!  =)

The Orphanage

Today we got to visit the orphanage where Rayanna has lived her whole life.  It's in Fengxin, about an hour from where we are staying.  Fengxin is a smaller city than this and is known for its production of rice, bamboo, and kiwi.  We saw a lot of rice fields and many water buffalo used for plowing them!  I really enjoy seeing the country side here, and areas where the people still use old methods like water buffalo.  The ride there was an adventure.  We had a different driver and van, with working air condition--woo hoo!  The ride had many of the near death experiences I've come to expect when riding somewhere in China.  In the cities it's crazy, but at least you can't go very fast because of the traffic.  Once you get out on the highway though, it's another story!  That yellow line down the middle of the road is just a decoration I guess.  Heaven forbid you slow down or pass on the right!  Anyway, we made it safely to and from.

Rayanna was found at the gate of the orphanage, so we got to see the precise place.  Then we went inside and we saw the two baby rooms, There are other rooms for the older kids, but they have mostly babies.  Only 30 kids live in the whole orphanage.  There are a few other buildings on the property too, which are charity homes for elderly people.  When we came into the room, the nannies were very excited to see Rayanna.  They were very boisterous and kept saying "Hao De!  Hao De!" and a bunch of stuff in Chinese.  They eagerly wanted to hold her as soon as we walked in.  She was a little reluctant, but didn't cry when I passed her to them.  The nanny set Rayanna down in her former crib, and I was expecting an outburst because she SCREAMS every time we even think about setting her down.  But she didn't cry at all.  I'm not sure what was going through her mind.  Perhaps at the orphanage she has resigned herself to life in a crib, so she went immediately back to that mentality.  I don't know.  They brought out a couple of baby toys for her, but she didn't seem interested.  I didn't see any other toys for any of the kids though.  The babies were all either in cribs or walkers.  Two little boys who shared a crib were very animated and friendly with each other.  But many of the babies just stared at us with imploring little eyes, and some just stared off into space.  The lack of stimulation for them was very sad to see.

On the other hand, the nannies were very friendly.  They seem happy to be there and amazingly not overwhelmed by so many children!  I think there were 5 or 6 nannies for the 30 kids.  I wish we could've stayed for a couple of days to see how on earth they manage to feed and diaper so many babies!   (They all wear the split pants with cloth diapers--really more like handkerchiefs--which I guess makes diaper chaging quick.  But it can't do a very good job of holding in messes!)  I was very glad to see that the nannies did seem to like the kids and were excited to see Rayanna again.  Hopefully that means they're giving all those other kids the best care they can.  I wish I could do more to help.  Maybe someday our family can come back to China and help in an orphanage.  I would really like to do something like that someday.  A couple of the kids there were about to be adopted within the next couple of weeks.  It's hard to understand why they're not ALL being adopted, with so many people waiting for children!  I don't understand how it all works, but hopefully all of those precious babies will one day have families of their own.

Since we got back Rayanna's been pretty grumpy.  I don't know if she's just tired from not having a realy nap today, or if it upset her to go back there.  She hasn't shown much emotion yet about anything, so it's hard to tell.  She still can't bear for us to set her down (or even change position when we're carrying her), so we've been holding her pretty much all the time, except at night.  Thank goodness she sleeps well!  She still won't try any food but her bottle, and even that takes work.  We're hoping she'll broaden her horizons to at least rice congee or something like that!

We've been able to Skype with the kids and Heath's parents a few times.  It seems like they're doing well and having fun.  I'm doing better than I thought I would being apart from them.  I can't wait to see them though!

Meet Rayanna!

OK, so I shared about our disaster of a trip.  But now onto the good part!  Rayanna Haode Runkles!  When we adopted Tabitha we had her for 24 hours before signing the paperwork to make it official.  Not so here!  As soon as we arrived at the Civil Affairs office (straight from the airport, remember), we were taken to the room where she'd been waiting all day for us.  We spent about 2-3 minutes holding her and being excited before we got down to business!  We signed a bunch of things in Chinese, which Echo promised to explain later.  And then she was ours! 

We were given a summary of her daily schedule, but that's it.  It's hard to know how to take care of a baby that you've never met just from a few notes on a page.  So far she has been very stoic and quiet.  She has a very serious little face.  We've seen a couple smirks, but nothing I'd call a real smile yet.  She hardly makes a peep, though she did make one little babble at lunch today when playing with a toy.  But, heaven forbid we set her down for a moment!  She cries so horribly if she's not being held!  Of course, if that continues it'll become quite annoying, but for now I think it's sweet.  I'm sure she's scared and overwhelmed and just needs a lot of comfort.  I can only imagine how shocking it would be to have lived your whole life in one building, maybe even one room, and then suddenly you have strange looking white people carrying you around, taking you in elevators and in cars (in Chinese traffic nonetheless), you're carted here and there, and you have no understanding of why or what this all means!  It's got to be so overwhelming!

After all the official stuff yesterday, we got to the hotel.  It's VERY nice.  Rayanna just sat quietly looking around.  She wouldn't really play with anything, but seemed content just being held.  We were all so tired that the three of us went to bed at the same time.  She fell asleep on Heath's chest, and he moved her into her crib a little later.  Most amazingly, she stayed asleep and slept for 11 hours without a peep!  I sure hope that continues!  Heath and I were so happy to have a good night's sleep after our long trip here, and we woke up feeling energized and ready to go.

We gave Rayanna a bath this morning.  She cried at first, but then seemed to like it and especially enjoyed splashing.  Still no real smiles though.  It was nice to have her fresh and clean and out of the too-warm baby blue light-weight sweat suit she was in.  Only one layer for her (Tabitha had 3), but still too warm for this weather!  She did NOT like lying down to get a new diaper on, but once she was dressed, she was happy.  She looked and smelled a lot better too!

This morning we went to see a really fancy ancient pavilion, which was a house for a governor of the area during the Tang Dynasty.  It was built it 643 AD I think.  It always amazes me how OLD things are here!  It was really beautiful.  Of course it was like a million degrees outside, so we were all once again soaked with sweat.  Heath had Rayanna in the baby carrier, and all the Chinese people were very intrigued.  Most of them just laughed, but many came over and talked to her and touched her.  I guess the white man carrying the Chinese baby in the baby carrier isn't a sight they see very often!  After that Echo showed us to a fancy restaurant for lunch.  She even got us our own private room because people might be smoking in the main restaurant.  We had a somewhat luxurious lunch there.  I mainly just ate the fried rice because everything else was so spicy.  Then we came back to our rooms for nap time.  Heath and Rayanna are both asleep right now, but for some reason I have a lot of energy!

There's another couple here adopting from our same agency; their names are Clint & Angie.  The baby they're adopting has cleft lip/palate, and is two months younger than Rayanna.  They're not from the same orphanage, but they'll have this trip in common and share the same birth province.  Hopefully we can keep in touch as the girls get older; it's been fun so far having another couple to go through the process with.

Even though Rayanna is 16 months old, she seems more like an 8 or 9 month old.  I can't believe that she's only bottle fed at this age!  They did say she eats soup, but no mention of any solids (unless you count the rice cereal they add to her formula).  So far she hasn't had much appetite.  She has a cold, and I'm sure just the stress of all this has her not feeling her best.  But it takes a lot of encouraging to get her to take her bottle, and she won't even give anything else a try.  I'm hoping she starts to eat more and will eventually try some solid food.  It doesn't seem like she can be getting all she needs from formula at this age.

We were told she can sit and crawl, though not stand yet.  It's been hard to try out any of that since she cries if she's anywhere other than our laps.  But it'll come.  Right now we just want her to know she's loved and safe.  We're trying to get her interested in toys too.  It seems she didn't really have toys before.  She spends a lot of time examing her hands and scratching at things, but doesn't really play with them.  She did play a little with some toy cups today, but mainly she just wants to look around at everything.  Fortunately she seems to like both of us and is comfortable if either of us holds her.  She's been very easy to take care of so far.  I'm curious to see what will happen after a few days.  Tabitha started out the same way but totally came out of her shell.  So I don't know if that will happen with Rayanna too, or if this is her real personality.  I just love how sweet and snuggly she is right now!

News flash....she just woke up, and didn't cry that we weren't holding her!  She's actually up on her hands and knees right now . . . so maybe crawling will be next.  I'll try to post again tomorrow, after we visit her orphanage.  I'm really looking foward to that and finding out more about her first 16 months.  That's all for now!