Long overdue update!!

How can it be that we are in August already!! What a lovely summer it's been. 

Today I decided to take a few minutes to do a quick update. Mostly photo's.... 

The past two months have been very intense. And seriously, I had no desire to write.

By the end of most days I wanted nothing more than to drop in bed and soak up some QUIET!!

Adoption is beautiful.....And  Adoption is hard. I mean goodness, parenting our bio kids is hard, thus parenting a child with emotional needs who has never functioned in a family setting before adds new challenges. 

I have never felt so inadequate as a mother, or so in need of a Savior as I have in this new season of mothering "twins".  I must say God is so gentle & patient with me and my greatest desire is to mother my children in that same manner!

 

 Steve has been spending a few hours here and there in the evening to work on a tree fort for Derek. (and no, it's not being made of pallet's, those are just there from a makeshift hut Derek had made. The new fort is 7 ft off the ground)

While he works the kids "help" by handing nails and playing in the dirt. They are all filthy till they come inside.

The toddlers often snuggle in this corner of the couch with my phone and scroll through the pictures and video clips I have taken of them. They giggle as they listen to themselves over and over again.

This was Javonn's opinion of his first time at the beach!

 No he's not standing in a corner! I only wanted to capture the cuteness of what it looks like when a 3 yr old dresses himself! And yes, I did change it!

I love this picture! I Only wish that Jadrian could be on it too! I still feel the stab of loss..and wishing for what could have been. Javonn talks about Jadrian when he see's his pictures. He know's that he has a brother in heaven!

Steve is an amazing daddy!! How we all love him!!!!!!!

 Karilee & her pony.... so many happy hours between the two. Just today we added a puppy to our crew. I think it's the sweetest thing seeing a puppy and happy kids frolicking around!

Javonn was extremely fearful of animals when he first came home, but that is all changing. He's still not sure about big dogs, but loves the pony and puppy!

So many happy times together between these two! Kianna can make Javonn giggle like crazy. I think often she's not even intentional about it, he just finds her super funny!

This is one of the toddlers most favorite past times......taking ALL the toys from the toy room and piling them...somewhere....you never quite know where you may stumble across it. It could be on the front porch or in the entry way..... Most times I let just let them have fun because it entertains them for a looong time.

Javonn is completely fluent in English and dosent seem to remember any mandarin anymore!  We are amazed at his speech.... he is so talkative & can say anything! It's darling!

So there's a little peak into our lives.  We are enjoying the remaining weeks of summer and preparing for the new school year. Our garden is yielding abundant yummy fresh produce which we have been enjoying so much!

Love and Blessings....

Happy Birthday Javonn!!

Check out this happy face!! We were so thrilled to be able to celebrate Javonn's 3rd birthday! His first birthday home with a forever family! 
We talked about his birthday coming up for days already and he has been singing "Gappy-Birthday to ShaoBo"  He cant say the "H" sound so its "GAPPY Birthday!!! He sings the whole song over and over again! We were sure to sing it a couple times to him since he loves it so much and his face just beams with joy!

Goofy party blowers... 

When he first came home, he wanted nothing to do with ice cream. It was to cold! And he would say "yuck! yuck!" we just smiled and wondered how long he would think that :)
As you can see, he dosent hold to that belief anymore. Now he begs for "ICE-EE-CREAM"

He and sissy dont even mind sharing a cone!! 

It's hard to believe that it actually hasnt been quite 2 months since Javonn is home! It feels much much longer! He feel's so much a part of us already!
When I consider how short of a time he has been with us, I am amazed at how much he has changed already!

He talks SO much! I would say his speech is half or more English now. He has recently started to really stutter whenever he gets excited and is trying to talk fast. I think he gets confused with words that once rolled out in Chinese, now coming out in English and he cant speak them as fast as he's thinking them. It's really cute! 

A recent visit to Cabela's. The children enjoyed seeing all the animals so much!

He's a true boy and loves getting dirty. He wasnt sure about the sensation of grass on his feet the first few times, but now he dosent want shoes on unless we are going away and need shoes on.
He dosent like being dirty too long, then he comes asking for "wash-y wash-y" as he rubs his little hands together. Oh, and never forget the soap. He loves using soap! Bath times are always a delight for him too!

This is how he can be with daddy even when daddy cant carry him! He absolutely loves riding on daddy's back. I thought it was so cute I just wanted to follow them and watch. Dosent he looks like a baby Koala hanging on!

Karilee & Derek participated in our Home School's group Stepping Up Graduation Ceremony! All the kid's got honored for completing the grade they were in. It was a fun special evening!! Yay for completing first and third grade. Now we are soaking up summer vacation and loving every bit of it!!

A Javonn Update :)

It's mostly a photo update :) We are so blessed and amazed how well  Javonn is fitting right in! It just warms my heart when I see him running outside and exploring  on the land with the other children. He loves being outside, and esp. loves four wheeler rides and going down the slide on the swing set.

He definitely has times where he grieves and will cry for a while. But he readily comes to us for comfort and lets us love on him. Morning's have seemed to be the time when he feels the most fragile. We are still trying to figure out if he is waking up too early, and just tired. Or if that is a time where he feels disoriented and sad.

Whatever the case, he get's filled with lots of love and snuggles. It's SO rewarding to see him THRIVE! 

He loves bath time, playing at the kitchen faucet and getting all wet. What child dosent, right?!

He is picking up so many English words! He says, "Where awe you? for Where ARE you.  And morning's we have this little Good Morning song we sing to each other and he so sweetly goes around saying, "Good-Moooor-ning!" in his sing song-y way.
As cute as his Chinese Chatter is, we look forward when he is switched over to speaking in English. It will give us such a window into his mind and heart!

He loves this American Airline Plane from Uncle Reubens. It makes the sound of a plane taking off, which is why he is holding it to his ears.

These two!!! What shall I say..... they bring us so much laughter and so much busyness! They both have strong opinions and neither one will be outdone by the other. What the one does or has-- so will the other!! 

They can fight one minute and be best buddies the next! 

And yes! He can be quite affectionate!!  It's hilarious watching the toddlers pucker their lips and AIM! 

Snuggles with daddy before he leaves for work. He is always sad when Steve leaves but is getting over it much faster.
Oh when he hears his truck coming in the drive. Nothing can stop him! He tears out on the front porch and jumps, claps and dances for joy shouting "Daddy Daddy!!!"
He gets very jealous if Steve Kisses me first! lol

I love putting Javonn down for his afternoon nap. It's our own quiet mommy- son time. I think he secretly enjoys it too!  I do the same routine every time so he knows exactly what to expect. I carry him to my room and show him his toddler bed and tell him its nap time (in an excited tone, because *I* think nap time truly is wonderful!)
We pull the blinds to darken the room then we sit in the rocker and sing away. He curls into my arms like a burrowing bunny and helps sing along to "Jesus loves me" and "Twinkle Twinkle". He picks up on songs so fast! It never takes long and his beautiful dark eyes start drooping.
I love this time to speak over him God's truth. And God uses that quiet time to speak into my heart as well! So many deep stirring's going on in the depths of my heart . This little boy causes me to cry out in a deeper way to my Father.

I am so aware of my need for HIM as I mother.

Steve does the nightly rocking/tucking in so he get's daddy time too.

Adoption is both hard and beautiful!
It reveal's your own selfishness, and things about yourself that you dont like to see.
 God has been using this season to do a purging in my heart and  invite me into a deeper level of relying on Him.
As He unconditionally loves us,even  in our brokenness and imperfections, He shows us how to pour that same kind of love to Javonn, and all our treasures.
Choosing unconditional love is not always easy. It's not always a gushy feeling. Sometime's it's a choice you CHOOSE because it's God's way.
And God is allowing us a front row seat in watching how this kind of love changes a wounded heart.
It's humbling. It's encouraging! it's empowering!

We are so blessed how well Javonn is adapting to our food. He eats almost anything!

The verses about God adopting us into HIS family have come alive for us in a new way.  Seriously, because of  how God has CHOSEN us, when I gaze down at his sweet sleeping face.....
all I can think is, How could we not have?

We are so grateful to God for allowing us this journey. Not only has it added a beautiful child to our family.
And given a child a family.
It has pulled us into a place where God say's, "Guys, I want you to go deeper. I have more I want you to learn and know about MY HEART.  ANd whenever God invites you into MORE of HIM, it's not always easy. But its ALWAYS GOOD because He IS good !!
Surrender.....
Yes God.......we will follow.

Some moments aren't all sugar and spice with twin toddlers. LOL

 Mommy is in high demand!!. I quickly grabbed the camera and shot this scene that was happening at my feet. I figured some day I will look back at the memories of these photos and think how fast my babies grew!

So what to do but plop on the floor and hold them both! They were both crying " Mommy! Mommy!" and the more they noticed the other one crying for me the louder and more intense they became! :)

So in a nut shell, life is busy, kind of crazy at times, but we are abundantly blessed ~~ his attachment and bonding is going so well! He catches on to things so fast! Holding hands at meal times for prayer, for example. He watched with curiosity the first time but now he holds his hands out eagerly and begs to sing the prayer "God is Great."
I  am so thrilled to teach him about God!

Blessings till next time... I need to go. The toddlers are both peering in the front door ringing the door bell like it's their last chance. Spare my ears!

Home Sweet Home!!

If you could peak into our home right now, you would see most of us gathered around the kitchen island eating cold cereal. Nothing unusual about that, until you see the time. It's 4:30 am!! And we've been up an hour or more already.

Frustrating jet lag!! Wish there was a way to skip over that part! Steve & I haven't allowed ourselves any naps during the day so we could sleep all night. Only problem has been, we could sleep, but it's the toddlers who wake up at 1 am sounding as chirpy as a spring robin! Last night was so miserable... with us trying to convince them to go back to sleep, giving them sleep aid, they fussed and cried, tossing n turning (between us, to boot!) making us feel smothered like smooshed pancakes. It made me feel so grumpy! As long as we were focusing on going back to sleep we felt cross at them for preventing us, and the last thing the sweet littles need is cross parents, so this morning when the little roosters crowed we decided to rise and shine with them.

I will put on some coffee soon....and we'll see how this Sunday unfolds. Maybe by lunch we'll all be ready for a nap. Regardless, We are ALL SO HAPPY to be home! It was a hard grueling ride home, with delays on every flight and then in Chicago we missed our flight home to Watertown. Thankfully we were able to catch a flight into Syracuse about 2 hrs later. I was SO done with planes & airports till then! Steve's family picked us up at the airport and dropped us off at the Watertown airport where our van had been parked. Got to our house at 1 am and to bed by 2 am.

I dont think home ever looked so inviting before! As excited as we were about being home, and as much as we felt like touring through the whole house, we tried to stay low key to keep the toddlers from getting all stimulated. It partly worked! Hitting the shower was top on my list of priorities!

Javonn has been adapting well to his new surroundings. He's been busy exploring! I am finding stickers all over the house, on the tile, frig, windows etc! You dont even have to wonder who put them there!  It's been a challenge getting him to eat. He often refuses what we are eating and I start worrying that he's going to starve. But as long as we keep a stock of gold fish crackers around, that wont happen. lol

Kianna is starting to come out of her angry little shell since we are home. She loves being home in her familiar surroundings, away from prodding hands and camera snaps,  and is starting to see her new brother as a potential fun play mate, I do believe.

Well, I just wanted to let you know we are home. I can tell my life will be super busy with my little energetic twins, but I will try to update occasionally.

Need to go put on that coffee now.....  ((yawn!!))

Final Day in China!!

We spent our last full day in China at a huge animal safari. It was drizzling most of the day...the strollers got wet, but we all had a lot of fun!

 Derek & Karilee loved having a chance to sit on an elephant! They had an awesome elephant, monkey and safari animal shows. It was amazing!! Such a good way to end our trip! 

Now we are packing up our room for the LONG journey home!!

A bell boy will come to our room at 6 am to pick up our luggage. The hotel is sending breakfast boxes with us as we will check out and leave the hotel by 6:15.

Our flight leaves at 9 am and we have a 2 1/2 hr flight to Shanghai.

At Shanghai we have a 4 1/2 hr layover. Seem's kind of long, but we may be glad...we will need to collect our baggage then go to American Airlines and recheck it in there.  Go through international security and maybe grab a bite to eat before we board our long flight.

American Airlines leaves at 4:20..... a 13 hr flight. Praying for the best with 2 toddlers. 

Arrive in Chicago around 4:40 pm. Claim our luggage & go through Immigration's. (Javonn becomes US citizen!)

6:30 pm leave for Watertown, NY! Woo-Hoo!!!!! In Chicago we will part ways with Aunt Ruth and she will fly on to OH.

It makes me tired just thinking of the trip, but we are so ready to be home, we are ready to embrace the long trip for the joy that awaits at the end!

Thank you so much for praying for us on this trip, it ment so much to us!

Tuesday~~ April 22

This morning we had our consulate appointment at the US Consulate. Only Steve, Javonn & I were allowed in. Our guide took us to the entrance then she took our camera etc and kept them with her while we went in. It was nice to be in an American office. The bathroom's were SO nice and  american, you felt like using them just because they were so clean! After security we joined 11 other families to finalize our child's visa. One parent got finger-printed, we took an oath (as a group) and did a bit more paperwork. Javonn's visa will be ready tomorrow afternoon. Javonn will be a Chinese citizen until he is admitted into the US at his first port of entry, which will be in Chicago.

The US Consulate here in Guangzhou issues visa's in groups of 12 families twice a day Mon-Thur. The Consulate's  Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit is the  Department of State's busiest adoption unit. US citizens have adopted over 66,000 children in China since 1999. In recent years the adoption of children considered to have special needs has increased and are now currently 80% of the case load.

This appointment is the last and final one! I observed a lot of tired parents. All the ones I talked to are good and ready to get home. It's a very intense week for everyone, and being in your own home environment couldn't look more appealing!! Even the LONG flight back dosent look daunting when home SWEET home is at the end of it!!!  Today we said good by to the 3 families that were with us in our travel group with our adoption agency. They left to spend the night in Hong Kong where they will fly out of early in the morning. We will always remember and love these 3 special families and look forward to keeping in touch over the years and enjoy watching our Chinese treasures grow and thrive!

Since it was rainy today, it is rainy season here, we spent most of the day holed up in our room. We are all looking forward to going out to a local Chinese Restaurant our guide introduced us to last night. She went with us and helped us order. She picked out the dishes she thought we would like and we loved all of them except the one beef dish that she said was mild, was actually so spicy hot that we couldnt eat much. The fried rice was the best I've ever had!! Lots of little meats n veggies fried with it. It was our best eating out experience with Javonn. Maybe it was because he just woke from a nap, or because he really was hungry. But we left with no broken dishes and only a mild crying fit.

Yesterday afternoon we spent touring Shaimen Island. A lovely peaceful island where a bunch of old consulate buildings are. Tourists love to come take pictures and shop at little shops.
Now I said we went touring, I should say the others did some touring/shopping. Steve & I spent 99% of the time pacing the streets with 2 tired toddlers who needed naps (We left at 1 pm which is nap time) We had debated keeping one or both of the toddlers home, but it gets old staying at the hotel and we figured they would surely go to sleep on the bus ride there, or in the stroller. Wrong! The first shop we went to Javonn saw a toy he wanted and couldn't have so he threw a grand fit and pretty much cried/ screamed the rest of the after noon, with a few spots of peace every so often. I was close to tears myself. It is so stressful being in public with an angry child!! But someday Shao Bo will be an Amazing groomed young child who will have learned the joys of sweet obedience! Steve & I kept trading toddlers, because every time a new parent took him, he usually calmed down for  a little bit. Anyway, we left the island with no souvenirs. Just glad to be back on the bus.....and extra grateful to God for the lovely dinner that ended the day on a happy note!

Tomorrow...our last full day here! We wanted to do something special for the children so we are taking them to the Animal Safari an hour from here. It is the largest Safari in Asia! They are so excited about it and looking forward to the elephant show, and to hopefully get a ride on an elephant! Hoping the weather will be nice and not rainy.

Javonn loves the song "Twinkle twinkle little star" and sings it along with us. It's so cute!  I'm writing "Javonn" because he's really starting to feel like my Javonn :) , but we actually still mostly call him Shao Bo because that's what he responds too. He is attaching to us so well! He must think we live in a hotel! It will be fun to have him become familiar with our home. His first experience of living in a house with a mommy, daddy and siblings! I dont think he will be shy very long when he meets his new relatives and friends. He pretty much is friendly to anyone who is friendly to him!

I need to go. I think we will head outside soon. Karilee is the one not feeling good today. Hopefuly it's just a one day thing like it was for some of us others.

Monday ~~ April 20

 Good Morning folks! It's cloudy Monday morning here in Guangzhou with a high chance of rain.

Steve & I intentionally woke up early so we could go down to the breakfast buffet and have a little couple time before the rest of the crew got up.  Refreshing to start the day together! The toddlers woke up soon after we returned. So we will help them get dressed & then take the second batch down for breakfast.

Yesterday we did some touring at a local art gallery. It was very humid and we could feel the sweat running! The children went swimming in the afternoon. They have a little kiddie pool for the toddlers to play in, which is nice!  

A welcome play area while we waited for our flight to Guangzhou. 

This is what the tired parents did while the children ran off energy at the play area. 

The famous bag of cheerios

The blue tape that helped distract on the plane ride. It ended up on his arms, legs and on daddy's arms.

At the medical exam..

Our entire travel group

Notice the lovely greenery! We are all wearing our China shirts except for Derek...his was in the laundry.

Last night Ruth joined some of the travel group on a river cruise. I was so glad she had some time away to have fun and relax as she is constantly serving!!