Last post from China!

So today will be my last post from China!  Tomorrow night (tomorrow morning for all of you) we head to Hong Kong, and we are there for one night.  Then, we fly home!  Fifteen hours in the air from Hong Kong to Newark.  Sounds fun...right?!?! Hmmm.

Saying that we cannot wait to come home would be an understatement!  We were ready the day we got Hayley, but we made it through the last 2 weeks. We feel so blessed to have this adorable, spunky, funny, little girl.  She has come a long way in a short time.  

I can't wait for you all to meet this little one.  I was reading my Bible the other day, and came across a verse that is very familiar to me.  It is probably very familiar to many of you too.  "He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it."  That verse hit me in a whole new way, as I was sitting there reading next to my sleeping beauty.  He began a good work in this little precious one's life, and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be part of how He chooses to complete it.

See you all soon!

Time at the pool!

In Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou late last night, and we are so happy to be here.  Xian was a rough place to be.  We have been able to see all of the other families that we started with in Beijing, but now they each have their children.  It is such a blessing to see them all with these precious children, and also be with people that are going through some of the same struggles. 

The hotel is absolutely beautiful, and the area is much nicer than the previous two cities.  This morning we had Hayley's visa photo taken and medical check (that was fun).  And we were able to get some shopping in on the Island...so much fun!  Hayley strutted her stuff, as we walked from store to store.  She is definitely full of spunk, and a bit sassy. :-) She is really doing better day by day.  She keeps us laughing, and thinks that she is hysterical.  Hayley still only lets me hold her, and fortunately is a tiny little thing.  She is only 23lbs!  I have had to stitch some of her 24 month size clothes, so they don't fall off.  She is starting to respond to Nate more and more.  She laughs at his funny faces, and on occasion will let him hold her hand.  And they run through the halls together which is one of her favorite times of the day.  So overall that is improving too.  I am praying that before we leave here, she lets him hold her!  He is a good dad, and can't wait to hold his little girl!

I was talking to a friend that has been a wonderful support for me this week, and she said it perfectly...it is like all of the sudden you start to see this light in them.   That is what we are starting to see...Hayley's little light shine through.  I can't wait to see more and more of this little personality!  Nightime and naptime are the hardest times...that is when all the kicking and screaming comes out.  But I am sure that is when most of her fear and anxiety comes out, as for all of us.  It always seems better in the morning. I cannot even begin to imagine all the emotions and anxiety that she is going through.  But I know that God will give us what we need to help her cope. 

Overall, things are going better day by day.  I am so ready to come home.  I miss Aidan and Cameron so much, and cannot wait to squeeze them!  I will post more pics over the next day or so!

A Better Day!

Thank you all for your prayers...we could feel them!  Today has been better.  She actually played with Nate in the car for a while today.  They were handing things back and forth, and each time he would say "Thank you".  She then started saying "thank you" (or something that sounded sort of like that) back, when he would hand her something.  It is amazing how something so simple could be so precious.  She is starting to babble a lot more, which is so cute.  We are also starting to see little bits of her personality come out.  I think that she is going to keep us laughing.  She has this strut when she walks that is hysterical.  We will try to post it later, if it will work.  Again, thank you all for your prayers! Here are some pictures to enjoy! 

She loves her headbands!

She does not like to take her shoes off...ever!  I dressed her for bed, and she insisted on wearing them. :-)

I love this one!

Where to begin....

The last couple days there has been a lot of ups and downs.  Yesterday was very hard.  Poor baby is going through so much!  She is terrified, and trying to grieve the loss of life, as she know it. Even though her life now will be better than the "life" she would have here, that "life" is all she has ever known.  I had a breaking point yesterday...completely broke down while I was holding her.  This poor little baby is angry, frustrated, and most of all completely terrified.  My heart is broken for her, and for the years that she did not have a mama to love her.  God is giving me the grace to keep on, and I am so very thankful for a supportive husband.  Right now she refuses to go to him, and only will be with me.  He is handling that very well, and is great about helping me with what I need. 

Today, so far, has been much better than yesterday.  She is wanting to play more, and responded to Nate a couple times.  She loves her headbands that her grandmom made for her, and decided to put them on today by herself.  Then walked around with a new purse that her daddy gave her.  That has been one of the highlights of the day.

I can not wait to leave Xian and head to Guangzhou, where all the other families are!  I think it will help to have some other people to talk too, and some children for Hayley to play with. Yesterday, we met a family from Doylestown that actually adopted a little boy from Hayley's orphanage!!!  Then, when we came back to the hotel, I looked in the photo album that was given to us from her caretaker, and found his picture with her!  I love that we have two little ones from Xian to 20 minutes apart in the U.S.  A gift from God!

Praying that each day gets a little easier, although I know that there will be many ups and downs. I love her so much, and can't wait to see her happy and running around with her big brothers.  Oh I miss them terribly!  I will post pictures soon...the pictures take such a long time to upload.  I had hoped to post video but at this point the connection is not fast enough to do that.   Hopefully in Guangzhou!  Thank you all for your prayers and support! 

Pictures!!!

We have our girl!

We picked up Hayley (right now we are calling her Yi Qing) less than 24 hours ago at the Civil Affairs office in Xian.  She scream, kicked, and punched us while we were there, and by the time we got to the car, I think she just gave up.  Poor baby - it was so difficult on her, and on her Nanny that appeared to be very attatched to her.  Once we came back to the hotel, we were able to get her to smile and even got some kisses!  She is a sweatheart. 

We found out that she was actually placed in an orphanage through Hope Haven, which is a mission-focused, Christian organization.  They took so much time in making a photo album of pictures from when she was a tiny baby.  This was such a special gift for her to have and for us!  It seems that they took very good care of her.  She seems overall healthy, and she smiles easily.  She even knew the sign for I love you...precious!  They celebrated her first and second birthdays with birthday cakes and party hats, and they celebrated Christmas too!

We are just so in love with this little girl already.  God has had His hand on her for the last 2 years of her life. On her schedule we were given, they told us that every night is "prayer and praise" time before bed, and her album has the verse Psalms 68:5-6 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in His holy dwelling.  God sets the lonely in families..."  We are so blessed. She really is precious-this beautiful chiild of God.  I know the work is not over, and I am sure there will be difficult times and adjustments.  But I know that God will give us the grace to get through it.  She was given to our family for a reason. 

Believe it or not, she laid down next to me last night at 8:45, and she is still sleeping (it is 6:00am).  Nate and I are sitting here, anxiously waiting for her to wake up.:-)  I would love to post some pictures, but right now the internet is running slow!  So I will try to have pictures up, later today (tomorrow morning for you).  Keep the prayers coming!

Beijing

It's evening in Beijing right now...I am looking out the 18th floor window to this crazy and very dirty city.  There is a lot of things about Beijing that I am not fond of, but I do love experiencing my daughters culture and the people are wonderful.  We were blocked from our blog and facebook, but figured out a way to by- pass security by logging onto a computer in the U.S.  Yesterday was our first full day here, and we were able to see the Great Wall.  It was absolutely breath-taking...

After climbing the wall, there was several vendors, and I found this cool hand-painted bottle.  It is actually painted on the inside of the bottle, and they put Hayley's name in English and Manderin.  I love it!  And Aidan and Cameron - I got you both something too, but I am not posting a picture of that! :-) You will have to wait till I get home.

 

This afternoon we had orientation, and they had updated pictures for us!  Yay!  Tomorrow we fly to Xian, Shaanxi, and we will then, meet our little girl!  It's finally here!  I am hoping to post by Sunday with pics/video of her.  Thank you all for your prayers and support!

Here we go!

Sometimes the wait seemed so long over the last year, especially when I saw her very first picture.  It felt like it was going to be the longest 4-6 months of my life.  Even though some of the days were longer than others, I can't believe I am sitting here.  Bags are packed, and I am so ready to meet my daughter!  I must say for the first time, I feel nervous.  Mostly nervous about how she is going to react to us.  I am praying that she bonds and attaches to us both quickly, but I also know that it is sometimes not the case.  So those of you that have kept our family in your prayers, please pray that God is preparing her heart.

I will miss my boys terribly!  I will definitely be holding back tears when I say goodbye on Wednesday morning.  Leaving them for 2 weeks is not my first choice, but the best one for our family right now.  They will start school while we are gone.  Today they found out who their teachers will be, so I was glad to know that before I left.  I love you my sweet boys!

We leave on Wednesday, and on Sunday we will meet our little girl.  For those of you on the east coast, we will meet Hayley while you are sleeping (Saturday night into Sunday).  I hope to post something that night when she (hopefully) falls asleep...ha! :-)

God has been so good!  I know I have said that over and over in my posts, and I will continue to say it always.  He has blown me away with this whole adoption journey.  Financially He has blessed us with what we need, when we needed it.  Emotionally and Spiritually, I have grown so much.  I am starting to see that when we follow His will, and we are doing something to futher His Kingdom, He will bless that.

We will be in four different cities, while we are in China.   I am sure the trip will be exhausting, but also so exciting to see the culture and experience the country that our daughter is from.   I hear that driving over there is an experience, and that the Chinese food there is nothing like the Chinese food here.  I am very excited see what "squeak" shoes are all about, and plan on getting Hayley a pair.  I am most certainly not looking forward to the "bathrooms"  that are just a hole in the ground (hmmmm...), or the intense heat that we were told to expect. But we are really looking forward to seeing the Great Wall, and we are hoping to toboggan down.   I never knew you could do that!

So I thought I would post a few pictures of her room here, and the next time I post we will be in China!!! Yay!