A Difficult Update...

It has been awhile since I have been to this blog, and I know there are many people who have been wondering how we have been doing,  so today I felt ready to take some time to write a short update on our situation.
For those who are not aware, Lauren is currently with another family here in the United States.  Jerry and I knew immediately upon meeting her that she had some needs that were not disclosed to us and we struggled with the decision and knowledge of being able to parent her and meet those needs. 

We realized over the weeks in China that we were not prepared, and upon returning home, we saw the impact on our family.  Therefore, we reached out and were able to find a wonderful family who openly welcomed her into their family, knowing the potential of her needs - and we are happy to say that she is doing very well.

We have been comforted by this family's love for her and their knowledge and ability to meet her needs.  This has also now allowed us to focus on the transition of our other daughter, Kaitlyn Jinqing.

Kaitlyn is doing very well and we have settled into some form of a new routine.  She will begin school on Wednesday for 1/2 days initially.  Please pray for her as this will be one of the most difficult transitions for her to make.  We have been working with the teachers and principal for a couple of weeks to prepare and get things in place for her to begin.  However, she is the first non-English, non-Spanish speaking individual to enter the district, for as long as they can remember, so this is all new territory for them.

I appreciate the thoughts of those who have shared them and encourage you to keep Lauren and her new family in your prayers, as well.  We have loved this child for some time and everyone's wish is that she be given all of the opportunities and love of a family -

Zai Jian from China! (Goodbye from China!)

Tonight is our last night in China; we leave for the airport at 7:00 a.m.  We will arrive at the Milwaukee airport at 6:50 p.m. and should be home around 8:30 p.m., if all goes as planned.  We spent a portion of the day on the island since we had to return the stroller and then we met up with some of our group for lunch at Lucy's and had a great time!  We got back to the hotel around 1:30 and Jadyn took a nap while the girls played games on the computer.  Jerry and I packed up just about all that we could into the suitcases to be ready to go in the morning.  Then I met Grace to pick up the girl's passports/visas at 5:00 p.m. and we grabbed dinner and tried to relax so the girls could get to bed early. 

It has been a long 3 weeks, but most certainly one trip we would do again in a heartbeat:)  There have been ups and downs which are to be expected when you travel on this journey - however, we have trusted in our faith and the fact that we are meant to be headed down this path.  We know there will be hurdles ahead, and again, that is when we will lean on our faith all the more! 

You cannot really enjoy the rewards in life without struggling a little from time to time:)

We can hardly wait to hug our boys and kiss their cheeks!  We are excited to see them interact with their new family members - I know it will be a wonderful mix of personalities!

Thank you for following along on our journey; I will try to update in the near future after we have time to catch our breath at home.  Take care!

TB is Good, Consulate Complete and Now we Wait:)

Well, the Mexican dinner was a bust:(  We were driven to the area the restaurant was supposed to be located, but no one could point us to where it was. We walked up and down the area/district but could not find it so we took a cab back to the hotel and had a bowl of noodles since it was too late for ordering in or going to the restaurant in the hotel.  We also did not want McDonald's since we had to have that for lunch.

The TB tests came back clear - whew!  We were in and out in about 5 minutes and the other 3 families in our group were there for their full medicals so it gave us time to walk the island some more.  We ran into Jordon again and he was so happy to meet Kaitlyn:)  He thanked me for sending business his way - apparently some people stopped in and mentioned that we suggested his store.  He is so worried about business with the closing of the White Swan.  I told him that many people appreciate his calligraphy and will be sure to stop by.

Then, we went to the Pearl Market which is actually a huge shopping plaza.  We bought the girls a jade pendant and found some fantastic deals on movies so we bought several.  We grabbed lunch at KFC and unfortunately had to wait longer than expected for the pendants to be done.  By that time the line for a taxi was extremely long!  There was one other family with us so we decided to try all areas of the street since no taxi would stop by the waiting line.  After about an hour we finally got one to stop and since it looked like rain we didn't want to leave the other family behind so 9 of us climbed into a teeny taxi!  We looked like the clowns climbing into the VW Bug:)  It was a long, uncomfortable, sweaty ride back to the hotel - but we made it and we brought smiles to many people's faces along the way!  My back is still paying for it today!

Today we had our consulate appointment.  We left at 7:45 a.m. and were back on the bus around 9:15.  We circled around the block a few times since we were the first family done and we had to wait for the other families to complete their process.  We got back to the hotel and Jadyn took a nap, but once she woke up we decided to go back to the market from yesterday to pick up a few more movies (since we made sure that they actually played) and a couple other items.  We went early enough that we didn't have to worry about getting a taxi today; we got one right away:)

The girls wanted a noodle & sausage dish from 7/11 for lunch and Jadyn got a hot dog wrapped in a roll; Jerry and I grabbed sandwiches from Starbuck's. 

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days -

 

The Medical Exams, Shopping and Tours of Old Chen House and a Buddhist Temple...

The medical exams went fairly well; Kaitlyn needed to get 4 shots, oral polio and a TB test. Lauren needed the TB test. She stepped right up and laid out her arm after watching Kaitlyn get hers; no problem:) She is a very easy going girl! Kaitlyn did very well with the shots; two in each arm - she didn't like that they were sticking a round ball (oral polio) towards her mouth, but eventually let them put it in. Fortunately, we were one of the first one's there so we could move through rather quickly. We finished in about one and one half hours.

We came back to the hotel and picked up lunch at Starbuck's and then took it easy for the rest of the afternoon/evening to make sure that Kaitlyn rested. She laid down around 5 p.m. and seemed to be pretty tired. She actually skipped breakfast this morning and we almost missed the tour group to see the Old Chen House, Buddhist Temple and stop at the shopping market. She seems to be doing better now:) Five other families from our agency arrived yesterday to finalize their adoptions in Guangzhou this week.

Lauren wasn't too hungry at breakfast either, but maybe because she is tiring of the same selections:) I know I am. We have been in China almost 3 weeks and I can't wait to get home and cook a meal! We miss the boys terribly, but only a few more days and we will be home.

Tomorrow we will have the TB tests read and then we are going to the Pearl Market. We are going to do a group dinner at the Macau Restaurant nearby, it serves Portuguese and Cantonese cuisine. It will be nice to have a change of pace. We also talked to the group about the Mexican restaurant here and we are going there for dinner tonight:)

A Day Together at Shamian Island:)

Today we took all of the girls to Shamian Island to explore and get out of the hotel.  It was warm; quite humid actually, but nice to get out and stretch our legs for a bit.  We arrived on the island around 9:30 a.m. and enjoyed walking around for a couple of hours before we grabbed lunch at Lucy's.  Jerry had a fried rice dish that was quite good, Lauren had chicken wings, Jadyn had a grilled cheese and french fries and Kaitlyn and I had a fried noodle dish that was delicious!  Then the girls played for awhile on the playground behind Lucy's and we walked along the waterfront for sometime before heading back to the White Swan to grab a taxi.  Today is the last day the White Swan is open for business; they will be closing for one year due to renovations.  It is a very popular hotel for adoptive parents to stay at while in China finalizing the last stage of the adoption process.  We took some pictures at the White Swan of some of the beautiful items they have for sale due to the renovations; truly breathtaking.  If only there were a way to reasonable ship something back to the U.S.:)

Anyway, once we got in the taxi to head back to our hotel the girls were all exhausted.  Jadyn fell asleep right away and then Kaitlyn took my arm and started to lightly pinch my skin just like Jadyn does and she laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep:)  It felt so nice to have her cuddle with me:)  I looked at Lauren and her eyes were flittering as she fought to stay awake, but within a minute or two she was asleep as well:) 

We got back to the room and Jadyn finished her nap, but the other two were suddenly wide awake!  I found a cartoon the Lauren likes to watch and Kaitlyn and I spent some time on the computer.  She watched me type a couple of comments to the blog and began reading what I was typing so I helped her to pronounce the words.  She repeated all but about 3-4 words!  It was amazing to hear her speak in English and she is so driven to want to know!  She then ran to get a dictionary and came back to the computer to type in some words which brought up a cartoon-type picture.  She was very excited to see it, then she typed in a website with free games and tried to show me how to play games with her!  It was a lot of fun:)  Eventually, I gave up the games and let her have computer time - she really enjoys the computer.  It didn't take her long to learn how to work our laptop and I know she will like the game systems we have at home:) She did Jadyn's hair in a ponytail again, then wanted to do mine; it is too short for a pony in back so she did one on top and tucked it under in a very cute way actually:)  So wonderful to have a daughter want to play with my hair:)

I put in Beauty and The Beast for the girls to watch, we grabbed dinner from the 7/11 and now they are on a walk with Dad:)  We'll come back together to watch Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue tonight, then tomorrow we are off for the girls to have their medical exams.  Both will need TB tests and Kaitlyn will need some shots.  Please pray that this step goes well; they were pre-tested for TB so we believe there shouldn't be any issues, but if there are we may be stuck in China longer than expected.  Also, the fact that Kaitlyn needs additional shots; she says she isn't afraid of them, but still - as a Mother you don't like to see your child subjected to any type of pain. 

Five more days and then we are headed for home; we love China and it's people - truly.  However, we miss our boys terribly.  They are doing very well, but are also anxious to meet their two new sisters!

Thank you for following along on our journey - to those of you yet to make yours; we wish you all the best!