For the love of Claire

New blog!!

2009-02-18T07:46:00.002-06:00

It's done! I had a new blog designed by a travelmate's daugher and it is up and ready! I am so excited to reveal it to everyone. Alexis is so talented and she is doing blog designs to raise money for future mission trips or to sponsor orphans. Wow, to have a heart for orphans at the age of 15. Check out her blog. After you check out her blog jump over to my new blog. Make sure you bookmark it or become a follower because this will be our new blog that I will be posting to. I am retiring For the love of Claire. Our journey to Claire is over but our adventure as a family is just beginning. Thank you for following our journey to Claire. I now invite you to share in our blessings as a family of 6 on our new blog.

African Children's Choir

2009-02-15T20:52:00.003-06:00

On January 30, we had the awesome opportunity to have the African Children's Choir come to our church to perform. Oh my goodness, these kids are so impressive. They sing with such passion and joy. They were nonstop motion with the most infectious smiles! I could have listened to them all night. This particular group of kids were from Uganda. All of the kids are either orphans or are from very poor villages where their parents can't afford to take care of them. They range in ages 7 to 11. Thanks to the work of the African Children's Choir these kids are learning about Jesus and recieving an education that otherwise they would have no access to. These precious children now have a hope for their future. For more information about the choir check out their website. What an awesome night of worship it was!

See the girl on the end I could not take my eyes off of her. Her smile just didn't stop.

Friends, Claire and Teddi, shared a cookie after the performance!

One Word Wednesday!

2009-02-11T12:02:00.001-06:00

JOY!!!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Mario!!

2009-02-09T13:10:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, we celebrated the 12th birthday of Mr. Mario. I can't believe that he is 12 already. Wow, almost a teenager! We are so proud of the young man that he is becoming. Mr. Mario our prayer for you is that you will continue to seek God and His will for your life. Let God lead you and continue to work hard in all you do. We love you!

Mr. Mario at 3 months old..He was such a beautiful baby..

Mr. Mario celebrating his first birthday..

Mr. Mario today. Yes, he dreams of having a hummer someday!

Mr. Mario happy with his new webkinz.

Mr. Mario showing his presents from his siblings..

Special visitors..

2009-02-03T12:07:00.004-06:00

We have been blessed by a visit from our friends in Virginia. We became friends when we lived there from 2001-2004. We have been able to maintain that friendship despite the miles that separate us. It just does this mom's heart good to hear the kids together again laughing and sharing their lives once again. We just wish we could get together more often. This was the first time that they had met Claire. Claire enjoyed having extra people in the house to entertain! We taught Claire how to sign each of their names but for some reason the sign goodnight stuck to their mom. I think the first night Claire and her kept signing goodnight to each other so goodnight is the name she got. Claire still signs each of the kids and then goodnight and then signs bye-bye and airplane. So I think goodnight will be her name from now on (I kind of like it!). Here are some pictures from our visit.

Mr. Speedy and BD..

Miss NJ and CL..

Claire and Goodnight!

Claire, BD, and Goodnight!

Mr. Mario, Mr. Speedy, and BD

The kids,aren't they cute?

Best friends..

The boys..

The kids in front of a famous landmark; can you name it?

Claire is our "American Idol"

2009-01-27T17:41:00.005-06:00

OK, it's true our family watches American Idol. We enjoy watching the auditions and seeing who is going to Hollywood. Well, it looks like Claire likes American Idol as well. The kids have a microphone for one of their Wii games and this weekend they had it out to play with. Well, Claire picked it up and started singing but she had to have a tag on her chest first, just like the contestants on American Idol. She sang with such passion and conviction. She then wanted a "magic" paper that the contestants get when they are told that they are going to Hollywood. We laughed and laughed. In fact, it did my heart good to see her singing. No it isn't singing with words we recognize but she is singing with her heart. Watch the video I did with my camera and then tell me how she knows that singing is different than talking. She is definitely singing. Remember she is profoundly deaf in both ears.

Sorry that it is turned sideways. I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

It is the year of the Ox!

2009-01-26T18:22:00.002-06:00

Claire says "Happy Chinese New Year!" We celebrated yesterday with a trip to HuHot, yummy!

Giveaway..

2009-01-23T11:05:00.004-06:00

Do you want to help build a house for the Saunders family? Check out this blog giveaway at Heart Smiles. The Saunders are a truly inspirational family and we are trying to get Extreme Home Makeover to build them a house. Check out the website and see how you can help! Also check out The Saunder's blog. You will be blessed by stopping by and seeing how they are seeing beauty among the ashes.

Six months as a family of six!!!

2009-01-21T07:30:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that six months have gone by already. It seems like we were just in China meeting our precious girl for the first time. I continue to marvel at this entire journey. Mr. Steady and I knew that this was something we were supposed to do but our kids didn't really have a choice to add a sister. Yes, they were excited about the idea and yes they helped choose a name and yes they prayed for her everyday but we didn't know how she would fit in our lives and how she would impact their lives. Well, the kids have done great and have embraced Claire and they just love her to pieces. I am so proud of them because they gave up a lot; Miss NJ gave up being the only daughter, Mr. Mario gave up the title of middle child, and Mr. Speedy gave up being the baby of the family. Amazingly, just six months later they are ready to add another sibling. Mr. Mario said just last night that "who knows maybe our new brother or sister is being born right now". Mr. Speedy has started praying for his new sibling in whatever country they may be in! He wants to start picking out names! Miss NJ says we need to go back to China and get a little boy. I say all this because I am seeing how Claire is impacting their lives. They are developing a heart for orphans and who knows where that will take them in their lives. Mr. Steady and I know there will be more children in our lives whether they are foster children or are adopted. We are waiting on God to reveal His plan to us. I would go back to China in a heartbeat but if God wants us to go somewhere else then we will be obedient. I know having a big family is not normal in today's society but we never claimed to be normal!!

Anyway, happy six month gotchaversary Claire! We thank God everyday for choosing us to be your family. It has been pure joy watching you blossom into the child God created you to be. You have brought us joy and laughter and we are better people because of you.

I've chosen a picture of the kids with Claire from each month we have had her.
Miss NJ and Claire in China..

Mr. Speedy and Claire

Mr. Mario and Claire bike riding

All of the kids

My favorite picture of the kids

Claire posing at the band concert

Claire sleeping with her necklace made by her friend that came home from China 3 years ago!! Thank you Gracia!!

Pray for Linn..(Updated)

2009-01-15T13:18:00.005-06:00

I didn't know how strong and supportive the adoption/blog community was until I started blogging myself and we adopted Claire. Well, I have made some new friends via blogging because we share 2 passions - taking care of orphans and our love for our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, one of my blogging friends, who I hope I get the privilege of meeting in person some day, needs your prayers. Yesterday, her little log cabin burned. Thankfully, she was able to get all of the kids out of the house safely but they lost everything within the house. I've been following Linn's blog for several months and I can tell you that Linn and her husband are true servants of Christ. They are the real deal and my faith has grown by witnessing their life and love for Christ, family, and others. You can clink on the link to visit her blog. She talks about the events of the fire. Please pray for this family during this time.

Updated: I just found out that Dwight and Linn's son, Graham, is currently in surgery. He is having his appendix taken out. Please pray, the fire alone is overwhelming and now their son is having emergency surgery.

Friend Sweetness...

2009-01-13T11:22:00.001-06:00

Last week, Claire spent several days playing outside with friends. Claire loves playing with her friends (and us mommy's love the midday adult conversation!). It is so nice being able to play outside in January. One of the benefits of living in South Texas!

Teddi and Brogan going cross country..

Brogan is a great chauffeur..

Claire's turn to ride..

Grinner 1 and Grinner 2 having fun together..

Thanks Brogan for being the designated driver and taking the girls for a ride. Fun memories indeed!

CT scan yesterday..

2009-01-07T12:06:00.002-06:00

Thank you for all of your prayers yesterday, Claire did fantastic. We arrived at 8:00 and her CT was supposed to start at 9:00. Well, we waited and waited, 9:00 came and went. Claire did pretty good with the wait but she was hungry since she couldn't eat or drink anything until after the scan. Finally, at 10:00 the nurse came out and said we are still waiting on the doctor and there is another family before you. I guess the doctor had to be there because of the sedation. She then asked if we wanted to try without sedation and if so we could go right now. After waiting for 2 hours with a hungry girl we said let's try it. It took 2 trys but on the 2nd try Claire layed perfectly still and they were able to complete the scan. Woohoo she did it and we didn't have to mess with sedation! We currently have the films (not that we can read them) and we are waiting to meet with the surgeon so we can find out what the scan showed. However, I think her anatomy is fine. She has started to respond to noise and is starting to repeat sounds with her hearing aids in. We still have a long way to go as far as speech is concerned but she is hearing something and that is a start! Thanks again for your prayers!

Random cuteness and a prayer request..

2009-01-05T10:06:00.002-06:00

This post comes with a random cuteness warning. These are some of my favorite pictures of Claire from our Christmas trip to Nebraska.

This is Claire on Christmas eve trying on her new gloves..

Claire is reading her new sign language book given to her by Miss Tina Thanks so much!

I just love how her big brown eye is peeking out at us!

Claire loves her train hat from Grandpa and Grandma! She even wore it to AWANA last night!

Could you remember us in your prayers for tomorrow? Claire has a CT scan scheduled for tomorrow that requires sedation. We have to be there at 7:30 and then it is to start at 9:00. Which means nothing to eat or drink in the morning. Also, last time she was sedated we wrestled (literally) with her for an hour before the medicine finally made her sleep. It may be a long morning for all of us. The CT scan will tell us if she has the correct anatomy for hearing and if she will be a candidate for a cochlear implant. Thanks!

We're back..

2009-01-01T21:14:00.005-06:00

Happy New Year! It is good to be home. We had a wonderful time in Nebraska and it was fun introducing Claire to more of the family. Claire did wonderful on the trip and did great meeting everyone. Here are some of our trip highlights.

My sister made homemade play dough for the girls to play with. She made peanut butter play dough and regular play dough. The peanut butter play dough was yummy. It was Claire's favorite to play with and to eat! I love the look of concentration on her face while she is doing play dough!

Christmas eve is always spent at my parent's house. We all go to church together and then return to their house for homemade soup. After eating, the kids get to open presents. This year, my parents gave all of the kids walnuts. They spent many hours opening up walnuts placing money inside and then gluing the shells shut. What fun the kids had opening their walnuts and finding money inside. Claire was slightly confused, she had been eating nuts the night before with Daddy so she was expecting more nuts to eat. In fact, when she opened the first box and found a nut she grabbed it and ran to the kitchen and threw it in with the other nuts she had been eating. She still doesn't understand this whole money thing.

Claire quickly became a Grandpa's girl. It started when my parents visited us in September and they picked up right where they left off. She would snuggle with Grandpa and wrestle with him while the rest of us played cards. It is very tiring wrestling with Grandpa. I think it wore them both out because they both fell asleep on the couch.

On Christmas Day, we headed to Mr. Steady's hometown to spend the rest of our time with his parents. Grandpa is a big train buff, Claire got her very own train hat and they spent time together in the basement in Grandpa's train room.

We usually go to The Big Apple sometime when we are in Nebraska. The kids begged until we went again this time. The boys kept saying we have to take Claire she will love it. They were right she did love it. In fact, they all had fun running around. With the cold outside, it was a great place to burn off some energy!

We took these pictures on our last day right before we hit the road for the long drive home. Mr. Steady's parents and Mr. Steady's sister and husband we there to see us off. On our way through Kansas, we stopped to see my grandma. She was in the hospital with high blood pressure. She was so happy we stopped to see her and that she got to meet her newest great granddaughter. As usual our time went by way too fast. Since we don't get to see family very often we treasure the time we do have with them.

In my last post, I mentioned that there was something special about this picture. Well, what makes this picture special is that all of these girls are adopted! Our family has been blessed 4 times over by adoption. This was the first time they were all together and it did my heart good to see them play together!

5 months of joy..

2008-12-21T23:00:00.001-06:00

Five months ago, we received the greatest gift. We had been praying for Claire by name for almost 2 years and finally we had her in our arms! She has come so far since then. She now seems totally comfortable with us and has learned to trust us. We are now at my parent's house where she is meeting a lot of new people and she has done amazingly well. She explores the house like she owns it, she meets everyone with a smile, and she joins in with all of her new cousins. She would not have done this a few months ago, she would have been clingy and very shy. This child of mine continues to amaze me. God is good, indeed.

Playing dress up with cousins..

(Can you guess what makes this picture so sweet besides the cute girls? Put your guess in a comment and I will tell the answer later)

All of my kids have made Christmas cookies with grandma. It was so special to see Claire continuing this tradition. It has been a long time coming..

Hope you like sprinkles..

Making Christmas cookies with Grandma..

Claire today..We love you baby girl and are so proud of you..

Just a note.. we are now in Nebraska after a 17 hour car ride on Saturday. When we left Saturday morning it was 70 degress, when we pulled in my parent's driveway Saturday night it was -5 degrees. Yes that is negative! Can you say cold!? Yes, we let the boys play outside on Sunday with -40 wind chill. They are young and they wanted to play in the snow!

Main Street Bethlehem, Band Concert, and Hearing aids!!

2008-12-20T00:12:00.005-06:00

Tomorrow we leave for our Christmas trip to Nebraska. Well, I just looked at the clock and actually later today (actually in a few hours) we are leaving. Yes, I should be sleeping or packing but I wanted to post an update first.

Last Friday, we went to Burnet, Texas to see Main Street Bethlehem. It is awesome. It is an entire city block that is completely transformed into the streets of Bethlehem. It is put on by a local church and they do a fantastic job. The kids love the Bethlehem bread that they hand out. It is cooked in a stone oven right in the middle of the town. It is yummy. The kids also like to watch the activity by the tax collector. There is usually a lot of good dialogue as people come to pay their taxes, some even get carried off by the soldiers. They also have blacksmiths that are making little fish emblems. Last time we went they handed one to Mr. Speedy. He was hoping for another one but not this time. At the end, you find Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the stables. We did the sign to Claire for baby Jesus and she signed back to us Jesus and friend. I told her yes, Jesus is your friend.

Last night, Miss NJ and Mr. Mario had their band concert. Miss NJ played with the middle school and high school bands. All of the 8th graders who did marching band also play with the high school for concert band. It is good for her, it keeps her from getting bored! This was Mr. Mario's first concert. He did awesome on percussion and even had a little solo during one of the songs.

Guess what? Claire got her hearing aids today (actually yesterday now). We were hoping she would get them before we left on our trip and she did! She was so excited. After they put them on she smiled really big and then she become very still like she was concentrating really hard. The audiologist said this was her birthday for her ears and now we need to teach her to listen and associate sounds to things in her environment. It will be interesting to see how she responds after wearing them for a few days. She doesn't mind wearing them and she leaves them alone. You can see from the picture that they are pink with sparkly ear molds. Can you say bling!? I told Mr. Steady we need to learn the sign for bling! I think every 3 year old girl likes bling! We are playing listening games with her. If we make it a game then she may not mind working on listening. I will try to upload a video from today but if it takes too long then I will do it later. I need to go to bed! The second video isn't the one that I wanted to put on but I am tired and need to go to bed. I'll save the other video for another time.

Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy

2008-12-15T20:36:00.001-06:00

Wow, this video is powerful. This 13 year old boy gets "it" better than most adults. I just had to share it with you.

I also wanted to let you know that our beloved Mr. Tony passed away. I talked about Mr. Tony a couple of posts ago. He will be greatly missed but I take joy in the fact that he will be spending Christmas with Jesus. We will miss you Tony.

Urgent prayer request - Updated

2008-12-12T12:08:00.004-06:00

Please pray for my new friend, Linn. She is currently in Uganda with her 2 new babies! This makes 10 children for her. God has moved many mountains already on their behalf but they need more prayer now. You can go to her site, A Place Called Simplicity, to get caught up on their journey. If you have time, read her posts on the sidebar titled Our Wild Adventure. Believe me, you won't regret reading their story and your faith will increase and you may even feel called to action yourself. Thanks.

Updated (Monday morning) - Linn's husband is in Uganda right now and they are going to the US Consulate today. Again, God came through in a big way to get him there. If you like miracles then this is a Christmas miracle unfolding right before our eyes.

Month of appointments..

2008-12-10T11:33:00.001-06:00

Wow, December has been a busy month full of appointments. This is a good thing, these are the appointments that we have been fighting to get for Claire. It feels good to finally be making progress for her. Before I share about her appointments I want to share about our Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends from church. This couple calls us "their kids" so it was just like being at home for Thanksgiving or at least the next best thing. We are so thankful for our church family. We have always lived away from our families so it is nice to have a church that becomes our family. We have so many adopted "grandparents" all over the country. We are truly blessed.

Everyone ready to eat..

Claire helping clean out the bowl after making chocolate pie -yum!

Okay an update on the appointments. Claire had her first dentist visit. She did fantastic. She let them do whatever they wanted. Happy to report her teeth looked great; no signs of cavities. Next we visited the audiologist for hearing aid fittings. We have her aids ordered and are hoping to get them before Christmas. We will post a picture once she has them. We then had more testing with the speech pathologist at the school. We are trying to finish up her testing to see what services she qualifies for. Next, another visit with the pediatrician. Claire hasn't been sleeping well for the last week (getting up several times a night) and started digging at her ears. Guess what, another ear infection in her left ear and fluid in her right. If you are keeping track, that is her 3rd infection since being home. Uugghh! We will address this again next time we meet with the cochlear implant team. Today, we met with the school psychologist for further testing. This should be the last of the testing and then we will meet to decide on a plan of action for treating Claire. Tomorrow, we are visiting a local school that has a preschool program that offers total communication. Which means the children are given access to visual, oral, and auditory elements of language in order to help them develop language. She would be with other kids like her using sign language and learning to be verbal. We know this is what she needs but we still need to decide how often she will go and for how long. I just got my little girl and I'm not ready to share her but I will for her sake. On Friday, we have an appointment with the genetics doctor. They may do some genetic testing to see if they can determine the cause of her hearing loss.

That is a portion of our busy schedule for this month. I left out the school open house, the band concerts, and the Christmas parties. :)

Claire's first dental visit..

The tree lighting ceremony where we live..

Oh, we have a famous artist at our house. Mr. Speedy's artwork was selected to be displayed at a local restaurant. It will be there this entire month. He was so excited to be selected and we are very proud of him. Here is his artwork..

New Family pictures..

2008-12-05T07:47:00.003-06:00

We had a friend from church offer to take family pictures for us. It was her gift to us. Thank you Annie, we love them.

Here are some of my favorites. Yes, you may see them again in a Christmas card!

Proud mama..

2008-12-04T12:17:00.001-06:00

As Mr. Steady and I were going through some of Mr. Speedy's class work we came across this letter.

It says:

Dear Mr. Tony,

I want to help you stay clean and healthy. I will get you a jacket. I will take your clothes to my house and clean them. I will clean your house. I will turn on the TV for you.

I guess his assignment was to write a letter to someone you want to help and he chose Mr. Tony. Mr. Tony is a 91 year old gentleman at our church. I'm not sure how it started but for quite awhile now we have been taking Tony to lunch after church and then taking him home. Sometimes we stop at the store for him and pick up his medicine or groceries he needs. At times, the kids just want to go eat alone as a family and if I am honest sometimes I do to. We always remind them (and myself) that we have to look beyond ouselves and our wants and reach out to others. We are really trying to live out James 1:27 as a family. James 1:27 goes like this Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. When I see Tony smile then I know we must continue on being a part of this sweet man's life. On a side note, sweet Tony brings me coupons from the Sunday paper each week. He knows we don't get the paper and he knows we like using coupons to feed our family of 6!

When I saw Mr. Speedy's letter, it was a reminder that we need to keep on keeping on. Our little boy is getting it; he is getting what it means to love as Christ loves us. Each crazy Sunday without our afternoon nap has been well worth it!

Check out my elves...

2008-12-03T22:27:00.002-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I just have to say that I love being silly with my kids. I love to create things like this and then listen to them laugh as they watch it. Life is too serious sometimes and it just feels good to be silly and laugh. My kids loved this and they asked me to email it to their friends and to put it on the blog. So here it is for all to enjoy and to get a giggle from.

Tagged again but the rules are different..

2008-11-30T14:32:00.002-06:00

My friend and travel mate, Sharla, tagged me with a fun activity.

The Rules:
1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open it to page 56
3. Find the 5th sentence
4.Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with instructions
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the most intellectual - Pick the CLOSEST

Ok, here is the book that was sitting next to my living room chair; Fields of the Fatherless by Tom Davis. The 5th sentence on page 56 is Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. The author was quoting from James 2:14-17.

I am almost finished with this book and then I am going to read, Red Letters - Living a faith that bleeds. Thanks for tagging me Sharla, this one was easy! I am going to tag Tina and Melissa(private blog). Come on girls, this is an easy one!

A lot to be thankful for..

2008-11-27T08:43:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Orphans Ticket Home Gala..

2008-11-24T09:18:00.005-06:00

On Friday night, Mr. Steady and I went to a Gala! We went with our friends and neighbors, Bryan and Tina. They adopted little Teddi 2 months before us. Claire and Teddi are so cute together. Thank God, they are orphans no longer!

Back to the Gala..
Wow, what a night! Did you know that there are 143 million orphans in the world today? 143 million orphans that just want the love a family. The Orphans Ticket Home Gala was raising money to help pay for the paperwork to be completed for these orphans so that they would be paper ready to be adopted and have a chance of a forever family. For those of you not familiar with adoption (especially international adoption), the government has to investigate each case to verify that the child is truly an orphan and they have to get a birth certificate for the child. Sometimes it just takes a group to come along and assist the different governments to get this done. Well, the Gala was a huge success with over $25,000 raised!

As an adoptive parent, I just want to do more to help orphans. When you start looking at orphans as children that matter to God then you can't sit by and ignore their plight. The Bible is full of scriptures that instruct us to care for the widows and the orphans. James 1:27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. I think as a church and as believers we have forgotten that it is our responsibility to care for them. Mr. Steady and I left the Gala knowing that we had to do more. We are not sure what that entails but God does. Pray for us to listen for His will for us and to be obedient when He does reveal it.

These centerpieces graced the center of each table. They each had precious pictures of children who are orphans no more..

Billy and Cindy Foote lead worship..(wrote songs such as "You are My King","Not a God", "Sing to the King")

Tom Davis was the Keynote speaker (Author of Fields of the Fatherless and Red Letters)

Mr. Steady and I with our friends..

Tina and I..

Tina and I also had the pleasure of meeting a bloggy friend at the Gala. Jenn will be leaving on Dec 4 to go get her precious daughter Karleigh Mei. We "met" through our blogs and tonight we got to meet in person!

4 months since Gotcha Day!

2008-11-21T09:45:00.003-06:00

Wow, 4 months ago today we got Claire! I can't believe that 4 months have already flown by. It seems like she has been with us forever. She is doing fantastic. She is napping, sleeping in her own bed (out of our room), being less of a picky eater, and is absorbing sign language like a sponge. We have started making a list of all of the signs that she knows and uses appropriately and the list is already at 70 signs with more being added daily. She recently was evaluated for language through the school district (they evaluated her based on her sign language not verbal) and she was at a 28-32 month level. She is now 40 months of age so we think that is great considering she has only been learning sign language for 4 months. We are still working on getting her hearing aids. We are going to give them a trial run to see if she gets any benefit from them and then looking at possible cochlear implant surgery in February.

She continues to bring the family a lot of joy and we can't wait to introduce her to more of the extended family over Christmas.

Claire announcing 4 sweet months together..

The silly side of Claire..

Our precious girl..

Perfect that way..

2008-11-19T13:10:00.001-06:00

I came across this song and I just had to share it with you all. I couldn't get through it without tears. When the song states "God's gift to her is silence"; I've often felt that Claire's hearing loss was God's way of protecting her heart while in the orphanage. She couldn't hear what was going on around her and so now she shows no signs of any emotional scarring. I will be forever grateful to God for his protection and love for Claire. She is perfect that way!

Zoo, football, and more..

2008-11-12T10:38:00.001-06:00

Last Wednesday, Claire and I went to the zoo for the first time. We have a group of moms that get together once a month to do fun activities together and the best part - it is free. We have a sponsor at our church that pays for the moms and their preschoolers! What a great gift for families with small children. Well, this was the first activity that Claire and I joined in on. We had a great time and the weather was perfect! Claire loved the animals and for the most part I knew the signs for the animals! Of course, I didn't know hippo or alligator and look at the pictures. Who got up close and personal with the kids? The hippo and alligator! Uugghh, oh well next time I will do my homework ahead of time!

On Friday, we went to the last football game (oh so we thought). Our team won the game which I guess means that they qualified for the playoffs. Not that we aren't excited and proud that they made it but that means another week of early band and another Friday night with marching band. You see, we thought marching band was over so we scheduled to start our family sign language classes this Friday. I guess Miss NJ will miss the first session. Anyway, back to the football game on Friday. Our team has a mascot of a bird that walks around in the stands. Well, everytime Claire sees it she practically mulls the poor bird. She gives it high five, she jumps in it's arms, she wraps her arms around it's neck, etc. Mr. Steady and I just shake our heads because our other 3 were terrified of things like that. We used to go to Academy games all of the time and they have "The Bird" and our kids would scream if it came near!

On Saturday, Mr. Speedy had his end of season football party. We met at a park and had a picnic and let the kids play. Mr. Speedy was so excited to get a trophy! I have to admit the trophies were pretty cool. One highlight of the season was having a friend's son on the same team with Mr. Speedy. They had known about our long wait but didn't know that we had Claire. They were thrilled. They too have a precious daughter from China. Claire and her played together at every game. It was fun to see them together!

Ok, drum roll please!!! Now for the big news from this weekend... Claire is no longer sleeping in our room!!! She has graduated to a new bed and is in her room with Mr. Speedy! Yippee! We decided on Saturday to try and transition her into Mr. Speedy's room. We already had a twin bed for her set up in there but it was too intimidating to her. She was still sleeping in a crib in the orphanage and then in a travel crib in our room. So we went to Walmart to search for a toddler bed and what to our wondering eyes did we see? A Dora the Explorer toddler bed! Dora is really the only thing she has really gravitated to since being home. Another bonus - the price was right too! So we snatched it up and headed home. We kept doing the sign for sleep and pointing to the new bed. She was all smiles. When we got home we let her help us put it together in her new room. Once it was all set we let her watch us take down the travel crib in our room and we waved bye bye to it. At bedtime, she layed right now and kissed us goodnight. The first night wasn't smooth sailing but it was a start. Mr. Speedy came in our room about 5 times to tell us that she was sitting up and saying MaMa. So we would get up and find her laying down so we'd cover her up and tell her goodnight. We thought she did great, Mr. Speedy on the other hand not so much. The next night we instructed Mr. Speedy to just tell her to lay down and do the sign for "shhh". Well he didn't even have too. She went right to sleep and slept all night! Last night, she even went to bed at the same time as Mr. Speedy and went right to sleep. (Before she wouldn't lay down until Mr. Steady and I were ready to go to bed so this was amazing to us.) This morning was the first morning that Mr. Speedy had to get up and get ready for school so needless to say Claire was up way too early. I'm sure over time she will learn to sleep through Mr. Speedy getting up. Way to go Claire!!

Check out the pink boots by her bed! Is she becoming a Texan or what?

(She doesn't have pictures of her sleeping on her walls, I just had 3 sleeping pictures so I put them together!)

Salute to my military men..

2008-11-10T10:02:00.007-06:00

Tomorrow we celebrate Veteran's Day. I would be remiss if I didn't recognize the 2 military men that have had the greatest impact on my life. First is my grandpa, Doc Wichers. He was in the Navy and served during WWII. Even though he is no longer with us his legacy carries on. He taught me what true love looks like and how to be a helpmate to my spouse. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house growing up and I witnessed how my grandpa treated my grandma. I witnessed how they truly enjoyed being together and were always playing games and laughing together. I knew one day I wanted a marriage like that. I also saw how my grandpa cared for my grandma when she became frail and her mind and memory were fading. My grandpa was in his 90s and he fought through his health problems so he could care for grandma. Though I miss his gentle manner and his infectious smile; I take great joy in knowing that he and grandma are together in heaven (probably playing cards with the angels!).

My Grandpa and Grandma..

Me and grandpa..

My next military man is my husband, Mr. Steady. Mr. Steady has been serving in the military for 18 years and we have been married for 17 of them. At times it has been a wild ride but all in all the journey has been great. Mr. Steady has earned the nickname Mr. Smiley at work. I think that says a lot about his true character. My hubby has been involved in very stressful situations and has had to make many tough decisions but he wouldn't let it rob him of his smile. When the going gets tough and everyone can see that the "boss-man" is still smiling then that influences the rest of them. How can you not smile when you see his dimples (I know your thinking that isn't very tough and macho for a military man but I happen to love his dimples!). I also think you can be a man of valor and strength and yet still be gentle. Military life can be hard especially when it keeps you away from family but I would never ask him to walk away from doing what he loves. Mr. Steady definitely loves serving his country in the military! So, to my military man, thank you for serving, thank you for being a great husband and daddy, thank you for taking me along for the ride!

Joy - no matter what!

2008-11-05T15:59:00.001-06:00

The elections are over - finally! Even though my candidate didn't win and even though I was so sad last night - I've decided that I am going to have joy - no matter what! Our preacher spoke on this very subject on Sunday. He talked about how Paul wrote Philipians while sitting in chains in a prison. Guess what? Philipians is a book about joy. How can someone write about joy while sitting in prison? Paul knew that his circumstances were temporary and that through his chains the work of Jesus was being advanced. Like Paul, I realize that whatever happens here is only temporary but I am going to fix my eyes on the greater goal (vs 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus). My prayer remains that God would use this election to turn our country back to Him. God knew the results of this election before time began so I am trusting Him and having joy - no matter what!

I had to post these pictures from this weekend when we went to the corn field maize. It brought us joy as a family to share God's creation together!

If these pictures don't make you smile I don't know what will :)...

Look at the pure joy on the boys' faces!!

Having fun shooting the corn cannon and taking a hayride!

Signing off from our joy filled house!!

Claire says..

2008-11-03T12:18:00.002-06:00

Claire says don't sleep through your duty as an American...

Claire says go vote tomorrow please...

I am Claire's mommy and I approve of this message!

Fall fun..

2008-10-31T22:21:00.001-05:00

What a fun day we had today! The day started with a character pumpkin patch at Mr. Speedy's school. The kids decorated pumpkins based on the main character of a book they had read. Then they dressed like scarecrows. Once someone touched them, they would come to life and retell their story that their pumpkin was based on. It was very cute. Mr. Speedy did the the book - The escape of Marvin the ape. We decorated the pumpkin to look like Marvin. He did an awesome job as a scarecrow! Miss Claire has been reenacting the pumpkin patch all day. She holds her arms out and then indicates that she wants me to touch her. Once I touch her she starts telling me a story. Too cute! We ended the day with friends and dressing up in costumes for Mr. Speedy and Claire. Mr. Mario had friends over to spend the night. This is the one night that he can eat whatever he wants and we can't tell him no. Our good friends, the Motts, introduced this tradition to us. We have continued it even though they have moved away from us. Ms NJ has spent the evening at an away football game with the marching band. It has been a long day for her. She hasn't been home since leaving for school at 7:00 this morning! Good thing her volleyball games tomorrow don't start until 1:00!

I've been tagged..

2008-10-30T07:30:00.001-05:00

Well, I've been tagged by Trina (Noah Benjamin's blog on the sidebar). This might be hard coming up with 7 weird or random facts about me (no comments from my immediate family please). But, here goes..

1. I grew up and lived in the same house during my entire school days (k-12). Now I have been married 17 years and have moved 9 times! It will be 10 times this summer! Yes, we are moving again. Just can't tell you where yet!

2. My parents had to force me to get my driver's license. I was not interested at all at driving. Maybe it is because I learned to drive in a stick-shift car! The first time I drove on the interstate by myself is when I went to college! Now, I drive in big cities like it is no big deal!

3. I was selected for Who's Who among students in American Universities and Colleges in 1994. That is the year I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in Nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. I graduated in May and had Miss NJ in October so I didn't actually use my degree for many years later. I am now a full time mom and love it!

4. I love chocolate!! It should be a law that every meal is ended with chocolate! I mean really, can you think of a better way to end a meal?

5. I love watching sports on TV; football, baseball, basketball, NASCAR; you get the idea! When I watch Nebraska football on TV; I yell and scream and get all excited. My hubby loves the fact that I love to watch sports! Yes, he is a lucky man! I also love to play cards. Doesn't matter the game, I'll play anything! I'm told that I am competitive and I guess that is true but I also have fun and don't take the game too seriously!

6. I am horribly afraid of heights and snakes. I get dizzy just thinking about heights! On the snakes issue I blame my brothers. They thought it was very funny to put rubber snakes in my bed or bring the snakes from the garden into the house. Guess who always finds a snake first? Yep me; in our basement in Colorado and in our shed in Texas! If the truth be known, I haven't been back to our shed since I spotted the snake. When I called the base people who take care of snakes they asked me a lot of questions about the snake. My answer; I didn't stick around long enough to get acquainted with it. I ran into the house screaming and the boys ran out looking for it, boys!

7. I love my husband dearly. He is my best friend and a man of honor and integrity. He makes me laugh (and we laugh a lot). We are so much alike in everything and it really works for us. We love God, family, country. He is a great daddy too! I know many of you won't believe this but we have never had a knock-down drag out fight. I love him too much to talk ugly to him. I'm not saying we don't disagree because we do but we don't fight about it. I thank God for bringing him in my life because I certainly don't deserve him. Another thing is; I love my in-laws and Mr. Steady loves my parents! How many married couples can say that?!

OK, now I have to tag 7 more people. This may be hard since I haven't been blogging for too long!

Tina

Melissa (private blog)

Lucy

OK, I am stopping with 3. My other bloggy friends, I've noticed have already been tagged so I am not going to tag them again.

Wordless Wednesday..

2008-10-29T12:33:00.001-05:00

Collage Monday..

2008-10-27T11:40:00.003-05:00

I haven't done very well downloading my camera lately. Last night I downloaded it and it had 127 new photos! This morning I decided to create some collages of my favorite pictures. You can click on each collage for a bigger view!

Bowling fun..

Miss NJ and the award winning band..

Fun with friends..

Mr. Speedy and flag football..

Fall Fest at church..

Please check out the video link on the sidebar. Take some time and view the video. It contains important election information. Thanks!

Our girl in pictures..

2008-10-21T10:58:00.004-05:00

Three months ago today our lives and hearts were changed forever. We recently had her picture taken at JC Penney. These are some of our favorites..

We love you baby girl!

Heavy heart...read on..

2008-10-20T08:55:00.004-05:00

This post has nothing to do with my family and kids and at the same time has everything to do with them. It is nearing election time and my heart is heavy. This election could be a turning point for our country. Both campaigns are talking about Change. Do we need Change as a country? Yes, by all means. We need to Change from our wicked ways and to turn back to God. The picture that hangs right inside our front door states: God Bless America - If my people, which are called by my name, should pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14. I am praying that God hasn't given up on our country yet and that His name will be glorified during this election. Do you realize that before Sarah Palin agreed to run with John McCain she went before her church and asked them to pray over her. She didn't tell them specifically why she needed prayer but that she needed to be bathed in prayer. My friends, we need more government leaders who are bathed in prayer and who seek God's counsel. Do I think either candidate is perfect? No, but I will be voting for the one that I feel has this country's best interests at heart. As a military spouse, I would sleep much better at night knowing that our Commander and Chief knew what is was like to fight for his country, suffer for his country, and sacrifice for his country. Our military heroes fight for the very rights that we hold dear to us. The right for free speech (which the media takes for granted and often abuses), the right for freedom of religion, the right to vote. I couldn't help but think about our right of freedom of religion yesterday at church as I watched our newest daughter clap her hands as we sang and bow her head and clasp her hands while we prayed. I was brought to tears thinking about the fact that as a new American citizen she has the right to worship as she pleases and to learn about God and His love for her, that is true freedom and that is what this nation was founded on. What kind of country will our children inherit?

Food for thought: Currently, five Supreme Court Justices are over 70 years old. That may mean that during this next presidential term five new justices may need to be appointed. Who do you want appointing the Supreme Court Justices?

Pray, pray, pray and vote. Do it for your kids!

Miss NJ's birthday dance!!

2008-10-11T23:20:00.002-05:00

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Today was Miss NJ's 14th birthday! I just can't believe it! She spent the day at 2 marching band competitions. They got 1st place at both of them. We went and watched the 2nd one and they were awesome! The poor girl has a sunburn tonight on her face and arms. After band, we went to some outlet malls north of us and had dinner at Fazolis. Miss NJ loves Fazolis and we don't have one locally so we headed out of town. We topped the night off with Starbucks, yum! The video above I created for her earlier in the week and emailed it to her. She was surprised and she loved it. You see, she is obsessed with Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. So I gave her what she wanted for her birthday; a dance with Nickie. Hope you enjoy the video; we laughed and laughed! Happy Birthday, Miss NJ!!

Doctor appointments

2008-10-08T11:26:00.003-05:00

Well, October has been a busy month of appointments. We've met with the speech team at the school. That went very well, however, they want us to wait until we get the hearing results and her vision tested before we formulate a plan for speech. We have seen the pediatrician twice. Once for an ear infection and once to check to see if the infection had cleared up. The infection is gone but the fluid remains in both ears. We have met with audiology twice. On Monday, they performed the BAER (brainstem auditory evoked response). For this test, she had to be sedated which meant no eating the morning before the test. We had to be there at 12:30 and she couldn't eat after 7:00. The poor girl isn't usually awake by 7:00 so we tried to keep her up later and let her eat right up until bedtime. Didn't matter, she wanted to eat first thing. I couldn't explain to her why she couldn't eat so I tried to distract her. She took a nice, long bath. I let her play with every bath toy we had in the bathroom! We played outside, ect.. you get the picture. She did fairly well but was kind of grouchy and rightfully so. Her appointment was at 1:00. At 1:00, the nurse came in and said we are going to give her medicine to make her sleepy. She said the medicine would either 1. make her go right to sleep (preferred) or 2. make her agitated and hyper before falling asleep. Well, you guessed it, we had the #2 response. We wrestled with her for an hour before she finally gave in to the sleep. When I say wrestled, I mean literally wrestled. Of course, she didn't want to be held she only wanted to be down. However, she was so wobbly it wasn't safe to let her walk around, so we took turns wrestling with her. Whew, did I mention how strong she is? Anyway, once she finally fell asleep they could start the tests. The tests revealed profound hearing loss in both ears. We were surprised with the results and at the same time we both knew that this was probably the case after being with her for 2 months. The audiologist seemed to think that Claire would be an excellent candidate for cochlear implants. We are meeting with ENT next week and this option may be discussed more at that time. We may also be looking at more tests to determine the cause/source of the hearing loss. We are already researching resources available to help us learn more sign language. Once Claire begins in a program with sign language we will quickly be left behind if we don't start in one ourselves. Our "old" brains are harder to train! Please pray for us as we make decisions on the best way to treat her hearing loss. We just want to do what is best for her and will give her the best chance to succeed. She has come so far already and we can't wait to continue to watch her blossom!

On another note, Claire is now taking naps! Last week, I started the process of getting her to take naps on her own. I brought a nap mat downstairs and put it on the living room floor. I have her lay there for naps. At first, she cried and didn't want to lay down. She fought it for the first couple of days but each day she eventually fell asleep. Last Friday and yesterday, I got the mat out and she laid down and went to sleep without any fuss! Yea, she doesn't fight it anymore! Claire and her mommy are much happier people when she takes a nap. :) One hurdle cleared; maybe we can start transitioning her out of our room for bedtime soon.

Check out my wheels..

2008-09-30T21:04:00.006-05:00

We are doing good here just enjoying the warm weather. It is starting to get a little cooler (I guess you can consider 80s a little cooler!). It still feels weird to go to Friday night football games and wear shorts! Growing up, Friday night football games were always cool; jeans and sweatshirt weather. Oh well, that's South Texas for ya!

This weekend, we found a great buy at a local consignment store. It is a little bike just the right size for Claire. She loves it and she could ride around the block after only 2 times on the bike. She has strong little legs, she just forgets to steer sometimes!
Claire on her new wheels..

Daddy helping Claire on her new wheels..

Claire was tired of her new bike and wanted to ride her other bike for awhile..

Claire is doing great with AWANA. We are still teaching her the verses in sign language. Last week, she earned her vest and book. You should have seen her face she was so proud! Miss NJ still has to go with her. Claire isn't ready to separate from us yet even for a little while.
Claire with Mr. Mario. Claire is sporting her new vest..

Mr. Mario received a surprise last week. He got a letter from the Philadelphia Eagles head coach. The coach was thanking him for being a great fan. Mr. Mario was very excited to get that letter. I'm still waiting for my letter from the Denver Bronco coach or the Husker coach. Hmm, must have gotten lost in the mail. :)

Claire trying her bike out for a second time.. I think she's got it..

What fun, bike riding with Mr. Mario..

Time to get cleaned up after all the bike riding fun..

Video of Claire riding her bike; not too bad for her second time..

Tooth update..

2008-09-22T19:32:00.002-05:00

Yes, it is true. Mr. Speedy lost 2 more teeth! We tease him by saying "you turn 8 years old and all your teeth fall out!" Believe it or not, he has more loose teeth!

Update on Claire's audiology appointment today. We really don't know any more than we did before. Her eardrums were unresponsive which may indicate fluid in the ears. Because of this, her results may all be skewed. We are going back in 2 weeks for a brainstem auditory evoked response. For this test, she will be sedated and they will place probes on her head and will track brain responses to different sounds. After the appointment this morning, I made an appointment to go see the pediatrician because of the suspicion of fluid in her ears. Well, guess what? She had fluid in her right ear and an infection in her left ear. I asked the doctor why we don't know she has this going on before bringing her in to the doctor. The doctor thinks that possibly she has had so many ear infections in her life that she has learned to deal with the pain and discomfort. We really need to get in to the ENT clinic so we can figure out why she keeps getting infections.

How is it possible?

2008-09-21T16:07:00.002-05:00

How can it be possible that it has only been 2 months since we met our sweet girl? It seems like she has always been a part of our family. It is just amazing at what God orchestrates and how perfect it is. While we were waiting we couldn't understand all the whys; why is it taking so long, why is the CCAA slowing down the program, and on and on. Well, it took that long for God to work on our hearts toward His true plan for us. When we started the road of adoption we wanted the traditional program and we wanted an infant. However, God changed our hearts and lead us to pursue special needs. We officially changed our paperwork and submitted the special needs checklist in April 2008. On May 2, we received the call that has changed our lives forever. I had always heard that when you see the picture of your child you will know without a doubt. So that is what we prayed for that we would know and that is exactly what happened with us. We knew she was ours! Did it matter that she had a hearing problem? Not at all, I've grown up with a brother and 2 cousins who were deaf. I grew up watching my Aunt signing for them and had always loved sign language. It really is a beautiful language and we are enjoying watching Claire blossom as we teach her sign language. Speaking of her hearing, tomorrow she has her first audiology appointment. Hopefully, this appointment will be the start of figuring out the cause, type, and possible treatments for her hearing loss. I hope to have more to report about her hearing after the appointment.

This is the first picture we ever saw of Claire..

Gotcha Day..

Claire 2 months later..

Brief update..

2008-09-16T22:14:00.006-05:00

We are doing well. Busy with school, sports, and marching band. Wish we were busy with doctor appointments but we are still fighting to get Claire her specialty appointments. She has had a regular appointment along with bloodwork and everything has come back fine. We still don't know anything more about her hearing. The ENT clinic won't see us until we've seen audiology. Speech won't see us until we've seen audiology. So, we are in limbo waiting to get an appointment with audiology. She is learning sign language and most of the time we can communicate quite well. She knows the signs for water, eat, more, friend, Jesus, dog, cat, bird, squirrel, thank you, please, pretty, I love you, hurt, mom, dad, ice cream, no, yes, cookie, airplane, train, play, sleep, potty, hot, cold, shoes, ball, baby, wash hands, brush teeth, bath, get dressed, all done, grandma, grandpa, where, fish, share, bye bye. I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them right now. She has made her own signs for each of the kids, yogurt, and popsicle. She is in Cubbies for AWANA so we are teaching her the verses in sign language. Miss NJ goes with her and she knows the verse too so she can help Claire and translate for the teachers. I have found a great website that I use to help us learn the signs for the verses. Cute story - the other day Claire was playing with her baby. She was showing her baby a book and then showing her baby signs for the pictures. It was too cute! Well, I have gone on and on after I said that it was going to be a brief update. I will add some cute pictures too!

Our cute girl(who insists on putting up 2 fingers when we take her picture)

Stop - I can't handle another picture!

Mr. Speedy is lacking some teeth! One tooth he lost during the night. He woke up and didn't even know he had lost it until I asked him about it. Luckily, we found it at the bottom of his bed. Not sure how it got there! The next tooth he pulled out right before he went to bed. His top 2 are wiggly. He may be wanting his 2 front teeth for Christmas!

Ike is gone..

2008-09-15T10:40:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to send a quick update, Ike missed us! We were lucky that it went east of us and we only got a little wind and rain. Our city is still housing many evacuees from the Galveston and Houston area. It is amazing the power of water and wind and the damage it can cause. Mr. Mario was relieved once he realized that Mom was right and we were going to be on the "good" side of the storm. Thanks for your prayers.

Hurricane Ike..

2008-09-11T07:31:00.005-05:00

Well, we are getting ready for whatever Ike may bring. It is such a big storm we are expecting to get something. The football game for Friday was moved to tonight. They are playing about an hour south of here (which is even closer to the coast) and Ike may start rearing it's ugly head sometime on Friday so football will be tonight. Mr. Mario is ready to evacuate but we aren't even sure where Ike will make landfall yet. Right now, they think it may go East of us which would be good because the west side of the storm is the better side. The strongest part is the east side. We have been through this before in Virginia but Ike may be a lot stronger than Isabel! Keep us in your prayers this weekend as we deal with Ike.

Pictures from the week..

2008-09-06T11:03:00.007-05:00

What a fun week we had with family. My parents and Aunt and Uncle were here. Claire loved meeting them and being spoiled by them. It didn't take long for her to get used to having them around. In fact, she is lost today without them. Thanks for driving all that way to see us!!

The gang at Sea World..

Getting a ride on Uncle Gene..

Walking with Grandpa and Grandma..

Claire making everyone pose (look how she has her arm around Grandma - so sweet)..

Down on the Riverwalk..

Mr. Speedy's birthday lunch..

More birthday fun..

Eating homemade ice cream..

I think she likes it, what do you think?

Mr. Speedy was surprised by this gift..

Mr. Speedy says thank you to the Motts for inspiring this gift!! Hopefully he will be as good as y'all soon!

Birthday!!

2008-09-04T08:11:00.003-05:00

Today is Mr. Speedy's birthday! I can't believe that it has been 8 years already since he was born. He is our little miracle baby. Born with a blockage at his bladder neck with significant kidney damage because of it. Eight years and 3 surgeries later you would never know that he had any problems. The doctors say that the way his kidneys look they shouldn't work and yet by the grace of God they do. God has blessed this child and He has great plans for him. Mr. Speedy's smile and personality says it all!

Mr. Speedy wanted to know if he had to go to school today. I said "yes, of course" to which he replied "what's the use of having a birthday if you have to go to school?!" It won't be all bad, we are going to go get him and take him out to lunch!

Busy week..

2008-09-01T21:31:00.007-05:00

Wow, what a busy week we have had. The kids are back in school and with that comes all of the other activities. Miss NJ is in marching band and playing volleyball. Right now, marching band is the biggest time taker. She has to be to school by 7:30 each morning and one night a week she has to go at night for a 2-3 hour practice. Football has started so each Friday night is spent at the game watching the band perform. Mr. Speedy is playing flag football and has practice 2 nights a week. It is fun but good thing Claire likes to be on the go. She is always ready to go bye bye and is the first one with her shoes on!

On Saturday, my parents from Nebraska and Aunt and Uncle from Iowa arrived for a visit. Claire is enjoying having them around. My dad says it won't take long to make her a grandpa's girl and I think he is right!

Yesterday, we had Claire dedicated at church. She was in a mood all morning. She woke up in a mood and it continued throughout the service. She was initially mad because I took the squeakers out of her shoes. I tried to tell her that I would put them back in after church but this girl is stubborn with a one track mind! (She fits in perfectly with my other kids!) I was beginning to worry that maybe this wasn't a good idea. However, when it became time to go to the front she walked up holding our hands and then stood up there and smiled and waved at the congregation! Thank you God for her change in mood! She was so proud of the pink bible they gave her with her name on it!

Today, we went to Sea World. It was fun but it was also hot and humid. We were able to catch all of the shows. Our favorites were the sea lions and the penquin display. Claire was a trooper and slept during the ski show and part way through the Shamu show. My parents and Aunt and Uncle went on all of the roller coasters. It just blew my mind. I won't even go on all of them but my mom says "you only live once why not go on the ride." The kids thought that was great!

All in all, we are very blessed and are enjoying the blessings of family and our new girl. Speaking of which, I need to wrap up, I have a very tired and grouchy little girl who wants her Mama.

You know coloring can take a lot out of a girl..

Story time with friends Teddi and Brogan and Mrs. Tina..

Swinging with Mr. Speedy.. Everyday after school he plays with her on the swingset..

Daddy and Claire..aahh Friday at last..

Pictures from church..

First jeep ride with Mr Speedy..(I feel the need, the need for speed!)

Fun at Sea World..

After Sea World..

Feeling refreshed after her bath..

First day of school..

2008-08-25T20:15:00.003-05:00

Today was the first day of the new school year for the kids. None of us were ready for summer to be over but it is. They were all up early and anxious to go and they all seemed to have a good day. Mr. Mario is a little overwhelmed with middle school. As soon as he gets into a routine, he will be fine. I can't believe I have 2 in middle school! Mr. Speedy loves 2nd grade and he has a really nice teacher. Claire was still asleep when they all left. She searched the house for them when she woke up. When she couldn't find them she checked the shoe rack to see if their shoes were there. I thought that was pretty astute of her. She was okay today without them. We had fun together doing laundry and dishes. She is a great helper.

Pictures from the first day of school..

One month!!

2008-08-21T19:59:00.004-05:00

One month ago today we walked into the Civil Affairs office in Hangzhou, China anxious and if we are honest, probably a little scared about meeting our little girl. So many things were going through our head; what would she be like, would she love us as much as we already loved her, would she have a hard time attaching to us, would she only go to one of us, would she be scared? We had been praying for this little girl for almost 2 years now. We had been praying by name for Claire but we didn't know "our Claire" until May 2 when our adoption agency called and said would you like to look at a file of a little girl. On that day, our prayer changed to please prepare her heart and make her ready to join our family. Well, looking back a month later I can say that God heard our prayers and answered them in a big way. Claire has entered our family and she has been a perfect fit. She has attached to all of us and has done amazingly well. Not in my wildest dreams did I think that our transition would be this smooth. It is obvious to me that this is the child God intended for us when we started this process in January 2006. I'm not saying that it has all been easy we have our moments but then I remember all she has had to adjust to and it makes it easier to extend grace. I've heard the kids say "I can't believe we've just got her, it seems like we've had her forever." We celebrated our "anniversary" with swimming and ice cream!

I will close with a cute Claire moment. At night, after she has kissed the kids goodnight she gets in her bed. She then has Mr. Steady and myself cover her up. Once I am done covering her up she holds her hair back and puckers her lips for a kiss. You see when I lean in to give her a kiss I have to hold the hair out of my face. So now she thinks she must hold her (short hair mind you) hair back so I can kiss her. She tries to get Mr. Steady to hold his hair back! Ha, he has no hair long enough to hold back! It is so cute! She continues to blow us kisses after we have gotten into bed. It is so sweet and at that moment she could probably ask for anything and she would get it! Not really, but it really does melt our hearts!

Future Olympian??

She loves ice cream almost as much as her BaBa!

Inflatable Wonderland

2008-08-19T20:01:00.004-05:00

Today I took the kids to Inflatable Wonderland. They had a blast. Claire did not stop smiling the entire time. She really didn't want to leave but when she saw the other kids get their shoes on she put hers on without a fight. Right before we left, they had a time of dancing for the kids. Claire loves to dance. Miss NJ took some video of her dancing. We must of wore her out because she fell asleep on the way home!

Pictures from today..

Home again..

2008-08-18T17:39:00.006-05:00

We are home once again. We had a great vacation in Branson, Mo. Claire did great except for one meltdown in the car on the way home. She had decided that she was done and she wanted out of her carseat and the car. We all felt the same way but we weren't at our stopping place yet. Try explaining that to a 3 year old who doesn't speak English and who you're not even sure how much she can hear. Not an easy task. However, we got through it and made it home.

Claire is sleeping much better. She seems to like the travel crib. She was still sleeping in a crib at the orphanage so we will go with the travel crib for awhile. We will slowly introduce her to her bed later, maybe start with naptime.

Claire has her first doctor appointment on Friday. This will be her initial appointment that will get us referrals for her audiology appointment. Hopefully they will get the audiology appointment scheduled quickly. We are curious to find out what the hearing tests show and if she needs hearing aids. We want to get them ASAP. She has been without them since we got her.

The kids start school next week. They don't really want it to but it will be good to get into a routine. I'm sure Claire will miss them and I will too. She may be confused for awhile wondering where they have gone. They have spent very little time away from her.

Here are some more pictures from our vacation.

Relaxing vacation..

2008-08-12T10:44:00.007-05:00

We are having a relaxing vacation here in Branson. I think the jet lag is gone! We are all sleeping again but we are all staying up too late watching the Olympics! Oh well, that is the joy of vacation.

Claire continues to do well. She comes out of her shell more and more each day. She has such a silly personality. She is constantly making us laugh. She is sleeping better in the travel crib. It is so cute; each night she tells the big kids goodnight and gives them a kiss. She stands in our doorway and blows kisses to them until MaMa and BaBa are ready for bed. She then wants in her bed. We have to cover her up and when we are done she puckers her lips so we can give her a kiss. We try not to fall in the bed with her as we give her a kiss! She sometimes plays for a little while but eventually falls asleep and sleeps all night. Sleeping all night makes everyone so much happier!

Claire has enjoyed playing with her cousins as well. She has her Uncle wrapped around her little finger already! She is continuing to learn signs and use them appropriately. We've had to introduce the sign for share. I think she understands it because last night she was telling the kids to share the chow mein noodles. She also knows the sign for no and she likes to tell the kids no. Mr. Mario likes to get in her face and bug her and she looks at him and shakes her head and does the sign for no to him. We think it is cute; Mr. Mario not so much.

Today we are going to the Sights and Sounds Theater and are seeing Noah the Musical. We went to Daniel and the Lion's Den in Pennsylvania and it was awesome. We can't wait to see Noah.

Here are some pictures..

Check out the boots..

Decorating flip flops with the girls..

Claire with her uncle and aunt..

Cousins..

Playing with Mr. Mario..

Go-karts and bumper boats..

Little sister watching the action..

Riding the ducks..

Enjoy!!!

Recovering..

2008-08-07T16:57:00.006-05:00

Well, we are slowly recovering from our jet lag and getting more sleep. Last night, for the first time, we put Claire in the travel crib right next to our bed. She wasn't happy at first until she realized we were going to bed too. She slowly laid down, covered herself with the blanket, and went to sleep! She slept until 11:30 this morning! She still cries out in her sleep but it doesn't last long and she quiets and sleeps soundly again. Yea, I got a full night's sleep in my own bed! However, with that said, Claire slept but Mr. Mario did not. For some reason, Mr. Mario feels that he needs to share with us that he is not tired. We counsel him to read for awhile. He tries that and then comes back to tell us that it isn't working. We then counsel him to go downstairs and watch TV for awhile. He does and then comes in to report that it isn't working. He then brings his pillow and blanket in our room and sleeps in there too. He finally fell asleep and slept until 11:30 also. Mr. Steady also says that he wakes up during the night and is wide awake. We have started referring to his and Mr. Mario's sleeping issues as "China insomnia". Hopefully it will clear up soon!

Tomorrow we are leaving for Branson. I know we are crazy but we had this trip planned before God had even revealed Claire to us. We are meeting my sister and her family there. I am excited to see them and for them to meet Claire. Packing for this trip should be a breeze after packing for 2 weeks in China!

Here are some more pictures from home..

Snuggling on the loveseat with Miss NJ and Mr. Speedy..

Playing at the pool (we try to do a lot during the day to keep her awake so she will sleep at night!)

Playing on her bike with Mr. Speedy..

Asleep at the table. She tried really hard to stay awake but she couldn't fight it any longer. Luckily, she was already on her second plate of food. Thankfully, she still slept at night!

Need Sleep!!!

2008-08-04T15:06:00.006-05:00

Let me just tell you, I didn't know a body could feel this tired. This is our 3rd full day home and I've slept about 2 hours in my own bed. Claire is doing very well except for sleeping. She will sleep great in the afternoon but that all changes once it gets dark outside. We have been trying to sleep downstairs in the rocking/recliner. Yesterday, she feel asleep on the way home from church and slept all day. I know we should have woke her up sooner but we are so tired we slept part of the time too. Last night, she finally fell asleep around 5:00AM. Yes, I said AM! Our goal today is to keep her awake all day. We are going to play outside, go swimming, etc. Anything to keep her awake. The other kids are getting their sleep. In fact, Mr. Mario is still sleeping. Miss NJ started marching band practice today. So she has to be up and at school by 8:00. Ugh..

We took Claire to church yesterday for the first time. She did very well eventhough she was introduced to a lot of people. This was the longest that the older kids had been away from Claire since we got her. As soon as the service was over, Miss NJ and Mr. Mario were in the sanctuary wisking her away. It may be interesting when school starts!

I will close with a few pictures from home.

Playing at the neighborhood park..

She is a climber..

Church can take a lot out of a person..(if only she'd sleep like this at night)

We're home!!!

2008-08-02T01:31:00.004-05:00

It is 1:30AM and we are home!! We landed around 11:00PM and were greeted by a welcoming committee. We had friends from church and our neighbors there to greet us. They were holding signs and balloons. I really wasn't expecting it but it felt like the proper way to welcome home America's newest citizen! Unfortunately, Claire was sleeping. She eventually woke up and she quietly took it all in. Our van and house were also decorated up with "Welcome Home" message and balloons. We feel truly blessed to have such wonderful friends. Claire even got to meet her new friend, Teddi. We'll introduce them again properly when Claire is awake.

We had a 33 hr Friday, literally. That says it all. It started at 0300, China time, 1400, 31 Jul, Texas time. The flights were really quite uneventful. All on time. All took off and arrived early. First leg was from Guangzhou to Tokyo. As soon as we got off in Tokyo, we had to go through security again. Crazy! Not sure why, but we even had to do it in Minneapolis. I guess each country doesn't trust the other country's security. I think we walked through airport security at least 5 times today. Take the laptop out, take the DVD player out, take the liquid medicine out, take your shoes off, fold up the stroller, get 6 people through the checkpoint. Did I say only 5 times? It felt like more than that.

Anyway, once we got to Tokyo, the rest of our travel group parted for a flight to Detroit. It really was a quick good-bye and didn't feel like we got to say good-bye properly. So, to Sarah's, Benny's, Abby's, and Willow's families, until we meet again. We had a great time and missed traveling with you all back to the states. To Gracie's family, hope your trip through Beijing and home was uneventful. We missed saying good-bye to you as well.

From Tokyo, we then flew to Minneapolis. In Minneapolis, we had an 8 hr layover. So, we crashed at the Armed Forces Service Center in the airport. What a great place if you ever stop through Minneapolis. All Mrs Steady and the kids wanted when we got to Minneapolis was a large cup of iced tea. Ice at last! So, we ordered some at McDonalds. They were all out. Subway didn't have any. What?!?! How disappointing. We finally got our iced tea at midnight, at Wendy's, here in Texas. Last leg, Minneapolis to San Antonio, Claire is finally home.

Claire did great on the flights. She threw a little temper tantrum on the first leg when we needed to buckle her back up due to some turbulence, but other than that, she slept at least half of the time on all the flights. After Daddy provided some counseling, she asked to unbuckle her seat belt the rest of the day. She is and was a real trooper.

Following are some photos from the day. Saying good-bye to our Guangzhou guide, Susan.

Some airplane photos.

Mommy wishes she was sleeping as well.

Our welcoming committee. What a great sight. Thank you to all!!!!

Claire in her new car seat.

Our decorated van and home.

Time to get to bed. Hopefully the crew will be able to sleep. It's afternoon over in China. Good night!

Last post from China..

2008-07-31T09:30:00.004-05:00

Well it is Thursday night and we are busy packing. We have to leave for the airport at 5:30AM. That is way too early for our gang. We had a wonderful visit in China but we are ready to go home (except Mr. Speedy - he wants to stay!) We will be forever grateful to China for our beautiful daughter that they have given us. Mostly we thank God for bringing us together.

Tomorrow will be a long day. The good part though is when Claire's feet touch the ground in the US she will be a US citizen! Our long adoption journey will be complete.

I will leave you with a few more pictures and then I am off to sleep for a few hours!
Breakfast..

Crashing movie time..

Just being cute..

Family with Dong and Susan..

Having tea at Susan's place. Claire would sit at the table and wait patiently for some tea. She loved it..

Please pray for our safe travels tomorrow. Pray for stamina - it is about 30 hours travel time. Thanks for following our journey.

Next post from home sweet home!

Good morning..

2008-07-30T22:47:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a good day of rest and relaxation with a little bit of shopping thrown in. The kids enjoyed playing in the room for most of the morning. Claire loves to have them all lay down and then she covers them all with a blanket. Sometimes she even throws in a goodnight kiss, which the kids love. She is very particular with how she wants things done, even in play. The kids have to lay straight, no legs bent. It is fun to watch how intently she works to cover them all up. When she is done with them she will lay down next to them. It is very cute. I think bringing the kids has been the best decision we have made. Claire has adjusted very well to our family and I think having the kids to interact with has helped tremendously. She loves all of them but she is really attached to her Jie Jie (big sister). Part of that is because Claire is sleeping with Miss NJ and myself while the boys are in the other room.

Yesterday for lunch we went to Lucy's. The kids had a cheeseburger again. Anyone who knows my kids knows they can be picky eaters. Well, this trip they have done amazingly well trying different things. However, I think they are close to being done on being good sports with eating! Last night, we had Thai food. It was pretty good but very spicy. I loved the chicken but it did make my eyes water! We are getting pretty good with chopsticks. We've even figured out how to eat rice with them! I still like my fork but am no longer intimidated by chopsticks!

Later today, we go to the US Consulate for our oath ceremony and to pick up Claire's visa. We can't take our camera so won't have any pictures from there. We plan on finishing our shopping today and getting packed up for our long journey home. It has been storming all morning so hopefully it will clear up so we can venture out.

I will leave you with a few pictures from yesterday..

Playing in the room..

Miss NJ and Claire watching the fish at the White Swan..

Claire doing the sign for fish..

Playing in the park after dinner..

A Day in pictures - Part 2

2008-07-29T21:51:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we went to the Family Chen's Academic Center. It is no longer used as a school for the Chen family but is now like a museum. It was very interesting. The wood carvings on the buildings were beautiful.

This is what happens when you run all morning while we are touring..

This is what happens when you have been chasing said runner..

Feeling refreshed once again; practicing making and serving tea at Susan's place. He took over Dong's chair!

This morning we were able to sleep in and take it easy. It was a welcome break. Our guide, Susan, is at the US Consulate working on our visa documents. We have to stay in our room in case there are any questions or problems that we need to be contacted for. We are enjoying relaxing and the kids are enjoying playing together.

More later...

A Day in pictures...

2008-07-29T07:23:00.008-05:00

More pictures from yesterday on the red couch..

Noah's (Ben) family.

Willow's family.

Abby's family.

Sarah's family.

Gracie's family.

This morning we went to the Yutai Botanical Gardens. It was beautiful there. Claire ran the entire time. This was the first open space that she could run and she took advantage of it. She was drenched in sweat but she had a great time. I hope the pictures do it justice because it was just beautiful.

The kids loved these of the Olympic mascots.

After the gardens we went to the Family Chen's Academic Center. It was very interesting with buildings with beautiful wood carvings. Blogger won't let me add anymore pictures. I'll have to do more later.

Gotta go, my girl is ready to snuggle and go to sleep. Love to all..

A Birthday in China

2008-07-28T08:25:00.009-05:00

Today was a fantastic birthday for Mr Steady. How many people get to spend their 40th birthday in China with their family and new daughter? The entire group sang Happy Birthday to him on the bus. He played a nice, quiet game of Chinese chess at Susan's Place. Then, we had a wonderful meal at an Italian restaurant. Probably the best Italian meal we have ever had. Can you believe it? The best Italian in China!

For some reason, Claire wanted to sleep in her stroller last night. It's all she wanted and she wouldn't lay down until we put her in. So, we did. She slept there all night. Are we terrible parents? We definitely won't make this a regular occurrence but it sure was an interesting request. We all headed out this morning to pearl and jade markets. We saw the largest mall we've ever seen. Just one spoke of this mall was jewelry, and 6 whole floors. All jewelry. Most were wholesale jewelry stores who make and sell jewelry around the world. Unbelievable! We bought a few items at each store. The entire group then had lunch at Pizza Hut, in the mall.

In the afternoon, all the families dressed up their new children and we headed to the White Swan Hotel for pictures on the red couches. The "Red Couch" photo is a must for all adoptive families. In the past, our agency booked rooms at the White Swan, but it has become very expensive, for small rooms. It does have a very beautiful decor though. Miss NJ, Mr Mario, and Mr Speedy also dressed up in their new Chinese outfits. Mr & Mrs Steady didn't dress up yet since Mrs Steady didn't have time to pick up her new dress. We'll model our new garb later. We attempted to get a picture of all six new children on the couch, by themselves, ages ranging from 17 months to 6 yrs. Well, let me just say the photo below will speak for itself. It was still a cute scene.

Tomorrow, we head to the Yuntai Botanical Gardens in the morning, to the Family Chen Academic Center in the afternoon, and then dinner at a Cantonese restaurant. Should be fun. Talk to ya'll tomorrow.

Pictures from the mall.

Pictures of the White Swan Hotel and our photo session.

Birthday dinner at the Italian restaurant.

Can you believe this fresh fruit? We ordered this for Claire, thinking we'd just get a bowl of fresh, mixed fruit. We got this masterpiece for around $7 (RMB 48).

Sunday in Guangzhou..

2008-07-27T08:30:00.008-05:00

This morning we went to church on the island. The church has a Chinese/English service. When we arrived the building was so full we had to go to the overflow room and watch the service on a screen. How awesome is that? We had to go to the overflow room!!! For me, the service was very emotional. I became very teary with joy. I am in China singing praise songs to God with fellow Chinese brothers and sisters. I am also praising God for the new daughter He has given us. We sang the song "How Beautiful" (yes Lee gang - the same song from your wedding). I could barely make it through the song. It really was beautiful.

Outside the church on Shamian Island

Don't you love the shoes! Yes they are squeaky shoes...

After church we went to the deli shop outside the White Swan hotel. Can I just say, Yum! We will definitely go back there. We sat outside on the patio. It was very hot and sticky, no breeze, so we ate fast. After lunch, we went back to Susan's place. They made a traditional dress for Miss NJ so we went to pick it up. The boys and Claire had fun playing dress-up. The boys and Mr. Steady stayed and played Chinese chess and had tea with Dong. The girls went back to the room and took naps. Claire slept for over 2 hours.

Playing dress-up at Susan's place.

After Claire's power nap we went to dinner with our travel group at a local restaurant. They specialize in Cantonese food. I was a little nervous about the meal but it was all actually very tasty. Just don't stop and look at the live things in the front of the restaurant! Things like water beetles, snake, turtle, eel, silk worms. I hope I didn't just eat that!

Dinner with travel group.

Live items in front of restaurant.

Tomorrow we go to the pearl and jade market. It is Mr. Steady's birthday. Do you think he will buy me some pearls and jade for his birthday?

Until tomorrow...

Relaxing Day on Shamian Island - Guangzhou

2008-07-26T08:55:00.004-05:00

We had a relaxing day today after a busy travel day yesterday. Claire had pictures taken for her US Visa and then a medical exam. There is a clinic right here on Shamian Island which caters to adoptive families and performs the physical exam required by the US Consulate. In addition to the 5 other families in our group, you should have seen the number of other adoptive families. There was a bus load waiting right behind us. Truly a beautiful, overwhelming site, to see all these children with new families. So many blessings from God. We saw a couple who we met in the Tokyo airport with their new son. We also met two couples at breakfast with their new children, one couple from Maryland and one from Oregon.

We then headed to Susan's Place to get some laundry done. We had to get some clothes washed. We were all on our last pair of everything. I think we overwhelmed Mr Dong and Ms Susan with the amount of laundry. Ms Susan said she thought our load was from several families, not just one. I think she said we set a record. Believe it or not, we droped it off around noon, and it was done by 1900. Susan's Place is also a large souvenir shop. Of course, we did some shopping today. Miss NJ got measured for a Chinese dress which will be done tomorrow. Claire found a pretty red Chinese dress. Mr Mario and Mr Speedy both found authentic Chinese garb as well. Now, Mom and Dad need to find something. Mr Dong was great and made us and all the adoptive families feel very welcome. We spent time this afternoon and this evening, after supper, with Mr Dong at his special tea table. He gave us a lesson in the variety of Chinese teas and how to make tea properly. It was a lot of fun. We plan to return tomorrow as well. Tina, we gave Dong and Susan your note. Susan said how nice you and your family are. Dong remembered the special tea time with your family too. In addition, Claire rode for the first time in a stroller today. It took some coaxing, but she finally climbed in and loves it. So do we :-)

We had supper this evening at Lucy's Bar and Cafe. All six families. It offered primarily American food and is a well known stop for all the adoptive families. It gave a chance for our kids and Mrs Steady to relish a cheeseburger again.

Tomorrow, we look forward to going to church and worshiping with our Chinese brothers and sisters. Then, some more site seeing and/or shopping. Take care to all.

Claire's medical exam.

Sharing tea with Mr Dong at Susan's Place.

Some pics from our dinner at Lucy's.

Mr Speedy playing with Niko, who also has a new sister.

P.S. Please continue to pray for Claire and her sleeping issues. We can get her to sleep quickly in our arms, but can't get her to lay down in bed after she falls asleep. She wants to sleep on somebody.

Weary Travelers--Finally in Guangzhou

2008-07-25T10:14:00.008-05:00

Ni Hao to all. Sorry so long since our last post, but since then, we have had a 4.5 hour bus ride back from Wenzhou to Hangzhou, then a plane flight this evening from Hangzhou to Guangzhou--our final China destination. I'm sure Claire is thinking, "Does this family ever slow down?" She is a real trooper though. She is always ready to go and never complains. We're the ones groaning :-) If she's ready for a nap, she just falls asleep, wherever we may be.

The bus ride back to Hangzhou was uneventful. Claire slept for the first half, and then climbed and jumped on Mommy for the second half. Mommy's got the bruises to prove it. We all still had to "negotiate" squatty potties. We got back to the Holiday Inn and had supper at Pizza Hut. Almost sounds like we were back in America, but the menu would prove that wrong. Pepperoni is a minority food item here. Seafood pizza anyone, complete with squid?? Guess what we saw on our walk back to the hotel from Pizza Hut? A young Chinese boy riding a RipStick. How about that, Mottly Crew? We all crashed after that.

The reason we needed another day in Hangzhou was to get Claire's Chinese passport. Wena didn't know if it was going to be ready or not by today. The Wenzhou Police Station was giving her all sorts of excuses, i.e. computer system down (my favorite), too many passport applications, etc., as to why it may not be ready. So did you catch all this? One of the reasons we travelled to Wenzhou was to file the application for Claire's passport, but then the passport would be shipped back to Hangzhou. Bureaucracy at its best. Nothing like this ever happens in the the U.S., does it? Anyway, Wena's boss had some connections in the Wenzhou Police Station, and we had bigger connections with our heavenly Father, and the passport was ready to pick up this morning. Yeah!!

Before we left Hangzhou, we got a tour of one of two pagodas on West Lake. Climbing to the top of the pagoda gave us a panoramic view of West Lake and the city of Hangzhou. I guess there are many "West Lakes" in China, but this is the most famous West Lake. Very beautiful, a lot of history, purchased some souvenirs, and sweat off at least 5 pounds. Extremely hot and humidity to match. Claire was very smart. She knew the best way to stay cool--have someone carry you. She just held up her arms, gave us that cute little look, and who could say no? After West Lake, we did some shopping in an old market area. Saw a Dairy Queen for the first time, but didn't stop in. Hey Georgia Family, Claire is going to love Southern sweet tea. Most of the tea the Chinese drink has a sweet taste to it. Wena says it doesn't have sugar in it, just special herbs, but we tasted it, and it tastes just like sweet tea.

We arrived in Guangzhou with no problems. For her first plane ride, Claire fell asleep before the plane took off and didn't wake up until we landed and walked into the terminal. But, now we're paying for that sleep. It's almost midnight, and she's a ball of fire. Ms NJ is giving her a bath. We hope that will calm her down enough for sleep.

Need to get to bed. Claire has her medical exam in the morning. Following are some new pictures. Love to you all!

Some cute kids.

Claire enjoying her breakfast. She loves fruit: watermelon, cantaloupe, mandarin oranges, pears.

Pictures of the pagoda at West Lake and a picture of a portion of West Lake. What you see is not haze, it is smog.

As we depart for the airport, a last photo with our guide Wena.

At the Hangzhou Airport.

Claire before leaving the gate.

Claire as we taxi to the runway.

Getting to know Claire..

2008-07-23T20:42:00.006-05:00

Things we are learning about our new girl:

1. She likes to be neat. She will continue to wipe her hands while eating. She doesn't like dirty hands.

2. She likes to talk. She babbles constantly. We have no idea what she is saying but she has a lot to say.

3. She remembers everything and everything has to go back to where it belongs. If you don't put it in the right place she will let you know. She jabbers quickly and points to where it should go.

4. She likes to jump, especially on MaMa.

5. She is usually very quiet and subdued in public but once in our hotel room is anything but quiet and subdued.

6. She loves books, coloring, playing with her doll, and doing hair make overs!

You may be wondering about her hearing. We are not sure what she hears. She doesn't respond to some loud noises that we would think she would normally respond to. However, her and Mr. Steady were playing and Mr. Steady did something and said "ta da" and I kid you not about a minute later it sounded like Claire said the same thing. Also, today after going potty (yes, she has been doing great going potty and letting us know she has to go)it sounded like she said "hands" and went to the sink. We always say "wash hands" after she goes potty. She may not have said it but it sure sounded like it to me. She doesn't have hearing aids. On Gotcha Day, they told us that they were broken the day before by another child. Who knows if that is true but we have been communicating well with her. She knows the sign for potty, wash hands, more, and airplane. I know, how does airplane fit in? On our bus ride she saw a plane out the window. Miss NJ and I did the sign for airplane and she excitedly did the sign and kept pointing to the plane. She did it again this morning when she thought she saw a plane. She is a smart little girl who takes everything in and doesn't forget a thing.

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday. Enjoy the pictures. We are getting ready for another long bus ride back to Hangzhou.
Coloring for the first time..

Swimming..(they don't believe in heating their pools here, that's why MaMa was the camera person)

McDonalds..(a welcome site to the kids)

Our hotel..

Just wanted to let you know that the last 2 nights she has gone to sleep in one of our arms. We hold her and rock back and forth while patting her back. She went to sleep in minutes. Hopefully, we have found a solution until we are home with our rocking chair. Last night, she woke up several times but went back to sleep once snuggled up on MaMa. Thanks for your prayers!

May post later once we are in Hangzhou.

Emotional Day...

2008-07-23T01:24:00.006-05:00

Wow, what a wave of emotions we have gone through today. First thing this morning before anyone else was awake Claire and I had some wonderful snuggle time. We snuggled for about 30 minutes before BaBa came into the room. It was wonderful snuggling with my newest little girl. When BaBa came in the room (we have separate rooms, no connecting rooms available) she reached her arms to him and snuggled with him too. What a precious gift.

After breakfast, we headed to the police station with Wena (our guide) and Mrs. Chen from the orphanage. We had to start the process of getting Claire's passport so we can bring her home. What a busy place, we just sat and waited until they told us we needed to do something. We sure get a lot of looks as people try to figure out our family. We also hear people say that our children are very beautiful, especially Mr. Speedy. We often catch people taking pictures with their cell phone of Mr. Speedy. They tell us (through Wena) that they think he looks like Ben from Growing Pains. Wow, how long ago was that show on?

After the police station, we went to the location where Claire was found. She was found on a foot bridge over a busy intersection. While we were there I couldn't help but think of Claire's birthmom. I was praying for her and thanking her for loving her girl so much that she left her in a place where she could be found. After we left there we headed to the orphanage. The minute we pulled up, the vice-president (she was the one who brought Claire to us) came to the car window and waved at Claire. Claire was on my lap next to the window and she immediately climbed away from the window and onto to Mr. Steady's lap. They wanted us to get out of the car and go in so we did. Claire clung to MaMa and Miss NJ. I was so sad for her. They took us upstairs to where the children are and she immediately started crying. Claire cried, Miss NJ cried, and I cried. Miss NJ was holding her and she said "I am not taking her in there". We stayed in the hall while Mr. Steady and the boys toured the area. The nannies kept coming out and tried to talk to her and take her from Miss NJ. Claire would cry and cling to Miss NJ. It broke our heart to see her so upset and the same time it was bittersweet that she feels connected to us already. After we finished at the orphanage we were invited to eat lunch with the vice-president of the orphanage. We went to a local restaurant and were treated to a lunch with a lot of food (Laurie you would be proud at the things the kids tried, some they liked some they didn't). Claire fell asleep in BaBa's arms after eating. We are now back at the hotel relaxing. We are going swimming later and then to McDonalds.

Sleeping beauty..

Have bag ready to travel..

Hair by Claire..

The bridge where Claire was found..

Orphange director and vice-president..

The nannies..

Orphanage pictures..

Lunch with staff..

Mr. Speedy's chopstick lesson..

Enough for now. One more milestone..I got a kiss on the lips from Claire this afternoon in the hotel room. Made this MaMa's day after all we had experienced.

Thanks for all of your comments and emails. We love reading each one. Thanks for your prayers and for sharing in our joy. Can't wait for you all to meet her!

Arrived in Wenzhou

2008-07-22T08:54:00.007-05:00

The adoption is final, at least according to the Chinese. We had the Adoption Decree read this morning at the Hangzhou Civil Affairs Office. The lady on the far left is our guide, Wena, the lady to her left is the Civil Affairs employee.

Afterwards, we headed back to the room to relax and prepare for our next appointment with the notary and then a 4.5hr ride to Wenzhou. Following are some pictures of Claire playing with the kids. She continues to amaze us with her energy and perceptiveness. She observes everything. The only problem we've had is getting her to sleep. She doesn't like to lie down for nap or bed. We hear that's fairly common, so it's not unexpected. Otherwise, Claire is a very happy little girl.

The bus ride to Wenzhou was the ultimate in Chinese cultural experience. Nothing Westernized about their long distance bus system, or the bus stations. Complete with a "squatty potty" on the bus. Seeing the country side and other villages was very intersting and beautiful. You travel through the mountains to get to Wenzhou. We arrived in Wenzhou at 2030. The bus just kind of dumped us off in a dark parking lot or alley. Barely gave us time to get our luggage off. In fact, we were the only passengers who had luggage. Fortunately, we had Wena with us. She got us out to the street, through the gaggle of haggling cabbies and into two cabs. Yes, we had to split up. We just hoped both cabs would end up at the same hotel. For all the stereotyping we in America give to New York or Chicago cabbies, we take it back. In the 10 minute ride to the hotel, we think we saw our lives pass before our eyes at least 10 times. China traffic is organized chaos. Don't know why they have stop lights, lane markings, or cross walks. No one seems to follow them, pedestrians, bike riders, or drivers alike. Just want to make sure your horn works. Wow! Following is a picture of Claire and Mommy in the bus, and then a couple photos of the countryside.

Tomorrow, we apply for Claire's Chinese passport at a local police station and then we visit her orphange. We also hope to find the location where she was found back on August 4, 2005. Another big day. Everyone has crashed already. Thanks for the continued prayers.

Gotcha Day - Part 2!! (More Photos)

2008-07-21T06:47:00.015-05:00

Special edition--Some more photos of Claire and family.

Once we got back to the hotel room, we had Claire open some birthday presents. First, a card and gift from her new special friend, Teddie, from Texas. Second, a gift from the kids.

Lunch in the hotel restaurant.

First time at the pool where we received another precious gift--the joy of laughter from Claire.

Good night! God Bless to you. What a blessed day!

We're a family of six! Gotcha Day!

2008-07-21T01:08:00.012-05:00

"God is so good. God is so good. God is so good, He's so good to me." That's the song going through our hearts today. Gotcha day! Just can't put into words the emotions and happiness of today other than to praise our wonderful Father up above.

Introducing Miss Claire to you...

We left the hotel at 0900 to head to Civil Affairs. It all happened so quick, no time to get nervous or anxious. We walked in the building, down the hall, up some stairs, walked into a conference room, and boom, there stood Claire. We recognized her instantly. With a little coaxing from the orphange director, Claire walked over to Mrs Steady and kids. That's all it took. We pulled out the baby doll and magna doodle. Wow. Big thanks to our neighbor Tina on the magna doodle recommendation. What a BIG HIT!! Claire is proving to be a very brave little girl. She didn't bat an eye when the orphange staff departed the room. She has taken everything in today. Very smart too. She catches on to everything very quickly. For example, at lunch, the waitress went around the table an placed napkins into the kids laps, but not hers. She immediately turned to the waitress and wanted to know where her napkin was. So, Mrs Steady gave hers to Claire and she was immediately happy. She tucked in the napkin neatly around her high chair.

Claire is a great eater. She and Mr Steady shared a plate of fried rice and meat. Mr Steady found someone to share shrimp with. She knew exactly what to do with the spoon and fork, plus she let us feed her. She then topped of the meal with a big bowl of ice cream. Hey, we had to celebrate her birthday. Like the rest of the family, Claire loves ice cream.

So far, this day has gone nothing like we imagined or were prepared for. No crying, yet. No problems. Just smooth, like we all prayed for. Thank you. Thank you for your prayers. Claire is currently sleeping. Our precious little girl has arrived. We wait no more!

The kids are very much in love with their little Mei Mei!

More adorable pictures on next post.

Arrived in Hangzhou - One more day!

2008-07-20T09:21:00.003-05:00

We arrived safe and sound in Hangzhou. Despite Mrs Steady's concerns about domestic Chinese flights, China Eastern got us all here just fine. Good flight, interesting in-flight meal, plenty to drink.

The day started out early with a 0330 wakeup. We had to have our check-in luggage ready to go by 0445. The Grand Millenium, our hotel, had a breakfast bag ready for each of us. Very nice of them. A lot of food to try to eat in a 30 minute bus ride to the airport--some pastries, banana, apple, yogurt, OJ, and water. We said good-bye to the other 5 families as we went our separate ways today. We will re-join in Guangzhou on 25 Jul.

We got into Hangzhou at 1030 and took it easy since. We met our guide Wena. Hangzhou is the most popular tourist city for native Chinese. It is known for being the vacation spot for many of the past emporers and considered the "backyard playground" for Shanghai. It is a small city, only 6.6 million people (Ha Ha), and not as westernized as Beijing. We ate at Pizza Hut for lunch. A familiar sign, but very different menu. Mr Steady couldn't get the rest of the family to try the seafood pizza! We had the American Special--pepperoni pizza with Pepsi. After lunch, we visited a silk shop and then back to the room. Mr Steady and Mr Speedy went to the pool, while the rest slept. And slept. Some are still sleeping at press time. Got to love jet lag. The sleep is needed though as we prepare for Gotcha Day.

Tomorrow is the big day. At 0900, we head to the local Civil Affairs office to finally meet and receive Claire. That's 2000 CST, Sunday, for all those in the U.S. We can't wait. We all prayed this morning on the bus for our new children and for smooth "Gotchas". We thank you for all of your prayers. We just can't wait to meet and hold the precious little girl that God has chosen for us. We were hoping to get Claire today, on 20 Jul China time, because today is her birthday, but technically, we'll still be getting Claire on her birthday on U.S. time! We'll have plenty of Claire pictures for you tomorrow. Soon we will be a family of six!

Sorry, no pictures today. Had troubles uploading to the blog. Promise we'll try again tomorrow. God Bless.

A Big Day in Beijing

2008-07-19T07:39:00.012-05:00

What a beautiful day it was today here in Beijing. We headed out at 0830 for our day of touring. First stop, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Our guide, Alison, told us today would be the last day for tourists to visit this area of town, because full Olympic preparation begins on July 20.

This is the gate to Tiananmen Square and look who we found there.

Chairman Mao's Mausoleum.

The crew with the Forbidden City South Gate behind them. Also, we saw a lot of Olympic preparation on the square as well. Many large, lighted signs which I'm sure we'll see on TV in a few weeks.

Inside the Forbidden City, this is Hall of Supreme Harmony, at the center of the City, where the Emporer used to sit.

The Halls of Preserving and Complete Harmony, both north of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Our three kids were a big hit with the Chinese, especially Mr Speedy. This is one of about 20 pictures taken today with Chinese who just came up and wanted pictures. Mr Speedy got a big head over his "rock star" status.

After lunch, we headed for the Great Wall, Juyongguan Section.

We came back to the room exhausted. Unfortuantely, Mr Mario was not feeling well. Tomorrow, we fly to Claire's province capital, Hangzhou. Getting closer to Gotcha Day!! We can't wait.

Ni Hao from China!

2008-07-18T10:35:00.005-05:00

Here we are all ready for our long journey!

Here is the first plane of the day

Here is our plane to Tokyo

Here we are in Tokyo - almost there!

This was a good sign to see!

We are excited to be here and we should be sleeping! We spent 18 hours in the air and a total of 23 plus hours total travel time. Thank you for your prayers. We could feel them carry us over. Tomorrow we go to the Great Wall! Well, I need to go to sleep. We are safe and sound. In fact, the kids are raring to go! More later!

China here we come!

2008-07-16T20:48:00.002-05:00

Well, we fly out early in the morning. It will be about 24 hours total travel time before we land in China. We will update when we arrive and let you know that we have arrived safely in Beijing.

Look at what we found in our living room yesterday!

Yes, it is a ladybug! Ladybugs are considered good luck with China adoptions. We didn't think it was luck just God reminding us that he is taking care of us and our new little ladybug in China!

2008-07-15T09:24:00.002-05:00

Need I say more! We are busy packing, packing, packing! Our goal is to finish today so we can take it easy tomorrow. Mr. Steady has tomorrow off. If we finish packing today then we are going to take the kids to Six Flags for a few hours.

Please pray for us as we head out on our adventure. Pray for good health, safe travels, and for our precious girl. We are under a week until Gotcha Day!

Itinerary and neighbors..

2008-07-11T10:10:00.004-05:00

Well, we are less than a week away from leaving. I've posted our itinerary on the sidebar (look for the Chinese takeout). You can check it each day and get an idea of what we are doing. We will get to go to Claire's orphanage. What a neat experience, especially for the kids. They will get to see where their sister has lived for the first 3 years of her life. I think it may be hard on me. I may want to bring all of the kids home with us!

Yesterday, my wonderful neighbor Tina stopped by. (Tina has been so helpful as we get ready to go. Her family just went to China in May to get their little girl Teddi who is 6 months older than Claire.) Anyway, Tina stopped to tell me she met a new neighbor that just moved in down the street and they have a Chinese daughter who is 3 1/2. Isn't God good to give us 2 neighbors with Chinese daughters who are around the same age as Claire? We can have our own little playgroup! This new family also had a daughter almost 13, a son almost 11, a son 7, and an infant. Except for the infant part does that ring a bell with anyone? Ms. NJ is 13, Mr. Mario is 11 and Mr. Speedy is 7! Mr. Mario wanted to go meet them immediately. We've had friends move away so it was good to see him excited about meeting someone new. Again God is good. I guess that is the theme for today! Perhaps I should change my title of the post to God is good!

Thanks for sharing in our joy.

Making our list and checking it twice...

2008-07-09T10:48:00.002-05:00

We are 8 days away from leaving! We've started some packing already. It feels good knowing that we have started. We are trying to meet the luggage requirements for China. We are only allowed 1 checked bag and it can't weigh more than 44 pounds. Which means five checked bags (but we are packing for six). We do get one carry-on as well. I know many of you are thinking no problem we could meet the requirements easy but you know how we pack. :) I like to have what I need when I need it. I know they have stores in China but I want to spend my money on souvenirs instead of necessities! Anyway, now that we have started packing it is becoming more real. We are really going to China to get our girl!

CA and airline tickets!

2008-07-03T17:43:00.002-05:00

We received our consulate date today! Our consulate appointment (CA) is July 30. That was the last thing we needed in order to buy tickets. So, we just purchased airline tickets. We will leave on July 17th and return on August 1. It feels good to finally have the tickets bought! We are only 2 weeks away from heading to China! Woohoo, here we come precious girl!

Vacation and TA!

2008-06-28T20:49:00.006-05:00

We just got home from a great vacation. First we went to Georgia for our niece's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony. It was great to be a part of this special event and spend time with family. Miss NJ was a bridesmaid. Boy, did she look so grown up in the dress with her hair and make up done. They grow up so fast; where did the last 13 years go?

After the wedding, we were able to go visit our old neighbors in Florida. We had a great time renewing friendships, boating in the Gulf of Mexico, and hanging out on the beach. We spent one whole day out on the water. Our kids got to fish in the Gulf for the first time. Mr. Mario got the biggest king mackerel. They also got to go tubing and swim with the dolphins. What great memories were made! Thanks Mott-ly crew!

As if to top off our great vacation, while we were driving through Louisiana on our way home our adoption agency called and let us know that we got our travel approval (TA) from China! That is basically an invitation from China to come get our girl. We are now waiting on our consulate date and then we can buy plane tickets. It looks like we will be travelling on July 17th! Praise God! We will be able to watch the Olympics snuggled up with our little girl from the comfort of our own home!

Updated Pictures

2008-06-18T20:57:00.004-05:00

We just received these updated pictures of Claire today. Oh my goodness, she looks like she has gotten so big already. We love her smile. She is just too cute! It looks like we will be traveling to get her on July 17th. We are still waiting for our Travel Approval (TA). We should have that soon and then we can be off to go get her!

She looks so good and well cared for. Please pray for her and us. Pray that her heart will be ready to become a part of our family. Pray for us as we get ready to go; so much to do! We love her already and can't wait to make her our daughter on paper; she already is in our hearts!

Care Package

2008-06-06T09:56:00.003-05:00

This is a picture of the care package being sent to Claire. We used redthreadchina.com. They were wonderful to work with. Ann actually lives in China and she puts the package together. We sent 16 pictures that are going to be put in an album. If you look close the pictures have something in Chinese on each one. The candy is for the nannies and kids in the orphanage. Ann was also able to give us an updated height and weight for Claire. She also translated a letter for us. We requested that they take pictures of Claire, her environment, her friends, etc and give the camera to us when we come to China. We are busy here getting her room ready. We are trying to get as organized as possible. We have a busy summer planned but the highlight will be adding our daughter to our family.

Introducing.....

2008-05-30T18:38:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, we received our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China. It's official, this little girl is going to be our daughter! We are so excited and overwhelmed! We have been praying for and wanting this for so long, sometimes it's hard to believe that it is finally happening! Our adoption agency thinks we should travel in about 6 to 8 weeks! That is July! Yea, we should beat the Olympics. Claire's birthday (and Mr. Steady's) is in July. We would love to be together as a family for her birthday. We have requested updated photos and information from the orphanage. I will post more pictures when we get them. We are in love with her little face already! Thanks for sharing in our joy! God is so good. Hang on baby girl, we are coming to get you.

Graduation and PA!

2008-05-27T11:00:00.005-05:00

Just wanted to update you all on the progress of our adoption. First though, I will get you caught up on what we have been up to. We left last Wednesday for Georgia and returned home last night. We had a wonderful visit. We loved being able to share in the joy and excitement of our niece's graduation. We were so glad we decided to drive the 1000+ miles to attend. Spending time with family makes it all worthwhile. This was brought home even more as we heard about the tragic accident that took the life of Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, Maria Sue. We heard about the accident while listening to K-LOVE. Our hearts just go out to his entire family during this time. I know every child is precious but being in the adoption community ourselves it just makes us feel more connected and I guess we are by a red thread. I am including the link for the Chapman's blog if you want to visit the site. It has a movie on it of Steven and Maria and you can leave condolences for the family.

Here is the link: http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/?roi=farm-12742602-88803-a6b1b2ee63b7818794d1023ee0bc75d0

We did receive some good news while we were in Georgia. On Friday, May 23, we received an email indicating that we had gotten our pre-approval (PA) from China. It is official, China agrees with us and Claire will be our new daughter! We were also told that our file has been moved into the green track and will be expedited through the rest of the process. Now we wait for our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China and then our TA (travel approval). Right now, it really looks like we could travel this summer. Praise God! The child we have been praying for since 2006 is going to come home!

I will leave you with some pictures from this weekend.

Happy cousins after graduation!

Playing with the new kittens - Yes, my kids named them!

No, one did not end up in our suitcase!

Blessings,

Mrs. Steady

Passports!!

2008-05-17T21:54:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not but the kids got their passports already! We applied for them on May 8th and got them 1 week later! This has been the first thing related to the adoption that has happened quickly. :) This is one more thing we can cross off of our to do list! Now we just need our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China and then our TA (travel approval). Then we will be ready to go get our little girl!

Please pray...

2008-05-13T07:32:00.003-05:00

As most of you probably heard there was an earthquake in central China yesterday. Please pray for all those affected by it and for those who lost loved ones. We are sure that Claire is safe. She is in Wenzhou City on the coast of China. However our hearts still ache for those impacted by this earthquake.

Father,

Please comfort those touched by the earthquake. Be with the rescue workers and those providing aid. May the people sense your presence and your healing hand. Give the families that are waiting to hear if their child is safe your peace and mercy. We thank You, Father, for who You are and for the true peace that only You can give.

In Your precious Holy Name I pray,
Amen

We received the call!!!!

2008-05-03T12:30:00.002-05:00

Around 8:00 yesterday morning we received a phone call from our adoption agency. They wanted to know if we would like to look at the information of a 2 year old little girl with a special need. We said absolutely, so they immediately emailed us her information and photos. Mr. Steady and I started reading through everything they sent us. After reading all of the information we looked at her pictures. It only took 1 look and we knew it was Claire. This child is the one we had been praying for and the one God had been preparing our hearts for since 2006. After reviewing everything, I immediately started making phone calls. Our agency recommends that we talk with a doctor so we have an idea of what we may be dealing with. After a couple of phone calls and being put on hold for a long time we finally got someone to agree to see us at 2:30. Her special need is hearing impairment. With that said, we already knew in our hearts that it didn't matter what the doctor said this was our little girl. Now we just need the Chinese government to agree that she is our little girl!

I will post more once we know more information. Would you join us in praying for some specific things?

- Pray for Claire's heart - that she will be ready to accept and love us as her forever family

- Pray for us as we tackle some more paperwork that needs to be done ASAP

- Pray for our children - they are excited right now but as things become more of a reality to them they may have questions that we can't answer yet because we don't know ourselves

- Pray for Mr. Speedy - he has a lot of questions about her special need and he has some legitimate concerns - pray that we can help and guide him

- Pray that China will move our paperwork quickly - the sooner we can get her home the better - also the olympics this summer may also comlpicate things

Thank you for sharing in our joy. We are just so excited we can hardly stand it. We have just got to get her home and fast!!!

Proud parent moments...

2008-04-27T21:25:00.005-05:00

On Thursday, April 24, Miss NJ was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. We are all very proud of her accomplishment.

The second picture is kind of dark but it is Miss NJ with the principal of the Middle School and High School.

We also found out on Friday, Mr. Mario, was accepted into the Lone Star Leadership Academy. He will be spending a week this summer in Dallas with other 5th and 6th graders. It sounds like a really neat and awesome opportunity for him. Also this past week, Mr. Speedy won the Star Award for being the PE Super Star!

This has been a special week for our household. We are thankful that our children use the gifts God gave them to excel at school.

We finally have a blog!

2008-04-23T11:34:00.000-05:00

Well, we finally did it! We finally started a blog so you could follow our journey to Claire. Laurie, this is really for you :) Right now we are patiently waiting as our blog name implies. It has been 18 months since our LID (that is our Log In Date). Right now there seems to be no end in sight. With that said, God never promised that the journey would be easy. He promises that if we fix our eyes on Him we will receive our reward. These verses really spoke to me this morning. They are from Romans 8 :24-25. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. I know these verses are talking about salvation and our future with Christ in Heaven but I am claiming them as my own as we hope and wait patiently for our daughter in China.