A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

We went to Huber Farm on Sunday and it was not crowded at all. We had lunch there and then the boys played for a little bit in the kid area. They love playing in the barn and going down the big slide. Surprisingly, papaw fit too!

Andrew was the only one on the tractor ride, and he loved it!

This is Timmy's weekly picture- he likes to show me his toys :)

Timmy was cracking up at Matthew in the bath tub. He couldn't stay in very long because he got too slippery and was sliding all over the place!

The Philip Hayden Foundation

This is where our Emma is living until we can get to her. We are very thankful she is in such good hands. I love the end of the video where the child is taken to his forever family, just precious!

Updates!

Our agency provided these pictures and some updated measurements for us. These were requested on Monday and we received them today, so they are very recent! It is hard to see that sweet face and know that it will be so long before we can get to her.

Weight: 8 kg (about 17 pounds)

Height: 69 cm (about 27 inches)

She is 10 months old today!

I love this picture... it's like she is saying "wait, I'm not ready for the camera yet!"

another update...

I got a response from Tim already. I asked if we could send some hair bows to the girls at PHF and told him our fundraising story. (for those that don't know, we have been making and selling tutus and hair bows to help raise money for our adoption.) I am going to overnight him a package of hair bows and some special things for Emma Grace.

How wonderful it will be to see those bows on all the girls! It really brings everything full circle for us! Here is the latest email:

Hi Sarah,

It is our great joy to help Emma Grace. We are so happy that you have been matched together with her. I would be happy to take some photos of her when I get there. We will be sure to give you a CD with all the pics we have of her when you come to get her. Would love the hair bows for the girls as well. We have 100 children at Shepherd’s Field and half of them are girls. Some however are still pretty young so send whatever you think is best. Please feel free to send the camera or anything else you want to send. We will give her the English name Emma Grace so she can hear that name right from the beginning. My mailing address is below. I will be leaving on Thursday morning at 6AM.

Blessings,

Tim

Whoa- lots of new information!

Since Friday night, I have been completely amazed at the order/timeline that I have received information. Everything is falling into place like a perfect puzzle- people are coming into the picture at exactly the right time and providing information that is priceless.

Sunday night our Letter of Intent was submitted in China asking for permission to adopt beautiful Liu Rongjia. Our coordinator, Betty, also requested information about Emma's cleft palate- nothing was mentioned in the report about this and there were no pictures.

This morning, Betty had received this information from China and sent it to me:

The orphanage will try to take a picture of her palate. the updates will be provided soon.

The child now is in the Philip Hayden program in Tianjin City. She was sent to the program last month.

Interesting! From following other families and their adoption stories I knew that Philip Hayden was started by an American couple and that it was Christian based. I was relieved! I have also seen picture of the "Shepherd's Field Children's Village" where the children live. It is very nice, and decorated like a home.... not an orphanage. So, being the persistent little girl that I am... I got on their website and wrote an email to them. I told them that I am the soon-to-be mother of Liu Rongjia and wanted to know if they could tell me anything about her. Within a few hours, I had this response from Tim Baker, who founded the Philip Hayden Foundation.

Dear Sarah,

Thank you for your email. I am happy to say that Liu Rongjia is with us at Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village. She joined the Shepherd’s Field family on April 23rd along with a one year-old boy named Liu Minli also from the Fuzhou Orphanage. Both Rongjia and Minli came to us via the Taida Hospital in Tianjin where they both received surgery for their heart conditions. Taida is a very good hospital in close proximity to Shepherd’s Field that is part of the Tomorrow Plan, helping orphans like Minli and Rongjia receive corrective surgery for their heart conditions. Minli received surgery for his PDA and Rongjia for her VSD. I am copying this email to the head of our medical team, Dr Bill Moody. Dr Moody can help answer any questions you may have about Rongjia’s post op recovery as well as her cleft lip and palate. Please feel free to communicate directly with him with your questions. Should you have any questions for me, please feel free to email or call me at *****. I will be heading back to China on Thursday.

Blessings,

Tim

WOW! So, when I first found out that she was moved to Philip Hayden- I knew it was because they were going to do some type of surgery. That is what they do at PHF.... they take in special needs orphans, provide surgery and recovery, and help the children to find forever families. BUT- I thought it would be her lip. To be honest, I was a bit sad when I found out she has already had heart surgery. The poor thing was only 9 months old at the time. I wish I could've been there to hold her hand and comfort her through the recovery. I was really heartbroken. However, I quickly remembered that this journey was written for her long before I ever came into the picture. She has been in God's hands since the moment she was conceived. He knew everything about her, what she would look like, what type of care she would need, that she would be abandoned, that she would find her way to the PHF.....and eventually to Kentucky and a family that will love her for the rest of her life. Then I felt better. This is God's plan for her and He is in control- not us. The hard part is being patient and trusting that she will get the care she needs until we can get to her. I sent an email to Dr. Moody about her surgery and her cl/cp. Hopefully I will get a response soon and I will continue to update information as I get it.

Oh, and I emailed Tim back and asked him to hug our baby girl on Thursday and to tell her that she has a mommy and daddy that will see her soon!

We have a daughter and a sister!

Wow- what a weekend! Last Tuesday night (Wed. morning China time) a new waiting child list came out. This is a new list of children registered for adoption in China with some type of special need. Our agency works to match families with children based on certain criteria. We thought we would be on this list and stayed up very late waiting for the much-anticipated email from China. It never came. I was a little disappointed but realized that it just wasn't our time yet- Emma Grace would get to us when the time was right. I just had a feeling she was coming, and when it didn't happen I was so SAD.

Then, Friday night came along. We got the kids in bed and I stayed up making hair bows for my sweet Emma. I made her a bow board and hair bows that would be just for her. I made so many that I started to get emotional seeing them all hung up. Here are all these bows for a girl we have never seen, but we are almost certain she was born and somewhere in China. I decided to just take a break and go to bed. I went upstairs to check on all my little sleeping chickens, just like I do every night before going to sleep. When I was in Timothy's room, Rick starts screaming from the basement. Rick does not ever act "urgent" about anything, so I thought something was wrong. I ran downstairs saying "what's wrong..." over and over again. He said "I think we got a referral, but it is all in Chinese!" I was in SHOCK! We weren't expecting a referral over the weekend- we had already started looking forward to June. Then- I saw her picture. The most beautiful little girl and I just knew- that is HER. We finally found the English version of the reports and scanned through everything. From what we could tell, she looked healthy, happy, and her reports seemed great. But we aren't doctors! And, we had a weekend to review the file when most doctors are not working. We were not prepared to deal with this scenario :) But, I sent an email to our International Adoption doctor at midnight. At 8 am Saturday morning, I had a response and she wanted to review the file. It was an answered prayer!!!!! Not only did she review the file, she did not charge us the weekend fee.... and she did it all based on TRUST that we would pay our fees on Monday. She read through the reports, contacted a cardiologist and called to give us a phone consultation. Thank you, Dr. Staat- you really are as amazing as everyone says that you are!

So, in the words of Dr. Staat... it is an "excellent referral." She gave us the worst case scenario for what we might see. She gave us her "mother perspective" as an adoptive mother herself (her daughter has the same heart defect as our Emma) and she gave us her professional opinion. Everything was positive- so without a doubt, we are taking this little girl!

About Emma- we don't know much but we will share the few details that we do know. She was born on July 26, 2009 and found on July 27, 2009. She was found at the gate of the No. 20 door of Chazhong Road of the Taijiang District. The police sent her to the Children's Welfare Institute of Fuzhou City where she has lived ever since. She is in the Fujian province. On March 10, she was 62 cm and 7 kg. Dr. Staat said that she is in the 10th percentile for height, and 50th for weight. Of course we would get the chunky baby! She is growing well and looks very content and healthy. She has a cleft lip, which appears to be very minor. Her report says cleft palate, but we aren't sure about this yet. Her palate is either fine or very minor. There were no details about this in the report, and from the way her lip appears, it doesn't seem to be bad. She also has a minor heart defect, a VSD, which is a hole in the heart. Dr. Staat said that most babies with heart defects and clefts have trouble growing- and clearly, she is growing just fine. That is all great news and a wonderful sign.

Now, we set our sights on traveling to bring this little girl home to a mommy and a daddy that want her so bad we can hardly stand it. To a home with 3 brothers- I am sure she will be in complete shock at the 3 blonde monsters that run around in their underwear, act like super heroes and jump off the furniture. I am sure she will be in the mix of all that before too long. Our little Emma- we are so excited to finally see that sweet little face. We will be RUNNING to get you- so hang on tight because we are coming for you!!!!!!

More Timothy

On to the sink bath- the baby tub is getting a bit small. I will bring out the duck bathtub soon, but I am afraid Andrew and Matthew will try to get in it too.... don't want to go there yet!

You can't see this, but Timothy has the car in his left hand. When I walked in, he actually had the car in the track and it looked like he was trying to make it go! Obviously, he didn't know what he was doing... but it was still funny! He of course rolled off his blanket to get to this car, what is it with boys and cars?

3 cheers for Timmy- he can finally sit up!

Grumpy Timmy before church, but he sure looked cute in his church clothes!

Preschool Graduation

My little boy is an official preschool graduate- it is time for big kid school (as we call it around here...) Wednesday night they had a special ceremony for the kids leaving preschool. They put a video together of the kids, gave them all a certificate and then got to eat cookies and lemonade. Andrew has had the most wonderful preschool experience. That school and his teachers have done a wonderful job building his confidence and preparing him for Kindergarten. We are going to miss his 3 wonderful teachers so much (and his wonderful speech teacher!) Here are some pictures from his special night.

With Mrs. Otte

With Ms. Stephanie

With Ms. Michelle

How we roll around here

I thought I would do a little update on Timothy. He will be 7 months old next week, can you believe it? For the most part, he is a sweet boy. But, he likes to be held.... a lot. When he gets mad, there is really no distracting the little stinker, you just have to meet his needs instantly or his whole world falls apart. I thought 3rd kids were supposed to be the "go with the flow" type of kid? Not this one. In the last 5 weeks he has had tonsilitis 2 times and 3 ear infections. So, sleeping has been non-existent. I feel sorry for the little man, but at the same time....I would like to sleep!!!! We actually went to the doctor this morning because he has been so fussy lately. He is still on his antibiotic, so his ear was not infected but there is still fluid in his ears. Yuck! The doctor said the limit is 4 ear infections in 6 months and then off to the ENT.... at this rate, looks like we will be heading to the ENT soon. Here are some things to remember about Timothy at this age:

*His bottom 2 teeth are ready to break through

*His top 2 teeth are bulging and swollen (this probably doesn't help the sleep much either)

*He can roll and turn and get anywhere he wants to go in a room. He is very BUSY

*He gets stuck in the slats of his bed EVERY SINGLE NIGHT

*He flips to his belly every night to fall asleep

*He loves me and Rick and really isn't crazy about anyone else holding him or taking care of him

*He eats 3 solid meals a day and he LOVES to eat!

*He will crack up laughing at Andrew and Matthew. He finds them very entertaining!

*He babbles "da-da" and a cross between a b and a d.

*He has only slept through the night a handful of times and most of the time he will wake up every 5 hours. Poor mommy and daddy!!!!!

*He still cannot sit independently. His limit is about 30 seconds and then he falls off to the side

*He is pushing up on all 4's

This is Timothy this week on his weekly picture

learning to use a cup- not too interested

I always put him on the blanket, but it doesn't matter because he rolls all over the room. I guess he thought the big truck was more exciting than his baby toys.

Family

A few weeks ago we had family pictures taken. We went to a park by our house and Michele Korfhage was the photographer. I think they turned out great! Timothy was not in the best of moods, but I still think she got some cute shots of him. We have never done anything like this before, so it was a nice change of pace for us. We got a CD of over 100 pictures, so it was very difficult to decide what to put on here. So, here they are- keep scrolling down because there are a lot!!!!

Boys

Andrew

Matthew

Timothy