Our Family...: May 2011

Saturday, May 28, 2011

The answer...

Well, we submitted everything about our finding ad mystery to our agency and they contacted the orphanage about it. They said the finding ads are CORRECT (they matched them to the files...) They said the wrong passport sized photo was attached to Emma's medical file, and then they apologized.

This was the response I expected... either that, or the pictures on the ad were switched. Now I am wondering... are the other 3 pictures her? Is the information correct? As my coordinator reminded me, the orphanages are understaffed and often times the caretakers are not educated. We just have to let it go.

Thankfully, she is older in the other 3 pictures and they do look like her, but I thought the little one looked like her too. And, she spent 6 months at PHF and the information was consistent. So I guess we'll roll with it and let Jesus fill in the gaps when we get to Heaven!!!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Finding Ad Dilemma

When we met the orphanage people to do EG's paperwork, we were given the finding ad. At that moment, my heart sank. The ad marked as EG was a picture I had never seen. It wasn't even a clear picture... so I couldn't tell if it was her or not. But, what really got me upset was the ad under EG had the picture that was attached to EG's medical file. We questioned it at the time, but due to the limited ability to communicate, we didn't get anywhere. This left us questioning if we got the right file for the right child... if the other 3 pictures on the file were even her, etc. It stirred a lot of emotions for this mama!

Thankfully, she had spent the previous 6 months at PHF. All of the medical info was consistent with what was reported from the orphanage. Also, once we got her home, her blood work was consistent with the medical file. Clearly, the other 3 pictures in the file are her. She has such a distinct nose and fat cheeks, that we just know it is her. So, we feel confident the file is correct and most of the pictures are, too. It is just this one picture that we can't figure out.

Some people tell me to let it go, but I just can't. If this picture is EG (the one attached to another child's finding ad) then it will be the youngest picture we have of her. That is priceless to me. So, I emailed my coordinator and she said they would look into this for us and contact the appropriate people in Ch*na to see if we can get some answers.

In the meantime, I ordered a copy of the paper that her ad ran in so I could get a better look at the pictures. The picture next to her ad looks like HER. I am certain it is her. But, a big part of my heart feels like that other picture is her too. Her left nostril is so distinct (the shape of it from her cleft lip). Both pictures have that same nostril. Also, when you look at the distance of the eyes, the shape of the forehead, the shape of the fat cheeks and chin.... I swear it is the same child! I will probably never know for sure if this little baby is my Emma Grace. But, I figure it is worth the battle in trying to find out. At the very least, I feel that my daughter deserves to know if a picture is her or not.

I have even been searching for the family of this other little girl so we can compare files/pictures. Were they given this picture on their file? Or, are they treasuring a finding ad picture of someone they believe to be their daughter and it really isn't? It is sooooo my personality to get to the bottom of this. Wish me luck!

This picture was on her medical file BUT attached to another child's finding ad.

Here is a scanned copy of the finding ad. The one on top is EG's ad. That picture is certainly her...it looks just like her. The ad on the bottom is of another child born about a week later with almost an identical description. That picture was the one attached to our file.

My gut tells me both of these are EG. I am almost afraid to ask the CCAA because what if I don't like what I hear. I would love to find one of those places that can compare pictures to see if they are all the same child. Anyone know of a place like that?

This is the youngest picture we have of EG from PHF.

Andrew's 6 year old pictures

My baby boy turned 6 on April 30. We are just now getting around to taking his birthday pictures (too much rain lately!) He is so grown up and so handsome. We are truly blessed to have this little man in our lives!!!

Happy Referral Day

One year ago, on May 21, 2010 Rick and I were having a lazy Friday night. I was making hair bows for a daughter that I didn't even know and I had never seen. I had to stop because I was getting too upset thinking about her.

You see, a shared list came out 3 days before and we were not matched. We knew we were inching towards the top of our agency list to be matched, but we didn't know how close we were. We thought for sure May would be our month. We stayed up late checking our email to see if our agency in China would send us a file and it never happened. Here we were 72 hours later on a Friday night.

I quit making the bows and then head upstairs to check on my sleeping boys. Rick starts screaming from the basement.... I thought something was wrong, but it turns out that we had an email from China. It was all in Chinese, but we knew this had to be a file of a child. What else could it be? We were confused, because the shared list had already came out... so it took us a few minutes to make sense of everything. And then we saw her.... this face.

I couldn't stop crying! We had been matched with a beautiful 10 month old baby girl with cleft lip, cleft palate and a VSD. We finally had our Emma Grace. Liu Rong Jia was from the Fujian Province, found in Fuzhou City. We happily accepted her file and one year later, we have had the blessing of raising this precious girl for the last 7 months.

I often think about what happened for us to be matched 72 hours later. I know that it was a God thing... he needed to hide her for awhile until we were next in line on our agency list. We selected very common special needs... a young baby girl with minor needs is what everyone wants. Since we weren't at the very top, we couldn't be matched when the original list came out. I am certain that HE put her with another family who was not in a position to take her. Families are allowed to hold on to a file for 72 hours, then it is released back on the shared list. 72 hours later was our Friday night... but China's Saturday morning.

A member of our agency staff just happened to go into the office on this Saturday morning, see her file... and matched her with us. Because of the other matches from when the original file came out, we were now at the top and ready to be matched. A perfect plan set in place by our God to bring Emma Grace to the family she was always meant to have.

We love you, Emma Grace! Looking forward to celebrating many more referral days with our baby girl!!!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Big shoes to fill

I was in the kitchen and I hear Emma clunking her way down the hall to find me. She had put my shoes on and was so proud of herself for walking down the hall and into the kitchen :) She is so adorable!!!

A Matthew Story...

Matthew is by far the funniest person in our family. I always forget the goofy things he does and says, but I have to write this one down.

Today, I picked him up from church in his preschool class. The teacher said "Matt, your mom is here." I just rolled my eyes... I hate when people assume that a Matthew is Matt. Well, then they get his work that he made and it all said "Matt" on it. We get his stuff and step out of the room and he (while giggling to himself) says, "look Mommy, my name doesn't have the 'hew' on the end of it." I told him that he was old enough to tell people his name is Matthew when they say it wrong.

Well, then he confesses. The teachers asked him if he was Matthew or Matt and he told them is name was MATT. What a stinker! He was so proud of himself and could not stop giggling when he told me. I asked why he told them that and he said, "I just wanted to be Matt." This is such a typical Matthew moment and Rick and I have laughed about it all day. The funny thing is, he probably doesn't realize that Matt is short for Matthew. If they had asked him, "do you go by Bob or Matthew" he would have said Bob. So funny.

A few pictures

Emma Grace always looks so cute before church. Here she was today... I wish she would stand still so I could get her picture. I am telling you, impossible to get her standing in one spot!!!!

Ha, ha....this is what Timmy's does when Emma lets out her high pitched "girly" scream.

This was dinner, and yes... she is really that messy! Ms. Independent has to do everything herself. She dumps out her food on the tray and then shovels it in (or throws it on the floor...)

Andrew's party...

We had Andrew's birthday party this weekend and he loved every minute of it. All his favorite people in one room doing all of his favorite things- it was priceless! We rented out the indoor arena at the YMCA and let them run around playing soccer, baseball and football. He had several friends from his class come and they are just the sweetest kids! He has a good group of boys that he hangs out with. I wish they could always be in class together- they are the types of kids/families you want your kid to always be with!!! He was spoiled with lots of fun gifts, too. On the way home, Andrew and Matthew were arguing about who had a "funner" time :) It was hard to take pictures of the kids running around, so here are just a few.

Singing happy birthday!

The sign outside the YMCA

The party people!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Emma Grace- 21 months

Those that know me, know that I am a little "picture crazy." When my kids are born, I do a newborn picture, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 1 year. Then I do birthdays and Christmas pictures annually. Well, we got Emma at 15 months, so I had to make a few exceptions for her. So, we have done 15 months, 18 months, 21 months, and then 24 months (still every 3 months the first year!) We will then do her "gotcha day" anniversary pictures, birthday and Christmas pictures annually. She is downright impossible to photograph these days. She is a moving target. After several attempts on a few different occasions, this was the best I could do.

I actually like this picture, but it is blurry. Not sure what happened, we probably had to move the camera too fast to capture her. Look at that grip I have on her arms... we were trying to get her to stand still!!!

**A little EG update. She is a wild woman. We got her at 15 months old and I felt like she was a 10 month old developmentally. Now, she is almost 2 and I feel like we have an almost 2 year old. She has grown so much these last 7 months, it is truly amazing! She is walking, climbing, attempting to run (it is really funny, she squats down and says GO then takes off) she feeds herself with a spoon and eats finger foods independently without stuffing her mouth. She is repeating so many words. I feel like just recently she has grown a lot too. I noticed some of her leggings from the winter are getting short on her. She is doing really well and we love her more and more each day!!! She had her LAST physical therapy session this week and only a few more weeks of occupational therapy. Way to go, Emma Grace :)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Happy Birthday Andrew- #6!

Happy Birthday, Andrew! My big boy is now 6. He is at a really fun age... and I am convinced that when all those old ladies say "you will miss these days" they are talking about this age (because really, who would miss that toddler, temper tantrum stage!) He still loves to cuddle but is so independent, I just love it! Here are some things to remember about our 6 year old:

*He loves the dollar store and thinks it is a super cool treat to go there and buy a toy

*He brings his lunch to school everyday because he is too scared to go through the lunch line

*He is very smart, especially in math

*His most talked about friends are Kailyn, Aaron, Zach, Jackson and Malachi

*He LOVES to make things, he is very creative

*His favorite color is blue

*He has been brain washed to believe that UL fans are not smart , and whenever he sees someone making a bad choice, he says "they must be a cardinal fan"

*He wants to sleep in the basement every Friday night to watch a movie and eat popcorn

*He loves any type of super hero, ninja, warrior, or anything that fights bad guys

*The word that would LEAST describe Andrew is FLEXIBLE. There is only one way to do things, and that is his way.

*He has lost 8 teeth... and the ones coming in are quite large, not sure where they are going to go in his mouth!!!

*His favorite places to eat are Bob Evans and the "chips and salsa" place

*He has to poop every time we go out to eat... I mean every.single.time.

*Papaw is still his favorite person to play with

*He has a favorite seat on the couch that he calls "his seat." Don't sit there, or we will have tears!!!