So cute...

Some news to celebrate...

See this handsome little guy? This is a special little boy who shares a big part of my daughter's past. Actually, he is the one person that remained constant in her life since he entered the orphanage in Fuzhou City late 2009.

On May 21, 2010 we were matched with our Emma Grace. We had no idea that she was living at Shepherd's Field or that she had gone through heart surgery to repair her VSD. Within days of accepting our referral, Betty emailed to tell us she was living at PHF near Beijing. I was on it... and emailed Tim Baker (he and his wife founded PHF) immediately.

Within hours, I get this response:

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

It turns out that my Emma lived with this precious boy, Minli, in Fuzhou City. They were taken to the hospital near Beijing where they went through heart surgery together. They were both discharged and taken to live at Shepherd's Field, where they lived together in the House of Peace. I have been told by volunteers of SFCV that Minli and Emma played together often. I have a picture of them together on the floor and even one short video clip.

From the moment I received this email from Tim, my heart was split in two. This little boy shares a past with my daughter that I will never know. When we went to pick up Emma, I took her over to say good-bye to Minli. It was hard moment for me, but I know they will never remember it and at the time had no clue what was going on.

Rick and I talked about Minli often. We wanted to go back for him, but he is the same age as Emma and Timmy. His needs are a little greater, and not that we couldn't handle it, but with three 1 year olds it would be too big of a challenge. A family posted on our SFCV yahoo site saying they were interested in him... I was so happy! But once this family learned about his back, they felt they were not the family for him. Several others viewed his file, but he always came back to the shared list... his mild scoliosis scared families away.

This summer I had an adoption friend that traveled to SFCV for a family mission trip. I emailed her and asked her to spend some good, quality time with Minli. I was determined to find this little guy a family and I wanted someone to give me details about his life. I trusted my friend's observations... she is a mom to 2 boys. When she got back from Ch*na, she emailed me a lengthy email with her observations. It was everything I already knew... he was sweet, loving, interactive, typical boy!!!! But on paper, it seemed that only one thing stuck out... and that was the issue with his back.

I posted her observations on my Fuzhou City yahoo group. Well, someone read it. Meanwhile, there was a family in Indiana who saw a picture on their agency list and fell in love with a precious little boy. They wanted to lock his file. The mother of this sweet family mentioned it to her friend... and her friend said, "oh my goodness, someone just posted about him on my yahoo group!" WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!!!!!

So, Minli has a family. A family that knows about his back, but sees him for the sweet, precious, loving little boy that he is. He is not defined by his special need because the only need we truly have is to be in a family!!!! I can't wait for this little guy to come home!

Did I mention the best part????? He lives only a few hours from us. Again, what are the chances?!?!?! Rongjia and Minli, who started a relationship in an orphanage in southern Ch*na will be raised half way across the world only a few hours from each other.

In looking at all the details, it is obvious that God had His hand in this. I know that Minli and Emma will never remember each other. I don't know all of the details of their time together. BUT, I know they were together... and as her mother, I can't wait to share this part of her story with her!

Our Labor Day

One of our favorite places to go is hiking in a local forest. We all love it! This year Timmy and Emma were able to walk most of the trail. Emma had a good time, but Timmy really enjoyed it. He is an outdoor boy just like his big brother, Andrew. Rick's parents came along today, too.

Here is Timmy, leading the way down the trail

We have this exact same picture taken last year when Emma first got home. I have it framed on my desk. I can't believe how much Emma has grown in the last year.

Emma 2 year and Matthew 4 year

Here are some birthday pictures...

Recent pictures...

We have been so busy! We have been in school for almost a month now... I can't believe that! We are very thankful that all of our kids have adjusted and we now have a good routine going. Timmy and Emma go to Melody's house, who they call ga-ga. They love her and when Rick drops them off in the morning, they run right in and go get their favorite toys. Melody is a sweet, loving lady who takes such good care of them. We are lucky! Matthew has adjusted much better to his new school. This time next year he will be in Kindergarten and going to school with mommy everyday. Andrew is my school boy, so starting back was no big deal for him. Andrew begins soccer next week, so we will have 10 weeks of a busy soccer schedule. Both Timmy and Emma are in speech, so we have to get home for that 2 days a week. I am stepping up as team leader for the third grade teachers and running a chess club at school.... so as you can see, we are BUSY! By Friday evenings, I want to collapse on the couch :)

Timmy has really come a long way in the last few months. We went through a stage that lasted about 6 months where he screamed constantly. It was exhausting!!!! He was always so grumpy. Looking back, it was probably his teeth because they all came in at the same time. Now, his speech is growing and he is actually TALKING and communicating with us and generally very happy. He loves to play and is starting to take a big interest in trucks (go figure). He is a really fun little boy who loves to play, play, play. He is always climbing and getting himself into the worst situations. As his father says, "he will end up on you-tube one day!"

Emma is still a sweet and laid back little girl. Her speech is coming along to, but her vocabulary hasn't grown much recently. The sounds that require you to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth (t and d) are hard for her because she has only had the roof of her mouth for a few months now. She makes a lot of sounds in the back of her throat. She is obsessed with babies right now and loves to rock them and feed her little dolls a bottle. Timmy loves to steal her doll and run as fast as his little legs will carry him... and then throw them over the baby gate. It happens at least 10 times a day. She does the same thing to him though. The other day Timmy was trying to play with his garbage truck, but Emma wouldn't let him have it. So, he went to get her doll and stood right in front of her making eye contact. Emma got upset, wanted her doll, so Timmy threw the doll at her and took his truck and ran. I was so impressed with his problem solving in that situation :)

There isn't much to update on Matthew... he is still a laid back, sweet little guy. There really isn't much to update on Andrew either. He is still stuttering and that gives us a little bit of worry. It started last April, so it has been about 5 months. Everything I read says that if it lasts longer than 6 months, it might be something that sticks around. It is normal for young children to stutter as their vocab increases and their little mouths can't keep up with their growing brains. Andrew was a late talker, so his stuttering stage came a little later. His speech therapist at school thinks it is because he is learning so much and his mouth can't keep up. When it first started, it was BAD. I cried and cried because it was difficult to see him struggle. It got better and then it would come and go. We are told that the pattern of stuttering he is showing is actually progressing... and he is moving in the right direction. At first, he stuttered the beginning sound... then it was the whole word... now he just draws out the words. Just recently he has started blinking when stuttering and showing signs of what they call a "block" where the word doesn't come out. Obviously, we don't want to see him struggle with talking. We know that socially this is way more destructive than other things. However, we also realize that there are parents with children who have deadly illnesses and diseases.... so if this is the worst thing we ever have to face with him, we should consider ourselves lucky. I am putting all my trust and faith in God to heal him from this. In the last 3 days, his stuttering has decreased dramatically... and I am very encouraged. Last weekend, however, it was so bad that I could hardly understand him and he couldn't get anything out. I hope these "good" days continue and that we will one day soon be rid of this! Many parents have told me that their children stuttered and that one day it was gone. Andrew's speech therapist has a son who stuttered like Andrew. She know exactly what I feel as a mother, but feels confident it will go away.

Finally, I have found a treatment that works for my Crohn's disease. I was diagnosed just over 10 years ago. I have only flared a few times and was always able to get it back in control with a dose of steroids. Since January of this year I have been getting progressively worse and by June I was so miserable that I turned back to steroids. In the scope of my stomach in June, it showed a great deal of damage. My doctor said that I have to find a maintenance drug to keep it under control or I will one day soon end up with surgery... a major gastric bypass surgery. The problem is that my type of Crohn's is so rare that there are no proven meds to keep it in remission. I just recently switched to a new specialist and he felt encouraged that remicade would do the trick. Every 8 weeks I get a 2 hour IV infusion of the drug. So far, I am feeling great. The side effects are a little scary... but I know it is a risk I need to take.

I know I am biased, but I think my daughter is the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen.

I can't even begin to tell you how destructive my babies are. We have a lock on every door of our house. When I found my laundry all over the place, dirty and clean mixed together, I reached my breaking point!!!! I don't know if it is because I have two of them, or if they are just extra naughty... but I don't remember my older boys giving me this much trouble!

When the boys play baseball, he runs to the garage to get his helmet on. He wants to do everything the big boys do!

First days...

We are back in the school routine again. Matthew started a new school and we are very thankful for the change. It is a lot more money (unfortunately) but so far it has been well worth it. We love the community of the school and the care that he receives. There are only 9 kids in his class and he is surrounded by a Christian curriculum. They pray before meals, read scripture and incorporate Bible stories into their lessons. Not that we had a problem with his other school, we just feel much more comfortable here! This is his last year of preschool before Kindergarten and then he will be with ME!!!!

Andrew had an easy transition to 1st grade. He loves his school and has the sweetest little friends. When school first started, I was told not to kiss or hug him at school. But, all his friends love me... and when they see me in the hall, they scream my name and want to hug me. That's all it took... and now I am allowed to hug and kiss him again :) He just had to realize how cool his mama was! I am so happy with his friends, they are the sweetest group of boys and girls. I hope they stick together because it is a rough world out there :)

Matthew with his teacher, Mrs. Stephanie

Andrew on the 1st day of 1st grade

Andrew with his sweet teacher, Mrs. Phillips

Let the catch-up begin

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog- YIKES! That is not like me :) So, I am backing up and covering some of our big end of summer events. Life is super busy these days, but really great! OK- on to the pictures, since that is all people care about!

Here is the princess on her actual birthday. She got a new pink and purple bike for her big day and she LOVES it!

Timmy and Emma have the sweetest relationship. They fight like cats and dogs 50% of the time and are completely in love the other 50%. They were having a serious conversation on the front porch.

Emma was getting some birthday kisses from her big brothers.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It makes me laugh every time I look at it! Our future is so bright... we gotta wear shades!

This summer, our wonderful agency hosted a reunion picnic. This gives families a chance to reunite with those they traveled with to China. We traveled alone, but we still wanted to go. Here we are with Betty, our coordinator. She did everything for us! She answered all our questions, walked us through every step and planned our entire trip. She is one of the very special people that brought Emma Grace to our family. She is an important part of Emma's journey home!!

Here I am with a very special family (well, 2 of the members of the family!) Janet and her family have 4 children, 3 adopted from Ch*na. Soon after we were matched with Emma and I found out she was living at PHF, I remembered a family posting on our yahoo site about their experience with PHF. I contacted Janet about her experience with PHF and that is how our "adoption friendship" started! She offered words of encouragement and advice through our journey (her son had cleft lip/palate as well). In this picture, Janet and I are holding our two treasures from PHF or shepherd's field children's village.

The adoption community is connected through this wonderful blog/email world. Right before we left for Ch*na, Betty called me and said that a family was very interested in the file of Lexi, a child living at PHF, and she wanted to know if I could get pictures and video while I was there. Of course I would! She also asked for my permission to give my email to the family interested in adopting her. While I was in Ch*na, and staying at PHF, a sweet lady emailed me and said that they had locked her file and were interested in any information we could give her. So, we spent some time with sweet Lexi, loving her, kissing her, taking her picture and video.

The Brady family just got home with this sweet little girl and her name is now Susi. My friend, Janet (in the picture above) also just got home from Ch*na where they adopted their 4th child. These 2 wonderful families got to meet each other and actually travel together! Isn't a small world? We are all connected in some way!