Timmy's Birthday

My handsome little man is 3. I feel like I have aged in dog years since his birth.

 

 

When Timmy is happy, he is really happy, talkative, and so stinkin' cute you can hardly stand it. When Timmy is rotten, oh my goodness... it takes every ounce of patience to deal with the screaming temper tantrums. Thankfully, we have had a lot more happy days than grumpy days lately. He recently started preschool (with his sister) and this has been a great thing for him! He is coming out of his shell and his little personality is emerging. I see a perfect mix of Andrew and Matthew in Timothy. Timmy turned 3 in October. I can't believe my youngest child is now 3. For the last 7 years I have always had a 2 year old or younger. It has been exhausting! But now these days are disappearing. Our house is free of diapers, baby toys, bibs, sippee cups and all the other necessities that come with itty bitties. And I am one happy mama! I love the ages of my kids right now and feel that I can actually step foot in Walmart and not make a scene that will have people talking for weeks. My kids listen (mostly) and act right (mostly). It is a nice place to be!

 

Here are some things I don't want to forget about my Timmy boy at this age:

 

*He has a blanket that he carries EVERYWHERE. I don't even want to think about what would happen if it goes missing. And he does NOT like other children to touch it!

 

*He hates to sleep. It kills me. Every night, our bedtime routine consists of Timmy screaming his lungs out (pretty sure the neighbors can hear) and standing at the top of stairs for a solid hour. We have just recently started sleeping through the night, but before that it was not unusual to wake up to a screaming Timmy. We both work, so we have early mornings around here... you guessed it, we wake up to a screaming Timmy. (Now do you see why I feel like I have aged in dog years?)

 

*He loves all trucks... excavators, monster trucks, dump trucks. BUT, he will certainly have a tea party with his sister or feed "his baby" in the high chair. Timmy and Emma are so gender neutral, they will play anything!

 

*His best friend is Emma. They spend so much time together. They talk constantly to each other. Sometimes I can understand them, sometimes I can't. It is obvious that they understand each other. I really hope these 2 stay close forever. I often wonder how Hannah will effect that relationship.

 

*Timmy loves to cut the grass with his fake lawnmower. He will spend hours outside walking up and down the grass, all around our yard.

 

*He loves to ride his bike and his little car. He says he is going to Costco, or Walmart... and he will play in the garage by himself riding his bike all over the place.

 

*We have no easy transitions with Timmy. Trying to get him to wear underwear... nightmare. Trying to get him to wear pants when the weather got cold...nightmare. Winter coat... nightmare. You get the picture.

 

*He potty trained himself when he was 2 years 9 months old. I tried and tried when he was 2 and a half, but he wanted nothing to do with it. He would scream when he saw the toilet (see previous comment about transitions). I got back from China this summer and was dreading having to tackle potty issues again. He woke up one morning and asked to go to the potty. That.was.it. Potty trained from that moment on. I did NOTHING!!!

 

*At the moment, Timmy has a fear of the naughty list or a phone call to Santa. When he is happy he says "I not crying, I on the nice wist."

 

*he uses all of his pronouns incorrectly. I NEVER correct it because I think it is too adorable. "what him doin?" "Her took that from me!" oh my goodness, so cute.

 

*he loves peanut butter, chicken nuggets and junk food. He also likes most fruits, yogurt and applesauce. Mostly, we live on peanut butter sandwiches.

 

*He wore 2 truck shirts all summer. I had to do laundry constantly. We were finally able to distract him into other clothing. The dump truck shirts are now in his memory box!

 

*just recently, he started saying "that hurts my pee-wings (feelings)" when someone hurts him. So if you accidently bump into him, put his shoe on wrong, etc. you have hurt his feelings. He has no idea what that means, it is so funny!!

 

Happy Birthday, Timmy! We love you to the moon and back!

 

 

Give-a-way!!!!!!

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been blessed with a fundraising page from Reece's Rainbow. I am going to give you 3 GREAT REASONS why donating to our adoption is a WONDERFUL idea!

First....

You will be helping us to bring this precious little butterfly HOME! She has waited 3 years for a family and has gone through so much in that time.

Second...

All donations to Reece's Rainbow will be tax-deductible.

and finally, look at all of these awesome give-a-way items that have been donated!!! For every $10 that is donated, we will enter your name to win one of these awesome items donated by awesome friends. First name drawn gets first choice, second name gets second choice, etc. until we run out of items :)

Item #1: $100 Amazon gift card

Item #2: $100 La Bella Salon gift card (hair salon in Louisville, KY)

Item #3: $50 Mary Kay Gift card

Item #4: beautiful Thirty-One items!!! We have a black purse, flower and zippered pouch. This picture does not show how beautiful the purse is!!! The flower looks adorable on the purse (but it would also look adorable on a little girl's head!)

Item #5: 3 iron candle holders

Item #6: a handmade, wooden cutting board. It is beautiful, but I don't have a picture of it yet!

Item #7: a basket of hair bow accessories (headbands, flowers and bows) I will let the winner pick what colors and combinations they want because I have many to choose from.


Thank you to our friends and family that donated these items!!! We will draw names on December 10. Every $10 donated = one chance.

To donate please click HERE.
Donations can also be made by check. Please make checks payable to Reece's Rainbow and mail to:

Reece's Rainbow
PO BOX 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

Please write "Isabella- Fischer Family- KY" in the memo line. (Her name here will be Hannah, but her English name in China is Isabella)

Thank you for helping us bring home our daughter!

Adoption update: Our dossier is at the Embassy of China getting final authentications. It should be in our hands at the end of this week. Once we get it, we will send it on to our adoption agency who will then send it to China! We will be given a log in date (the day our papers will be entered into China's system) At that point we wait for our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) and this will take 1-3 months. After LOA, we have another small round of paper work to complete and should be on our way to China 1-3 months after that (after Travel Approval is issued)!!!!

Fundraising!!!!

We have been blessed with a fundraising page from Reece's Rainbow! Reece's Rainbow is an organization that brings awareness to down syndrome and other special needs orphans around the world. They advocate for the children and then help to fundraise the money to offset the HUGE cost of adoption. We were happy to find out that our Hannah (who is currently named Isabella in China) was listed with this organization.

We are asking our friends and family for help in bringing Hannah home. First, we would like to ask you to pray for our girl. She is getting stronger everyday (thank you, Lord!) but is still a complicated and fragile case. The surgeon in China has agreed not to operate on her and this is wonderful news. However, it means that this adoption needs to move quickly so that she can receive the medical care in the States that she desperately needs. (For a list of her medical needs, please see previous posts). Second, we would like to ask for you to consider giving financially to her adoption. All donations through Reece's Rainbow are tax deductible and we will receive the funds for our adoption. To donate via paypal, you may go HERE. (this link takes you to our Reece's Rainbow fundraising page)

If you prefer to donate by check, please make checks payable to Reece’s Rainbow and mail to:

Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885
Please mark "Isabella- Fischer Family-KY" in the memo line.

Thank you to everyone that has given us encouragement along this journey. Adopting Emma was such an amazing experience and we love the way she has transitioned into our family and is adored by all that meet her. We know that Hannah (Isabella) will be another wonderful addition to our family and we look forward to the day we get to hold her in our arms!

Just for fun, we will be holding a raffle! I am still in the process of finalizing raffle gifts, so check back to see what we will be giving away. I wanted to get the fundraising page up and running. Even if you donate now, I will still include you in the raffle. Check back for details!

She asked...

We have been talking about Hannah a lot lately. We are trying to prepare the little people in our home for what is to come. I have heard Emma refer to her as "baby Hannah" and I quickly correct her and tell her that Hannah is 3 just like her! We talk about how mommy and daddy will have to fly to China to bring her home.

Last night when I was putting Emma to bed I said, "Mommy and daddy flew on a plane all the way around the world to get you! And as soon as we saw you, we scooped you up and kissed you. You will be our baby girl forever!" Then she asked the question, in complete innocence, "where was my mommy in China?" Hmmm, what a big question for a little girl. I told her that I didn't know where her China mommy was, but that she had a mommy and daddy forever. I am sure that with every year of her life, this question will surface and take on a new meaning. The day she can really comprehend it will be difficult for all of us. I am thankful that Emma and Hannah will have each other. Their lives started out very different, but within their first year of life, they ended up in the same foster village. And although their journey to a family happened at different times, they ended up in the same family. We pray that as they question their China mommies, that they will come to understand God's purpose for their lives. We are so thankful for both of our little girls! 

Hannah's Journey

I have really struggled with how much of Hannah's story I should share. Her journey to find a family hasn't been as easy for me to comprehend as Emma's was. Emma was found as a newborn, estimated to be a day old, in front of a hospital gate. Clearly, her parents had some compassion for her and wanted her to be found quickly. She had obvious disabilities probably to great for them to financially deal with... and she was born with flaws not widely accepted by the Chinese culture. We have always known that Emma's birthday is not exact, but close within days. Emma was abandoned, lived in an institution and had open heart surgery as an orphan. Thankfully, she came home at 15 months.

Hannah's story is quite different. Hannah was found in February 2010 and was estimated to be 5 months old at the time. Her assigned birthday could be off my months, weeks or days. We will never know. She was near death. Her medical file was very difficult to read. It stated that she was pale and in poor physical state and would vomit easily. I am not going to publicly share where she was found, but it is something I will never be able to wrap my brain around. Already at 5 months of age, she has lived through unimaginable pain and neglect.

Hannah has a long list of special medical needs. I have decided to share these needs because I believe God will use it to bring others to children like her who wait. Her medical file is overwhelming, but we have faith that she will thrive here in the States. First, she has been diagnosed with minor hydrocephalus. This means she has water on the brain. Normally kids with hydrocephalus have much larger heads than their bodies and they are developmentally behind. Her head is larger, but only slightly. Deep down, I just don't believe this will be an issue. We are prepared and willing to go down that road if it is an issue.

Second, Hannah has a heart condition. We were told that it is inoperable, and that she has a "weak" heart. It is extremely difficult to get a correct diagnosis on an orphan in China, so we have NO information or data on her heart. We are certainly stepping out in faith on this one. She has been through 5 major operations (for other issues) and her heart has survived each one with no problem, that is a wonderful sign. We have a wonderful cardiologist here and this will be one of the first things on our list to evaluate when she comes home.

Finally, Hannah's major issue is with her intestines. As my friend described her, "her plumbing is a little off!" She has been through a number of operations to repair this issue. She currently has a colostomy that is waiting to be reversed. This is a hard one for us. We originally asked them to hold on the reversal because we really want it done in the States. First, the care is better here. She almost died from a post op infection in one of her surgeries. We just don't want to take that risk in China again. It will be another 9 months until we get to her, however. That means she will be nearly 4 and still in diapers, living with a colostomy. This is not the healthiest option for her. Also, she is struggling with UTIs. They have partially removed one of her kidneys, and want to remove the rest of it. We believe her UTIs are because of a flaw with the past repairs, not because of a bad kidney. We want to keep her out of the hospital in China but we also don't want to risk infection. It is certainly a complicated matter so we have been praying for God's will. I don't know what to ask for, so I just want Him to take over. He has carried her away from death twice now, so if surgery must happen again in China, we trust that He will save her again!

We feel certain that Hannah is our daughter and brought to us for a reason. We have been amazed at how the finances so far have worked out. We have been planning this adoption since February when we put our house on the market. We knew that we wanted to adopt, but didn't think we would fit in our old house with 5 kids. Nothing happened!!! We were confused about what to do. We had saved for a bigger house, but could also use the funds for an adoption and just stay in our house and make it work.  Finally, a deal came through right before I left for China. When I was in China, I had a little scare. A friend emailed me and told me that Hannah's file had been pulled by a family. I was heartbroken. I felt so much guilt for not locking her file sooner (after spending several days with her, I knew she was mine!) I felt like I had chosen a bigger house over her. It was a horrible feeling. But, things worked out and her file was STILL there.

We moved, locked her file, and started our dossier all in the same week. First up was the home study.... $1,750. At the closing of our home, the lawyers made a mistake and refunded us $1,700. What?!?!?!? Then in the mail that week, I received a $25 check from a friend who meant to send it to me before I went to China. Our home study was covered.

After we moved into our house, our neighbors noticed Emma and said "the lady that lived here before you had 2 adopted daughters from China!" What are the chances? We really felt like God was showing off at this point.

Adoption friends from SFCV started sending me pictures once we announced our adoption. One picture was Hannah sitting in a butterfly jacket. The butterfly took over her entire chest. (I mentioned the significance of butterflies in my last post!) While I was searching through Kenlyn's FB page looking for the original video she posted, I came across a picture of Hannah that she was tagged in. I was also tagged in this picture. The picture was taken many, many months ago before I even knew Hannah was my daughter. I could not figure out why I was tagged in this picture so long ago. It was clearly a picture of Hannah!!! Well, in the far corner of the picture, was one of my sponsor children. The person had tagged me and Kenlyn for that purpose. I thought it was a cool reminder of how God has things planned for us way before we even know it! It certainly made me smile!

Just yesterday I was telling a friend at school all the cool things that have happened with this adoption. How we just know that we are doing the right thing. I kid you not.... a butterfly came and landed on her shirt!!!!! I pointed to the butterfly and said, "that is a whole other story!" As my friend Kyle said, "it is so cool that God can send something as small and simple as a butterfly to confirm what you are doing."

We are waiting on one more dossier document, then we will be DTC. My personal goal was to have papers to China by October 15, but it doesn't look like that will happen. Hopefully by the beginning of November we will be logged in, which puts us at a May/June travel. Keep praying for our girl!

Introducing....

Hannah Fischer

Last March, my friend Kenlyn posted a video of this sweet little girl on Facebook. I have many friends that have adopted and all of us frequently advocate for children that cross our path. I see pictures of orphans daily... and they all break my heart. But there was something about the little girl in the video that made me STOP and just stare at her. I watched the video over and over again. I felt so connected to her even though I had never met her. I looked up her special needs on Shepherd's Field website. It was not something our family had considered, but definitely something we could handle. I tucked her away in my heart for a little while. I talked to Rick about her and just prayed.

 

April rolled around and I decided to email my adoption coordinator to see if her file was on the shared list. She wrote me back immediately and attached her file. I was so excited!!!! That excitement was quickly overcome with anxiety as I opened up her file to the long list of medical needs. SFCV only listed 2 of her needs, but there were a few others on her medical file. I immediately thought it would be too much. I had SO MANY questions that I decided to email Dr. Moody, someone who lives in Ch*na and works closely with this little girl. I listed 10 questions that I had about the file. He wrote back immediately, answering each one of my questions completely. His responses gave me peace about the situation. We decided not to lock her file and to give it more time to think and pray. I would be traveling to Ch*na in June and I knew that a lot of things would become clear to me on this trip.

The second I walked into the clinic and saw this sweet little girl, I knew she was mine. I instantly fell in love with her. I was quickly reminded that she is not a list of special needs on a piece of paper, but a living and breathing child who has waited a long time for a family. Shame on me for being so selfish. 

When we adopted Emma, butterflies became an important symbol. Every time our family would talk about her, or make it to another important step in the adoption process, it seemed that God would send butterflies. I remember one time I had a butterfly land on my arm and sit there. It got to the point where we would see butterflies and the boys would yell, "Emma Grace!"

One day, my friend Kyle and I got to take Hannah and another child on a walk. While walking, Kyle said, "Look... she is staring at that butterfly!" A butterfly was flying around and Hannah was staring at it and following it with her eyes. I had to smile and I told Kyle about our butterfly girl at home. Shortly after this, our group of 4 was talking about adoption and Hannah... and out came another butterfly.

I got an email from an adoption friend while I was in Ch*na and she mentioned that Hannah's file had been pulled. My heart sank. I emailed our adoption coordinator from Ch*na and asked her to check on it. She wrote back the next day and confirmed that her file was still available and had it pulled to the agency list. She was safe until I could get home and start the paper work.

When I got home from Ch*na we started the paper work. Before she was officially "locked" we got an email from our agency saying that another family was interested, so we needed to lock or let her go. We locked immediately. Thankfully, we were able to have a wonderful converstation with our pediatrician who helped with our initial paper work just in time. We received pre approval on July 24, 2012.

We have finished our home study and we are waiting on our final copy so we can submit our I800A. All other dossier documents are complete and waiting for authentication. Our goal is to have our dossier complete and in Ch*na by mid October. That should put us on track for a summer travel.

We are excited and thankful to have the opportunity to be Hannah's parents. My next post will be about all the sweet things that have happened (God winking) to let us know that this is the right thing for our family. I will also briefly describe her special needs in my next post.

Hannah's birthday is September 10, 2009... she is younger than Emma but older than Timmy. We will have triplets :)



  

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

In June, my sweet Matthew turned 5! That means I have another school aged kiddo, and boy is he excited to start Kindergarten in just a few weeks. Isabel, Gavin, Olivia, Brandon, Evan (his cousins) came to party with us and celebrate our boy. We also had Julie, Travis, Colleen, Michael, G&G, Mamaw and Papaw and Gabe here. We played water games, grilled out, and played around the house. 

Here are things I want to remember about my 5 year old:

*he has a gentle heart

*he sacrifices daily so that his sister or brother can have something. Today we were playing a game (Zingo) and we included EG for the first time. He wanted her to win since she hasn't really played games before. Every time a card came up that both he and Emma had... he gave it to her. He always checked her card to make sure she wasn't missing anything.

*he has a sense of humor that catches me off guard. He is SO FUNNY! he comes up with the best one-liners!

*blue blankets are still a must when going to bed... it is so sweet!

*He loves super heroes and star wars. He thinks it is hilarious that I don't know the characters of star wars when he quizzes me

*the boy lives on ham, apple sauce, vanilla yogurt, chicken nuggets and fruit. 

*he loves to catch bugs

*unfortunately, he still wets the bed. big time.

*he loves to play outside and ride his bike.

*He says "mommy?" 500 times a day. When I answer him, he says "I just want to know where you are." Oh my, it is so annoying, but definitely something I want to remember. 

*his feelings are hurt easily- he is sensitive

*he loves to play baseball

Happy Birthday to my sweet little guy! From the moment he was born, this kid has been a piece of cake! He is sweet, affectionate, loving, giving and warm-hearted. I am so excited to have Matthew at school with me next year!

The Many Faces of Emma Grace

and yes, I am well aware of the fact that she needs a bath!

Happy 4th of July

We went to the Fischer house to celebrate 4th of July with a parade and swimming. The kids always have fun! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Here are all of the Fischer cousins. For the record, Eden (who is sideways) was very well behaved and Timmy was screaming his lungs out making this a very difficult picture. I just happened to get this shot with everyone's face showing and looking half way happy. 

Day 6: Making Bags

I am a little delayed in writing this post, but I want to document what we did! We were all very sad on our last day in the village. We wanted to spend the majority of our time with the kids. We spent time loving on the babies in the clinic (my favorite house!) but also made our rounds to House of Peace, House of Blessings, and Zachary House. After lunch we helped Dr. Ana put together "play bags". The staff has problems keeping toys in the house... they seem to disappear and the children are left with very little to play with. Dr. Ana had an idea... create tote bags of toys designed for toddlers and babies. A volunteer or intern can come check out a bag, then go around to the houses to play with the little ones. There is a checklist on the bag so the volunteer can know what goes back in the bag. When the volunteer is finished playing, the bag gets returned and checked by Dr. Ana. This way toys do not get lost. We thought it was a great idea! So, we made 7 toddler and 7 baby bags with labels. They were all developmentally appropriate.

We got to test out our work later in the afternoon. I took a toddler bag to Isabella. Jamie and Mitzi took a baby bag to entertain the babies. It was great! Isabella loved shaking the music instruments and I found that she loves puzzles. I imagine she had never seen a puzzle before. I showed her how to do it and she got the hang of it. She is a smart cookie!

Here is Isabella playing with the toys from her bag. When we were finished playing, the ayis let us take her on a walk. She had a busy and fun day!

This is sweet Melanie from Zachary House, born without arms or legs. She was amazing. She could crawl, turn the pages of a book, and grab toys. Sadly, we got news yesterday that she passed away suddenly. There is a chicken pox epidemic and they believe that her body could not handle the virus. Many people are grieving the loss of this special young lady, including her family in the US that was waiting to adopt her. 

The bags we created for Dr. Ana

Vincent and Isabella on a walk. 

Sweet Cindy from the clinic

Our last Chinese dinner 

We all shed some tears when we said good-bye to the children. What a sad day. I am thankful for a place like Shepherd's Field... it is one of the best places for an orphan to live. But at the end of the day, it is nothing compared to the love and care of a family. These kiddos need and deserve families just like millions of other kids around the world. It is eye-opening and heartbreaking to spend a week with orphans. I wish that everyone could experience this type of work and love.

Day 4 and 5

On our 4th day here we climbed the Great Wall. It was an amazing experience. We actually took a ski lift up the wall (oh my goodness, one of the scariest things I have done!) and then climbed the wall for 2 hours. When we got to the top of the tower, there was a sign that said "no admittance" but clearly no one had obeyed because there was a well worn path making a trail through the trees. We followed it and it led to an unrestored tower. It was SO COOL! The view was amazing, it felt like we were on top of the world. We hiked back down to the ski lift and then we took a tobaggon ride down the wall. It was AWESOME! We got to shop with vendors and had our first experience bartering with the locals. We had lunch at Subway and then headed into town to shop at the Pearl Market.

We had a blast shopping! Whatever price they tell you, you go for 1/4 of that. It was so fun trying to get things as cheap as possible. The other girls bought jewelry but I stuck to junk for my kids. We had dinner at McDonalds and then came back to SFCV. It was a fun, fun day. Althought we felt guilty for not seeing the kids, we had many meaningful conversations about adoption with the group we were touring with. I think a lot of hearts have been stirred on this trip!

Yesterday (day 5) we stayed in the morning to play with the kids. We went straight to the clinic. Today Vincent was not settled and wanted me to hold him. As long as I was holding him and rocking or swaying, he was happy. I put him down to take a picture and he cried. So, the ayi picked him up and put him in his bed. It was so sad. Isabella was feeling much better today. I even got her to LAUGH. I heard a giggle and I saw her teeth. As soon as I reacted to her laugh, she was back to the poker face. She still had her baby (although it took us several minutes to find it). After she ate, she let Jamie hold he. This is a huge step!!!! I tried and tried to steal her from Jamie, but she would not let me. Today was definitely the happiest I have seen Isabella. Our biggest concern at this point is Leah. She looks like she is starving to death. The ayis keep her in the bed because she is so tiny and fragile. Even when she gets a bottle, she is left in the bed and they lean over to feed it to her. Kyle and I held her for 2 hours. She has no known medical condition, but clearly needs food and love. It is heartbreaking.

We were kicked out of the houses early since it is the weekend. Sara called us a taxi and we went to the Forbidden City to meet up with the group. We did finally find them (thanks to a cell phone- don't know if I want to see that bill!) It was pouring rain so our moods were a little sour. It did clear up as we made the 2 hour walk through the City. We were all exhausted by the end. We had the Moody sons with us, Matthew and Josh and they both speak fluent Chinese. They bartered with some street men to get us Rickshaw rides through old Beijing (Hutong Tour). It was one of the most fun things I have ever done! The men were hilarious, they tried to explain things to us in broken English and complained about how heavy we were. At the end, I let my driver sit down and I pedaled the bike. Hilarious. We had an expensive (but yummy) dinner in ho-hi (spelled wrong, but this is how you say it) and then headed back home. It was a long yet fun day. We said good-bye to the Indy group, I will miss them!

A little steep, don't you think?

On top of the world! A very memorable experience at an unrestored watch tower on the Great Wall.

On the Great Wall (we had a blast!)

Rickshaw ride through old Beijing (Hutong Tour)

The Forbidden City

Our group trying to cross the road...YIKES!

Mitzi and our rickshaw driver

We were sure to hold sweet Leah as much as possible

Today begins our last day and I am so sad. A part of my heart will always be here. I had a friend remind me that Emma Grace was one of those tiny little babies and now she is a strong and healthy little girl. There is hope, but it comes through US. Please watch the Eric Ludy video on my sidebar.

Day 3

**Sorry: no pictures today. It is nearly impossible to get them uploaded with this connection!

Today we helped the team from Indianapolis with their VBS celebration. The children got to sing/dance, get faces painted, play with water balloons, sidewalk chalk and bubbles. Our team of 4 bought the kids ice cream and handed out goodie bags. The kids LOVED the ice cream. It is not something they get often. We had several that tried (and succeeded) in taking 2 ice creams. In the goodie bags, the kids had candy, a bouncy ball and a ring. It was a big hit! At dinner tonight the kids were wearing the rings and today while we were in the houses, the kids were playing with their balls. They certainly appreciate the little things. It was a fun morning watching these sweet children jump around and sing about how special they are and about how much Jesus loves them. The joy was all over their faces!

We spent the afternoon in the houses playing with the children. I went to the last 2 houses, so I have now been in all the houses and met all the children. Today I had the honor of meeting Melanie, a young girl born without arms or legs. She is amazing and beautiful. She can move (by crawling on her arm and leg stumps) and get anywhere she needs to go. Although I enjoyed my time in the houses, my heart was pulling me back to the clinic to see Isabella and the other babies there. Isabella still had her baby from yesterday so I was excited! She is not feeling well. She has been fighting a fever all week, which is concerning since she just got finished with a major surgery. Please pray for her healing! She does not like people and has been sick most of her life, so she is not messed with often. Every time I see her, she is laying on a mat in the hallway. She started crying (in my opinion because she didn’t feel well and was dripping in sweat) and the nanny put her in bed. A few minutes later another volunteer pulled her out. Now I know the way to Isabella’s heart is to rescue her from the bed! I am so sad to see her always laying and not up and moving. I am sure she feels awful, but after seeing the joy in her face on our walk, I can’t help but to think about the missed opportunities in her life.

We had dinner with the kids tonight. A team from Ohio fired up the grill and the kids enjoyed hot dogs, potato chips and fruit for dinner. I know the kids left with very full bellies tonight! Several of the kids had multiple hot dogs! It was fun to watch.

Singing VBS songs

Sweet Phillip... he has a family coming SOON!

This is Joseph. He is 13 and will age out in 11 months. Most 13 years want video games or ipads...this kid only wants a family. 

JJ (also has a family coming!)

Some of the kids enjoying their ice cream treat

It was another great day. Everyone on our team has shed tears for the children here. So many kids who just need a chance at life.  SFCV does an amazing job caring for them and meeting their basic needs, but nothing can replace the love of a family.

Day 2: Hard work brings a great reward!

After a much needed night of sleep, we were ready to love on some more children. After breakfast we went to the House of Peace. We had a great time playing with Clarissa, Teddy and Maya. My family sponsors Maya, so it was very sweet to hold her and spend time with her this morning. Clarissa loved to look at the pictures on our cameras. I decided to take a chance and try to communicate with the ayis, since this was the house where Emma lived. I went back to the Inn to grab my phone and a picture of Emma that is hanging on the wall in the inn. All I said was "JiaJia" (Emma's Chinese name) and the ayis face lit up. I showed her the picture of what she looked like then, and a video of her now. The excitement was SO amazing to watch. The ayi had a big smile on her face and they were talking (loudly) to each other. I caught the word "JiaJia" and "mama" and they kept smiling at me. It was a sweet moment that I will never forget!

After lunch we went to find Dr. Ana Moody to see what we could clean today. Her response.... "I don't turn down mothers who like to clean." We tackled the storage room in the clinic. We organized the bins and cleaned the shelves. Although that seems like an easy enough task, it took several hours (and many laughs). Dr. Ana is a hoot. We learned that she doesn't like to throw anything away and that she has many projects she would like to do. She also shared many personal stories about SFCV that I really needed to hear. She opened my eyes to the many wonderful parts of the village but shared some concerns that she asked us to pray about. Operating in a foreign country brings many challenges with the culture. They do their best, but some things are still a struggle.

During our 2 hour cleaning spree, we really got to know Dr. Ana. When we were finished I felt comfortable enough to ask if we could have a few of the babies from upstairs (the sickest children in the village) to walk in strollers. She said YES!!!! She called her son to come over and translate to the ayis that we were going to take 3 of the children on walks. We took Vincent, Heather and Isabella on a walk. Jamie also took Debbie outside to play.You would not believe the comments we got!

"How did you get the babies out of the clinic?"

"Oh my goodness, is that Vincent?"

"This is the first time I have seen Isabella outside!"

All 4 of the children clearly enjoyed themselves! Vincent was opening his hands and reaching towards the sky. We gave each child a toy (from our stash in the room) and that was a huge hit! Isabella carried a baby doll that she loved, Heather fell in love with a monkey and Vincent also had a monkey. When we passed by the clinic Dr. Ana said ..."I don't think you should come back yet, keep walking." We walked and then stopped to let the kids enjoy the air outside. We ended up staying outside for an hour and a half. Isabella clearly loved her baby and was trying to hide her from me so I wouldn't take it back. She did not want to come back in and started crying. Heather planted her body in the stroller and also refused to go in. Both girls took their new toys back to the room with them. Please pray that the ayis do not take the toys away from the girls. The ayis do not like a lot of toys around.

Yesterday, Jamie was not able to get Debbie to put weight on her feet. Today, she kept trying. While outside, Jamie was able to get her to stand with support... a huge change from yesterday!

Isabella does not like people, especially strangers. She loved going on a walk and responded to the flowers and the dogs she saw. I tried several times to hold her but she always told me NO! Jamie finally walked up to her and asked to hold her and she said YES! Jamie walked her around and sang "Jesus loves me" to her. She was not only happy, she wanted more. Our walk and time outside with the kids was a huge blessing. The changes we saw in the kids in that short time was amazing. We know that the hard work and bonding with Dr. Ana helped us to have this special time with the kids. It was a wonderful afternoon.

We went out to eat with Dr. Moody and his sons. Unfortunately, Dr. Ana was too tired from our day of cleaning! We had a wonderful authentic Chinese meal. The Moody sons are fluent in Chinese so we let him order everything. He did a great job with his meal choices! I was so proud of myself... I actually tried the pork and ate with chopsticks (OK, mostly my fingers...)

It was a great day full of meaningful work and conversations. I am excited to see what tomorrow will bring!

This is Maya, one of our sponsor children. She will never know the love of a family because she has been labeled as "unadoptable." Thankfully, she has SFCV to be her family and knows that she has a Father in Heaven! She was very responsive and smiled at us. She loved to be held.

This is baby Liam from the clinic. He is a sweet boy. He fell asleep in Kyle's arms

This is Mitzi with Clarissa. She is a smart and beautiful young lady. In a family, I have no doubt this young lady would blossom. She is a treasure!

I am having a hard time getting pictures to load, so I will try again later!

Day 1- SFCV

We had a busy today! We got a few hours of sleep and woke up just before 6 am wide awake and ready to go. We started out the morning with a tour of the Clinic. This is where the sickest babies are kept. Dr. Moody introduced us to some of the children and we spent time loving on the babies.

There is one baby in particular that really got our attention. Her name is Leah and she is NOT a newborn (age unknown- thought to be 6 months) but is so fragile. She is not thriving. You can see her bones through her skin and her skin hangs from her body. She takes short breaths and her eyes will roll back when she is falling asleep. I hate to say it, but it feels like she is dying. I have never held a child like this and it was a bit overwhelming. Please include her in your prayers.

After the clinic we went to the House of Blessings where we got to spend time with some more adorable children. I played games with Robert and Josiah (they are home from VBS with the chicken pox) and Mitzi, Kyle, and Jamie went upstairs to love on some babies. After lunch, we were given the task of cleaning the therapy room. We disinfected all of the toys and wiped down the floors, mats, and equipment. It was a big job, but it looked great when we were finished. (It smelled really clean, too!)

We were allowed back in the children's homes after nap, so we headed straight for the clinic. The babies there are all so precious, but in need of so much care. We loved, hugged and cuddled the babies for an hour. Kyle held Leah for an hour which was great! I have a feeling we will be at this house everyday.

 This is Isabella. She is 2 and half years old and needs a family. She has been through 4 or 5 major surgeries and it is a miracle she is still alive! She is a little firecracker and made sure to let me know exactly what she wanted (or didn't want!)

This is Leah.

We finished our evening with a trip to Agape house. It is amazing!!! Clay and Jewel Floch used to work at SFCV and left in the fall of 2011 to become house parents at Agape House. It is a foster home for children with Brittle Bone disease. It was such a joy to hear Clay speak about what they are doing and to tour the 5 houses. Please visit them on facebook or go to their website to see all the amazing things they are doing. They have 5 girls who are older and learning life skills to support themselves. They started a bakery and sell various goods. We bought 2 pizzas for dinner and loaded up on cookies and carrot cake. The pizza was delicious! We called Clay last minute and he was so kind to come and pick us up, give us a tour and bring us back to SFCV. It was a memorable trip, and I hope that we can raise awareness of Agape house and help them to find more sponsors for the children.

It was a wonderful day full of many sweet children. It was a reminder to me that no matter the special need, the greatest need of all is to know the love of a family.

**it is difficult to upload pictures, so I will try again tomorrow.

We made it!

We made it to Shepherd's Field Children's Village! We had a perfect travel schedule and made it without any hiccups along the way. We started out with a delay in Louisville, but we made our connecting flight OK in Detroit. Our flight landed about 20 minutes early in Beijing and since it was midnight, there were not many people. We got our baggage right away and found our drivers and made it out to the village in about an hour.

It is an overwhelming feeling to be back in the place where I met my daughter. It is a feeling I can't describe. I can't wait to get into the children's home today and love on the babies. I will post later tonight with pictures of our day!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Andrew is 7! I can't believe how fast this guy is growing up. He wanted to have 5 friends over to play, so we made them light sabers out of swim noodles and sent them out in the backyard. They had a blast! We are very proud of you, Andrew and the young man you are becoming! 

Some things to remember about our 7 year old:

*He LOVES legos, star wars, transformers, and anything that fights.

*Junk food is his favorite! He loves chips, chocolate, cookies, and coke.

*He loves to play baseball and is learning so much in his new league.

*He LOVES to read, I can't keep enough books in the house. 

*He is obsessed with the Titanic and the story around it.

*He is our chess champ! He is now better than both his parents and he loves to compete! 

*Smart, smart boy. You only have to tell him once, and he's got it! His favorite subjects are math and science (just like his daddy!)

Matthew, the Graduate

My sweet Matthew is now a preschool graduate! We are very thankful for his preschool and the staff at the CDC. He had a great experience. Everyday I dropped him off, he would run in with a big smile. I am a bit sad that this little guy is growing so fast, but so excited to have him at school with me next year! I can't believe my little man is now in Kindergarten! 

(Timmy would not get in the picture- anyone surprised?)