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Sweet home!!!

After one misadventure then another and well, another we finally made it home safe and sound last night around dinner time.

Ting and I slept 13 hours last night so while time of day isn't an issue for either of us, confusion and dizziness are a HUGE issue for me right now.  Pray this will go away soon because I can't walk without leaning over and sometimes nearly falling.

Ting loves her new brother and sister that stayed home, in fact she will have a VERY hard time when biggest sis goes to the Bahamas in a couple months to begin her mission work again. :(  She gives her the BIGGEST smile every time she sees her!  She chatters up a storm in Chinese and is taking quite a few steps on her own already!  I can't wait to see what she can accomplish with some therapy because she is a very independent spirit and I don't think there will be much she won't be able to do someday!!  We have been overblessed with the children in our lives and I must say I don't know why I have been so blessed but am so thankful God chose me to be the mom to the best 4 kids in the world!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all so very much for your prayers and support over the last year while we raised the money we needed to complete our adoption.  There are not words that can adequately describe how grateful we are!  Ting is worth every grey hair, every sleepless night, and every tear that fell while we waited for her.  She is the last piece to our puzzle and our family does indeed feel complete! I hope that one of these days really soon I can get to feeling better and can post more of the pictures from China but until then just know how much I appreciate your prayers!!!

Fell asleep

Yeah so I fell asleep early again last night.

I did want to leave you with one of my new favorite photos and the photo of our family in front of the Consulate right after we had the swearing in ceremony!

Consulate appointment

I wish I had more time to post  Maybe tonight I can get a few photos up for you.  Ting is adjusting much better every day!!!!!!!  She is just amazing and so brave.

We had our consulate appointment this morning and it is all official.  When she gets off the plane in Chicago in a few days she will be a US citizen just like her sister!!!

We are going to lunch now and to the pearl market later so if I'm not too tired I will be sure to get pictures of our beautiful girl and her amazing smile!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last hal

First let me apologize for not posting more.  I wish I could say it was because we were having so much fun but adoption is not always sunshine and rainbows.  We have some really great moments but we also have some hard ones.

Ting has really bonded with her daddy and doesn't like it one bit when he leaves the room.  She is babbling more and more and hopefully someday that will be real words.  She did say BABA BABA BABA and he said she said Momma too but I was in another room and couldn't hear it.  I tell her Wo Aye Ni and she smiles so big, someone somewhere told her that before.  Our guide swears she said it to Steve today too.  I'm sticking with that she did say it! LOL

She is not fond at all of EmmaLi and has moments where she loves to be with me and moments when she would rather drink poison I'm afraid.  But every day we see more smiles than the day before and I know we'll get there.

Today was the medical exam and TB test. Tomorrow is a free day and to be honest I really need that.  When we arrived in GZ I have felt so out of sorts it isn't funny.  I'm not sure if it is the change in altitude or what but my brain doesn't seem to be connected to my body anymore.  I can stare at an object for 20 minutes and not know what it is.  My friend Beth said she is having a hard time too so whatever it is we are both feeling it.  We did the paperwork to prepare for our consulate appointment and we were both just frazzled and then all of a sudden it was done and we were like, oh that was easy. LOL

I pay by the minute for internet so I need to sign off.  I don't have pictures to post today.  I am just too tired to look through them to find something.  I just wanted to let everyone know to pray for our emotional and physical health and for Ting's continued adjustment.

Not all sunshine and ladybugs

I don't want to scare anyone but I also don't want to paint a picture that isn't true.  Adoption is a beautiful thing...for the PARENTS.  The children, however prepared or not prepared for the event, it is anything but beautiful!!!

She cries often for her nanny but tonight we got a smile.  We take it one minute at a time and adjust often.

table for 6

It is official, we have one more branch on our family tree.  Miss T is now Aliyah (although we still call her TingTing and probably will forever if she wants us to)

We were worried about today and how she would react going back to the place where her world was torn apart but our guide called ahead and asked that the nannies not be in the room when she got there.  I think this helped her little heart. 

She does not want to be out of daddy's view and when he and Em tried to go for a walk she screamed the entire hour they were gone.  As soon as they walked in she was able to calm down and fall asleep.  I should have joined her though because I am exhausted right now.

We caused quite the commotion trying to buy strollers today.  The other family and ours both need strollers since neither girl is able to walk on their own (well Ting is said to be able to, but she refuses to let her feet touch the ground)  It's hard to carry a child who is not used to being held.  The shopkeeper was running up and down the street from store to store to find us a stroller like the one she had in stock.  In the end we got a great deal and a really sturdy stroller so it was worth all the fuss!!!  I'm hoping she'll wear her new shoes tomorrow too because hers are falling apart and I want to be able to save them for her.

I think that about does it, my brain is still only firing on 1 cylinder so I know I'm forgetting something!

Forever begins now

We have her, the grieving is HARD.  I hope to post more later but for now I leave you with the first photos we got.  Maybe in a few days they will include a smile too.

IN CHINA

YAHOOOOOO.  We are FINALLY here!  Our 15 hour flight?...well it was actually 17 hours sitting on the plane.  It was BRUTAL, I'm not going to lie.  About 8 hours in I lost feeling in all extremities and was eating the seat in front of me.  The worst part I think we paid for PE Plus but they had to move Em and I because they had us in the same row but not next to each other and Steve was in a total different row.  If I had known that getting that fixed at the counter was going to move us back to the "cheap" seats I would have just begged people on the plane to switch. :(  That 5 inches of room doesn't sound like much but let me tell you it is worth it's weight in GOLD if you can get it.  I am praying that we can upgrade for the ride home.  I don't think I can make it that long in the sardine seats again, especially not with 2 littles!!!

Ok I need to get to bed, it's after midnight and tomorrow is the big day!

till then!

Hello Everyone! My name is Peggy, and Dawn and her family are friends...well, kind of like family without the formal adoption. LOL

One year ago today we had no idea the next day we would get Travel Approval for our precious daughter, Rachel, from China. We hit a few snags with scheduling due to our daughter's province officials being unavailable, but we eventually made it and we met our daughter on September 19, 2011. It was the most beautiful, exciting, frightening, heartbreaking time of our lives! It's amazing what changes take place in such a short time! We love this little devilish angel and can't imagine life with her!

Rachel ~ September 19, 2011

 We are excited to be adding another child to "our family"...Miss T! We can't wait to meet her, but first she must meet her forever family. We'll all be watching and praying for them, and if for some reason Dawn cannot post updates in China, I'll do that for her because if you are anything like me....YOU CAN'T WAIT until they get home! LOL


~~~~ Peggy ~~~~

Leaving soon

Oh my, we are so close now.  I really should be packed though, but sadly I'm not even close..Well I lied I am CLOSE but still too far away to be ready to leave.

God worked His miracles again and we were able to get the deposit back into our account after it somehow went into someone else's account.  We were also able to get the overdraft fees credited back to us.

WHEW it has been a CRAZY few days.  In the end though God prevailed and we were able to buy our tickets, book hotels, and start feeling the excitement that should have been ours from the beginning.

We continue to need your prayers for continued safety, health and travel mercies.  Please pray for Miss T as well.  She is about to have her world torn away from her and no matter how happy and excited we are, she at only 4 can't really understand what is happening to her.  Please remember us often as you find yourself up at odd hours of the night (since it will be day time there).

I do plan to post a few times while in China.  I know it will be hard to find time but it is the LEAST I can do to show the world that miracles DO still happen!!

Thank you again, whether you helped financially, or shared our blog with someone, or prayed for us, or just thought "wow, glad it's not me" All of you helped us get where we are, the thoughts, the prayers, they are all just as important as the money is so THANK YOU!!!

Next post....probably from China so stayed tuned!!!

Seriously Satan???

Oh my gosh, seriously???  I do not know what plans the Lord has for Miss T but they must be HUGE.  I mean the miracles that the Lord performed to even get us to the point of adopting her have been huge but Satan is not done messing with us.  When will he realize that God is going to continue to get all the glory for this adoption and HE WILL WIN YET AGAIN?

This morning I was sitting down to pay regular household bills and needed to see when my husband was last paid so I could know how much I had in the bank and which bills to pay before we go and which to hold until we come home.

I log onto my online banking to see what the last date was and what do I see?  A NEGATIVE balance of close to 4 thousand dollars!  WHAT?????  Yesterday seemed like a miracle because I needed to have a check redeposited as cash instead of the paper check it was originially done as.  The paper check wasn't going to clear until Saturday and I needed it by Friday to buy the tickets.  The girl did a reversal of the deposit and then registered it as a cash deposit.  All was good, my computer showed the update and I was happy.  I purchased my tickets for the flight and again I checked online and was a happy girl.

Who knew I should have made a screen copy of those transactions because today there is NO RECORD OF ANY OF IT, not the original deposit, not the reversal, not the cash deposit....NONE OF IT.  What it does show however is the charges for the tickets which of coarse we do not have enough money to clear without that deposit.

I called the 800 number because I couldn't find this out at 11:50.....nooooo I find it out at 12:10 when the bank closes at 12:00.  The girl at the end of the phone heard me bawling and probably didn't understand half of what I was telling her, but said I have until 4pm to get it straighten out on Monday before that charge goes through so you know I will be on the bank door step at 9am Monday without fail!!!!!!!!!

So again, Satan.........I don't know why you won't move on to another family THIS BABY GIRL IS COMING HOME, and SHE WILL KNOW ALL ABOUT THE LORD WHO GOT HER HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She will hear about Him from day one and every day for the rest of her life so GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please pray this will all be cleared up and not affect our tickets or travel!!!

I should be documenting this

I should have been documenting things as they have been happening because every day, no every hour things change!

I am so blow away by God's provisions for Miss T's adoption.  I don't just mean the financial ones either.  I mean the little God winks that she was ours all the way down to getting that loan/grant at the last minute.  We are also so glad that we will be able to bring Em with us.  Her anxiety levels have been off the charts this past week and I don't think she could have handled not going.   Even with going things are going to be rough for her for a while. :( 

Looks like we will be buying our plane tickets tomorrow and headed to China very soon.  I don't plan to blog the entire trip.  My goal will be getting to know my new daughter and surviving the heat in Southern China.  I do promise to post a photo though for everyone to see once we have her.  I will post when I get home for sure (I'll need something to do when jet lag kicks in and I'm up at 2am)

Now it's time to make my lists and shop for necessities!  We are going to China!!!  PRAISE THE LORD!!!