Visit with the Doctor

Today was Sydney's first visit with our pediatrician. Sydney was great during the visit (& really all day!). She went right to our pedi--mainly because he was holding his laptop. And she is all into pushing buttons on it! (sidenote--our house was not as "toddler-proofed" as we thought!) Sydney is in the 71 percentile in weight and 27.55 in height (yes the .55 matters!). That is on the US charts! So we were so excited! Honestly, we did not think she would be on our charts. Especially since Sydney is a preemie and considered special needs. So yeah!! Sydney has only gained 1/2 pound since we left China (total 1 1/2 pounds). I think this was mentioned before but Sydney's eating has really slowed down. But when you gorge yourself--you pretty much slow down. Our pedi is curious to see how much she grows height wise in a year. He has read studies recently how China is lacking protein big time in their diet. So we are supposed to push protein in her diet. And also yogurt type foods for parasites and other stuff.
Which brings me to the stool sample. Ugh. Seriously. I have to get a stool sample from a 3 year old. Suggestions would be great. We tried in the office,but since Sydney only used a "squatty" for the first 3 years, it did not happen. Lets just say that the "catcher" is in the wrong place for her. So we will try at home. Good times?? The sweet nurse said we can just put it in the frig because they will not be open til Monday. Ok yuck. PJ said we could just put it out with the deer meat. Yuck again!
Her "special need" is not there. Nowhere to be found.
PJ & I also took her for blood work today. Really sad. Sydney did not cry at all. I was a little teary myself. She is a trooper. The sweet ladies in the office were so concerned with finding a good vein (without scar tissue??) and not bruising her. I wondered what Sydney thought about the tests & the people involved today. I'm sure she thought --why are they being so nice to me?? Which just breaks our hearts to think about what she has been through.
We will have several appointments after the first of the year. Sydney will go to a pediatric eye doctor for her eye injury and also a physical therapist. We go back to our pedi in one month to just check on how Sydney is doing & go over her blood work and other tests.
No shots today. Thank goodness. But we do have several before our 4 year old check up. I'm still pretty p**sy at our government over the whole shot thing. Why did Sydney need to get those shots? It is ridiculous. Sydney was basically given the 1st round of MMR (should of been started at 12-18 months), 1st round of Hib (should of been given at 2 months!!), 1st round of Hepatitis B (1-3 months) and Chicken pox (12-18 months) on the 11th of December--when we were in China. Why can we not wait to immunize our kids til we get home? This is ridiculous. I want this changed for future children & their families. Enough of my venting FOR NOW.
Overall--Sydney is doing great. We have been blessed with wonderful people who truly care for our children.

As I look back to this time last year, I'm shocked at how our lives have changed. We were not
even logged in yet in China. God has blessed our entire family. I'm still without words that God has given us this sweet outgoing little girl. Can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us! Happy New Year to all of our dear friends & family! Love all of you.

Does It Feel Normal Yet?

We get this question a lot! Sydney is doing great. She is no longer gorging herself like she was in China. Once the kids get up from the table, she is done with eating. So, they are hanging out awhile after eating. Philip & Ashlyn have been wonderful with their little sister. Both of them always want to be touching her or talking to her.
Ashlyn has had a few tears over the last couple of days but we think that is normal. She was the baby, the only girl, had her own room for over 6 years, and the list goes on and on! But overall, Ashlyn is doing great with adjusting.
Sydney's English is coming along. We are really working on Sydney saying those words. Not pushing her--it will just help us communicate more effectively with her. She can probably say 20 ish words and some phrases. We are thinking what language development special need?
Sydney is a great helper! She wants to carry dirty clothes to the laundry room (you should of seen the big kids faces the 1st time!!), get the dry clothes out, carry her dishes to the table & she LOVES the vacuum!
Sleeptime is a problem or more like falling asleep (bs/she sleeps almost all night). Sydney cries, screams, throws fits during naptime & bedtime. We were on our last "whatever" yesterday. Sorry--I try to be honest on this blog. This has been the hardest thing so far. But tonight--sweet big sister decided to lay down at the same time. You would not believe the difference. Sydney still threw everything off the bed except for her blanket. But she covered her head up and fell asleep. No fits, no screams & barely any crying. Ashlyn stayed in there for maybe 5 minutes. Big relief for us. Not sure what will happen tomorrow at naptime?? But at least tonight was better. I would love feedback or suggestions or anything. I know this is temporary. And know Sydney has been through A LOT!
Sydney has her first doctor appointment on Thursday. We are curious to see if she has gained any weight since China. And also to see what her "special need" really is??? If it is anything but we are not seeing it.
So to the question of normal. We are not at normal yet. But we are getting closer every day!

Christmas 2009

We had several days of celebrating Christmas with family. It was a wonderful time! Sydney was not sure about the presents. She pretty much opened the first one & then just played with it for awhile. Philip & Ashlyn are adjusting well with a new sister.
All of us have mainly been hanging out in front of the fire because we have snow! It was actually a white Christmas this year. Sydney did not seem impressed with the snow. She looked out the window and then went on with her day.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Thank You Sheri, Dave & Riley

Adjusting

We are slowly adjusting back to normal. Jet lag gets better every day (little by little). Sydney had two really rough nights of sleep or should I say we had two rough nights of sleep! But last night she slept from midnight to 8am straight through with no crying or fits. We were very happy!
The kids & I ventured out to the park yesterday. It was wonderful to get out in the sun for awhile. Sydney loved the park! She climbed on everything and went down the big slide with Philip behind her. I would love to know what is going on in her head!
We still have not completely unpacked or finished with all of the laundry from the trip. That is my goal for today & tomorrow. Especially since Christmas Eve is at our house!
My pictures are on the left for some reason. I guess I did not check my settings or something. Oh well!

My cuties! Ashlyn was really excited about her Chinese dress.

Kids being silly on the floor! Philip & Ashlyn did not plan

the brown shirts. Too bad Sydney did not have brown on!

My favorite two & three year olds! Ava (my sweet niece) &

Sydney playing with a tea set (Sydney's 1st Christmas present
to open). They are so cute together! Ava can really help Sydney

with her English. BTW--Sydney has already picked up several

words. I'm not bragging!

Home!

We are home! Family and friends greeted us at the airport. We have no pictures to post right now (but hopefully soon!). The kids look like they have grown a ton while we were gone. They thought that was funny because it was only two weeks. It feels good to be home with family, breath clean air, shower with non-smelling water and eat yummy Mexican food.
The four flights were difficult with a 3 year old that does not want to be seat belted. The 3rd one (11 hours) was actually the best--Sydney slept for almost 7 hours. PJ & I did not sleep that much. Hoping we can catch up this weekend. Jetlag is bad bad. It does weird things with your body.
Thank you to everyone that helped out during these 2 weeks. Thank you so much to the grandparents & greats, aunts & uncles, friends, teachers--everyone! We could not have done this without you guys.
All of the kids had great days today. Philip & Ashlyn are having a hard time with being "normal" but that will come. We told them to just do what they would normally on a Saturday morning. They both LOVE their little sister. Ashlyn cries when Sydney cries. Philip tries to make Sydney happy with anything he can think of. Sydney loves Stella (our fatty four legged lab). And of course, Stella is always happy to have someone rub on her.
I'll try to post a picture of the kids together tomorrow. We were bad picture taking parents today. Sorry!

Last Post from China

Today is our last full day in China. We have not really done much except pack. Amazing how you can have all of your stuff in three bags & then two weeks later you are wondering where all of this "stuff" is going to fit. We did bring an extra duffel bag for shopping.

Sydney had her first experience with Play-Doh today. She loved it! It held her attention for over an hour. Yes--she sat still for over an hour! She just rolled it all out, talked to it and then combined all the colors together. I'm thinking Ashlyn & Sydney will have different bags of Play-Doh when we get home! Ashers might not like the combining of all of the colors.

PJ will head to the consulate in a little bit to pick up Sydney's documents to enter the country.

This is just to clarify from some emails/comments we received about the last post--we did not actually wait two years from Sydney's referral to Gotcha Day. It took us 2 years (or more like 22 months) from deciding to adopt until Gotcha Day (includes deciding on country, agency, paperchase, referral, approvals, etc). I did not want to scare people about the waiting time. Sorry if that was confusing.

We are excited to come home and see everyone. Our plane lands around 6:30pm. Please remember that Sydney is most likely going to be overwhelmed with flying and Texas in general so please do not have any expectations of how she will react to you or even to PJ & me or the kids. All of this is new to Sydney and we need to give her space to adjust.

Can't wait for you guys to see her. She is a little cutie!

Almost Homebound

Today we went to the US Consulate & took our oath with Sydney. When she enters Dallas (our first US port), she will be a US citizen. It is really just a formality--kids are crying, families are packed into a room & you can barely hear what the guy is saying. Even though the room was a little chaotic, I was a little teary. After two years of this process, Sydney is finally coming home.

I know I keep saying this BUT we are truly blessed with Sydney. And if you have ever thought about adopting--DO IT! No matter what you go through to get you there--DO IT! Tomorrow one of us will go back & pick up Sydney's papers that will allow us to enter the country. Yeah!

We took our travel group pictures today. This is not the entire group. The guides (who we love!) split us up into two groups. Several of the children & family wore their Chinese outfits. Everyone looked great! Sydney was so proud to wear hers. We then headed over to the White Swan to take the "red couch" picture below. Sydney was ready for a nap by then. And was not real cooperative with the photo shoot!

Sydney seems to be having better days. Thank you so much for the comments & emails. Several of our travel group friends are leaving in the morning. Please pray for their safe travels.

We leave here on Friday with the other over 2 year old families. Our flight leaves Guangzhou to Shanghai at 8am. We then fly to Tokyo and then onto Dallas and then home. Super long flight but we are so ready to get home!

Rough Day

So yesterday was a rough day with Sydney. Our China schedule was all different with the early TB test & then staying on the island to shop. At least that is what we are hoping it was. She did NOT want to ride in the stroller or have PJ carry her or have me carry her. Sydney is trying to see what she can get away with & then when we tell her no, she rolls around on the floor & kinda cries.

Her "fits" are pretty comical because they are not dramatic at all. She obviously has not seen the other two fits throwers in the family (both start with A!). Sydney hit a few times yesterday & I think she might have bit PJ too. It is just difficult (like all adoptive families know)--we have no idea what went on before we got Sydney. And she has been through a lot--17 days ago went to the orphanage where she was obviously beaten up and then having only been with us for 7 days. And we are really missing Philip & Ashlyn and home. We are all just emotional right now!





Sydney did have a great time at the "park" on the island. A lot of adoptive families and Chinese families were playing. Sydney seems to love other children. Yeah! She just watches them & then wants to play with them. Or if they are younger, she wants to be their mommy. Interesting. Wondering if she was around babies.

Our guides will go to our consulate appointment today. So we will stay in the room this morning after breakfast. Hoping we have no problems with paperwork. And then maybe we will play with Sydney's new friends here in the hotel or walk to one of the parks. We are just hoping for a great day!

Negative!

Sydney's TB test was negative! Yeah. We stayed on the island & did a little shopping. The stores did not open til around 9amish, so we hung out in Starbucks for awhile. Sydney tried PJ's hot chocolate & loved it!

Sydney is starting to not shut down as much when we are out in the shops. She was talking in one of them. And the sales lady told me she was wondering where her daddy was? How cute is that! Too bad the sales lady can not come home with us for awhile & translate.

Sydney seems to have realized that we will continue to feed her all the time--no matter what time of day it is. This girl can eat! She seems to always be hungry. We really enjoyed hanging out with just her today. Everyone in the shops are super friendly.

We are missing home & our kids! I'm craving a bean burrito with sour cream from Taco Villa. PJ is craving a Sonic coke. No idea what Sydney is craving!

I almost forgot--today is Sydney's 1 week anniversary with us. Wow. Hard to remember our lives before her. Sydney Hope is such a beautiful little girl. She has a smile that is almost too big for her face. Love it!

Tea House Ceremony

This morning our travel group went to the Folk Art Museum & a Tea House Ceremony. There was a ton of beautiful hand painted carvings & paintings at the museum. The colors were just recently renovated so they popped! We took some great pictures.



At the tea house, we tried several different types of tea--jasmine, black, ginseng, rose, etc. Sydney loves tea! Her foster family actually took her to drink tea every morning (or that is what they told us in one of the orphanage calls. Our guide Amy also said that was common for Guangzhou). PJ commented on how she could drink from a tea cup better than he could! She definitely knows how to hold it & drink from the cups--very proper.



Sydney sat next to another little girl (5 years old) in the group. They both speak Cantonese. And we don't think they like each other. Let's just say there was a lot of sassiness going on between the two of them! I hope they can become friends this week.

Sydney loves the English-speaking Chinese kids! We bought Jasmine & Black tea. The jasmine is my favorite!

Less than a week left! Yeah! We go back very early in the morning for our TB check. Praying it is negative & we do not have to have a chest x-ray.

Thanks for all of the comments & emails. We really really appreciate them! That is what I read when I wake up at the crack of dawn.

Two Big Firsts

Sydney had two big firsts today--watching American cartoons (The Backyardigans) and eating ice cream. She loved the movie. It was so cute! She would talk at the screen & just smile super big. Her smile is so big! Love that. The ice cream was chocolate. And she slurped from the bowl. She wanted every last drop. Her table manners are a little different than ours! It cracks us up how dainty she is getting a drink & then how loud her smacking can be!

Sydney is just precious.

Philly & Ash--We miss you so much! Have fun with Uncle Justin, Aunt Melissa & Ava. Give Ava a big hug from us. We miss all of you!

Sydney's Finding Site

Yesterday afternoon our guide (Amy--she rocks!) went with us by taxi to see Sydney's finding site. (The finding site is where the birth mother leaves her child usually in a public place. And then she waits to make sure the baby is found & then she leaves.) Sydney's finding site is the Children & Women's Hospital here in Guangzhou (above). It is a very popular hospital for labor & delivery.

But Sydney was not born here because there is no record of her birth (from Amy). There is a bus stop right in front of the hospital. Amy figures the birth mother came by bus with Sydney and then waited til someone found her & then was able to get back on the bus and go back home. (Can you imagine that? I can't)

Sydney was around 3 days old when her birth mother left her at the hospital. Sydney was a little over a month when she went to the orphanage. The doctor named her Si Xin.

It was very emotional to see the site. Not in a teary way--just inside emotions. Hard to explain. We feel very fortunate that we were able to take pictures & see it but we left in a big hurry. It was not really safe for us to be there. And Sydney was uncomfortable.

Sydney loves riding on the bus. We think she did that a lot with her foster mother. She always talks a lot when we see the bus. But of course stops talking the minute Amy comes up! We are hoping she opens up to Amy before we leave.



We walked outside the hotel grounds this morning. Kinda scary. We were glad we left our cameras in the hotel. Sydney is running a little bit of a fever. We are thinking it is probably from the shots.

Some of you have asked a couple of questions (sorry I can't remember them all): Our laundry was mostly dry. The pockets of the jeans were a little damp. We took everything out of the bags just in case.

Sydney's sizes are different than expected. The 3T shirts from Childrens Place fit her. But the size 3 leggings do not. They look like sweat pants! I think she is bigger on top than on the bottom. Sydney has very tiny legs. I'm thinking 2T might be a good size for her overall.

China is not responsible for Sydney getting shots. That is a US law. Remember that & complain to your officials! I'm actually not kidding about that.

Are we safe here? Yes we are safe. But we also take precautions just like you would anywhere else outside of the States.

How do we communicate with Sydney when she does not speak English? It has not been a big deal. She has the rest of her life to learn English.

Medical Exam and Laundry

So we ended up having our medical exam this morning instead of tomorrow. The clinic kinda reminds me of something from the 80s movies or something. We did not get anymore information about Sydney's special needs during the medical "exam." Sometimes, families can get more accurate information from the Chinese medical records. But that did not happen with us. The first doctor asked us to talk to her & then we did & he said no talking. But I think he meant to say does she talk to you and do you understand. We were like "are you serious?". Anytime Chinese people speak to Sydney, she looks away. (which I think is normal for where we are in this process--right?) Then the next room the doctor asked if we were aware of a few things. I think they were trying to figure out if the orphanage director was open with us. But we honestly have no idea. This doctor felt around on Sydney & then called two other doctors in to feel around & then our guide to come in. And they all said "ok." PJ & I were thinking OK with what??



We did not receive anything but rough treatment with our baby girl. And then the next room was height & weight. Sydney weighs 32 pounds and not sure about how tall she is. We then got to wait for the 6 shots & tb test. Sydney is a very tough little girl. We are blessed that God chose us to be her parents. Sydney fell asleep on the bus & is still asleep. Rough day for her. I'm sure it brought up old memories. We had a little melt-down before the shots but "no biggie."



We have clean laundry!! Yeah. Look how nice the clothes are folded and they are dry!! Guangzhou is very humid. It takes about 2 days for undies to dry . The laundry was 190 Chinese dollars. Which I think that is pretty cheap for 5 jeans, 1 pants & 9 shirts. Laundry service again tomorrow. Sydney needs some clothes washed since the majority of them are the wrong size.

Thanks for the prayers & comments. I love getting up & reading all of them.

Guangzhou Zoo

We went to the Guangzhou Zoo this morning. A little bit different type of zoo than the States. Sydney seemed to have an ok time. Not really interested in the animals except for the white lions.







Sydney is really starting to warm up to our guide Amy. She finally smiled at her. She is still eating a lot of food! We will have our medical exam on Saturday morning. The States requires all Hague families (us & 3/4 of our group) be caught up on all of the child's shots. Please pray for all of the children. I'm just guessing doctors, nurses & shots will not be pleasant for them or us. Also, since Sydney is over 2 years old she is required by the States to also be checked for TB. We will go back for the results at a later date. Please pray it is negative. I do not even want to think about what could happen.

All of the other travel group families start coming in today & tomorrow. Can not wait to see all of the "babies"!

Day 3 in Guangzhou

Sydney is feeling much better today! Our wonderful IA doctor gave us tips (we already knew most of them but for some reason forgot them--jetlag??!!) on how to cut down on the diarrhea. Not sure if I already mentioned this but our hotel has a wonderful breakfast buffet. Very yummy! Sydney ate 2 bowls of oatmeal, 2 slices of toast, rice bread roll thing, banana and some rice. I think she would continue to eat more & more if we let her.

I tried Starbucks here in the hotel. It was actually yummy! (Sorry Roasters--I could not find you here!!!!!) I ordered a regular Mocha & ended up with a Dark Cherry Mocha. Price-wise it was about the same as the States. We then walked over to the Yuexiu Park. The park is beautiful. Sydney really closes down when we are out in public. I'm sure all of the staring does not help her either. We talked to a group of ladies doing a Chinese dance. They were most appreciative of our families. Really funny ladies & very fit.

We came back to the hotel room for lunch before our visa or passport appointment (can't remember which one). I pulled apart Sydney's muffin & she just started throwing a fit on the floor & crying. So we will not be doing that anymore! We eventually got her calmed back down & she ate lunch (but not the muffin!). Our guide Amy told us to break apart stuff away from her. Sydney thinks we will not give her all of it.

After our appointment, we ate PIZZA HUT! And no we did not venture out into the food categories. We had plain cheese but we did try their Pepsi with a slice of lemon. The pizza was like Freshcetta frozen ones. But it was so good! Pepsi & lemon sounds gross together but it is not too bad. I would order it again. Sydney ate as much pizza as us--3 slices! Sydney also used the squatty potty there. I did not! Big surprise. It was obvious that Sydney knew what she was doing. This was not Sydney's first time trying pizza.

Our guide can talk with Sydney (which is really cool) but usually Sydney pretends to not understand her or will just answer with one word. One of Sydney's special needs is "language development retardation"--not real accurate. She can speak & understand both languages here. On another note, Sydney's other need is really questionable also. Because we do not even see what they are talking about?? We will have the doctors check her out when we get home.

It is 5am on Thursday am here. Sydney slept really well with barely any nightmares. PJ could not get her to sleep in the toddler bed/pack-n-play. So she slept in the chaise lounge. I was already asleep! Jet lag is a strange thing. Today we are going to the zoo (yeah we have a stroller) and then maybe Shamian Island for shopping depending on how tired the kids are. I'm so thankful to have 3 other families with us here. Please pray for one of them. Their baby girl is very sick & was taken to the hospital yesterday. Her special need needs to be re-corrected right when she gets home.

I'll try to post pictures sometime today (or actually the Boyetts will) when I send them over. Thanks, guys! Blogging in China is not easy. Also, to my Facebook peeps--we have no access whatsoever to Facebook. Thank you for your comments but I can not reply!

Night #2

Hey, everyone. Jenn & PJ are having trouble posting to the blog at this point, so she emailed the post to us and we're posting it for them. (Jason & Aimee)

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I'm up at 2am again here. Ugh! Sydney's night #2 was ok. She started whimpering around midnite. We very quickly realized that she had diarrhea. Poor thing. She is eating so much new food & a lot of it that we are hoping that is all it is. PJ & I cleaned her up (thank goodness for the pullup that I put on her tonight & flushable wipes--yes China I flushed toilet paper!). I layed her back down in her little bed & she got very teary. Which broke my heart, so I scooped her right up & put her in our bed. Sometime between midnight & 2am, she started having nightmares. She starts kinda moaning & talking like she is upset (which we can not understand!). We just try to comfort her & she falls back asleep for awhile. And then it starts again.

If any of the moms have any suggestions for the diarrhea & the nightmares--please let me know! Her mouth infection looks better I think. Her skin is very very dry. Concerned about what will happen when we come home to our very dry weather.

She is drinking out of Sippy cup. Chinese do not do Sippy cups. But she kept spilling her water or milk everywhere. And getting your laundry done here is not as easy as home!! We are hoping for a great day today with Sydney. And hoping the rain stays away for today so we can get out more & enjoy Sydney's birthplace.

Thank you so much for all your emails, comments & prayers. I'm trying to respond back to all of the emails but "someone" is occupying most of my time!! Which I love!

Philip & Ashlyn--we love love love you! We are taking great pictures for you!

Pictures from Day 2

Pictures from Day 2

2nd day with Bao Bao

Wow--this little girl is amazing!  Today was another great day.  Started off the day talking with the kids & then headed down to breakfast.  She ate everything we gave her & more off of my plate.  PJ started to get worried she was going to throw up she ate so much.  We had our appointment at the Civil Affairs office.  While we were there, an older girl came up to Sydney & starting talking to her.  Come to find out they were from the same orphanage & were room-mates for the last 10 days.  Sydney acted like she did not know her but she does not want to talk to the Chinese (even our sweet guide Amy).  The girl also told us that Sydney stole food off of her plate & you could tell it irritated her!  I told her translator that Bao Bao stole food off of my plate too!  This little girl was a character & so cute.  After our appointments, we headed to the Friendship Store to stock up on much needed supplies--water, Coke & shoes for Sydney.  The store was really impressive & pricey!  We ate lunch at McDonald's--yummy!  Sydney ate chicken nuggets, corn & milk.  I'm not sure if that was her first time at McD's because she seemed familiar with the food.  Our meal for the three of us was around $10 US dollars.  Super cheap!  Also had her first bath with us & 1st poop--but not in that order!!  The pictures attached are from the playroom in our hotel (or not attached--i'm having probs with attaching the pics).  Sydney is coming out of her shell a little bit as you can see in the picture.  Her foster family really loved her--she is the best baby.  She is already loving on both of us & smiling almost all of the time.  No tears yet.  If you have ever thought about adoption--DO IT!  This process is amazing & so difficult to describe in words.  Adoption is Awesome! On the way to the appointments this morning, we drove by Sydney's finding spot.  Really busy & crowded street.  We will go back & take pictures later this week.  Kinda a neat moment.  Orphanage will not let us come.  H1N1 is "very bad" here.  I thought I would be sad not to be able to go but Sydney had such a rough time the last 10 days she was there.  "No Biggie!" This post is much longer because we are finally feeling better!  Yeah!  We are not on home time or Guangzhou time but that is ok.  No headaches since this afternoon--probably the extra water is helping.  Thank you so much for all our prayers, emails & comments on our blog.  We love reading all of them!

One more from today!

Another picture from today!  I hope the posts look ok.  I do not like this whole email-your-post thing in!  We ordered room service--cheeseburgers, french fries & cokes!  Yum!

Fw: More Gotcha Pics

More Gotcha Pics

I forgot to mention that Sydney just smiled at us!

Gotcha Day

Well---today was our Gotcha Day!!  I don't even know how to describe this day.  What an awesome day!  We arrived at the Civil Affairs office around 2:30pmish.  Maybe after waiting for 10 minutes, Li Si Xin walks in the office in this cute little yellow outfit.  Adorable!  She came right to us & no crying!  I picked her up & we went & sat down on the couch.  What a wonderful moment.  And our sweet friends The Richerts recorded all of it for us!  I opened up some M&Ms & she LOVED them!  But we have realized now that this girl will eat anything!  We still have not had any tears.  And she goes to both of us.  We are expecting some grieving soon but enjoying every minute of this time.  We feel blessed that God chose this little girl for our family.  Sydney loved the bus & has been sitting on our bed playing with everything since we got back to the hotel.  She is very smart!  And does not have a language development problem.  We were waiting on our bus & she started talking to us.  I wish we knew what she was saying! I'll try to post more later tonight.  No food since 9am (it is now 17:37) is wearing on us.  Thank you so much for the prayers & support.

Great Wall

Another cold day here in Burrjing!  The Great Wall was amazing.  We wish that we could of stayed there longer.  Our legs are very tired from the walk up.  I think PJ climbed the highest out of our little group.  I wish that I could post more about the day but we are so tired.  The jet lag has totally caught up to us.  I'll post more at home when I have the time & do not have to email the post in.  We seriously are craving any kind of cheeseburger, pasta or regular chicken.  We have eaten Chinese food four times in the last two days.  One more sleep til Sydney for us!  Our plane leaves at 8am in the morning (Monday).  We arrive around 12pm and go to the hotel and then go meet her.  I think we would be more stressed out if we were not so exhausted.  I think our Gotcha Time is 12am Central Time Monday am.  So the next post should be of Sydney!! Thanks for your prayers!

Fw: Very Busy Day

Wow--1st day in Beijing was very busy & very cold.  Seriously--I don't think we have ever been so cold.  Today we toured the Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace & pearl & silk markets.  We loved the Forbidden City.  All of the textures & bright colors--beautiful.  We came back to the hotel around 8:45pmish & in bed at 9pm.  Tired!  But I woke up at 3am wide awake!  One more sleep til Sydney (unless I go back to bed!).  Today is church, Great Wall, acrobat show & more Chinese food (not really liking the Chinese food now since that is all we have eaten).    Philip & Ashlyn--Miss & love you guys!  So glad we were able to Skype on your Friday.  Hope you guys are having a great time at the ranch this weekend!  Love you!!   (I'm having a hard time with sending the emails with pictures.  Sorry if no pictures are attached!  We did take some great ones.)

We are here!

We are here!  Our flights were pretty uneventful.  We had grand plans of sleeping A LOT on the plane  Did not happen.  I think we might have slept a total of 2 hours during our 23 hour flights.  Today is a really big sight-seeing day.  So I'm sure we will crash tonight.  I will try to post pictures tonight when we get back.  Thank you for all of the prayers.  Philip & Ashlyn--we love you so much!  So glad that we were able to Skype with you guys after school.  Love you!

Ashlyn singing

This is Ashlyn signing her Christmas songs from the recital that we will miss. Ashlyn did a great job singing!
We are also trying to figure out how to post videos from China since blogger is blocked. But You Tube might be blocked also?? Something else to think about!

What's new?

Well we are going to China in like 5 days!! Hard to wrap my brain around that. We have been busy with preparations for the trip & Christmas. The house is all decorated & a few Christmas presents are bought & wrapped under the tree. The schedules for the kids are pretty much done. We just need to do laundry & pack. And not stress out!
My heart has been heavy thinking about Sydney being taking back to the orphanage & her foster family grieving. She has been with the foster family a year this month. I just can not imagine the tears & sadness from them. Praying that Sydney has an easy adjustment with us.
A couple of people have asked how I think Sydney will react to us on Gotcha Day. Scream! Really loud. Not sure why I think she will scream. But this will be very traumatic & emotional for her.
Please pray for Philip & Ashlyn & the grandparents taking care of them. I'm really trying to not think about leaving them right now because it makes me cry. I'm tearin' up just thinking about it! I know they will have fun without us and the time will go by really fast. They have a lot going on. We are so close to being a family of 5!

Opening Weekend Pictures

PJ said he took this "artsy" photo for me!

Cute baby deer. And no they do not shoot baby deer.

Sharp-Shooter looks like a teenager here. Hurts my heart!

Philip in one of the blinds.

Short Version of this Past Week

On Monday, we received our consulate appointment (CA)--December 15th at 9am. How exciting! After you receive your CA, your travel arrangements can be made. We decided to let our agency book our flights. We knew that living in Amarillo makes flying more expensive. Everyone in Amarillo knows the joke--even when we go to heaven, we will have to go through Dallas. Lame I know! But we have to fly out to Dallas or Houston to get the other flights. So more $$. This is where the short version comes into play---four frustrated days later------PJ finalizes our flights. Huge relief!
We leave on Thursday morning (Dec 3rd) from Amarillo. Connections are Dallas to Tokyo to Beijing. Arriving in Beijing on Friday night. Later than we wanted but not a big deal. We leave Guangzhou (Sydney's current city) on Friday & fly to Shanghai. Then Tokyo to Dallas to Amarillo. Arriving back home on Friday night (Dec 18th) at 6:30pm!! If you live in Amarillo, come out & see us.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Travel Approval

We received our travel approval this morning. Yeah! Travel dates should be December 3 to December 18th. I think there are 21 families traveling together! How awesome to see 20 plus kids meet their forever families!
This week has been an emotional roller coaster--so thankful that it ended like this. God's timing is perfect! I want to thank my waiting buddies. Thank you for allowing me to vent! Can not wait to meet you in person.
Also, thank you to our friends & family for your support during this last waiting stage. And thank you to my hubby! You always know what to say. I'm blessed to be able to walk down this path with you.
Here we come Sydney Hope! Well in 4 weeks but we are coming!!

Halloween Pictures

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Demi Lovato from Camp Rock (aka Ashlyn)

Leaves Galore

Fall is one of my favorite times of year! I love sweaters, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, football, Thanksgiving, yummy outside colors and leaves. Well the leaves may have to go off my favorite fall items. It seems that all of the leaves in our neighborhood have decided to "hang-out" in our backyard! We do not remember this from last year (this is our 2nd fall season in our home)--are we getting old??!! No. We are not! The kids loved the mountain of leaves!

Philip & Ashlyn just hanging out in the leaves.

So handsome! Love this picture.

Ashlyn Grace--always beautiful & smiling!

Being silly!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Happy 3rd Birthday Sydney! Miss & love you like crazy. We so hoped to spend this day with you. God's timing is perfect.

A Really Small Update about Sydney Hope

I have come in contact with another family (The Howards) adopting from Sydney's orphanage. Sophia Grace is a couple of weeks older than Sydney--so we figured the girls were friends or at least knew each other. We were hoping to travel around the same time so we could get the girls together. But that did not happen. Anyways, the Howards are in China now & sent me an email this morning. (I tried to paste the email but for some reason it would not work??)
They asked Mrs. Zhuang (orphanage coordinator)about Sydney. Mrs Zhuang knew exactly who Sydney was & said that she is still in foster care and doing very well! The Howards are unsure if Sophia recognized Sydney. They said she pointed to the picture & had many things to say but they could not understand what she was saying! That is so cute.
They also said that it should bring us comfort that Sydney is still in her foster care. The children in foster care are placed most of the time with families that they call "model" families. They foster 4-5 children & that is considered their job. They have no other employment. They treat their children as their own--feed, care & love them.
Sounds like Sydney is still doing great. Thank you Howard Family. Check out their blog. Sophia Grace is adorable! Love her name!
Still wishing our TA would come. Sydney turns 3 years old a week from today. Hope her foster family celebrates it!

Updates

Ashlyn is feeling much better today. Her energy level is not back yet but she is making up for that in the eating department. The cough is still painful but no fever for at least 2 days now. Ashlyn needs to be in quarantine til Friday. I think tomorrow will be difficult because she is feeling more "normal". The rest of us still do not show symptons or signs of this flu. Lets hope it stays that way! Eight kids were absent from Ashlyn's class today. Lets hope all of these kids recover quickly! (But stay home til they are well.)
We want to thank everyone for the comments on here, prayers, texts, emails, FB messages, goodies, phone calls and conversations. We appreciate all of you and feel blessed that we have wonderful people in our life.
No travel update. Nothing. Nada. I'm thinking that we will not travel in October like we have been told & thought. China is back open but no Vinyard TA yet! Come on China. Sydney turns 3 on the 22nd. Which brings me to the care package that we sent weeks ago. No news from the orphanage. We sent Sydney a birthday cake (seriously just wanting new pictures & thinking we would be flying back home on her birthday) a couple of weeks ago. I guess Sydney is still with her foster family so they will not send the cake yet? Which probably means she did not get anything that we sent with the care package--family photo album! Don't get me wrong. I want Sydney to stay with her foster family as long as possible before we travel. But I want to hear new news about her or see one new picture. Praying we receive our TA soon or hear back from the orphanage.
Wash your hands friends!

Yellow Belt

PJ, Philip & Ashlyn tested for their yellow belts in martial arts this week. The belt test/presentation was Friday night. Ashlyn missed it because of the flu :(. All of them enjoy going to class & working hard. I'm so proud of them!

Master Garrett & Philip

H1N1 has attacked the Vinyards

Ashlyn tested positive for H1N1 on Friday night & possibly strep. She is in quarantine for 7 days. Please pray for her! She is pitiful today. It is difficult for her to only be in her bedroom & bathroom. Ashlyn is a very touchy child--she wants to be right by you all the time.
Also, please pray that PJ, Philip & myself do not get the flu. The next travel group goes on the 22nd of this month. We are hoping that we receive our TA & can travel in that group BUT not if we have the flu. Also, we do not want to be quarantined in China with the flu. All four of us are on Vitamin C, immune boosters & covering ourselves in hand sanitizers. Pray, pray, pray!

(Did you like my title? I crack myself up sometimes! It sounded very dramatic--kinda like the news stations.)

Philip the Crossing Guard

Philip had his first crossing guard assignment this last week. Only 5th graders are allowed to sign-up. It is a big responsibility because you have to get the "little kids" across the street. Philip thought it was a lot of fun! He will have three total assignments this year. Great job Philip!