Our Little Lady Bug

Ge Ge and Mei Mei Making Faces at Each Other

Neighbors and Friends

Not Too Sure About This

Ba Ba and Raeanna Carved a Pumpkin

This is Fun After All!

Cade's 16th Birthday and Our One Month Forever Family Day Anniversary

October 6th was Cade's Sweet Sixteen birthday.  It was also the one month anniversary of when we got Raeanna in Shanghai.  Wow! What a month! 
Raeanna is such a joy. It's so awesome to see how God prepared her heart for us, and us for her. We've been "Mama" and " Baba" to her since the moment she first saw us, and she calls for us anytime she gets out of view. She has a pleasant little personality most of the time. She wants her whole family together, surrounding her, and when we're scattered in the house, she does a little "come here" motion with her fingers to us to get us where she wants us.  Is she bossy?  YES!  Is she demanding? YES! Does she mettle and plunder and make messes?  YESSS!  Is she sweet, adorable, loving, lovable and just plain precious?  YESSSSSS!  She's only been with us a month, and it seems like she's always been a part of our family.  She requires constant supervision, because she is like a 2 year old and no where near a 4 year old.  She holds her little arms straight out when she wants to be picked up.  Who can resist that?  Certainly not any of us. I'm tired, and my back hurts from lifting and carrying her.  After all, I'm old enough to be her grandmother.  But,  I wouldn't change a thing.  I would do it over in a heartbeat; without hesitation.  She is a very loved little girl.

I got a phone call from the nurse at the University of Kentucky International Adoption doctor with the results of the tests. I will receive the report sometime this week.  The nurse said that the renal ultrasound was normal,  her spine was normal, and her bloodwork was all normal. The bonescan of the growth plates indicated she is a little over 2 years, instead of 4.5 years old. I'll know more when I get the report.
We're going to a pediatric dentist tomorrow, and they're supposed to to do a dental age assessment.

Brett came home from Mississippi College last weekend for Fall Break.  At first, Raeanna wasn't too friendly, but then she got attached to him.  By Sunday,  I knew she was going to have a really hard time when he left.  I took him to the airport on Tuesday.  She was asleep when we got there, so she wasn't quite sure what to think, but as we walked back to the car, she started calling for him.  She calls him "du du" for ge ge.
She said it over and over again like a broken-record. When we started driving out of the parking garage, it got faster and louder.  I don't know if she thought I was leaving him behind or what.  As we entered the highway, she went to pieces!  She screamed and cried all the way to Cade's school, which was about 30 minutes away. She finally calmed down when Cade got in the car, but she still had the turned down mouth for a while. She skyped with Brett that  night, and I think that really helped. She wouldn't stop leaning over and kissing his face on the computer screen.  Really sweet!  She got upset the next day when we left Cade at school, but she's been okay with that since.

Raeanna still wants a lot on her plate, but she doesn't eat much of it.  She just wants to know it's there, in case she wants it.  She'd much rather it be on her plate than anyone elses.

We got the disposable cameras developed that I had sent to the orphanage. The children living in her group were all age 2 and under. She was very loving toward the children. In several pictures, she was hugging or had her arm around another child. There is one little girl in particular that I can't get off my heart.  She's in the pictures with Raeanna from December to July, and she always looks so sad.  She looks like she may be Russian and maybe Chinese mixed, but it's hard to tell. She and Raeanna were obviously friends, and they were always hugging. She may be in the process of being adopted, but I want to find out, and if she's not,  I want to help find her a family. I would love to be able to keep in touch with whoever adopts her for Raeanna and for her. I would adopt her myself if I thought it was the right thing to do, but I really feel like it would be better for someone else to adopt her, so I can focus on Raeanna and solving her health issues.

Some of the pictures I tried to post last time didn't upload, so I'll post them.


 



Boy, do I love my duh duh!

 


And Boy, do I love my other duh duh, Cade!





Looking out the China Hotel window at Guangzhou





Brett, trying to fasten the carseat!





Ready to leave the China Hotel and go to the airport to go home at 5:30am.




Sisters!





Waiting to go to the airport in the hotel lobby




Peacefully asleep in the lounge chair at home





Fish Soup in Guangzhou at a Cantonese/Portuguese Restaurant
Everyone sits at a big round table with a lazy susan.  One guy in our group ordered many dishes for everyone, and this was one of them.



FIrst Two Weeks Home

It's been a wonderful, blessed, amazing, and exhausting two weeks! After we recovered from the virus, we still had jet lag to get over, but it finally subsided. Raeanna got so tired of staying in the house that she led me to the car and to her carseat. She realized that riding in it was the only way she'd get to go somewhere, so she decided the carseat wasn't so bad after all! She LOVES "Shopping!" She puts stuff in our cart that we pass along the way. We really have to watch her with that.

Raeanna has seemed so at home since the night we walked in the door. Bedtime is still a little difficult, but getting better all the time. It took over a week to get her in bed before midnight, but I think that was because of the time change. We take food to bed with us. She doesn't always eat it, but it helps her somehow to know it's there. She still doesn't like the lights to be turned out, but a cellphone light seems to satisfy her until she falls out asleep. I don't even try to take her shoes off anymore. It makes her mad and wakes her up too easily, so she sleeps with her shoes on every night. She only takes naps in the car or sometimes on the couch when she falls asleep playing or when I'm rocking her, but she wakes up if I try to move her.

We took her to our church last Sunday and today. She made it through the music part of the service before we had to go to the cry room. The cry room was great! It's a sound proof room and window on the 2nd floor that overlooks the congregation. She stood on a chair with her hands on the glass and watched everyone. Today, we made it through the whole service without going out, but she wouldn't let me hold her because she seemed afraid I would take her out.

Raeanna gets excited when we pick up Cade from school. When she sees him, she starts saying,"Ge ge" and pointing. It's so sweet to see the two of them gazing and smiling at each other in the back seat.

She loves her bath now that we are home! She hated it in China. She doesn't want to get out now.

She loves pretty clothes. She stands in front of the mirror and admires herself in new clothes. So precious! She's playing with toys more and more, but she still won't watch a tv show or play with toys for very long.

Raeanna still has some issues with food. She has gotten better, but she still wants everything on her plate. She also wants what is on everyone else's plate on hers, but she doesn't eat nearly as much of it as she did. She has gained 5 pounds since September 6th. That's quite a bit when you are 22 pounds to begin with. She loves several southern dishes, such as Red Beans and Rice and grits. We took her to a football game Friday night, and she was totally uninterested in everything to do with the game. What she watched nonstop was all the people eating. She would stare at them. The doctor told us to let her eat whatever she wants, and only slow her down if she begins to eat more than 2 grown men. She said these food issues usually subside in about 6 months.

I took her to the pediatrician last week. Dr. Robson held her close, and he was so sweet with her. He was very taken by her. She was not too scared, but she got mad when they pricked her finger, looked in her ears, and took off her shoes.

I took her to the International Adoption doctor in Lexington at the University of Kentucky. When she looked around and saw that she was in a hospital, she got very upset. The doctor ran several tests. It was a very long day. Our appointment was at 10:30 and we left at 4:00. They drew 10 vials of blood, took xrays, and did a renal ultrasound. The doctor said the same thing we've been convinced of since we got her. She said that there's no way she is four years old. She thinks she is closer to two years old and that her records were made up. She xrayed the growth plates, and she's sending us to a pediatric dentist for a dental age assessment. She said that we'd xray those plates again in a year and make a decision as to what age she is at that time. She assessed her at 24 to 26 months, but said that she may be 3 at most because of being institutionalized in an orphanage.

People from our church have been very kind, bringing us meals to help us while we recovered from the trip and being sick and adjusted to having a little one again. One family that came had a 19 month old little girl, and she was actually taller and stronger than Raeanna. However, Raeanna is getting stronger everyday. She has begun to climb stairs that were impossible for her just a few days ago.

Right now, she is upstairs with Brett and Cade. They were watching a Nick Jr. show, with singing and dancing. They walked up to the balcony, and she was dancing and singing a song with Cade about something being "Yummy in her tummy." I sooo wish I had the video camera on when they did that!

Raeanna doesn't want Mama ever too far away. In fact, she starts calling me if I step in another room. She wants all of us with her all the time, but because I'm the one who's the main caretaker, she never wants me out of her sight. Katey and Adam took her for a wagon ride a couple of days ago. She was so torn because she wanted me to go with her. I told her she could go with them or she could stay with me in the house. She went, but she looked at me with the most sad look over her shoulder. She got okay soon, but she kept calling for me. I'm not going to leave her with anyone for quite a while, but since it was her sister, and she was taking her out to do something she was really wanting to do, I felt like it would be good for her to see I would be here when she got back.

She loves to hug my leg when I'm cooking, and begs to be picked up. Even though she is little, she gets very heavy, but I try to hold her whenever I can. When she sleeps, she puts her head on my side and holds it there with force until she falls asleep. I guess she's hoping to keep me from going anywhere by doing that. She's very cuddly, but very independent. She likes to help me empty the dishwasher. She hands me dishes and points to where they go. If she can reach, she puts them away.

Raeanna is learning English pretty well. She repeats words we say, and she seems to understand most everything we say. For instance, the nurse told her to go stand by the door so she could take her picture. She walked straight over to the door. It even shocked the nurse that she understood her. We're teaching her to count. She really listens when the little girls who are our neighbors talk to her, and she repeats what they say. She seems fascinated with little girls who are older than her.

We're enjoying every minute with her. I think she is quite secure in the fact that she is loved by her family. She seems to love her Mama, Baba, ge ge's, and jie jie. She calls Adam ge ge, too.

We're very grateful for the prayers from everyone. God has been so amazing throughout this entire journey! He orchestrated everything so perfectly, by leading us to her a little over a year ago. He made clear the path He wanted, and He worked out every detail. Raeanna was so prepared for us and us for her. There wasn't really an adjustment period. She was waiting for us to get there. It's been absolutely amazing how things have worked out! We'll continue to need your prayers and God's power as we face at least one surgery with her in the near future, and as she overcomes issues related to being in an orphanage.

`

Our Last Days in Guangzhou and the Trip Home!

I know this is a long time in coming. It's going to be a long one!


We've had a hard week. We got home last Friday night on September 17th, but we got sick Saturday night.

I'll start where I left off before.

I was going to the Pearl Market with the women on Thursday morning in Guangzhou. That didn't happen. Bob woke up sick during the night on Wednesday night. It was pretty bad, so I decided to stay with him in the room for most of the day Thursday. He certainly wasn't able to watch Raeanna. He was going to have to go outside and walk with her to keep her from crying when I left, and he was too sick for that. We stayed in the room most of the day, but Cade and I decided we needed to go get some things at the store, and Bob said he was going too, so we took a cab to Carrefour. It's a store, similar to Walmart, but on several floors. It has escalators with an incline and you take the shopping cart up and down on it. We enjoyed it. Because it was just us this time, we weren't in a rush. We looked at the strange meat just hanging all over the meat department. There was chicken hanging with no refrigeration and then some really strange looking meats. There were different types of rice in bins, and you bought it by the kilo. We bought a few Chinese dvds for Raeanna. After the store, we went to a Kentucky Fried Chicken. The french fries are good. The chicken sandwich has dark meat, instead of the white meat and it looks pink, so I couldn't eat it. Bob wouldn't eat anything.

We rode the subway back to the hotel. That was interesting. I don't know what we would've done on this trip without Cade. Bob and Cade carried the stroller together down so many sets of stairs in China. I was standing and holding on to the pole in the subway car when I noticed this young girl staring at my wedding rings with her face just a few inches from them. She was looking over the details carefully. She leaned forward, and said "That Chinese baby?" I told her yes, and she asked me lots of questions about adoption and how I found out about Raeanna. I complimented her on her English speaking ability, and she told me that English was easy to learn. It was nice to talk to her. Most of the people, mostly older women, would come up to Raeanna and lean down and look her over. We don't know exactly what it was about, but wondered if they were trying to figure out if something was wrong with her. They seemed to admire her. Not long after we got back to the hotel, Susan, our wonderful guide, came back with Raeanna's visa and paperwork to travel to the USA. Yippee!!! She invited us to go with the group to eat at a Cantonese/Portuguese restaurant in a neighboring hotel, so we went. It was Cantonese style with the huge lazy susan in the middle. They ordered for the group, and we had some interesting food on the table. One of the dishes they ordered was fish soup. It had the whole fish in it. It's mouth was open, and it was looking at us. Raeanna threw a fit for it. I tried to give her some, but it was full of little fine fish bones, so she couldn't have it. We had a nice time visiting with the other families, and then we stopped at a little mall on the walk back to the hotel. After that, we went back to the room to pack up to go home!!! I wondered if she thought that hotel room was our home. It had to be confusing for her.

Our flight left Guangzhou at 6:00am Friday morning. The bellboys arrived to our room at 5:30am to take our luggage, and we met the guide in the hotel lobby. She brought little breakfast boxes for us from the hotel, since we left before they started serving. The bus took us to the airport. Raeanna didn't get happy until daylight broke, but she was fine after that. She started breaking into the breakfast boxes. By the time we got our luggage checked in and on through security, she had eaten 2 boiled eggs, 2 bananas, and several sweet rolls.

Bob and Cade were sitting behind Raeanna and me on the first flight, and she didn't like that at all! She screamed when I put the seat belt on her and again when we took off. She settled down after that, but couldn't wait to get to "Baba." He held her, and they let him use a baby lap seat belt for the landing on this flight. That helped very much. She didn''t get upset when we landed while she was in his lap.

When we got to Beijing, it was raining, and the plane didn't pull up to a gate. We got off in the parking lot, and onto a shuttle bus. We went to International Transfers, but our stroller didn't make it. Bob went to go get the stroller. Thankfully, he gave us our passports and boarding passes before he did, and took his with him. He couldn't get back to us. We sat there for about an hour. I finally went up to the desk to ask where he would've gone. I could just see him held up by security somewhere or something. She told me that he couldn't come back there from baggage claim, which is where he had to go to get it. I panicked at this point, since we had no cell phones or any way to communicate. She told me how to go to the gate and that we would probably meet up with him there. So, Cade and Raeanna and I made our way through security officers, lugging all the backpacks and an unconfined little girl, who wanted to go her own way. Then I heard Bob yell my name. I was really glad to hear that! He had been begging security to let him get to us, and they wouldn't budge. He had gotten them to finally call the international transfer desk, but we had already left. He was relieved to see us, too! He said he found the stroller in the Lost and Found. They asked him what we were wearing and when he tried to explain to them that Raeanna had on pink, they didn't know what pink was. So frustrating and scary to be separated at a foreign airport like that!! We rode a train to the right place and went through security. Security is very tight Beijing! They scanned us and scanned Raeanna. When they finished with her, she went back through the detector, and I had to go through to get her. By this time, I had my purse back, so I set everything off. Fortunately for me, they laughed. In our airports, you can buy water after you're on the other side of security, but not there. They took my expensive water bottles right at the gate of the plane. They searched our carryons AGAIN! Oh well, at least we knew we were safe! Raeanna was asleep before takeoff this time, and slept all but about 30 minutes of the 12 hour flight. During that 30 minutes, she was sick and throwing up, so we were very thankful that she slept. She had a little fever, too. Cade's seat was down the aisle from us. She didn't like that. She motioned for him to come when she woke up and saw that he wasn't with us. Sooo cute! She's well aware that we're a unit, and we belong together!

We got to Chicago, and Raeanna became an American citizen! We went through immigration and customs with hundreds of others. We were sent through special lines, so it didn't take as long as it could've taken. We had to take our luggage through to go to Louisville. One of the airport officers showing everyone where to put their luggage leaned over to look at her, then looked up at me, and said "Guard her with your life." Kind of scared me a bit!

After all of that, we found our gate and changed clothes and freshened up as best we could. We found a restaurant. It was probably the best cheeseburger in the world, and we could have ice in our drink!!!! I love America!!!! Everyone in the restaurant had a good time talking to Raeanna, and then we were off again. Only one short 45 minute plane trip and we would be back in Louisville! They wouldn't let us have a baby lap belt on this plane or on the one from Beijing because she's over 2. It didn't matter how small she is. Once again, she fell asleep before take off and slept through it. She woke up when they started talking right before landing and screamed until we came to a stop.

Brett flew in from Jackson, MS, so he was at the airport waiting for us, along with Katey and Kathi Henri. It was soooo good to see them! Raeanna smiled for them, and she knew they were ge ge(big brother) and jie jie(big sister). She HATED the carseat and cried all the way home. Once we got there, she was so happy! She walked in, looked around, and then it was as though she realized, "Hey!, This is my home!" She started happily feeding everyone her Cheerios, and I was too tired to realize what I was letting happen. BIG MISTAKE! I'm quite certain that is how Katey, Brett, and I ingested the virus. We all got sick at the same hour about 14 hours later.

Since this post is already so long, I'll post again in the next couple of days about our first week at home. I want to document it for her, as well as let you all know how things are going, so I promise, I will post about it.

We are home from China!

I know it seems like we've fallen off the face of the earth, but we've been really sick since we got home.  As my dear friend Beverly called it,  it's like Montezuma's Revenge or would it be Mao Zedong's Revenge?   I'll give a more detailed update tomorrow of the last few days in China and of Raeanna's homecoming.

The Oath at the American Consulate

Today, we took an oath at the American Consulate that basically said that everything we've done to reach this point was true, and that the information on our child was true, etc. etc.  The room was filled with American families adopting children of all ages.  There was a boy who was being adopted that had just turned 14 this week.  When a child in China turns 14,  he or she is no longer eligble for adoption, so he got a forever family just in time.  Praise the Lord for that!  I think they said there were 45 families taking the oath today. Our consulate appointment was yesterday, but all we did was stay in the room in case the guide needed any information.  She went to it, and she took care of everything.

Yesterday, we went to a museum called Chen Lineage Hall.  The weather turned really bad suddenly, so we didn't get to stay long, but it was very interesting to see the alley ways leading to it, and the art they were creating in the museum.

We went to McDonald's a couple of nights ago, and Bob and I both ordered chicken mcnuggets, and we got Raeanna a happy meal.  She decided, as she usually does, that she wanted all three meals. She ate about 9 nuggets plus french fries.  Bob and I snuck a few, or she would've eaten more.  She doesn't finish everything in front of her, but she wants ALL the food placed in front of her. 

We went out to Shamian Island tonight.  Raeanna was so tired already.  When she gets tired, she does a little pitiful moan. We walked around the White Swan hotel.  The lobby is beautiful there. We shopped at Jordan's, which is a little store owned by a Christian Chinese man who sells souvernirs and such. We then went to eat supper at the Thai Restaurant,  the Cow and Bridge, which we had eaten lunch at on Monday. It was the first time I went to a public restroom since I've been here, and yes, they had a squatty potty, and no, I decided not to go in there.  I did take a picture, though.  When Raeanna was ready to go,  I took her out of the high chair.  She walked over to Bob and motioned for him to get up and go and snapped an order to him in Chinese. She motioned a couple of times for him to get and go. I don't know what she said exactly, but she made it clear what she wanted him to do!

We got a taxi to go back to our hotel tonight, and I suppose it's Raeanna's first time in a car at night.  She started screaming her little head off. Everytime the driver would stop at a light, she would stop crying. As soon as he took off,  so did she.  I don't know what's going through her little head, but I really don't think she's going to like the carseat at all!  They don't have seatbelts here, and especially not car seats. She wants us to hold her on the bus, so she's really not going to like a car in the US.

We are finished with everything now. We just have to wait here for Raeanna's visa.  Our guide will pick it up tomorrow, and we'll get it tomorrow evening.  Then,  we are free to come home!  We are so ready!!!! 

I'm going to the pearl market in the morning with the women in our group.  We'll see how Baba does  changing a diaper. :) 

We're leaving very early in the morning on Friday.  We sleep tonight and tomorrow night, and then we are on our way home!!!!

Here are a few pictures from the last few days: