Some Things

It's hard to believe it's already been a week since we left home. Although we have enjoyed this beautiful city and awesome food, we do look forward to sleeping in our own beds.

There are some things that the English language cannot describe:

The feeling a mother gets when her new daughter reaches for her hand for the first time.
The sound of her new daughter's belly laugh.
The beauty of her tousled hair as she sleeps...the list goes on.
It seems like she has been with us for a very long time and God knew exactly which child would fit right into this family.

She has a great appetite and she has loved everything that has been put in front of her...until last night. We were at a beautiful Italian restaurant and I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. The look at her face was priceless...Oh well. I guess I won't be cooking that when we get home. But everything else has been a big hit.

She is curious about everything and loves playing games on the computer and iPad.
She won't let a hair bow anywhere near her head.
She loves playing with the Barrel of Monkeys.
She is more organized than I ever thought about being :)

She is loved dearly and we can't wait for you all to meet her.

We'll be home soon!

Gotcha Day!



For those that have not heard Gotcha Day was a happy day! We have our daughter and sister Hannah. She made the trip from Zhanjiang and we met Monday at about 2:30 PM. A short update for now but she is soooooo sweet!! Her first words to us were "thank you" when we gave her a stuffed animal. Hannah was She also wearing a cross necklace... :)

Hannah already loves her sisters and they love her too!

What a day, a day our dream came true!

Sissy and Paul

Am I in Charleston?

We all laid down for a short nap at 2:30 yesterday afternoon an woke up at 3:00 am...we're starving and can't wait for the dining room to open. This town is beautiful...because of some invasion by the British several hundred years ago it looks just like Charleston! Old English looking buildings, 300 year old oak trees...the heat and humidity are the same too . Just a day of sightseeing and anxiously waiting for 2:30pm tomorrow for "Gotcha Day."

Hey y'all. It's an Adventure!

We just wanted to let you know that we are finally in our hotel, 38 hours of travel time later! We got to Hong Kong too late to get transportation to Guangzhou so we spent the night in the airport. We left there this morning around 7:30 with a driver who must have been related to Mario Andretti. It was supposed to take 3 hours to get here, it took 2 hours and 15, minutes and that included getting lost!

The rooms are nice with all of our western amenities and the girl's room is connected to ours.

We are going out now to get lunch and let our co-ordinator person show us around. We have seen many American families with sweet little Chinese children and it just makes my heart ache...but it won't be long now!

Please continue to pray for us and say a little prayer for Hannah as she celebrates her 12th birthday today with her friends and it may be her first actual birthday party.

We love you!!
XOXOXO!

Paul, Sissy and the girls

Shower Part 2


If you haven't read Shower Part 1 , May 21st, please read that one first...


Anyway a lot has happened since the last post and I will write about that later, but for now I will finish the shower story...


So I finally get her past the dogs, the cookies and milk and back to the bathroom. While I wait for her to finish her snack, I remember that the shower chair is downstairs in her bathroom so I treck back down to fetch it.  And I get it set up...


And then I give her a shower, Thankfully it was pretty uneventful.

When she gets out of the shower she needs three very important things: 1. Her inhaler - breathing is a good thing! 2. Crisco - she cleanses her face with it. A nurse in the hospital once thought someone had put the wrong birthdate on her chart because she looks so young. A dermatoligist once told her to use it...it seems to be working. The third very important thing she needs is pure glycerine. She coats it all over her body. It's the stuff they put in lotion to make it lotion. You can also make bombs with it so nowadays you can only buy the small jars of it, not the quart sized ones that she used to get.


Then I blow dry her hair (after applying Big Fat Sexy Hair mousse, cause you never know who you'll run into ;) Then I curl her hair.

Hot rollers always look like you should be able to tune into radio stations or something...

Then, after she is fed, scrubbed, oxygenated, greased and slathered I let her sit on the front porch to wait for the UPS guy with one of my favorite companions.


It's been a busy day, I need to go do something very important...

Sit and spend some time with these two...

Yay! We got travel approval to go to China! We will be leaving sometime around the 10th of June and coming home around the 24th. I'm so excited I'm about to bust...How am I going to be able to last three weeks? The adoption agency sent the official papers and while I anxiously waited for the UPS guy (with my camera in hand) I decided to give Mama a shower. Do you have any idea what it takes to do that? Let me fill you in...(don't worry, I'll keep it G rated)....

First, we have to pick out clothes. These will be too warm, these will be too cool, these... are dirty...

So we agree on a sweatshirt and basic black pants. Then I have to get her upstairs to the shower. I can do it downstairs, but she wanted to hang out upstairs anyway so...I have to move the oxygen converter to the other side of the room so after she gets upstairs, her cord will reach, so she can breathe...breathing is good :)

Then I have to help her stand with her walker to get over the doorjamb then help her sit in the wheelchair again.

Then I have to push her uphill through wet grass, I forgot that the sprinklers had just run. Don't they make 4 wheel drive wheel chairs?? Why not??? I wish I had a picture of me in semi-platform clogs losing traction and trying not to tumble back down the hill. It would have been a Jack and Jill moment. Finally...we made it. By this time she is laughing and saying, "Do you need some help?"

I haven't had a workout like that in years, so I pretend that I am relishing the moment and pick a magnolia blossom and give it to her...she appreciated that...

Then we talk about the daylillies...Then she points to something and asks, "What's that?" I reply, "It's a leaf."

Then we talk about the mailbox that someone, who was coming around the corner way too fast, plowed over and obliterated...

Then I go make sure the garage door is open and oops! she's rolling away!!!

Just kidding :) I had her brakes on...

By this time I've got my breath back and we travel to the garage to go in the house. Did you know that a very small bump between the driveway and the garage can make a wheelchair pop a wheelie?? I didn't either...

Getting through security is pretty tough around here...

Then I have to get her to stand again, hold onto the rail and very carefully let me help hoist her up three stairs. But before I make her stand I have gone into the kitchen and gotten a chair so she can sit as soon as she gets up the stairs while I pick up the wheelchair and with the precision of a surgeon bring it up the stairs and into the house. I say precision because the house wasn't built wheelchair friendly and almost doesn't fit through the door.

As we pass through the kitchen she decides she wants a cookie and of course if you give granny a cookie....she wants milk to go with it...

I'll have to finish tomorrow, I am unable to post more photos and I have a child who needs me...It's great to be needed   :)

Time Flies!! I know that phrase is such a cliche' but it is so very true. It is amazing how long it has been since they've done this.

                                                ...and this

                                              ...and even this...

Don't look at all of those wrinkles...and what's up with those tendons in my neck? I'm not sure what I'm laughing at but it sure did bring out those joy lines or whatever cutesy adjective you want to put there. :)




Just kidding, both of my girls are very affectionate. It may be hard for little Hannah to get used to all of the hugs since that is not a Chinese custom, but with God's grace I'm sure she'll grow into them.

I haven't published a post in a while because I've been processing all that God is doing in my life right now. Mother was admitted into the hospital in Feb. with exasperation of her COPD and emphysema. After a few weeks she was moved to a restorative care facility and then to our local Hospice House. She is now home (at my house). Most days she does quite well. Her pain and breathing problems are under control and she is able to get from her chair to her bed by herself on most days and that is HUGE!

Last week she had a really good week; she got dressed twice (once even by herself!) and she rode with me to pick up the girls at school. She even wanted me to take her out to eat Thursday night, something inside of me said that was probably not a good idea, but what do I know?

Then on Saturday she fell, her blood pressure shot up and her speech was slurred and incoherent. She then went to bed where she stayed until Monday afternoon with a low grade fever. Then she woke up, ate a big supper, watched TV until midnight and has been well ever since. The nurse said that she probably had another TIA or mini-stroke.

Like I said, I've been processing all of this...

I have to confess, this is not the job  I would have chosen; after all, I am qualified to teach a pilates or yoga class with a friend at the homeless shelter and I could help another friend with her parenting class at the same shelter, but that's not what God wants me to do. He told me this (not in an audible voice, but he placed on my heart): Sissy, the things I want you to do now the world may not see (the bathing, the feeding, the middle of the night trips to help her to the bathroom, the breathing treatments, the medication, the teeth brushing, etc.), but you must trust me and know that I will equip you and give you the strength to do it all. I will guide you, and if you come into great need by following my command, I will see to it that you lose nothing by your obedience. You will be tried and tested, but in the hour of your utmost need I will see you and provide for you.

In my bible study a few weeks ago, Beth Moore talked about submitting to God's will. I knew that I needed to humble myself and bow down to His will; but often my pride will prevent me from bowing. The tree that stands tall and straight will not last as long in a wind storm as one that is able to bend, or bow.  

I have learned to ask each morning, "What do you want from me today, Lord?"
Once I learned that, the grumbling went away. It's as if the sun (Son?) came out from behind the clouds and I found myself thanking my creator for this very special job He has given me. It's not glamorous, you won't see my name in the paper, but I am honored that the Lord of the universe thinks that I am worthy enough to take care of my Mother. There will be a day when she is not here and I am going to be so thankful that I had this time to spend with her and to model to my children how to honor your parents. And by the looks of those wrinkles in the photo above they may have to be caring for me sometime soon!  :)

I know that this is all true because He has done it all before. He is the same God who provided a way for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josheph and all of His children along the way. I can't help but wonder how this will all play out when Hannah gets here. I think it will be a blessing for her to live in a home with another generation here as well. I think he will do big things with this situation...

TYL,

sissy