Birthday boy

Last post was heavy on words, this will be heavy on pics... so without further ado, the boys 2nd birthday... Poor boy was not feeling well, chose his birthday as his first sick time since getting home :( but we've been to the doc, got some meds and are hopefully on the mend now...

Sweet boy is all about his cars right now, so we had to get him some car candles :)

Mmmmm, angel food cake

A little 'guy dancing' going on in the background here...

I saw momma doing this and it made it all big... wonder how this works??

Sit still??? I just cant! I love tossing my balloon too much to sit still!

Opening his first present from sisters.

Woo-hoo! Trains!!!

Making some train sounds here... SO so precious!

Thanks Grammy & Pop-pop! He loved his clothes and new cars!

Quality car crashing time with Dada!

Second birthday coming up... or was it today???

A week ago at church a sweet, NON-elderly, woman commented to me how tall JJ is. She then said after looking at me, 'Well of course he's tall. You're tall. Is his Daddy tall too?' to which I automatically replied 'Yes. His Daddy is tall.' Afterwards I wondered if she needed glasses??? but maybe she thought hubby was Chinese??? ;-) Such an innocent question/comment though was heartbreaking for me... I had answered her question thinking about Hubbys height but then I started thinking about JJs biological parents. We know nothing about them, nothing. They could have been young and unmarried facing a crisis pregnancy, or married with one child at home (and unable to keep their second because of the one child policy), or married and JJ was their firstborn but because of his medical needs felt unable to provide for him... or none of those things. We don't know and will never know - barring a miracle. We don't know where JJ was born, when he was born, or what name he may have been called by his birth-parents in the days between his birth and when he was found. We don't know his birth-parents first or last names, what they look like, if JJ has birth siblings... So much we don't know and will never be able to answer for him. We do know the date JJ was found, which road he was found by, and the name he was given at the orphanage but that's as much as we have, as close as it gets to his birth-family.

After answering this sweet woman's question at church I couldn't help but think about all that lays ahead for our precious son... innocent (and sometimes not so innocent) questions that will come about his past to which we have no answers. All that has been heightened for me this week as we prepare to celebrate JJs 2nd birthday. On his birth certificate it is listed as Sept 20th (an estimate based off of when he was found), which is when we will celebrate his birth, but while I was rocking him tonight I wondered if tonight, somewhere in China, a woman, a man, a married couple, 2 single people, were remembering and wondering about him today... Is today, Sept 16th, the day? are they thinking about him today? or is Sept 22nd the day his birthmom has etched in her memory, the anniversary she especially wonders about him, if he lived, if he is loved, if he has a family... Oh how I wish there was a way to let her know how LOVED her son is, how TREASURED he is, how he is LIVING and THRIVING because she protected his life. I wish I had answers for the questions that will come, not the innocent questions from others but the deep questions from our son. I wish there was a way to avoid the heartache... but there isn't. That is all part of adoption which is a beautiful thing to be sure, but not without hard, hard stuff - pain and loss and grieving.

To our precious son, oh how we love you, how incredibly incredibly grateful we are to God for creating you, for your birth-mother choosing life for you, for the blessing that we have of being your forever family. Happy second birthday dear son. I pray Gods richest blessing on your life, that you would always know how very very LOVED you are. I pray that God would bring healing to the hurt places, would redeem whats been lost and would draw you to himself... Happy Birthday!

Updating our blog

When we first started this blog it was to document our journey to our precious son, JJ, who was in China. He's been home for 4 months now so I've almost forgotten all the crazy adoption lingo, all the steps in the process, all the hoops that we jumped through to bring him home... almost but not quite ;-) Sooo we thought it was time to expand the blog to be about family life now that sweet JJ is home, a bit of an outlet for this lady who is incredibly blessed to be the wife of my amazing hubby and momma to my 4 precious ones... Am mainly writing this for myself but for those who are following along, hope you enjoy the ride with us!

Home 43 days...

I wasn't able to get a '2 weeks home' post written, or even a '1 month home' post written for that matter... but I figured that being home for 43 days was the perfect milestone to post about ;-)

How are we doing??? pretty well overall... The first few weeks home were *rough*. I (momma-bear) was sick almost upon touching down at BNA (sickest I've been in a loooong time) - was so grateful that Grammy was here to help for the first couple of days, such a huge blessing! As much as we tried to contain the sickness we managed to pass it around to almost the whole family - we are all just so sweet like that, we love sharing ;-) That took a couple of weeks to get worked out of our systems, and required antibiotics for 2 of us. So so grateful that somehow JJ stayed healthy through it! Of course there was the jet-lag mixed in there too, with a certain young man awake for 3 hrs or so in the middle of the night... I dont know what we would have done without our wonderful friends and a group of sweet adoptive mommas who made us meals and helped us through the first few weeks - such a huge blessing!

How is precious JJ doing??? He is doing amazingly well considering all that has happened. Seeing MBHOH (the orphanage where JJ lived for most of his life before coming home) firsthand helped me to appreciate all the 'newness' and 'change' that he has and still is dealing with... We are SO very very grateful for all the love and the wonderful, life-changing care that he received while he was at MBHOH, cant say enough good things about them, but it still wasn't a family, it wasn't a home, which meant that there was so much JJ had to process as he was experiencing it for the first time. I have tried to watch JJ and see through his eyes, the changes, all the brand new things he has had to respond to since coming home... all I can is say is that I am so blown away by my sons courage. There are so many examples that I could give, so many things that were new and scary, never before seen or touched, that now he has experienced and have become familiar (and some of them now even favorite) things... I've watched him go from being terrified of the gravel driveway/not wanting to set foot on it (only content to be on it if he was safely in mommas arms) to running freely on it and loving picking up the gravel and tossing it :) Then there's our sweet, but big, labrador retriever Riley... I dont know if JJ had ever really seen/experienced a dog before. Poor JJ was so scared/cried and cried when he first saw Riley but he has come to the place now where the first thing he wants to do in the morning is go outside with Daddy (still in their PJs) and throw the ball for Riley. He loves kisses from Riley (just not on his face), loves petting him, will walk up to him and take a chew toy out of Riley's mouth so he can throw it and play fetch with Rye... Then there's a similar story with our cat - just minus the playing fetch part. Walking on grass, another new experience that was frightening and not to be participated in but now, look out! JJ takes off quickly on the grass - he'll stop to pick flowers not so he can smell them or give them to momma but because they are good objects to be thrown ;-) Difference between boys and girls??? ;-) Trees - he didnt want to touch the leaves on the trees but after watching sisters for a few days he decided he'd try it and now its no biggie. Doors, another new thing... He absolutely loves opening and closing them - front door, back door, bedroom door, pantry door, closet door, washing machine door (with AG's shoe that he had carefully placed inside) etc. Cupboards and carpet and toilets - not things that he had access to and was familiar with... laying down in the bath tub also a new thing... a car and a car seat, stairs and slopes (he was very unsteady on uneven ground at first), all things he has now mastered... Window blinds, remote controls, flashing buttons on printers (which absolutely have to be pressed every time you walk by because then the grey box makes a loud noise and a piece of paper comes out!) the list goes on and on... And then there's the biggies, adjusting to a new language, new food, new people, his forever family. Its not surprising that the first few weeks he spent a lot of time in mommas arms, checking things out from that new but safe place, learning about all these things at his pace, what he felt comfortable with... such courage...

A little bit more about JJ - he is so sweet, super affectionate and cuddly... He loves his 'milk and books and cuddle/rocking' bedtime routine with momma (momma sure likes it too - the rocking often continues long after JJs asleep!). He adores big sisters, he was the oldest baby in his room at the orphanage so having big sisters is another new and oh so fun thing for him. After meal times he loves to race around the kitchen island and the couches in the living room chasing/being chased by his sisters... It doesnt seem to matter who is chasing whom but man is it fun to run around with his siblings :) And water, oh how my boy loves him some water - whether its splashing in the sink aka washing hands, in the bath, in the water table, in the dogs bowl, running down the fridge from the water dispenser (we now know why there is a lock function on the fridge), running through the hose as mommas watering the garden, and yes even water in the toilet bowl (we have a strict bathroom door/toilet seat lid policy now) this sweet boy just cant get enough of it!

Sorry this post is so long now time for a few pics :)

 Mommy number 2 - this precious girl sure loves her little bro and vice versa!

 Swinging is so much fun!

 Splashin' it up!

A boy and his dog...

 Yep - they do dress him up from time to time...

 Throwing Rileys toy for him...

Walking back from getting the mail...

If you squint you can see morning dada time - hubby, JJ & Rye.

More water fun!

Love my sweet son so much!

I really do love opening and closing doors :-)

Busted! Oh but mom the princess computer is so much fun! ;-)

Very important phone call - just not sure which phone to use, the green one or the hand ;-)

 So sweet!

 Peeking out of the playhouse...

 This big sis loves her bro very much!

And this sis is loving having a LITTLE brother (although at the rate he eats he wont be little much longer!)

 Dada and his son...

PS We saw the plastic surgeon at our local Childrens Hospital about 3 weeks ago and have scheduled JJs palate repair for August 8th - appreciate prayers for that but am sure I'll post again before then, assuming there's 43 days between then and now ;-)

Ahhhh home sweet home....

Soooo its been a while since I've posted but we made it home safely last weds, May 16th, after some traveling adventures. Let me just say, I am SO proud of my sweet 6 year old! She did AMAZING in China and also did AMAZING traveling home with momma and lil brother. She did not complain at all when we had to go through security for yet the 3rd time on our trip home (and in the 3rd country no less -1st in Guangzhou, 2nd in Tokyo, 3rd in Chicago). The landing in Chicago was pretty bumpy, did not sit well with either CC or JJ (or the lady infront of us)... Of course JJ didnt have words to tell me he was going to vomit, he just shared it all over me instead - not my preferred method of communication but pretty effective way of letting me know that he didn't feel well ;)

Once we landed in Chicago we had 2.5 hrs to make it through immigration and customs and baggage claim, to our final flight... Momma was in tears at one point due to all the go here, wait 1 hr, then go here (good luck finding your bags bc its been so long since they came off the carousel bc you had to wait for 1 hr at the previous immigration stop), then they finally processed JJs paperwork, then go here and recheck your bags, then ride the train and go through security again (all with my youngests 'sick' all over me)... all that to say we had 5 minutes to spare before our final flight left for HOME!!!!

Arriving at BNA was amazing... coming out and seeing so many sweet friends welcoming us home just blew me away!!! No words to describe how it felt to be reunited with my amazing husband and precious daughters... instead here are a few pics :)

 

 

 

Sweet Giggles!

Tomorrow...

is the big day! Well, second to getting JJ... It's the *big* appointment at the US consulate - where we have an oath swearing ceremony and, more importantly, where we get JJs US visa so he can come home!!! When we land in the US he will officially be a US citizen but to get there we need this visa in his Chinese passport (the one that was oh so painful to get).

Our appointment is at 10am here in Guangzhou, so Sun 9pm CST (what a Mothers Day gift!). We should hopefully be back to the hotel by lunch time :)

I can't wait to get home and introduce you all to our sweet sweet son! He is just *so* precious!! :) He has been through way too much in his short life, praying for lots of healing... but so very grateful for our gift from God.