Tuesday, March 17, 2015

First weeks home

At the airport
Finally home to our boys!

Sleeping in her bed!
Going to church #1
Going to church #2


Met my cousins on the way to Cincinnati!

Saw Snow! 


In Cincinnati to see the surgeon 



Baby Dedication Sunday 3/15/2015

With Gma Dixie & GGma

With GPa Will

Around the house #1
Around the house #2

On the dock!

With Jackson

First time in a swing. 
At a Forsyth Park.

Her first car!


Zhen Zhou China/Gottcha Day

Zhengzhou will NOT go on my list of favorite cities. 

It was dirty, filled with construction, smog and tons of people. 

In Zhengzhou they allow mopeds on the same sidewalks where pedestrians walk. It is extremely dangerous. The car traffic is insane. There is no waiting, stopping, or yielding. When you want to go, you just go. The only thing that keeps them out of wrecks is, no one wants to get in a wreck because it is very hard to prove the wreck was someone else's fault. You don't get paid for the damages. So, in the midst of all the crazy driving you rarely see an accident.

The one thing I will always love about this city is, it is the place where we finally got Michal!!

January 19, 2015

Wow! What an unbelievable day!

Things to come included: many bus rides, government buildings and paperwork completion sessions.

Michal was NOT fond of the buses filled with children and other crying babies. . .generally, she was the crying baby. We found out a few days after we got her that her first experience on a bus did not go well. On Gotcha day they woke her up before daybreak, put her in 4 layers of super thick clothes, and then took her on a 2 1/2 hour bus ride. She does not like to be hot, but they would not take her clothes off because the old Chinese ladies would yell at them.

When we got her back to the hotel the first day, we gave her a bath and laid her on the bed in just a diaper and she was SO HAPPY! 



After that, we decided the old Chinese ladies could yell at us if we wanted to but we would not put that many clothes on her, because our girl does not like to be hot.

We got yelled at a lot!!!




Saturday, February 21, 2015

Beijing


Now that we are home, I want to try to start posting a few of my pictures. I am sorry for the delay. We have had our hands full! 

Our first stop in China was Beijing. The purpose in being there was  understanding Chinese heritage. They like you too have a good understanding of the country your child comes from. After experiencing it, I feel like the knowledge and experience we gained will be very important for us to be able to share with Michal.

We went to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and we climbed the great wall of China! 


Tiananmen Square
A symbol of modern-day China.

We also went for a rickshaw ride and ate at a traditional Chinese home. 

Later, we went to a jade factory and route through Olympic Park.

Our time in Beijing was extremely cold!

The Forbidden City! 
A symbol of ancient China.

I was really amazed by the Forbidden City. It is a huge palace with over 8000 rooms still in existence. It originally had 9999 1/2 rooms. The Emperor didn't want to outdo his father who had a palace with 1000 rooms! It is called the Forbidden City because common people were not allowed to enter.


The rickshaw ride was so cold it was almost miserable. Then we followed that with lunch at a traditional Chinese home. It was colder inside the house than it was outside. They don't have heat and insulation like Westerners are used to in most Chinese homes.

At night we walked on the streets of the city some. This was one shopping area near our hotel.


We looked at the street food but we did not eat it. We wanted to make sure we stayed healthy to be able to get and take care of Michal!

The Great Wall was amazing! 
It was cold there too, and quite the workout! It was really amazing to see it with my own eyes! As we drove to it, I could not believe we were going to see the real Great Wall of China. Then, there it was. It is HUGE and beautiful! It was a really cool experience. 

Just in case you were wondering, they have squatty potties there too!

It is hard for me to believe I actually took this picture with my phone!


We also got to visit a jade factory & market. Jade is more precious to the Chinese than gold. 

We bought some special gift to give Michal when she turns 16 and when she gets married.

This ship is made completely of Jade.


We even rode through Olympic Village. 
The ice looking building is where they held the swimming competitions and the birds nest is the building where they held the gymnastics competition back when the Olympics were in China.


That is a quick look at our trip to Beijing China! 

I will create post with the other cities soon.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Finding Place

We went to Michal's "finding place" today. That is a nicer way of saying, the place where her parent(s) abandoned her. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go see her finding place, and I really wasn't sure how I would feel when I got there.

This bus stop (right behind the blue car) on the side of this VERY busy, dirty street was where her parent(s) walked away and left there 1 day old little girl.  

I FELT ANGRY.

I know the reasons they left her were probably many. I pray they didn't feel good about leaving her there. I am glad it was not winter like it is today with bitter cold. I try to understand that her parents probably just 'did what they had to do'.  

Maybe they are poor. They probably knew they could not afford to repair her cleft lip and palate. Maybe her mom was even having trouble feeding her. Maybe they feared if they kept her, she would die because she couldn't eat or because they couldn't afford to feed her. Maybe her family already had another child and so she would have put there family over the limit for the number of kids the government will allow them to have without fines.

Reasons. Reasons. They all stink.

Christians are called to love children. ALL children. It is crapy that life makes that really hard some times. It stinks that money, man-made rules, and fear made it where my little girl had to be left on the side of the road.
The two street names for the intersection where the bus stop is.
So, if I ask myself, "Where was God that day?"

I quickly know the answer. He was right there. He saw it all. He knew she was going to be left before it happened. He loved her then. He loves her now! Michal is HIS baby first and foremost. 

I know God cried that day.

I know God protected her from all those speeding cars. 

He kept her away from any evil person that may have hurt her.

 He got her safely to the orphanage that has kept her alive, healthy, repaired her lip, and that hopefully gave her some love too for the past 17 mths.

That day as she was being left, as she was laying there alone, so small,

God knew we were already on our way to get her!!

He had been calling us to adopt for YEARS by that time 

We had already been working on her adoption paper work for 4 1/2 months by that time. 

We had been praying for her for 4 1/2 months by that time. 

We prayed every night for God to protect, provide for her and love on her. We prayed that if there were no humans that would/could care for her, that He would send angels to care for her.We know that He did! How do we know? Because in our lives, we have experienced a God is who is:

Faithful

Loving

Powerful 

Never fails

Omnipresent: He was with us, and with her everyday!

Her Daddy!

Our God hates what happened to her, but 
OUR GOD REDEEMS!!!

Our God sets the lonely in families!


Our God gives great gifts!     Blessings!


I get to look at this beautiful face every day! I get to watch her grow and fulfill all God's plans for her life.


I get to wipe this sticky, sucker covered face and tell her I love her, and about how much God loves her. I get to tell her all that He has done for her. I get to assure her that He will continue to be faithful!

We also get to make her a citizen of the GREATEST country on earth! A country where she will be free!

Wow! What an honor and a part of His plan!



Thursday, January 8, 2015

Made it to NYC!!

In Savannah earlier today, my dad and Matthew's dad, as well as our good friends Terri, Carolyn, and Lexi came out to the Savanna Hilton head international airport to see us off!!
Jackson insisted on pushing the luggage cart himself! 
Bye Daddy!
Bye Mom!
Friends to see us off! Thanks Palmer/Rockwells!
On the plane headed for NYC!

We made it! Next plan to Korea leaves at midnight.