What we've been up to!

We have been laying low with not a lot going on. We did take care of some business......and got a much needed haircut for Cami! 

 We also had an outing....to the movies. Not my finest moment - one who spoke no English, one who can't sit still, one who is afraid of everything (including a shipwrecked chipmunk) and a 17 year old teenage boy. But - we can no check it off the list 

(sorry the pictures are so awful - iPhone in the dark...) 

There has been plenty of dress up this week - this is one of my favorites fairy princesses! 

 One of the best things about this week was the unexpected company we got! Our friends the Sanchez family had to come into town & we are so blessed they are here! 

Sometimes, God gives us blessings in the face of sadness - and that is what their visit is about this week. We are mourning with them the loss of their 4 year old niece Divine. Early Christmas eve morning, Divine went home to be with Jesus and receive her new body. For five years, Divine's amazing spirit and soul was housed in a broken body. The body did not stop her light from shining through. 

We are rejoicing that she is running and jumping and seeing and talking now - that her perfect body is united with her perfect spirit, yet we are so sad for those she has left behind. 

God had given us a blessing of time with our dear friends through this sadness.

His goodness is unwavering and unfathomable. 

Leaving

Leaving on a jet plane last Friday..I am nots sure who was more anxious - me or Cami! We got to the airport and said goodbye to our guide Bob. Bob was the guide for Debi Strong - the woman who first saw Cami in the orphanage a year ago. He was our guide for the last half of this trip. We have decided that he is Cami's Chinese God-father - was with her at first sighting, and put her on the plane to her new life! 

 Waiting to get on our plane. The whole time in the airport, she was excited. I never detected one hint of fear or nervousness. It was pretty amazing. It was like she know that this was not the end, but the beginning.

Settling in wel. We were so fortunate - we had the bulkhead seats - and no one in the third seat so we had the whole row to ourselves. 

 Shortly after take off, a woman about my age who spoke relatively good english with a strong Chinese accent popped into our row. She came over and visited with us and brought Cami some oranges. She spent a long time with us, and her mom was was over in the middle section bulkhead row. Her mom kept leaning forward and giving us the "thumbs us". They were very kind to Cami and to me.

 The mom spoke no english. Later in the flight, I had made a little "nest" for Cami on the bulkhead floor - in the best of circumstances right now it is hard for her to get comfortable with her scaring; trying to get her comfortable to sleep in the seat was proving impossible, The flight attendants kept telling me to stop - even though the seat belt sign was off and I was sitting on the floor with her. I pretty much ignored them, she laid down and slept and I sat up next to her - and also started to doze. As I was almost asleep - I suddenly heard a commotion.

A lot of female Chinese yelling.

I sneaked a peek - and what to my wondering eyes did I see - but the Chinese momma standing on her seat, wagging her finger at two flight attendants (who were standing at my row with their backs to me) scolding them loudly. 

Apparently, according to her daughter later, they had both come to move Cami - and the momma was having none of it! She told them to leave us alone, that I was being a good momma to that girl! 

There is nothing better than a "tiger" momma defending another momma! 

All in all, it was a great flight! 

News Coverage

Because a couple people have asked - here are the links to the local news coverage of our arrival Friday evening. I struggle with posting these as I don't want it to seem like we are saying "look at us" - we were, through out all the coverage, trying to say "look at Him". I hope that in some way - God is glorified through this

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/186770/0/Burned-Chinese-girl-gets-a-family-for-Christmas

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles&id=8478815

http://www.ktla.com/videogallery/66970635/News/VIDEO:-Burned,-Abandoned-Orphan-Gets-New-Home-For-Christmas---Mary-Beth-McDade-reports

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/video/6579320-oc-couple-welcomes-abused-child-from-china-into-their-family/#.TvV-hfNpyoY.facebook

The Coming of a Child.

48 hours ago, I landed at LAX with a child - a child not born of us but belonging to us. It was an answer to prayer that I be with all my family this Christmas - that all three of my girls would share this holy day together. 

But to be honest, it was more because the "holiday" of Christmas and the trappings trimmings that are associated with us had become more important than the significance of Christmas. That started to become clear while in China, where all those Christmas symbols of trees and santas and lights were evident, but not many (almost none) understood what the holiday was about. 

We had a low key holiday. The timing of this trip forced me to let go of so many things - they house that was "Christmas" all over (complete with the santa toilet seat cover!), the gift purchase for every person we ever came in contact with over the year, the elaborate 8 course Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and Christmas afternoon meals and the feeding frenzy of wrapping paper all over the floor by 8 am. 

Instead, we had fewer gifts - which we opened a few at a time and then took a break to intentionally avoid overload for Cami and Katie (and even Becky!), a simple breakfast and buffet dinner eaten spread out all over the house and time to sit. 

I think I took back the real meaning of Christmas - the celebration of the coming of a child - through the coming of a child.

That all being said - we have some lovely pictorial evidence of a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Because this blog first and foremost is a diary of our family, unless you are a doting grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin or friend, you can feel free to skip this next part!

Christmas Eve - putting together the scooters (THANK YOU Uncle Dean & Aunt Carol!!) 

Christmas Eve before church

Leaving out the reindeer food

'Twas the night before Christmas

Christmas Morning - what a morning!  

Later Christmas morning! 

 An afternoon nap( not really!) in sleeping bags from Grandma and Pop-pop

Listening to Grandma Judy read a story or three 

Duke getting into the spirit courtesy of Cami - she is developing quite a sense of humor! We think she was trying to see how many balloons it would take to get him to fly - three was not enough, but it was all we had (fortunately for the dog!)

A showing of Mulan in Chinese

And of the day (notice momma is still in the same pajamas from the early morning photo!?)

Merry Christmas from Matt! 

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
And we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
And prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

What a Welcome

The third time through, you would expect that I might be a little calmer about the actual "coming home". Nope. We touch down at LAX, and I cry - and not just "tears well up in the eyes crying", but "shoulders shacking, makeup running, need a tissue or three" sobs. I will do a separate post on the actual plane ride, as it was fairly entertaining, but I want to record the arrival while it is still fresh.

Right before I left, we talked to Child Burn Foundation about the "story" and could it help them (and promote the plight of hte orphan?). They contacted some media, and when I left Guangzhou, we expected that Channel 5 would be there. 

Found out when I landed that they would be joined by Cannel 2, 7,9 and 11. That's a lot of cameras when you come out of customs. Doug had already done the pre-arrival interviews and prep work! 

It was a great reunion - those girls...those little girls were so happy! 

Every picture of me is awful because I pretty much could not stop crying. I cried for the) pictures - and I pretty much was weepy and chocked up through the interviews as well (we saw four interviews on tv tonight - all well done) 

But when we got home - the deal was sealed. Katie was mostly interested in momma, Rudolf and bed (and not necessarily in that order) - but Becky....well she got Cami indoctrinated into the world according to Becky. Becky kept telling Cami all the way home in the car "I love you Cami" - and kept checking on her to see if she was feeling car sick at all (she wasn't). They got home, and poor Cami got the "drag her through every room tour" by Becky - ending up in the garden room and the universal language of tea party.

I can not describe how peaceful this evening was when we got home. Becky and Cami have been sisters forever in Becky's heart, and she reached out and included Cami in that tonight. 

They are all sleeping well - and we could not feel more blessed or loved by our Father in Heaven tonight. To HIM be the glory this Christmas! 

Home Stretch

We are in the home stretch. The consulate appointment is done and we are now just waiting to have Cami's visa picked up tomorrow - then HOME!!

This is the time in the trip when I am the most homesick. The rush of the "work" is over, there have been plenty of sight seeing excursions (a post with those photos when I get home - there are a lot of them and I don't want to ask Kim to sort through it all!). I have eaten enough Chinese food for the next six months and I am tired of sleeping on a wooden board. The novelty of being here is gone and I am done. I have been packed since Tuesday!

One of the things that makes these trips bearable is the people you share it with. Of course it has been fabulous traveling with our CWA friends the Cross family, and we had another family with us that became fast friends. The girls especially got along -

There were many tears from the small ones today when they left to go home. Cami held it in till we got in the van to go to the consulate, then she put her head in my lap and these big tears rolled out of her eyes - a totally silent cry. Absolutely broke my heart.

Before they left yesterday, we took a little expedition to the "island" and bolstered the local economy a bit! We also paid a visit to the White Swan. The hotel is undergoing renovations and all the guest rooms are under construction, but the first and second floors are open - the shops and restaurants. It was decorated very lovely for Christmas and the girls enjoyed it -

We did discover that the red couched have been replaced by new red couches - that lack the sentimentality and charm of the old red couches so we skipped the picture. It just would not have been the same.

It's been fun - but we are ready!

Do not be afraid

There is so much about special needs adoption that can be fearful - but I think the biggest fear is the actual special need itself . The question of whether or not I can actually parent a child with the special need presented rolls around your head and too often gives satan the foothold he needs to keep a child in darkness.

I am here today to testify today that we miss out when we give in to this fear. Awhile back, (many months ago), I clearly remember seeing advocacy posts for a little blind boy. He was so adorable!
I remember seeing him and thinking that was a special need I could not do. I remember praying for this child-that some family would step up and step out for him.

I am blessed to a year later to be traveling with his family and their child. All I can say is that this is absolutely the most precious and darling little boy with the most enchanting personality I have ever met.

He has blossomed in only 10 days - captivating the hearts of literally everyone he comes in contact with! This is a terrible quality photo - but I love his smile - it SO captures who this child is becoming!

Imagine where this child would be if this family had let fear rule them. If they had played the "what if" or "we could never..." game.

Worse than that though, imagine where this family would be without this child - special need and all.

Do not be afraid.

(the post script - he is a real talker and is so cute as he talks away with perfect clarity and diction for a 3 year old....something all have encouraged - until our guide told us tonight that one of his favorite phrases and one of the oh so cute ones translates to "poopy head")

A "Zoo"mendous Experience

Although this was my third time to Guangzhou, I had never been to the safari park - didn't even know about it till this trip. It was expensive to go to on my own, but my new friend Angie invited me to share her trip with her and a couple of other families. SO - off we went on Tuesday. It was great - awesome!! Very worth the money - and the bonding experience of doing something this fun with Cami really made it worth every dime! 

Our new group of friends! 

 It is a neat park that has a tram to ride through the open animal area. You can also take a private car on the road with the tram 

 The had a narrator on a speaker system - which did us no good! But we saw a lot of animals and you don't need a translator for that! 

 Each animal area had a lot of animals and a lot of open space; the animals were very active which was great. 

 This couple of elephants were especially active - and amorous. I must say, it is quite and experience watching two elephants mate...and the driver let us experience it for quite a while (rather embarrassing for the mom with two older adopted chinese boys!)

 There were tons of giraffe - my personal favorite

 and a lot of babies - these tiger cubs were just so darling! 

 Yes - this baby gorilla was dressed in a little baby onsie. He didn't seem to mind one bit, and the kids thought it a hoot! 

 Newborn white tigers. If you time it right you can help feed them (we didn't - and it was the end of a long day so we didn't wait around)

 And it wouldn't be a China zoo experience without pandas! 

I have to say as a former San Diego Zoo member and an annual visitor to the National Zoo in Washington - this zoo was better than either of them. There were fewer species, but many more of each species and more space and more action.