An Eye Into China

Susi with Sara, one of the volunteers at Shepherd's Field Children's Village, in Beijing.

Susi, enjoying the attention from Sarah who was in China picking up their daughter, Emma.

We feel so blessed as if we are seeing into Susi's life right now. A family who is using the same agency we are using was in China this past weekend picking up their daughter. Their daughter was in the same orphanage as Susi. They visited the orphanage and was able to love on Susi and as if that were not enough they took video and pictures for us. We got to see them the very next day. This is amazing to us! Through all our adoptions we have never seen our kids in real time and we never got a personal report on them as it was happening. God just bridged a huge gap, we felt like we were so close to her. My heart ached more than it has since we started this process. I wanted to be there playing ball with her. I wanted to be the one snuggling her. But I am grateful for the glimpse I got and I pray for my precious girl as I wait with a longing heart!

The Paper Pregnancy Begins

Isn't she so beautiful!!!!!!!

I am so giddy with excitement as we see how God has prepared and planned every detail of Susi coming to us. We began the 'official' process today and everything has just fallen into place. I am brainstorming fundraising ideas and seeking God on how He is going to provide. We really don't have much time as this will go faster than our other adoptions, since Susi is already waiting for us. It was the same way with Dax coming home, his whole process took about nine months. But since we had already fund raised and been in adoption mode with Graci's adoption it didn't seem rushed. So, we wait and pray for God to continue to work out every detail as we know this is His calling and will. With great excitement we embark on our paper chase to bring home precious Susi Yue!

And We Shall Call Her Susannah (Graceful Lily)

Susi on her way to Beijing where she resides in a long term care center.
They say Susi smiles a lot!

The paper work says she can be a little stubborn, I think this picture portrays that.

As the days turn into a blur of deadlines, paperwork, and doctor consults I feel I must start blogging our journey to Susi. A few weeks ago on what started out as a usual day I was on the computer and up came the normal e-mails of waiting children in other countries. I look at them all the time and I pray for them all the time. Various things had been nagging me, a sense of grief over facing that Thad and Kamby would be our last adoptions, a sense of something unfinished in China, hurting children without families all over the world, and my own deciphering of what God has for us now. As I prayed and discussed a little with Lee, God started to reveal more to me. We are preparing for Thad and Kamby's re adoption as well as their one year post placement, so I am still quite into the paperwork process. I faced the facts a while ago that we would not go back to China to adopt because we no longer met the requirements. We now have too many children. Plus the wait is so long and let's face it we are not young anymore and one of us is pushing the age limit. But something was not settling with me. I still felt a burden, a tug, a pull in my heart that something was unfinished in China. I began to pray and pray and wait and listen. After completing an AWAA adoption seminar where our family spoke on the joys of adoption, it dawned on me. China opened a new program for kids with special needs and I had seen a little bit about it but never read the whole thing. I came home immediately and read up on it. Could this be what God was leading us to? I mentioned a few ideas to Lee and to be honest did not get much response, after all we do have one that just started college, one that just started high school, two that just started preschool, and two that just started walking. I could see why he was not very responsive ( he is very tired LOL). I kept quiet and prayed and researched. Then there she was, I do not even remember how I found her but I found her. Not only did she remind me of my precious Graci but I became connected to her as soon as I read about her. Susi will turn four the day after Christmas. Over the past few days one confirmation after another has affirmed to us that God is in control and it is His will that Susi join our family. Concerns over the 'powers' in China deeming us worthy of adopting her was calmed through Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still". Then concerns over finances and parenting were calmed in the very next verse when God told the Israelites to "move on" and then he showed His ability to do anything by taking them across the red sea to safety. God is certainly bigger than the CCAA and He will truly show his might to them when he places His child in her family. We had no idea of a name for our precious daughter and there was only one name I really wanted and that was Susannah. This is Alyx's middle name but she does not like it at all and never wants me to call her that. I love the name and its meaning. I wasn't sure if this was the name we were to use and I just prayed about it. Then when the information on our little one came to us we searched her Chinese name to find its meaning. When it came up we found out the closest English translation to this name would be 'Sue' short for Susannah. God confirmed it and she shall be called Susannah Yue or in tradition of all our kid's names being shortened, Susi.

Fall is the Best

We were all done with rides when Graci spotted the tea cups. She had seen tea cups on a Disneyland dvd and she just had to ride them because Disney land has them. She said "Are the people the tea, mommy?"

Kamby loved riding the carousel. And it is a good thing Daddy did to because he went many times with all the kids.
Thad loves to ride horsies, he thought this was great!

Kamby after she rode the carousel, she was so happy!

Graci and Dax riding a big kid ride.

I had decorated the front porch with sunflowers, pumpkins, hay, scarecrows, and fall leaves. Although Dax agreed it was lovely he wanted to know why we didn't have any spiders. Much to my chagrin daddy went and got webbing and plastic spiders to decorate the front porch. Dax was so proud of our house. He shows every person that walks up to it, "did you see my piters, I have piters at my house".

Kamby at the State Fair

Alyx and her friend Katie being silly with Graci and Dax at the fair.

All the big kids out front decorating for Fall.

Minnie Mouse Graci after one of the fall festivals we went to.

Kamby and Thad rocking in the recliner, they can really get that chair rockin'! Yes, we see their hair, I am making my peace with getting hair cuts and they will be scheduled soon. Their hair grows so fast, Kamby literally takes a nap and wakes up with more hair.

It has been a great month! The weather here has finally cooled off and we are lovin' outside. The kids play out everyday and Thad and Kamby think outside is the best place to be. Whether they are going on a walk out front or going to play in the back yard with Graci and Dax, when I say let's put our shoes on they go running for the door with huge smiles. It was a great adventure we had to the state fair last week. While it rained the first part of the morning our kids thought that was better than the fair itself because they got to use their umbrellas. It was challenging but in the true spirit of Arizona rain it subsided pretty quickly. Graci and Dax had so much fun riding all the ''big kid rides" which means any ride the babies can't go on. The babies caught on fast to the fun of rides and absolutely loved the carousel. It was a great day! The day before the fair we celebrated Daddy's birthday and tomorrow we will celebrate Mommy's birthday. Everyone is looking forward to Halloween. Although this has never been a focus in our home, thanks to public preschool Dax is well aware that he is to receive candy on Sunday. Alyx, who is 14, just learned this year that we don't trick or treat in our family. She always thought we couldn't because we had to work at the fall festival at church. So this year we are not working because of the babies and their bedtime so she wanted to take Graci and Dax trick or treating. I told her we work at the festivals to avoid Halloween and trick or treating. We will see if I get my way this year or if candy wins out.

Pancake Saturdays with Daddy

Daddy starts early so he can have a griddle and a plate stocked before the babies get up.
Thad and Kamby have about a 3 minute tolerance for waking up and be served food, then the screaming begins.
Thad usually folds his pancakes and stuffs the whole thing in his mouth. Kamby is teaching him to take bites, like the polite little lady she is.

Daddy preps Thad's tray in anticipation of him awakening. Add a banana and cup of milk and this is his first course.

Every Saturday Daddy gets up early and starts the pancakes and then one by one each of the kids gets up to help. This used to involve just Graci and Dax and so Daddy would not get up so early and then they would do the whole process together. But now, enter Thad and Kamby. These babies eat ALOT! Especially our thriving boy! When we brought Thad home he was just a itty bitty little thing with a big head. He weighed 14 lbs at 9 month old in December 2009. He now at 18 months old tips the scales at around 25 pounds and gains daily. At first, Thad had issues with texture, tastes, chewing, and swallowing. It became quite a problem for a while. We thought he would need eating therapy and for many month we just fed him jar baby food. Well, this is no longer an issue. The boy eats everything (except fruits) and pancakes are his favorite. In fact, so much so, that he has broken the house record and eats 25 mini pancakes plus his banana and cup of milk. He out eats Graci and Dax together. It is quite impressive! Now someone might read this and think, why encourage over eating in children. When you have a sickly child from a third world nation with multiple medical issues and appears to have an eating disorder, let me tell how we rejoice in this turn of events. We praise God that Thad is strong, healthy, thriving, and loves to eat!