First night home

Josephine did great on the flight home and greeted her new friends at the airport with smiles!  She allowed us to buckle her in the car seat for her first car seat ride with no objections.  When we arrived home, she smiled as  we walked through the door and seemed like she really understood this was her home.  She was excited to see the dogs, and called out to them.  She even reached out to pet them gently.  Being Chihuahuas, they barked excitedly and she was not at all startled!  Furthermore, my 14 year old Chihuahua, Dee Dee, who usually does not like children outside our family treated her with kindness!  She did not bark at her, and seemed to instinctively know that Josephine is part of our family!
Josephine LOVED all of her toys and sat and played with them contently. 

She is still conditioned to  China time and woke up for several hours during the night and played happily.  The next day, she slept all day and woke up at 7 pm.  I put her back down at 9:00 pm and she slept until 4 am.  I think in one more night, she will be adjusted to the time zone.

On Friday, I took her to the pediatrician and the visit went well, despite her being in a deep sleep. She whimpered as he examined her...but warmed up to him and almost smiled.  Overall, it went very well  considering her exhaustion.

She is scheduled to see Dr. Parker  this Monday at 11:30, with an EEG following the appointment.  Dr. Parker worked us in amazingly fast, and even gave me the day of my choice (to accommodate my teaching schedule) and I am so thankful for that! 

Soon to be scheduled  are the therapy evalulations, MRI, EKG, Orthopedic visit, and AFO (ankle foot orthotic i.e. leg brace) fitting.  

She looked up again today and said "momma" and it was the sweetest voice!  She will reach around with her arm and hug my neck.  I am in love!

So far her new words are bye bye (with the precious backwards wave), ice (never before seen in China so very fascinating to her), Ma Ma (with a short A sound...referring to Madalyn) momma (me), and "da" which is used to request things such as food, and toys.

Madalyn continues to adjust to being a big sister very well.  Riding in the car is now filled with two little girls giggling in the back seat!

PS: Thank you Lynda for taking these precious pictures especially since I have not mastered being mom to 2 and taking pictures simultaneously!

Pictures from our orphanage visit

When I first received pre-approval for Josephine, I was told that she is in one of the best orphanages in China. I am so thankful for the care she received. The orphanage keeps a scrapbook on each child. On the orphanage visit day, they gave it to me. It is a precious gift. It includes a poem written to her from her caregiver. I will get it translated soon.

scrapbook pages

 Also includes on the pages is a paragraph about how Josephine often looks at the picture book her "American family" sent her and is looking forward to meeting her American mom and going to the US.  When I picked her up,  they gave us back our picture book, and Josephine still looks at it.  I do feel she recognized us, her pets, and her house from the book!

A replica of the orphanage grounds

A wall of pictures of children placed in their forever homes

 Outside view of the orphanage

 Josephine's playroom at the orphanage

 Toothbrushes and cups for all the children

 Josephine's play areas

One of Josephine's favorite caregivers

 This particular orphanage only has special needs children.  Below are the pictures of the special education teachers.  They have special rooms for children with Cerebral Palsy, autism, sight-impaired, hearing impaired, etc.  It is sad to me that there is no inclusion for the children, but they clearly do their very best considering their customs and culture to care for the children.

 Below we are saying our final goodbyes to the orphanage. I was invited to email the director with any questions or updates to share about Josephine!  We are  very fortunate to have this type of contact with an orphanage in China!  Our guide tells me this is an exceptional place and I can see why!

We made it home with no problems!  Unless you count having to sprint through the airport, being separated, and a less than understanding officer in immigration....but, we made all connecting flights and are HOME!

Thank you everyone that kept up with us in China.  Thank you for all the prayers, they worked!  Josephine is doing better and better every day.  In the last 3 days she has started eating solid foods much more successfully, and been a very sweet and funny baby girl!

Thank you for all the surprises from great friends that met us at the airport (thank you Emma Rose, Maddie Claire, Vivian, and Allie...Madalyn was so excited to see friends!) and to those that did all sorts of things for us at the house....including Jonathan that took such excellent care of our 4 legged babies, Lynda that surprised us with hanging our Josephine letters, and delivering more STUFF now that we know what Josephine needs developmentally, and bringing us McCallisters (even though Madalyn thought you were serious about getting us Chinese Food!:))Tracy for delivering a car seat and stroller, and Danny for cutting down the huge dying tree in my backyard!  Kim for getting our mail.  Mary Cade, Jacqueline, Jeff, Michelle, Tonya, Dr. Cox, and everyone at work that helped take care of my students while I was gone.   Thanks to Dr. Denney for emailing me about a viral rash Madalyn got while away, and Dr. Parker for answering emails from china about Josephine's health!  I am so fortunate to have all of you! 

I know Josephine felt the love when she was greeted with smiling friends!  And oh how excited Madalyn is to be back in the US.  She was singing patriotic songs on the airplane!!!  Where and how she thougth to do that is beyond me, but I must say we are very fortunate to live in a country with freedoms, access to excellent healthcare, and in a society that embraces individualism!

And most of all, thank you mom and Nikki for going and supporting me and for being the best grandparents and aunt!

The next post is about Josephine's first moments at her new house!

Shopping on Shamian Island

Today is our last day in China. We head home at 6 am tomorrow morning China time. Because of the time difference, we arrive home the same day at 5:26 pm. Our trip should be 23 hours from start to finish.

Goodbyes to our travel group

Lots of new friends!

Josephine's crib at the orphanage

This is a picture of her crib at the orphanage.

The routine orphanage life has trained her to lay down in her bed and immediately fall asleep! The hotel automatically placed a pack and play in our room and she pointed to it and said "Qian Ru", which is her sweet Chinese name. I put her in and she promptly began sucking her two fingers and went to sleep.

Two sweet girls and an awesome aunt!

Sleeping

Orphanage staff that gave us a tour

The orphanage visit was wonderful. It is a very upscale orphanage with great resources. They have only special needs children there. We visited her room and saw the other babies. They were mostly younger than she is. We saw her crib and all her caregivers.

One of her caregivers followed us out and said goodbye to her. She told her to please not forget them, they love her very much. The caregiver was crying. It was so sad.

They gave her a memory book with a poem written to her and includes events and milestones since she came to the orphanage. It's in chinese but our guide read some of it to me.

Since my visit I feel confident she was loved and cared for. I think the behaviors I have been seeing are more from grieving than neglect.

However, their therapy is not like ours and I do think with strengthening she will hopefully get stronger and soon be able to walk and have some function in her hand.

I was able to take pictures of a precious boy whose family is back home and waiting for him. They woke him from a nap and snuggled and held him while I took pictures.

Last day in Hangzhou

Today we visit her orphanage but will not see her foster mom. Then we fly to our last city, Guangzhou.

She is doing better an better. I'm still wearing her for bonding and sleeping with her for naps and bedtime. We are gaining the most at nap time and bedtime and she will now make eye contact! This morning she said momma when she woke up and gave
me the best hug ever. Definitely making progress.

Madalyn is doing great but is very sensitive. She is trying so hard to be the best big sister and gets her feelings hurt very easily. For example she was trying to help Josephine walk and Josephine fell and started to cry. Madalyn sat there and sobbed and sobbed. So sad, but I know it's a normal adjustment. All in all she is doing great with being a big sister!

Sent from my iPhone

Breakfast

Sisters

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Cheri <tobythedogb@yahoo.com>
Date: March 19, 2012 8:24:20 PM GMT+08:00
To: "tobythedogb@yahoo.com" <tobythedogb@yahoo.com>

Sent from my iPhone

Evening of our first night

Sent from my iPhone

update-happier now

She woke up and has gotten happier and happier.  She is very calm and snuggly.  She is very observant also.  She loves Madalyn and Madalyn loves her even more! It is so sweet to see them together. Madalyn is being very grown up and helpful.

It's 7:30 pm, so I have to get both of them to bed.  I think I have figured out part of the internet issues.....and hopefully tomorrow I will figure out the best way to post pictures (assuming all my previous attempts have not worked yet).  Internet is not easy to access in this city...and our Iphones are not picking it up.  You have to sit in one spot in the lobby.  McDonalds has free access, but the questions are in Chinese to access it, and we have not figured it out yet.....

Testing update-internet issues

 We arrived at the Office of Civil Affairs at 8:50 am.  We went to the second floor and completed some paperwork.  I again answered questions about my motivation to adopt and promised to never mistreat or abandon Song Qian Ru.  Our Holt representative (William, who travelled on our plane from Beijing and will stay with us until Friday) was in contact with the orphanage on their drive over and was able to tell us about how much longer.  They were stuck in traffic, but on their way.  The next update was around 9:15 am.  They were in the building.  I saw them coming up the stairs.  The orphanage worker was holding the hand of a precious 4 year old child who had Down Syndrome.  And in her arms was Song Qian Ru.  As she handed her to me, she started to cry, but then stopped.  Madalyn offered her some finger snacks and she opened her mouth and ate them.  She was entertained and liked the small toy that played tunes and lit up we brought.

 

When my mom or sister tried to talk to her, she reared back.  She was quiet with no smiles, but she was not crying.  I put her down because she kept rearing back, and she walked in crazy circles, sort of thrashing herself around.  This was too dangerous in this room with very hard floors, so I picked her back up.  They told me she is not used to being on the ground, so I sat her in a chair.  She sat upright in the chair quite easily.

 

I felt a rattle in her chest and noticed her nose was running.  We asked the orphanage worker and she said she has had a cold for about 3 days.  She explained that the orphanage  doctor examined her and said she is okay and to just encourage her to drink extra water.

 

After about 2 hours of paperwork and waiting, we left to take a picture that will be required for the paperwork tomorrow.  Then, we went a to fast-food Chinese restaurant and William  ordered our food for us.  Then, he went and requested spoons for us.  Of course, Nikki practiced her chop stick skills.  Qian Ru (Josephine) ate a lot of her rice porridge and hot soy milk.

 

Next we came back to the hotel and I sat downstairs and tried to post to my blog using the lobby's WIFI.  I'm  not sure if it went through since I can't access my blog directly here, and the connection is slow.  While sitting in the lobby, Qian Ru fell asleep in my lap.  I carried her to the room and laid her down asleep.

 

However, when my family returned from buying her milk and yogurt, she woke up.  She had a large hQswZS      ive like area on her back and she was scratching at it.  I took off some of her layers because the hotel is warm and she is used to freezing cold buildings.  She played okay for a few more minutes, and then started saying mamamama and crying hysterically.  I tried to console her, but she wanted to get far away from me.  She is now laying in her portable crib, and occasionally looking over at me.  But if I speak to her she thrashes and screams at me.  She is crying for her foster mom, which is heartbreaking, but to be expected.  I can only imagine that her foster mom is also crying for her as well. 

Since I began writing this entry, she has fallen asleep.  I hope when she wakes up she feels safe and although I know she will still miss her foster mom, I  hope she will be comforted by her new family.   I'll know in a couple of hours when she wakes up…

Hand carved Jade ship

We get her in 2 more hours

We leave for the Civil Affairs office at 8:40. Can't wait.

Leaving Beijing

We had a great time climbing the Great Wall and exploring the Forbidden city. It snowed last night in Beijing! In one hour we go to the airport to fly to Josephine's city, Hangzhou.

One more day!

Update pictures from orientation

The book she is looking at is our book with pictures of us and her room at home!

Tour of the jade factory

I purchased Jade earrings for Madalyn and a Jade peace necklace for Josephine. It is customary for babies to wear jade. One type turns darker the longer it is worn and more so with warm skin. Therefore when girls marry and leave their families a jade bangle is passed to them from their mother. When the girl visits family (usually only one time per year at Chinese New Year), the girl's family checks the bangle. If it is the same, the family worries she is not having "good life" with her husband's family. If it is dark, they feel she is happy and healthy.

I'm not able access my blog from here. The government bans many sites, including Facebook, so maybe this is banned also. Some of my email posts are not going through. So if one is duplicated that I why...

3 more days until we meet the reason for our trip!!!

Sent from my iPhone
On the bus ride, our tour guide, Lydia, told us all about Chinese culture and customs. She told us about lucky numbers and unlucky numbers. The Chinese will pay more money for license tags, cell phone numbers, apartment addresses, etc with lucky numbers!

She also told of ways the government is controlling traffic which includes rotating which license tag numbers can drive each day if the week! So on the lucky number days, there is much less traffic on the street!

Made it to hotel

Made it to hotel and acrobat show. It is now 7:30 pm and we are going to bed! All is good and will be great after a little sleep. Madalyn fell asleep while I was writing this! That was record falling asleep for her! Goodnight!

Sent from my iPhone

Unfortunately our Beijing flight turned around 3 hours into the flight due to a medical emergency. We just landed back at LAX. I'm not sure what the plans are at this point.

Finally in LA, for our 5 hour layover, then 12 hour flight to Beijing.  Madalyn has been up for 20 hours so far, and we have 17 more hours to go.  Gotta love airline customer service!

Airline cancellations

We arrived at 4:45 am for our flight to find out that sometime after we verified the flight last night, it was cancelled.  Because no other flights  arrive in time for our connecting flight to Beijing, the soonest the airline can get us there is 5:00 am the next day.  If anyone knows how to get more than a $10 voucher for an additional 14 hours worth of travel time, let me know!

Finally I can say we leave "tomorrow"!  And, in just 3 weeks, this will be our family again.....everyone 6 years older.......this time chasing a toddler...but just as excited to welcome a new family member.

Madalyn came home April 7 2006, and Josephine's day will be  March 29th 2012.

We leave in 3 days and I will be the one holding her just 6 days after that!  It's so hard to believe it's almost time.  I can't wait to see this silly grin, and hug her little body.  I can't wait for all our firsts together.  Like her first time she sees her sister, her house, her room, her dogs, our park, our friends....and more importantly the first time she sees us as HER family, the first time she trusts us, and loves us and knows this is forever.

This picture was taken for me two weeks ago by a family whose daughter came home from  Josephine's orphanage.

 The family was not able to get close to Josephine because she is afraid of strangers...which tells me our first few days together will likely be difficult for her.  In China, you meet in a room, and they hand the child off in a matter of moments.  I pray she can sense our love for her and her fears and grief will not last too long.  This day is often called "family day" because it is when the child joins her own family.  And for us, it is March 19th.   However, at the tender age of 1 1/2 she does not know that her caregivers are not her forever family....and it will hurt her as much as it would hurt any child taken from their family.  This is the hard part of adoption.  Also, she is not used to seeing people with blue eyes and lighter hair....I imagine we will be quite scary to her at first.  Here's hoping our Madalyn can offer some consolation as she gets to know her mom, grandma, aunt, and big sister.

The family that took this picture for me came home last week with their beautiful and oh-so-sweet daughter.   Please pray for their new daughter as their team of doctors plans for open heart surgery to heal her heart and free her from oxygen deprivation and fatigue she has faced all of her short life.  Their daughter is the same age as Josephine.