More Dog Days of Summer

Hi all,

It's hot, hot, hot!! It's so hot that today a huge spider expired on the driveway, and for those of you who know my phobia, know that I keep sprinting around it because I CAN'T BRING MYSELF TO PICK IT UP!!! Oh why does Kevin have to work late??

Anyhoo, back to the kids. Emily started preschool, as you'll see by her expression in the second slide show. Friend Delaney wasn't grumpy, and it was her first time ever! :) Ballet/tap starts next week (a single class), so Emily's thrilled at the idea of wearing tap shoes. Mom delighted me by resurrecting her now decades old tap shoes so Emily could try them on. (Mom and I took a class together back in the 1980s!)

Here are shots of Emily alone and having fun with Summer...

Emily Milestones

Hah! Where do I begin? She's sassy, computer saavy, extremely curious, can wield a screwdriver and change the batteries in her own musical toys. She changes wardrobe several times a day, usually accessorizing with high heels (her own or Mommy's). She chastizes the dog for barking and the cat for jumping on the countertops. She plays the piano gently and likes to Mommy to show her which keys to press to create simple songs. The Wiggles are slowly fading into the background as puppies, kitties, Thomas the Train and the Little Mermaid appear. (Two Thomas the Trains slumber in their own basket and blanket beside her at night.)

As you'll see above, Emily scans her drawings into the computer and has me email them to her admirers. She also created a Powerpoint presentation by herself one day, adding graphics and a chart. We emailed that one to a very proud Daddy! She starts and plays computers games by herself at home and the library. We're now working on manners as Miss Independent asserts herself more and more.

The last photo in the above slide show is a neat one. An artist snapped Emily and I entering our favorite library, then the artist created a watercolor from it, and entered it in a local calendar contest. And it won!! So Daddy found the artist and bought the original watercolor for our 15th wedding anniversary (next week). It's now hanging on a wall in our house! The artist, Janice Nairn, was absolutely tickled when Kevin called her to say, "I believe that's my wife and daughter in your painting."

Update on Uncle Baby David

The baby brother books are working! Emily sings lullabies to Baby David's crib and we talk about "Uncle Baby David" often. Today I shipped David's care package to his orphanage. Here are shots of the contents. They have to fit in a shoe box or the gifts will be hung up in U.S. Customs.

Contents include candy for the nannies and orphanage director (the Chinese love gifts), a disposable camera for the nannies to take photos of David, toys, a blanket, and most important, a photo album of our family/pets/yard/David's bed so David might just recognize us when we finally meet.



That's all for this week. Kevin will be home soon to move that spider, bless his compassionate-hubby heart. Take care, everybody!

Love,

Caroline

Amazing news from Tianjin

Hi all,



So, I joined this Yahoo group for families who are adopting children from Tianjin Childrens Welfare Institute, where Qun Qun lives. And there's this teacher who lives in Tianjin and volunteers at Qun Qun's orphanage. He checks on the babies for us waiting parents and tells us how the child is doing. So he checked on Qun Qun for us. Here's what he said in his email to us...

"Wei Jian Qun is a happy, chubby, well adjusted little boy of almost 2. His personality is pretty passive, especially for someone who is as healthy and mobile as he is. He is not very stable on his feet yet. I spent a good bit of time with him today. He can walk with support, though he still is wobbly. He was affectionate and playful, and wanted to run around (as well as he could, anyway). He is a delightful child."

A "delightful" child!! We're getting a delightful child!! What incredible, exciting news. All we had of Emily was a few outdated photos, a short description of her personality, and outdated medical reports. And then, one gorgeous, recent photo before we travelled to get her.

We feel like we've hit the lottery. Sure, David will require a lot of TLC (Emily did), speech therapy (Emily did), and medical care. But he's "delightful"!! Oh little boy, "Baby Uncle David" as Emily calls you, we're sooo ready for you. You're well loved already. Your room is almost ready, and our hearts are ready to receive you. Get ready for lots of friends, fun, struggle, frustration, acceptance and happiness. We're giving you the wings to fly, little one. It's up to you to decide when to take flight.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, and big sister Emily
Your 3 sets of grandparents, your aunts, uncles, and cousins
Your friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends who are excited about you
Your new doggie, and 2 kitties

FedEx was here!!

Hi everyone,

Hurray! Yesterday our FedEx package arrived, with all of Qun Qun's paperwork plus the original photos. He's so cute!! No new ones, sorry. After anxiously checking the door all morning and waiting for Mia to bark, he finally arrived, a Steve Irwin lookalike! Too funny. Here's what he saw (note from an anxious mommy):


Believe me, it was necessary! FedEx drivers have left with my packages when the front door was wide open, and the dog was barking! Then it's a 45-minute drive to the FedEx facility just to pick the package up, no thank you!!

Say, where's Emily in all this? At a whirlwind vacation with her Papa and Rea near Ocala, FL. Apparently, she's putting all the kids to shame in the pool (she swims like a fish). And, "Papa/Rea", as Em calls them, are trying to indoctrinate her into big sisterhood by chanting David's name for fun..."Davey, Davey, Davey" and such. Meanwhile, Mommy's assembling brother/sister photos of all her nephews and her friends' siblings, plus finding story books on brothers/sisters. Any suggestions are welcome! Thank gosh Dora the Explorer has a new baby brother!

What's Next

Don't even ask! We have to:

1) Fill out our Waiting Child adoption paperwork, which includes writing an essay about why we want to adopt a special needs child.

2) Gather paperwork for a home study update, since our paperwork has been in China for 11 months now. This includes redoing the police background checks, financial statement, copies of tax records, etc. I dreaded the police record, because there's a "bad" Caroline Lewis in the county with a record, and her history comes up every time a report is run! Add to that the teenage father smacking his 7-year old son repeatedly in the parking lot (what brought the father there in the first place, I wonder?), and you have a lousy experience.

3) Refile our 600A (U.S. petition to adopt an overseas orphan), wait for approval, then travel to Orlando and possibly sit in line for 3 hours to be re-fingerprinted. Ugh!! At least this part is free. Timeframe to travel? Probably November, if all goes well.

Enough!! Give Us a Real Update

Sorry. Here's his story. At just 2 days old, Wei Jian Qun (Wei=surname, Jian=healthy or strong, Qun=crowd or group) was found abandoned in a cornfield in Tianjin City. He must have suffered from exposure since he had pneumonia. He's lived in the orphanage ever since.

He loves to follow the nannies with his eyes, especially at mealtimes. He can stand while holding onto things, so it's possible he might be walking when we get him. He claps his hands when he's happy, and makes "ah ah" and "ya ya" sounds. So he speaks Greek! ("Ya Ya" is Greek for grandmother.) Did you hear that, Uncle Iconomos? Oh wait, Ico can't hear us, because he's busy lying on the beach in front of his house in Greece, poor thing!! (We've been invited.)

The above information is from his 17-month development report. That may be all we know. He can grab toys and shake them, which is a developmental milestone. However, when we adopted Emily, she had shut down emotionally and couldn't do more than sit and flick her tiny fingers at a toy, so we'll be prepared for anything. Qun Qun will certainly grieve for his nannies--we just don't know how, yet. That's all for now.

Highlight of my day yesterday? Showing Qun Qun's picture to the Publix bakery employee who gives Emily her free sprinkles cookie whenever we go shopping. She happily exclaimed at the news, then hugged and kissed me. Too sweet. :)

More to come. Take care everyone,

Caroline

Welcome, Little Guy

Hi all,

Plans have changed...A LOT. Meet Wei Jian Qun. He's 20 months old and lives in Tianjin City orphanage, just outside of Beijing, China. What's the connection?

Well, he's our son. :)

The Story

We decided to end our quest for Madeleine. The wait has increased to possibly 2 years from now (we've been waiting almost 11 months). It seems like a door was slowly shutting on us and that this wasn't the road we were meant to travel. Kevin and I had discussed joining the Waiting Families program--to adopt a special needs child--for about 8 months now. We had to make sure we weren't joining the program simply to shorten the wait.

Then, a week ago, dialog reopened and we discovered we were both ready to open our home and hearts to any child--boy or girl, healthy or with medical needs. Maybe it was hearing so many families adopt special needs kids, including two dear friends...or seeing special needs kids growing up healthy and happy in our local Families with Asian Children group.

So, we completed the necessary paperwork and expected to submit it and wait many months more for a referral. Until we checked our agency's website for the children who hadn't found families yet. And there he was...





Little "Qun Qun" (pronounced "Chun Chun"), as he's called in the orphanage, has 3rd degree cleft lip/cleft palate. It's the most severe cleft. His lip was repaired when he was 1 year old, but the palate is split open across the roof of his mouth and will be repaired soon after we bring him home. He'll need ears tubes now, then additional surgery on his lip and nose in a few years. Maybe orthodontic work. Maybe additional things. But we read this description, and fell in love...

This little boy was born November 11, 2005. When he entered the orphanage, he was diagnosed with newborn pneumonia, omphalitis, congenital cleft lip and palate. He is an active and cute child. When it’s time to eat, he pays very close attention to the nannies and his eyes follow their every move. When someone talks to him, he will focus on the speaker and smile happily at her. His physical development is good. He likes toys that make sounds and he will reach out to grab toys on his own initiative. He can steadily hold on to a toy for a long time, and he will shake a toy to hear it make sound. He can sit steadily, keeping his upper body straight. He can also crawl on his own for fun and his legs are strong. When he is held, he can bounce up and down on his little legs. Now he can stand up by himself when holding on to a railing, and he can stand for a long time. He claps his little hands when he is happy, and he cries to express when he is unhappy. His language development is also very good. When he is spoken to, he will make “ah ah” sounds and sometimes “ya ya” sounds. He loves to act like a pampered child and likes the nannies to hold him. When he is held, he always smiles and looks at the nanny, happily waving his hands and feet, and excitedly bouncing in the nanny’s arms. Sometimes he will snuggle his head into the nanny’s shoulder and wrap his arms around her neck.

His new name? David Jian Qun Lewis.

More to come...

Take care,

Caroline