Four Years of Blessings

Four years ago on September 17 during the Moon Festival in China, Sam became part of our family.  I can't imagine my life without Sammy as our son.  He is truly a blessing to us.  To honor the day, we went to an "artful" Moon Festival at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and dinner at P F Changs. 

At the Art Museum, we saw a Lion Dance and to our surprise a picture of Sam and Lindsey feeding money to the lion for good luck showed up the next day in the Sunday newspaper entertainment section.  We also did chalk art, decorated paper lanterns, made paper Peking opera masks - at least that was the idea, the end result looked quite different but the kids had fun.

Picture in the newspaper, Sam with Lindsey behind him are feeding the lion

Annual Agency Picnic

Every year the last Saturday in June, the adoption agency we used for adopting Lindsey and Sammy from China has a picnic in a park very close to where we live. We've been going every summer since 2006 after we came home with Lindsey late 2005. It's fun to see how much the kids have grown from year to year and to see the new little ones brought home.

Father's Day 2011

We had a full and fun Father's day starting out by letting Daddy know just how much we appreciate him by getting him an ice cream cake and cards to celebrate the day.  We even had a surprise visit from our friends, Rick and Chris, who stopped by on their way home from camping over the weekend.  We hadn't seen them in a while so it was great to visit with them.

Then Lindsey and I met Cindy and Brian at the movie theater to see Kung Fu Panda 2.  I had heard there was an adoption theme to the movie (Po, the Panda, goes in search of his early beginnings before he was adopted by his father who is a goose.)  I didn't realize how heavy the adoption theme was, though, and found myself getting very emotional at the end when Po finds out about his birth parents, and how he came to be found by his adoptive father, the goose, but tells him "you'll always be my dad!" 

I asked Lindsey on the way home if she understood Po's beginnings and where he was from and she said, "yes, Pandas don't come from fruit baskets" (his adopted dad found him in a radish basket).  I think she really believes that most people are adopted because that's the reality of our family.  She asked me not that long ago, "Who adopted you, mom?"

http://youtu.be/YIW5oo-8NYw

Finally in the evening we had a sitter come over and Blain and I went to a heavy metal concert and saw the New York Dolls, Poison (I'm a Bret Michael's fan) and Motely Crue.  Nothing like some head banging music to end the weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTy9cG8Njok

Weekend Alphabet Soup - NYC & SLC FCC CNY

I had a great weekend getaway meeting up with my good friend Lily in New York City (NYC).  Meanwhile on Saturday, Blain and the kids went to the Salt Lake City (SLC) chapter of Families with Children from China (FCC) celebration of Chinese New Year (CNY).

On top of Rockefeller Center



Dressed up for the Party



Lindsey's Family Day and the Christmas Village

Today is Lindsey's family day.  Five years ago in Nanning, China on December 19th we became new parents to a beautiful little girl we named Lindsey.  She is such a beautiful spirit, wonderful daughter and amazing big sister to Sammy and Carley.   She wanted Rudolph the red nosed reindeer more than anything else as a present for her family day, but she made sure that Sam and Carley got presents as well (the Abominable Snowman and Clarice respectively).

We celebrated last night with Oma and friends.  We went out to eat then walked down the block to see the Christmas Village in the town square.  It was magical with all the Christmas lights reflecting on new fallen snow and the cute little gingerbread houses. 

There was a Christmas "train" that drove around the block and thanks to Oma's over assertive ways, we got to ride in the car with Santa and Mrs. Claus.  Since we were pretty packed in, Lindsey even got to ride on Santa's lap.  Carley spent the entire ride repeating everything Santa said including lots of ho ho hos and Merry Christmases and waving to the crowds like a true ambassador of Christmas.

After the train ride, we walked to our friends condo a block away for home made hot chocolate and hot cider and gift exchange.  It was such a fun night full of Christmas cheer!

Sam's Family Day Dinner

September 17 marked the 3 year anniversary that Sam joined our family.  He's such a beautiful, smart boy growing up so quickly.  I feel so, so fortunate to have him as my son.

We went out to dinner to celebrate at the best Chinese restaurant in our area.  I ordered Peking Duck 2 days beforehand as a special dinner for everyone.  Too bad I was the only one who seemed to enjoy it!  No one else in the family was very impressed.  Lindsey even said in horror, "That's a dead duck!?!" (we might have a vegetarian in the making).  No one went hungry, though, because we also had plenty of rice (Carley's favorite food) and yummy appetizers.  And I had plenty of Peking duck leftovers to take home.

My Gym

A good friend of ours and her 2 children joined us for a playdate yesterday.  We  enjoyed an early piza dinner than headed over to a children's excerise playcenter called MyGym.  http://www.mygym.com/  Lindsey and Sam have been taking weekly classes there since November and absolutely love it. 

We also had a really fun family party there on December 19th celebrating Carley's and Sam's birthdays.  This was also the 4 year anniversary of when we were given Lindsey in China, aka "gotcha" day.  It's hard to  believe that was now over 4 years ago.  She's grown from a beautiful baby to an even more beautiful young girl.

I didn't take any pictures last night because sometimes it's more fun to actually play with your kids and visit with friends then try and take pictures of the event.  So I'm going to post pictures I took at our family party instead.

Update on Haitian Adoptions from our Agency

Like the rest of the world, we have been watching the news from Haiti with great sadness.  Having adopted internationally, I'm especially mindful of the families that were in the process of adopting from Haiti and how desperate they must feel to be united with their children still in Haiti.  The agency we used for our 2 adoptions from China, Wasatch International Adoptions (WIA), also has a Haitian program.  They sent out a newsletter with the following information.  I am not trying to solicit money for this particular organization, although I personally will be giving them a contribution.  Please keep the orphans of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

 http://www.wiaa.org/

WIA works with several orphanages in Haiti and all of the orphanages suffered damage. One orphanage is completely destroyed. We are scrambling to send money to our Haitian coordinators so they can purchase food and water for the children. Long term efforts include repairing damaged buildings or in some cases building a brand new facility for the children. Money is desperately needed in order to do this. Please send donations to our office – no donation is too small and every penny donated goes directly to Haiti. All donations are tax deductible and all donors will receive receipts for tax purposes.

We are currently working with 27 families who are adopting 30 children from Haiti. Most of the children have been accounted for and we are so grateful that even though the orphanages they were living in were damaged or destroyed all the children are alive and unhurt. However, as of today, Thursday, January 21st, there are 3 of our children who are still unaccounted for. We are asking for your prayers on behalf of these children and their adoptive families who are anxiously waiting to hear they have been located and are okay.

Chareyl Moyes, our Haiti coordinator, left for Haiti on Thursday morning, January 21st. She was lucky enough to find a seat on a humanitarian flight to Haiti and she is now working with the U.S. State Department to see if she can obtain a humanitarian parole or maybe even an actual U.S. visa for about 50 children in the process of being adopted by U.S. families. The State Department has been difficult to work with but we are hopeful that Chareyl will be successful in her efforts to get these children out of Haiti and into the U.S. Our Haitian representative, Guesno Mardy, who is the director of Foyer de Scion orphanage, made several attempts to bring children to the U.S. Embassy during the week, but was unsuccessful in getting assistance from the Embassy staff. We soon realized that those orphanages that had U.S. coordinators on the ground in Haiti were the ones who were successful. For that reason we felt it was imperative to get Chareyl over to Haiti as quickly as possible. Chareyl is traveling with a group of people who will help her and the children while she is in Haiti. It is a very fortunate thing that Chareyl has been to Haiti many times and during those trips to Haiti established good relationships with the people working at the U.S. Consulate. Hopefully this will work in our favor and she will be successful in getting these children home. To read the most current updates on the situation in Haiti, please go to the U.S. State Department website – there are daily updates posted about what is happening in Haiti.

Adoptions from Haiti

We have been inundated with inquiries from people around the world asking if they could adopt a child from Haiti. Unfortunately adoptions are currently suspended in this country. The infrastructure in Port Au Prince has been destroyed, government buildings are in piles of rubble, and there is no government organization in place right now that can oversee the adoption process. At this point the people of Haiti must have time to look for their children and family members and the reunification of families may take a while. When this search is finished we are certain there will be many thousands of children left without parents or family and the need for adoptive families will be great. We are not currently accepting new families in to this adoption program, but are instead creating a data base of families who would like to go forward with the adoption process reopens in Haiti. If you are interested in pursuing an adoption from Haiti, or know someone who may be interested in doing this, please contact our office and ask that your contact information be entered into our data base. When Haiti resumes the international adoption process we will then immediately contact all families to let them know the adoption process is once again open and functioning.

The earthquake in Haiti has been a terrible and devastating tragedy for the people living in that country. We are so blessed
Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with the people of Haiti as we know yours are also. Let us all join together in prayer on behalf of the people of Haiti. We will be posting updates on our website as often as possible.

Family Visit

I'm way behind in posting so I'm going to try and do catch up posts.  The weekend before Christmas we had Carley's birthmother fly up for the weekend.  This was the first time we have all seen each other since we said goodbye to her at the hospital when Carley was 2 days old.  She flew back to Texas and we drove home with Carley in her carseat - only about a 15 minute drive from hospital to our home.

Needless to say, it had been a very emotional goodbye at the hospital and it was a very emotional weekend when she came to visit.  It was difficult at times but well worth it.  We found out so much about each other and really got to know each other as people.  I know there will be more visits with her in the future.  She feels like extended family now.

We had some pictures taken with her while she was here.  Below are a few of my favorites.

What a Weekend!

Carley's birthmother came to visit for the weekend.  It was an amazing and overwhelming weekend.  I'm so glad we had her come for a visit, though we're all exhausted. I think Carley found it difficult at times to be the center of so much attention.  She was indeed a princess for the weekend, but that can be a little too much for a baby to handle.

The Ties That Bind

An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,

regardless of time, place, or circumstance.

The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

        --- An ancient Chinese belief

 
Today I made arrangements for Carley's birthmother to come out and visit us in December right after Carley turns one.  She wants desperately to see the child she gave birth to and keep connected to her. We witnessed her saying goodbye and saw firsthand how extremely difficult it was for her.  We clearly know how much she loved this child.

A part of me is scared about the prospect of her coming out.  In some ways it's easier for an adopting parent to have a closed adoption where we have no idea who the birthparents are.  It's a mystery you wonder about but there are no fears of losing your child in some way to a birthparent - either in a custodial way or more likely in the emotional sense where the child might say they prefer their REAL mom.  I'm sure we'll still hear that anyway at some point because I can remember saying some pretty mean, petty and hurtful things to my parents when I was going through the tween years.  I guess that just goes with the territory of being a parent whether adoptive or biological.

Since both Lindsey and Sam were adopted from China, we'll probably never have any idea who their biological parents were.  After seeing Carley's birthmother going through the heart tearing emotions of giving up a child, I have a much better understanding of what Lindsey's and Sam's birthmothers probably went through.  I'm just so sorry that they won't have the same knowledge of their backgrounds that Carley will have.

National Adoption Month

November has been designated as "National Adoption Month" in the United States.  I feel unbelievably blessed that we have our 3 children in our lives and we have the privilege to raise them.

The Gift of Life

 I didn't give you the gift of life,

But in my heart I know.

The love I feel is deep and real,

As if it had been so.

For us to have each other

Is like a dream come true!

No, I didn't give you

The gift of life,

Life gave me the gift of you.

--- Unknown 

All 3 of our children we saw for the first time through pictures.

Lindsey, our free spirit

Our happy-go-lucky Sammy

Our cuddly Carley