Our NEW Family Blog site

I started a new blog site for all of our family adventures. From now on I will do most of my posting on that site. You are welcome to stop by and visit at www.heartsfullofpraise.blogspot.com

Jacob's first snow day with us

Today was Jacob's first snow day with us. He had a blast playing in the snow. He obviously has played in snow before coming to the USA because he knew exactly what it was and what to do in it. He had a great time. After playing for a while we came in and had some hot chocolate to warm up. He thought that was the greatest treat. I can't believe how much he has grown since we met him in September and how he fits into our family so well. He understands more and more English every day and is such a blessing in our lives.

9 weeks home

Jacob has been in the US for 9 weeks now. He celebrated his first Thanksgiving yesterday. He loves mashed potatoes. His preschool teacher sent a note home with him on Wednesday letting us know that they had their own Thanksgiving feast and that he sat there feeding his face for 50 minutes. No surprise there. This little one LOVES food. Praise God for little boys.

Halloween

Well it is getting harder and harder to post information only about Jacob when his life is so intertwined with the rest of our lives. I guess it is almost time to develope a family blog site. haha Here are a couple of pics of Halloween this year. Jacob thought it was a blast to get all dressed up and put pretend wiskers on his face. We went to church for a harvest festival. The kids had a great time. Jacob is doing so well. He has already gained 2 cm and 1 pound and 4 ounces. It doesn't sound like a lot but for his size it is huge. He is already out growing his clothes. He is learning English quickly and has no trouble letting us know his wants and needs. This past week was the absolute best week ever. Jacob and Annabel are really becoming great friends. There was a lot of jealousy the first few weeks which caused a lot of stress between them. But we are seeing less and less of that happening. Annabel will now let me hold Jacob without getting too upset. And they hug on each other freely when one of them gets hurt. We praise God daily for Jacob being in our life. He is such an incredible joy.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Jacob on his first Pumpkin Patch trip. We waited too late in the season to go. With all the nice weather we have been having it was clear that everything was dried out. Oh well. We really just wanted to take some fun photos. We finally got a photo of all 6 of us looking at the camera at the same time. Yea!!! Hopefully it is the first of many. I had to laugh when I looked at the photos. The four of us tower over the two little ones. haha

Home almost one full month

This Saturday will be the four week mark since we returned to the US with Jacob. He has been such a delight to get to know. I feel his adjustment and bonding has been wonderful so far. Annabel has had trouble adjusting to another child in the home but Jacob seems to take it all in stride. He started preschool last week and absolutely loves it. Today was his first day on what we call the "short bus". It is a smaller version of a regular school bus that transports children in early intervention preschool back and forth to school. It is an absolute gift from God. If it weren't for the bus that transports both Annabel and Jacob at different times during the week I would feel as though I live in my car. It allows me to get them the services they need while keeping somewhat of a nap schedule going for the one not in school at the time. It keeps everyone happy. He didn't like getting on the bus today but 5 minutes into the ride the driver said he was fine and when he arrived at school the teacher called me to tell me he was all smiles. Praise God. It has taken a few days to get adjusted to school but he loves it now. He has made a new friend and comes home attempting to tell me about his day. He jibber jabbers away telling me something. I am not sure what, but he is smiling while he tells us about his day. He sleeps great. All night without ever waking up. Now if we could just get Annabel to do that we would be doing great. Thank you for all of your emails asking about how Jacob is doing. It has been a huge adjustment having another preschooler (mostly on Annabel's part), but we absolutly love him to pieces. He constantly tells us he loves us and offers hugs and kisses. My kind of guy. It doesn't get any better then that.

Almost a full week at home

I cannot believe we have been home almost one full week. It feels like we just got off of the plane. It was a busy week of catching up. Annabel started Preschool. She loved it. Amber and Joey started back to their classes. I am so grateful they don't have classes every day because they have really needed a lot of time to make up for work they missed while gone. I think they are just about caught up. Mark started back to work. There is always a lot to do there to catch up. I have been working on getting us unpacked and trying to get life back to normal. It has taken me this entire week to recover from our trip. Not only the jet lag but getting use to our foods again. It's amazing how eating so differently for 2 weeks can put your immune system off balance so much. I got really dehydrated while over there. So I am trying to get myself rehydrated. As for Jacob????? That's who you really want to hear about, right? Well it is just so simple. 3 little words. HE IS AMAZING!!! I cannot believe his adjustment to us. He is so happy and so eager to learn. He asks us the name of everything in front of him and repeats everthing he hears. He gives hugs and kisses freely and absolutely loves receiving them. God definetley prepared him for this adoption. He went to the dentist yesterday. I wasn't sure how he would react. He did great. They cleaned his teeth and took x-rays. He never fussed at all. He got a clean bill of health. No cavities. Yea!!!! He is totally potty trained. He is great about telling me when he needs to go. He is sooooo proud of his Superman underwear. I had him in pullups this whole time we were in China because he had some accidents due to the food changes. He is now on track and not having those accidents. When I told him last night he was a big boy and needed to be in underwear he was beaming from ear to ear. He ran out of the bathroom and unzipped his pj's to show Joey his new underwear. He still sleeps with his shoes on during nap time but some times he does allow us to take them off at night as long as we place them right next to his bed. There are still some insecurities there. He is a great sleeper. Everyday this week except for one day when I had a friend stop by, he has gone down for a nap and slept for 2 hours. I actually have Annabel on the same schedule. It has been wonderful. So if you call or stop during nap time you probably wont get me. I am enjoying my naps too. haha I need them to catch up with this jet lag. I get quite emotional when I think about the fact that less then 3 years ago we sat in a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and God spoke to our hearts about adoption. It seemed like such a crazy thing at first. To step out on faith and travel around the world to adopt a child you have never met before. I myself certainly didn't have the courage to do something like that. How can you do that without God in control of it all. For those of you who have walked in my shoes you know exactly what I mean. To think that God didn't have each and every step of this process in His complete control would be so silly to think about. He knew from day one this would be our journey and my graditude cannot even be put into words. All I can say is I feel overly abundantly blessed. Not only that He has given me Mark, Amber and Joey to share my life with but that He loved us and Annabel and Jacob so much that He made the decision we would share our time here on earth together. Once you meet Jacob you will see what a complete joy he is. His personality is magnetic. He has a joy for life that I have not seen before in a child his age. For that matter I have probably not met many adults with that type of daily joy either. He wakes up with a smile on his face every single morning and afternoon. It is like he is saying "Ok God, what new blessing will I experience today?" We can all learn a wonderful lesson from Jacob. We sometimes allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in our problems. We forget to just live and be thankful for each day we have. He is a child who is clearly a "glass is half full type of person." I know he is too young right now to really understand about Christ and what He did for us. But I have no doubt in my mind that Jacob will be one of those men who's light shines for everyone around him to witness. I am so blessed beyond words that I will have the joy of watching that unfold. For those of you who haven't met him yet...I can't wait for you to meet him. No matter what kind of day you are having I promise he will bring a smile to your face. My faith has been stengthened so much over the last 3 years. I know the bible instructs us to have faith that God is in control of our situation. He knows what is best for us even if we don't. I use to really struggle with that because I wanted to be in control of it all. In reality I had reservations with both of our adoptions. There were times I was scared out of my mind not knowing what to expect. Not knowing if I could handle having a little one again in my home. What if I never bonded with them? What if Amber and Joey resented them? What if it never felt like I was their parent but rather a babysitter? Would I be able to handle their special need? The list of worries went on and on. But one thing stood firm in my mind. With both adoptions there was a crystal clear moment in time when God layed it upon our hearts that this was His plan and we were to just obey. Don't think about it. Just do it. That was a huge and I mean huge step of faith for me. I did not feel like I was in control which is what I was so comfortable with. I am so grateful I don't desire to be in control any longer as I did in the past. Thank you Lord for taking the wheel and knowing exactly what we needed in our lives even when we didn't. We serve an amazing God and I wouldn't want to change anything in my life right now. I just pray that when I start to take the wheel again Lord that you gently nudge me and remind me that You are in control and not I. Thank you for all four of my children Lord. Thank you that they all bless our lives daily. I cannot imagine life without them. I pray you pour your blessings out on their lives and that each of them desire to serve you while they are here on Earth.

Home Sweet Home

As Dorothy would say, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home". At 4:30 am we received our wake up call to start our long journey home and 28 hours and 30 minutes later we walked through our front door. I have never been so happy to see my house before. I won't post much now as I am exhausted as you can imagine, but I will let you know that everything went beautifully on our return trip. Annabel and Jacob never cried on our long 11 hour flight home and actually slept a lot. Our first flight was another story for another day. But praise God for happy endings. I am off to bed. God Bless!!!

12 hours-but who's counting

12 hours and we will be sitting on a plane headed on our way home. We have had a wonderful 2 1/2 weeks filled with many wonderful moments. Our kids have toured places they would only have read about in school books and we have really enjoyed this time together as a family. We were able to experience together the moment we saw Jacob for the first time and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him. But our time here was also filled with some down times in which I needed to feel Gods presence so much. 6 days ago I sat in church and cried my eyes out because I was so home sick and saddened because Annabel and Jacob were fighting so much. I asked my self if things would ever calm down between them. Would they ever love or even like each other. Amazingly enough the sermon that day was on FAITH and how if we just have faith God will keep pouring out His blessings on us. I found it so amazing to sit in a Chinese/English service in which so much was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time and hear something that touched me so much. I took that to heart that day because I knew it was meant for me. God is never too far from us is He? Even half way across the world He knows what we need. It is amazing how things have turned around this week. Of course they have their little preschooler moments, but they have really bonded to one another in so many ways. If only they knew how much they had in common. I believe in my heart one day they will cherish the fact that God brought them both from across the world to live together as brother and sister in a home with a family who not only loves them but who are committed to raising them to know and love their Savior. I pray they both one day know just how special they were to be on this journey. I use to feel so saddened that they would never know their family history, but the more I think about it the more I realize it was ordained by God that this would be their path in life. All I can say is God must have some amazing plans set in place for them. Thank you so much for following our journey to China and for your wonderful comments and emails. It felt wonderful, especially on those homesick days to know that we had friends and family praying for us from a far. I have valued each day I was here and loved getting to know the Chinese people and culture. We have been treated wonderfully and will do all we can to raise our children knowing and loving their Chinese heritage, but I will tell you without thinking twice though that I am more then ready to come home. I miss everything about home. Please pray for our safe return home and especially for the weather. We are being hit tonight with very strong rain and lightning storms. We are praying it is past us by morning so our flight will not be delayed. The next post from us will be from our living room. God Bless!!!!!

24 hours and we will be on a plane

YEA!!!! This time tomorrow morning we will be on a plane. We have a very long day tomorrow. 4 hours to Beijing, a 4 hour layover in Beijing and then a 12 hour flight home across the ocean. Keep us in your prayers not only for our safe return but for our sanity. haha The bucket in one of the other posts had a bunch of snakes in it. It was from one of the local restaurants. Yuck!!! We chose not to eat there. Yesterday was a great day. They typhoon that hit two days ago and caused so much flooding was gone and the sun was out. But it wasn't that hot. So we went to the zoo in the morning and then finished up our afternoon with our red couch photos of the kids and some more shopping. Have you ever tried to get two hyper kids to both sit still and smile for a photo. (They had ice cream prior to photos) We gave up after about 150 shots. We video taped the whole thing. It will keep us laughing in our older years. We seem to attract quite the crowd everywhere we go but especially during photo time. The locals here are convinced Annabel and Jacob are twins. It is very funny. I don't think it is even possible to adopt boy/girl twins from China, but every one thinks they are. haha It has been fun. Mark said he is just going to start saying "yes" when they ask if they are twins. And then when they ask how old they are he will say "2 and 4" just to add a twist to it. Well enjoy the photos. We are off for our last day of sightseeing with our guide today. We try to do things as early as possible before it gets too hot. God bless!!

Flooding flooding flooding......

Remember when I said it rained yesterday? I wasn't joking. This is what we woke up to.

Day 4 in GZ

Today is day 4 in GZ and we had a wonderful reprieve from the humidity. It rained and rained and felt so wonderful. We actually spent the afternoon in the outdoor pool in the rain and absolutely loved it. It felt so good. Jacob is really enjoying the water now and Annabel, with the help of her water wings, is swimming on her own now. I can't believe what a fish she is in the water. Jacob's only problem in the water is that his eye lashes are so long that they stick together when his face gets wet and he can't see. It is quite funny. We spent the evening again in the family room with all the other families. It is my favorite part of the day. Most of the other families we have met share our faith so we have had some wonderful conversations. We shopped a little bit today here on the island. We don't really need anything, but we found a couple of nice Christmas gifts. Tomorrow we do need to find a Chinese outfit for Jacob so he has one to take home with him. It has just been too hot to shop. Everything went great with the Consulate today. No problems at all with our paperwork. All we have left is tomorrow at 2:30 we have our swearing in ceremony and pick up his passport with visa. Then we are done. He will officially be ours in the eyes of the US. Praise God we are nearing an end to this journey. It has been absolutely wonderful having Amber and Joey with us this time but I know they are more then ready to head home to their routines, friends and their own beds. Annabel and Jacob got along quite well today. Just one or two mishaps in the playroom over the toys. I believe they are making great progress. God has blessed us more then we can even comprehend with this adoption. Jacob fits into our family perfectly. It is amazing how He always knows what we need even when we don't. It is crazy and noisy and busy with two little ones, but when one of them wrap their arms around me and hug me it makes it all worth it. And hearing either of them yell "mama" from across the room makes my heart melt. We have definitely done a lot of laughing at the silly things these two do. They are starting to conspire together with some of their crazy things. Oh no, watch out!!! well we are off to put these two little ones to bed. I think after a day of swimming and playing in the playroom they are more then ready to fall asleep. God Bless!!!

Day 3 in Guangzhou

Well today was day 3 and it is still as hot as ever. Although I don't think it was quite as humid today as it was yesterday. We got off the island today and enjoyed one of their many large shopping malls. It was crazy busy. As you can see from the picture everyone takes a double take when they see the kids. They keep asking us if they are twins. Amber and Joey are so use to being stared at that it doesn't seem to phase them any more. Everyone says Amber is tall. She thinks that is funny since she feels so short back home. haha We borrowed a double stroller from one of the local shops which made shopping so much nicer. I think it helped Annabel and Jacob bond a bit as well. We were afraid they would sit next to each other and clobber one another, but that didn't happen. Well, maybe once or twice. haha For the most part they did fantastic. I think we had a turning point today. Annabel did bite him really hard for no apparent reason so obviously she hasn't completely accepted him yet, however he did allow her to hug him in order to apologize without knocking her over the head. Yes it has been fun. Go ahead and laugh out loud. It has been like a three ring circus with these two. Remember the expression, "Can't we just all get along?" Everyone here who has been through this keeps telling me once we get home it will get better. We can only hope. As for Jacob, he is doing fantastic. He wants us over all the shop owners when they try to hold him. He is doing a great job of bonding and learning English. He giggles and laughs all the time and loves to be silly. Believe it or not right now he is running around the room playing without any shoes or socks on. Now that is progress. That is the first time since we got him that his feet are bare for more then the required bathing time. He is feeling more comfortable with us. We also had our medical appointment today. All went well. We told the Doctor that Jacob is still having loose stools. His solution was for him to not drink cold water. hehe We thought that was funny. His ears looked great. And all else was well. 5 more days and we are on a plane. Praise God. I am ready to come home. We did however have a great dinner tonight with a friend of mine that adopted a little girl from Annabel's orphanage. We have been corresponding for over a year now on the computer so it was fun that both of our families are in GZ at the same time. We had a great dinner. We then hung out with a bunch of other families in the family play room at our hotel. That seems to be our nightly hang out and chance to talk with other adults in English. We are enjoying that relaxing time. Thanks for following along and offering us your prayers and support. God Bless!!

Day 2 in Guangzhou

Good afternoon from the hottest most humid place I have ever been. Oh my goodness we can barely stand it to even walk outside. It isn't even the type of heat that makes you sweat but rather the type of humidity that makes you feel sick to your stomach within seconds of leaving the hotel. So we have really been enjoying all the benefits of our hotel. They have a great play room that the kids have enjoyed and of course swimming is always on the top of Amber and Joeys list. This morning we attended the Christian Church down the street from our hotel. It was a Chinese/English service. I loved hearing the songs I am familiar with sung in Mandarin. By the time we got to the English songs I was in tears. I am so ready to come home. You can only live out of a hotel for so long. I miss my bed, my house, my friends and most importantly my cooking. haha I could just go for a big glass of cold milk right now. haha They pulled the milk off the shelf here due to the recent contamination. Today Mark ordered a drink from Starbucks. They used Soy milk as a substitute. He took three sips and threw it away. It was so nasty tasting. Jacob continues to amaze us with his adjustment. He is just very happy go lucky and picking up English and sign language very well. All the shop owners today held conversations with him to try to figure out if indeed he was 4 or younger. They felt based on their conversations he is 4 because he talks very well with them and he kept insisting he was 4 when they would ask him if perhaps he was younger. They all said he is very smart. He is sleeping through the night and takes a 2 hour nap every day. He is still sleeping with his shoes on. He has a melt down if we try to take them off. It is all we can do to take them off for a bath every day. He is finally trusting us enough to know that if we take them off and put them right next to the tub he will get them back after his bath. He is finally starting to show some emotions when it comes to other areas. Tonight Mark was leaving the play room and he completely fell apart because he wanted to go with Mark. He also falls apart if Annabel takes something of his. I am sure that is not only normal behavior for his age but part of being in an orphanage. And we hope some of it is that he is finally starting to mourn the loss of his foster family. He still carries his photo album around and shows us his "China mama's" photo. We affirm him and tell him she is so pretty and loved him so much. I will have to put her photo up in his room. I don't want him to forget how much she loved him. Honestly Jacob is not our biggest issue. It is totally Annabel. Poor thing is totally confused and is acting out so much because of her jealousy over Jacob. Please pray for her. We dont want her in any way to feel less loved but we also cannot allow her to hit and act out in some of the ways she has been. She is normally such a sweet girl (with a mean streak from time to time) haha but in the last few days she has really thrown some major temper tantrums. I am sure a lot of it is being in a hotel as long as we have. I believe she is more then ready to head home too. All we can do is love her through this transition and pray for her. The funny thing is that she acts exactly the way Amber acted when Joey was born. It is like we are reliving the past. haha By the way the pictures of the water are pictures from our hotel room. We have the most amazing view. we were able to get joining rooms with the kids so it has been fun being able to go back and forth without having to go into the hall. Well the internet connection at this hotel is not quite as good as we had in the past so I dont know how often i will post. But I will try to post when I can get on. Tomorrow is the big "medical appointment". That is at 9am and then we are free for the rest of the day. We did a little shopping here but the prices are not as low as they use to be. So it isn't quite as fun as before. But we have managed to find some fun things at some great prices. I think Amber is having the best time shopping. Thank you so much for following along. We would still love your prayers especially for little Annabel. Bless her heart. We can officially say we will be home at the end of the week. Praise God!!!!!!

Made it to Guangzhou

We made it to Guangzhou safely. We immediately went to Lucy's for some American hamburgers and french fries followed by some ice cream from the local 7-11. As Joey would say "good times, good times". The kids slept most of the plane ride which was an absolute blessing from God. They both melted down this morning before we left for the airport. It was a riot. Jacob is very possessive of his things including things that belong to us so you can just imagine how he hit the roof when we had to check in our luggage. Then when we entered the plane we had to leave his stroller. Melt down central. I kept asking the stuartess to explain to him that his stroller would be there when we landed but they didn't speak enough English to understand what I was asking. Oh my goodness we were so grateful they both fell asleep during take off. God had His hand on that one. There is no way possible Mark and I could have made it through that hour without the help of Amber and Joey. We can laugh about it now. We love the hotel we are staying at. It has a playroom which has been a huge blessing. We can take the kids there and they can run and play as much as they please. It is super super hot and humid here. I am very excited as we get to go to church tomorrow morning. I am so looking forward to so good worship music. I miss that very much. Then we have the rest of the day free to do as we please. it has been so fun walking around the island and seeing all the other adoptive families with their new children. This is where every family has to come to complete the American side of the adoption. It should be a great week.

One year with Annabel

It has been so special spending our one year anniversary of receiving Annabel here in China. I cannot believe she has been with us for an entire year. Time goes too fast and it has taught us to value each and every day with our children. All to soon they will be grown and gone. My favorite new song is "Cinderella". I am sure it is true for many of you as well. It just reminds me each day is a gift and not to spend too much time worrying about what the future holds but rather to enjoy the day God has given me. We love you precious Annabel. You have blessed our lives more then you will ever comprehend. I thank God every day for you and I am so grateful that your China mama did such a kind act of love by making it possible for us to raise you. Thank you for loving us back unconditionally.

Last day in Zhengzhou

Today was our last day in Zhengzhou. We fly out tomorrow morning and will head to Guangzhou for our last week here in China. I am actually looking forward to having a full week there to take in some of the sights. The kids are thrilled because they haven't bought any souvenirs yet. We told them to wait until they got there as it is less pricey there. Jacob had another great day. We are starting to really see his personality come out. He has been singing A LOT. And I mean a lot. he has sung for at least 2 hours tonight as Mark and I packed. Don't know what he is saying though. He has already learned the Barney clean up song and has mastered the term "China Mama". He looked at his photo book for hours tonight and kept telling us that is his China Mama. then he would point to me and call me "mama". Maybe the mourning process has begun. We just haven't seen anything yet. he is so happy and content and is hugging and snuggling with us as though he has been with us all his life. Our only issues are basically jealousy issues between the two little ones. Annabel is struggling at times so we just have to keep giving her extra love. She likes to play with him though. In a photo below she is trying to do his hair like hers. He is mastering communicating with us. He is learning some signs to make it easier but he is picking up English very quickly. We are finding he is very quiet in the mornings and throughout the day and after dinner at night is when all the singing and talking come in. That fits his schedule at the orphanage too. he was there all day without alot of one on one interaction and then was with his foster family at night. Maybe they did a lot of singing at home. So far he seems completely totally adjusted. I told Mark I keep waiting for him to break down but maybe it wont be until we get home. we did notice today that he can lay on the waterworks when he wants to. He hit Annabel and we firmly told him "no hitting little sister" in Chinese. He starting balling and the tears flowed down his face. I have a feeling he was a mama's boy. hehe Today when he hurt himself at the Museum (oh yeah we went to an awesome Museum here) our guide tried to pick him up and comfort him. But he demanded to go into my arms. Yea for bonding with Mama. I gladly loved on him. He was fine immediately. We notice that once he has something he likes he wont let go of it. We gave him a hat today for the first time. He wore it everywhere including during his nap. I think he is so afraid someone will take the things he loves. He refuses to take off his shoes and Annabel will not leave hers on. They are like polar opposites. haha well I am off to bed. Early flight. All is well and we continue to ask for your prayers for a safe travel tomorrow and another great week with our new son. God bless, Tamara