Coming Home!!

Hello Everyone!

As I write this I am extremely exhausted and ready to come home. Tomorrow at 8:00 we leave Hong Kong and travel a day and a half around the world with a new Fox! Please, please pray for a calm flight and understanding passengers as we make our journey. Aimee is sick with a bad cold and is passing it to everyone else. I just gave her cough medicine and she is jumping around her crib--I just hope the medicine will not do that tomorrow!!

Thank you for all of your prayers and sweet words while we were away. We have really bonded as a family these past two weeks, but  we are all ready to get in the swing of everyday living. Our flight arrives at 5:32 pm on Friday--Flight # 3676 from Detroit. We would love to see everyone, but we completely understand if you can't make it. Just knowing we are in your thoughts and prayers are wonderful!

Last time to say this...

Blessings from around the world....Laurie

Time for adjusting.......

We are now in the fabulous Garden Hotel, which is the nicest place I have ever stayed. We have a suite with 2 beds and a couch in one room, a king size bed and crib in another room, an office area with a desk and exercise bicycle, a huge cloak closet for all of our bags, and a beautiful bathroom with a bathtub overlooking the city and a TV on the wall! My kids are really getting spoiled!! 

        There are about 8 more Lifeline families here and a few Small World families and we are all having a great time. Yesterday we went to get our medical exams and TB test. WOW! What a morning!! Children were screaming everywhere---it was paradise! ha ha!! We took her visa picture first and of course, she was the one kid who made an ugly face, screamed and have to have the photographer dance and play the tambourine to get her to not arch her back and stay in the chair!! We all got  a kick out of her stink face later. Get ready everyone, the stink face appears more than the precious smile of her cuddling the bear in her referral picture!!

        The first counter we went to was the nurses' station for vital signs. She screamed, arched her back and poured tears from her eyes! When she was is not happy--everyone knows! We went to talk to the doctor next and she went over her charts from her referral. On there is said "mild motor development delay", so the Dr. wanted to see if she could walk. We put her on the floor and she just stood there. She has been walking all over the place, put she planted her feet on the ground and didn't budge. We told the Dr. that she can walk, so she just believed us. Next we had to take her clothes off----she hates for me to change her diaper, so I knew this would be fun! She is one strong little girl who has probably been through more in her short two years than I will ever go through. I think her fear of people looking at her bottom has to do with her surgery....heaven only knows what happened there or how it hurt. I hope she gets over that soon. We made it through the physical OK, so then it was time for the ENT. This was funny. For her hearing test, they took a squeaky pig and held it to her left side and if she turned when they squeaked it, she passed. Very in depth! They looked in her mouth and eyes, with help of mommy & daddy holding her down. Everything looked great! The last room was the TB test, and blood would be drawn. They took her from me, so that she wouldn't associate that pain with Mommy and a few minutes later, she came out---red faced and gator tears reaching for us! It was over! In the lobby of the clinic there was a vending machine with wine bottles in it. We all got a kick of that!! The overall verdict of most of these exams were positive. She appears not have a motor delay and when we get home we will check her spinal cord for any other problems. Praise the Lord!!! All of the children here precious and beautiful.    

    She got in the bathtub last night without crying!! Yeah! Every little step toward normalcy is celebrated! She even said "Mama" last night! She needed something and called my name and I helped her. She has not said it again, but I will be patient and take these little gifts when they come.Today she kissed Nickie on the cheek!! The light in her eyes is slowing appearing, and hopefully the love will come in her heart for us soon. Until then, we wait.........

    Tomorrow we are going to the Zoo and a dinner cruise tomorrow night. Lifeline (our adoption agency) has been amazing. This has been a life changing experience where I have seen God's hand so much. I have met incredible people who have big hearts for the ones who seem to be forgotten by the world.  The Father knows them by name and holds every tear they cry. They were created for a purpose and He has plans for them too. I am humbled by it all and can't wait for a little girl who has never said "Mama" to say it again and again.....

Blessings from across the world, ( more photos tomorrow)

Laurie

Day of shopping

Today we went shopping and it was an adventure. Lots of people and lots of


smells that we are still not use to! We are getting more and more smiles from Aimee Wei-Wei!
Love, Laurie


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Visiting the Orphanage

 Today was a great day! I was nervous about it at first, but I had a real peaceful feeling by the time we arrived. The orphanage is really pretty. Wuxi City is a rich city and the faculties were maintained really well. The orphanage is shared with a retirement home and is planning to move March 18 to a new facility for only the orphans. It was nice to have the elderly combined with the children so that they can love on them, but they need more space so they are moving and will not have the advantage of grandparent-interaction soon.

 

    When we arrived they showed us the letter that was found on Aimee. (See photo.) It's nice to have her birth mother's handwriting and I know that it will mean a lot to her one day! Savor read it to us and it said that because of her special need, the family cannot take care of her and hoped that someone would open their hearts to her one day! How wonderful! God had her planned for our family even before I was He created me!  I have such a heavy heart for all of these mothers. There is a 1 child law in China and if you can afford it, you can have another, but most don't. Our family gets many stares because we are so big compared to everyone here. That breaks my heart! We are so amazingly blessed....and don't realize it until you see how others live.

 

    There are pictures of her nannies in her room. They all seemed to love her a lot. She would not make eye contact with them and they acted like that bothered them, but I know they want to see the children bonding with their new families. There was one special nanny who made the bracelet for Aimee. Today was her off day, but she came in to meet us. She is the lady in the red sweater. The bracelet was a blessing for a good life or something like that. It looks like baby Moses' basket his sister put him in and placed him in the river for the Egyptians to raise. Actually it is a little bitty pit of a peach seed that represents blessings in the Chinese culture. These Chinese people have a symbol for everything! We are still going to call it baby Moses' basket--it sounds better that a peach pit on your wrist! Ha!--(was the peach pit the 90210 hangout?? that just made me laugh!)--You can tell I'm getting really tired!

 

    The photo of the little boy is the bed Aimee slept in and now has a new owner. There were 12 babies in her room and 14 babies in the class below hers. That's a lot of children under 2 years old that are waiting for families! We couldn't take pictures of the children. It was nap time and many were already sleeping. Aimee started crying really loudly and we had to leave. We gave them gift--the bracelets I made for the fundraiser-with small hearts instead of initials. We thanked them over and over for loving our daughter for 2 years. The orphanage director then took us to a really nice restaurant for a celebration meal. We really enjoyed it and he enjoyed it also. There are only about 10 adoptions at that orphanage each year---which seems like a low number, so they really want the adoptive parents to celebrate in the meal. There were about 214 kids in the entire orphanage! My girls got to try out the swatty potties at the restaurant! UGH!!! Not something that I want to do again! I should have had my Daddy take them in the woods and practice---silly city girls!

 

    We then went to her finding site, or where her birth mother left her. It was a nice hospital in the city, not too far from the orphanage. She was left by a door with her note, a red sleeper and a red blanket. We took pictures at the location by the DSA entrance. Aimee was in a jolly mood and ran around the area---so differently than how she was left! I wonder if her birth mother ever walks by that spot and aches with pain? I wish I could let her know that her baby was found and now will be loved forever.When we got back in the van Avery found the Casting Crowns song, "So Far To Find You", and this mommy held a beautiful little girl and wondered how I could have been so blessed to have found her.

Blessings from around the world.......Laurie

      

More Pictures of Sweet Aimee!

Here are some of the latest pictures of Aimee smiling! We are going sightseeing today so I hope to show you more tomorrow.Aimee has the sweetest bracelet on her wrist of a little boat/ basket tied to it. I am going to find out what it means tomorrow when we go to the orphanage. Savor, our guide, said it was some kind of blessing. Neat!

I lost my cell phone, so I will not get any of the sweet texts you send. I can read emails, though, and we love every encouraging word! If you need us, contact Nickie's cell. We love you and hope to blog longer later!

Blessings,

Laurie

Gotcha Girl!!!

 

Well, this is the day we have all waited and prayed for so long! Can I tell you that it went nothing like in my dreams? It was very professional and not really emotional. We were all in this big room with three or four families being united with their children. Wei-Wei arrived and was fine, but stayed close to her nanny. The children tried not to pounce on her, but were very excited. She wanted nothing to do with me, and was very warm towards Nickie, which was fine. I prayed a lot about her relationship with her father and hope she would bond with him quickly, and she did!

We went to a Walmart-type store and bought formula and diapers. Children here usually drink formula until age 3, so this was expected. She is not 21 pounds like they said---she weighs a lot more and we are going to have to buy bigger clothes! Her shoes were little boy type, so we tried to buy her some tonight, but we couldn't fine any. She is very tiny around, but tall, so the 12 -18 month clothes are too short. We fed her noodles tonight and she likes Cheerios. She is getting along well with her brother and sisters. They really want her to love them more, but that will take time. On the way home from the Civil Affairs office she fell asleep in her daddy's arms. He placed her in the crib and she slept a little while. She woke up and cried and I grabbed her and she hasn't let me go now! I guess it just took some type of mothering for her to let me in her heart. We bathed her and washed her hair and I gave her a bottle. I got many sweet smiles from her tonight---she has the same sweet smile as her photos! She is asleep in our bed now and I am very tired, I know you really just want to see her, so........here is Aimee Love-Wei Fox (formerly known as Wei-Wei)

Last Day of Mother of 3!

  We finally made it to the wonderful city of Nanjing, China! Tonight is the Festival of the Lanterns and EVERYONE is in the city. Fireworks are booming right outside our window. Our hotel is nice, but everywhere smells smoky---Chinese people like to smoke! Avery was sick on the plane today---filling up 3 "barf bags" as Annie calls them. Later she threw up in the hotel as we were checking in and luckily I had grabbed another bag from the plane----a great way to start our adventure! She is super sensitive to the smells and they are VERY strong. Our hotel is connected to a huge mall and on the bottom floor of the mall there is a big food court. We walked down there and immediately she was feeling sick again--so we left. We found a McDonald's and all, except Avery, ate the traditional "Happy Meal". It was fine--almost the same taste as home.

    Our guide for the week is named Savor and she is really sweet. She gave me details of our BIG day tomorrow. We are meeting her in the lobby at 1:30 and will go to the Civil Affairs office for a 2:00appointment! We will then be united with a sweet little girl, whom I've only seen in pictures. My nerves are uneasy but I know that My God is Big and He has set this in motion when He first formed me! He put this family together and His Sovereignty is seen in that formation.  

    We have the sweetest crib in our room---hopefully she will want to stay in it all night! I can't believe this day is finally here. When I look around at all of the people celebrating with their familiestonight, I can't seem to think about those children who have never experienced a family celebration at all. This city is rich in traditions--especially family traditions. I wonder if the birth mothers are thinking about their babies on a night like tonight? I wonder if the children can see the fireworks outside of their windows? I wonder if they are scared when they hear the pops and booms like my kids are sometimes. I wonder if the workers tell them not to be afraid, and to go back to sleep? I wonder if they ever say that Mama and Baba are coming soon..... I wonder if they will ever have a family. The Lord says that He sets the lonely in families....I know that for a fact. I just wish there were more families wanting the lonely. There will be one less lonely tomorrow....one more more family complete.

Tomorrow I will be a mother of 4.......

Blessings from around the world,

Laurie