handsful

My ladybug yahoo group (reminder…we’re all Christian women, adopting from China) decided to have a Christmas ornament exchange.  I received my package today!  She gave me one of the Hallmark ornaments that I really wanted, the Forever Family.  Along the bottom of the tree, it says “Connected with a bond of belonging…Forever Family 2007”.  In the adoption community, the term “forever family” is used all the time…because when we adopt our child, we become their forever family.  She also included a Yankee candle in the Christmas Cookie scent…yum! Thank you, Melinda!

Lainey’s first care package! We took a trip to our local Babies R Us store this weekend. It’s been literally YEARS since we’d been in that store, and it certainly made this adoption even more real! We’re sending her an outfit, a soft cell phone that makes sounds, stuffed bunny, pink blanket, photo album with pictures of us (each labeled in Chinese), candies for the nannies, and a disposable camera that we hope will be used to take pictures of Lainey. We’ve heard from other families with children from Bengbu and they’ve told us that they did receive the cameras back on adoption day, with all the pictures taken. That would be so cool!

Friends from NC visited us on Tuesday and Wednesday, stopping here on their way to visit Family for Thanksgiving. We’re glad they did, we had a nice, relaxing time catching up. Here is a pic of our 4 kids and their 4 kids. Quite a crowd! This was taken on our neighborhood pier, that sits on the river. And, here is why we were there…

…playing with the potato gun! Look closely…it looks like a mashed potato gun to me!

Thanksgiving today was quiet, just the 6 of us. So, I bought a turkey breast and made a few traditional T-giving day dishes. It was great!! See Marley licking her lips while Randy carves?

Before we dug in!

While eating, we went around the table and talked about what we were thankful for this year. Lainey was high on everyone’s list. I’m imagining a highchair just to the left of me in this picture…or, maybe we need a bigger table? Or a bench seat on one side? Hmmm.

I got this picture from a family who adopted their daughter from the Bengbu orphanage, and they made a trip back to the orphanage last June. She shared this picture with me. This was taken in the old orphanage, a new one was built in August 2007. We have no idea if Lainey is one of these babies, but I can at least see what her sleeping situation might have been. She would have been just shy of one year old at the time this pic was taken.

See the nice Fed Ex man, posing for a picture while holding our daughter’s paperwork?? This may seem weird (yep, you’re probably thinking we’ve lost it by now), but this is a pretty common thing in the adoption community! When your referral information, the precious paperwork about your new little one, is delivered to your home you MUST snap a picture of the man responsible for delivering said information!

We almost missed the picture (gasp). The boys had a baseball game yesterday around 1pm, so we had to leave the house before the Fed Ex truck showed. As we rounded the corner, THERE HE WAS! Driving right toward our house! “Randy, turn around!!!” So, he did and we got back to the house just as he was walking up our driveway. I grabbed the camera (we had it for the game), jumped out of the truck, and walked up to the unsuspecting man. I had to wait for him to get off his cell phone and then quickly asked if I could take his picture, and explained that he was holding the information for our new adopted daughter. He looked at me as if I’d spoken Mandarin (which, I only know a couple words of that so far…). I actually had to explain this twice, before he “got it” and stood there for the picture.

So, there you have it. One China adoption rite-of-passage checked off the to-do list.

Here is the other picture of Lainey that we have. I imagine that maybe one of the nannies at the orphanage plopped her on the horse and then walked away to take the picture. Lainey looks less than thrilled to be posed, maybe a little anxious that she walked away? I’m just imagining, of course. As far as Lainey’s eventual attachment to Randy and I, it would be a good sign that she is attached to one or several of the nannies at the orphanage. Children have an easier time transferring attachment from one person to another than they do if they’ve never formed a secure attachment to another person. I’ve read what feels like a mountain of books on attachment, and I have 3 more on my bedside to read. There is so much to learn, and we want to do everything possible to help Lainey’s journey from her old life to her new one as easy as possible. So, lots of prayers and lots of reading. In that order.

Today, we received her official paperwork, which was over-nighted through Fed-Ex from our agency yesterday. (stay tuned for a story about that tomorrow!) Here are a few things that her Developmental Report says about her…

-at one month old, she liked to suck her fingers.

-after her surgery at 5 months to repair her lip, she was more active and open. She especially liked the nannies to hold her and snuggle her.

-at 6 months, they gradually added other foods to her diet, and she loved to eat them all.

-a description…she has a pair of almond eyes, a round face, and a broad forehead. Her facial features are full and her hair is brown. She is very lovely.

-at ten months, she could roll over in her crib freely and understands adults’ facial expressions.

-she is described as a deep sleeper with a restless personality, quick in reaction, and impatient at times. (uh oh)

It’s been a little more than 24hrs since we first saw Lainey, and our love has already grown!

Our newest daughter! Our referral call came in at 2:39pm, just as I was about to crank the truck to leave Office Depot with the kids! Here is her information:

Name: Ling Qing (“clear” or “sunny”) Qin (“hardworking” or “diligent”)

Birthdate: 7/4/06 (yes, our little Independence Day girl, born 3 days before Marley, Payton, and Ethan’s birthday!)…so, she’s 16 months old at referral time.

Province / Orphanage: Anhui / Bengbu City Children’s Welfare Institute

We’re over the moon excited, joyously happy, and exhausted! We’ll be sure to post more about the call, etc. tomorrow. Check out the “Lainey Info” page for another picture of her and a map to see where she is! Thank you to everyone for their good wishes, thoughts and especially the prayers. We are truly blessed!

** The boys baseball team lost their 2nd playoff game. They were a little bummed, but they’ve recovered. They have a last game on Saturday. It’s been a great season, and has made Ethan fall even more in love with the game of baseball. Payton likes it too, but he’s waiting for basketball season. :)

** We haven’t received a call about Lainey yet. Apparently, there are a lot of kids on this list (good news!), and it’s taking them a while to get through the translations and match children to families. We are anxious, hopeful, and trusting God to add to our family in His time.