Inn of the Sixth Happiness

I love this old movie with Ingrid Bergman. She plays Gladys Aylward, the English missionary who went to China and rescued 100's of children. I love the strength of her character and her sense of social justice for women. She became the foot "unbinder" and freed many women from this painful tradition. She adopts an abandoned baby girl who she names Six Pence (that's how much she pays for her), and that child is the first of scores to follow. I highly recommend it with a cup of hot tea!

Cyber Shower

Our July Dragonflies had our Cyber Shower and secret pal reveal tonight. It turns out that my secret pal and I had each other! She has been very sweet and sent these lovely gifts. It has made the wait so nice to have all these new friends. In some ways I feel like our future daughters are all related, having been in orphanages in China at the same time. It feels like we are all connected in an amazing way.
Thank you Amy!! 

OHGWQ

I just got so excited today about all the quilt squares I've been recieving that I had to spread them all out on the table and look at them. They are all so special and it's so fun to see the pieces for Abbey's quilt coming together. This week my cousin sent me two adorable fabrics. She didn't know anything about ladybugs being a good luck
symbol for Chinese adoptions or about my DTC group being the July Dragonflies, but she sent the cutest ladybug and dragonfly fabrics you've ever seen. Thank you Anna! 

 

 

 

Joy Unspeakable

Ever since I stepped on the pathway to adopt a baby from China there has been a deep joy springing up inside my heart. All my life the one thing I have wanted is to be a mom. I keep smiling to myself that it is finally my turn. Each day I feel a secret joy when I think about this baby girl. I used to weep from a sadness and an ache that only having a child could fill, and now I find myself crying tears of happiness that she is almost here. I just want to say thank you to God!

Patti and the girls!

My dear friend Patti and her two lovely daughters were coming through town this weekend and got to spend the night with me. They brought Abbey this adorable little rosebud sunsuit and hat. It's so sweet! Patti also shared lots of good "mom" tips with me. I greatly admire the way she has raised her girls, so she is a valuable resource for parenting. It was so much fun to have them here.

Registering

Well BRU makes things very easy! It took me hours, but that's because I had to study and ponder every item in the store - and ask the sales ladies and other shoppers lots of questions. I now feel very familiar with their inventory and have memorized the entire layout of the store. What a difference from the head spinning experience I had when I first went in there last summer.
Target was another story. After spending a couple of hours there I turned in my scanner to a young man who was new to working there. I had a feeling things weren't going to go well and I was right. He lost all my registry. I found that out because I had to go to another Target (because this one had sold out) to get a crock pot recommended by the Single Adopt China group. It has an automatic switch to warm after cooking for those of us who work long hours. When I went to the second Target they confirmed that all my work had been lost and I had to start over again. What I didn't know is that all Targets are not the same. This one was so much better. Everything for babies was all in one section - diapers, gear, toys, etc. The first store had things spread out all over the store - diapers on one end, toys on the other, and baby gear in the middle. The second store had a lot more options too. So it worked out well and it was so much faster the second time when I knew just what I wanted. I feel so good that even if I don't recieve these things as gifts, I now have a good list of exactly what I need.
One more thing about registering...I kept putting things in my cart that I felt were too small to put on a registery, and then taking them back out and scanning them on. All the little things add up! I did spend $40 on things I just felt I shouldn't register for. We'll see if others of you have this same experience. It's very hard to look at all this stuff and then leave it there at the store!

What the Gymboree incident led to...

The gift card at Gymboree would have been okay, but it did not stop there. It was like openning a flood gate that has been held back. It led me to Kohls, Carters, and Target. But up 'till now I had only bought some PJ's, so I think I've showed a lot of self restraint for the past year. Part of the fun of having a baby girl is getting to buy her a few outfits - and they were all incredible bargains.

I was so good...until....

Under great peer pressure from the July Dragonflies I remained resolved not to buy anything at the Gymboree Baby Sale. I even went and looked at it all with my niece and did not buy a thing. Then the other day I had brainstorm. I realized that I had a gift card to the mall that I had been holding on to for more than a year and a half (that's because I never go to the mall - I am a Target, Kohls, and TJ Maxx shopper). Well I then felt compelled to go to Gymboree and spend that gift card and this is what I got. 

My Busy Week

This week has been filled with the Hundredth Day of School (BIG celebration in first grade), Valentine's Day (another BIG celebration in first grade), Family Math Night, Staff Meeting, Chinese Classes, and the dreaded JURY DUTY. The worst thing about it is planning for a substitute. It is so much easier to go to work myself, as compared to trying to explain it all to someone. Anyway, I successfully made it through and can now move on to more important things for the weekend - like lesson plans, tax preparation, house cleaning, sorting out things for our church rummage sale, and registering at BRU. My shower invitations went out to our school staff this week and all I've registered for is the big ticket items, so I have to get busy.

Shaoey and Dot

The children loved the story. Here's a picture from inside the book.
I am so fortunate to have my church so involved in this process every step of the way! 

Children's Message

Today Mrs. Amanda (a.k.a. Mandy, below) gave the Children's Message at church. Once a month all the little ones come up from their Sunday School classes to "big church". They come to the very front of the sanctuary and sit on the floor and Mrs. Amanda always shares something wonderful with them. Today it was the book Shaoey and Dot, which if you haven't read you must! She then gave them each small baby bottles to begin saving their money in to give to the orphanages in China. Inside the bottles were notes asking them to buy children's socks for me to take to China as well. It's so fun to have the kids involved. They've been saving their offerings for months so that I can take it with me. Although the dollar amount maybe small, the love that's behind it will make it go a long way! 

Shower Invitations

My friend Mandy made the cutest invitations for a shower she is giving me with my friends from work. They look like little fortune cookies and the fortune says:
A treasure from the Orient is coming our way.
Celebrate!

This is getting me so excited. I better go finish registering this weekend.

Chinese New Year

This is my niece "A" with the Miss China Town princesses. Tonight we attended a CNY celebration with FCC (Families with Children from China). Our chapter is so large that we had to have two banquets, one with 700 people two weeks ago, and then the one tonight with over 600 in attendance. They had a delicious meal and great entertainment for the children. We went early and got to help set up all the tables and get little gifts and goodies ready for all the children. It was so special to see everyone in their beautiful Chinese silks.

"A" makes everything so fun!

There were performances by jugglers, magicians, and this girl who did some amazing balancing acts. Those are drinks stacked on tiers. 

"A" is always making new friends!

The Lion Dancers were fabulous! I loved the loud drums! 

 

Unbeknownst to me, "A" put raffle tickets in for an Adoption Baby Basket and won it for me. It was so sweet of her. It's got a kit to make plaster handprints, a baby album, cute little shoes, and stuffed animals.

Welcoming Your Comments!

Some of my non-blogging friends have told me that they don't know how to leave comments. I just found out that I needed to adjust my settings so that anyone can leave them. I've done that, and now you can. I love hearing what you all have to say, so please let me know that you are following along!

Something Wonderful!

I am so excited!!!! I just found out that my brother is going to be able to go to China with me. Yipeeee! He will be such a huge support emotionally and is great with cameras and computers, and that is very important to me on this trip. I am just so glad that he can be there for such an incredible event in my life. I've been on cloud nine all day!

Currently Reading...

This book has been a little tough so far. It comes very highly recommended as the leading book on bonding and attachment. It's just sad to read about the more difficult cases and hear what children and parents go through. Even though I am reading this for my daughter and I, I keep thinking of children in my school who are dealing with some of these issues. Many have suggested that although most children adopted from China do very well over time, it is good to know the signs for children who may have problems. There is a spectrum as to the gravity of attachment disorders and most of the parents I hear from are dealing with relatively minor adjustments, but it is important to know what is going on and why. Being abandoned is a pretty big thing to deal with. I am so thankful for the encouragement of the on-line world that lets me get a peek into the lives of so many happy families who feel that adopting their child was the best decision they ever made. And I love seeing all the smiling and laughing children who love their mommies and daddies. 

Mandy's Moon

I ordered some address labels and some thank you cards today from Mandy's Moon. She has some wonderful things that you can personalize. The cards I bought have an asian baby girl holding a Chinese flag in one hand and an American flag in the other.
I finally made a decision on how to spell Abbey's first name! Her Chinese name will be her middle name, but I am also hoping that it will lend itself to being a nickname as well.
Everyday it all seems more real.
I bought my first package of diapers last week at Target!

Baby Bundles

Last February I started my adoption process and in March I began working out to prepare for baby lifting. It was explained to me early on that birthmoms usually start out with a 6-8 lb. baby who gradually grows in their arms and they have some time to build muscle. Those of us adopting a child, who will likely be a year old, can go from carrying nothing to anywhere between 13-25 lbs. overnight. Many women have posted that they wish they had been more prepared physically to carry their babies. Because baby wearing is such a big part of attachment and bonding I decided I better get in shape! Fortunately I have a good friend who is a PE teacher and personal trainer. She met with me for a few weeks and got me on a great weight lifting routine. (Thank you coach Lara!) Of course it also involves squats, lunges, crunches, and my favorite part - walking. I work out 3x's a week. I wish I could bump it up to 4x's a week but it's so hard to squeeze the time out, especially with daylight savings. The July Dragonflies are "walking to China" to help distract us from our wait. We are each logging in all our walking miles each week and adding them up to meet the total distance to China. We all want to be prepared to climb the Great Wall. I also use my walk as time to pray for my baby, her birth mom, the trip, the orphanges, and those who work there. It's such a great de-stressor too. I hope I can keep it up when she comes home.