December 2008

Lots of firsts and good news in December. December is loaded with birthdays and birthday parties in our family. Emma likes these as they come with ice cream, the one and only dairy product that Emma likes. Christmas was also a big thumbs up. I have never had a child thank me so many times for presents. She opened presents and just danced all over with excitement. This was definitely one of the best Christmas' ever.

We also have insurance approval for Emma's cochlear implant - better late than never! Hopefully sometime in January, Emma will be able to hear. This is incredible news. There is no definite date yet and if I've learned anything from the adoption process, it is not to get my hopes up too high until I've got a date in writing. But, I confess, I'm getting pretty eager for Emma to begin to hear. She wants to talk so badly and any little bit of sound that she could get could help her with this.

We also found out that she has been approved to begin in a nearby deaf/hoh TC classroom. This means that Emma will be able to attend a classroom where there is both spoken language and ASL. She is learning sign quickly and is so eager to express herself. We know that it will be a big help for her to have teachers and peers that use sign language as well. She will also get more speech therapy and can get the follow up therapy she will need for her cochlear implant. She starts in her new school after the Christmas break. On the sad side, she had made so many friends at the local school and it was hard for her to tell them goodbye. They had a big party for her. I can't begin to say how supportive the local school and her classmates have been. There are no words to explain how thankful I am for all of them.

Pray for us as we move into January 2009!

Settling In

November has been a fun month - I hate to see it end! For Emma it has been a month full of school, sleep overs with Cassie, reading her first book, 100% on a her first spelling test, learning how to say "Mama" and "Da", and settling in. Oh, and most important of all, hair long enough to put in pigtails! This had her dancing around the room excited!

Emma seems more relaxed with each passing day - always full of hugs and ready for the next adventure. Shopping is by far one of her favorite things. She loves to write things down on the grocery list, head off to town, and get ice cream cones from McDonalds.

She also likes to take care of people Feeding and putting band-aids on her family members are important to Emma. No matter how small her brother's injuries are, she drags them to me for inspection and treatment. Her Dad has also become the apple of her eye these days (and vice versa). She gets so excited when I say we are taking dinner to her dad, signing "My daddy is hungry!" She wants to put it all together and present it by herself. The other night she trudged across the field so she could hand deliver food to Vernon in the combine, refusing any help from me. I was sure she's spill it, but she didn't. And she was beeming proud when she handed it to him and then climbed up in the cab for a ride.

This Thanksgiving I am just so very thankful that this little girl is a part of our lives.

Cochlear Implant Update

I'm a little late posting this - but all the testing is done and the verdict is in: The Cochlear Implant team at Boy's Town National Research Hospital has accepted Emma as a cochlear implant candidate! We are waiting on some paperwork right now and then they will schedule a surgery date. We are SO excited for Emma. In the meantime they started her out with a hearing aid. She doesn't seem to notice sound much just yet, but they said this is normal and it will take time for her brain to start interpretting sounds. But, every now and then, she gets a funny look on her face, signs to me that she just heard something, and then nods thoughtfully. Too cute!

Today she is being evaluated by a nearby school that has a deaf/hard of hearing program that she may be able to go to. We are keeping our fingers crossed, as we think this will be a great place for Emma to learn more sign language and have access to all the resources that will help her catch up. Hopefully we'll get some Thanksgiving pictures soon. Emma's hair is getting longer and she's been SO excited about this! She put it in tiny pony tails and danced around her room!

October 2008

Lots of wonderful things happening for us in October. Brooke and Kyle are engaged and planning to get married next July in Jamaica. We are so excited and thankful that these two great kids are together and planning a future. It wasn't so long ago that they were in school together, playing saxophones in band and Kyle was circling our house on his bike. Now Brooke is an RN and Kyle is a computer programmer. They have more together at 23 than I did at 30. It is easy to be proud of them!

Blake is a Senior now, so he is busy looking at colleges and trying to get a game plan. He's only home a little bit these days, as he's juggling work, school, and spending time with his girlfriend. Again, very proud of this wonderful boy. He's looking at Nuclear Medicine and I'm so glad to see this. He's so thoughtful and kind, I know he will do well.

Daniel & Matthew are preparing to head off on a cruise to the Bahamas with their cousin next week. I'm missing them already. I know they will have fun and are in good hands with their aunt. I also know that this week will be a great memory maker for them. So, why is it that all I can think about is how much I will miss them!?!

Emma is making lots of memories too - school, pumpkin carving, sleep-overs, hay rides, and getting to know her extended family. All I have to do is sign DJ or Brooke and she is ready to get in the van and go see them! This week we will be spending 3 days in Omaha with the Cochlear Implant team from Boys Town National Research Hospital. If the testing shows it's okay to procede, it's very possible that Emma will have her cochlear implant activated just in time for Christmas.

I can't help but wonder how she will react - whether she'll like hearing or if the noise will bother her after so many years of silence! I guess all we can do is take it day by day. So many changes for Emma in such a short time. I have to hand it to her, she's always smiling and ready for the next adventure!

Talking to Jesus

Last night Emma and I were reading/signing a story together when my son Matt asked me something from the other room. Because Emma couldn't hear Matthew, she looked at me funny and signed "You're talking" and I pointed beyond the door and signed "I'm talking to Matthew." She nodded, we finished story time, and I turned down the lights. Emma grabbed her blankent and sat on my lap, Cradled in my arms, she signed "I'm you're baby." and I nodded "Yes," and smiled.

I picked up my Rosary and began to pray, Emma in my arms. She tapped me and signed "You talk to Matt?" and I signed "No, I'm talking to Jesus." She spelled out Jesus and pointed to the cross on my Rosary. I nodded and went back to praying.

Emma is unable to talk right now, but she laid in my arms and began to move her lips, quietly murmuring. I looked down at her and smiled again. She signed "I'm talking to Jesus."

I'm sure she was. And I know that He heard her too.

First Month Home

I'm way behind here! We've been home for a little over a month now and I haven't gotten a thing on this blog. The main reason is - busy, busy, busy! Busy helping Emma adjust, busy adjusting to Emma, busy trying to catch up, busy with harvest...

We are finally getting into a routine and things are calming down a little. Emma started attending school - very part time - about a week ago. She's only going a couple of afternoons a week, but so far it's gone very well for her. So well, in fact, that she will start going more pretty soon. I think she will enjoy this a lot - she watches the calendar and is so excited about the days that are marked as school days.

Our next few days are filled with hearing tests and consulatations regarding Emma's hearing. Her initial doctor visits resulted in her being referred to a cochlear implant team. She's doing great with sign right now - learning faster than the rest of us - but we are going to look at the cochlear implant option as well.

Wish us luck and send prayers! Here are a couple of new pictures of our little girl. One that was taken her first day of school and another taken this week-end after she finally got a scooter of her own. On nice afternoon's we go to the skate park and she really likes riding her brother's scooter when she's there. So, was VERY excited about getting a scooter of her very own!

Home!

Home! The saying is right, there is no place like it! After 3 planes and 18 hours in the air, we were sure happy to see Kansas City Airport and our oldest children, Brooke, Blake, and Matthew. Emma sat with the older kids in the backseat and seemed to have a lot of fun getting acquainted. She signed her opinions on a multitude of things - Blake's shoe choice (thumbs down), cows (thumbs down), planes (thumbs down), the new dolls Brooke brought her (definite thumbs up!), etc.

It was a long trip and she was so tired. Sleeping on the plane did not work well for her, so she had about 4 hours of sleep in 24 hours. By the time we reached Kansas City she was signing continuously that she wanted to brush her teeth and get to bed. The 3 hour drive from the airport was a long one for her, but she held up pretty well. It's funny, she acted like she thought we were lost and that was the reason it was taking so long to get home. She kept pointing for us to go in various directions, thinking this would help her get to her house. Thank goodness her siblings were there to take her mind off of how tired she was.

By the time we made it home, she was having so much fun with her brothers and sister that she decided bedtime could wait. Blake and Matt gave piggy back rides and Brooke helped her get her room in order. She learned their name signs almost instantly. After an hour or so of playing, she put on her pj's and plopped into her bed, sleeping almost 11 hours!

Today is going well too, playing and getting to know the animals. We were a little worried about how she would feel about our pets, but this is going well too. While the Victory is a nice hotel, it's so nice to be back to the farm and not feel so confined anymore. There is so much more for the kids to do here!

White Swan Pictures

Guangzhou Safari

Bob suggested a day at the "Safari" instead of the Guangzhou Zoo, and it was incredible. We had a great time. Tons of animals and just a beautiful park in general. Daniel thought this was the best tour of the entire trip. Emma ran around signing animal names and having a blast. All in all, a great day. In case you can't tell, in the last picture, Daniel is holding a white tiger cub! Despite all the fun, we're still missing home a lot though. I just can't wait to see Matt, Brooke, and Blake.

Video?

Hmmm... from China it looks like the video I tried to attach didn't work, so here are some pictures, just in case!

Yuntai Park

Better late than never! The digital camera was in the shop, but back now! So, I'm finally able to download some pictures. The past few days have been busy, but all is going pretty well. We're all a little homesick and eager to get back!

Got Pics!

Though it made an awful grinding sound, I was able to get the camera on long enough to take and download a couple of pictures from yesterday. I think the cold is getting a little better, which is good. I don't want to spend our time here held up in the motel room with a box of tissues and I'm sure Emma doesn't want to either.

If I can, I need to get a picture of her walking through the Victory lobby when she is on her way back from an outing. She greets everyone with a smile and can't wait to push the elevator buttons. She and Vernon practice counting in the elevator and she's very good at it. As the elevator goes up, she signs the number of each floor as we pass it.

When we first arrived you'd have thought she'd been staying in motels all of her life. She surveyed the room and explained what was good (thumbs up & big smile) and what was not to her liking (disgusted look on her face & waving it away with her hand). When she saw that there was a tv in the bedroom portion of the suite and another tv in the living room she jumped up into the air, pointed at both of them, and yelled for us to look. You could just see what she was thinking all over her face "Can you BELIEVE it?! There are TWO t.v.'s here!!" She's just so much fun and keeping us all very busy!

Adoption Day!

We are back in Guangzhou! The plane flight yesterday went great, with the exception of the last five minutes. Emma isn't a real big fan of seatbelts. ;-) Not counting that, she charged toward the plane ready to fly and grinned during the entire takeoff. She's just the bravest little girl I've ever met. Adoption day went the same way. She plopped herself on Daniel's lap in the waiting area and smiled all the way through the various office visits. She is using more and more signs all the time too. On our various trips she likes to watch out the window and sign flower, tree, and car everytime she sees one.

The only downer of the last couple days is that my digital camera is acting up. Some sand got in it from the beach the other day and it will only turn on occasionally. So, no photos for today. And I've managed to catch a huge cold. So, I'm taking a break for the day. Emma and I are hanging out at the motel watching Signing Time videos and drinking juice. She keeps checking my forehead to see if I have a fever. What a sweetie! So, maybe some pics tomorrow??? Hopefully I'll be feeling better then!

Emma Out & About

Today has obviously been a pretty good day! Someone is convinced that her dad is the greatest guy in the world, even IF he has a beard. His sign is now officially Papa Bear! Also - Daniel was a superstar at the beach, with frequent requests for photographs!

We are with Emma

Emma is with us now! I'm having difficulty blogging, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post while we're here. For some reason, it happened to let me on this time, I'm not sure what I did right!

Anyway! Yesterday we met Emma at the SWI. After we met, we all went to Pizza Hut for dinner and then a little shopping. Everything is going pretty well right now. Every now and then she packs her little backpack and looks for the people from the orphange, bless her heart. But after she determines that she can't find them, she goes back to playing with us. She is such a character! LOL - with a definite sense of humor. I think she will fit in just fine at home! She's sleeping good so far, that was something that we'd worried about, but yesterday she took a short nap and then went to bed after her bubble bath.

She's very fussy about things and likes everything to be just so. Very cute! She's also so smart! When we were coming back to the motel room, we accidentally went passed the door to our room and she shook her head and pointed out that we'd missed the right door. She'd only been to the room once!

She likes to play with her Polly Pockets and dress them and coordiate their outfits. She's definitely very opinionated about clothing and what looks good and what doesn't. She wrinkles up her nose and shakes her head to show me that certain outfits just don't work together at all. Other outfits get a big "thumbs up" and a grin. I think we will go shopping for a few more toys tommorrow.

Well - back to bed for me. I'm not on China time or USA time right now, just catching little naps here and there and I think it's time for another one!

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support, please keep the prayers coming!

Ready to go

Our bags are ready and sitting in the hall. The next time I post, it should be from China. I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to post again. Our schedule is pretty packed those first few days. Please send prayers for safe travel and for a smooth transition for Emma. Thanks to everyone who has helped us on this wonderful journey!

Packing & Reminiscing

August is always a busy month around here - Daniel and Blake both celebrate birthdays this month, plus school prep, putting up hay, and trying to contain our wandering cows.

Daniel is 12 today and Blake will celebrate his 18th birthday while we are in China. Daniel has been begging for a Casio keyboard and we went ahead and got it for him last week-end. He's been having a great time learning various songs, and we've even caught Matthew playing a little too!

Brooke came down and celebrated with us and helped Daniel get started. It wasn't so long ago that Brooke lived here on the farm and filled the house with piano music. LOL. She now confesses that sometimes she played "extra loud" when she was frustrated with us. Daniel's keyboard has a set of headphones, so he won't be able to do that!

We will celebrate Blake's birthday when we return. It's hard to believe that he will be 18. He's grown up so much in the past couple of years. In my heart he will always be about four, on a backyard adventure with Brian and sporting a big bruise on his forehead from his latest mishap. We once had to postpone family pictures for almost a year because Blake always had an injury in some stage of healing. Looking back I wish I would have taken the pictures anyway! Oh well, you live and you learn I guess.

What a blessing the kids are. I am so lucky that God blessed me with such wonderful children. And soon we will bring Emma home and He will have blessed us with another.

We have been racing frantically for the last week, trying to get a hundred things done before we leave. I think I may need to accept that there will be a project or two waiting for us when we get back from China! We were moving along so well until the cows escaped...

Our Travel Itinerary is In!

Aug. 14, 2008: Leave for China
Aug. 15, 2008: Arrive in Guangzhou
Aug. 16, 2008: Travel to Zhanjiang and pick up Emma!
Aug. 17, 2008: Sightseeing
Aug. 18, 2008: Sightseeing and then back to Guangzhou
Aug. 19, 2008: Paperwork and then shopping
Aug. 20, 2008: Pick up Adoption Certificate and sightseeing
Aug. 21, 2008: Shopping at Toy Market and Electronic Market
Aug. 22, 2008: Rest
Aug. 23, 2008: Paperwork and then sightseeing
Aug. 24, 2008: Sightseeing
Aug. 25, 2008: Sightseeing & pick up passport
Aug. 26, 2008: Consulate appointment
Aug. 27, 2008: Oath-taking
Aug. 28, 2008: Rest
Aug. 29, 2008: Head for home!

Consultate Appointment Confirmed!!!

Heritage confirmed our Consulate Appointment today! It's at 9am on August 26th! Now we can confirm some flights!

CA????

There is one more step between us and a definite departure date, and that is an appointment with the Consulate in China. We've received word that our appointment has tentatively been scheduled for August 26th, but we are still waiting for this to be official... (sigh) Please pray that tomorrow brings us some answers!

Where is Emma-Chu?

Emma lives in the city of Zhanjiang, located in southeast China near the Vietnam border.
Can you see it???

TA is here!!!

Our TA is here! We will (tentatively) be leaving for China on August 14th and we should be meeting with our little girl on August 18th! To say we are excited is a complete understatement. For now, we are busy putting the finishing touches on her room and getting everything ready for Emma's arrival.

Clothes & More Clothes

Now that we have new measurements, the shopping has begun!

Brooke cannot stop getting clothes for her little sister! Emma's suitcase has carefully coordiated outfits with matching shoes inside of it. We learned in a recent update that Emma's favorite color is pink. Brooke decided to make up for the fact that we painted Emma's room green by "balancing it out" with pink outfits!

Next it was my friend Angel's turn. Living up to her name, Angel went a little clothes crazy too! Beyond furnishing Emma with her entire 2008 & 2009 school wardrobes, Angel also made sure that Emma will have a dress for every possible occasion between now and 2010!

Can you tell that everyone here is excited about this little girl?!

Care Package Number Four

Our last Care Package made it to Emma's SWI this last week and it looks like it was well received! As always, we are so thankful that the staff at the SWI sends us such wonderful pictures and updates. She's holding a photo album with lots of pictures of us in it - and she's still smiling! We're taking that as a good sign! It's hard to explain what pictures of this little girl do to our heart. We are SO ready to hop on a plane for China. Hopefully in less than a month, we will get to meet Emma in person for the first time! Until then, our adoption agency staff reports that, after working with her sign language tutor, Emma knows the sign for each of us - brother, sister, mom, and dad! She's also learned about a hundred other signs too! This little girl is obviously very smart and was just waiting for someone to help her communicate!