one year... can it be?

It has been a whole year from this life changing day (and one week —thanks to my delay in posting this!). In one years time a great deal has happened and the journey has been filled with so many celebrations and a lot of hard things. Ian and Jovie are amazing children who have their own little opinions, personalities and a whole history before us that we don't even know about. It has been incredible getting to know these little people that I call my own. We have introduced them to so many new thing, celebrated family traditions, holidays, vacations, and had many firsts together.

This day a year ago Ian and Jovie were terrified, heartbroken and we were strangers. On this day, I don't just celebrate the day that we got our son and our daughter; this day that I had waited and dreamed of... I celebrate the distance we've come. I know that Ian and Jovie have lived more time away from us, than with us. We are bonded, we are whole-heartedly one family, and today Ian and Jovie know what family means. They have received a year of our unshakable, unbreakable, constant love. In a year, we have seen them transform. We have seen them come to trust and have confidence, learn to rely on us, and grow to have a deep attachment with each other, and a strong affection towards us. I'd like to say we've moved mountains in a year...

In March last year, I wrote about Mae's famiversary and the tradition we wanted to do for our children. We want to celebrate who they are and how they add to our family. Adoption is not WHO they are... and this day is not like a birthday, but is a milestone nonetheless. It is a day that is special and a day to look back on... much like Cody and mine's wedding anniversary.  But I want to be careful in our talk about adoption that it isn't an identifier for them. God created Cody and I to be together, but being beautifully and uniquely made by him is a separate thing. Mae, Ian and Jovie will have a story that is different from their classmates and friends, and when their friends meet their mom and dad for the first time they might be surprised we aren't Chinese too. I hope that these precious babies will understand the importance of WHO they are, the incredibly amazing children created by a loving father. We all have a story. We are his, all adopted by him.  And that maybe they aren't so different.

So, back to the tradition for their "famiversary" or "gotcha day"... back in March, I made a list for Mae, of characteristics of her personality. I wanted to do this because I believe so much of who we are as a child remains the same into adulthood. And won't it be neat to see how they stay the same, and what might change? This is the list for Ian and Jovie. It made me so incredibly happy just doing this exercise, and I encourage you do this for your children.

10 Characteristics of Jovie Ming

 

10 Characteristics of Ian You 

 We went out to eat authentic Chinese food (absolutely delicious!) and afterward we lit two lanterns to send off for Ian and Jovie.  A sky lantern is essentially a small hot air balloon made of paper with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. A long time ago the lanterns were used as signals during wars.  Now they are commonly used for Chinese festivals, for good luck and to send wishes skyward. I love doing this because it is bold and beautiful. As we watch the fire float away in the sky it is a magical. It will fly up to one mile high, and travel for miles in whatever direction the wind decides.  Watching it light up the night sky and float away is breath-taking. This time we made sure to emphasis we were sending it off and saying good-bye to the lantern. Mae was so upset last time that she didn't get it back agian.

And as the lanterns float away, I pray for their hearts... and will continue to. Almost every week we are stopped in the store by a stranger that tells me how lucky they are, and every time I respond with "we are the lucky ones". I don't think they will feel like they won the lottery, like people seem to think. At the moment they found this family their pasts weren't erased, one adoption decree didn't solve everything. Yes, they have a family (a quite good one, actually), they have parents that would fly to ends of the earth for them, and they live in America.

But the truth is, they will grow up without ever knowing their birth family, who they look like, and even their medical history. They are Chinese but have already forgotten their first language. Just a year ago they had a whole life without us: a routine, friendships, and people that were daily in their lives that we know very little about. They will undeniably have questions about who they are and why they were given up... and we will do everything in our power to help them find the answers, if that is what they want. I pray that the missing pieces would be filled with the Holy Spirit. That the one thing that they would cling to is that there was One with them from the moment they took their first breathe. One that created the fabric of who they are, that knows every hair on their head and can wipe every tear.

What a powerful thing that is for a mom to fully understand. Their hearts are precious, to me, and I know to God even more so. I can try to shield them from hurt, I can grow them up surrounded with love and acceptance, have discernment to know what to say to them, and teach them to guard their hearts... but in the end the most important thing I can possibly do is to introduce them to their Maker.

Isaiah 41:10  fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The truth is adoption is a wonderful, but tragic thing. It is not without heartache... and I don't believe luck has anything at all to do with it. 

Gotcha Day

Our family of 3 about to turn 5, in front of the registration office. This is the same place we received Mae too! 

 We walked in and Ian was already there. I couldn't believe how cute he is... and oh so active! He was playing and very happy. He has one dimple and is so handsome.

 Jovie arrived shortly after that and she was very upset. She had gotten car sick on the way to us and threw up. She was completely soaked through all her many layers. Poor baby.

 We started undressing her and getting her cleaned up and Ian walked over with his cheerios and offered Jovie one. Sweet boy didn't even know that this was his Mei Mei.

 Ian's foster mom had brought him a pair of pajamas and she gave them to us to put Jovie in. What a blessing that was. Once she was cleaned up and in Ian's pjs she was quiet. She is very uneasy about everyone else but is very quiet.

 These 2 women with us are Ian's caretakers and they love our boy very much. Both of them were crying and tried to slip out the door but Ian saw them and ran after them and has been so upset since they left. He has not stop crying out for them. He is breaking my heart - he is so very sad.

 He fell asleep on the bus ride but back in the room he was back to crying out for his nanny.

 These pictures do not show how upset Ian is. He is crying out "my nanny didn't come back" and he points to his coat and wants it on and leads us to the door so we can go find his a yi. Please pray for Ian... he is having a really really hard time. He is almost three years old and has spent the whole time with his nanny. It is absolutely heartbreaking. He must be so exhausted from crying so many hours.

 They both ate congee and some bread and then they feel asleep.

Ian and Jovie asleep. This is a precious sight. 

So Ian is very attached to Cody and even though he is very much upset he still holds onto his finger and wants to be close to him. Through his grieving he is bonding with Cody. And Jovie Ming wants me to hold her and will not let me out of her sight. She has a weak little cry when I go to put her down but other than a couple of times she has been very quiet. She is so tiny and her little fingers and toes are purple.

At the airport!!!

We are flying out in just a few hours to China!! The day has finally arrived! I don't know how to put words to how I feel... the emotion is too great.  I can hardly even believe we made it here... We are just about to be on the same time zone as our babies. 

We are flying from Atlanta to Tokyo to Beijing today - loooooong flight!  This time we decided to make our trip shorter and aren't doing any of the tours in Beijing. Our travel time will be brutal. We are flying 14 hours to Tokyo, then 4 1/2 to Beijing. We land in Beijing at 10:30pm Saturday, sleep and wake up to catch a 9am flight to Zhengzhou. This is my biggest worry - please pray for our flights, and rest before we get the babes.  MONDAY we will have Ian and Jovie - that's Sunday night in the US (we are 13 hours ahead). 

I love that my mom and dad are going with us. This sweet picture just shows how beneficial they are to us and loving on Mae while Cody and I are giving our attention to Ian and Jovie. 

I will keep blogging our trip every day. We cherish all of our friends and family so much. I can not thank you enough for all the texts, comments and calls - although the last couple days have been crazy and I haven't been able to respond like I wanted. 

We will be so excited every day to check our comments here to see who is following our biggest adventure (: 

We're leaving next week!!!

Today we got word back from CCAI that we got our Consulate appt on the 28th!!! Which means we will have our GOTCHA DAY ON THE 20th!!!! I'm soaring with joy and counting the minutes until we have our family together!! We will need to leave for China next week! We are booking our tickets today! Yahooooo!!! It's still unbelievable!! This is happening!!!!! 

March 28th

I've let too much slip here on the ol' blog—Got some catching up to do!  This blog is more for our girl than anything (although it's been tremendous to have had the encouragement and following of our friends and family). This momma is terrible at keeping journals and so the blog has given us a place to record our journey with a little needed accountability.   We can now print a book for Mae of this past year's posts... yay!!

So here's our day, celebrating March 28th...

Our first stop was to go to the CCAI office (our adoption agency) and give the women there a hug!

next  stop aquarium! 

 

Mae never asks for anything, but today she grew very fond of this Beluga Whale.  It has become "baby" and she asks to have him with her all throughout the day, and sleeps with baby every night (almost a month later and this is still the case!)

The second part of the celebrating was with our family.  And it was so wonderful...

 I made the little panda purse for Mae.  Cody and I were really excited to give it to her... anything girly is a big hit with our girl.

 We filled it with sunglasses, mirror and brush, and other odds and ends that every purse should have (:

 We didn't get any good pictures of all the decorations that we hung... but there were Chinese lanterns and streamers and of course BALLOONS! Our kitchen was very colorful and it made Mae so happy.  She pointed at everything and yelled "SEEEEE"  when anyone new came through the door.

Mae and her Nonna

Momma, Mae and proud Boppy

 Hugs for Aunt Mer

 We got a special cake from the Asian market and it was DE-licious!

Fun Uncle Jon

I love this picture (:

 As a family, we watched the video of the day Mae was placed in our arms.  None of us had seen this video and it was so special to share with Mae.  She sat in her daddy's lap and loved seeing herself on the TV.

 This was a fun day but also very emotional for Cody and me.  We realize all that had to happen to have Mae be our daughter.  Here's a crazy thought... Mae has spent 365 days with us now, but she had 595 days in China before we knew her.  Her little life as a baby is unusual and filled with mystery.  All I know is that God has written her story and knows her every breath on this earth.  What a mighty God we serve!!