Signs of Life : The Brownie Chronicles

As time nears for us to travel to get the boys, I'm focusing on being thankful for any quiet or independent moments I have right now. The Brownies get up and often make their own breakfast.  They all dress themselves, do their chores and take care of their bathroom needs on their own.  When school and chores are over, they go outside to play and I'm in the house alone to clean, do laundry, make dinner, blog, read or even lie down for a few minutes. Change is a-comin'! Tonight, a large group of us went out to eat after church.  Even as I sat visiting with some new friends, I had to stop and think, "It's not going to be this easy once the boys are here."  The Brownies sat down at the opposite end of the row of tables with their KODA buddies, ordered for themselves, and entertained themselves while I visited.  I vividly remember when the Brownies were young, feeling like we could never finish a conversation (sometimes a sentence) without a distraction from ...

The boys' immigration and visa papers are sent off and on their journey that ends in Guangzhou, China at the American Embassy.  The Brown 5's visa paperwork is filled out and ready to send off early next week. Grant and loan applications are in, the US government has approved "provisionally" both boys to enter the US as our sons and citizens of the United States of America. April is coming to an end and as soon as May is here, I'll be able to say that we most likely will see the boys "next month!" We are over the mountain of "adoption process" and are sliding down the other side, picking up speed all the way.  Now I can have a little fun shopping and preparing for our trip to China! The Fort Worth Museum currently has a special exhibit spotlighting life in China Next week, we plan to go visit a special exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum called "Children of Hangzhou: Connecting With China."  It looks like it will be great.  Ju...

A couple of months ago, I had posted about my struggle with asking for financial support.  If you haven't read that, doing so will help make more sense out of this post. I had planned to follow up with this post the day after posting that, but God had other plans for us. Recently, my mom was talking about her study of Elijah and the widow in I Kings 17.  That prompted me to go re-read the account. God provided for both Elijah and the widow by directing them to help each other.  The widow provided food to Elijah, but only through her obedience to the difficult thing God asked her to do and by her own sacrifice.  God asked her to first make bread for Elijah, even through she and her son were on their last handful of flour.  The widow obeyed and made bread for him by faith .  If her faith was an error, she and her son would starve.  Of course, her faith wasn't an error.  God is faithful always.  God provided an endless supply of flour and o...

A few months ago, I posted on Facebook a suggested packing list for China.  It was FIVE pages long, listing anything and everything you might need while in the country. Since our boys aren't infants, there are some items on the list we can disregard, but most items will be needed or at least seriously considered. From studying various packing lists, we get one big idea: Less clothes. More medicine. There will be a nearby Wal-Mart in at least three of the four cities we will visit, so we can purchase some items there such as an umbrella stroller, clothes for the boys, diapers and some foods.  Evidently, they don't have American-type over-the-counter medications, so we have been advised to take a LOT! For us: stomach medicines, sleep aids, decongestants, cough suppressants and pain relievers.  For the boys, we pack the same type pediatric medications, skin creams, lotions, first-aid supplies and doctor-prescribed antibiotics. By the look of my packing list, we're goi...

First of all, we had great news waiting for us in our inbox this morning.  NBC (National Benefits Center within CIS) has approved and sent us our supplement 3.  We had to file a supplement 3 because we changed addresses.  You may remember that we were a bit concerned over this, but decided in faith to just do it.  It's a major relief to know that is done. With our address change out of the way and a contract moving on the house, our burdens are feeling lighter and we are able to focus more on our upcoming trip! There are a couple of new requirements related to our adoptive country.  One of those is a required TB test for kids over age 2.  We got word today that EnEn (Travis) was tested and is negative.  A few things cross my mind and touch my heart as I think about the test: - He had a medical checkup and got a shot and I wasn't there with him.  If I had been with him, I would have held him in my lap while he got his shot.  Did he cry? ...

Doubly-blessed this month! Tonight, we got a letter from a friend in China last month and saw Tian when he dropped in for a medical checkup. He doesn't look too thrilled to have his picture taken, but he's just precious!  Gotta love those pink shoes! Today, I was reading a new friend's blog and she said this: It is nearly impossible to put into words the longing I have for my little girl.  It is so hard to know that she is mine, to love her so deeply, and to not be able to hold her.  Imagine missing the first two years of your child’s life.  I have no idea what she ate today.  I wonder did she get any attention at all today?  Has anyone ever rocked her to sleep or comforted her?  I search online for history of her city and pictures of her orphanage.  I search the location where she was found on google earth, anything just to have a piece of her.  My heart longs for anything to hold on to while I wait. Yes! I completely identify. ...

Ken recently mentioned that we should have moved to a place like this when we first came to Texas 4 years ago, but we have no regrets.   First of all, if we had moved here to begin with, we wouldn't have some of our dearest friends from Dickinson Drive and may not have gone to Valley Creek Church and met so many people we love there. The dark side of "no regrets" is the fact that I know we wouldn't have been satisfied living here 4 years ago.  Ken and I have been notorious for thinking "things will be better when _____ happens."  When we left Las Vegas, we were thrilled to have done so well in the real estate market and were taken in by how big of a house we could get for "cheap" in Texas.  We were enamored with the idea of a BIG house with a BIG yard and BIG pool as if that would bring us joy.  I hate to admit it, but if we had moved here first, we would have been discontent, pining away until we could have our "dream home."  Now, ha...

Also known as "Xu", to be known as Travis. We got these pictures via email from our agency yesterday.  We couldn't have been more thrilled!!  Seeing these makes us want to scoop him up and give him lots of hugs and kisses! Posing with the basketball His last report said he loves cars, "dumbbells" and balls. Ironically, playing the piano

We've been here at our new place for 2 full weeks now and are feeling settled in.  I have our school cabinet pretty much organized.  This "china cabinet" sits in the wall right across from our dining table, so the location couldn't be better. I'll still need to tweak it a bit and work on making the top shelf look pretty, but I have everything we need for daily school work. The Brownies are making friends and today we had a little of the girl drama that goes along with it.  My girls' feelings were hurt when two kids they had been playing with all last week kept running away from them.  When the Brownies asked them why they kept running, they told one of my girls she had acted like a "jerk" earlier in the week.  Oh, the drama!  Fortunately, it ended in apologies all around.  I'm sure they will be friends again.  We had our share of girl drama on Dickinson, too. Earlier this week, Mackenzie told me that she sometimes feels like she doesn't f...

This time, I added voiceover.  I hope you can't tell by looking/listening how horrible my allergies are right now.  I can't wait to get to the allergy doctor this week! Below the video, I added a few links to resources I've used to learn more about adoption and attachment.  Enjoy! Attaching in Adoption   Great book about attachment Toddler Adoption: The Weaver's Craft   Another attachment book specifically for toddlers http://www.a4everfamily.org/  Website with some excellent articles Other families!  Find other families who have adopted and learn from them. I want to add that I hope that some of the stories don't scare you away from considering adoption.  It's a beautiful thing! Much like marriage or rearing children or going to school, it's tough, but oh, so worth it! Since you are adopting a child for life, it's crucial to enter the process with "eyes wide open."