Tuesday, November 25, 2008

And the world was perfect........

at least for a few minutes, to me. Katie and I were on the floor in her room when she crawled over to me, reached her arms up to be picked up, we went to the rocking chair and I held her as she stared into my eyes, we rocked, and she went to sleep.

Monday, November 24, 2008

We're Home!

We made it home safely. Jeff was feeling better, not great, but much better. Katie did very well on the flights/ She cried for less then a minute on only two occasions on our flight to Tokyo. She slept a bit, but was pretty happy. On the Tokyo to Detroit she did pretty good too. She cried a little bit, but nothing compared to what we were expecting. We were almost home free, 3 hours to go when I(Shannon) got what Jeff had. We thought he had eaten something bad to make him sick, but no, he must have had the stomach flu. Our flight was full of turbulance which made it even worse. I seriously have never been so happy to be home in my life. Jeff took such good care of us, even though he too was still not feeling back to normal, not to mention the jet lag. It is now Monday at 3am, and I am feeling much much better. Katie and Brooke were both up, just 1 hour after we went to bed. So I am letting Jeff get some very well deserved sleep. The girls are now sleeping but here I am wide awake.

Seeing our boys as we passed the exit doors was a sight for sore eyes let me tell you. They all seem to have grown in 2 weeks. They did such a good job while we were gone. We had some very dear friends of ours bring over a huge casserole dish of various barbcue for them one night, and other then that they cooked dinner for themselves everynight, and did the laundry, and cleaned the house. Our oldest son even had to take one of the younger boys to the dr. as his throat was hurting. I am truly blessed to have them. Proud is an understatement.

Today we have 2 dr appts for Katie. The pediatrician, and the plastic surgeon. Tomorrow we have an echocardiogram, ortho, and the ent. Even though I was sick our first 2 days home, today, or should I say yesterday I was able to spend alot more time with Katie. Let me tell you, she is adjusting so well. She absolutely loves each of her brothers and shows no fear. She is very curious and likes to look around at everything she has never seen before, and she loves all her new toys. She is sleeping well in her crib, although still getting use to the new time zone, which we all are. She even liked her car seat, which Brooke absolutely hated, and screamed all the way home from the airport. Katie is very antimated and has alot of expression. She wasn't too sure about our pets, we have 2 dogs, and 2 cats. Our dachshund is always wanting to give her kisses, and she is now starting to like the dogs.

I want to close this post by saying thank you to all of you who sent kind and encouraging words to us. Thank you for all your prayers. This journey was much different then our last journey to China. For all of our experiences we had we have learned so much, and are stronger people for it.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Last post from China, the good, the bad and the ugly

Its Thursday night November 20th in China. I titled this the good the bad and the ugly. Let me tell you some good. I've packed about everything, the girls have had their baths and are sleeping, and we are coming home tomorrow. Yesterday was Katies birthday and we had a little party with some families coming to our guide Amys room. My heart was so full of thankfulness to God for allowing us to be with her. For those who don't know this already we thought we would get a referral call for a 3-4 yo. Mostly because our agency had told us most families are asking 0-2 and we were asking up to age 5. So we were very surprised to find out at our referral call that our daughter was 7 months. That day I prayed and have prayed often that since we left our age open to the Lord to match us perfectly with the daughter He chose that He would allow us to be with her for her first birthday, and God answered that prayer. I am so thankful for that. Our God is an awesome God and wants to give us the desire of our hearts.

The bad & ugly seem to run neck and neck, so I guess I will put it all out there. Wednesday evening approx 7 pm Jeff starting getting sick. He was violently ill with vomiting and diarrhea all night and most of today. The antibiotic the Dr. gave us at home Jeff had an allergic reaction to, he was not allergic to this as of a couple of years ago though. We know he is dehydrated and we are doing what we know to do. He must be better for us to fly tomorrow. We are still planning on it, as if he continues and shows no improvement this could be very bad. If you are a praying person please pray for all of us, and especially Jeff to get better asap.

When we adopted Brooke her transition was fairly easy to us. She was pretty happy go lucky most of the time, well except for the flight home. She cried almost the whole time. Katie is not so happy go lucky. She doesn't like to be held, unless you are feeding her her bottle. She doesn't want to be carried, and much more prefers the stroller. She does make eye contact and touches our faces and laughs and smiles, but we know her transition to attachment to us is not as easy as Brookes was. Today when we were at the U.S. Consulate our guide was holding her while I did some paperwork. Katie was leaning to me reaching her arms and started to cry for me, that was a good sign. I brought a sling carrier with me, however that hasn't worked well at all. Alot of the time when I hold her she stiffens up, cries and kicks. We really need alot of prayer. She will not allow us to try and rock her to sleep, she will lay down and start to bang her head on the crib floor. We rub her head and whisper gently to her, "no no Katie." At this point she will stop, however we may go through this several times until she goes to sleep. We aren't rookie parents here, but I can tell you we are definitely on survival mode. I feel very sorry for the people on the plane, as when we are on the bus that is some of the worst times. She doesn't like the confinement, she wants to be free to move around and thats not possible. Katie also still will not eat any solid food, we are lucky to get a couple little spoons of baby food, and shes not too happy with that.

If you are wondering why I'm sharing these things with you, its not to whine and cry, but to share with those who haven't btdt that its not always easy, even for those who have done this before. Also to ask for your prayers. We know the power of prayer and so much need those now.

God willing we will fly tomorrow to Tokyo to Detroit. I will give a post when we have arrived home, after I spend some family time.

Love to you all,
Shannon

Monday, November 17, 2008

OUR LAST DAY TOGETHER WITH THE ENTIRE GROUP


11/18/2008
Is the last day our entire group will be together, all but four families fly out tomorrow. Even Lineker flies home in the morning. We will always remember these families.

PICTURES FROM 11/18/2008

PICTURE 1 - SISTERS ARE A BLESSING
PICTURE 2 - KATIE, HUDSON, EMMA
PICTURE 3 - KATIE & EMMA



Monday Nov 17

We had a great day today. We were up early, but took our time getting ready for the breakfast buffet. Then we planned to go to a park with a few families from AWAA. We went to the same park we went to in 2001, only this time there is a new underground walkway, last time we played frogger, and we were the frogs. haha We rented peddle boats, and poor Jeff did most of the peddling! Some of our group played hackeysack (sp?). This is a fun game that we have seen the older people playing. Alot of the locals were staring, probably wondering what these strange people were trying to do. haha We then walked to the hotel and got ready to go back to Shamien Island for lunch and more shopping. We ate at a place called Lucys! They serve pretty good American food. We had great fellowship time with some other families. Our cokes , a total of 3 cost almost as much as a meal, but worth it:) We then attempted to go shopping, that is until some men decided to go shopping for a Rol*x, or several. So we moms said we have to go back and do shopping for us, as the men took all of our time. So we will probably go back tomorrow for lunch again at Lucys and more shopping. We are going to take group pictures tomorrow morning. Most of our group is leaving Wednesday morning. Its been so great getting to know the other families. As much as we miss home, we will definitly miss these people. We hope to stay in contact. We really have been blessed with a great group of families whom we will never forget.

Miss Katie is doing better everyday. We have had her 1 week today!! That went so fast. Its already feeling like we don't remember life without her. She is pretty happy, but if mama isn't holding her and she sees me she will cry. She is definitley a mommies girl, at least for now. Tonight was the first time she enjoyed her bath. She laughed and splashed the water. Its so good to see her happy and secure. Even going to sleep tonight was much easier.

Its still is strange that we have a 20 yo and a 1 yo, but we know that since we had asked for a range of 0-5, praying for God to bring us the child He chose for us, that regardless of how old she was it was His will, we know everything will be fine. Katie will keep us young, or at least we'll be trying. haha We feel so blessed to have our 6 children. I don't know why when I say 6 it seems so much higher then 5, its only 1 more. I joked with my family that I wanted to title our blog cheaper by the half dozen, but Jeff didn't think that was too funny. haha I remember as a child watching the brady bunch and thinking how neat that would be to have 6 children, well now I have it, but I need Alice to help out. haha

I thought we were all finally adjusting to the time zone here, but it seems that its only me. Jeff was sleeping at 7pm!! I feel so sorry for him. We get home Friday afternoon, and he is off work until Monday night, and Tuesday night he goes back to midnights. That will be very hard on his body trying to adjust twice in a few days. He says hes not worried, that he'll be fine. He is quite amazing to me how he can adjust his sleep. I don't think its as easy as he says. I know it wouldn't be for me.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

PICTURES




Sunday

Last night most of our group went to a Japanese restaurant in our hotel. We didn't go as we knew Brooke was very tired and wouldn't eat much if anything. She is still going to sleep by 7 and sleeping until almost 7. We heard it was great and really wish we could have gone but had to do what was best for Brooke.

Today we went to the Guangzhou folk art museum. We saw some very interesting things such as some wood beds! The Chinese believe the harder the bed the better it is for your back. Our bus driver also had to do some pretty fancy driving to get out of the parking lot. Seriously we were blocked in by 2 rows of buses. The drivers were found and you really had to see it to believe it. He did it though and we all applauded him.

After that we went to a tea house. I bought a beautiful teapot and some white tea. We tried many kinds of tea and would have liked to bring several kinds home. Maybe I can find some in Chinatown as some were great. The tea is all fresh.

While we were driving I noticed some people walking with bird cages and little birds in them. These people weren't walking together. So I asked Amy our guide about this. She said the retired people will take their birds for walks in the park to give them fresh air!! How sweet is that!!

Katie will now eat about 1/4 of a jar of baby food, and not all that willingly. But we do get some in her. We have tried putting food on her high chair tray at breakfast but she just plays with it and drops it on the ground.

Last night was a break through in getting her to sleep. I held her tightly against me and patted her bottom. She cried and kicked and tried pulling away, but I was eventually able to get her calmed down and to sleep. We'll see how tonight goes:)

Tomorrow we are going as a group to Shamien Island to go shopping. We met a man named Jordan who owns his own shop. He told us he is a Chris*ian!! We will be going back to his shop again. We will also get to eat at Lucys. Its a restaurant that serves American food. We actually had been seated the other day there but then I realized I forgot the formula for Katie at the hotel and we had to go back. We are pretty tired of McDonalds and sandwiches at starbucks. We aren't very adventurous, especially with Brooke with us this time.

Friday, November 14, 2008

DSW is up in our room with two DD's, she has not been feeling well the past two days. I was not feeling well either so I took Cipro and had an allergic reaction. We went to the zoo yesterday it was very nice. Brooke had a great time especially with our guide AMY. Katie cried for the entire 2 hours. Then we went to Pizza Hut, and it was pretty good. Today we went to the Island and did some shopping. We tried a stroller for the first time, and Katie loved it. We were there for 3 hours with no crying. Then we went to McDonalds, again :(.
We saw one of the families we met in Beijing, we are excited about seeing all the babies. Tomorrow is the doctors appointments with all the families. Seven more days to go until we go home. We can't wait we miss you boys, and we were so happy to talk to all 4 of you this morning.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

More on Katie

My post yesterday covered alot so I thought I would give some more info on Katie. She has such a cute smile, we have yet to hear a belly laugh but know it will come soon. We have concerns about her lack of eating. She drinks her bottle well and we mix rice cereal in it as that is what the orphanage did. Our guide told us she should be eating some baby food, that formula is not enough, which is what we had also thought. She will have nothing to do with it. Not baby food or rice conjee, which is what babies eat in China. She is very cautious of touching anything. This morning at breakfast was the first time she has held something in her hand, her ladybug brush which she loves. She loves when we brush her hair. She will touch her head and wait for us to brush it. It has turned into a game. We've had her 2 nights now and she has slept through the night both of them. We wake up and can hear her stirring but she sleeps well. She hasn't pulled herself up yet but can crawl. Brooke is absolutely loving being a big sister.

We are missing our boys so much at home. We are ready to come home already. Don't get me wrong, we are enjoying the people and sights, but miss our boys and can't wait to come home and be a family, ALL of us together. The time we have here is good though as we have so much together time with little responsibilites/chores, so we can focus on Katie and earning her trust.

Jeff and Brooke are having a really hard time with the time change. It was a struggle to keep Brooke up until 6:30 last night and Jeff almost made it to 7. This leaves mom and Katie. Katie goes to sleep on her own approx 8 pm. When I say on her own I mean she cries when I try and rock her. We have rocked all 5 of our babies to sleep and didn't think differently about #6, however at this stage Katie will have nothing to do with it.I know that as time goes on things will probably change after she has her surgeries, or maybe not. Her nanny said she is very stubborn and we can see that. So we have now another stubborn Walker. haha

Thank you for your emails and prayers, we really appreciate them. Its funny how we can be half way around the world and feel some closeness from home.

Gotcha Day



Gotcha day!!!

We are unable to get on blogspot right now so I have asked my sons at home to post this for me.

I need to recap from Sunday first. We went to the Beijing International Christian Church. We were so amazed to walk in and here the worship music playing. The same songs we sing at our church. We felt at home half way around the world. We also were told by our local guide that most Americans think and are told that you cannot be a Christian in China and that is not true. In China you can choose your religion, however 50% have no religion, and the rest consist of Buddism which has the highest and then there is Christian, Jewish, and one more, I just can't think of right this second. After that we went to a pearl factory, which let me say with the American dollar losing its value we did not get the deals we got last time. We did do some Christmas shopping there though as well as bought Katie her pearls for her wedding day as we bought the boys, Brooke and myself pearls last time. After that we went to lunch and then to jade store. After that it was the Great Wall! Brooke loved climbing all those stairs with another families daughter Marla, who let me say is the sweetest 14 yo girl! She has been so good to Brooke and all the other younger children, she will be a great big sister to her new little sister. Daddy climbed the wall, but mommy stayed behind for the majority, I just was too tired. We(I) slept very little,I am having a difficult time adjusting to the time. We then went for dinner, went back to the hotel room for a quick 15 minute nap, and I'm not kidding, we had 25 minutes from the time we got to the hotel till we had to be back on the bus, so 15 minutes is what we got. Everyone was so tired but the Chinese Acrobat show is amazing, everyone in our group had a hard time staying awake, and some didn't, including Brooke. We got back to the hotel at approx 8:40 and had to have our luggage ready at 10 pm, as it was going ahead of us. We all except a couple of families had to be ready to go to the airport at 5:30 a.m. We were all so excited and nervous, and crying tears of joy! We met and flew with another family from our agency who adopted their precious 3 yo son last week from Beijing and were heading to Guangzhou to finish everything before leaving this coming Saturday. When we arrived we were so excited to be greeted by our guide Amy!! She was our guide last time and is now married to Linaker our national guide. So have a darling 13 month old daughter. Amy filled us in on what was happening and we checked into the hotel, grabbed our paperwork and $ needed and headed to the Civil Affairs office. We were the first ones there. We actually saw the babies come in!! After awhile of waiting which really wasn't that long but seemed like it they started to call us by family name. When we saw Katie we couldn't believe how small she was. She wasn't sure at all about us. Her nannies, 1 in particular you could tell loves her very much. She is older and knew alot about Yin Yin as they call her. She wanted to hold her once again before they left of which Katie was very happy about and not too happy to come back to mama. She was very confused and scared we could tell. When we got onto the elevator she cried so hard. Our hearts broke for her and I just prayed for God to hold her tightly and give her some peace that this really is ok. As soon as we got off the elevator she was fine, but cried all the way back to the hotel. We thought oh no, we had prepared ourselves for the worst and hoped for the best. She took a nap which was great. We thought she then would be hungry, but refused her bottle. I walked the halls of the hotel with her and then she started to change a bit. She drank a bottle and then we saw a couple of smiles. She loves her big sister, and Brooke loves being a big sister. I had a hard time getting her to sleep last night. Daddy and Brooke were sound asleep and never heard a word from her. Once I got her to sleep she slept ALL night, a full 10 hours!! I had left her in her clothes that she was brought to us in, only 1 layer, and this morning she had a bath and is wearing a cute winnie the pooh dress. She is only 14.52lbs. The size 3 diapers I brought are too big. We went to the store today and I bought size 2 which fit great. She is wearing a size 9 months perfectly now. Her feet are so tiny. She is very petite. She has no teeth yet but can crawl and tries to stand but we're not sure yet if she can.She loves her photo album and her favorite picture is Robby. She won't hold anything in her hand so far and is only drinking a bottle with rice cereal in it. We bought some baby food today to see if she will start eating something. We tried yogurt this morning and she would have nothing to do with it. She is so precious. She was going to both Jeff and I, but now is preferring me to him so he has her now while I'm writing this. The adoption is final as of today!! Tomorrow we go to the police station to do her passport paperwork and Thursday we are going to the zoo. The rest of our group joins us on Friday. I'm very excited to meet back up with the other famiies and meet their new children. Please continue to pray for us. We can tell that Katie is grieving which is good, that tells us she was attached to her nannies, and thus she will attach to us, but in the meantime it breaks our hearts seeing her sad and confused. I will try and attach pictures but am not sure if I can.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!

I am posting for DSW (Dear Sweet Wife) while she tries to get some rest. It's wake up time at 4:00 am, and we leave for the airport at 5:30 am.

Our last post we had just arrived in Beijing. Saturday morning came very early. It was great to see Lineker and Sherry again. They are the same guides we had in 2001, with Brooke. After breakfast it was time to go to Forbidden City, Pearl Factory, and Summer Palace. Brooke is having a hard time with the food thankfully we have a good breakfast buffet and french fries at dinner. On the ride to the Hotel at night Brooke and I passed out.



Brooke got up at 2:30 AM Sunday morning and that made for a long day. First it was off to the International Church service. It was awesome and we really felt at home. Then it was off to the Jade Factory, Lunch, and the Great Wall. Brooke has made friends with some of the other girls and she is having a great time. She made it up to the 3rd watch tower on the wall. After dinner we went to the Chinese Acrobat Show. It was excellent even though everyone was so tired and several of our group fell asleep including Brooke.


LESS THAN 8 HOURS LEFT TO WE LEAVE TO GET KATIE. SOMETIMES IT DOES SEEM REAL, WE CAN WAIT.
BOYS WE MISS YOU VERY MUCH AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH. WOW 20 SEEMS LIKE NOT THAT LONG AGO WE WERE BRINGING YOU HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL.

Friday, November 7, 2008

We are in Beijing

We made it to Beijing!! We were on the plane in Detroit for 1 1/2 hours after we were to take off. There was a problem with the fuel gauges. That didn't make us feel too good, especially as the pilot would come on the air and tell us things like, they are going to restart the plane, and it didn't work. They kept trying different things. Finally we took off, however we were nervous we wouldn't make our connection in Tokyo.

It is almost midnight here, we are all wide awake but know we must try and sleep as we have a very full day of touring tomorrow.

We love you boys and are missing you already, as in from the time we walked in the airport. Brooke is really missing you too.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

14 hours till take off

So the time has finally come. The bags are packed, the electronics are charging up one last time. We leave for the airport in 10 hours. I hope I have remembered to pack everything. Tonight will be the last night we sleep here as a family of 7.

I'll try and post when we arrive, however it will be very late and we have an early morning. Please continue to lift our family in prayer.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Itinerary

We received our travel itinerary!! Monday we have our 2 hour travel conference call. 5 days till we leave!!

Thursday Nov. 6th Depart for Beijing, changing planes in Tokyo

Friday Nov 7th, arrive in Beijing 21 hours from the time our flight left

Saturday Nov 8th, Our sons 20th birthday!! Happy birthday Josh, we love you!!
Beijing sightseeing, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace

Sunday Nov 9th Beijing sightseeing, Church service & The Great Wall of China

Monday Nov 10th Morning flight to Guangzhou and, "GOTCHA DAY" Miss Katie!! We don't
know what time in the afternoon yet, but then we have our civil affairs
appt.

Tuesday Nov 11th-15th Paperwork, sightseeing and shopping

Sunday Nov 16th Medical exam

Monday Nov 17th Sightseeing and shopping

Tuesday Nov 18th Paperwork party, its really not a party at all. 1 parent from each family
will meet in the guides hotel room to fill out the paperwork for the
U.S. Consulate appt. Last time this took about 2 hours. I think it depends
on how many families are there and how many questions the parents have.

Wednesday Nov 19th Consulate appt

Thursday Nov 20th Pick up Katies visa!!

Friday Nov 21st, Depart from Guangzhou to Tokyo to Detroit!!

The reason we are there so long is it takes several days to process Katies passport and then to process her visa application. When we were in China to bring home Brooke, she was in a different province, so we traveled to 3 cities in China. Katie is in the Guangdong Province, which is where the U.S. Consulate is, thus the the reason for the 2 cities. Guangzhou will start to feel like home after we're there for 12 days.

Please continue to lift our family in prayer. We really appreciate it. I will post at least one more time before we leave.