Ready for Christmas Eve Service

Thnaksgiving Blessings!

One year ago today...I was waiting on PA, no correspondence from my agency...Sad and morning the lose of our first referral, and trying desperately to figure out Gods Plan...

Today I am filled with jot to have my daughter in my arms, hearing her sweet giggles. Today I can see Gods Plan. What had to be to have what was meant to be ours. I was reading today and found the most perfect words. God is Good at that.

This was the place I was 1yr ago today. Sometimes in our weakest moments God is accomplishing the most. What appears to be a dead end contains the seeds of God's new beginnings. I did not know last yr what God had in store for our family.

I learned in the last yr.... The choice to trust God isn't cushioned by deals and promises that everything will turn out the way we think it should. God's only promise is that He will work all things in our lives for our good and for his glory.

This I can say is so true. Khloei who was placed in our lives by Gods davine hand was more of a blessing than I could ever realize. The daughter my heart sought and was brought by God. Only God knew what Khloei needed, and what our family needed. As to our first referral all of the is true for her. She was hand picked and placed in her family by God. No one knows why God chooses one family for a child and not the other, But through Christ we know that it is what is best. And through that, peace is found. I can not ask for more this holiday season. All my prayers have been answered this yr. God is so Good. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Fun

Pretty in Pink!

I just love having a little girl!

Beautiful Even As A Tomboy!

My little princess! What happened? Her older brother is turning her into a tomboy! Well here we go. Another year of tackle football. 5 nites a week practice and games on the weekend. I bought some DVD's on teaching children to speak mandarin. So hopefully she will be able to remember some Mandarin. We will have lots of time in the van traveling back and forth. Well I will post more when I have time.

Things have been going great! Khloei is doing so well. She is sleeping good and it only takes me about 25 minutes to get her to sleep. I rock her for about 20 minutes then lay her in her crib where she holds my hand till she falls asleep. I love it... She is so sweet.

She has been screaming a lot when we tell her NO! She defiantly likes things her way. And will scream and yell when it does not go her way. We have started putting her in time out for screaming. She will sit on the time out step, and her little lip sticks out. I just want to kiss her up. But I know she needs to learn not to scream at us when we tell her NO! She is so funny and loves to play games and swing on the swing set. She also will play for hours in a baby pool. She is our little fish. We camp a lot at our cabin. Well I call it camping, but it is really a cabin. It is on some property that we own in WV. I can hardly wait to take her. My younger son Nathaniel is 9. He will be done with soccer in 2 weeks and we are headed there as soon he is finished.

I will be posting new pics soon. We just celebrated Ryan's birthday/ one year with his new family. Ryan is a little boy we fostered from a disrupted adoption. He was adopted from China about 2.5 yrs ago and the family changed there mind. We had Ryan with us for a few weeks last spring, when some good friends from our Church stepped up to adopt him. He is such a wonderful little boy. We do miss him, and during Ryan's stay with our family we prayed about adopting him. God had spoke directly to both my husband and I that we were not the family for him. Though it was hard and I sobbed many nights after he left our home. I can now see God's plan. He is with the perfect family for him. It is great that we see him regularly and I get to babysit him. It was a wonderful celebration this past weekend as about 70 people came to his party. I have some wonderful pics from that day. Ryan is now 6 years old and adjust well. He was adopted from China at 3.5yrs old placed in our home at the age of 5yr. and is now 6 yrs old and with his forever family. Please pray for him as he has Nevus. Right now his health is good. But this special need can become very serious.

Update On Niece

Well my niece had surgery for her VSD, because of the location it was open heart surgery. It was Tuesday the 27th. I stayed almost the whole 4 days with her, and 1 night. I rotated with my brother in law, who is an attorney and a professor. So his schedule kept him in and out and home one night for good sleep. Her surgery went well, and it was very hard picking her up and moving her around. She is doing well home and happy. As for Khloei it was hard. She missed me a lot, and was having some difficulty with me being gone so long. She stayed with Daddy so that helped. But sometimes they just need MOM! My husband said the night I was gone she cried a lot and woke a lot crying. So that made me sad..... But I was happy to help my sister and I got to learn a lot about Khloei's surgery in China, and how it must have been for her. Which made me cry that she went through all that with out us. I came home and babied her...And now I look at her surgery differently. Not that I ever thought it was simple, but having watched and helped my niece I just feel more sad for my daughter. I heard my niece cry out for mommy and I just sob that my daughter did not have a mommy or daddy to call for, to comfort her. I rocked her to sleep to night and thought of all these things again. I am thankful that the orphanage workers stayed and took shifts with her so she was not alone, but it was not us, and it was not her mommy and daddy.

Sedated Echo Results!

Today we had Khloei's sedated echo. What a crazy morning! We arrived at Children's Hospital at 7:30 am and by 9:00 they gave her the sedation medication. It took her about 20 mins to fall completely asleep. It was very interesting to watch the echo, though it was hard to follow.
We found out that Khloei's VSD, and ASD was completely repaired in China, even though her documents said ASD complete repair and VSD partial repair. So that is wonderful. Her referral also indicated a thick mitral value, which the echo revealed was actually an extra flap growing off the mitral valve. The mitral value is working well, so the cardiologist is just going to watch it. the tricuspid valve was said to have regurgitation at a level 2, but the echo revealed a level 1 regurgitation. So that was great news. The echo did reveal 2 other heart conditions that was not in her referral. They are minor and only to to be watched for any changes. She has a silent PDA and trival aortic insufficiency. If there are any changes all of these can be fixed in out patient surgery. So we are thrilled. The cardiologist said he wants to see Khloei in 1 yr and gave me a list of things to watch for with the mitral valve, PDA and aortic valve. She has no restrictions on her activities, and the pulmonary hypertension is gone. Which is good because that can lead to lung transplant. All is well and she is home sleeping off the rest of the meds they used for sedation. God is Good! We are so thankful that everything came back so well. The cardiologist told us she could have to have open heart surgery again according to China's notes, but after the echo, he gave her thumbs up. Thank you for your prayers, and please pray for my sisters daughter. she adopted her in Nov of 2009 from Fujian Prov. and she has open heart surgery on April 27th. She is only 6months older than Khloei. Khloei and Lynden ( my niece) are very close and love to play together. We are also neighbors so the girls share a lot in common. Both from the Fujian Prov. Both will have had heart surgery. I will try and post some pictures of the girls together.

I uploaded more Easter pictures on our shutterfky. http://oursweetkhloeielizabeth.shutterfly.com/ Khloei is so sweet. Well things are going well Khloei has a sedated Echo on April 21st. The cardiologist feels that all is good, but has a few tiny concerns. So please keep Khloei in your prayers. She has been sick on and off. Seems that she has had ecoli in her urine for awhile. So she is on very strong meds. The pharmacies had to order it in that's how strong it is and she has to have an ultra sound of her kidneys. So that is coming up. Please pray that this new medicine clears up her ecoli, or the next step is hospital with IV. The Dr said that this form of ecoli can be from dirty water, and she had very strong pee when we got her. And that is a sign. So they are not sure how long that the ecoli has been in her system. So please keep khloei in your prayers.

Our Photo Site!

Please look at the photos we uploaded on shutterfly. When I get more time I will put more photos and videos from China. Just click this link.

http://oursweetkhloeielizabeth.shutterfly.com/

Home!

Well we are home. It has been crazy. We had our family photos done yesterday. The photographer cropped this picture for us. She looks so sweet. It is hard to believe that this is my sweet little girl. I am still walking around in tears that she is ours. It still amazes me that God has brought such a perfect match to our family. Though some adjusting is hard. My son who is 9yrs old has been the baby for so long, and of course Khloei is still adjusting so much. But it is going better than I thought. Nights are rough, but we are have not found a schedule that works for her and all the kids sports. Nap falls at the time I get my step daughter from school, so then she is cranky when I have to wake her and does not make for a good evening. No nap means she wants to go to bed at 7pm, and my son has soccer. Up earlier is out. Because she whines from about 4am till 7am then falls back to sleep. So I need sleep. Oh well I know as soon as we get a good schedule it will be much easier. Well I will be posting more pics soon. I have so many cute ones. Of course, because she is so beautiful!

Travel Blog!

I will be posting from a different blog while in China.
Please click on the link to follow our journey in China.

http://www.myadoptionwebsite.com/khloei/index.htm

Our Travel Dates Are Feb 25th- March 13th Thank you for all your prayers.
And Please continue to pray for us and our sweet little daughter.

just a few days left!

Well we are getting excited. Just 3 days left we leave Thursday Feb 25th. We meet our daughter Sunday Feb 28th and will be home Saturday March 13th. I am really going to miss my kids and being at home, but I can not wait to meet Khloei. Well we are mostly packed and just spending these last couple days doing some family things together. My son seems to be doing OK. Sometimes he is real excited about all the things we have planned for him. Other times he is sad, and a bit cranky. But I think he will do good. he asked me to hug the computer while we are on skype and I said yes. So I think the web cam will work good. I can not believe that the day is almost here. All I can do is praise God for our daughter.

Count Down 6 days

Ok 6 days left! I am nervous about leaving my son, excited about getting our daughter. Going crazy packing everything...Trying not to forget anything and make sure everything is taken care of to leave my son.
I am just ready to be home with her...

9 Days

Well today I am still working on packing and I talked with someone at the NVC office and all of our finger prints and information was entered into the main system on Feb 10th. Now I can not get a hold of the DR about the medicine she was going to call in for us to take. So I am getting worried. I am so ready to just be past this part. I feel like all I do is paper work email this person, call this person....I just want to be meeting my daughter. I am so nervous. What if the clothes are to small, what if I forget something. I keep having crazy dreams. Last night I dreamed we had 5 minutes between flights. And all our luggage got lost. Woke up watched TV for about an hr. Then finally back to sleep. I think I am stressing about our luggage to much. Well 9 days. We put together a little table last night in our sitting room off our kitchen. It looks cute. It is a cherry table set, matches our floor. So I like it. Plus it gives khloie a place to sit and color or play while I cook. I can't wait for her to be home with us. I know my life will change with a 2yr old around. My son is 9 going on 10, and my step daughter will turn 14 in China, and my step son is 18yrs. So a toddler will be different, but we are so excited!

10 Days

Well today has been stressful, I have been packing and repacking. 44lbs is just not enough! I have also been stressing trying to get travel Ins. But I am excited for the count down. It is getting so close. I am ready.

11 Days! Happy Valentines Day!

11 days till we leave!

12 Days!

Well 12 days left. I can not believe it! We got my husbands glasses today. He hates them, but we heard that wearing contacts is almost impossible in China. So he is bummed to wear his glasses. I am trying to get my house clean, but with 3 kids and sports it' s crazy. Our 18yr old and or 9yr old is the worst. Go figure our 2 boys. They are all boy!!!!! Our daughter who is 13 is pretty good, she is very mother like, and is always telling the boys, moms gonna be mad when she sees your mess..... she is funny! It is so funny watching their different personalities. I can not wait to know Khloei's. Is she serious, is she goofy, is she messy, a neat freak? I am so curious to know her. To love her, and become the family that God intended. I know many years ago I when we first struggled through infertility, I questioned why? Why would I not be able to conceive again? God grew in my family the heart for adoption. I knew in the beginning of 2006 that God was calling us to adopt. My husband also felt the call. It had been 4years of infertility. I knew we were called to adopt international. My husband said no, domestic. I was obedient and we began. We had 2 mothers that had changed there minds, and I was very upset by the process. I did not feel that this was the path that God had lead us to. On adoption Sunday at our church. We visited many domestic adoption booths. After we talked to them all, we did not feel we had any direction from God. Last my husband asked why we did not stop at one of the booths. I told him it was an international adoption booth. My husband walked over and started asking questions and getting information. I was shocked he was dead set against international adopt, due to his fear of flying. We went into 2nd service, and on the way home from Church my husband announced that we are to adopt from China. I know God spoke to him in service. I know that God has called us to this little girl. Our road to her in tells some many twist and turns. So many prayers that went unanswered, only to lead us to her. To see what God intended. I am still amazed at our path to her. Only God could have orchestrated all things to fall into place for us to become a family. I have not blogged the things that have transpired but I will. All I can say is that God had a hand in forming this new family. I am so thankful, and overwhelmed by how magnificent our God is.

13 Days

Less than 2 weeks to go. I am going shopping today to finish up some things. Getting excited. We got our in country itinerary I will post it later. When I have more time.

Khloei's Orphanage Only 14 days

I look at these pictures, and I wonder what is she doing? What room is she in? O' how can not wait to bring her home to her family. We meet Khloei on Feb 28th. Please pray that the snow holds out and we do not get delayed. 14 days till we leave, and 17 days till we meet our daughter.

14 Days

Well it's 14 days and I am getting ready for a final travel meeting. So I don't have to much time to post. But wanted to keep on with the count down to our daughter....

15 Days

15 days!!!! I can not wait to leave to finally be on our way to our daughter. It is so amazing how much she has grown in my heart, with only a picture. I can not wait to tell her we love her and hold her. Though I am sad to leave my son for so long. We have never left him. He has stayed the night places, but that is it. Usually he stays at my parents house which are my neighbors, or his friend that lives 2 houses down from us. So going so far, for so long is going to be hard on him. My husband and I had wanted to take a small vacation before China, so he could have some time without us, but that did not happen. Please pray that my son handles us being gone, he really is a home body, and doesn't handle change well. So having my mom do things differently than me is very hard for him. Please continue to pray for us, our son, and Khloei.

16 Days!

16 days and still so much to do. Though I can hardly wait!To meet my daughter. To hold her, and hug, and kiss her. I pray everyday that the transition to us goes well. I know it will be very hard for her, but I pray that God is preparing her heart for us. We just love her so much.

17 Days

Today we have 17 days left. I found this picture of 17 baby shoes. I cannot believe how fast these last days are going. Now if I can get everything done and ready to travel without going crazy.

How Many Days?

How many days? HMMM....I must be in a hurry to get my beautiful daughter because I miscounted...It is 18 days today....What a bummer. My heart is ready. At church today I scheduled our family photo for our church directory. It will be march 17th. 4 days after we return home. It is the latest I could schedule to have our little Khloei in our picture. So hopefully the jet lag will have passed enough to have a good picture. Either way I am just happy to have in our family. I know everyone at church is dying to meet her. They have been praying for us and our adoption, and Khloei. So please continue your prayers. Pray for khloei's transition to us. I know it will be very hard on her. I also want to ask for prayer for my son who is 9 and staying home. He is very stressed about us leaving, and for my husband and his fear of flying, and last for me to keep my sanity while I pack, and make arrangements for my son.

18 days and counting. I am getting all my documents together. Trying to figure out how to use our new video camera, and working on a website on my adoption stories.com I will be posting and journal on that site while we travel. I will post the link here when it is up and ready. Please continue to pray for us. Every night I have crazy dreams. Last night I dreamed we missed our flights.....It was a crazy dream. Anyway pray for peace for our family, and for Khloei's transition to us. We are so ready to meet her.

19 hearts on the tree! 19 days till we leave!

The count down begins!

Just Bought Airline Tickets!

Wohoo.... does not even begin to express how I feel. We just purchased our airline tickets! We leave the 25th of Feb, and return March 13th..... I can hardly wait. I have so much to do. I have so much to buy.... I am so excited. ....I can not wait to see my daughter. We Fly from Columbus Ohio, To Chicago, To Tokyo, to Beijing. Then we fly to our daughters Prov the Fujian, Then we fly to Guangzhou. Home we fly from Guangzhou to Shanghai then to Chicago then Home to Columbus. Wow 8 flights all together. Please Pray for my husband he hates to fly. I think God is growing him, putting him on 8 flights.... Me I am just flat out excited! I am not a big fan of flying but, it doesn't bother me like it does my hubby. I told him either shut up about flying or stay home. He laughed and said he could never miss meeting his daughter. So here we Go......20 days and counting!

Praise! Praise!

I received our new I171H in the mail today. The agency is requesting our consultant date.....
I am a basket case right. I am going from total excitement to nervous about leaving my son for so long, to excited, to overwhelmed with what I have left to buy and pack...Back totally joy and excitement. I will post more as things come....Hold on Khloei Mommy is coming!

We are getting closer!!!

We are getting closer to our daughter. The USCIS emailed me that my new I-171H was put in today's mail. I am so excited. That was all we needed to travel. God is so Good. I am on cloud 9 right now. I was feeling pretty calm and collected till now. Now all I can think about is all the things I still need to get ready. My heart is over joyed, and I can not believe that this day is finally coming. So many years of trying, waiting on the daughter that God intended to be ours. It has been a long journey. And now here we go to China, for our sweet little girl. She is so much a part of my heart I can hardly wait to leave. To see her, and hold her in my arms. To see a smile on her darling little face. To hear her giggle, and watch her bloom....She is truly a blessing to our family. When I talk with people about our adoption people often say that she is a lucky girl, the truth is we are lucky to be blessed with a sweet little girl. I have been praising the Lord all day for such a wonderful daughter. Please continue to pray for our journey. And for our 9yr old son who will stay home. He is not handling the fact that we will be gone for so long. He is excited for his sister but does not want us to be gone for so many days. So pray for peace for him, and that he has a blast with my parents. Well I am off to get working on my list of things to get done......

Got Finger Prints and Care Package Picture

Well we got our finger prints done on Friday 1-29. But could not get our new I171H the same day. I did get an email address to someone that can help us get our I171H faster. I also got a picture from Ann at Red Thread of the care package we sent. Khloei should be getting it any day. I can not believe it, her first gifts from her mommy and daddy. I can hardly wait to hold her. I look at her sweet little face in her photos and long to see her smile. She looks healthy and well taken care of, and for that I am thankful. We are also very thankful and blessed that Khloei had a sponsor family. It is so nice to know that others have taken care of our daughter till we could get to her. We would love to have open communication with her sponsor family. We feel that they are apart of our daughters journey to us. Though I have many heart felt words for her sponsor family. I will wait for the day I can share them in private. It was an answer to our prayers that Khloei's sponsor family found this site. God is so good! He has blessed our family in many ways.

The USCIS finally got back with us this morning. We are thrilled. We should have a finger print apt sometime in the next week. It will then take about 1 week to get our new I-171H. So we may not be able to keep our Feb 18th travel date,but looks like we will travel one week later. Either way we are almost there....Keep praying that things moves quickly and smoothly.

How sweet!!! I just love her lips. I can hardly believe that this is my daughter. She is so beautiful. I am so crying right now as I look at her little face. I can hardly wait to hold her in my arms. I feel so blessed by God. She is growing and seems so healthy. I just can not find the words to express all of my emotions. We just Love her so much...and are ready to bring her home. Please continue to pray for Khloei and our journey to her. She is so loved and wanted. It is driving me crazy waiting on paper work...

Update From Ann

I got updated Photos from Ann this morning. What a wonderful thing to wake up to. New pictures of my daughter.Wow she is growing.... She is 34 inches and 27lbs...She is so cute!! I think it is funny to see her playing with the boys. She will fit right in with her older brothers.

Care Package Sent

Well we sent a care package to Khloei. She should get it today. We are so excited, but sad that we will not see her get it. We sent PJ's, a blanket, a doll, and a photo album. We also sent a camera for the nannies to take pictures of her, a letter to the orphanage, and nut and candies for the nannies. We are so excited, her first gifts from her mommy and daddy. I can hardly wait to travel. These last weeks seem to drag out. Though my list of things to do and buy seems to be getting bigger. We are so excited!!!!

TB Test Prayer Request

It is getting closer to travel and I want to ask for prayer for Khloei. She will have a TB test before leaving China. She can not fly out of China unless it is negative. Please pray for her and that her test is negative. I am trying not to stress and let God handle it, but this my daughter and I could not leave her there. We do have a plan in place if it is positive, but will need extra funds. It is possible for me to stay in China with her. I do not work and my mother can help at home with my other children. But would need to find the extra money to cover my extended stay. So please pray for Khloei.

TA Today

We are thrilled beyond belief. We got TA today. I am ready to brake down and cry. We are so close to travel. I can hardly wait to hold her in my arms. I am amazed by all that God has done for our family, to bring Khloei to us. We feel so blessed. God is so amazing. I am crying as I type. We just love Khloei so much..... Please pray of all of our other documents. We are waiting on the USCIS. Our finger prints exspire on March 1st and with the Chinese New Year we can not get to China and back before March 1st. We requested to update our finger prints on January 4th. We still do not have a finger print date. Please pray that this moves quickly. We are an I600 family so hopefully it will go quickly. Thank you for all your prayers.

Khloei's Birthday!

Yesterday was Khloei's Birthday. She turned 2yrs old. I am very sad we could not be with her for her birthday. Though we will be with her soon. I was really wanting to be with her on this special day. Please pray that all of our documents move quickly. I am so ready to hold her in my arms. We feel very blessed to have her join our family. God has moved mountains for us to be with her, and her with us. The wait seems to just grow longer.....and my list of things to buy seems to be growing the closer we get to travel dates. We have to redo our finger prints with the USCIS. They expire while we are in China. So we are working with the USCIS, and they are great. They have been moving quickly, and have been in contact with us. So continue to pray for all that things keep moving.

Travel Dates

We had our travel meeting the other day and got our travel dates. If all goes well with our paper work and we get our TA soon we will be traveling Feb18th....I am hoping to leave Feb 17th instead. An extra day to rest would be nice. Our Gotcha DAy will be Feb 26th. We are so excited...I mailed out our VISA apps yesterday then couldn't sleep all night because I keep waking up thinking did I do something wrong..... What a long night..Please pray that all goes smooth and we are able to keep our travel dates.