Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Today's Funnies
There is great stuff to write about these days, but no energy! I have enough only for a few cute things from today.
At lunch Davis asked if Daddy was ever a little boy.
I said, "Yes, and Mama was a little girl. Girls grow up to be women and boys grow up to be men. You will grow up to be a man and Faith will grow up to be a woman. What will Pearlie grow up to be?"
"A princess," said Davis, and I gave him a kiss.
After lunch I took Faith for our first official mama/daughter shopping trip where we both tried on clothes. I thought it best to give her some instructions before we started using the fitting rooms.
"The first rule is that I do not want ANY comments from you about how I look the entire time we are in here. You don't need to tell me anything about anything."
"You mean like, your waist looks lumpy. I shouldn't say that, right?" asked Faith.
"Exactly. That is exactly what I do not need from you." I told her.
"'Cause you can figure that out for yourself," she said.
"Yes." I said. Sadly yes.
Tonight Davis was spinning me a lovely fairy tale about how when he grew up he would be a king and he would make me a princess and give me all kinds of animals like giraffes and elephants but they would never bite me because he would save me from everything.
Faith chimed in with, "Won't Mama be a little old to be a princess then."
I guess I should be grateful for the "little." And Davis' adamant shut down of Faith's objections which was indeed forthcoming. "No! Faith!"
At lunch Davis asked if Daddy was ever a little boy.
I said, "Yes, and Mama was a little girl. Girls grow up to be women and boys grow up to be men. You will grow up to be a man and Faith will grow up to be a woman. What will Pearlie grow up to be?"
"A princess," said Davis, and I gave him a kiss.
After lunch I took Faith for our first official mama/daughter shopping trip where we both tried on clothes. I thought it best to give her some instructions before we started using the fitting rooms.
"The first rule is that I do not want ANY comments from you about how I look the entire time we are in here. You don't need to tell me anything about anything."
"You mean like, your waist looks lumpy. I shouldn't say that, right?" asked Faith.
"Exactly. That is exactly what I do not need from you." I told her.
"'Cause you can figure that out for yourself," she said.
"Yes." I said. Sadly yes.
Tonight Davis was spinning me a lovely fairy tale about how when he grew up he would be a king and he would make me a princess and give me all kinds of animals like giraffes and elephants but they would never bite me because he would save me from everything.
Faith chimed in with, "Won't Mama be a little old to be a princess then."
I guess I should be grateful for the "little." And Davis' adamant shut down of Faith's objections which was indeed forthcoming. "No! Faith!"
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
October 24th
Is circled in red on our calendar. Faith did that. Because that is the day when she claimed Christ as her Savior and prayed for her sins to be forgiven. She has been adopted.
And we are rejoicing with the angels!
And we are rejoicing with the angels!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Pearl's Mouth v.3.0
On Monday
Today
Thanks so much for all the prayers for our girl! She is doing so well, even trying to smile as in the last photo.
Today
Thanks so much for all the prayers for our girl! She is doing so well, even trying to smile as in the last photo.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
A Visitor
Look who came to our house recently.
Can't guess from that drawing?
There's another clue here, in this photo of Faith posing in her strangely-girly rendition of Joseph's coat of many colors.
And here's a bonus photo of another young artist busily at work.
Can't guess from that drawing?
There's another clue here, in this photo of Faith posing in her strangely-girly rendition of Joseph's coat of many colors.
And here's a bonus photo of another young artist busily at work.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Bullington Word of the Day
abra-dabra - language of origin: Davis-ese; v. to transform through the use of magical powers.
"Let's abra-dabra that tire swing tiny so Pearlie can swing on it."
"Let's abra-dabra that tire swing tiny so Pearlie can swing on it."
Monday, August 22, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
A Little Stone, A Little Mortar
"How you build this, Mommy?" Davis asks, rolling around on the floor at my feet like an oversized puppy.
"Build what?"
"This house. How you build this house for us?" He looks up at me with his big brown eyes full of confidence that I made this place. Made it for him with my hands. I tell him that I didn't, but then I think maybe that is not totally true. I am a home-maker, right? The home that I make is for him and her and her and him. And Him.
There are so many ways that I do set the walls in place everyday. And I can certainly poison the air with my impatience or ugly attitude if I let down my guard. Now that our home is a school, too, everything seems more consequential.
All these little eyes on me. And I am charged with lifting mine and theirs everyday.
I don't have the knowledge or the skills equal to the task of building a house or a home. It's a good thing I'm not operating out of my own strength.
In the mundane tasks of living
In the pouring out and giving
In the waking up and trying
In the laying down and dying
That's a little stone that's a little mortar
That's a little seed that's a little water
In the hearts of the sons and the daughters
The kingdom's coming
Sara Groves, Kingdom Comes
"Build what?"
"This house. How you build this house for us?" He looks up at me with his big brown eyes full of confidence that I made this place. Made it for him with my hands. I tell him that I didn't, but then I think maybe that is not totally true. I am a home-maker, right? The home that I make is for him and her and her and him. And Him.
There are so many ways that I do set the walls in place everyday. And I can certainly poison the air with my impatience or ugly attitude if I let down my guard. Now that our home is a school, too, everything seems more consequential.
All these little eyes on me. And I am charged with lifting mine and theirs everyday.
I don't have the knowledge or the skills equal to the task of building a house or a home. It's a good thing I'm not operating out of my own strength.
In the mundane tasks of living
In the pouring out and giving
In the waking up and trying
In the laying down and dying
That's a little stone that's a little mortar
That's a little seed that's a little water
In the hearts of the sons and the daughters
The kingdom's coming
Sara Groves, Kingdom Comes
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Well, it is really hot.
While we were outside this weekend Davis said, "I've got a new idea! Let's blow out the sun so I can sit in the shade!"
He then suggested an alternate method of taking out the sun that involved balloons, but I couldn't understand that one well enough to reproduce it here. It sounded a bit like the master scheme of some comic-book-enemy-of-humanity.
He then suggested an alternate method of taking out the sun that involved balloons, but I couldn't understand that one well enough to reproduce it here. It sounded a bit like the master scheme of some comic-book-enemy-of-humanity.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
A Season at Home
It has been three months.
Her world expands everyday. She is now mobile! Not crawling yet, but nearly there and definitely scooting/rolling herself to where she wants to go. She is firmly sitting on her own for as long as she likes, and she can pull herself into a stand if I take her hands in mine.
She loves a bath.
She laughs like crazy. [Mostly at the funny man currently known as "tiny bit" for the following typical exchange: Can I have some of this? No. Tiny bit?]
She cries when I leave the room. But not with as much conviction as before.
She is our sweetheart.
Her world expands everyday. She is now mobile! Not crawling yet, but nearly there and definitely scooting/rolling herself to where she wants to go. She is firmly sitting on her own for as long as she likes, and she can pull herself into a stand if I take her hands in mine.
She loves a bath.
She laughs like crazy. [Mostly at the funny man currently known as "tiny bit" for the following typical exchange: Can I have some of this? No. Tiny bit?]
She cries when I leave the room. But not with as much conviction as before.
She is our sweetheart.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Almost Six and Still Pretty Funny
Tonight we were talking about how it is not a good idea to take a bath during a storm. Faith asked if this was "a rule from Obama."
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
No Mo No-No's
We had a really great post-op visit with our plastic surgeon today, and he said these magic words "desist with the no-no's." (Remember the no-no's? Those things Pearl was wearing on her arms to keep her hands away from her mouth? The ones that were starting to be a pretty grimy green since Pearl had been wearing them just about 24/7 for the past six weeks. I should post a pic here, but I'm tired.)
So we can all rejoice with Pearl over her newly-bendable-again elbows and the fact that she can again pursue one of her favorite pastimes - chewing on her fingers. He said we can treat her like she has a normal mouth. We don't have to worry about her bumping her face around a bit on the floor as she gets more practice crawling, and we can introduce her to more solid foods. Woo-hoo!
She'd also gained weight. She was over 15 lbs today.
The doc said again that she is doing so much better than he expected. We are so grateful and humbled by this.
So we can all rejoice with Pearl over her newly-bendable-again elbows and the fact that she can again pursue one of her favorite pastimes - chewing on her fingers. He said we can treat her like she has a normal mouth. We don't have to worry about her bumping her face around a bit on the floor as she gets more practice crawling, and we can introduce her to more solid foods. Woo-hoo!
She'd also gained weight. She was over 15 lbs today.
The doc said again that she is doing so much better than he expected. We are so grateful and humbled by this.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Princess P is TB Free!
The docs have finally, finally declared that Pearl does NOT have active TB. This is a relief, though we (and they) were 95% sure already that she did not have that disease. (Previous posts on Pearl and TB are here and here.) She will still be taking one of her previous four medicines for a few months to insure that she does not have any latent TB in her system. This changes our day a lot, since I will not have to follow our previous routine of keeping her super hungry for a late lunch so that she would eat four meds at once at 1:30 everyday. Now she can do more snacking in the mornings, all three kids will have a better nap routine, etc., etc., etc. . . Yay for one more victory for our girl! Having learned more about this disease, I know how truly terrible it is and how many, many people in the world (particularly in two of our kids' home countries) suffer from it. I am grateful for the public health system in this nation that keeps most Americans safe from this and also very grateful that we will not need their direct services any longer.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Pearl's First Word!
Today Pearlie was in the exersaucer and I was clearing things off a table nearby. I accidently dropped something on the floor and I heard a small but very distinct "Uh-oh!" from Miss Pearl. She speaks! I got her to say it several more times, and Faith and Davis got in on it too, dropping things and cheering when she said her word. Wow.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Where are the new photos of Pearl?
Here they are!
Eight days after surgery
Thirteen Days after Surgery
"Mom, are you seriously letting him do this to me?"*
*No babies were harmed or even alarmed during the making of this picture. Davis uses the reflex-checking-hammer and the ear-checking-device from the doctor's kit interchangeably. He was NOT hammering on his sister's head, and he was very gentle with the princess as he inspected the health of her ears.
Eight days after surgery
Thirteen Days after Surgery
"Mom, are you seriously letting him do this to me?"*
*No babies were harmed or even alarmed during the making of this picture. Davis uses the reflex-checking-hammer and the ear-checking-device from the doctor's kit interchangeably. He was NOT hammering on his sister's head, and he was very gentle with the princess as he inspected the health of her ears.
Happy Gotcha Day, Davis!
Dearest Boy, Two years ago today you brought a light and laugh into our family that has grown in beauty and brightness ever since. We love you so much!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Before and After
Pearl did great during her surgery today, and we got a very good report from the doctor. She is resting well and the medicine seems to be keeping her free from pain.
Here are a few pictures of Pearl last night:
And one of her tonight:
I know it is hard to tell what is going on in that last photo. She has a strip of tape just above her newly-joined upper lip that is holding everything firmly in place. The part that protruded before has been moved back into place, though it still comes forward a little. She no longer has her "spaces," as Faith called them, and now she has a functioning nose that is separate from her mouth. It really is amazing to see what has already been accomplished!
Thanks so much for your prayers for this day! Please remember our girl as she recovers. As you can see, Miss Wiggles is squirming away in that last photo. She'll be wearing those "no no's" on her arms to keep her fingers away from her mouth for the next little while.
Here are a few pictures of Pearl last night:
And one of her tonight:
I know it is hard to tell what is going on in that last photo. She has a strip of tape just above her newly-joined upper lip that is holding everything firmly in place. The part that protruded before has been moved back into place, though it still comes forward a little. She no longer has her "spaces," as Faith called them, and now she has a functioning nose that is separate from her mouth. It really is amazing to see what has already been accomplished!
Thanks so much for your prayers for this day! Please remember our girl as she recovers. As you can see, Miss Wiggles is squirming away in that last photo. She'll be wearing those "no no's" on her arms to keep her fingers away from her mouth for the next little while.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Happy Days
We are celebrating a few milestones this week -
Yesterday was one month from the day Pearl was placed in our arms. Gotcha! They call the time between when you get custody of your little one until the next day when you sign papers officially adopting him or her the "harmonious period." It was probably one of the least harmonious periods of Pearl's life, but she accepted us by one-month-ago-today: Adoption Day when in the eyes of the Chinese courts we became a family!
And tomorrow will be two years since we legally became Davis' parents. We weren't at that court meeting, but we were anxiously anticipating a call from our agency telling us that our son was indeed ours. We were so thrilled to get that good news! Who knew that the baby who we'd already grown to love before we saw him would grow up to be a delight and a joy and a ballerina:
Yesterday was one month from the day Pearl was placed in our arms. Gotcha! They call the time between when you get custody of your little one until the next day when you sign papers officially adopting him or her the "harmonious period." It was probably one of the least harmonious periods of Pearl's life, but she accepted us by one-month-ago-today: Adoption Day when in the eyes of the Chinese courts we became a family!
And tomorrow will be two years since we legally became Davis' parents. We weren't at that court meeting, but we were anxiously anticipating a call from our agency telling us that our son was indeed ours. We were so thrilled to get that good news! Who knew that the baby who we'd already grown to love before we saw him would grow up to be a delight and a joy and a ballerina:
Friday, April 22, 2011
Good Friday
"Does Pearl love us more or do we love her more? I think we love her more, because she hasn't seen us very much"
Faith's Q and A reminded me of this and I found it in 1 John 4:
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Faith's Q and A reminded me of this and I found it in 1 John 4:
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Home. Sweet Home.
We are glad to have all five Bullingtons back under the same roof tonight!
Pearl had her swallow test (not medical terminology) late this afternoon. They took x-rays of her as she ate different consistencies of barium (I think that is right) to see what was going on. It wasn't pretty. She was aspirating - breathing in - fluid whenever she ate anything that wasn't at least as thick as elmer's glue. We certainly haven't always maintained that consistency with her food, and we know that wasn't happening before either. So it is not surprising that she has some damage to her lungs from this. Damage that doesn't seem to be causing her much grief at this time and will be less and less a factor as she grows, but damage nonetheless.
We are almost certain now that the TB test will be shown to be negative, since this feeding problem would cause the chest x-ray results that triggered the TB investigation. They can not take that into consideration when planning treatment, though, so she will still be on anti-TB meds for at least a while until the final results on that come back.
The strangest, and scariest, thing to me about this condition is that she gave us no indication that she was sort-of choking on her food. They call this "silent aspiration." Babies who always have trouble feeding lose their reflexive reaction to cough up things that go down the wrong way, so while it looks like they are OK feeding as far as their lungs go they are really drowning a little all the time. So sad that we've probably been contributing to this problem in Pearl, too, in the last few weeks when we were inadvertently feeding her wrong. I can't help feeling guilty even though I know we did the best we could. And now we will do better.
I don't want to say it at this point since some problems we had during our hospital stay were very unpleasant to say the least, but getting good information on how to help our girl eat could not have waited. And it would have waited if not for the threat of disease. And also being able to speed up ear tube placement was an absolute gift. Having tubes in her ears seems to have helped Pearl feel even better and get around more, which is also very nice.
Pearl had her swallow test (not medical terminology) late this afternoon. They took x-rays of her as she ate different consistencies of barium (I think that is right) to see what was going on. It wasn't pretty. She was aspirating - breathing in - fluid whenever she ate anything that wasn't at least as thick as elmer's glue. We certainly haven't always maintained that consistency with her food, and we know that wasn't happening before either. So it is not surprising that she has some damage to her lungs from this. Damage that doesn't seem to be causing her much grief at this time and will be less and less a factor as she grows, but damage nonetheless.
We are almost certain now that the TB test will be shown to be negative, since this feeding problem would cause the chest x-ray results that triggered the TB investigation. They can not take that into consideration when planning treatment, though, so she will still be on anti-TB meds for at least a while until the final results on that come back.
The strangest, and scariest, thing to me about this condition is that she gave us no indication that she was sort-of choking on her food. They call this "silent aspiration." Babies who always have trouble feeding lose their reflexive reaction to cough up things that go down the wrong way, so while it looks like they are OK feeding as far as their lungs go they are really drowning a little all the time. So sad that we've probably been contributing to this problem in Pearl, too, in the last few weeks when we were inadvertently feeding her wrong. I can't help feeling guilty even though I know we did the best we could. And now we will do better.
I don't want to say it at this point since some problems we had during our hospital stay were very unpleasant to say the least, but getting good information on how to help our girl eat could not have waited. And it would have waited if not for the threat of disease. And also being able to speed up ear tube placement was an absolute gift. Having tubes in her ears seems to have helped Pearl feel even better and get around more, which is also very nice.
Meanwhile back at the ranch
Faith asked me yesterday if she would be a teenager as soon as she graduates from kindergarten.
Unfortunately, it will probably feel that way.
Unfortunately, it will probably feel that way.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Evening Update
Pearl is doing great! She is feeling very well tonight, laughing and playing and really scooting around a good bit in the crib. I haven't spent as much time with her as David today, but based on what I've seen tonight I think the tubes in her ears have made her feel a lot better as promised.
We will be in here until tomorrow afternoon in order to have another test to check out if her feeding habits are causing small amounts of fluid to go into her lungs.
All her preliminary tests here look good. The TB tests done so far are negative, but not totally conclusive. It will be weeks before they get lab confirmation for these results, so Pearl will still be on some medicine just in case.
I am so grateful to God for His protection of Pearl!
We will be in here until tomorrow afternoon in order to have another test to check out if her feeding habits are causing small amounts of fluid to go into her lungs.
All her preliminary tests here look good. The TB tests done so far are negative, but not totally conclusive. It will be weeks before they get lab confirmation for these results, so Pearl will still be on some medicine just in case.
I am so grateful to God for His protection of Pearl!
Monday, April 18, 2011
SuperPearl
is a fighter.
She is a feisty one, alright. Three nurses tried together to draw blood from her little 13 lb. self and she fought them with all the fight she has in her.
Which is a lot of fight, it turns out. They're going to finish getting what they need for testing while she is sleeping for her brief procedure tomorrow.
It was a very hard struggle for us to watch, but we are so grateful for her survival skills!
That was the tough part. The rest of the day was waiting around and talking with doctors. Not too painful. Pearl's procedure is at 9 in the morning and should just take around 20 minutes.
Thanks for the prayers!
She is a feisty one, alright. Three nurses tried together to draw blood from her little 13 lb. self and she fought them with all the fight she has in her.
Which is a lot of fight, it turns out. They're going to finish getting what they need for testing while she is sleeping for her brief procedure tomorrow.
It was a very hard struggle for us to watch, but we are so grateful for her survival skills!
That was the tough part. The rest of the day was waiting around and talking with doctors. Not too painful. Pearl's procedure is at 9 in the morning and should just take around 20 minutes.
Thanks for the prayers!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Challenges Ahead
Written on Wednesday:
We met with the surgeon and the ENT yesterday about Pearl's cleft. The surgeon didn't say everything would be a piece of cake, but he didn't wring his hands either. Now we have a plan for her care - something we have been looking forward to having from the first time we saw her photo and knew she was our girl!
She will have her first surgery on May 3rd - the day before her birthday. At this time she will have what is called a preliminary lip adhesion. As I understand it, at this time the sides of her top lip will be joined to the protruding part in the center to check its growth outward and to start the process for a total lip repair which will take place in about six months, depending on the success of the first surgery. About six months after the second surgery, the plan is for her to have the palate closure surgery.
Added on Saturday:
Wednesday afternoon I took Pearl to the pediatrician to have her tuberculosis (TB) skin test read. It appeared to be a positive result. A positive result on a skin test for TB could mean a few things: it could mean someone is infected with the active form of the TB disease or it could mean that someone has been exposed to the disease and has a latent (not contagious or symptom-causing) form of it. In Pearl's case it could also be a false positive triggered by a vaccine that she was given against TB in China that does contain some of the TB virus and can cause this to happen. The next morning we went to the health dept where they confirmed a positive result and ordered a chest x-ray to rule out active TB. The chest x-ray showed something going on in one part of one of Pearl's lungs. This could be an old infection or related to the fact that she probably breathes in some liquid while she eats because of her cleft, but because the doctors cannot eliminate TB from consideration we will have to take Pearl for more tests next week. She will be hospitalized and briefly put under anaesthesia to get samples to test for the presence of TB. We are probably looking at a two-night stay with her.
It is important to know that Pearl is NOT sick. She has none of the symptoms of an active TB case - no fever, coughing, sweating, etc. She also has been gaining weight and looking better and better everyday. That is the opposite of what you would expect for someone who has an active case of the disease. The ladies at the TB office at the health department told me she could not spread the disease even if she had an active case of it, because babies' airways are too small. Even so, we are keeping her to ourselves. Something we want to do anyway for bonding so that is not a hardship at all.
If you have seen us since we have been home (or in China,) you don't need to worry at all! You cannot spread TB unless you are SICK with it, and Pearl is definitely not sick. She is a smiling, sweet happy girl and doing so well!
China has a high rate of TB, and it is certainly possible that Pearl was exposed to active TB at some point. If she does indeed prove to have the active form of it just waiting for its moment to strike, we will be very glad to be able to treat it and get rid of it now. If it is not this disease, we will be glad for that and glad that we get the chance to deal with whatever infection she does have in her lung before she has surgery. I am not sure if this will cause a change in date for that, yet.
So we have many things to be grateful for in this situation. Though I am not eager to check in to the hospital, it is wonderful that we have access to this care for our daughter! So many in the world suffer from disease or watch their children suffer and are not able to obtain medical care. There are a few other positives: we saw an ENT doctor on Tuesday who evaluated Pearl and recommended that he put tubes in her ears at the same time she had our first lip surgery to release the fluid build up caused by her cleft condition. This same specialist was consulted to do the procedure necessary to take samples next week for the TB test. He remembered Pearl and offered to go ahead and put her ear tubes in at this time, so that is good news. Also, our attending physician for this hospital stay will be a man David knows and got to know well on his trip to Ethiopia last year.
We have received many comforts during this time which encourage us to continue to see how well cared for we are. We are also being forced to see even more clearly how vulnerable our little Pearl is and how glad we are that the process to get her was accelerated at every turn. We are so grateful she is home with us!
We met with the surgeon and the ENT yesterday about Pearl's cleft. The surgeon didn't say everything would be a piece of cake, but he didn't wring his hands either. Now we have a plan for her care - something we have been looking forward to having from the first time we saw her photo and knew she was our girl!
She will have her first surgery on May 3rd - the day before her birthday. At this time she will have what is called a preliminary lip adhesion. As I understand it, at this time the sides of her top lip will be joined to the protruding part in the center to check its growth outward and to start the process for a total lip repair which will take place in about six months, depending on the success of the first surgery. About six months after the second surgery, the plan is for her to have the palate closure surgery.
Added on Saturday:
Wednesday afternoon I took Pearl to the pediatrician to have her tuberculosis (TB) skin test read. It appeared to be a positive result. A positive result on a skin test for TB could mean a few things: it could mean someone is infected with the active form of the TB disease or it could mean that someone has been exposed to the disease and has a latent (not contagious or symptom-causing) form of it. In Pearl's case it could also be a false positive triggered by a vaccine that she was given against TB in China that does contain some of the TB virus and can cause this to happen. The next morning we went to the health dept where they confirmed a positive result and ordered a chest x-ray to rule out active TB. The chest x-ray showed something going on in one part of one of Pearl's lungs. This could be an old infection or related to the fact that she probably breathes in some liquid while she eats because of her cleft, but because the doctors cannot eliminate TB from consideration we will have to take Pearl for more tests next week. She will be hospitalized and briefly put under anaesthesia to get samples to test for the presence of TB. We are probably looking at a two-night stay with her.
It is important to know that Pearl is NOT sick. She has none of the symptoms of an active TB case - no fever, coughing, sweating, etc. She also has been gaining weight and looking better and better everyday. That is the opposite of what you would expect for someone who has an active case of the disease. The ladies at the TB office at the health department told me she could not spread the disease even if she had an active case of it, because babies' airways are too small. Even so, we are keeping her to ourselves. Something we want to do anyway for bonding so that is not a hardship at all.
If you have seen us since we have been home (or in China,) you don't need to worry at all! You cannot spread TB unless you are SICK with it, and Pearl is definitely not sick. She is a smiling, sweet happy girl and doing so well!
China has a high rate of TB, and it is certainly possible that Pearl was exposed to active TB at some point. If she does indeed prove to have the active form of it just waiting for its moment to strike, we will be very glad to be able to treat it and get rid of it now. If it is not this disease, we will be glad for that and glad that we get the chance to deal with whatever infection she does have in her lung before she has surgery. I am not sure if this will cause a change in date for that, yet.
So we have many things to be grateful for in this situation. Though I am not eager to check in to the hospital, it is wonderful that we have access to this care for our daughter! So many in the world suffer from disease or watch their children suffer and are not able to obtain medical care. There are a few other positives: we saw an ENT doctor on Tuesday who evaluated Pearl and recommended that he put tubes in her ears at the same time she had our first lip surgery to release the fluid build up caused by her cleft condition. This same specialist was consulted to do the procedure necessary to take samples next week for the TB test. He remembered Pearl and offered to go ahead and put her ear tubes in at this time, so that is good news. Also, our attending physician for this hospital stay will be a man David knows and got to know well on his trip to Ethiopia last year.
We have received many comforts during this time which encourage us to continue to see how well cared for we are. We are also being forced to see even more clearly how vulnerable our little Pearl is and how glad we are that the process to get her was accelerated at every turn. We are so grateful she is home with us!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Destination EST
We had our first doctor's appointment with Pearl yesterday. It went pretty well. She is certainly behind in some areas - sitting up, crawling, etc., but our pediatrician has a lot of hope that she will catch up on these things quickly as she grows. She is definitely a petite princess, but if I am calculating correctly the kilos to lbs she has gained some weight since our medical exam in China a week ago. We have another appointment with our surgeon today that should give us even more info on how best to feed her and about what our future looks like as far as the medical stuff goes. Her fine motor skills are awesome, and she is amazingly (I think) attached to us already. She definitely distinguishes between our family and everyone else - everyone else is stranger-danger-sound-the-alarm, which is a great sign for us.
In other news I think we are getting much better at keeping this time zone's hours. For the first few nights/days everyone was up for at least a little while between midnight and two and for many times after that, with all of us up around 4. Davis has been hardest hit. Keeping him awake Sunday afternoon was pure torture for all of us. Then it was like spinning plates as he would be awake for a moment and Faith or Pearl would start nodding off. We finally just gave up and had everyone in bed long before the sun went down. Last night was the closest to normal so far - Pearl only awake between 3 and 4 and Davis just a few times after that.
We've been very fortunate to have family help during this transition!
In other news I think we are getting much better at keeping this time zone's hours. For the first few nights/days everyone was up for at least a little while between midnight and two and for many times after that, with all of us up around 4. Davis has been hardest hit. Keeping him awake Sunday afternoon was pure torture for all of us. Then it was like spinning plates as he would be awake for a moment and Faith or Pearl would start nodding off. We finally just gave up and had everyone in bed long before the sun went down. Last night was the closest to normal so far - Pearl only awake between 3 and 4 and Davis just a few times after that.
We've been very fortunate to have family help during this transition!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Wheeeee! All the way home
We are home. So happy to be back! So happy to introduce Pearl to her Mema, Nona, and Pop-Pop and some great friends today and looking forward to seeing everyone else.
Faith broke into several rounds of "America the Beautiful" as we approached Los Angeles last night(?) She made a recovery I can only call miraculous before we left for the Guangzhou airport Friday afternoon. It was a good thing, too, as we had some semi-tense negotiations over Pearl's ticket and consequently some long waits as we were checking in there. Fortunately our agency got us there in plenty of time to work things out before time to board. I can't say enough about all of our guides in China. They were wonderful - professional and obviously dedicated to their work.
We were able to get a bassinet on our long flight over the ocean and Pearl slept in it quite a bit. Faith was asleep before we took off, and Davis caught quite a few ZZZZZzz's on that one, too. Then we negotiated LAX, which along with crazy construction and a very Hollywood moment as at one point we pushed through a crowd of photogs snapping pictures of some celebrity arrival, was pretty much a nightmare. We needed every minute of our five-hour layover to get to where we were supposed to be. We did make it, though, and our flight from there to Atlanta was only a little over 3 hours. Amazing. We got a bit of a break to clean everyone up at the Atlanta airport and then a quick jump to Columbia. Pearl traveled great, even eating on the go which had been a challenge before. Davis and Faith kept pretty much all of their enthusiasm intact, and my dad was kind enough to drive us home.
Home. All of us - home.
No sweet homecoming scene for us, as we were completely out of Pearl's food by the time we hit Columbia. Since she was due a nap, we made the call to make the drive home instead of stopping to get more in SC, and that worked fine until the last 15 minutes when little bit woke up. So instead of happy homecoming we had teary Target trip and then a rush to get the food ready in time for her to take about five sips and then go right to sleep. She ate great after nap, even though the formula and cereal mix here is definitely not as sweet as what she had in China.
We are doing great, and I have just been able to read all the sweet comments you guys made. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thanks so much for all your kindness! We appreciate it so much.
Faith broke into several rounds of "America the Beautiful" as we approached Los Angeles last night(?) She made a recovery I can only call miraculous before we left for the Guangzhou airport Friday afternoon. It was a good thing, too, as we had some semi-tense negotiations over Pearl's ticket and consequently some long waits as we were checking in there. Fortunately our agency got us there in plenty of time to work things out before time to board. I can't say enough about all of our guides in China. They were wonderful - professional and obviously dedicated to their work.
We were able to get a bassinet on our long flight over the ocean and Pearl slept in it quite a bit. Faith was asleep before we took off, and Davis caught quite a few ZZZZZzz's on that one, too. Then we negotiated LAX, which along with crazy construction and a very Hollywood moment as at one point we pushed through a crowd of photogs snapping pictures of some celebrity arrival, was pretty much a nightmare. We needed every minute of our five-hour layover to get to where we were supposed to be. We did make it, though, and our flight from there to Atlanta was only a little over 3 hours. Amazing. We got a bit of a break to clean everyone up at the Atlanta airport and then a quick jump to Columbia. Pearl traveled great, even eating on the go which had been a challenge before. Davis and Faith kept pretty much all of their enthusiasm intact, and my dad was kind enough to drive us home.
Home. All of us - home.
No sweet homecoming scene for us, as we were completely out of Pearl's food by the time we hit Columbia. Since she was due a nap, we made the call to make the drive home instead of stopping to get more in SC, and that worked fine until the last 15 minutes when little bit woke up. So instead of happy homecoming we had teary Target trip and then a rush to get the food ready in time for her to take about five sips and then go right to sleep. She ate great after nap, even though the formula and cereal mix here is definitely not as sweet as what she had in China.
We are doing great, and I have just been able to read all the sweet comments you guys made. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thanks so much for all your kindness! We appreciate it so much.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Last Days in China
Faith is sick with the ickiest of ick. And we are catching that plane tonight! Please pray that she has some relief before this evening. Davis has already had a few milder bouts with this and recovered quickly, so we are hopeful it will be the same for Faithers. I'm even more glad right now that our original travel plans were postponed. The start of this coincided with the time we should have been leaving! Now we have 12 extra hours for it to go away before we leave for the airport.
The last few days have been the calmest for us, as we have chilled out at the hotel most of the time. We've enjoyed watching some Masters coverage (in Chinese most of the time) and hanging out in the garden area of the hotel. We've already said goodbye to most of the families we met here. So many awesome kids and stories among them! Pearl has been great - so calm and sweet. A "sensible" baby indeed. I love hearing Davis say, "Smiling again!" everytime he sees Pearl's happy face. Davis has really bloomed on this trip - learning so many words. Even though there have been some hard moments and yuck illnesses, overall our time here has been very well-spent. It is so rare for us to have two weeks of nothing but together time and to have this time come with the addition of our youngest has been wonderful. We were really blessed to be able to bring the whole family.
Davis' first word when he woke up today was "China." Faith said that she wants to stay two more weeks. And that came this morning even as she was feeling so terrible.
I am ready to go home but not as eager as I would have expected at this point.
As of now we are due to arrive in Columbia at 10:40 on Saturday. As we pack up to leave and complete our last blog entry until we return home we just want you to know that we appreciate those that have been praying for us (please continue!), covered at work for us, and read along and followed us each step of the way. The first few days we were here seemed long and like we'd been here for quite some time. As we end our trip here it seems as though we arrived just yesterday. Finally I'll leave you with another new discovery by Davis. As I'm typing this he comes up to me and says "McDonald's, McDonald's Daddy!" Branding is alive and well as he sees their logo behind home plate while watching the Yankess game. I do not look forward to hearing him as we pass a McDonald's everyday and I do look forward to the days of hearing him request "Chickfila, Cows!" again.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Consulate Appointment
Just checking in to say that our consulate appointment went fine. I was anxious to have this done, since we had problems getting our visa when we were in Ethiopia, but it was totally OK. Later we went back to the shopping area with a family in our group from Atlanta. There are a few more pictures from today on dropshots: www.dropshots.com/lbullington password Augusta. Check out Faith with their super sweet 7-year-old, Lucas.
We just got back from a nice, humid walk in the park. The park was beautiful. When we arrived back at the room we turned on the tv for a moment and saw Augusta on TV. The BBC was doing a story on golf and for some reason they were interviewing Tammy Stout from Augsuta Sports Council along the river and the reporter finished the story at Forrest Hills Golf Club. Don't know why they'd be in town right now. Now on to find some sweet and sour chicken for dinner (McDonald's).
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Update from Guangzhou
This week has felt less like an adoption trip and more like vacation in some ways. Apart from the paperwork we completed Monday afternoon, there has been little adoption business. Tomorrow morning we will go to our interview at the U.S. consulate and hopefully complete the last paperwork necessary to bring our girl home. Please pray for this part to go smoothly! I'm a little nervous about having to take Faith and Davis with us to this most important appointment.
Yesterday we went shopping near the White Swan hotel and ran into our friends from Augusta, the Digsby family. Their little girl looks amazing and so sweet! It was great to see her doing so well and united with her parents! We bought a few gifts and people-watched in that same area. There were many couples in wedding attire posing in different places in the little park areas around the stores. Our guides told us that some of these couples are actually getting married and some of them just want pictures of themselves looking gorgeous in these beautiful outfits. There were also people posing in crazy clothes and bright wigs - David jumped into one of these setups and got his picture taken with some strange witch girl. Who knows where that photo will show up. These stores are almost exclusively shopped by western families, so all of the shopkeepers spoke at least some English and some knew a lot. One lady asked me a lot about Davis and shared that she sponsors a girl in Nigeria.
Today Davis was sick, so he stayed in with David while I took the girls with me on a group tour of a botanical garden park. It was very pretty, but I have no photos since I did not want one more thing to carry.
And as for an update on Pearl - she is such a happy girl. We had two great feedings today and one pretty good one, so this Mama is pleased that we seem to be figuring things out better. We can't hardly call her Pearl, though. She is always Pearly Pearl, or Pearly Pearly Pearly, or princess or kitten. We can't get enough of her. And she really is a princess. When she is done eating she turns her little head and sets her mouth and will not even look at the bottle again. Regally dismissive, she is.
Here is another funny thing - Pearl talks the whole time she eats. La la la la. I don't know how she does this while I am pouring cereal and formula down into her mouth, but she never stops. It is just about the cutest thing in the whole world.
Yesterday we went shopping near the White Swan hotel and ran into our friends from Augusta, the Digsby family. Their little girl looks amazing and so sweet! It was great to see her doing so well and united with her parents! We bought a few gifts and people-watched in that same area. There were many couples in wedding attire posing in different places in the little park areas around the stores. Our guides told us that some of these couples are actually getting married and some of them just want pictures of themselves looking gorgeous in these beautiful outfits. There were also people posing in crazy clothes and bright wigs - David jumped into one of these setups and got his picture taken with some strange witch girl. Who knows where that photo will show up. These stores are almost exclusively shopped by western families, so all of the shopkeepers spoke at least some English and some knew a lot. One lady asked me a lot about Davis and shared that she sponsors a girl in Nigeria.
Today Davis was sick, so he stayed in with David while I took the girls with me on a group tour of a botanical garden park. It was very pretty, but I have no photos since I did not want one more thing to carry.
And as for an update on Pearl - she is such a happy girl. We had two great feedings today and one pretty good one, so this Mama is pleased that we seem to be figuring things out better. We can't hardly call her Pearl, though. She is always Pearly Pearl, or Pearly Pearly Pearly, or princess or kitten. We can't get enough of her. And she really is a princess. When she is done eating she turns her little head and sets her mouth and will not even look at the bottle again. Regally dismissive, she is.
Here is another funny thing - Pearl talks the whole time she eats. La la la la. I don't know how she does this while I am pouring cereal and formula down into her mouth, but she never stops. It is just about the cutest thing in the whole world.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Re: Hunan to Guangzhou - Part Two
We really enjoyed our time in Hunan province. We were able to get the kids back in their normal routines - including Pearl who naps and sleeps along with the others. And everyone has been sleeping all night every night, so that has been great, too! .
There was a playroom in the hotel that the kids loved. We hung out in there a few hours just about everyday, and there were a few western places to eat within walking distance. David would go out and take one or two kids to get food or do a little shopping while I stayed with Pearl and usually Faith. A few times he took a cab which was more of an adventure. Each time we had our guide write out instructions for the taxi drivers so he would be able to go and get back OK. Once he went to Dairy Queen - which here serves only ice cream - and brought us back a "Georgia mud slide" and an oreo blizzard. There is no shortage of snack foods. We joke that we are on an all-carb diet or the China-version of Super Size Me, since we've eaten at McDonalds so often.
Our last day in Hunan we spent packing and getting ready for the flight to Guangzhou in the late afternoon. We also took a walk to a series of electronics shops to buy some headphones for Faith. This was our only walk through Changsha as a family on our own. It was a bit of a challenge to herd everyone across the many busy streets. We don't completely understand the rhythm of the traffic here, and cars do not yield to pedestrians. It made me nervous.
We were able to pick up Pearl's passport on our way out of town - that was a great blessing - and we made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight to Guangzhou. I had a bittersweet feeling for Pearl upon leaving her home province - so glad she is ours, but sad for her that she is losing China and China is losing her. There is a lot of beauty here in the land and its people. I am glad that we are inheriting it through her. We were also sad to say goodbye to our guide in Hunan, Celia. When we first saw her - jumping up and down waving an agency sign to greet us at the airport the first time - I thought she looked so very young! But she was wonderfully capable and took care of us so well. She was so loving to Faith and Davis and so generous of spirit, too. She told us that one day we can bring Pearl back and she will take us back to see her orphanage (a trip we did not make this time as it is quite a distance from the capital) and show us more of Hunan. As she said, "I think we see each other again."
Our flight to Guangzhou was only one hour long, and we had great seats that gave us a little extra legroom and a few empty seats nearby. Pearl did great on her first flight - very content to sit in my lap. She has gotten more and more comfortable with all of us everyday, and she is very smily, especially with her daddy. She loves to lay on the bed and play with toys, and she babbles happily a lot of the time. She seems very aware of everything going on around her. Feeding is not consistently great yet, but we are expirimenting with different positions and techniques and learning a lot as we go.
Being back in Guangzhou means being back with our travel group, so we have been able to see 13 families with their new kids as well - too awesome. Our main reunion took place yesterday morning as we all went to get medical check-ups for the U.S. consulate together. These were pretty low-key, with different stations for checking ears, weight, etc. Pearl did fine - crying during the checkups but being comforted by us when they were over. We have afternoons free here, except yesterday which was spent with me doing adoption paperwork with our guides and other family folks while the kids and David stayed here. We had an excellent dinner last night at a Japanese restaurant in our hotel. This morning we set out for a museum trip wtih our group but decided to take a taxi back to our hotel instead of touring there, as Faith was really not up to it. She perked up as soon as we got back here and we have all had a good day of rest in the room.
Last night we changed our flight home since it is our understanding that Delta is no longer having layovers from Guangzhou in Japan, which was our original plan. Now instead of leaving Friday morning, we will leave here Friday night and fly from Guangzhou to L.A., have a five hour layover there and on to Atlanta then Columbia. This puts us into Columbia around noon on Saturday. We are actually glad to have this new plan. It means travel will take longer but there are other advantages. Over all things are going really well. We love Pearl so much, and the kids are doing well with her. Davis is so sweet. He never calls her just Pearl, but always "Purrly-Purrly." So cute. We are ever amazed at God's grace for our family. We are definitely being carried in many ways. And thanks for all of the kind emails we have received with well-wishes.
There was a playroom in the hotel that the kids loved. We hung out in there a few hours just about everyday, and there were a few western places to eat within walking distance. David would go out and take one or two kids to get food or do a little shopping while I stayed with Pearl and usually Faith. A few times he took a cab which was more of an adventure. Each time we had our guide write out instructions for the taxi drivers so he would be able to go and get back OK. Once he went to Dairy Queen - which here serves only ice cream - and brought us back a "Georgia mud slide" and an oreo blizzard. There is no shortage of snack foods. We joke that we are on an all-carb diet or the China-version of Super Size Me, since we've eaten at McDonalds so often.
Our last day in Hunan we spent packing and getting ready for the flight to Guangzhou in the late afternoon. We also took a walk to a series of electronics shops to buy some headphones for Faith. This was our only walk through Changsha as a family on our own. It was a bit of a challenge to herd everyone across the many busy streets. We don't completely understand the rhythm of the traffic here, and cars do not yield to pedestrians. It made me nervous.
We were able to pick up Pearl's passport on our way out of town - that was a great blessing - and we made it to the airport in plenty of time to catch our flight to Guangzhou. I had a bittersweet feeling for Pearl upon leaving her home province - so glad she is ours, but sad for her that she is losing China and China is losing her. There is a lot of beauty here in the land and its people. I am glad that we are inheriting it through her. We were also sad to say goodbye to our guide in Hunan, Celia. When we first saw her - jumping up and down waving an agency sign to greet us at the airport the first time - I thought she looked so very young! But she was wonderfully capable and took care of us so well. She was so loving to Faith and Davis and so generous of spirit, too. She told us that one day we can bring Pearl back and she will take us back to see her orphanage (a trip we did not make this time as it is quite a distance from the capital) and show us more of Hunan. As she said, "I think we see each other again."
Our flight to Guangzhou was only one hour long, and we had great seats that gave us a little extra legroom and a few empty seats nearby. Pearl did great on her first flight - very content to sit in my lap. She has gotten more and more comfortable with all of us everyday, and she is very smily, especially with her daddy. She loves to lay on the bed and play with toys, and she babbles happily a lot of the time. She seems very aware of everything going on around her. Feeding is not consistently great yet, but we are expirimenting with different positions and techniques and learning a lot as we go.
Being back in Guangzhou means being back with our travel group, so we have been able to see 13 families with their new kids as well - too awesome. Our main reunion took place yesterday morning as we all went to get medical check-ups for the U.S. consulate together. These were pretty low-key, with different stations for checking ears, weight, etc. Pearl did fine - crying during the checkups but being comforted by us when they were over. We have afternoons free here, except yesterday which was spent with me doing adoption paperwork with our guides and other family folks while the kids and David stayed here. We had an excellent dinner last night at a Japanese restaurant in our hotel. This morning we set out for a museum trip wtih our group but decided to take a taxi back to our hotel instead of touring there, as Faith was really not up to it. She perked up as soon as we got back here and we have all had a good day of rest in the room.
Last night we changed our flight home since it is our understanding that Delta is no longer having layovers from Guangzhou in Japan, which was our original plan. Now instead of leaving Friday morning, we will leave here Friday night and fly from Guangzhou to L.A., have a five hour layover there and on to Atlanta then Columbia. This puts us into Columbia around noon on Saturday. We are actually glad to have this new plan. It means travel will take longer but there are other advantages. Over all things are going really well. We love Pearl so much, and the kids are doing well with her. Davis is so sweet. He never calls her just Pearl, but always "Purrly-Purrly." So cute. We are ever amazed at God's grace for our family. We are definitely being carried in many ways. And thanks for all of the kind emails we have received with well-wishes.
Hunan to Guangzhou - Part One
Sorry to be so long in writing! We've had a few good, busy days lately. We finished our time in Hunan by visiting an embroidery museum and workshop. Hunan is the home of one of the four main schools of embroidery in China. This art form began when a woman saw a beautiful painting and thought that it would be even more beautiful as an embroidered piece. She worked for a long time to develop the proper technique to represent the depths and colors of the painting with fine silk thread on fabric. The result was a very exquisite form of art that was then perfected and passed down through generations of women in this region. The most amazing thing to us about the pieces we saw was that they make the back of the threadwork as beautiful as the front. Many of the pieces were double-sided, and sometimes the front and back side showed different pictures.
One of the pieces we saw in the museum was a reproduction of a piece found in the 3,000-year-old tomb of an emporer's wife. The excavation site of this tomb, with its very well-preserved mummified remains of this woman, is on exhibit today at the Hunan museum. We did not go to this museum, because we thought the kids might be at best bored and at worst scared by it. It is interesting to me that both Davis' and Pearl's birth places are home to famous mummies, as Addis Ababa's museum boasts the "Lucy" remains.
The embroidered piece reproduced for the museum we did go to shows a lot about ancient beliefs in China. It depicts the deceased women with some other people in the center of the work which represents earthly life. Above her is a gate guarded by two men who decide whether or not you go to heaven. Heaven is shown as having dragons in it and nine suns, because people thought that it was so hot some days that there must be nine suns up there. The biggest sun has a silhouette of a crow on it - I saw a sun with a crow in it on the wall in our hotel as well. Our guide told me this is because that is what people see when they look at the sun - kind of like the man in the moon. Also, I imagine you do start seeing scary dark birds if you stare at the sun. Anyway - below the earthly life part was a picture of hell where a devil-man holding a big plank over his head stands on a fish. This is because the people believed that it was this devil man getting angry and shifting the plank over his head that caused earthquakes.
After visiting the museum we were taken to the room where the "housewives" (as the man who seemed to be overseeing everything called them) were working on different pieces. Twelve ladies were lined up working on one huge piece that had been commissioned by a company. They said it would take them a year to complete it. A few other women - the masters of the craft - worked seperately on individual pieces. One was working from a photograph of a tiger. The man said that making animal fur look real was one of the specialties of Hunan embroidery. The needles these ladies used were tiny, and the silk thread can be as slender as a single strand of hair.
There were many landscapes of Hunan in the embroidery museum, many of them showing magical looking mountain scenes. Our guide and the museum man told us that the mountains in the movie Avatar were based on those in western Hunan - near Pearl's hometown of Huaihua city. We must be looking like real smarties to our guide, because she was sure to mention that the mountains in western Hunan do not actually float in the air like in the movie. haha.
One of the pieces we saw in the museum was a reproduction of a piece found in the 3,000-year-old tomb of an emporer's wife. The excavation site of this tomb, with its very well-preserved mummified remains of this woman, is on exhibit today at the Hunan museum. We did not go to this museum, because we thought the kids might be at best bored and at worst scared by it. It is interesting to me that both Davis' and Pearl's birth places are home to famous mummies, as Addis Ababa's museum boasts the "Lucy" remains.
The embroidered piece reproduced for the museum we did go to shows a lot about ancient beliefs in China. It depicts the deceased women with some other people in the center of the work which represents earthly life. Above her is a gate guarded by two men who decide whether or not you go to heaven. Heaven is shown as having dragons in it and nine suns, because people thought that it was so hot some days that there must be nine suns up there. The biggest sun has a silhouette of a crow on it - I saw a sun with a crow in it on the wall in our hotel as well. Our guide told me this is because that is what people see when they look at the sun - kind of like the man in the moon. Also, I imagine you do start seeing scary dark birds if you stare at the sun. Anyway - below the earthly life part was a picture of hell where a devil-man holding a big plank over his head stands on a fish. This is because the people believed that it was this devil man getting angry and shifting the plank over his head that caused earthquakes.
After visiting the museum we were taken to the room where the "housewives" (as the man who seemed to be overseeing everything called them) were working on different pieces. Twelve ladies were lined up working on one huge piece that had been commissioned by a company. They said it would take them a year to complete it. A few other women - the masters of the craft - worked seperately on individual pieces. One was working from a photograph of a tiger. The man said that making animal fur look real was one of the specialties of Hunan embroidery. The needles these ladies used were tiny, and the silk thread can be as slender as a single strand of hair.
There were many landscapes of Hunan in the embroidery museum, many of them showing magical looking mountain scenes. Our guide and the museum man told us that the mountains in the movie Avatar were based on those in western Hunan - near Pearl's hometown of Huaihua city. We must be looking like real smarties to our guide, because she was sure to mention that the mountains in western Hunan do not actually float in the air like in the movie. haha.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Good Morning, America!
We've got pictures up on our dropshots site - www.dropshots.com/lbullington. The password is Augusta, and the photos are organized by date. Go check them out! A lot of our Gotcha photos are blurry because someone else was using our awkward camera. It tells the story anyway, so I'm sharing them regardless. I'll be going back to caption them to describe what they are during all my free time.
Today went really well. We took the kids to a huge park with a "human-made" lake where the kids fed the fish. Then we sat in crazy Changsha traffic for a while on our way to a 100-year-old restaurant called the Red Dragon for lunch - very tasty chicken. Davis loved it. We joked that he liked it because of his own hot and spicy heritage. Faith got rather harassed at this restaurant by the waitstaff going after pictures. Unfortunately, a few of the more agressive folks have put her off the idea of making nice entirely and she is done. Don't worry, we are looking after her and ready to jump in and claim "too shy" whenever we need to. After lunch - Walmart. Just like home. Except for the dried intestines(?)
I just looked back to see Pearl playing on the bed and she gave me the biggest, widest smile. When I commented on it, Faith said, "I know why she smiles so big, Mama. It's because she has those spaces. We can't smile as big because we don't have them. I think it's pretty."
My goodness. Faith is right. Pearl's smile really is about the most beautiful I've ever seen. We get more and more smiles everyday, and they are pure delight.
We are all thanking God for our sweet baby girl!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Nice to Meet You, Pearl
Yesterday we had a 3:30 appointment with OUR NEW BABY. The kids had a good rest in the early afternoon while David and I got together the things we needed to bring to this meeting. We had to wake the kids up from naps, which is never a good scene, but we managed it and had everyone in the lobby to meet our guide at 3.
We were in the office for all of three minutes when this group of folks came in and rushed at us. One of them dropped a baby in my arms and then all of them (it seemed) began taking picture after picture while this little one screamed and tried to get away from me as best she could - leaning way back away and stiff as a board. She had a lot of hair. That was all I could see at first. And her mouth, with all of its troubles, was so red and angry looking that it seemed like a major wound. She would not be consoled. If she stopped crying a little she looked at us again and cried fresh tears. Oh, she was so sad.
We had to do very important paperwork RIGHT AWAY. While we were meeting our little angry one. Our guides had warned us that we would not know our own names at this point, and boy, were they right. We were told to look at our passports to compare to a form that showed just basic stuff like our birthdates, etc. and I really needed to!
The kids were so very, very sweet. Faith wanted to hold her immediately. Even though she was screaming. And Davis kept banging his stroller against my legs and saying, "Pearl, stroller?!" because he wanted to roll her out immediately and take her with us. Then they went running around the office already taking full advantage of our divided attention. David held Pearl for a few minutes as well. I didn't think she was quite as upset with him as she was at me.
Finally we were able to leave. Pearl kept crying, and I was feeling very helpless until I got ahold of myself and just did what I always did when the other two were little and beyond themselves with emotion and fatigue. I held her tightly and bounced her gently and Shhhhhhd her until she went to sleep. Pretty quickly. And then she slept for a while. I held her in the car while David and our guide went to pizza hut and a small grocery for diapers for both(!) kids.
Pearl was fine until she woke up and saw it was still us. She fussed and cried a lot yesterday afternoon and evening. She screamed whenever the kids got close to her, which was hard for Faith who still asked to hold her at every opportunity even though Pearl would act horrified when Faith came within an armslength.
She had moments of calm, though, and we were able to give her a bottle, though it was a slow, messy process.
And there was one beautiful moment when I passed in front of the mirror and she saw herself and gave an enormous smile that lit up her whole face - so sweet!
There were some hard moments, too. She is so thin. It was hard to see how thin until I was changing her out of the many layers that she was dressed in. Man, she is tiny. I am working on not worrying about it.
She went to bed around 7 very easily (as reported - sensible and obedient) and slept all night. It was a great rest for all of us, as we were all asleep soon after her. Good thing, because we were up early this morning and had plenty of time to leisurely get ready for our 9 am appointment to sign our official yes papers to adopt our girl.
Things started to improve this morning. Pearl was still disappointed to see us when she woke, but she was less constantly upset about it as before. She did well at the appointments, and since we were done with them and given official approval for our adoption by 10, we had a lot of time to hang out here as a family today. I had a chance to experiment with a couple of different feeding methods we had on hand, and several of them proved more successful today. (Thanks, Beth, for providing these!!!) And Pearl got more and more comfortable with us. She is less stiff now and we got a few smiles out of her - these came easier and easier as the day went on. And there was a really precious time when Faith and Davis were able to stand close to Pearl and she put out her hands to them and started holding their hands. I can't tell you how adorable it looks when her tiny, dainty little hand is placed in Davis's. Davis turned it into one of his favorite games, as he started shaking her hand and saying, "Nice to meet you, Pearl." That seemed to be a breakthrough moment, as afterwards Pearl was much more comfortable with them though she still has her limits.
There is so much more to say, but again the energy is gone. Thanks so much for your prayers and support, everyone. I could not have imagined yesterday that Pearl would come so far so fast in relating to us. I'm trying to add photos, but it is not working. (Or I just added four copies of the same one.) I'll try again tomorrow.
We were in the office for all of three minutes when this group of folks came in and rushed at us. One of them dropped a baby in my arms and then all of them (it seemed) began taking picture after picture while this little one screamed and tried to get away from me as best she could - leaning way back away and stiff as a board. She had a lot of hair. That was all I could see at first. And her mouth, with all of its troubles, was so red and angry looking that it seemed like a major wound. She would not be consoled. If she stopped crying a little she looked at us again and cried fresh tears. Oh, she was so sad.
We had to do very important paperwork RIGHT AWAY. While we were meeting our little angry one. Our guides had warned us that we would not know our own names at this point, and boy, were they right. We were told to look at our passports to compare to a form that showed just basic stuff like our birthdates, etc. and I really needed to!
The kids were so very, very sweet. Faith wanted to hold her immediately. Even though she was screaming. And Davis kept banging his stroller against my legs and saying, "Pearl, stroller?!" because he wanted to roll her out immediately and take her with us. Then they went running around the office already taking full advantage of our divided attention. David held Pearl for a few minutes as well. I didn't think she was quite as upset with him as she was at me.
Finally we were able to leave. Pearl kept crying, and I was feeling very helpless until I got ahold of myself and just did what I always did when the other two were little and beyond themselves with emotion and fatigue. I held her tightly and bounced her gently and Shhhhhhd her until she went to sleep. Pretty quickly. And then she slept for a while. I held her in the car while David and our guide went to pizza hut and a small grocery for diapers for both(!) kids.
Pearl was fine until she woke up and saw it was still us. She fussed and cried a lot yesterday afternoon and evening. She screamed whenever the kids got close to her, which was hard for Faith who still asked to hold her at every opportunity even though Pearl would act horrified when Faith came within an armslength.
She had moments of calm, though, and we were able to give her a bottle, though it was a slow, messy process.
And there was one beautiful moment when I passed in front of the mirror and she saw herself and gave an enormous smile that lit up her whole face - so sweet!
There were some hard moments, too. She is so thin. It was hard to see how thin until I was changing her out of the many layers that she was dressed in. Man, she is tiny. I am working on not worrying about it.
She went to bed around 7 very easily (as reported - sensible and obedient) and slept all night. It was a great rest for all of us, as we were all asleep soon after her. Good thing, because we were up early this morning and had plenty of time to leisurely get ready for our 9 am appointment to sign our official yes papers to adopt our girl.
Things started to improve this morning. Pearl was still disappointed to see us when she woke, but she was less constantly upset about it as before. She did well at the appointments, and since we were done with them and given official approval for our adoption by 10, we had a lot of time to hang out here as a family today. I had a chance to experiment with a couple of different feeding methods we had on hand, and several of them proved more successful today. (Thanks, Beth, for providing these!!!) And Pearl got more and more comfortable with us. She is less stiff now and we got a few smiles out of her - these came easier and easier as the day went on. And there was a really precious time when Faith and Davis were able to stand close to Pearl and she put out her hands to them and started holding their hands. I can't tell you how adorable it looks when her tiny, dainty little hand is placed in Davis's. Davis turned it into one of his favorite games, as he started shaking her hand and saying, "Nice to meet you, Pearl." That seemed to be a breakthrough moment, as afterwards Pearl was much more comfortable with them though she still has her limits.
There is so much more to say, but again the energy is gone. Thanks so much for your prayers and support, everyone. I could not have imagined yesterday that Pearl would come so far so fast in relating to us. I'm trying to add photos, but it is not working. (Or I just added four copies of the same one.) I'll try again tomorrow.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Gotcha!
I really wish I had more energy to describe our day right now! We are all exhausted, but we wanted those of you checking in on us to know that we have Pearl, she is doing pretty well - very scared of everything and wary of everyone right now, but we feel that is a normal, healthy reaction to her situation. We were able to feed her tonight, which we feel is a victory since we were worried about how that would work out. We will tell more tomorrow - and share pictures! David figured out that our computer is capable after all - we are just too tired to do more right now. Thanks for your prayers!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
China Day 2
Today was long - for poor Faith (and David) it started at 2 am as she was up and unable to go back to sleep. We loaded the bus at precisely 9:15 and went to church at the Beijing International Fellowship. The worship service itself was a lot like church at home, but we only lasted through a few songs and the first few prayers as both kids were too restless. We took them for a walk instead. After the service we went to a jade factory and then to lunch. After lunch - the Great Wall. Amazing to see. Amazing to walk on for approximately five minutes and then amazing perfect storm of meltdowns from both kids screaming at once. Wow. We did get some cute video of Davis counting stairs as he climbed them on his hands and knees. No video of the screaming so guess which part will get remembered! Yay happy memories!
They calmed down pretty soon and fell asleep immediately after we got on the bus to go to supper. They slept through supper and then all the way back to the hotel. We got here at six, woke up the poor babies and revitalized them with goldfish and trotted them back out to the bus to go to an acrobatics show.
Overall, things really have gone pretty well, and tomorrow we'll board a plane early in the morning for Hunan and Pearl! Sorry for the lack of detail here, but we are flat out tired. I do appreciate anyone who is checking in and I am hoping for an answer to our picture problem tomorrow so I can share photos of Gotcha!
They calmed down pretty soon and fell asleep immediately after we got on the bus to go to supper. They slept through supper and then all the way back to the hotel. We got here at six, woke up the poor babies and revitalized them with goldfish and trotted them back out to the bus to go to an acrobatics show.
Overall, things really have gone pretty well, and tomorrow we'll board a plane early in the morning for Hunan and Pearl! Sorry for the lack of detail here, but we are flat out tired. I do appreciate anyone who is checking in and I am hoping for an answer to our picture problem tomorrow so I can share photos of Gotcha!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
China - Day 1
Well, last night(?) was interesting. Davis slept about 3 hours. Faith did a little better. No matter! We were all up before 6 (a few of us way before 6.) We had breakfast at the buffet downstairs and left with our group to tour Tiananmen Square.
Everything we saw today was immense. And crowded with people. I wish I could show you our pictures right now, but in a move that is kind of typical for us, we neglected to get a laptop which will read our SD card. Cripes. We will try to upload some at another computer sometime so we can post some later.
After we toured the square we saw the massive Forbidden City. And when I say "toured" I mean walked very briskly through with periodic stops for our guide to count heads and tell us a little information about what we were looking at. It was a challenge for us to get Davis through these crowds in his stroller. We also got a great deal of attention today for both the kids. I knew this would happen, but it is a very odd experience. People stop and point and stare at the kids - particularly Davis. They want to get pictures of their kids and themselves with him. One lady moved me out of the way today so she could see him better. It has made me a little nervous at times, but there is nothing but fascination in the attitudes of these folks. They are super friendly and just curious. Davis has done really well and even hammed it up at times. Faith has her limits. It was very odd at one point today when I was taking a picture of Faith and there was a man next to me with his camera taking pictures of her, too.
After the brisk walks we went to lunch, toured the beautiful summer palace garden, and shopped at government run pearl and silk factories, got pictures of the Bird's nest and swimming facilities of the Beijing Olympics and were on our way to a tea ceremony when Faith got sick on the bus so we got a taxi and came back to our room. Game over for today, but there are big plans for tomorrow, too, so hopefully some rest will help everyone get some energy back.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Greetings from Beijing!
We are here! Everything went really well on the flights. David and I were flying cheerleaders for the kids [i.e. "Look! There is another airplane! So awesome! Hey, we're moving now! Yippee!" The kids got right into that spirit and really seemed to enjoy themselves. We flew out of Columbia to Atlanta. When we got off the plane at Hartsfield Davis cried out "Yay, China!" He was a little disappointed to find we were not already there.
Our second flight - Atlanta to Seattle - left about 20 minutes late. With only an hour between our planned arrival and departure there for Beijing, we knew that a delay of any kind could be major for us. Fortunately the gates we were using were right next to each other. Unfortunately, it meant that we went virtually 17 hours straight on planes. Those of you who prayed for my kids' traveling dispositions, thank you and most of all thank God who granted those requests! They were both super sweet.
We have about 11 families traveling in a group with our agency at this point. We will all spend a very busy day together tomorrow and Sunday sightseeing and shopping before we split up to GO GET OUR BABIES on Monday.
And more from today in China:
The customs man said "Ni-Hao" to Davis. He responded back with an enthusiastic "Hee haw!" that got lots of laughs. A few ladies at the Beijing airport were fascinated by Faith's hair. One of them even ran her fingers through the length of it.
Also, we have some friends here! The Digsby family are here with another agency getting their baby girl. You can follow them here: http://digsbyland.blogspot.com/.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Travel!
Packing for China has been a challenge. We have to consider baggage weight limits, diverse climate conditions of the three cities we'll be visiting, the needs of a child we don't know yet, and the needs of the two children we do know.
Further travel considerations:
Faith finds it difficult to carry her backpack, which normally contains one folder and a lunchbox, down the short hallway of her school.
Davis nearly always wants to be held by mama. And he weighs 33lbs. How much luggage can be carried and/or dragged by two adults who are also juggling [by travel leg #3] three kids?
It is customary to purchase gifts to take to the orphanage workers and people who will help us with our adoption process. We've bought chocolate, but there is the challenge of finding a place to store it. Right now our diaper bag is lined with bars of Godiva.
Packing for China has been a joy -
So many tiny socks, diapers, dresses, onesies packed in happy anticipation of the one that is soon to be wearing them!
We are on our marks. And set. Tomorrow we GO!
Further travel considerations:
Faith finds it difficult to carry her backpack, which normally contains one folder and a lunchbox, down the short hallway of her school.
Davis nearly always wants to be held by mama. And he weighs 33lbs. How much luggage can be carried and/or dragged by two adults who are also juggling [by travel leg #3] three kids?
It is customary to purchase gifts to take to the orphanage workers and people who will help us with our adoption process. We've bought chocolate, but there is the challenge of finding a place to store it. Right now our diaper bag is lined with bars of Godiva.
Packing for China has been a joy -
So many tiny socks, diapers, dresses, onesies packed in happy anticipation of the one that is soon to be wearing them!
We are on our marks. And set. Tomorrow we GO!
Friday, March 18, 2011
Ten-Months-Old
Pearl is ten-months-old. To remind myself what ten-months-old looks like I found these babies:
Faith at ten months. One of my favorite photos -
Davis at ten months -
And another favorite of that time -
Faith at ten months. One of my favorite photos -
Davis at ten months -
And another favorite of that time -
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day from Larry
We've been so careful not to mislead the child. But today, what I thought would be a cute instantly-understood-joke totally convinced Faith that leprechauns do exist. And this serves as evidence for fairies as well because, as I learned this morning, "leprechauns make fairies' shoes."
Oh, well.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Her Lucky Day. . .and other pictures
Look what Faith found after, I'd say, two minutes of looking around in our weedy backyard's one tiny clover patch. She was hunting for bait for her leprechaun trap.
Davis wanted his picture made with a "find" as well, so he showed me this.
The Cherry Blossom trees are growing in the GIRLS' room:
Stage One
Stage Two
And Pearl's getting quite the shoe collection.
Davis wanted his picture made with a "find" as well, so he showed me this.
The Cherry Blossom trees are growing in the GIRLS' room:
Stage One
Stage Two
And Pearl's getting quite the shoe collection.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Let the Countdown Begin
We have a plan. And a schedule. And tickets. And some sweet baby girl clothes in three different sizes.
And two excited kids this side of the ocean: a sweet big-sister-again Faith who is super-psyched about everything, and a big-brother Davis who has started identifying every map he sees as "China!" and every Asian baby as "Purrrl."
And we have some friends who are going already!
And two excited kids this side of the ocean: a sweet big-sister-again Faith who is super-psyched about everything, and a big-brother Davis who has started identifying every map he sees as "China!" and every Asian baby as "Purrrl."
And we have some friends who are going already!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Ha.
While looking at an illustration that showed Mickey Mouse with two younger mice, Faith said, "I didn't know Mickey Mouse had kids! I thought Mickey Mouse WAS a kid!"
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Accelerando
We have a TA! That is a Travel Approval for China. We were given an estimated wait of 2 - 4 weeks on this, and we waited only 1. That is kind of a trend this time around. We've also been given tentative travel dates that are coming up SOON, and in order to keep them we flew (in our car) to the ATL (can't resist that) yesterday to get fingerprinted.
Our fingerprints jetted on into the system and will hopefully get to China soon so that we can make a necessary appointment there and be able to go get our Pearl.
It is starting to seem a little real.
Our fingerprints jetted on into the system and will hopefully get to China soon so that we can make a necessary appointment there and be able to go get our Pearl.
It is starting to seem a little real.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Good Day, Sunshine
Today was beautiful. Not only was a hint of spring in the breeze and in the buds on our tulip tree - today my little boy said one of his longest not-just-mimicking- someone-else sentences to date.
I was carrying him through the house, and he threw his little arms around my neck, patted my back, and said,
"I love you, Mommy."
I know how forgettable these unforgettable moments can be.
So, this one, I'll save. And share.
I was carrying him through the house, and he threw his little arms around my neck, patted my back, and said,
"I love you, Mommy."
I know how forgettable these unforgettable moments can be.
So, this one, I'll save. And share.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Hey, Remember this. . .
Remember how when we were sending things in to confirm Davis' adoption we had time to take pictures!! Wow - this time around things are WAY different. The FedEx truck pulled up today with Pearl's referral acceptance letter and as soon as that delivery hit our dining room table we were frantically pulling things together to be signed and shipped out in time to make it to our agency by noon Friday.
Whew. . .the only photos we got today were taken at the drug store for the purpose of getting travel visas. Poor Davis did not want to get his mugshot done in the 2 minutes we had alloted for this portion of the mad-dash-to-the-post-office. We ended up promising him all manner of goodies. I'm a little afraid of the precedent set by this blatant bribery, but what can we say. It worked - just enough - and the poor girl at the counter was finally able to center his head correctly in the frame. In his very first visa photo - taken when he was just a few months old - he is wearing an expression of delight. I'm afraid his expression in this one is one of delirium.
It is awesome NOT to have time to stop and pose because things are moving so quickly! We really are ready to go get our girl.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day to Us
Love makes a family of FIVE!
We received our approval from China! Here she is:
We are thanking God for this happy day!
We received our approval from China! Here she is:
We are thanking God for this happy day!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Seen and Heard
Faith: I'm hungrier than Davis.
Me: How do you know how hungry Davis is?
Faith: Davis, are you 10 hungry?
________________________________________________
Faith: Can I take the bunny to China?
Me: I don't think we'll have room for it.
Faith: Well, I'm packing my own soup-case.
________________________________________________
And this one happens on average four times a day -
Davis: Mama!! . . . MAMA!! . . . . Mama!!
Me: What?
Davis: {big grin} Apple.
Me: How do you know how hungry Davis is?
Faith: Davis, are you 10 hungry?
________________________________________________
Faith: Can I take the bunny to China?
Me: I don't think we'll have room for it.
Faith: Well, I'm packing my own soup-case.
________________________________________________
And this one happens on average four times a day -
Davis: Mama!! . . . MAMA!! . . . . Mama!!
Me: What?
Davis: {big grin} Apple.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Blown Away
By this story today: Go and See what the Lord has done for this family.
And don't miss another side of it here.
Also, its kinda cool that their boy was wearing a very familiar outfit in his referral picture. . .
Monday, February 7, 2011
Well-documented
Our dining room table is covered with all the papers we need to send in at the moment to move our adoption process along. Right now we are renewing our visa application that will enable us to bring Pearl home - a visa we first applied for in January of 2008 and received approval for in March of that year! These expire every 18-months, so this is our second renewal. Another funny(?) part of this process is that our fingerprints expire as well, so we will need to travel to Atlanta to get new fingerprints taken to accompany this application. The mention of fingerprinting makes me a little nervous, since it was a problem in the fingerprint renewal that caused us issues in Ethiopia. We are hoping that this renewal process will take no longer than the 45-day time frame we were given by immigration.
We received a pre-approval from China last week regarding our adoption of our baby girl. This means that they have received our request and that it has been forwarded to the correct department that will make the final decision about our application. We are hoping to receive their answer within the next few weeks.
One thing that is nice is that just about everything I needed for this paper-gathering was in our files already. We have a bunch of copies of EVERYTHING - our own vital records department. I may charge myself $25 per page to surrender these.
We received a pre-approval from China last week regarding our adoption of our baby girl. This means that they have received our request and that it has been forwarded to the correct department that will make the final decision about our application. We are hoping to receive their answer within the next few weeks.
One thing that is nice is that just about everything I needed for this paper-gathering was in our files already. We have a bunch of copies of EVERYTHING - our own vital records department. I may charge myself $25 per page to surrender these.
Friday, January 21, 2011
We've Found a Treasure
And we are willing to share. But not able just yet. What we can say is. . .
WE GOT A CALL!
On Monday night at 11 pm we received a phone call from our agency saying that they had a baby girl for us to consider.
An eight-month-old baby girl!
Her picture and information about her appeared in our email a short while later.
I prayed that she would not be a stranger to us upon sight, and He gave us that peace. To us, she seemed immediately our baby. (I feel compelled here to add that of course we weren't focused on this first sight of her as a deciding factor, but I was very glad that she seemed familiar, in an odd way, to us from the start.)
We filled out our official "Referral Acceptance" - our, "Please, Yes, We want her in our family" paperwork - and it went to China Wednesday.
So hopefully we will hear from China an official "Yes" to our "Yes" in a few weeks.
And then we can share her picture here and have a public celebration of the newest Bullington. Our Pearl.
WE GOT A CALL!
On Monday night at 11 pm we received a phone call from our agency saying that they had a baby girl for us to consider.
An eight-month-old baby girl!
Her picture and information about her appeared in our email a short while later.
I prayed that she would not be a stranger to us upon sight, and He gave us that peace. To us, she seemed immediately our baby. (I feel compelled here to add that of course we weren't focused on this first sight of her as a deciding factor, but I was very glad that she seemed familiar, in an odd way, to us from the start.)
We filled out our official "Referral Acceptance" - our, "Please, Yes, We want her in our family" paperwork - and it went to China Wednesday.
So hopefully we will hear from China an official "Yes" to our "Yes" in a few weeks.
And then we can share her picture here and have a public celebration of the newest Bullington. Our Pearl.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Wait and Watch and Wait and Watch
We have been waiting mostly patiently.
Waiting on our girl.
Our first child in mind (since summer of '04!)
who will be our third child in fact.
And now there is hope.
That she may be seen soon.
And we may have her home.
THIS SPRING or SUMMER!
Waiting on our girl.
Our first child in mind (since summer of '04!)
who will be our third child in fact.
And now there is hope.
That she may be seen soon.
And we may have her home.
THIS SPRING or SUMMER!
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