Update

It is hard to believe that it has been over four months since we arrived home with Addie. Several times Ann and I have talked about how quickly and easily Addie has transitioned into our family. It is fills my heart with joy to see all three kids together playing. We are thankful to God for the way he has brought our family together. We realize it has been a while since we updated the blog so we thought we would try to briefly tell about the last three months. 

Lyndsay and Addie at Landon's awards day

After we got home it took several weeks for all of us to get back sleeping and functioning on a normal schedule. We got back just in time for Lyndsay and Landon to finish their last week of school. Both enjoyed seeing their friends and telling them about our trip. And they were both very excited to show off their new sister. When the week was over though I think they were glad to be able to sleep in. 

 

                                  

Landon showing his class the things he got in China

Lyndsay's backbend

We thought with school being out things would slow down, but it didn't. A couple of weeks after school was out Lyndsay had her dance recital. Lyndsay loves dance and she continues to get better all the time. She did a fantastic job at her recital.  

        

Ballet

  

 A week later she had a minor surgery on her knee. The doctor said it would be sore, but she could dance the same afternoon. There was no way she could have danced that night. She was in a lot of pain for a couple of days, and it took about a week or so for her to really get up and going. I think the best thing for her was the two weeks she spent at camp. It really forced her to be more active and to exercise her leg. 

Lyndsay and Landon spent the first two weeks of July at Winshape Camp at Berry College. They both had a blast. Lyndsay loved the rock climbing and horseback riding. She also learned to cook and how to make pottery. Landon enjoyed the soccer and flag football. Landon also learned to cook and won the golden spoon in his group. Both enjoyed the swimming and of course the sock war. It is an all around great camp experience. The best part is that as they are making new friends and enjoying the camp experience they are also helping them to deepen their faith and have a closer relationship with Christ.

Lyndsay's cabin mates at camp

  

Sock War

Now both have started back to school. So far they are both off to a good start. Landon was disappointed to find out he did not have the same teacher as last year. It only took one day to decide he liked his new teacher. Lyndsay is enjoying school and her new teachers also. This is the first year Lyndsay will have exams and she is working hard to have straight A's and not miss any days so that she can exempt them.

Addie has made amazing progress since we have been home. She was able to sit up, but was not very mobile. If she fell over she could not sit back up. She quickly learned to roll and would roll from one side of the room to the other. She then learned to scoot around on her belly. She then began to scoot around while sitting up on her bottom. It is pretty funny to watch this, and she has gotten very quick. She has also learned to crawl, but usually prefers to scoot on her bottom. On Father's Day she pulled herself up for the first time. She has started taking a few steps while holding on to something, but still has not walked on her own. She still has a ways to go, but she has come so far in a very short time. She has picked up a couple of dozen words that she uses pretty regular and she will often try to repeat whatever is said. She loves music. Her two favorite songs for a while were Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Lately her favorite has been Happy Birthday. It is so precious to hear her just begin singing.

Addie has had her own busy summer. In about two months she made over a dozen trips to the doctor. She has been to her pediatrician, the adoption clinic in Birmingham, a cardiologist, neurologist, an eye doctor, and had an MRI that resulted in a trip to the ER that about scared us to death. They had found what they thought was blood and water on her brain. After a couple of hours they sent us home and said the doctor would call tomorrow. The doctor did not call the next day or the next. He called about a week later to say they had overreacted at the MRI and while she did have some blood and water on her brain it was only minimal and not enough to worry about. Thanks for letting us know so quickly and for scaring us to death. We have also learned she is on the lower end of height and weight for her age, which was not a surprise. 

The reason for so many of Addie's appointments is that she has a form of spina bifida. Recently we were back in Birmingham for a couple of tests and a follow up with the neurologist. She was scheduled for a renal ultrasound and then a urodynamics test. The ultrasound showed that she had abnormal kidneys which could cause a few problems. They would be able to confirm that with the urodynamics test, but Addie has a bladder infection so they could not do the test. That has been rescheduled for late October. One of the things we will learn from this test is whether or not she will be able to potty train. 

After the test we left Children's Hospital and drove across town to Children's South for our neuro appointment. The doctor was hoping to have the results of the test today before we moved forward.  The main purpose of the visit was to schedule surgery for her tethered cord. The doctor says this is fairly common in children with spina bifida. Since we had the test rescheduled we went ahead and planned surgery for the beginning of November. We expect her to be in the hospital for 4 days or so after the surgery. Then several weeks of recovery here at home. So on one hand Addie is doing extremely well and has made tremendous progress since being home, but on the other she has a long road ahead of her. 

So as we move ahead we continue to trust God who has brought us to this point. We have been amazed as we watched Him work at various times along the way of this process and now as we look ahead we want to continue to focus on Him. Thanks for reading and following our story. We will try to keep you up to date on how things are progressing. Most of all thanks for your prayers.

Sweet Home Alabama

"Sweet home Alabama where the skies are so blue, Sweet Home Alabama I'm coming home to you..."
In the last 2 weeks Addie has travelled to 6 cities on 3 flights and a train covering over 10,000 miles and is finally home. It's hard to believe we have been together for 2 weeks now. It has been an amazing journey for all of us. We are all trying to adjust to the long flights and the time change. Addie continues to do well. The 23 hours in airports and airplanes on top of the 13 hour time difference has taken its toll on her though. She is waking up about 2:30 am and is ready to go, then she wants to sleep during the day. I think it will just take a little time for her to adjust. The time change has been hard on all of us. Last night when she woke up Ann and I were already awake. Since we were all up we thought it was a good time to have some apple pie, thats what you are supposed to do when your baby wakes up, right. My mom would be glad to know Addie loved her pie. After we were done Addie and I moved to the couch where we fell asleep about 3:30 and then woke up about 5:30 when Lyndsay and Landon came down. Both said they had already been up for a while. Landon said he had come down, but went back to his room when he saw me and Addie asleep.
We are thankful to all of are friends who prayed for us as we travelled to bring Addie home. We have seen the hand of God at work each step of the way. Even though this is the end of this chapter of bringing Addie home. It is only the beginning of another as we begin our life together as a family. Thanks to my sister Amanda who updated the blog for us while we were gone. We emailed the pictures and information back to her and she posted it for us.  Here are a few more pictures and the video of Addie's gotcha day.

Dragon Boat Cruise

Landon and his new friend Joshua.

Lyndsay and Mckenna

Addie and JoJo

JoJo fixing Lyndsay's hair

JoJo quickly had an audience

Addie's first swim

Our crazy ride down the mountain on a golf cart!

There are even Alabama fans in China.

The Doctor

We have finally arrived in Guangzhou, the last leg of our trip.  

Yesterday we did not have a lot on the agenda, just to get Addie's passport and fly out.  Seemed like an easy enough day.  I was able to take my first and only run here in Nanchang. It was pretty good, the streets were a little crazier here though.  Our guide was supposed to pick up Addie's passport and bring it to the hotel when she picked us up to head to the airport.  She got there at 3pm and said her passport was not ready so we needed to go to the passport office and pick it up.  Our flight was at 5:30 so we had a little time.  We ended up waiting about 45 minutes at the office, while there we found out our flight had been delayed an hour because of the weather where it was coming from.  This was good since we were going to be cutting it close.  The flight ended up being almost 3 hours late.  The flight went very well though.  Addie was restless at first, but did well.  She fell asleep right before we landed.  Hopefully she will do this well on our flight home.  We found our guide and she took us to the hotel.  It was around 11:30pm by the time we got to our room and got the kids in bed.  Maybe we can catch on some of the sleep tonight.

Today was our visit to the doctor.  We really were not sure what to expect.  It was definitely different than a doctors visit at home.  When we got there our guides filled out our paperwork. The place was packed with people.  We had three different doctors to see.  Here they don't call you back one at a time, you just go to the door and wait in line.  It was definitely interesting. While we were there we saw another couple, the Woodall's, who are also from Athens.  We didn't really get a chance to speak besides saying hello.  Addie fell asleep right before we got started.  She slept through most of the first check as they listened to her heart and took some basic measurements.  She woke up when we laid her down so they could check her flexibility, she was not happy.  She was fine when they were done, but we had to lay her down to weigh and measure her at the next room and she screamed some more.  I thought the last one was going to be okay until they put the tongue depressor in her mouth.  All together she did well, but she was ready for it to be done. 

We went downstairs to wait on one of the other family's in our group and she was quickly smiling again.  Thankfully we had no shots or blood work today.  I was a little worried about how that would go.  I'm sure we will have plenty of that when we get home. 

This afternoon our agency helped all of the families get our paperwork ready for our consulate appointments.  Our appointment is Tuesday morning at 8am.  A little sad that we are not able to take pictures at Addie's oath taking.  The consulate does not allow cameras in their office.  I understand the purpose, but it would be nice to have a picture of that. 

We are looking forward celebrating Mother's Day tomorrow.  Always exciting when there is a new addition for Mother's Day.

A Day at the Park

Today we visited a local park here in Nanchang.  It was a beautiful day for the park.  The rain was gone and it was a nice sunny day.  It was actually a little cooler  than the past few days. The weather here is similar to home, hot and humid.  I guess that is one thing that will not be an adjustment for Addie.  It was a very large park and there was lots to do and see.  The park was pretty busy with people doing various things.  We saw people practicing Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, and some type of martial arts.  

They had a small obstacle course/playground that Lyndsay and Landon loved.  I think their favorite was the zip line.  Addie smiled and laughed as she watched them play.  I'm sure she will be joining them on the playground at home soon. 

As we were walking through the park the kids got attention from lots of people.  As they were playing several people were taking their photograph.  At home that would worry me, but here they are so curious and many have never seen blonde hair and fair skin.  

We also get some attention because Addie doesn't look like us.  Many are curious as to why she looks different.  Our guide usually explains she is ours and we adopted her.  Today Ann had someone ask for her picture for the first time.  We were walking through the park and a couple of women wanted a picture with her.

After the park we visited a few porcelain shops.  This area is know for its porcelain.  We learned a little about the differences and the quality of porcelain.  Addie was given a porcelain tea set from her orphanage and a large cup at the civil affairs office.  We picked up a couple of things for us today.  We wanted to have something that was original to her area.  
Addie fell asleep at the end of the shopping and we had our first melt down.  She woke up on our way to the hotel.  We got back and had a little lunch, then Ann was going to put her down for a nap.  I took Lyndsay and Landon for a walk.  We went next door and had ice cream and wandered around.  We came back an hour and a half later and Ann said she had cried the entire time.  She has fussed and cried some, but usually just to get attention(not that she is lacking for any) or to get what she wants and usually with no tears.  Today we saw her first tears.  We're not really sure what the problem was, maybe she was just really tired.  She also seems to be teething so that could be part of it.  She is asleep now, so hopefully we will be good tomorrow.
While here in Jiangxi we have mostly eaten at the hotel, a couple of times we had pizza or McDonald's.  Mostly because it has been easier to just eat here after going wherever.  The food at the hotel is pretty good.  It is a mix of western and Asian.  I never thought I would have noodles or pork dumplings for breakfast and a few things I'm not really sure what they were. We have been wanting to get out and try some local food so tonight our guide took us to a local restaurant.  I'm always a little unsure when you walk in and can pick out your dinner from an aquarium.  They had turtles, eels, stingray, a couple of dozen fish and various animals.  They didn't have menus, they had dishes prepared and you chose what you wanted.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, it would make more sense to see it.  We went with sweet and sour pork, rice, fried noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, and fried eggplant(not breaded like we at home).  The meal was so good.  Our guide said Jiangxi is known for being hot, they have hot weather and hot food.  The noodles and shrimp were pretty spicy. The rest was a bit milder.  The eggplant was great, not what I'm used to, but it was delicious.  We finished with this coconut milk cream puff. 

I think we all had a lot of fun today, but we are all ready for bed.  After a bath Addie fell asleep quickly.  Our guide will pick up Addie's passport in the morning.  We then travel to Guangzhou tomorrow(Friday) at about 5pm, about 4am at home.  This is our last stop and where Addie will become a citizen of the U.S.A.  The flight is only an hour and a half so hopefully Addie will do well.  Saturday will be a visit to the medical clinic for Addie.  I'm not sure what all they will do, but I'm not really looking forward to that.  It's a little sad to leave her province, but we look forward to Guangzhou.  Thanks to all who continue to pray for us.

Jiangxi

Yesterday we just took it easy.  In the morning our guide took us to a local shopping center to get a few items we needed.  We really just needed shoes and a few things for Addie.  We also just wanted to pick up some snacks and things for Lyndsay and Landon.  It is always interesting to see markets or stores in other places.  This place was pretty modern, but there were still some differences.  In the meat section they had many live animals; turtles, fish, eel, and a few things I wasn't sure what they were.  The bakery was really nice.  We picked up some fresh bread and some type of doughnut like things.  
After shopping it was getting close to lunch time and there happened to be a McDonald's next door.  We decided to stop there for lunch.  The menu was not quite as big as it is at home.  With your meals you could choose fries or corn for your side.  We got fries, I wish had gotten the corn just to see what it tasted like. 

After lunch we headed back to the hotel.  Shortly after we got back it began to rain.  Ann stayed in the room and put Addie down for a nap, and I took Lyndsay and Landon to the pool for a while.  At the pool we were informed that  you had to have a swim cap to get in the pool.  Thankfully they had some we could borrow. Neither of the kids were really fond of that idea, but I think we still had a great time at the pool. 

Today it is still raining.  The rain was not too bad this morning so we went to a local pavilion or pagoda. 

It was pretty interesting to see.  It was nice because we could be inside and out of the rain for the most part.  Inside it had scenes painted from different time periods.  It also had some tools, art, sculptures and miscellaneous artifacts.  It was a nice outing for a rainy day. Hopefully it will stop raining tonight and we can make it to the park tomorrow.  It is supposed to be a small replica of Tienanmen Square.
The last couple of days we have had some great time bonding as a family.  It is so amazing the way God brought Addie into our family and almost instantly she seems to feel at home.  She already calls Ann Mama(which actually translates the same into Mandarin).  She usually wants Ann when she gets tired.  So far she is sleeping really well.  She sleeps 9 hours or so at night, and usually has about a 2 hour nap in the day.  We are still trying to figure out what she likes to eat.  She takes a bottle, and we know she likes Cheerios. 

We are praising God for his goodness and mercy!  We are thankful that he brought Addie into our family.  We are continuing to pray about the next week, as we finish out our time here and then fly to Guangzhou.  In Guangzhou we have the consulate visit and doctors visits for Addie. We are also praying about the long flight home and then the transition into new foods, a new time zone, and pretty much everything.  We praise God for what he has done and continue to trust that he will take care of things.