First Outing!

When Anna first came home, I noticed her back had some oozing from her scar. Lara, the Baobei nurse, conveniently located 1 street up from us, had us rush right over.

Anna had a staff infection, which was a bit frustrating from Lara's medical perspective, knowing it could have been prevented by a little more caution and care during her medical procedure.

I still had to teach a morning class (10:00-11:30), & at that very moment I wanted to quit!! I wished I could be the one there, but instead, she was in good hands with Lara, whom I've known for almost 2 years as my neighbor & skilled nurse. Zhang Mama accompanied Lara as an extra set of hands.


Anna now has a 'wick' in the wound to ensure healing happens from the bottom up. I was totally surprised how mellow she has been through it all. Lara said to watch out to see if she has an 'inconsolable' cry, which would indicate the infection had entered the bloodstream.

She has no such indications, and has been way more easy of a baby than I deserve. I was bracing myself for the worst, and this little fighter is so sweet throughout it all.


This is Zhang Mama with the boys at Tom's World (think Chucky Cheese). We had to run to Toys R Us for some socks, bottles, pacifiers and a head support for the car seat.

Darn that Toys R Us, they're located just 2 floors under Tom's World. So I let the boys spend $1.50 there in coins on a quick jaunt before we headed home.


Who'd have thought this baby had been through so much?

Shameless

On my way home, Tim kept calling.

T: "where are you? Can you guys make it out to my work on the way home?"
M: "yes, I think we'll need some hot water to make a bottle"
T: "call me when you pull up".

Excited much?


We couldn't get out of the car to feed Anna, b/c Tim might just have too much explaining to do to all 250+ employees. So he hid behind the tinted windows of the Mini-van.


Usually Tim turns away and wipes the smile clean off his face when I pull out the camera.


Let's just say I didn't have to work at all to get some grins out of him, he was shamelessly taken, and said some of the sweetest things to little Anna.


And who wouldn't? After we got home, we changed. Thanks to wardrobe specialists Ashley and Kaylee Breinholt, who's mommy supplied Anna with this outfit, among the box of other 0-6 month clothes that Ashley and Kaylee wore years ago.

Pretty darn cute if you ask me!

Sweet baby cheeks.

From God's Arms To My Arms To Yours

There is a Michael McLean Song "From God's Arms to My Arms to Yours". It's a song about a mother whose baby is being adopted to another family. Here are some words from the song: "And maybe you can tell your baby when you love him that he's been loved before... by someone who delivered your son from God's arms to my arms to yours". The interesting thing about all of this is to learn of Anna's background, the people who loved her before we ever did. Yes, she'll comes with her papers, but through this Baobei process, she comes with a story too. Usually in the adoption world, these two never come together. However, in these photos of the car ride to the train station, I got to interview Anna's care giver, and get all the details. It made me feel that much more accountable, to God and his angels, that this baby is loved and cared for as Niu Ayi would dream it to be. Read on... Here is Anna waiting in the car while Niu Ayi got her luggage. Babies and Kids are so adaptable, she has no idea what kind of a transition she is in for! Niu Ayi would wipe Anna's face at the slightest amount of drool. She was very protective of her and even the first time when I held Anna, Niu Ayi said boldly "she doesn't know you, so she's not used to you". Such a comment can only be made when there was a bond formed previously. In the moments of these tender photos, I learned just how deep that bond was. While Anna's orphanage had over 390 kids, and Niu Ayi had 14 of them, Anna was loved. Scratch that, Anna was not only loved, but cherished. She was unusually affectionate with Anna. Niu Ayi and I had became quick friends, and we shared so much (I wont go into detail, as this is not my story here), only after I'd proven myself. But at this point, Niu Ayi couldn't continue the conversation. Then, as we pulled further away from the healing home, she lost it. Unlike her culture, she broke into open sobs. She loved Anna so deeply, you'd think she was Anna's birth mother. Here she is with swollen eyes telling Anna's story. Anna was found by "119" (Chinese phone number for the police). It was a hot Summer day, Anna was just over one month old. She wasn't wearing al ot of clothes for that reason. Her mother had carefully placed her in an open box next to a busy street so she would be noticed and taken immediately. Niu Ayi loved her from the start, and researched a Chinese name on the Internet. I am still not sure of it's translation, but twice my driver said it was a name with strong meaning. When the orphanage finds babies, they look at the babies length and current day of the month to determine the birth date. Anna was one of 14 under Niu Ayi's care at this HeNan orphanage. I asked if there were any other children there that were close to Anna. Niu Ayi flashed a quick smile, and her eyes sparkled at the question. She said there was a 12 year old boy that adored Anna, with the last name Guo. He would hold her and talk to her. This must be true. This little Anna was obviously used to being held, and I'm sure this was the culture in Niu Ayi's little family she'd established, of 14 kids and one very influential mom. Niu Ayi works from 8-4 PM every day, and gets paid a little over $150 US a month. She has a son at home. The Baobei team referred to her many times as 'A Mother Ayi'. She was truly a mother at heart. I asked her if she cried with each child that gets adopted, and she smiled weakly and replied "just about". She told me she even tried to adopt a 3 year old that she fell for. I asked her more questions, and she said ''she got adopted by another family, because I already have a child at home''. Oh how blessed Anna was to have been loved in the arms of sweet Niu Ayi.

And how blessed I was to sit in the back seat and see this bond. My view on Orphanage Ayis will forever be changed after meeting this "Mother-Hearted" Niu Ayi.

Gotcha!

We met Ann, Anna and Anna's Ayi at the Shanghai Healing Home in Puxi, Shanghai. Tanner had just finished Speech Therapy (he'd gotten surgery 2 weeks ago & got tubes put in, and now he's talkin' up a STORM!!).

When we walked in, Anna's Ayi held her protectively and said "you're late". She wasn't the same pleasant lady I'd met at the other hospital. Her train wasn't due to leave for another 4 hours, and the train station was less than a half hour away.

Ann, the Baobei rep there smiled and explained "She's not too happy with me for having her switch hospitals". When the Ayis come to accompany the babies, they get really nice living conditions compared to what they came from, and they don't love it when they have to move around.

From the moment I met Niu Ayi, I knew she loved Anna. She was sharp, witty, the smartest I'd met. We loved that she was cared for by 'mothering hands'. More on her story later.

Here we are, reeling Anna out of the room, waiting for the elevator.


Beautiful Anna, Anna, Anna.


Here's a picture of Ann with Niu Ayi and Anna. Niu Ayi and I had became fast friends over the last couple of weeks, yet clearly in this pictures was trying to be strong to 'save face'.

Through Tanner's Eyes

While we worked out the details of dropping Anna's Ayi off at the Train Station, Tanner grabbed the camera.

So I thought you'd like to see his view of Anna's first moments with us...


He obviously was curious.



He got some nice snapshots of her, even through his sweet pudgy little 3 year-old fingers.

Aww, there she is.

There I am figuring out details.

The little heart socks she came home in.

The photographer himself.

The photographer that managed to grab a picture of one of the 7 people that swarmed us at the door.

One lady said "why does one child have blond hair, and one has black". A few laughed and told her bluntly "Um, one is American, and one is Chinese!"

Her reply, "That baby looks American!". Funny, she thought I'd birthed them both, and the only difference was their hair color.

Thanks Tanner, for capturing all the little details while we waited out front for Mr. Chen to pick us up.

Goofball

This is Tanner Singing the ABC’s into this ‘microphone’.  The best part?  He was wiggling to the beat like a rock star.

Here’s Tann ready to go.  He told his Dad he wanted to ‘go’, so he grabbed his lunch, put his helmet on and went to the garage to sit on the bike.  Where he wanted to go?  Who knows.  The kid was ready and waiting in his church clothes.

Now that I’m looking back at these pictures, I wonder what it must’ve been like for Tanner, not being able to hear (I’m typing this post 6 months later).  It must have been hard for him to understand ‘yes’ and ‘no’ as he didn’t hear it all the time, and didn’t understand a lot of things in context.

I am amazed at how the Lord blessed this sweet guy with a sense of humor that has pulled him through it all!  He is the funniest.  I can tell this kid is going to be the world’s eternal optimist.  Just like his brother, the glass will always be half full :).  Love these little boys, I feel so blessed to have them.

Our 2 Seconds of Fame

We were on the Shanghai news!! Check us out!

We went all out this year- 10 foot pumpkin inflatable, spiders, webs, pumpkin lights, & more over-sized spiders than you care to know about. It was so fun to have people take pictures of their kids in front of the house... the boys didn't even want to go trick-0-treating.

Hunter kept saying funny phrases like "Well hello there, Witch. Come on up, there, Tigger".

We ran out of candy twice, with over 375 kids this year!!

We're the last 2 seconds of the clip, I'm princess Leia, Hunter as Anakin Skywaker (you can only see his nose and litesaber), Tim's Chewbaca (surprise, surprise), and you can even see a bit of Tanner as spiderman at the very end.