Tuesday, May 28, 2013


Letter of Acceptance!!

We got our letter of acceptance today! This is the letter that could have taken 10-100 days- we are only on day 12 of our wait and that was with the long holiday weekend! We are so thankful to God for our short wait on this. We are getting very excited~ our expected travel time frame is in 10-14 weeks depending on how fast other things happen. Below is a timeline of what will happen next. Sometimes I wonder how I will get it all done. We are on step 9 now……So glad we are out of school soon for summer break!! Please pray for us as we continue to work on this and as we are waiting to hear from several grants. Also, please continue to pray for our sweet Mia!



Friday, May 17, 2013

Mia walking at 10 months old

Click here to see Mia walking
This was her 10 month report!
Development Report


       Zhou Su Rou, female, born February 16, 2012 (estimated), was abandoned on March 1, 2012, outside the elevator on the second floor of the Zhengzhou City Peoples Hospital which is on the corner of Weiwu Road and Jingsan Road.  That same day, the Zhengzhou City Public Security Bureau Jinshui Road Police Station brought her to the Zhengzhou City Childrens Welfare Institute.

          When Su Rou had just arrived at the institute, she had a small face, small eyes, single-lidded eyelids and red skin.  An examination administered by a doctor recorded that she was 46 cm tall, weighed 3 kg, had a head circumference of 34 cm, a chest circumference of 42 cm and a body temperature of 36.4˚C.  She had congenital cleft lip and palate.

          Su Rou currently lives in the institutes partnering Lily Orphan Care Center.  When she had just arrived at the institute, she was quite thin and weak.  However, she had grown cute, she did not often eat much and she really loved to sleep.  Under the meticulous care of the nannies, Su Rou has now changed a lot.  Below is her most recent development report:

1) Motor movement ability:

          Su Rou can now sit on her own and play with toys, she can crawl to little toys not too far from her side and on occasion, she will support herself with her hands on things and stand for awhile or take 2-3 steps.  However, the majority of the time, she will be in her walker walking back and forth playing.  Sometimes, the nannies will pull her by both of her hands and she will practice walking for a short time.  Her hand movement is very nimble and she can grab onto things and do a few fine little movements.  For example: she can pick up small beans, she can use her hands to tear paper into tiny little pieces and her little hands can very nimbly turn things, etc.  Su Rou has now grown 4 teeth and she can eat a few small snacks.  For example: fruit, cookies, little bread, etc.  However, she cant eat on her own yet, and she needs the nannies to feed her.  When she drinks water or other beverages, she always uses a milk bottle.

2) Language, emotion and social ability

          Su Rou is not like any of the other children.  She is very polite :) Mia walking- 15 months old and even though she really likes well-known people to play with her, she wont cry when the nannies leave her.  She is not the most dependent child.  When shes eaten her fill she can play well by herself and she really loves to smile.  She can recognize strangers and people shes familiar with and when she sees a familiar nanny call her, she will open her little mouth and smile very happily.  When the nanny reaches out her hand wanting to hold her, she will very quickly crawl over to the nannys side.  When strangers play with her, she will need to adjust a little bit and then she will play with them nonstop.  She can understand adults facial expressions, when the nannies call her name, she will turn her head and when she sees nannies smile, she will sit next to them.  She can quickly crawl around but when the nannies faces are a little serious, she will watch them from afar and not move.  When you want something from her she knows to give, but she only gives things to people she knows.  She does not often make sounds but when she is playing happily, she will make en en a a sounds at you.  When she wants to eat something she will call out ma, ma, ma sounds.

3) Vision and hearing

          Su Rous vision and hearing development are normal.  In her room when you let out sounds from all over, she will always search for the origins of the sounds.  If you clap hands by her ears, she will always very quickly shake her head looking.  In terms of her vision, she can see things that are very far away and when she sees a nanny that often cares from her from far away, she will become very happy and she can see movement very clearly from far away.

4) Medical history

          Besides having congenital cleft lip and palate, since entering the orphanage to now, she has not had any serious illnesses.  On occasion she will have a cold, a fever, or varying degrees of a stuffy nose, runny nose, cough, diarrhea, etc.  But, after being diagnosed and treated by the medical staff, she will quickly recover.  She is now up to date with the Henan Province Childrens Immunization Plan, and we have detailed records of this.

5) Personality characteristics

          Su Rous personality is quite lively, she loves to smile and she smiles very sweetly and very happily.  She also likes people to play with her and she is not very dependent on people.  She is quite close to the nannies that often care for her and when she encounters a stranger, she will not be shy, she just needs to adjust awhile and then she will respond to them.  She is often very active and she is always crawling to and fro in her room.  She likes to play with toys and feel the decorations in the room.  Su Rou does not really like fuzzy toys and she is actually a little scared of them.  She likes to play together with other little children and she is quite sociable.  When she is playing together with others, she will often play many different things.

6) Schedule

          Under the meticulous feeding and care of the nannies, Su Rou has grown very well and her life is one of routine.  She wakes up at 5:30 am.  She naps from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm and she goes to sleep at about 9:30 pm.  Each day she drinks 120 mL of milk 8 times.  These times are: 5:30 am, 8:10 am, 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 11:00 pm and about 2:00 am.  In the morning at 9:30 am and in the afternoon at about 4:00 pm, she has a snack.  Her snacks mainly consist of rice-based formula and soft noodles.  Each time she eats about a little bit more than half of a bowlful.  She defecates 1-2 times a day and urinates 7-8 times a day.

          We hope that after seeing Su Rous Condition, she can have a loving family adopt her.  We know she will grow healthy with the love of parents and she will have a happy childhood and a beautiful future!  We are confident that she will bring bundles of joy and happiness to your family!



Zhengzhou City childrens Welfare Institute

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Proud to announce Mia!!


Our adoption story..

Way back in the fall of 2008 we decided that we wanted to adopt a baby from China. We only had Riley at the time and were having trouble with pregnancies. We decided after much prayer that this was Gods plan. We had our home study with our social worker. The first visit we were so nervous and we were supposed to meet her right after I picked up Riley from daycare. On the way home he threw up all over himself and in the car. I rushed to the bathtub to get him washed before she got there. It was an eventful day. Our homestudy was complete on Nov 4, 2008- the day Wyatt would be born the very next year. We then spent MANY hours getting all of the paperwork together that had to be signed by the state, the US and finally China. We received our log in date (LID) on April 20, 2009 AND we were pregnant with our sweet Wyatt. We announced that we were going to have a baby and adopt a baby from China. We hoped that she would not come very quickly because I could not handle 2 babies J we just didnt realize the wait would be over 4 years later! In the meantime, we kept checking to see when we would finally get her--- the wait continued to get longer and longer those getting their babies from China right now have waited over 6 years. We knew we were very ready for her so we decided to look into the waiting child program. This is what they call the children who have some kind of special need. We looked through the checklist and consulted our pediatrician and others who had adopted through this route. We felt like we were very capable of taking in a little girl who had been born with a cleft lip and palate or one with a minor heart disease. Once we completed our Medical Checklist we were told that we would wait 6-12 months for a match. I started to get anxious at the 6 month mark then really anxious at the 10 month mark and super anxious at the 11 month mark. I called or emailed weekly for a few weeks only to be told the wait could still be 12 months. Well they were right! Just 3 days short of waiting ONE YEAR, we were called. I always kept my phone with me thinking they would call early morning. After about noon each day I would give up and hope that I would get the call the next day. On Tuesday, May 7, 2013 I had emailed the agency- not even sure why, and facebooked a girl that I met on a blog who is also adopting to tell her we were never going to be called J! That afternoon I picked up Riley from school and he had gotten on BLUE- the best color possible and this was only the 2nd time all year he had gotten on blue. I was so proud. As I looked at his agenda we were talking about going to the playground for his great day and he could pick his dinner, which by the way was McDonalds. I am pretty sure I have never taken him to McDonalds before so he was shocked when I said yes. (He has been to McDonalds before by the way J ). As we were talking about our plans for the afternoon, the phone rang and it said Denver, CO and I knew it was our agency. I dont remember much of the conversation but was so excited to see our little girl that we have waited so long for. Before I looked at her I called Craig and told him the good news. He was on a bus with the baseball team at the time. Thank goodness for email on my phone so that I didnt have to wait a minute longer!! I quickly checked my email and saw the most precious little girl. She melted my heart. She has the sweetest little smile. When I showed her to Riley, he said mama, her lip doesnt look bad, it looks just like mine. We had talked with him a little bit about how her lip might look different than his but we would fix it. Her cleft lip was repaired in China when she was about 6 months old and she will have the cleft palate repair after we return home with her. We have decided to name her Mia SuRou probably (Su was part of her Chinese name meaning respectful). Her full Chinese name is Zhou Su Rou. (Zhou means boat J ) She was probably born on Feb. 16, 2012, although they dont know for sure. I spent the next day completing more paperwork to let them know that we wanted her. The very next day we got an update on her and she looks so healthy. We even got a video of her walking everywhere. I was sad to see they had shaved her head but that is pretty common over there and I know it will grow. 



                                                      they love seeing little Mia!
the day we found out - the boys with their happy meals :)
 
Today (May 16, 2013) we received our pre approval from China which allows us to share her information. So now we can share with everyone and we couldnt be happier!! Pray that the next step (letter of approval) will come quickly!! This step can take 10 or 100 days!!