We Are Home...

Safe and sound but bone weary.

I hate it when families stop blogging once home so I wanted to post quickly to let everyone know that we are home and doing pretty well.

We are having great breakthroughs and tough transitions but are working through it all.

Jet lag is just hard and Maggie and I are sick on top of it all...

Not fun!

Please pray for Maggie's dear heart in particular as she struggles in her new normal.

I will try and post pics as soon as I can.

Just have to spend my waking hours on my girls and try and rest in the off hours right now.

Thank you to all who posted and prayed.

Let me tell you, we felt every single prayer!

Almost Home!

The day started with our Consulate Appointment and ended with the Pearl River Cruise, with swimming in between!

What a good day!

Just a few power struggles from Miss Maggie but overall a good day!

Have I mentioned how much the girls love to swim???

Well, they do!

 

 

Armed with life jackets and inner-tubes (not to mention a really good big brother to entertain them), they are GTG and we can kick back and relax for a few! 

 

I just love listening to them talk to each other and to other kiddos.

Don't have a clue what they are saying but it is just too cute!

 

Lucy may have to be careful though when her English starts kicking in as she likes to fuss at her sister in Chinese.

 

Right now, I have no clue what she is saying but when that fuss turns into English!

 

Watch out!

 

Momma will then be able to understand!

 

Ha!

This morning for example, Maggie was refusing to put on her shorts and Lucy proceeded to fuss at her sister in Chinese.

I heard "Maggie" and "Momma" and that was all I could understand.

Next thing I knew, Maggie was putting on her shorts!

hehe

 

After swimming, we all got ready for the Pearl River Cruise.

 

 

We had done this last time with Lizzie but thought the girls and Caleb would enjoy it...

 

 

 

and they did.

 

As we were leaving, Hubby put Lucy on his shoulders where her dress got all tangled up and hiked up.

 

Dear sweet Hubby very innocently (yeah right) said to Lucy, "you are showing your hiney."

Well, little Miss Lucy decided that she would just make that into a song to entertain the masses!

So as Hubby carried her back to the van on his shoulders, she was singing, "you can see my hiney, you can see my hiney" over and over again as she hit random Chinese people on the head with her foot long balloon!

Yep, she is a hoot!

Just a little side note about Miss Maggie...

As much trouble as she is giving us right now, she told both Hubby and myself that she loved us today!

Thank you Lord!

We are almost home!

Our flight leaves tomorrow night and we arrive Thursday morning!

WOW!

 

Prayers for our flight please!

Between hiney girl and little Miss "No", it should be a fun ride home!

Good Day and Not so Good Day

We started out at the toy market today and that was so much fun!

The girls did great and the highlight of the day was when we picked out a cross for Caleb.

 

Maggie was SO excited and wanted one SO badly.

Now, I have 2 beautiful crosses waiting for them at home but she just had to have that cross and we were not going to say no.

She knows the Lord and we are so thankful!

However, it slowly deteriorated from there.

We went to Shamian Island and Maggie started on a downhill spiral.

 

Please continue to pray for her transition.

I was not able to take too many pics today and am really tired but will leave you with a snipet from our trip to Maggie's foster care center and her wonderful classroom.

What a glimpse of hope this special place is!

It was hard to watch as Lucy took in all that she had not had.

Praying for both of our sweet girls!

Consulate tomorrow!

YAY!!!!

Shopping, Temples and Progress!

Went shopping today and back to the Chen family temple.

 

pic by Caleb

 

That was fun.

 

 

Kind of. 

 

 

hehe

We got some good gifts...

some things for folks back home and for the girls for later...

and not even one meltdown!

Now that was fun!

Progress!

 

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to venture out to the local Trust Mart with one of our sweet travel buds, Robin.

 

After making quite the spectacle...

 

picture Hubby almost breaking his um, gluteus maximus, sliding down the wheelchair slide ramp and then running Maggie right into one of the signs hanging from the ceiling as she sat on his shoulders.

Yep, good times!

Ha!

Anyway, it was all worth it as we found 2 baby dolls complete with bottles for the girls.

They spotted those dolls and nothing else mattered.

As soon as we got back, the dolls were opened and promptly fed.

Loved seeing this happen

 Loved their reaction as their dolls were opened

 

Loved watching as spirits are beginning to heal.

 

Thank you Lord!

One Step Closer to Home!

Well we made it to GZ with only one meltdown at the airport but it was a biggie.

Yep, Miss Maggie is showing her stubborn side and right now, it ain't pretty y'all!  Please pray for her sweet heart as she continues to process all that is happening to her!

We did have our medicals done today and we were all glad when that was over with.

I had to get a picture of the vending machine in the lobby of the medical building!

That's right...

A wine vending machine!  

Haha!

I think by the time we were all done...

we were all thinking about it!

Ha!

There was also another first for the girls today.

Swimming and they loved it!

Just starting in the baby pool but they could not have been more excited!

On the agenda tomorrow...

Shopping!

Love GZ!!!

Guess Who I Got to Meet Today???

You all might remember precious Yong

Whom LWB was trying to help by getting him the surgery that he needed.

This sweet child so touched my Caleb's heart that for his 10th birthday, he asked his friends to donate to Yong's surgery instead of buying him gifts and...

I got to meet him today!!!!

I was able to meet some precious children who are in the care of the foster care center where Maggie has been for the last 4 months and he just happen (wink) to be there!

When I saw him walk out, I asked if this was Yong and then told his foster family the story about Caleb and how we had been praying for him.

They told Yong that we had been praying for him and I got to hold him in my lap!

 

I cried!

 

Surprise Surprise!  

 

hehe

This is just one example of how the Lord is showing me things...

 

blessing me and hopefully using me...

I am meeting people, extraordinary people and children who break my heart and move my heart and whom are counting on my heart.

In the coming weeks, I will be posting more faces and I am not certain how this will look but there is something going on and I pray that I will hear His direction for all of this.

There is so much going on in my head and heart and I will need time to sort it all out and my girls need me too but stay tuned and please pray for these wonderful, waiting kids!

Faces...

Some of the precious faces of Lucy's world.

MM - 10 years old - Lucy best bud - cannot walk - gets around by crawling on her belly

I am still trying to process all that I have seen

EB - serious heart condition- 10 years old

without totally losing myself in it.

XZ - down syndrome - 7 months old

The difference in the level of care that Maggie has received as opposed to Lucy is heartbreaking to say the least.

JL - hearing loss - 2 years old

I see Maggie's heart for her sister and she seems to somehow know.

they did not tell me her name but she cannot walk or see - she gets around by scooting on her bottom - 10 years old if you can believe that - I can find out more about her if there is an interested family

More on that later.

HC - 6 years old - post op for heart and kidney issue - we were told that he is healthy now

for now, please look at these precious faces

ZX - hearing loss - 6 to 7 years old

None of these sweet ones are file ready as no one there thinks they are adoptable....

CX - leg deformity - one year old

but I do and I know so, so many others of you out there do too.

If any of these faces speak to your heart, please email me.

Processing

Slowly but surely processing.

Ice Cream

So yesterday while we were out and about, the girls saw ice cream

and decided that they wanted some

and we were so glad we said yes!

Maggie decided that Lucy needed a taste of hers and Lucy thought that was just very funny!

Their personalities are starting to show and as you can tell

Maggie just enjoys life no matter the consequences.

She was all about that ice cream and did not care if she had it from head to toe!

Lucy on the other hand was eating her ice cream out over her lap so that if any were to spill

it would not spill on her!

hehe!

They also decided that they wanted to sit next to each other on the bus!

It didn't last too long but hey...

I will take it!

Headed to the orphanage and foster care center tomorrow so I expect another emotional day.

I will leave you with this these pics from today.

Another amusement park

The girls had a blast as did Caleb.

Other than the difficulty we are having getting around with these 2, it was a good day!

Thank You!!!!!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for all the love and all the beautiful comments.  I wish I could reply to every single one but the connection continues to be an issue and just posting on here can take forever:(  

 

Just know that I am reading every single comment and that it is helping so, so much!  

 

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!!

Just a Few Glimpes of the Day

Miss Maggie came to us smiling and laughing

and really has not stopped.

She and Lucy are getting along for the most part but what's Lucy's is Lucy's and you do not cross that line and Maggie sometimes likes to.

Ha!

Maggie has helped to draw Lucy out a bit and we are seeing behavior more "normal" for her age.

 

When we met Maggie, she immediately noticed my cross necklace.

 

 

 

She pointed at it and started saying something (in Chinese) to me about it.

 

Our guide was not there so I never knew what she was saying but...

 

after we got back to the hotel, Maggie said that she wanted fried chicken and that she ate at 6:00 sharp (hehe). 

 

 So Chris went and got KFC and brought it back to the room - yes there is a KFC right around the corner which makes Caleb very happy!  I have eaten more french fries on this trip than I have all year at home!

 

 Well, we were all so tired that we just started to eat - when Maggie pointed to my cross and folded her hands!!! She was reminding us to say the blessing!!!!!!! 

 

Praise the Lord!!!! 

 

So, we stopped and said the blessing! 

 

Chris could barely get through it and had to stop a few times as his emotions just overcame him! 

 

That is what this entire trip has been like...

 

emotions (good and bad) too big to contain.

 

Witnessing the difference in care that Maggie had compared to Lucy is something that I don't think Hubby and I will ever recover from.

I pray Lucy will but I don't know that we will.

On the lighter side...

Maggie says she loves dogs but does not like cats.

No worries though...

Lucy spoke up and said that Maggie could pet the dogs and she would pet the cat, cause she likes cats!

Maggie says she wants to go to school!

She says that she was in the 3rd grade, getting ready to go to the 4th grade and that she can read.

WOW!

She also says that she is 10 years old, not 9 and that her birthday is in November, not December.

Yep, we have some things to figure out cause I am not putting her in a class with great big 4th graders!

No way, no how!

I don't think she can be mainstreamed yet but I am hopeful that she will eventually be able to be.

She likes school and I don't think I will be able to keep her home for as long as I wanted to.

Maggie likes to talk and talks so much that she does not eat like her sister Lucy!

I just wish I knew what she was trying to tell me cause she just talks and talks and talks!

I love hearing Maggie and Lucy talking to each other when we are not in the room.

Again, just wish I knew what they were saying!

Maggie decided that she wanted to be called Maggie - not her Chinese name and as soon as Lucy heard this, she decided that she wanted to be called Lucy and not her Chinese name as well!

These girls are so brave and so courageous and we are so blessed.

As I have told my sweet friends who have been checking on us...

Their needs are great, greater than we expected but our Lord is greater still and we know that He will equip us for the long road ahead.

Please continue to pray for our precious girls and for our time here and esp for our flight on Friday to GZ and our flight home.

Lucy has a hard time getting around and Maggie has a hard time sitting still.

They are both loud!

Sweet Jenni, your Chinese DVDs are gonna be a lifesaver!

Thank you!

Oh and found out today that they both like ice cream - more on that later!

We Have Maggie!!!

No words needed...

Just joy

Will write the words when I have digested this all.