Meet Lawrence!!

Let me tell you about a little boy I met in China.  His name is Lawrence! (Okay his real name is a Chinese name, but due to privacy issues we have given him an American advocacy name to protect his privacy ;)

How cute is this boy????  Our first sighting of him was in the classroom working on his Chinese writing and his numbers.

It turned out that he was participating in the advocacy camp and would be spending the day with us!  This boy is adorable!!  He is diagnosed with development delay, but he seems to be making great progress.  He followed all the music teacher's directions.  He sang songs and did motions and he was the only one out of all the kids there who was willing to stand up and show off for the visitors!! ;)

I noticed that he is quite small for his age.  He honestly seemed a little developmentally delayed, but it didn't strike me personally as anything more than institutional delays which from my experience have been overcome quite quickly. 

  He was such a happy guy!!  Eager to play and blow bubbles and just be a silly kid!!

Our advocates played games with him and even observed him putting together a lego set by himself.

He is just such a special little boy!!!!  His biggest need is a family!!  A family that will love him, support him, make him laugh, and help him reach his full potential. 

Are you that family?  He is currently listed with Gladney.  Additional information can be found at the link below.

http://www.superkidscharity.blogspot.com/2016/04/lawrence.html

UPDATE- Lawrence's file has been returned to the shared list.  Interested families can still contact Gladney for more details!
Thanks for stopping by to learn about these awesome kids!!
Fannie

Shanghai Advocacy Camp Day One!

What a day the first day of our trip to Shanghai was!!

I honestly didn't know what to expect.  All we knew was we'd be spending the day getting to know around ten children and of these, two have thalassemia and have been listed with Gladney.  I'd asked for the opportunity to meet all the children with thalassemia since I have such a heart for these kids and desire to see them find families.  Of course, no promises could be made on this and I had no idea if I'd get to meet only those two or the others....

I was in shock when I was handed the list.  He told me they had agreed to send ALL the kids with thalassemia over to spend the day with us.  I was so excited I hugged Mr. Wu and told him I promised I would find a family for all of them!!! (Sure it was dramatic, but I was crazy excited and I did mean it!  These are amazing kids!!)  We met and spent the day with over 16 kids on this day.

 This little girl caught my eye the second we walked in the room.  She was sitting in a chair so quietly and patiently.  I immediately thought she was one of "my" thal babies and sure enough she was!!

And then there were more thal sweeties!!!  This little boy in blue is so funny and played for hours.  The little girl in red was quiet at first, but came out of her shell quickly.  She excitedly picked out a hairbow with the other girls and wore it around proudly.  She also was very excited to get a set of Lego Friends to play with.  Once she set it up, she pulled it apart so that it could go into the box.  I noticed it became her little treasure, she was determined that it was hers and she'd be taking it with her.  When her bow kept falling out, into the "treasure box" it went so she could make sure it went with her too!

 

This awesome girl is currently on Gladney's Designated list and her name is Hope.  She is such a special girl.  She loved drawing pictures and singing with our little Frozen songs music player.  She also pulled out some crazy good dance moves and followed every bit of the moves in some dances we did!

This girl... She has thalassemia and is just SO AWESOME!!!  She's 8 years old and we are hoping she will have paperwork ready to go soon so that she can be adopted.  I adored her!!  She was just so smart and funny.  She always had a smile.

I actually recognized this boy from prior advocacy.  This is a dinosaur drawing that he did with us and then he showed it off to everyone.  He and I played balloon toss (and kick) for a while!!  He's just a typical boy!!

These two boys had so much fun.  The boy in the brown is Hunter and he is on Gladney's Designated List.  He is eligible for adoption and waiting for a family!  The boy on the right has been advocated for many years as "Emery".  It seems he may have a family ready to commit to him which is so awesome!  He also has thalassemia!!

 I enjoyed EVERY SECOND of this time!!  This is when I was doing art with the girls!!  The girl on the right is also on Gladney's designated list now listed as Haley.  She seemed very smart and had so much fun with us.

And this boy is Jack!  Is it okay to say he's my favorite??? He speaks fluent English!!!  And because I could understand him, I could also understand just how funny he is!!  At one point he was playing with another advocate and pretended he was going to drop water into his nose.  Then he told her "I'm just kidding!  I'm not an elephant!!"  He has low vision but he can see well enough to navigate the world on his own and he can see when he puts things up close to him in just the right spot.  He was so fun and I am determined to find him a family!!  He has a video on Gladney's facebook page.  Oh, such an awesome boy!!

There were so many more, but I've learned that readers will only read so much!!  So I'll share more soon about the other kids we met.

This day was a dream coming to life for me.  God has placed such a burden on my heart for the orphan.  Jesus spent his ministry loving on the last and the least.  This is his heart guys!!  I hear so many people say they've considered adopting.  Just go for it!!!  I know it can seem overwhelming but it's not.  You just take one step at a time until one day your child comes home for you to show the love of a family.  These kids need families!!  No orphanage, no matter how nice or loving, can replace the most basic need of these children.  They NEED families!!!

So much more to share soon.  If you are a Christian can I just encourage you to pick one of the kids I meet over this week and start praying for them?  Every child should have someone interceding for them daily.  We all pray for our kids, but these kids have no one praying for them and we know that prayer does make a difference.

Thanks for following along on the trip!  More stories from China soon!!! :)

365 Days with Laila

Today is a big day!  Today is the one year anniversary of Laila's "gotcha" day in Nanning, China.  This time last year our sweet girl was having one of the worst days of her life.  She was torn from everything she'd ever known and she was NOT happy about it.  She refused to go to me (she's a stubborn girl for sure) and eventually her Nanny just had to walk away and I was told to pick her up.  She SCREAMED.  A LOT.  Our sweet little girl was downright terrified.  And who could blame her?  Adoption is the best response we can give to little lives that have been filled with far too much loss, but at the onset, adoption is one more difficult thing for a child to go through.

 

Thankfully, "Gotcha" Day is not just the end of one story, but it is where the story of redemption begins.  I'll tell ya honestly guys, redemption isn't an easy story.  It is sad, sometimes heartbreaking.  There are tears from the scared child and from the heartbroken new parents as they watch their new child process another loss.  It is hard.  Sometimes really hard. There's rejection.  There's trauma.  There's far too much to explain in a simple blog post.

 

During the days after Gotcha we were in survival mode.  She would hardly sleep.  She would cry for her nanny at the top of her lungs, pointing to the door and to the window and yelling "Agea"!!!!  She had sores ALL OVER her arms and legs.  Her belly was distended and hard.  I remember undressing her, putting her in the bathtub, and praying to God that she would be okay.  She was sick, she was broken-hearted, and we were all in survival mode.  Just get through this bath.  Just get through this night.  Just get through this day...

 

Thankfully, by God's grace with each passing day a little more healing took place.  Her emotional scars began to heal.  Her physical scars began to heal.  Our family came together and settled in for the long haul.  Her attachment was harder than Chengbin's had been.  She just needed more time.  In China she didn't like Mommy.  Once home she wasn't so sure about Daddy.  Thankfully her "Half the Sky" book that the orphanage gave us had documented every bit of her life that she'd spent in the orphanage and provided us tremendous insight.

 

This sweet girl barely crawled at 16 months old.  She didn't walk until she was 22 months old.  Every 6 months in the orphanage, her one-on-one caregiver changed and she grieved that loss.  No wonder her attachment was so difficult- she had spent her life up until this point extremely sick, extremely tired, and with caregivers that kept changing right as she would build her attachment.

 

 So not surprisingly, it was more than 6 months before she really began to build attachment to all members of our family.  After the 6th or 7th month she finally began to see that this just might be different.  That we just might be her forever.

 

We have been so blessed.  God really has given us a front row seat to witness a miracle.  That's what she is- a miracle.

 

Sweet Laila Jean is a happy, healthy four year old! 

She's funny and so, so sassy!! (But don't tell her cause she'll insist that she is NOT SASSY! ssshhhhh) 

 She loves to play with "Sissy and Chengbin".

She constantly asks "I sleep with Mommy at Disneyworld??"

 

 

We just love this little firecracker of a girl so much!!!! 

 

 

We can't wait to see the plans God has for this girl!!!  It seemed only fitting that she wear the special shirt that so many friends and strangers bought to help bring her home on this special day.  We let her balloons go and said a prayer that somewhere her birth Mama & Baba will receive a peace in their hearts that only God can give them.

 

365 days with Laila.

Thank you ALL for supporting us along the way.  For praying for us.  For helping us bring her home.  For loving this little girl from afar and then welcoming her into her new family, new church, new school, and new life!

 

Laila Jean, you have been one of the most amazing blessings of our life.  We are so lucky to be your family.  I am so lucky to be your Mommy.  Always remember, God really does have more in store for you than you can ask or imagine.  And we will be sitting on the front row to watch it all unfold!!

Day Five: A trip to Beihai

Wednesday in Nanning was our opportunity to visit Laila's orphanage and the place she was placed by her Mama to be found.

We took the speed train to her town, a beach town in Guangxi province known as Beihai.

We took a trip to Walmart to buy supplies for the orphanage.  We were also very happy to give them all the supplies you guys sent! The asst director said the kids LOVE the gummy vitamins. :)

We weren't allowed to go into the orphanage but the asst director walked us around the grounds and we were able to talk about how our girl was in the orphanage vs what she had been like since we got her. It was very insightful

And we were glad we had the opportunity to visit.

We also got a chance to say goodbye to one of her nannies. She was very nervous and unsure but posed for a picture.

Next we went to see where she was left to be found.  It was a beautiful place & we are so glad we have that history for her one day when she's older.

It was a long & tiring day!  We are so blessed to have this little one with us!! We were told she was the only child with thal in her orphanage so we were very glad God put me in just the right place to bring her home as our daughter where she will get all the medical care she needs.

Night night from Guangxi!!

Fannie, Matt, & Laila

Day Three: Laila Day!!

We arrived in Nanning after another flight delay- this one was over 2 hours and got into our hotel just in time to go to bed.


So Monday morning before heading to the Civil Affairs office to get Laila, Matt & I decided to go get a little “area fam” as we call it.  We found the important things- toys/baby supply store & a great coffee shop.  We grabbed a couple things that Laila might be into, spent an hr or so of relaxing at the coffee shop, then headed back to get things ready to pick up Laila.

We headed over to the office where we would get her, and to be honest, we were a little more nervous than last year without Katelynn there to just be a kid.  Kids are always less threatening than grown ups! Haha!  Either way, it was time, so we went into the office, filled out paperwork, and waited for Laila to arrive.

This week only 3 families were picking up their children.  Not sure if this is just due to the National Holiday in China and lack of consulate appts or not…

Finally we saw her walk into the child playroom with her Nanny.  We gathered our cameras quickly and it was time to sign papers & get our girl.

She was EXTREMELY unsure about us.  Nothing made her wanna play with us- not bubbles, not my little ponys, not even a sucker.  Our stubborn little one stood there completely unwilling to be friends with her new Mama & Baba.  So it came time to just grab her up & hope for the best.  Mama picked her up and she SCREAMED.  And SCREAMED.  And CRIED.  And tried to push that Mama away.  Poor Baby, who could blame her???  But after Mama was the bad guy who took her away and wouldn’t let her go, she suddenly decided that Baba must be better than Mama.  So she put her hands out for Baba and immediately started to calm down as he grabbed her up.

We headed back to the hotel to settle in and try to help our girl adjust to her new parents.  She continued to take comfort in Baba, though another fit and tears occurred as our guide went to leave the room.  After a few hours we decided to take her down for some dinner.  It was risky, but we thought the change of pace & familiar food might help her.  We’d been told by the orphanage staff that she loves to eat meat, so it was worth a shot.

We went down, sat her in her chair,  and as she looked around at all the people eating she starting dancing in her chair.  She was excited about this!!  We even saw a glimpse of a smile…

Back at the room she finally asked for Mommy & I was more than happy to rock her to sleep.  SO THANKFUL God sent us here to bring home this precious little peanut.  And as she woke us up every couple hours crying & screaming as she'd wake up in our bed and realize where she was, I found myself even more grateful that she didn't have to wait another minute or day in her temporary home.  That she was here in our arms, and while her adjustment will be difficult and has been traumatic, she is now with her forever family.  She doesn't have to worry about when her whole life will change again- at three years old she finally has the gift of a forever family!!

Please continue to pray for our sweet girl.  As much as her orphanage's Half the Sky program is a tremendous blessing, it is also what makes the transition difficult.  She had a grandma who came & played and cared for her every day.  She loved that special lady very much.  This means she knows how to bond and attach to us, but it also means she grieves the sudden loss of her grandma.  We sent her a photo album back in early April, but we found out that she never received it.  She wasn't prepared for us the way we had hoped she had been.  So keep your prayers coming for our sweet little one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fannie, Matt, & Laila