Joseph's Adoption Story

Brian put this together last night for church on Sunday. Joseph loves to watch it. The pictures do a much better job at expressing why my heart is so full.

Baptised and Sunburned

About 3 minutes after I made the last post, the phone rang. It was about 3:00 pm and it was Isaac. The kids are only allowed to call home in case of emergency, and I immediately wondered what had happened. He then proceeded to ask me if it was alright if he got baptized and explained that he really felt like he understood what he was doing and that he was ready. I had to laugh and shake my head at myself after I hung up the phone. Today we went down today and picked him up. He has the worst sunburn I've ever seen and is exhausted. Isaac did tell me he was pretty sure he took a couple of showers this week, : ) Joseph has really struggled at night while Isaac was gone. The change really seemed to affect his sense of security. He is very glad his big brother is home. Hannah was so excited to see him she belched in his face. Isaac was really impressed. Faith wrote Isaac a letter at camp, he is her hero(most of the time). They all talked very loudly and at the same time for most of the drive home. There is never a dull and very seldom even a quiet moment in our lives right now, and I am so grateful for the fun we have.

Trust

Okay, well here goes! I had the opportunity to have a phone conversation with a new blog friend last week who God has used tremendously to encourage my faith and trust in him in all situations. She shared how therapeutic blogging has been for her and during our conversation we laughed about how hard it is to set aside time for journaling, scrap booking, etc with busy young families. So I decided to start blogging again for a couple of reasons. First, I want to have something for my children when they get older, since their baby books are pretty pathetic! (Sorry kids!) and also so that I can remind myself regularly of the love that is poured out on us continually. Today is Isaac's 3rd day at bible camp. He is 9 and has never been away from Brian and I for more than a night and only to grandma's, aside from a trip we took 31/2 years ago to Hawaii for our 10th anniversary. I miss him terribly and pray that his heart is being wooed by Father even as I type this. Father is revealing to me on an almost daily basis right now how much more I need to trust him with my kids. (Ha! I should say His kids) Anyway, He is showing me how I have attempted to shield them from struggle, conflict and suffering. From Joseph's spinal cord surgery to which class they are in this fall I have wanted to protect them. More than anything else I want them to experience His love in a genuine, authentic way. I want the Jesus that I introduce them to to be the real thing and not as Depheche Mode said "my own personal Jesus" contrived from my limited mind and experience. So I am endevouring to let go and trust more this week, reminding myself that we have the most incredible Father of all and He really does know best.

Hair By Brother Isaac

Update on Joseph 03-29-09

It has been a long time since we have posted any updates, but w/Joseph's upcoming surgery we figured the blog might be a good way to keep you all posted on how things are going. Joseph has been home for almost 12 weeks now. He is an incredible, sweet little guy. He walks as fast as his little foot will allow him to. He refers to himself as "Josa and Jo Jo." Joseph's favorite thing to do is to ride up and down our driveway with Hannah in her battery powered gator. Joseph is scheduled for surgery on the 8th of April at Denver Children's Hospital. They will be untethering his spinal cord from a tumor. The CT and MRI have indicated that it is a fatty tumor, so they won't have to remove it all. The doctor expects him to be in the hospital for about a week. We are praying for it to go smoothly and his surgeons to have skill and wisdom. If any of you out there are still following along, let me know and we'll be sure to keep posting updates.

We made it to Guangzhou last night about 8:00 pm and checked into the White Swan hotel. It is warm and tropical here. We added some pictures of Joseph on his potty. He likes it alot, because he has mastered scooting around on it for transportation. It gives his knees a break and helps him be mobile. On the plus side he also uses it some! Here he scooted all the way from the middle of our room to the hall of this nice hotel. He was quite pleased with himself. We are feeling very blessed that he is in such good spirits. He had to have 5 vaccinations at his physical appointment today. Joseph seems to be pretty scared of doctors and strangers in general and I'm not sure today will help him get over that. He had 1 shot in each leg 1 in the L arm and 2 in the right which they gave individually and agonizingly slow. We are so glad that the shots are behind us now. The Thompsons hung out the extra half hour at the clinic with us to lend moral support. They are wonderful. We were able to reschedule our flights to return a day earlier on the 9th yesterday. It is fun here in Guangzhou, but we really miss Faith and Hannah and are looking forward to being with them soon. United has been amazing. They gave us very competitive fares, helped us track down bags and rescheduled the flight earlier with no charge. Tomorrow we will either be touring the city or going to the zoo depending on the consensus of the group. Our guide here is excellent. His name is Jason and he takes good care of all of us. We have had incredible help here from our CCAI guides. Joseph is an amazing intelligent little boy. He is more lively every day. He stayed with Brian today for a nap while I completed paperwork and took out laundry. He is usually pretty smiley but has occasional tantrums much like most 2 year olds I know. It has been so much fun getting to know him. He and Isaac really play well together now. I am so proud of what a sweet(if somewhat wild at times) big brother he is. God has blessed me more than I can express with an incredible family. I miss all of you and love you.

Adventures in Guangzhou

Brian's Account of Luoyang

Megan wanted me to tell my version of the trip to Luoyang before I forget since it has been 2 days already. The orphanage was very cold in the entryway and the hallways, very much like a meat locker. The classrooms and sleeping quarters were heated and comfortable enoughwith the several layers of clothes the kids were in. When we entered the first classroom we were greeted with a big Nihao! from the kids and many wanted their pictures taken. I videotaped the rooms so the number of actual photos I took were few. I did get footage of Joseph and his nanny saying goodbye and his sleeping quarters, classrooms and the fifth floor intensive care. I hope when he has questions about where he came from we can honestly tell him that we collected everything that was possible. The staff at the orphanage treats the children well and the kids that went back into the orphanage were hunted down by their nannies who gave them hugs and kisses and wished them well. Joseph stayed with the infants, probably because of his limited mobility, and in his sleeping room there were several children ranging from 2 years old to only a few days old with some of them being obvious pre-mature births. a couple kids in this room had pneumonia. Later Megan told me that Joseph was sick when he first was at the orphanage. It is a terrible time of year for these children to be abandoned because if they aren't discovered quickly they could freeze to death. We moved upstairs to the ICU floor which was a more comfortable temperature and very clean compared to normal living standards we have witnessed here with a good atmosphere and saw children with about every conceivable special need out there. There were kids with congenital blindness, renal failure, spinabifida, cerebral palsy, downs syndrome and pneumonia. There was an infant there who was in renal failure. The good thing was that they were in a nurturing atmosphere receiving care from people that seemed to want to be there. My opinion of New Hope is that they are being good stewards of what they have been given. We weren't shown the rest of the orphanage where the older children are. We did get to see some very cute, shy but friendly boys about Isaac's age when we very 1st entered.

Luoyang Part 2

Sorry for the super short post. I was completely exhausted after the trip. It was an amazing, but hard day. There have been several of you who went over and got your children who graciously took pictures of Joseph. If you look back through the pictures, he is almost always being held by the same tiny older lady. Yesterday Joseph got a chance to say goodbye, and we got the gift of knowing that he was deeply loved and and formed a real bond with this woman. This was a bitter sweet experience. I was thankful they got 1 more chance to see each other and say goodbye, and even more thankful to know that Joseph has experienced a loving relationship, but my heart hurt for him as he grieved when we left. We did get her to write him a short note for his baby book. I was able to see his playroom and the half the sky preschool room. At that point I took Joseph back to the bus and Brian and Isaac continued on. For those of you who asked us to inquire about older kids I am sorry we didn't succeed in getting to visit them or get any info.. I wonder if Mike who is on the Luoyang yahoo group could assist? Because it was a holiday the orphanage director was off. After our visit at the orphanage we visited the finding sites for the 3 boys. First we went to the women and children's hospital to photograph the entrance for another family. They have a precious 3 1/2 year old boy from Luoyang and it has been so much fun to travel with them. The dad is a science teacher, so those of you who know Isaac can imagine how much he is enjoying their company! The next stop was at an appliance store front a couple of blocks from the hospital. Is was in a busy, well populated area and babies are frequently left there as well. Jospeh's finding site was quite a ways away, 30 minutes in the wrong direction from Longmen Grottos which we were supposed to visit. The other families gfenerously offered to miss seeing the grottos so we would have time to go to Joseph's site. We finally made it to Joseph's site which was at a city forest park in an industrial area of town. We got pictures of the entrance of the park. Another 1 of the families said that it reminded them of central park.It was a very emotional day. On the way out of Luoyang we stopped at a pottery shop for momentos from the boys home town. Luoyang is famous for tri colored pottery and was the capital city for 7 of 9 dynasties in China so it is rich in history. The ride back was interesting. The landscape was beautiful. We passed a lot of caves which still have people living in them. There were several small farming villages that appeared to have only fire as their source of heat.We got back in to Zhengzhou last evening and had dinner with the Thompsons at Island Coffee, a restaraunt close to the hotel. Brian tried to order soy sauce for his rice and they couldn't understand him. He tried saying it very slowly, and with several different accents. These poor people tried their very best to accomadate him and brought out ketchup, hot sauce, and another sauce to try and help, but no soy sauce no matter how Brian said it. I wish I had a tape. We have enjoyed our travel group so much on this trip and can really see how God put this group of families together. Joseph is continuing to trust us a little more each day. It has been a slow but incredibly rewarding experience.