She is Officially Ours!

Dec. 7, 2010

Raina officially became our daughter on Tuesday!  Here she is giving her stamp of approval.  There were many papers to sign and each signature required a thumb print.  Raina's hand print was also required.

Here we are with our guide Wendy.  She introduced herself as "Windy".  Not sure if we understood correctly, we asked "Wendy?"  to which she replied "No, Windy...W-e-n-d-y".  So for the remainder of our stay we called Wendy "Windy".  Too funny!

 Malia loves her little sister and is very proud to be a big sister and loves to help by getting diapers and anything else we need.  We were concerned as to how she would respond and so far everything has gone very smoothly.   Thank you Lord!!
I just had to let Raina wear the yellow outfit again today.  It smelled softly of wood smoke and we thought it must  be comforting to her.  I'm sure we must have smelled rather odd to her.

 Even though most Chinese do not celebrate Christmas the way we do, the hotel and every store was decorated for Christmas, but without any of the Nativity Scenes.  We walked into WalMart to "Silent Night".  Christmas is apparently just another reason for the young people to party and have a celebration.  It was wonderful to hear the Christmas music, but it took my awhile to realize something was missing...the Spirit of Christmas...Jesus Christ.  It makes me grateful to know that even though Canadians commercialize Christmas, we still have the Spirit of Christmas.  Most Canadians know and acknowledge the true meaning of Christmas and that is heart warming.

 Our sleeping angel!



Blogging Again/Meeting Raina

I am finally back to blogging!  It has been very frustrating not being able to blog while we were gone.   In Quiyang the Internet service was sporadic at best.  My email was not working.  The couple we travelled with said we could use their computer, but it was taking them an hour to send 1 picture.  I decided to wait until we reached Beijing.  Once in Beijing my email was "compromised" so I set up a different account which still did not work.  Eventually we discovered that the service in our room wasn't working.  By this time I was soooo frustrated I gave up.  Instead of chatting with our boys via Skype or Gmail we called home every few days.  Now that we are finally home I will post what I had planned to post...hopefully a few each day, depending on the craziness in our household.

Malia travelled amazingly well and was a real trooper.  She slept well on the way to Beijing and was her cheerful self.  We landed in Beijing around 4 pm, had supper and went to sleep.  The next morning we got a wake up call at 4am.  I tried to convince our guide that we only needed a 4:30am wake up call.  A half hour is all we needed, but that did not happen. (Can you tell I love my sleep!?!)  After a 3 hour flight we arrived in Quiyang around lunch time.  The weather was beautiful...similar to a gorgeous fall day in Saskatchewan.

Around 3 pm we arrived at the Quiyang Social Welfare Institute.  I recognized Raina and her foster mother immediately.  Raina's foster mom was crying as she walked in and needless to say I cried too.  It took a long time to finally be able to hold Raina.  The poor woman struggled to hand her over to us even though she wanted Raina to be adopted.  Raina was in her care from the age of  3 days and was adored by her foster parents.

I held Raina for a bit and then it was back to her foster mom.  Every fiber in my being ached to hold her and yet I wanted to be fair and let Raina's foster mom enjoy her last moments with Raina.  Hopefully we will be able to send up dates through FOI who would then forward it to Quiyang SWI.   Raina's foster mom knit the outfit she is wearing along with a blue sweater she was wearing under the yellow outfit.  She also wrote a letter to all of us...very thoughtful and touching!  We also received a stack of pictures of Raina, even one where she is 3 days old!  We will treasure these photos forever...what a precious and unexpected gift!

Daddy already in love with his precious daughter!

Back in Bejing

I missed Marie's last phone call, but she left a message.

They are back in Bejing after a 5hr plus delay, but finally crawled into bed around 4am. They are doing well an are glad to be back in Bejing and on the home stretch of this trip.

For those of us who were looking forward to the pictures, it won't be happening. They continue to have internet problems and so won't be posting any pictures until they get home.

Kathy

Bad News

There will be no news or photos until Marie and Marty get back home. They have been experiencing computer and other problems. The good news is she called last night and gave me a brief overview and so I will post that and if she calls again I will update you.
They are in Quiyang, China for a few more days and then will head back to Bejing for about a week.

They have Raina and according to Marie "she is a doll". I believe she is smitten:) who wouldn't be. They got to meet Raina's foster mom and were given some more pics and stuff and are hoping to keep in touch in the future. The foster mom had a hard time giving Raina to Marie. It took about 20-30 min for her to finally hand Raina over, they have had her since she was 3 days old.
The first night was hard, Raina cried LOTS, but last night Marie said she heard her moving and she cried out once, so Lord willing things will get better. (The foster mom had Raina sleeping with her for the past month, so part of it may have been having to sleep in a crib).

Malia is doing well. Marie says "shes the best big sister anyone could want". upon their arriva in China and smelling the smells, Malia's comment was "this smells better than food". :) how funny. Marie and Marty on the other hand are trying to eat the food which is really hot and spicy. They are in a less westerized part of China and so there is no Mcdonalds :)

That is pretty much it. Marie will try and post some things and see if she can get us some photos after much begging on my part, so well see. until then keep praying. thanks

Kathy

STRESS!!

I am VERY stressed at the moment.  Our computer crashed on Wednesday night.  Thank God I had saved most of my important documents and all my photos.  I have spent far too much time restoring all my info.  I have lost my contact list and so will have to recreate it when we come home.  I have repeatedly tried to use our Skype account and have also tried to set up a chat line via gmail.  Neither works.  I have called for assistance and it still is not working.  This means that we will not be able to chat with the boys while we are gone.  However, we do plan to call home and email.  They will hopefully also be able to follow my blog.  I will continue to try to get things to work during our 5 hr layover in Vancouver.
Everything else is ready to go.  I am so very excited and hope to be able to send emails to Kathy so that she can post for me.  If not, I will post asap.  Can't wait to meet our precious little angel!

Sneak Peek

I'm itching to post pictures of the girls' room, but being somewhat of a perfectionist I just can't post them until everything is completed and hung.  This is the rag quilt I made for Raina.  It is very soft and warm and should be awesome for cuddle time!

Freakin' Out!

I am beginning to freak out!  So much to do with so little time.  Well, actually it's more than that...we've never left our kids for more than a few days and now we'll be gone for 13 days!  I know the boys will be fine but I still feel sorry for them.  I bought gifts for them to help the days go by faster.  Gifts that will entertain them, such as movies, books and Lego.  Alex in particular is stressed and has had a few night terrors again.  I am  glad they are very short.  Morgun on the other hand, for the most part,  is taking it in stride.  He does worry that we will not come home, that we will die like Grandma and Grandpa did.  How do you reassure a kid without lying to him?  We plan to come back, but ultimately that is in God's hands.  For the most part though he is simply excited.  The other day he mentioned that he thought it would be really cool if we came back with a little brother as well!  Now THAT would take a miracle!
I have finished all my Christmas shopping, wrapping, decorating and baking.  I've bought most of what we need to travel (who would have thought we would spend over $200 on medications, formula and bottles?!), and I have started packing.  So really, if we were leaving tomorrow I would be ready.  It is all the things that don't have to be done but would be nice to have done...
The girls' room is finished except for a few details.  I'm still waiting for some things for on the walls and still need to adjust and complete the curtains.  I will post pictures when it is done.  My order for the wall decor will likely not arrive before we leave so it will be awhile before I can post the pics.
Malia is very excited to be travelling with us and LOVES to "rub it in" when the boys are around.  I am hoping that she will travel well and not be too antsy.  I am somewhat claustrophobic and do not function well in confined spaces with little ones constantly squirming.  However, I can hardly wait to travel and meet Raina!  How blessed we are!!