Birthday Girl

It is hard to believe that our sweet girl has been back in China for just over 2 weeks.  We have received a couple of updates from her chaperone and she is doing well and adjusting back to her routine.

Today, January 31st is this sweet girl's birthday.  It is the day they have documented as her birthday, but it is just an estimate since she was abandoned and found at around 14 months old.  Due to her heart condition, her family was most likely not able to get her the medical care that she needed.  Here is a throwback picture from when she got to celebrate at her open house.

Happy 9th Birthday!  We are going to send a video of us singing to her to her chaperone.  It is kind of exciting to think this should be the last birthday she will celebrate at her orphanage in China.  I know everyone is anxious to learn about her future situation, and we will update as soon as we are able.

Day 29 - 1/15

Last night after bath, I held and rocked her for a little while.  She puckered up her face like she wanted to cry but no tears came.  She has not quite been herself yesterday or today, and I'm sure it is a combination of her anticipated travel, overstimulation, and coping.  When we laid down, she asked for her cat (the stuffed animal she received from the Deters), but it was too large to fit in her backpack.  It was one of many things that she had to leave behind.  She snuggled between us just like we did the last night at our house.  At one point during sleep, she was using my stomach has her pillow and Chris as her footrest (yes, she was horizontal in the bed).

Chris and I got up about 2:30 this morning and we woke her up about 3:15.  She was in good spirits, but a little groggy considering she only had 6 hours of sleep.  We met her chaperone in the hotel lobby and walked to O'Hare.  She was still refusing to walk and wants to be carried by me only.  We quickly met up with the other host family and their 10 year old boy.

My super smart and traveling extraordinaire of a husband really out did himself today.  He "purchased" fully refundable tickets for he and I for a later flight in the day.  This allowed us to be able to assist the 3 travelers through security and sit with them at their gate before take off.  The chaperone speaks limited English and getting through security with two children would have been a challenge.  

We had about a half an hour at the gate before they boarded.  She wanted Chex Mix for a snack and was saving her strawberry poptarts for the airplane.  (I don't think we ever got a picture or video of her airplane motion.)  She double-checked her rolling backpack and showed her chaperone all of the pictures in her photo album.  That sure made my day knowing she is so proud of her photos.  I hope that she will cherish them and they will bring her comfort in the months ahead.  It was time to board so we said our (*tearful) goodbyes.  Again, she acted like she wanted to cry but she did not.  She waved from the door of the jet bridge, and we waited at the gate until the plane pushed back.

We have been (and will continue to be) in communication with the chaperone.  We know they safely arrived at JFK where they will meet up with 7 other children.  The rest of the hosting group children will depart from LAX.  The chaperone said that as soon as she sat down on the plane, she began crying and asking for mommy.  Somehow in the last week, I transitioned from Mama to Mommy.  Most likely she picked this up from Kinsley.  We understand that she slept most of the first flight, but as soon as the plane started its descent, she started asking for mommy again.  The little boy she is traveling with told her that mommy had left.  Her response was "no bye-bye, mommy, no, no, no."  It breaks our hearts that she is upset, but it is just part of the process, I guess.  The chaperone will continue to stay in contact with us by email and will send us photos.  This is such a relief until we can begin sending her care packages.  I know many of you are praying, and I ask that you continue to do so.  She will have some difficult days ahead as she deals with jet lag and adjusts back to her routine.

We are home and also adjusting to our new normal.  The house is eerily quiet and feels very empty.

Departure photo

Waiting at the gate and eating a snack

Looking at pictures on the chaperone's phone

Hanging out at the gate

Selfie

Still waiting

This is Carl.  He is still waiting on a forever family.

Playing with Carl's pez dispenser

Saying good-bye:(

This is where Bessie sat when we picked her up.  Silly girl!

Day 28 - 1/14

Last night was cozy.  We opted for the three of us to sleep together in our bed for her last night at our home.  I am amazed at how affectionate she was in mimicking all of the things I have been doing the past month.  She rubbed my back, stroked my hair, and caressed my face.  I'm not sure any of us slept all that well, but it was great all the same.

We were up and around fairly early this morning.  For breakfast, she ate fried rice.  She was cute this morning leaving the house.  She was very proud of her rolling backpack, and she waved and blew kisses to each room (specifically her bedroom, toy room, and the house in general).  We got on the road to head north.  She did great in the car (no carsickness) and even slept part of the way.  We decided to spend our last afternoon together at Navy Pier.  By the time we got to Chicago, she was ready for lunch.  Of course, she picked McDonalds again.  She had a kid's meal with chicken nuggets, french fries, yogurt, and chocolate milk.  The last time Brooke tried to get her to eat yogurt from a kid's meal, she wanted nothing to do with it.  Today she wanted it ... go figure.  She tried the chocolate milk, but would not drink anymore.  Chris and I picked Giordano's for lunch.  She partook of one of my pieces of pizza and seemed to really like it.  She ate it before the chicken nuggets.

After lunch, we went to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier.  She seemed to have fun at most of the exhibits.  We spent a lot of time bowling, playing with balls and fishing for fish at the treehouse exhibit, and playing in the water.  She was extremely clingy today (even more so than yesterday).  She wanted to be carried everywhere.  I guess that is her way of coping with her trip back.

We checked into our hotel and she got to watch the airplanes take off from O'Hare.  She keeps making the airplane motion and saying her name.  She also keeps saying the Mama, Bah, Bah, Bessie, Nana, and Kinsley are going to be sad.  She is such a smart girl.

We headed out to dinner to meet her chaperone and her host family.  We shared a plate of spaghetti which she seemed to enjoy.  It was great to talk to the chaperone (who is also the pediatrician at her orphanage).  She also seemed excited to see the pediatrician and wanted to be held by her.  The pediatrician has been overseeing nine of the 26 children during her stay here.  We learned that there are 800 children and it is the second largest orphanage in their City.  There are 200 employees, 8 of which are pediatricians.  We also learned that she has a very structured routine (as we expected) and has a two-hour nap everyday.  After dinner, we FaceTimed Brooke and Kinsley one last time.  We have an early morning tomorrow and we will update when we can.

Please pray for a smooth transition for her back into her orphanage lifestyle and safe travels.

Hauling her bag to the car

Car ride to Chicago

Taking a nap in the car 

Eating McDonalds at Giordano's

Being Silly

Eating Yogurt from Happy Meal

Being Silly with Bah Bah 

Posing in front of the sign

Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier

Fighting Fires!

This is the Play it Safe Exhibit

She slid down the poll but against her will

Posing as a dog

She was not a fan of the dinosaur head

Singing Wheels on the Bus

Driving a car

Driving the bus

Playing with trinkets

Goin' Fishin'

Success!

Playing with the balls

Going down the slide

Playing with water

The Water room

She was soaking wet even with the apron

More water

Water fun

The Museum

Heading into the hotel

Wanting to watch TV

At the restaurant

Day 27 - 1/13

Today we worked on finishing up some loose ends.  We had a lazy morning and stayed in our jammies for a while.  She ate congee for breakfast.  I taught her how to do a somersault with some assistance.  She wanted to put on makeup (eyeshadow and lip gloss).  She also needed her fingernails repainted.  Chris ran a few errands in town and picked up the pictures we had developed for her album to take back to the orphanage.  It was no small task to narrow down our selections to 48 shots.  Of course, she wanted to go for a ride in the car so she and I went to town to purchase a couple of things for her backpack.  We got a new hat and mittens because the ones she has been wearing we borrowed from Kinsley.  We also purchased some pretty note cards that she can give to her caretakers at the orphanage and stickers that she can share with her friends.  While we were out, she spotted the McDonalds and wanted to eat there for lunch.  She had chicken nuggets and french fries.  I thought she might want to play in the McDonalds Play Place, but she wanted nothing to do with it.

She took another 2 1/2 hours nap this afternoon.  Hopefully the extra rest will help with her long return trip.  When I woke her up, she was ready to eat again.  She had the last of the vanilla yogurt and also wanted a ham panini.  We played with the birthday party balloons and used the static electricity to make her hair stand up.  She thought it was hilarious.  We worked on packing the rest of her bag, and she was very definitive on what she wanted to take on the airplane and what she wanted to leave here.  I was a little surprised with some of her choices, but respected her decisions.  She has been very clingy and affectionate today.  I don't mind the extra snuggles.  While working on the backpack, she was a little fussy, but for the most part, she has been in good spirits.  For dinner, she wanted chicken nuggets.  We also gave her chinese noodles.  She practiced writing her numbers some more, and I can tell a definite improvement with her control of the pencil.

Nana and Smitty came over to play for awhile.  She was wound up and in a good mood.  I think she was excited that Bessie (our dog) was going home with Nana.  We played Go Fish and FaceTimed with the Gerdes clan.  She had fried rice for a snack.  She said her good-byes to Nana, Smitty, and Bessie, and we called it a night.

Learning to somersault

After the somersault

Applying eye shadow

Looking through her photo album

McDonalds for lunch

Gotta love chicken nuggets

Modeling her new hat and mittens

Still eating chicken nuggets once we got home

Deconstructed ham panini

Fun with static electricity

FaceTiming the Gerdes

Posing with Bessie

Selfie on the stairs

Saying goodbye to Bessie

Saying goodbye to Nana


Somersault fun

Saying goodbye to Bessie