Family 2014
Friday, April 20, 2012
Spring
Here is a picture I took in China! This is for you Nancy!! I saw this sign and thought of you! China was lovely in Spring!
Also want to let you know of a great place to shop in GZ. She is a wonderful woman. Her name is Judy!! There is a road right next to the playground by Lucy's. If you start walking down the road toward the river, her shop is on the left side of the road. Tell her Tim and Lisa sent you. She does laundry too! Great prices! Here is a picture.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
One month
One month ago today we signed the papers and Renee became our daughter! Today was an amazing day! Sunday thru Thurs. were tough days. We had food wars and meltdowns and adjustment having a two year old was just plain hard. I was discouraged. Then I read a face book post: "This is not an option, but a COMMAND!!! 'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.' Joshua 1:9" It is a command to not be discouraged. I took it to heart. It finally was warm enough this morning to take Renee outside. I borrowed my friends jogging stroller and off we went! I have not gone for a run since before China. It felt so good! We stopped at a park and played just the two of us. It started to rain just a little before I got home. It smelled like rain! What a wonderful smell!!
When we got home Renee wanted me to paint her toe nails. I had painted mine yesterday and she shook her head no when I asked her if she wanted hers done. Today she was ready. Here are our toes!
There were no wars today. Just fun and relaxing as a family. I needed this to recharge my batteries. Thanks God!!
Renee understands so much that we say to her and her list of words that she can say is growing by the day. Here are the ones I can remember: toes, bye bye, night night, eat, tired, potty, water, coat on, shoes, bird, done, please, we think she is saying one of her brothers names(Daniel) otherwise it is guh, guh(this is Chinese for older brother. Problem is that she calls all four by this name. We are never sure who she is wanting.), baby(she also calls her baby dolls May May; which is Chinese for younger sister), Roco(That is our dog's name) and yesterday my youngest son had a tuna sandwich and said very loudly, "Tuna," Next thing I know Renee is saying tuna!
She doesn't like TV very much, but guess what her first show was that she sat glued to the TV? American Idol!!
We have our first post placement tomorrow and needed a few more pictures of her and us together.
And just for Annette here are some random pictures!!
My girl is a meat eater. A close second is her rice. She was very happy this meal. Meat and rice!! Which do I eat first? Let's just eat them both at the same time. A spoon for one hand and a fork for the other! Too cute!
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When we got home Renee wanted me to paint her toe nails. I had painted mine yesterday and she shook her head no when I asked her if she wanted hers done. Today she was ready. Here are our toes!
There were no wars today. Just fun and relaxing as a family. I needed this to recharge my batteries. Thanks God!!
Renee understands so much that we say to her and her list of words that she can say is growing by the day. Here are the ones I can remember: toes, bye bye, night night, eat, tired, potty, water, coat on, shoes, bird, done, please, we think she is saying one of her brothers names(Daniel) otherwise it is guh, guh(this is Chinese for older brother. Problem is that she calls all four by this name. We are never sure who she is wanting.), baby(she also calls her baby dolls May May; which is Chinese for younger sister), Roco(That is our dog's name) and yesterday my youngest son had a tuna sandwich and said very loudly, "Tuna," Next thing I know Renee is saying tuna!
She doesn't like TV very much, but guess what her first show was that she sat glued to the TV? American Idol!!
We have our first post placement tomorrow and needed a few more pictures of her and us together.
And just for Annette here are some random pictures!!
.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Pictures
We had a wonderful Easter! Enjoy the pictures!
This is my daughter!! I am so blessed!
I had a friend ask me to post lots of pictures. So this is for you Annette!!
This is my daughter!! I am so blessed!
I had a friend ask me to post lots of pictures. So this is for you Annette!!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Finding a new normal
We have been home for 4 full days. Our plane flight home went better than I thought it would She really didn't cry that much.
Her first nap she took found her playing and then all of a sudden laid down on my arm and closed her eyes. My first thought was it had to be the prayers of my many wonderful friends. What kid just lays down and instantly goes to sleep? She wasn't showing signs of being that tired. She slept for about an hour. Later near the end of the trip she cried just a little and then slept for about 3 hours. The worst part for us and not that big of a deal to her, was that we rushed through sercurity after we landed and ran to our gate in Detroit which was to leave in 30 min. and found out when we got there that it was delayed! They would give us a time we would depart and then they would extend it for a half hour later. They changed our gate 4 times and kept adding a half hour to our wait until finally we boarded the plane. There was bad weather earlier and planes were late getting in. Many planes were delayed. We should have gotten into South Bend around 4:30pm and it was after 8pm when we finally saw our family. Renee did so good when she met the family. She even went to her brothers and smiled at them.
We finally got everyone in bed by 12:30am. The boys had fun showing Renee her toys in her room before bed.
She woke up at 3:30am. We decided to just keep her in our bed until it was light outside. She wanted to go potty every half hour and it was quite a fun game for her. The funny thing was almost each time I took her she put pee or poop in the potty. She had no accidents on the plane trips. This girl is truly potty trained. I am glad, but I also made many trips on the plane to the potty.
I have been waiting to write because I have been waiting for the bomb to drop. Meaning right now I feel we are in the honeymoon stage. I am truly amazed how well things are going. The dog even seems to accept the fact that she is here to stay. She has a healthy fear of the dog, but is absolutely facinated with him. I am having to watch the two of them together alittle more closely as her healthy fear of him is wearing off. Last night she slept through the night and seems to be through the jetlag. We are not over our jetlag. The first three nights when she woke us up in the middle of the night, I was in deep sleep and then last night when she slept through the night, I could not get to sleep til after midnight.
She was a little more sober today and I wonder if it had to do with the fact that Tim went back to work today. She absolutely loves her baba(dada)! She called out for him today, but didn't cry. She was much happier tonight when Tim came home.
Don't get me wrong. She has her moments, most of what I have seen is normal 2 year old issues. She wants her way and is a very picky eater. We went out to eat to celebrate my sons 14th birthday and she started to go into a mini meltdown, but seemed to come through it much quicker than in China and soon was in her baba's arms and eating and smiling. We even made a quick trip to WalMart to find a few things we needed for her and she was fine. The hardest thing is just me adjusting to having a 2 year old again. I need to go back and remember all the things I use to do with my boys. She sometimes will give me a break and play with the boys, but today she only wanted mommy. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
My friend asked me last night if it had really set in yet that Renee is here and she is my daughter. I don't really think it has. I know that sounds crazy. She is right in front of my eyes, but it is such a whirl wind of activities from getting your letter of approval to travel and then packing to travel and then weeks in China that are jammed packed. You just find yourself living in survival mode. Seriously, my heart is just racing sometimes when I go to bed. It is hard to relax and just step back from it all and reflect. The few times that it has been quiet and everyone is in bed I am too tired to put thoughts together.
It is spring break right now. Life is not normal at all. I am glad to have the time with her, but I am realizing that I am totally unprepared to start homeschooling next week with a toddler. I know that I just need to give myself time to adjust. We have spent months doing paperwork and preparing for this time, but making the shift from preparing for Renee coming and living in reality that she is here is not that easy. Especially when you are dealing with jetlag and getting caught back up on home issues. On top of that, you go to bed just wondering what will tomorrow be like? Will the honeymoon end tomorrow? I feel like I have my guard up. It is a process as I said in China. I am trying to enjoy each moment of this journey.
Her first nap she took found her playing and then all of a sudden laid down on my arm and closed her eyes. My first thought was it had to be the prayers of my many wonderful friends. What kid just lays down and instantly goes to sleep? She wasn't showing signs of being that tired. She slept for about an hour. Later near the end of the trip she cried just a little and then slept for about 3 hours. The worst part for us and not that big of a deal to her, was that we rushed through sercurity after we landed and ran to our gate in Detroit which was to leave in 30 min. and found out when we got there that it was delayed! They would give us a time we would depart and then they would extend it for a half hour later. They changed our gate 4 times and kept adding a half hour to our wait until finally we boarded the plane. There was bad weather earlier and planes were late getting in. Many planes were delayed. We should have gotten into South Bend around 4:30pm and it was after 8pm when we finally saw our family. Renee did so good when she met the family. She even went to her brothers and smiled at them.
We finally got everyone in bed by 12:30am. The boys had fun showing Renee her toys in her room before bed.
She woke up at 3:30am. We decided to just keep her in our bed until it was light outside. She wanted to go potty every half hour and it was quite a fun game for her. The funny thing was almost each time I took her she put pee or poop in the potty. She had no accidents on the plane trips. This girl is truly potty trained. I am glad, but I also made many trips on the plane to the potty.
I have been waiting to write because I have been waiting for the bomb to drop. Meaning right now I feel we are in the honeymoon stage. I am truly amazed how well things are going. The dog even seems to accept the fact that she is here to stay. She has a healthy fear of the dog, but is absolutely facinated with him. I am having to watch the two of them together alittle more closely as her healthy fear of him is wearing off. Last night she slept through the night and seems to be through the jetlag. We are not over our jetlag. The first three nights when she woke us up in the middle of the night, I was in deep sleep and then last night when she slept through the night, I could not get to sleep til after midnight.
She was a little more sober today and I wonder if it had to do with the fact that Tim went back to work today. She absolutely loves her baba(dada)! She called out for him today, but didn't cry. She was much happier tonight when Tim came home.
Don't get me wrong. She has her moments, most of what I have seen is normal 2 year old issues. She wants her way and is a very picky eater. We went out to eat to celebrate my sons 14th birthday and she started to go into a mini meltdown, but seemed to come through it much quicker than in China and soon was in her baba's arms and eating and smiling. We even made a quick trip to WalMart to find a few things we needed for her and she was fine. The hardest thing is just me adjusting to having a 2 year old again. I need to go back and remember all the things I use to do with my boys. She sometimes will give me a break and play with the boys, but today she only wanted mommy. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
My friend asked me last night if it had really set in yet that Renee is here and she is my daughter. I don't really think it has. I know that sounds crazy. She is right in front of my eyes, but it is such a whirl wind of activities from getting your letter of approval to travel and then packing to travel and then weeks in China that are jammed packed. You just find yourself living in survival mode. Seriously, my heart is just racing sometimes when I go to bed. It is hard to relax and just step back from it all and reflect. The few times that it has been quiet and everyone is in bed I am too tired to put thoughts together.
It is spring break right now. Life is not normal at all. I am glad to have the time with her, but I am realizing that I am totally unprepared to start homeschooling next week with a toddler. I know that I just need to give myself time to adjust. We have spent months doing paperwork and preparing for this time, but making the shift from preparing for Renee coming and living in reality that she is here is not that easy. Especially when you are dealing with jetlag and getting caught back up on home issues. On top of that, you go to bed just wondering what will tomorrow be like? Will the honeymoon end tomorrow? I feel like I have my guard up. It is a process as I said in China. I am trying to enjoy each moment of this journey.
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