Baby Shower Invitation

This had me tearing up to see! Isn't it just so so sweet? :)

Surprise!! A Baby Shower for Miss Lainey!

Soooo.... I was SO clueless yesterday, thinking I was heading to my friend Tara's baby shower - but my wonderful and super sneaky friends had a surprise planned! I had NO clue - I even was messaging people right before I left home making sure I was going to the right place for Tara. My super sweet friends had planned a perfect and adorable shower for our baby girl. It's just so touching to me how so many people are showing love to our little girl. Our family is so blessed!

A seriously HUGE thank you to Katie and Jess for putting this all together for us! You are so awesome!

And seriously, could the decorations and treats be any cuter?! These girls have TALENT for making adorable parties! :)

New Baby Boundaries

One of the first lessons we hope to teach Lainey as her family, is what it means to HAVE a family. She has never known a mommy or daddy. She's had, instead, a steady rotation of kind nannies. She has had good care, but not parents, who are consistantly there for her every day. At first, she won't know the different between us and any other nanny she's had.

Teaching her what it means to have a mommy and daddy will take time. But you can help!

To keep it simple, we have just two primary guidelines:

1. First, you are welcome to talk to her or give her a hug, but for about our first month or so after we are home, we (BJ and I) will be the only ones to hold her. Sorry, we're not hogging her - we're just trying to make up for lost time and build a new bond with her. And again, reinforce that we are here to stay, not just two more caregivers who might be gone tomorrow.
   
   
2. Second, we will be the only ones to feed her or giver her something to drink. If she comes up to you and asks for a bite or a drink, please redirect her to us to help her. This will help reinforce to her that as her parents, we can be counted on to meet her needs.

Over time, we will of course relax the rules. But we ask that you please respect them as we nurture our relationship and work to create a strong and clear bond with our baby girl!

Thank you so much for all of your love, prayers and support!!! :)

Our China Travels

We are getting SO close now to our sweet girl, it's pretty surreal! We should find out next week if we'll be going in May or early June. Thankfully, I'm feeling a ton of peace at this point, either way. It's all out of our hands, so there's no real point in stressing about it, even though of course we'd love to have her in our arms sooner rather than later!

This weekend we celebrated Easter, and of course we had Lainey on our minds! We can't wait to have her home with us, spending time with family & hunting for eggs with Canaan and Ezra. :)

OUR JOURNEY

I've had a few people ask me about our trip and how that all works, so here's a quick break down of our journey down China's coast!

All together we'll be gone for about 16 days.

Wednesday - Leave the US and
Thursday - Arrive in Beijing
Friday & Saturday - Tour Beijing and meet the Holt staff and other adoptive parents
Sunday - Leave for Lainey's province captial - Hangzhou
Monday - MEET LAINEY!
Tuesday - Thursday - Court appointments, tour Hangzhou, visit her orphanage & finding place
Friday - Leave for Guangzhou (where the American Consulate is)
Saturday - Thursday - Tour Guangzhou, court appointments, medical appointment, & wait for Lainey's passport & American visa to be issued
Friday - Head home via Hong Kong!
Saturday - Arrive back home, Lainey becomes an American citizen

Going through the motions!

The time between our application until we were matched with Lainey was just a little over a year. It was a lot of waiting, a lot of paperwork to prepare, write, & gather, and a lot of steps to go through... but one awesome thing about the China special needs process is that it's pretty smooth. Just take things one step at a time and you'll get there!

Since being matched, we've been working through a brand new checklist. I love checking things off of this list!! :) Yesterday we received our Article 5, which now puts us officially in our wait for travel approval (TA)!! :)

Feeling so close now! Whether its May or June, we're coming soon, my sweet girl! 

Our Sweet Girl!

Most of our friends have seen her picture already via Facebook, since we have had LOA for over a month now, but I'm happy to share with you our Lainey!

I can't get enough of her button noes, her cute little grin, and her big beautiful eyes.

A Good Orphanage

We have been told over and over, and we have been so thankful to hear, that Lainey's orphanage is one of the better ones in China, and that the children are well cared for. It is a huge relief for this momma heart to hear that our precious daughter is in a "nice place". 

But we've also been made aware that a good orphanage is still an orphanage. And it's heartbreaking for any child to be without a family. 

I was just reading this blog post (http://www.lomanadoption.blogspot.com/2014/04/baotou-social-welfare-institute.html) from a fellow adoptive mom. Her child is also from "one of the good orphanages", and yet it's clear - it's no place for a child to be raised. Her post is definitely worth taking time to read, to better understand how things are for our little girl. 

When the Thunder Rolls

It's strange the things that bring my mind to Lainey these days. Our eyes have been opened and our hearts wrecked for the orphans around the world. This morning, as the thunder rolled outside, it was all I could do to stop myself from crying. Just a couple of days ago I read in The Connected Child about how a fear of thunderstorms is very common in children coming from an institution. I imagine her hearing the loud booms, but with too many babies for each caregiver to comfort, she is alone in her fear. It tears my heart to think of our precious girl, and the millions of other precious children who have no Mommy to snuggle them close, dry their tears, and tell them everything will be alright.

So it's probably not too strange that one of my latest prayers for her is that there are no more thunderstorms in her hometown until we can bring her home. Would you pray this with me?

...and for us to be able to get her in May? :)

And, while you're at it - I two have two friends (through the magic of Facebook) on my heart. My friend Brooke, who has been waiting and waiting for LOA (an important step that is taking a very long time for them), and my friend Melanie, who is waiting to be matched with her daughter. These waits are so hard - would join me in prayer for them (and their sweet children) as well?

Beautiful, Miraculous, Heartbreaking Love

In our little circle, we don't know many people who have been through the international adoption process, so I know sometimes it's hard to relate to what we're going through. When I was pregnant, it was easy to find plenty of friends who could relate to the ligament pain, or to share that they too found the last few weeks to be that hardest. But in the world that we are living in, understandably, people have a hard time understanding what our life is like right now. It's all at once beautiful, miraculous, and heartbreaking.

It feels like I was pregnant for a year. And then, after 12 months of waiting to meet our child, we at long last saw her face and feel instantly in love, like a birth of the most amazing little girl. But she is gone from us, though we love her and she is ours we can't hold her, kiss her, take care of her. For over a month now we have waited, with at the very least another month and a half before she's in our arms (please pray for us that we might be able to travel in May). And I say all of that, hoping not to come off melodramatic in any way. It's just where my heart is, because we love her so much.

All along, we knew that the stage we're at now would be the hardest emotionally. It's what we signed up for, and she is worth it all. We are willing to take that all on because she's our child, and because that's what love does. Love waits, love endures, love holds on to hope, and love goes to the ends of the Earth and back again.