Anna is TWO!

My First Look...

It was one year ago today, November 6, 2006, that I revisited a waiting child list to see if a little girl, the agency called "Maizie" had been matched. I had visited this waiting child list the day before through a series of "mistakes". I had talked to Rodney about the possibility of pursuing a special needs adoption, but was still just trying to educate myself on what "Special Needs" actually entailed. From an adoption yahoo group, I had read a post regarding a new list of children with special needs. I went back to find the post to go take a peek at the children....I couldn't find it. So I did a search on the yahoo group, found a post that I "thought" was the one I had read a few days prior, contacted the author of the post and asked for the info to view the list. Being a bit confused, she responded to my post with the waiting child list address and password. In reading her message, I discovered that the post that I had read, mistakenly thinking it was the one I read before, was dated February of 2004. Apologizing for my absent mindedness, I decided to go ahead and visit this list.

I took a peek at several of the children on the list. One little girl that I just thought had the sweetest little face. She had a repaired cleft lip and was standing with a little pair of "jellies" on her feet. The next morning, a year ago today, I got up to see if she had been matched. I opened the list and checked her status. Then I noticed just below her name was a name that I had not noticed before. "Novie", the name reminded me of my grandmother and aunt...Tavie and Wavie, I know, funny names :-) But there aren't alot of names ending in "vie", and that is what I thought of. So I clicked on her name.

The file opened with a picture of a little girl, whose cleft lip was unrepaired but was almost unnoticeable because her eyes captivated me. My heart leaped. I felt excited and nauseated in the same moment. What was I feeling? Why was I getting so emotional? For the remainder of the day, I couldn't stop thinking of her. I kept going back to the site to "check" on her. As the day went on, I kept thinking "This is her, this is my daughter."

The first picture of Hai Zhi Yi, "Novie"

I couldn't mention her to Rodney. I was nervous. What was I going to say? That night I went to bed, with "Novie" on my mind and heavy on my heart. I laid there and prayed that if this was the child that God had laid on my heart, that He was let me know, undoubtedly and if not, then take the burden of this child off my mind and heart. I went to sleep.

The next morning, I opened my eyes, "Novie". I ran upstairs and looked at her picture yet again. I knew she was mine. I showed Rodney her picture, explained my feelings and the fact that I believed this was the child that God had for our family.

A chain of events and 7 months later, we met this little girl, "Novie", aka Hai Zhi Yi, aka Anna Mei Yi Gross, my daughter. I cannot imagine our lives without this little girl. I know that this is the child that God burdened me with a year before I ever saw her.

So as I go to her room this morning, pick her up from her bed, change her diaper and give her kisses, and start another very busy day, I know that I am a blessed woman.

I've been looking at your face for 1 year today...You just get prettier everyday!

So incredibly happy to be where I am, ecstatic for Anna to be where she is and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna.

October???

Wow! I cannot believe it has been a month since my last post. I love writing and it is quite therapeutic for a stay at home mother whose adult conversations are few and far between...however, with 2 toddlers at home, 2 in school, a business ran out of the home, 2 starting basketball, getting the house ready to put on the market, hosting a Halloween party, planning a birthday party, plus all the demands of "normal" day to day, I have no clue where October has gone?!?

First, Anna is doing great. She is just as rotten as they come and she knows exactly what to do to get what she wants...or at least TRY to get what she wants! She has the pitiful crying, with no tears, down to a science. As soon as someone picks her up, miraculously the crying stops. She knows what she can do and what she is not suppose to do. She tries and sometimes succeeds in sneaking up the stairs. If she is caught, she will slowly start to descend, knowing she is in trouble. She also has started getting into the drawers of her chest. She will clean out the bottom two drawers, throwing clothes over her shoulder and never looking back. I have caught her a number of times and now, if she is doing it and hears me, she will jump up, run away from the chest and lay down on the floor...almost like, "I didn't do that, I was laying right here the whole time." Yes, she is in training for her "terrible twos".

She is still not verbalizing anymore than she was two months ago. She is making a few different sounds, but not trying to mimic any words. Anna's eating just keeps improving. She is eating more "table" foods. Still nothing with a lot of texture or big pieces, but she loves mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, beans, chicken noodle soup with crackers crumbled and grits...yes, grits.

Can you see the little double chin??? Yes, she is my daughter :-)

I had never eaten grits my entire life, and actually thought they were gross. But, we went on a little weekend excursion while the boys were on Fall Break to Gatlinburg, TN. While enroute, we stopped to eat breakfast and I tried to find something on the menu that I thought she would eat. Normally, she will eat oatmeal in the mornings and I knew that grits had that same consistency, so I ordered them. She ate grits every morning we were gone and has since eaten 2 boxes. Much to my surprise, they are actually pretty good. Kind of sweet and just a hint of a corn taste, but not gross at all. We have joked that she is definitely a little southern girl now since she loves her grits!

Kiss My Grits!

We go for her first consultation on November 20 in Louisville, KY. She will see a whole host of doctors. We expect to be there all day. I really dread the whole process, but am anxious to get it started at the same time. We expect to get the timeline of treatment for her surgery on that date. She has adjusted really well and I think that Anna feels safe with us for sure, so hopefully it will not cause any set backs.

Anna had her first Halloween with a party and trick or treating. We had some family and friends over the Saturday before Halloween for a costume party and then Anna and the boys went trick or treating on Wednesday. However, I really don't know if it would constitute as really trick or treating since we only went to one place. Anna has had a runny nose and cough as well as Parker, so I really didn't feel comfortable with getting them out in the first place, but Parker, Jacob and Carter really wanted to go. So they got dressed up and we went to Rodney's parents. Carter was a "skater", Jacob was a "Optimus Prime" at the costume party and then a "military man" for trick or treating. I don't know if the Transformer costume had just been done, so he wanted something else for Wednesday or what, but he refused to wear it again...so we were trying to come up with something to appease him 30 minutes before we left. Parker was "Darth Vader" and Anna was a "spider".

The cutest little spider - EVER!

Probably, the youngest true Star Wars fan. He knows everything about every movie and has since he was 2.

The Wild Crew...they never all cooperate for a picture

Anna's birthday party is this Friday night, so hopefully I will have some really good pictures to post from the party. She has the "cutest" little dress to wear...sorry, but that sort of thing excites me :-)

I will try to do better about posting. So sorry to all you who faithfully check only to be disappointed!

All she had to do to get her way

Loving this great fall weather in Kentucky and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna.

Another Blessing...

Okay, I have given plenty of time for the news to be spread by the rightful "spreaders", so I think it is my time to announce that Anna has a new baby cousin....from China!!!

Seriously, how cute is she???

On August 23, 2007, my cousin, her husband and her son received the news that they had been matched with a baby girl - Qing Zu Qiao - which they will name Salem Cassidy ZuNei. She is from the same province as Anna, Guangdong. They are only 1 month and 16 days apart and both were born with cleft palates. Fortunately Cassi did not have a cleft lip at birth and because of her fragile state when she arrived at the orphanage was able to be enrolled in the Love Without Boundaries program and her palate was repaired in China. Obviously when she gets home, they will have her evaluated for any future procedures or corrective surgeries, but we pray that everything was done correctly, healed properly and minimal will have to be done.

Gina, my cousin, is still in the "paper chasing" phase of the process, but they are making good progress. Their home study is finished and have the majority of the paperwork needed other than that precious I-797-C / I-171-C. Basically the US Homeland Security or Immigration saying they can bring a foreign born orphan into the country. We are hoping that they can be DTC by Thanksgiving, which is very possible.

We are just ecstatic about Gina and Richie's adoption and cannot wait to get Cassi home. What a cool thing for Anna to have a family member soooo similar to her in so many aspects. What great friends and support they can be to each other. It truly is another blessing from God.

We prayed for our daughter, but in the journey to Anna, we prayed for so many other children that were/are in need of a loving home. We also prayed for God to move on hearts of those that could care for these children. For us, this is an answer to one of our prayers. And fortunately, we get to not only see an answer to our prayer, but we get to be related!!! How awesome is that??

Anna and Cassi will be able to give each other something that neither Gina or I can give our daughters...the ability to truly relate. I can sympathize with Anna, try to understand her questions and the pain that she will experience when she begins to wonder "why?", but I will not be able to relate to the many questions and feelings she will have regarding her birth family, her birth country, and the fact that there are so many things about her history that we just don't know. But, she will have a close family member that can say, "me too." I hope that they are a great support system for each other and and work through these questions together. God is so good. God's timing is perfect and His plans are complete. I wonder what else He has in store for our family...only time will tell :-)

So incredibly happy for Gina and Richie, and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna to Cassi!

Ahhh....Parenthood

You gotta love being a parent.

A Friend Is Coming Home...

They have been together practically since birth, shared a nursery at the same orphanage, adopted through the same agency and both mothers have anxiously waited for "Gotcha Day"...finally one of Anna's friends is coming home.

When we were matched with Anna, it wasn't long until I met another lady who was adopting through Children's House International, our agency, who was adopting a little girl, just a couple weeks younger than Anna, who was in the same orphanage, who also had a repaired lip, cleft palate. Both Jeanne and I have corresponded through e-mail throughout the process and took joy in the other's completed steps to bring our daughters home.

Jeanne is in China now and received her daughter, Annabelle, on Monday. Today I finally got to see the pictures of Annabelle and a report on how they are doing. Both mom, sister and Annabelle are doing wonderful and she is adjusting well. We are so happy that Annabelle will soon be coming home.

I opened the pictures of Annabelle with her family and showed Anna, she immediately began smiling and reaching toward the computer screen with her little finger stretched out to touch the screen. She would touch Annabelle's face and smile. She rubbed her face over and over and then gave her "sugar" multiple times. It was so sweet. I know she recognized her. I wish I knew what she was thinking.

Wishing all the babies were soon coming home and sending congratulations to Jeanne, Julia and Annabelle!

Toddler Time...

The school year has officially began for Carter and Jacob. After I take them to school, it is just Parker and Anna with full reign of the house for over 6 hours...Toddler Time! From Backyardigans to Diego, Weeble Treehouse to baby dolls, Thomas the Train to Toy Story, it is non-stop play.

Parker, especially over this summer, has gotten so used to playing with the boys, he played "big". All he wanted to play was StarWars, Transformers, Spider-Man, etc. But, this past week, with just him and Anna, he has really started playing like a "little" boy again. He entertains Anna with basically whatever she wants to do. He just wants to play...and Anna, she just wants to do whatever she wants to do.

"Pirates Say ARRRR!" Anna loves Pablo

Her favorite things are a Backyardigan microphone radio type thing, a stuffed monkey that plays music, LeapFrog fridge magnets, and the Jessie and Woody dolls from Toy Story. The change in her personality in just two months is just amazing. She has gone from a very quiet, unadventurous, sedentary, untypical toddler to a vocal, playful, exploratory, teasing, energetic 21 months old.

Anna is now eating IN a high chair. It took us over a month and a half, but we finally done it. When I put her in the chair and put on her bib, she starts getting pretty excited.

Parker loves to play with whatever, especially if it makes noise or could potentially make a mess. It is just the boy in him. He can take a simple juice box and somehow get 'sticky' from head to toe, manage to get it on the table, floor, chair and drip it all the way up the steps. It is only like 4 oz. of liquid, but you would think from the mess it was at least 2 gallons. He has also returned to drawing...on the walls. I thought we were broke from this habit, but he managed to get a hold of a purple crayon, which are all but under lock and key, and drew me a lovely picture between the t.v. and a wall in the family room. The sad part was I was up stairs when he did it. But I was busy, he was being so quiet "playing" I just let him play, or should I say color the wall. He is only three and I have to sometimes remind myself of that. He is soooo much bigger than Anna and I tend to expect him to act a lot older than her. But his is only 17 months older and they are really not that far apart.

If Anna has a baby in her bed, then Parker needs a baby in his bed.

Anna is still very small for her age. She is still wearing 6/9 month clothing with a few 12 month outfits mixed in here and there, but she is acting more and more appropriately for a child her age. She is making more sounds, trying to mimic actions she sees, fussing when she doesn't get her way, and just beginning to act like a normal little girl. When I think about the huge strides she has made over the past 2 months, it just makes me so proud of her and her resilience to overcome the obstacles that she has already faced in her short life.

I know her hair is still to short for dog ears, BUT dog ears was one of Rodney's things. We were both excited about getting Anna and bringing her home, first and foremost, but we both had "things" that we just couldn't wait to do with a little girl...I was excited about dresses, Rodney was excited about dog ears. Finally, I have managed to get two little twigs of hair, that stick straight up, in dog ears for Daddy.

Anna is just the just the most perfect little girl any mother could have every dreamed of. She is sweeter than sugar, cute as a button and she is mine. I don't know why I have been given this enormous blessing, but I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be Anna's mother.

Waiting at the backdoor to show Daddy her new hairdo! Seriously, he almost cried :-)

One very blessed mother. Sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna