I am so thankful to say that daily, we are seeing progress as we mold as a new family of five. Fall brings a lot of activities to our schedule, and I was a little worried about this weekend as Joel was starting his season of officiating football. However, I was happily surprised as the kids have done so well TOGETHER. They have loved on each other, hugged when they have hurt each other and Norah's crying (whenever I leave her sight) is becoming less and less. As well, she has not hit anyone who comes within arms reach in the past few days. I think she gets it - we love her, she is here to stay, she will be fed, her needs will be met and she is a Fenwick!
Nate and Naomi are doing well. Prayer, love, extra attention and time have all allowed us to give each other grace as we figure life out. Norah is such a blessing and we have as much to learn from her as she from us - and we are taking life day by day right now.
Happy Sunday. Off to wake up the sleeping girls.
See that SMILE!!!!! We have waited so long to see Norah express happiness, and it totally made our morning to hear her wake up on her own (without crying) and then have such a fun-loving morning!! We saw our (wonderful) pediatrician this morning and Norah had a good check-up. We will be having further medical testing in the near future, but for now will work on helping her gain some weight (can you believe Norah and Naomi are only 3 1/2 months apart??). She only cried a little and was waving and giving high fives as we were checking out - she has turned a corner!!
Today while I only had Norah, I ran a few errands and she rode in a stroller and a shopping cart both for the first time and never fussed a bit! She laughed in the cart, loving her independence yet being able to see me at the same time :)
The girls are both napping and Nate is at school. I am appreciating some quiet time and the ability to get some things done. Just had to take a moment and share such positive words and these priceless pictures I have been DYING to take!!!! (you know, the ones where all the children are happy at one time)
We are so thankful for all the prayers and words of encouragement. This has been a long journey - hard at times and joyous at others. Thank you for following alongside and being there with us.
Family of five
My stepdad Roger
Fenwicks and Daniels
Julie :)
We are home!!!!!!! As I type, both girls are sound asleep, enjoying a nice afternoon nap. nate is snuggled up to me on the couch and the first day as a family of five is going rather smoothly. Norah only slept 20-30 minutes of the entire 23 hour adventure home, so needless to say she was exhausted lastnight and went right to sleep, making it all the way through the night!!! We all slept well and feel great. Jet lag has a tendancy to sneak up on you, so I am anticipating some fatigue over the next few weeks, but am so grateful we are having such a smooth first day.
Norah is not so sure about these 2 sweet, fun-loving (bigger) siblings who keep wanting to hug her all the time. She is still warming up to her daddy, but has been in my arms less today than the previous few weeks. It won't be long until she feels comfortable and secure. We all look forward to that day :)
Our airport welcome was incredible. Julie took all these beautiful pictures and these are only a few of SEVERAL I had to choose from for this post. We feel so blessed and so loved.
Thank you for following us on this journey. If you feel led to move forward with adoption, I'd love to chat. There are "Norah's" all over this world.
This image pretty much sums up my day. Though it ended good -with Norah laughing and IN Joel's arms for the first time without crying - it was a very long day. Norah is starting to feel more comfortable in our arms and with her surroundings - and therefore has thrown a few temper tantrums today - IN PUBLIC, where I don't speak the language and it was so hard. I ended up spending most of the morning and early afternoon in our room with Norah- she feels so comfortable here and is willing to walk around and play. If we go out of the room, she is in my arms 100% of the time still. We talked to our guide today about her unwillingness to go to Joel and she suggested a few things, all of which we are trying. Tonight she went to him, only for a few seconds, but SMILED!!! Baby steps.
Things I will miss:
*all my meals being made for me
*my bed being made and the room being cleaned everyday :)
*our awesome travel group
*shopping for next-to-nothing prices
*7-11 slurpees
*the "laser" guy we run into each night
So here it is, my last post from Guangzhou!!!!!
Night night
Red Couch Picture
Today our travel group took the infamous red couch pictures - pictures of our girls in traditional chinese dresses on a red couch in a beautiful hotel here in the island. You can view them all via the link below, but here is the best one we got of Norah - this is on the floor next to the red couch - before she completely melted down and cried her little heart out for the rest of the shots we took. Oh well, makes for fun memories.
Today, while Norah napped, I went to the open market all by myself. I had found some cute clothes (for me, you know, everything over here fits me so well) for dirt cheap, like less then $3 each. So I high-tailed it over there to see if I could find a few more things. It was such a neat experience - all the spices, animals, clothing, luggage, etc for sale. And boy was it ever so crowded!!
Tonight we are heading back to Lucys, the restaurant here on the island. We have so loved our travel group - it becomes interesting around meal times when you have 6 2 year old girls together :):) I also hope to finish up shopping for items I am purchasing for the November Naomi's Fund celebration (at Southeast Christian Church - dates and details to come).
We miss our kids so much. Only 3 days!!!
Pictures
Only 4 days left....
I am starting to countdown til we land in the US!! Today has been another great day, I am just missing our kids and ready to be a family of 5. I will say, in talking with Heather today, that we are appreciative of this time - though it seems long and drawn out -we are making strides everyday with our new little ones. This time, when no phones are ringing, no laundry has to be washed, no other children need to be tended to, our husbands are by our sides, and our meals are all cooked for us - is valuable and we are doing our best to make every effort to make it count.
Tonight, on our way back from dinner, Norah was walking and holding my hand - Joel reached out and offered his to her other hand and SHE TOOK HIS HAND.....may seem like such a small step, but it was huge to us. We have worked so hard to earn her trust and show her love and even the baby steps are huge to us.
I am still a little under the weather and by the end of the day I have no voice left or energy for that matter. Hard to be sick away from home but I am honestly so thankful it is not any worse. 4 days and counting....
Nate and Naomi, we love you dearly!!!!! We enjoyed finding special gifts for both of you today!!!!! Can't wait to squeeze you tight. Until then, enjoy hugs from Mr Eric and Ms Kristi. We love you :)
Pictures
Today has been a good day. It is so fun to watch Norah come out of her "shell" more and more each day. In public, she still tends to be quite shy and prefers to be in my arms; but in our hotel room, she has become so much more playful and loves to laugh with her daddy!! She has yet to let him hold her, but it won't be long til she has him wrapped around her little pinkie. He longs to scoop her up and give her kisses, and I know it has got to be tough to see her resistance, but we know this will only last a very short time.
A few little things we have noticed about Norah:
- she is quite shy
- she has dimples in her cheeks when she smiles
- she LOVES to hold small items in her hands, yesterday she held a comb for 5 hours straight
- she has the sweetest brown eyes and loves to play games with them (winking)
- she loves to have her feet rubbed and that has become a nightly ritual
- she is a very brave little girl
- we could not feel more blessed, having 3 beautiful children
Nate and Naomi, we miss you SO much! Only 5 more days and we will BE HOME!!!! We love you, Daddy and Mommy
Pictures
Today was our medical check up - which was exhausting and hard.....we went room to room, seeing doctor after doctor (or nurse). Norah had to have an ultrasound because her belly was enlarged and hard. We were concerned of possible liver disease, but the ultrasound (thankfully) confirmed her liver is normal. We are still trying to solve the mystery of her enlarged belly, but are so thankful we were able to move right through the medical clinic, getting a clean bill of health. She had to get 5 immunizations, but quickly calmed down and took a nice nap this afternoon.
We are SOOOOOO thankful to be with our dear friends Brian and Heather and some new friends we are getting to know!! What a HUGE difference this has made as we start the second week of our journey.
Please pray that Norah's belly starts to feel better and that she can process her food well.....if we can just hang in there until we get home, then we can get her all the medical attention she needs.
Gotta run, Heather is here for a visit!!!
Much love
Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197643&id=605614827&l=9783857db9
Excited for a new adventure, beginning today!!! New post coming soon.
Giggles and Smiles (lots of firsts today)
The room is quiet, and I was able to get Norah down for a nap on her own today - a HUGE milestone, as she has been on me for 3 days (bonding) - which is precious in it's own way - but it is also nice to be able to blog for a little bit, eat some lunch and touch base back home. We miss home - and we are only halfway through the trip. On one hand, I'd love to board the next plane to the US. On the other hand, I know the Lord uses this time we are here to help create a lasting bond between us and our Sweet Norah. We have no other demands or priorities right now - in fact - our room is cleaned daily, our laundry is done as needed and all our meals (2 per day) are cooked for us. This allows us to completely focus on Norah. It is a gift. Norah is doing so well. Everyday is a big improvement from the previous. For the first 2 days she did not walk, talk, point, crawl, eat, drink, or really even move. We were at a loss as to how to best take care of her. She was dehydrated and had some stomach problems.....we prayed, asked for prayer back home, and are so thankful that day 3 she turned a corner. She began eating and gained some strength, and by that night walked to dinner holding my hand. Now that she is eating, she seems more aware of her surroundings, looks us in the eye a little more and is showing us she is 2 and has the ability and new-found energy to throw quite the tantrum. Today has been really nice - we had nothing on the schedule. We ate breakfast at the hotel (again, Norah ATE well - congee, oatmeal and mashed bananas), went to a local park for a few hours, then headed back to the hotel for Norah to get some lunch in the room and a nap. As for eating, we are still trying to figure out how to best feed her. She does not feed herself at all. If we hand her cereal, cookies, crackers, she either holds them or throws them. She will really only eat very mushy foods. She can choke easily, so we are very careful and go slowly. No wonder she is such a lil peanut!!Joel and I are doing well. This trip has been great for us, and he has been such a servant to me. Norah prefers me right now (though we are always working towards her gaining Joel's trust), so when we are eating meals or needing to go somewhere, Joel has been by my side, serving me in anyway he can. He has also taken care of all of the details of each day - paperwork, money exchanging, finding food for us, running to the 7-11 for more snacks or instant lunches. Truly, I feel so blessed. Even in the hardest of moments -when Norah is quite upset and we cannot sooth her, Joel is right there.....We have met some really neat people at our hotel. For dinner, we have been eating at the "free" appetizer hour (save every penny we can right now). Each night we go and visit with them. They both work for 7-11 and we were able to share with them what a blessing this convenient store has been to us on our travels to China. In our province for Naomi, it was a lifesaver. As well, this trip it has proven to be consistent and we know when we see the sign that we can go pay fare price for a drink or snack. I got to ask them, as they were literally designing a new slurpee cup lastnight, if the ice blended in with the slurpee was filtered (we cannot drink the water here nor have any ice, due to the parasites). He assured me that the ice was UV treated and that it was safe. BONUS!!!!!! Of course, I already had one and plan to enjoy a few more before we leave. It did wonders for my sore throat today.....Tomorrow we will leave this hotel and travel about 10 minutes away to another hotel on a small island. There we will meet up with our dear friends, Brian and Heather. We can't wait to see them and meet their lil Lainie Mei! As well, we have been e-mailing back and forth with a few other families and will get to meet them!! Saturday-Wednesday we have appointments, consulate dates and swearing ins (so we can not only bring Norah home, but once she lands on US soil, she automatically becomes a US citizen) and dr visits. The island is full of other american families who have adopted and we are looking forward to meeting them. There are also great shops and restaurants. I can't believe this post is SO long!!! This shows what great strides we have made today. For today's pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197643&id=605614827&l=9783857db9
might just be my favorite picture......:)
Our Sweet Norah
As I type, Norah is sitting with me on my lap :) This is where she prefers to be 100% of the time. We are trying to so diligently to reassure her and let her know we are here for good. She is coming around, very very slowly.
Yesterday Norah was not eating or drinking and had what seemed to be a little stomach virus. Lastnight we asked for prayer and are so thankful this morning as she has both eaten and taken small sips of water. Her energy seems a little better today, though she has stood for only a few minutes and has not walked since she walked into our arms on gotcha day. She is sweet as pie - her precious brown eyes and sweet cheeks......we are in love :)
Today has been a great day. We took a cab to the island and met another family who adopted their Eli (see above group photo) from the same orphanage just a week ago. We were told Norah and Eli were the best of buds, but when we got them together, they simply looked at each other off and on....we really enjoyed meeting Eli's parents, siblings and grandparents. It brought us such encouragement to see him and all the strides he has made in such a short time period. We are prayerful Norah makes many of those before we board the plane for home. This afternoon we went and applied for Norah's passport. It only took about 5 minutes then we headed back to the hotel for some more paperwork with our guide. As long as Norah is either in the baby carrier or I am holding her close, she is OK....as soon as I put her down for any reason, it's another story. We are gaining her trust hour by hour - and know she will soon realize how much we really do love her and that she will always be taken care of.
Our praises: Good health for Joel and me, Norah is sleeping well, Norah began eating today, there is a McDonalds close by :):)
We would ask that you pray for: Bonding, continued eating/drinking, paperwork, 5-8 vaccinations on Saturday (required), that our love for Jesus would be evident in all we say and do.
She is ours!!
We went this morning to finalize Norah's adoption. They asked us very simple and straight forwad questions -our names, our ages, our health status, Norah's chinese name and where she is from (we had to practice all the way there pronouncing it), do we want to adopt her and do we promise not ever abandon, neglect or abuse her. All answers came naturally, and it was a joyous moment!! We got to share the moment with most families that we shared gotcha day with. What an incredible orchestration - to have a life changing moment with so many other families!!!
Gotta keep this short - gotta a fussy one!! :) Much love
our lives will never be the same.....
2pm August 9, 2010 changed our lives forever when a precious little girl by the name of Lei Xin Qin came walking out from behind a curtain and into our arms. Several moments were spent snuggling and she was quiet as she studied my face. Then some tears came, but the room was hot and there were several (30 or so) other families uniting with their children as well. We have spent the past 4 hours or so bonding, giving a bottle, learning more about her through our guide and the translation of her paperwork. We know she was loved and cared for, but it does weigh on our hearts the past she carries with her. The joy she has brought is indescribable.
We are in love.....
more to come.
August 9 - waiting to meet our girl!!
We are one big ol ball of nerves right now. We are beyond thankful for the opportunity to adopt Sweet Norah Lei, excited, anxious, nervous and ready....or so we think :):)
Norah Lei - may you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how much we love and adore you. More importantly, may you learn and accept how much Jesus loves you. He is the reason you are in our arms and the only hope we have of eternal life. Our prayer for you is that you grow up in full confidence of who you are, a child of God - adopted as His daughter, and ours as well.
Here we go!!!
A long day today. We left around 11am to go to Guangzhou. We caught the train and made it here without any difficulty at all. We met a wonderful family on the train who are adopting a little boy tomorrow.
Once we got off the train, our day turned a bit negative and the stress and reality of it all weighed heavy on both of us. We called our guide to come pick us up and there apparently was a lack of communication and she had not planned on coming to get us. We started to take a cab but then were stopped by the police. It was a bit scary that we were so close to climbing into the back of an unmarked car. We went back and asked someone where to catch a taxi with a "good" driver, and from there we had no problem getting to our hotel - meaning that we made it here in one piece. China's driving style is unlike anything we have ever seen......
Once we arrived at the hotel, we had a note from our guide explaining tomorrow in detail. It was very exciting to see that we will be on our way at 2pm (2am your time). We ran into a seemingly small glitch with a detail for tomorrow and would ask that you pray over every area of our big day. Can't go into more detail, and we know it will resolve - it added a little more stress into an already stressful day.
Our specific prayer requests:
1 - That Norah will bond with us quickly
2 - That our love for her would be received and welcomed
3 - That all logistical details would go smooth
4 - That God would be glorified
Happy Sunday!!
New pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197643&id=605614827&l=9783857db9
Have we mentioned we love SKYPE (see pic)? Lee-Anne has been asleep since 9 pm and I'm down in lobby catching up on email/FB/news.
August 7 (evening). We had a wonderful day today. Kind of like a 2nd honeymoon. Hong Kong is beautiful and very very clean. Most people speak english and, as we ventured out around town on our own, found that most signs are in english as well. We walked around a beautiful park then took a tram UP (way up) a steep mountainside for a gorgeous view of downtown Hong Kong. Looking forward to going to bed - as I feel like I have been up for days now. To see pictures, click on the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197643&id=605614827&l=9783857db9
While I am typing the first part of this post –we are in the AIR!! We are currently 2 hours into a 16 hour flight – that’s right folks, 16 hours. We thought originally it was going to be 14.5 hours tops, but we got on the plane and were told 16 hours!! And the labor pains begin :) Actually, this has been a coveted time for me – knowing our kids are well cared for (all 3!) and being able to digress and take some deep breaths. There has not been much time for me to really reflect on my mom’s recent death and grieving has been hard – in preparing for such a joyous moment we are only days away from now. I have thought about mom so much in the past few days as I have been running around and finishing last minute details of our trip. I shopped for hairbows for Norah and realized that I had never done that for Naomi, as mom has made every single one. I thought of mom as I would have called her to say goodbye and tell her I love her. And I know she would have had a special handmade gift for sweet Norah when we got home. Thankfully, she had started a little pillowcase dress for her and my aunt was able to finish it (thank you Aunt Cindi!)
So, while we have 14 hours to go and only so many movies, magazines, meals and sleep time, I thought I’d spend time on here – sharing our journey. Thank you for reading, praying and supporting us. Norah is so blessed to have so many who love her already!
The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of emotions – from happy to sad to exhausted to anxious. Between packing, spending time with our kids, cleaning the house, and making sure all is in place to leave – it was crazy times!!! We dropped the kids off last night at our dear friend, Greg and Becca’s house. They were so excited and, after spending some time with them and having a time of prayer, the kids were ready for us to go! I shed some ugly tears on the way home – I think in part due to grieving, anxiety, lack of sleep and of course missing the kids. There are hard parts to international adoption and I would say leaving our kids for 2 weeks is high on that list. We got home and STARTED packing….yep, we waited until the last minute. And, honestly, that worked well. We were able to finish in record time and got a good night’s rest. This morning we realized that we had forgotten a few tings so I had time to run out and get those items and we were on our way to the airport. We met up with our dear dear friends Brian and Heather – who are also adopting a little girl from China. We spent the first leg of our trip together and enjoyed lunch in Detroit before parting ways. They are touring Beijing and then heading to their province. We will meet again on the 13th and be together for the rest of the trip.
UPDATE – August 6. Well, we have arrived!!! The flight was grueling (keeping it real here). It lasted 16 full hours…..we both agreed that we could not get off the plane fast enough. On the same note, we are grateful it was a smooth ride and there were lots of great movies and yummy meals to keep us occupied :)
I have been up since 3:30am this morning. I waited til 6:30 then got up and scrounged for a snack – I am starving :) I remember very similar sleep patterns when we were here in 2008 for Naomi. Today we are going to explore Hong Kong and enjoy time together. It’s like a 2nd honeymoon right now – perfect timing for all we have been through.
