Shiyan's first Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Shiyan's first Thanksgiving with us. She enjoyed the mashed potatoes and gravy most of all. She is loving all the Christmas decorations and wants to touch everything. She loves Christmas trees the lights.

It has been an amazing year watching Shiyan grow and learn and develop into a bright little girl. She and Laura are so close and play so well together. We are so thankful and blessed to be their parents and thanks God daily for bringing them into our lives.

We will post more in a few weeks. It should be fun for Shiyan to experience Christmas for the first time.

Fall Festival

Tonight the girls went to the Fall Festival at church. They had a great time. Laura went as a Doctor and Shiyan as Dora the Explorer.

It was a great time. Laura loved the horse rides and Shiyan loved the inflatables.

Photos posted for your viewing pleasure.

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Shiyan and happy referral day Laura. We all had a great day.

3 Years Ago

Wow hard to imagine that 3 years ago we received the call that our first daughter Laura was waiting on us in China. The next day we saw her photo for the first time. Little did we know that on that very same day our second daughter Shiyan was being born in China.

Tomorrow will mark Shiyan's third birthday but her first with us. It will be exciting to see how she reacts to gifts and cake.

In a mere 3 weeks it will be Laura's birthday too so a lot of celebrating going on at our house.

Everyone is doing great. Shiyan is still battling some sleep issues, she does not want to stay in her room but wants to be with us. This makes it hard for Laura to sleep so just trying to find something that works for everyone.

That is the update for now.

Finally an update

Wow I can't believe it has been since August for my last post. Time flies when you are having fun.

Everyone here continues to do well. Shiyan is gaining weight and is closing in on Laura, she has gained over 4 pounds since surgery and is doing great.

The girls both have birthdays coming up, Shiyan in 2 weeks and Laura in a month. We plan a big party for them this year since this is Shiyan's first birthday with us. Laura is starting to learn to speak some Chinese through the cultural school. She really loves the school and speaking Chinese.

The boys are doing great, Andrew with College and Aaron and Stephen with home school. It is a bit different not having Andrew here a lot of the time.

For the few of you that still check this blog, thanks for sticking with us. Hopefully I will start having more time to update. I have been studying for a big certification and have the test next week so if I pass then I will have more free time and not as much time in the books.

God's blessings to all, we will update more and post photos soon.

Cardiologist Update

Shiyan had her follow up visit with the cardiologist today. She is doing great. She gained 1 pound in the past three weeks which is great. The Doctor is very happy with her progress and does not need to see her for another 6 months.

This is such a relief and blessing. We praise God for her progress and his healing in her body.

Aug 5 update (Full House)

Thought it was time for an update. Shiyan continues to do wonderfully. She has so much energy. For the first two weeks after surgery she required very little sleep. Finally Tuesday we tired her out and are working toward a better schedule but she still stays up very late. She does not tire out like before and is just enjoying life. We go in Wednesday for a check up so pray that everything is working as expected.

Today was crazy. Take our family of 7 and add about 50 teenagers and youth sponsors and that was our house tonight. This is our month to host the youth group for our boys. Their youth pastor told us tonight was record attendance. Amazing to have that many young people jammed into our family room. They were on the stairs, furniture and all over the floor. Sponsors stood in the foyer and kitchen. The girls wanted to be right in the middle of everything.

I told a friend that there is a fine line between faithful and crazy and most days I wonder which side of that line I am on. I hope God uses this event to touch the lives of some of these kids. Only 3 more Sundays of this and we are off the hook for a while.

Hope you enjoy the new photos. To the right is a sunset I shot last week and some of the girls. The one of Shiyan playing Guitar Hero with Andrew is great.

On another note we learned yesterday that the beautiful little girl that hugged Andrew at the orphanage in China is being adopted. This is such an answered prayer for us. The other little girl we have been praying for has not been adopted yet but we will continue to follow her story to see how it goes.

Have a wonderful week.


Forrest, Robin and kids.

July 21 update

Shiyan continues to do great. She came home Wednesday afternoon, she had a temperature Wednesday night and Thursday. We went back and forth between the cardiologist and pediatrician each wanting the other to see her. They finally ran blood work and started medicine. The fever broke and she is playing like a typical 2 year old.

We were a bit frustrated with the physicians trying to pass the buck but persistence paid off.

We are all so grateful for the ways God has provided for her. We have seen his hands in so many ways through her adoption and treatment. During her surgery Robin and I were reflecting on how God led us to be open to a child with medical needs and then how He led us to her. We felt from day 1 that he was healing her heart and have seen that.

By the time we went to our first cardiologist appointment we learned that the hole in her heart had been healed and that the missing ventricle was actually there but small. This week we learned that the ventricle is actually nearly normal size and that her heart is very strong.

They informed us that her heart is not totally flipped but more twisted making the pulmonary ventricle look smaller.

We learned that the vessel they plugged was the largest that this Doctor has ever done and that they used the largest plug available at the hospital. It is amazing that they were able to do this repair through what look like needle holes in her legs. To look at her you would not realize that she has even had a procedure.

Our biggest problem is keeping her from over doing it and trying to help her understand why she can not go swimming for two weeks.

Please continue to pray for her to get stronger and to start talking more. We get new words every day but she is still a bit behind in this area.

Thanks for all of your continued prayers. I added some photos at the top for your viewing pleasure

Medical Update

Shiyan is home and doing great. She was released from the hospital today and has been doing great. They found the problem in her heart and corrected it. She is responding great. She is back as good as before the procedure and should improve more in the coming weeks as her body adjusts.

The doctors and staff were great and took super care of Shiyan.

We are so thankful for God's provision and the blessing he has bestowed on us. Shiyan is such a blessing and we have seen God's hand at work in so many ways through her adoption and her medical improvements.

We will post new pictures in a few days.

Thanks for all the prayers for her condition.

Heart Procedure Update

All:

The heart procedure went very good today. I will post more tomorrow. God is so good and we have seen his hand at work in so many ways. Shiyan is resting well tonight and should be home Wednesday.

More later.

Thanks for your prayers.

Back From Vacation & Upcoming Surgery

Well for the past 8 days we have been on the road traveling to see family. The girls traveled great. They were very cooperative and did not fuss too much. The boys got along well and we all had fun.

We visited both our families. For many family members this was the first chance to meet Shiyan. Shiyan really hit it off with Mammaw, Papaw and Grandma.

We are all glad to be back home and ready to get back into our routine. It is hard to travel with a family of 7 and is amazing how much luggage you have even when you pack light.

On another note, Shiyan will have her heart cath on July 17th. Please keep her in your prayers. Pray that everything looks good and that her heart continues to heal. Pray for the doctors to have steady hands and wisdom in how to treat her condition. Pray for our family as we go through this procedure.

We will post an update next week following the procedure. We thank all of you for your continued prayers for Shiyan. God has truly blessed us with a wonderful child who is full of life, love and energy. She has a smile that can melt ice and loves to laugh and play.

Have a great week.

Forrest, Robin and Family

Update June 7th

Well we have an official date for Shiyan's Heart Cath!. It will be done on July 17th. They had to delay it due to the Doctor's vacation. She will be in the procedure for about 3 hours if all goes well and will stay over night in the hospital for observation.

We have a real peace about this procedure and trust that God is totally in control. We really like our Cardiologist and trust her judgment.

We will get to take a trip home to visit family between now and then, it will be nice to get away as a family but I dread that drive with 5 kids. We are thankful that Andrew is such a great driver and will be able to help us.

The girls are doing great. Both Shiyan and Laura love going to the pool. We go every couple of days. Laura goes around like a little fish when she has her arm bands on. Shiyan likes to stay in a tube but loves the water as long as you keep her face dry. She does not like being splashed.
The girls also love going for walks with us pushing them in the double stroller. Robin and I really enjoy our evening walks but must admit that the humidity is starting to get the best of us.

The boys are enjoying summer. Andrew is very busy with work and his girl friend. The girls absolutely love his girl friend and hate it when she leaves. We like her a lot too. Aaron stays busy with work and just got another promotion to be a trainer (Congratulations Aaron). Stephen is a huge help with the girls.

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers. Pray that Shiyan gains weight and continues to get stronger. Pray that she starts talking more. Pray for her and Laura to get along and to continue to grow in their love as sisters.

Speaking of being sisters I bet we have answered a thousand times "Are they sisters?" My canned response is "They are now". Some of the more thick headed people then say "No I mean are they sisters by birth". To which I reply "No but does it really matter" It has amazed me how many more questions and stares we get now that we have two girls, we do tend to draw a bit of attention.

Well that is all for now. Every one have a great week, we will update soon.

Family update

Shiyan went back to the Cardiologist on Wednesday and everything still looks very good. She is not gaining weight yet but considering how active she has been this is no major concern yet. She is very active and in most ways just a normal two year old. She is constantly on the move playing and getting into things. I worry that she will be the child that swings from the ceilings.

The Cardiologist has decided to perform a heart catheterization on June 26th. Please keep her in your prayers throughout this process. They do not expect to do any repair work at this time just get some pressure readings from the smaller ventricle. They are prepared to do repairs if necessary. She will hopefully only be in the hospital overnight and back home the next morning.

Shiyan continues to learn new things daily. She is starting to talk a little and we feel like she is on the verge of really cutting loose. She is saying new words daily and is very responsive so seems to understand everything.

This past Friday we graduated our oldest Andrew from high school. A bigger day for Robin who has home schooled him most of these years. The home school group we belong to had 4 boys graduating and it was great.

We had family in for the graduation. Shiyan really took to my sister Nan and yesterday preferred her over Robin and I. My great niece was also here and is between the ages of our girls and the three of them had a great time. It was great having family in to share in the graduation.

Some new photos are on the photo bucket at http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/? Look under May07 Update for latest photos.

Have a great week.

New Photos

There are three new photos on the right side of the site. We have had a great week. Shiyan and Laura are getting along so well. Yesterday we built a big wooden swing set for the girls, I will post photos of this on the side page. They love playing on it together.

Today was baby dedication at church and Shiyan was dedicated. After church we all took Robin out for lunch to celebrate mothers day.

This week we have graduation from high school for Andrew so another busy week.

Thats all for now.

Update May 8th

Not sure who is still reading the blog. Sorry we have not updated in a few weeks but life is busy.

Shiyan continues to do well. She continues to learn but is refusing to talk much. She points and grunts. She also hates going to bed at night and either will cry or gets up to play. Next week we go back to the cardiologist for a checkup.

Continue to pray for her to adjust and that her checkup goes well. I will try to post some new pictures in the next few days.

Have a blessed week.

Update April 22

Shiyan has been fighting a cold this week. She is doing better now but has not been eating well this week. She has overcome her fear of grass and has enjoyed being in the yard this weekend. She takes every opportunity to be out side now.

Laura is turning into a great big sister.

Shiyan is learning new words every day but communicating is still tough at times. The other big challenge is that Shiyan hates to go to bed at night and fights sleep for hours.

We will try to provide another update next week.

Doctor Update

Well today we went to meet the cardiologist for the first time. The staff at the hospital and the doctor were absolutely great. The doctor was so good with Shiyan that she fell asleep during her echo cardiogram.

To quote the doctor "her condition is very complicated but her body has compensated" She does have Dextocardia (Heart reversed and on right side), one ventricle is smaller than the other but it is there so that is a major answer to prayer. She is getting good oxygen and overall is doing very well. There was a hole in her heart at one point but it is healed, we are very thankful for that too.

The current plan is to do another checkup in 1 month and then later this year to come back and do a heart cath on her to get more data from the heart.

We give thanks to God for the fact that she is doing so well and the fact that we are not facing procedures in the immediate future. We will post some new pictures on the site in the next few days.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone. We had a great day. Shiyan is doing so well, she seems like she has always been here with us. Our first doctors appointment went well and everything looked good. We go to the cardiologist this week and will learn more at that time.

This morning our Sunday School class had a welcome home Shiyan party for Easter. Our friends showered her with welcome home gifts. Shiyan was great in church today, she moved around a bit but overall was great.

She learned about hunting Easter Eggs today. She does not like walking in the grass so had to be carried a lot.

We got back the first 450 photos to start building our photo albums from the trip. The photos turned out great now to the task of putting the books together.

We will update the site later this week after the cardiologist appointment.

Thanks for checking in.

We are home

Well we made it home pretty much on schedule. We had a slight delay on the final leg but that was fine.

Aaron managed to get hand screened again in Tokyo, can't believe he was selected both times at that airport. The girls did very good with the exception of Laura's melt down on the final leg. She got into a deep sleep and did not want to get up so had a bit of a tantrum at the airport.

We all slept good last night and Shiyan seems to be right at home here. She went to her room and started playing with toys.

Thank you to everyone that met us at the airport and that has helped in any way. Elizabeth, dinner was great, Kellye and Joe, thanks for everything, breakfast is in the oven. All our friends have been great to help in so many ways.

We will update later this week with more information from the doctors and a post trip summary.

Thanks for following along.

Final Day: USA HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Well the final day has come and gone. We slept in a little bit this morning and after breakfast went to Chen Ten Academy. There we saw a lot of unique Chinese art work. The boys enjoyed seeing the people in the park doing exercise using huge swards. I will have to post pictures next week. Forrest had two school girls come up to get pictures taken with him.

We then went back and had our final round of shopping. Guangzhou needs a cargo ship to re-supply the vendors following our little shopping spree. Joe & Kellye you may want to bring a U-Haul truck to pick us up at the airport (just kidding). We found so many neat things. We do have as much baggage as we left with and this is kind of sad considering that we left 5 bags of clothing at the orphanage.

We really enjoyed a few of the vendors here and will miss them. One of the girls asked Andrew what he was doing after 9 pm, guess she was looking for a date. We shared hugs with some of them and enjoyed seeing them again. One little dress shop remembered Robin from the last trip so you know she is a good customer. Adele I believe you have competition. The boys were a huge hit here. This has been a trip of a lifetime and I know many family memories were made. We are very thankful that all our children were here to be a part of this adoption.

We are up very early Sunday morning and will fly for about 24 hours with airport time. This should put us in at our home airport at 4:35 Sunday afternoon. We are all ready to get home. Shiyan is talking a lot more and very happy. She is easily calmed by speaking to her in Chinese and loves to run and play. Lets all pray that she does well on the flights home.

See everyone soon. Thank each and every one of you for joining us on this Journey to Shiyan. See you soon, Forrest, Robin and family.

Day 12, only 1 more day in China

Well this trip is winding down. Today was a totally free day. We went out this morning and watched the people exercising in the parks. They play badmitten and do Tie Chi, dancing and other activities. They are much more active than most Americans. The parks here really get used.

After this little walk we headed to the pearl market. We got some wonderful pearls for the girls and found some other wonderful art work. After lunch more shopping near our hotel. For those of you traveling to China there are some wonderful vendors here. We were at the E Gallery buying some water colors and they were so nice, I recommend this shop. Lucy is also great and so sweet, we love going to her shop, also Jordan’s is a great place and fairly priced. We have found so many wonderful items. The boys have kidded that we need to redecorate our entire house in Chinese since we have so much.

I can not tell you how many people have come up to us and said “Big Family” “5 Kids are you crazy” Chinese people look at us in disbelief. Some of the adoptive families look at us like we are crazy. Oh well we may be crazy but we are truly blessed by this big family. Shiyan fits like a glove, she and Laura will be so close. A few times Laura has been a bit too rough with her (full body slam style) and she will just get back up and laugh. They love to play together. Shiyan rarely fusses, only when very tired or very hungry.

Andrew has taken up calligraphy while here. He purchased a wonderful calligraphy set and has been learning to write it and is doing quite well. The writing here is so beautiful. Aaron seems to be having fun with the shopping. Stephen is enjoying being the middle child now and is a great big brother.

Tonight we introduced the kids to Tai food. We steered clear of the spicy and strange foods but enjoyed it a lot. It is weird here to see things on the menu like intestine, goose kidneys and other not so wonderful dishes. Today while shopping we saw squid on a stick, lizard on a stick and other unidentifiable meats on a stick. I so wanted to try some of these but decided not to chance it.

We truly thank all of you for following this journey. Please pray for our return travel and for us to make all connections. Pray for Shiyan’s medical exams to go well next week and for her heart to be OK.

We will post a few more pictures today for your viewing pleasure. http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/Guangzhou/

We are all anxious to be home and ready for Sunday to get here.

Swearing In

Day 11: Consulate appointment. Well this morning our guide went to our consulate appointment and then called to advise us that they wanted to do our swearing in today instead of Friday. We met up with 3 other families from multiple agencies this afternoon and all took the hotel bus to the consulate for the final step. We met up there with about 10 other families and all had the anti climatic “I solemnly swear”. The final step comes when we hit US soil and she becomes a citizen. While at the Consulate we were able to pick up her Visa so everything is in place for this adoption to be complete.

We heard rumors today that the White Swan will close on December 2nd for 9 month of renovations and will be an all suites hotel when it reopens. This would change adoption journeys in a great way and I hope it is not true.

Shiyan continues to get more vocal mostly just babble but definite improvement. She is a little squirt and is not used to being told no. The care givers were afraid to let her cry and must have given her what she wanted. We are teaching her that this does not work and have had to let her cry a few times.

Robin had some shopping for cloths for the girls today and I managed to get more of the gifts we need for the girls and for friends. Shopping here is so much fun, a lot of shops and lots of haggling. My personal favorite is Lucy, she is such a sweet Chinese young lady and fun to haggle with. Robin had a custom quilt made for Shiyan and we got it back tonight, it turned out absolutely beautiful.

Tomorrow off to the Pearl market and more walking around the island. Things are winding down and we are all ready to get home.

Until next time.

Day 10: 1 week with Shiyan

Can you believe we have been with Shiyan for a week. Well today was our first day in Guangzhou. Last night when we got in we could not get adjoining rooms and had the smallest rooms we have ever been in. So this morning they moved us to the river side of the hotel. This room is much nicer and has more room.

We had the White Swan breakfast today. Let me say the Traders in Shenyang is a much nicer hotel with much better food. We are disappointed in the Swan after our last two hotels.

After breakfast we were off to the required medical exam. Everything checked out good. The doctor that listened to her heart heard what he thinks is a hole in her heart but was not overly concerned. We showed him her medical records and he had 3 other doctors come in and listen to her. They all thought the diagnosis on her paperwork was incorrect. We continue to pray that she is fine and that whatever is going on will be easily treatable when we get home. In any case we trust that God brought us to this child and he will help us deal with whatever is ahead.

Today we spent shopping in Guangzhou. I would go broke with all the good deals here. We found some great things and will have the challenge of how to pack all of this stuff.

A flash back to yesterday that is interesting. We ate dinner at Lucy’s and when we sat down I notice that they have license plates on the walls. The first plate I see was from Boyd County Ky. where we used to live and the other side had a plate from Indianapolis Indiana, where we also formally lived. How funny is that, being in Guangzhou is like being in a US city, there are adoptive families everywhere.

Tonight we went to a local Chinese place and no one spoke English, but again we managed to order and it was good. There was one meat that was not identifiable but tasted great. After dinner Shiyan took off exercising her vocal chords again, she has really kicked in the past day or two with mostly babble and occasionally a Ma Ma or Ba Ba and some Ga Ga’s in there. Now Laura is jealous wanting to hear her name.

Tomorrow is mostly a free day while our paperwork is processed.

Day 9: Off to Guangzhou.

OK we will start with a funny note today. Our guide in Shenyang was great but his English has a strong Chinese accent. Yesterday he was talking about Shiyan’s beautiful smile but it came out as “She has a beautiful Smell” It took me a minute or two to figure it out but then I realized every time he said smile it came out smell. Too funny.

Robin will miss the sushi at our last hotel. The Traders was equipped for Japanese business travelers and had a wonderful breakfast buffet including sushi which Robin gladly partook of every day.

Today we got up normal time and had breakfast and then off at 9:30 for the airport for our scheduled 12:15 departure. Well in China things don’t work like at home. The airline had decided to change our departure time to 2:05 without notifying us. So here we are at 10:30 am for a flight nearly 4 hours later. Dair did manage to get them to check us in and take our luggage, but we still had to spend another day hanging out in a Chinese airport.

Oh yes and on the way to the airport our poor driver was pulled over by a cop with attitude. Looked like a racket to me but it was not that big and event. The fine for the supposed violation was 200 RMB $24 US. This is a lot of money to a poor working guy here.

OK Shiyan did great today, she walked and walked and walked some more while we waited for our flight. Praise God she never got winded or pale, she seems to be doing great. She did wonderfully on the flight and laughed and played when not sleeping.

On the van ride from the airport to the White Swan she started babbling, it was so great to hear her voice. Last night we got her to say Ba Ba and Ga Ga (daddy and big brother), tonight she was just jabbering away. We pray that with some stimulation she will start talking soon.
Well we made it to Guangzhou and had dinner at Lucy’s a place close to the hotel. In the morning we are off for the medical exam and visa photo and then shopping.

That is it for today, will post photos and more information tomorrow.

Day 8 Orphanage Visit

Get your tissues ready before reading today's post.

Well today we visited the Shenyang City Orphanage. This is always my favorite part of the adoption trip and at the same time we always loose a bit of our hearts on an orphanage visit.

Thanks to our friends and Sunday School Class we had 5 large duffle bags of blankets and clothing for the orphanage. They were very appreciative to receive this gift. We helped them unpack the items into a storage room where they will remain until needed by the children.

We then walked over to the orphanage building and on the way met the 4 year old class going on a walk. They recognized Shiyan and began chanting Wen Yi, Wen Yi. Shiyan seemed to soak it all in. We were worried that she would have a bad reaction to the visit. This is an extremely nice orphanage and well maintained. The children are all clean and well cared for. They seem to have plenty of staff and the director has really impressed us.

We first visited the 1st floor and went to the room where Shiyan stayed until between 1 & 2 years old. When the care giver held her, she cried to go back to Ma Ma and reached for Robin. Seems that she knows that Robin is the one who now cares for her and was not comfortable with anyone other than Robin or the orphanage director holding her. We got to visit with the children in this room it was nice to get to meet the children. We tried to touch each child and give them some personal time.

Next we went to the second floor where Shiyan has been living and visited the play area. Here we met this beautiful little girl in a fury sweater. She kept making eye contact with Forrest and finally came over to be held. Our hearts melted and I shed tears as I knew she does not have a family waiting for her yet. She had back surgery but is healthy now. She is beautiful and so sweet. My heart breaks for her (see photos of her on site)

We had 3 waiting children that we were asked to check on while there and met the two boys in the same room as Shiyan had been in (mostly boys in her area). We were able speak to each of them and have the translator tell them that their parents are coming soon. (Photos included)

We saw Shiyan’s bed. She slept right next to the Nannie. It appears they carried her everywhere and did not let her do much for herself. They were so concerned about over stressing her heart and babied her a lot.

We then went up to the 4th floor to meet Hua Liang. Here our hearts were really touched. Andrew was the appointed photographer today and as we go to this area I was speaking to Hua Liang and this other little 4 year old girl went over and hugged Andrew, she then came and hugged me. She also does not have a family yet. Andrew fell in love and made it clear that one day he will be back to adopt a child from China. Andrew wanted us to start paperwork to adopt her ourselves but we can’t do it right now. I have to admit that we shed tears today and that our hearts break for these children that don’t have a family. We pray that they are all adopted but learned that many of them will never be adopted.

As we headed back down stairs we passed Shiyan’s class and the kids again called out “Wen Yi, Wen Yi”.

Today we saw some healthy children and children with severe medical needs. Some will be lucky enough to find a family and many will be in the orphanage for years to come. Pray for these children and pray that people step forward to help them by supporting the orphanage or by considering adoption. We are so thankful that God opened our hearts to adoption and that he led us to China. We can’t imagine the blessings we would have missed out on had we not taken the step of faith to adopt Laura and then Shiyan.

After nap time we will head to a local park so the girls can play and then we have dinner tonight with Dair and Shirley (Chinese food). Tuesday morning (Monday night US) we head to Guangzhou. I must admit that I am ready to leave Shinyang and am getting a bit homesick. We will probably not post again until Wednesday.

On a side note, we are seeing more personality from Shiyan every day. She is going to be a stinker. She seems shy but is going to be sly. She is so cute and it will be interesting to see how her personality continues to take shape. She loves the attention she is getting but is not used to being told no. Today she would not lay down for her nap and kept trying to climb out of the crib. I told her to lay down and she kept getting up. I went over to lay her down and she hit at me, I said “Bo” which is no, she burst into tears and then laid down and went to sleep.

Thank you to everyone that has been following our journey and for all of your prayers and encouragement.

Here is the link to today’s photos http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/Orphanage/

Day 8 We feel like celebrities

Today we visited the Emperors Tomb and again drew crowds of people. We had a lot of people staring and taking photos of us, one guy came up and asked if we would let him take pictures of us with the lady that was with him. He then grabbed another guy to take photos of him with us. We were able to get some great (Huge) kites that we can fly at home.

Shiyan is still not talking which is beginning to concern us a little. We will be going to the orphanage on Monday and will ask them if this is normal for her. She is very happy, and doing great overall just does not talk. She responds when we speak to her so not sure what is going on.

Tonight the boys decided to stay in at dinner and not go with us. Robin, the girls and I ended up at a local Chinese place. No one there spoke a word of English so ordering was fun. We ended up with a wonderful meal of some authentic Chinese food. The boys don’t know what they are missing. Monday is our last day in Shenyang, then on Tuesday we fly to Guangzhou for the US portion of the adoption. We are all getting a bit homesick and tired of living out of suit cases.

Until Next Time, From China????

Day 7 Shenyang Imperial Palace

Today we toured the Shenyang Forbidden City (Imperial Palace) It is much smaller than the Forbidden City in Beijing but very impressive. Photos are on the photo bucket at http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/Shenyang%20Forbidden%20City/

Shiyan is getting a bit of a cold but still doing very good. Tonight she was introduced to Pizza. She loved it. It is funny to see the facial expressions she makes when she experiences a new taste. She will make funny faces then smile and want more.

We received the developed photos from the cameras that we sent in Shiyan’s care package. We got some wonderful of Shiyan with other kids at the orphanage. These were shot over some period of time as we see multiple outfits on her. We have photos of her looking at the photo album we sent her and playing with the toys. In one shot she is sleeping with the bear we sent and has the blanket we sent over her in the bed. It was so nice of the staff to get us these wonderful pictures.

Tomorrow we visit the Emperors tomb and Monday is the visit to the orphanage.

Day 6: Shopping and Stares,

This morning we went shopping at the very high priced mall next door. This place is like Saks 5th Avenue pricing in China of all places. We did not buy anything at these shops but did purchase some story books in both Chinese and English with a CD that tells the story in both languages, Shiyan should love this. We also made another trip to Wal Mart to pick up a few little items. Wal Mart here is great and very reasonably priced.

Needless to say most residents of Shenyang China have not seen a family as large as ours. We get stared at so much when our little army goes down the street. We commented last night that you could walk naked down the streets of New York City and be noticed less than us. Most of the people are nice but can not understand such a large family. Last night we were at the play area in the mall and a gentleman noticed Shiyan and Laura in matching sweaters and held up two fingers, then the boys all walked up and I said 3 sons. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Another man said in a Japanese accent “3 handsome sons protect beautiful daughters”. People will just stop and watch us, the boys are a bit freaked by all the attention.

Shiyan continues to do well. She slept all night and was awakened by Laura this morning at 7 am. She again got up with a smile. She is breathing a bit hard when sleeping on her back but seems more normal when on her stomach. She does have Dextocardia (Heart on the right side). She loves to walk but does get tired since they have not let her do anything at the orphanage. She is amazed at all the sites and sounds of the outside world she has never seen. She will see things and point with a smile. Today when we were passing one music store she started dancing and laughing. It is hard for us to imaging what must be going through her mind, the only life she knew was inside the orphanage walls and all of this is so new to her, her little mind must just be overwhelmed.

Shiyan is a girl of few words, favorites are Laura and Mama. This morning at breakfast daddy moved over to feed her so mommy could eat and when she was done she excitedly said “Ma Ma” and handed her cup toward Robin. This afternoon she again yelled for Mama when she wanted more food. Oh she loves McDonalds chicken nuggets and will eat anything you put in front of her and will eat until you stop feeding her. The orphanage director told us she was the size of an average 1 year old at the orphanage, only about 20 pounds, we pray that she will start growing once on a good diet. We are having to teach her not to grab everything at one time when you offer her a snack, I am sure this is instinct from orphanage life. She is always looking at Robin as if to seek approval of things. It seems that Robin has taken that role of care giver and is the favorite for now. She loves to play with daddy and laugh, she has the cutest laugh and a whole face smile.

This afternoon the two older boys and Forrest went for a walk to explore the area. There is a huge underground shopping mall that goes about 3 city blocks. At some points it goes two stories under ground. We were warned about pick pockets so only took a few dollars with us but it was fine and very interesting to see all the vendors. The other shops here are nice but up scale.

This morning Dair our guide stopped by and left us a gift from China for Shiyan, it was a set of framed masks, they will look great in the girls room. Dair and Shirley have done a great job taking care of us and have offered to help in any way they can, at times they are a bit overly protective. Tomorrow we will have the developed photos back from the cameras we sent to the orphanage, we are very anxious to see these.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the Shenyang Forbidden City (This was formally the capital of China) The boys are excited about visiting this site. They have been bored the past couple of days due to the lack of constant activity.

Day 5 part B

I forgot to tell everyone about the snow. Two weeks ago they had a major snow storm here in Shenyang. Well they are still cleaning up snow and it is piled everywhere. The weather now is nice and starting to warm up a bit.

Tonight we went to a mall across from the hotel. We found a food court with some wonderful looking food and the boys found a DQ. Can you say Peanut Buster Parfait or Banana Split in Chinese? In any case the ice cream was great. Robin, the girls and I had some wonderful authentic Chinese food. We are in a very nice part of town with lots of shopping near by. Some very high end shops (we will look only). There is also a play area at the mall and while there we met two families from the US that are here teaching at the university, it was nice to meet other English speaking people. Most people here do not speak much English so communicating is interesting.

Friday is shopping day, we will post more photos as we can.

Don't forget to read down to see the rest of Day 5.

She is now offically ours

She is officially ours now. Shen Wen Yi is now Shiyan WenYi.

Shiyan slept great last night. She woke a few times while we were still up but did not fuss. This morning she lay in the crib until we went to get her. She does not fuss at all, I am sure this is from being in the orphanage and knowing that it probably did not help.

Laura is very Jealous but loves Shiyan. Just if one of us are holding Shiyan, then Laura wants to be held too.

This morning at breakfast we got to meet a wonderful family from Texas that is here adopting. We had been swapping email with them the past few weeks and really enjoyed meeting David, Yvonne and Noah today.

This morning was free time, after getting all our adoption paperwork in order and ready fro this afternoon, we made the trip 2 blocks away to Wal Mart Supercenter. Shiyan was so alert and taking everything in. We learned today that she has rarely been outside the orphanage and really did not know that a world outside there existed. She looks at everything and is taking in all the sounds. Wal Mart is very nice it is a 3 story center and has a lot of the same stuff as at home. The meat department is interesting and the fish market is quite an experience.

Shiyan was introduced to McDonalds chicken nuggets and fries today and loved every bite.

Shiyan does not talk much at all and is very quite. We were concerned about her speaking Chinese but she rarely says anything. The orphanage director said this was also the case at the orphanage.

This afternoon we made the trip back to the civil affairs office to sign all the paperwork and complete that part of the adoption. The orphanage presented us with a certificate thanking us for adopting her, also with a crystal stone and some dirt from the orphanage grounds. We then went and applied for her passport and then to the Notary office. While at the Notary office people started to stop and touch her and talk to her, there were 8 or more people just standing around checking her out.

This afternoon she has been sitting and drawing on the magna doodle and Laura is sitting next to her drawing on hers.

Tonight we will go out for Chinese for dinner. Tomorrow is a free day so Diar and Shirley our guides will take us shopping. New pictures will be on the photo bucket today.
Be praying for Shiyan’s heart. She does not seem to be as sick as they had described but we are not sure what is up with her heart. When she walks she does not get winded or blue which is an answered prayer. She plays and does fine. The orphanage had kept her way too sheltered and I believe she has been more active today then in her previous life. We are trying to take it slow and let her do a little at a time but so far so good. We are all praying that we get good news from the doctors when we get home with her.

Thank you to all our friends that are praying for us and for all the wonderful notes of encouragement we have received, many of your notes brought us to tears this morning, it is great to know we are surrounded by your prayers and support. Thanks to Joe and Kellye for getting up before daylight to get us to the airport last Friday, and for the great muffins. Lastly I forgot to acknowledge our sons for their help yesterday. Aaron helped care for Laura, Stephen was behind the video camera and Andrew was responsible for all the wonderful Got Ya Day photos you have seen.

Until next time, from China!

Day 4 Got Ya Day!!!!

Well today started off very early with multiple delays. We left the hotel at 5:30 am for what should have been a 7:40 flight. We actually made it on the plane and then they had us go back to terminal due to bad weather in Shenyang. As we were leaving the plane we learned that a stewardess had taken Aarons ticket stub. Let me assure when flying in China guard this little piece of paper with your life. We got back to the terminal and they said “No Problem” and gave us another little card. Well after many delays with the flight and very little information in English other than “Just wait a moment” for 7 hours. We finally started to board around 2 pm. We met the same “Mr. No Problem” and now it was a problem. Well after what seemed like forever we were finally allowed on the bus then got out to the aircraft to “Problem” Finally after a lot of discussion and a lot of frustration on my part we were allowed to board. So only delayed by 6 hours (Stephanie you still hold the records at 2 days in Beijing airport)

So now to the information you have all been waiting for, Ms Shiyan. We landed about 3:15 and got our bags. You can tell that they don’t get a lot of adoptive families here. Our guide held up a sign that said simply “Family from USA adopting” We were taken immediately to the Cival Affairs Office where Shiyan was waiting. She immediately recognized Robin and called her Mama. The orphanage staff had been showing her our pictures. She had all the toys we had sent her. They also had a scrap book of her activities, with coloring pages, photos etc. She did not fuss much and was very cooperative with us. She did get upset a bit this evening but it did not last long. She loves to laugh. We had been at our hotel for an hour or two and she was sitting on the bed playing with daddy and Laura had gone in the other room and Shiyan said very clearly Laura. With the photos we sent we listed each persons name and they had taught her names.

She seems to be doing well and does not get seem to have problems when excited. She does breath a bit hard but overall seems to be doing very well. She is now resting peacefully.

Laura on the other hand is dealing with a bit of jealousy and wants to stay in the middle of everything.

Shenyang seems to be a great town, we are a block from Wal-Mart and a lot of other shopping.

Well tomorrow is adoption day, we go to finish the official paperwork and make her our daughter. Photos are posted on our photo bucket at http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/?

Oh did I mention that she is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!

The Great Fog of China

Hello from the “Great FOG of China” Today we traveled to the Great Wall of China. One nice thing is that it snowed there last night so that was beautiful. However it made for very slick climbing at times. Once again Laura was a super trooper. She insisted that she walk on her own. We climbed to the highest peak we could see and she walked all the way by herself. At the top we purchased little brass plates for each child that said “I climbed the Great Wall of China”. We were very disappointed that visibility was so poor so you could not see the beautiful country side. At some points you could only see a couple of hundred feet.

After the Wall we went to the Cloisonné factory to see how Cloisonné is made. This is a very interesting process that is highly manual and very intricate. We were able to purchase a few items to take back home.

This afternoon while Laura napped, the boys and I went back to the Silk Street shops and haggled with vendors for some additional goods from China.

Tonight we had the opportunity to learn first hand some of what God is doing through the local house church (More about that later). This was quite an experience for all of us and educated us a lot.

Well Wednesday it a whole new day. We have to be up at 4:30 am and off to the airport at 5:40 for the flight to Shenyang. We should receive Shiyan in the early afternoon so late Tuesday night your time at home. We are praying for a smooth transition and are all very anxious to meet our daughter.

Lets hope we get some sleep tonight. They are building a new convention center just next to our hotel and they work all night. They welded beams all night and even with the curtains closed you could see the flashing of the welder in our room. Not to mention the saws, and other machinery that was being used. I woke up at 4 am from the noise and never got back to sleep.

With that I will close for today. The next post should include pictures from today and pictures of us with Shiyan.

Day 2 Beijing

Here is a link to today's photos.
http://s168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/?action=view&current=shiyan4b.jpg&slideshow=true&interval=3

Well today was an early start, Laura must still have a bit of jet lag and woke us up at 4:45 this morning. We managed to keep her quite until 5:30 but were then up for the day. She continues to be great. She walked a lot today refusing to be carried in the baby backpack most of the time.

Today we went to Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City, a lot of walking but very interesting. Laura had to have one of the giant kites that the street vendors were selling and truth be known daddy has always wanted one too, so we are taking one home to fly. I have posted a few photos of the Forbidden city, see link in previous post.

Next we went to the Hutong (Water Well or narrow streets). This is an old area of Beijing near the Forbidden city. Here we took a rickshaw ride and visited a home and were served tea, learned about grasshoppers and crickets. Laura had a very short nap and then we were off to the Chinese Acrobat Show. Wow what a show, they are awesome performers and we all enjoyed it, unbelievable how these people can bend their bodies. Tonight we went to a local Chinese restaurant and the waitress spoke about as much English as I spoke Chinese so it was fun ordering. We got everything we ordered and it was great. Aaron is refusing to try the local cuisine and opted for KFC. He does not know what he is missing. The other two boys ate with chop sticks tonight a great new step for them.

Well enough for tonight, we have an early day tomorrow and will be heading to the Great Wall. One of my favorite spots on earth! Hard to believe that Wednesday (Tuesday night US time) we will meet Shiyan for the first time. Pray for her to bond with us and to be healthy. We will give another update soon.

Thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes. We appreciate every one that is following this Journey to Shiyan.

Viewing photos

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u183/factech1/DSC_0047b.jpg


I now have English menu's so this link should take you to photos. Off to the Forbidden City and Hutong today. Laura woke up at 5 am and we have been up since then.

Day 1 Beijing

Hello from Beijing. Well it has been a long couple of days. We got up very early on Friday March 16 and headed to the airport. After some flight delays in Detroit we ended up on another flight we were finally on our way.

Laura has been a trooper, she only slept about 4 hours out of 28 hours of travel. She was up at 5 am at home and finally went to sleep at 11:45 our time for a couple of hours and picked up another couple of hours between Tokyo and Beijing. She wanted to stay awake and avoid missing anything. We were delayed a bit in Tokyo waiting on our original flight to get there (just the luck). We got to Beijing at about 10:30 pm (Saturday night, 9:30 Saturday morning at home) by the time we got to the hotel it was 1 am by the time we got to bed. Laura was up at 7 am wanting breakfast, so Robin and I took a short nap with her this afternoon.

We had a free day today. We went to what was formally Silk Alley. It is now a big 6 story in door shopping complex (Silk & Pearl Market) but still same great deals and haggling (“I make you great deals”). This evening when we were walking back from that area and we had this lady really trying hard to sell us scarves and socks, she would just not take no (BOO YA) for an answer. She kept after us for two city blocks. She finally gave up. After that I gave in and let the boys talk me into Pizza Hut for dinner. I would have preferred something Asian but tomorrow for that. Well we are up early in the morning so will sign off for tonight. We will post more in a day or two.

Monday is Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well the day has finally come. We are headed to China. First stop Detroit, then Tokyo and on to Beijing. We will post Sunday China time to let everyone know we made it.

This will be quite an experience and we are looking forward to every minute of it.

Talk to you soon!

Final Countdown and Packing

Well we are in the final days. There is so much to do and so little time. Work is crazy and then home to wrapping up loose ends every night. By the time we get on the plane I will be ready for a nap. We are packed and ready with the exception of a few minor things. Everyone is excited and ready to get going. Not long now, come on Friday lets get in the air.

Thanks for following along and for all the prayers that are being lifted up on our behalf.

Travel Arrangements

Well we have travel arrangements, we will be heading to China next Friday. We also have our in country travel plans. We will get Shiyan on Wednesday 21st March in the afternoon. After a few days in Shenyang we journey down to Guangzhou for the US portion. We should have some free time there to shop and enjoy the city. We will fly back to the US on April 1st.

They have some neat tours set up for us, we will go to the Great Wall, The Forbidden City and several other places. We are scheduled to visit the orphanage and see where Shiyan has spent the first two plus years of her life.

We are excited and ready to get in the air. Please keep our travel in your prayers. Pray that Shiyan bonds with us quickly and that she is doing well. We will update as often as possible so please stay tuned for all the latest updates and pictures. We will have a photo bucket where you can see multiple photos as we post. The link is on the main page.


We have been in touch with another family that is currently in Shenyang, thanks Stephanie for giving us a preview of our trip and allowing us to share in your journey. Looks like the place we will stay is very nice and close to shopping, parks etc.

WE HAVE A TA!!!!!!!!!!

We got the call today at around 1 pm that our TA was at the agency. They have requested our Consulate Appointment and we could leave as soon as two weeks from now. The general plan is 3 days in Beijing touring, then to Shenyang to get our girl, sped a few days there and then down to Guangzhou for the US portion.

We are excited and ready to travel. Pray that arrangements happen quickly and we can have firm dates and be past this state of limbo.

We will update again early next week.

We have some news!

We are hoping that our Travel Authorization will be in early next week. This would mean that we will travel in late March. Tentative dates would be March 21 returning around April 5th. We hope to be able to firm up plans by early next week.

We will post here first so stay tuned for updates. We are all getting anxious to travel. Laura keeps asking "Are we going to China today" Today she was talking to Shiyan on her toy phone.

Keep all of us in your prayers. We are praying to get the consulate appointment and then to find affordable air fare so we can make the trip.

While we continue to wait

While we wait, here is a picture of big sister Laura.

Yesterday we joined with many other adoptive families from the area to celebrate Chinese New Year. It was great to see many friends and was great for Laura to play with other children.

Laura thought since we were going to Chinese New Year that was the same as going to China and she was ready to bring Shiyan home.

We are very thankful for the support we receive from other adoptive families in the area and for the support of our church family as we continue to wait.

We will wait a bit longer

Well we were told today that our TA did not make it out before CNY. This means we miss the end of February group. We are hoping and praying that we can travel by the middle of March.

Good news is that ticket prices are a bit cheaper during that period so we just hope we get word soon so we can book our travel. The not knowing when you will travel and having your life on hold is the worst part. Also not knowing when you will receive your child is like being in labor for 4 months.

We will continue to wait and pray. We pray daily that God is taking care of Shiyan's needs and that she is in good health. We also pray that she is prepared for the transition into our family.

We will update everyone as we learn more.

Will this be the week?

Well will China process our TA this week? If not then we wait until after CNY. We are praying that the TA comes this week and we get firm dates for travel. There is a group from our agency leaving on February 27th and we would love to be with them. It is truly in God's hands now.

We continue to pray and wait.

Well Finally

We finally got the LOA at 6 pm Tuesday evening, yes I said Tuesday evening, long way from Saturday. Funny part is our travel packet that was supposed to have been sent slow boat was on the same truck as an overnight package. Lot of help that was.

In any case we were able to get our visa applications done and start working on our final travel documents. Bad news this probably means no travel until mid March but we may still see a miracle. Please pray that the TA comes quickly and that we can travel to get Shiyan home with us.

Frustrating Day

Well no LOA today. It appears that our agency failed to schedule Saturday delivery. So we sat home all day waiting on nothing. It was frustrating and has cost us yet another day. We pray that it will arrive on Monday. Every day the chances of getting a TA before Chinese New Year become slimmer and slimmer. We need a miracle if it is going to happen.

THE LOA IS at Bethany

We received the call this afternoon that the long awaited Letter of Acceptance is at Bethany. They are over-nighting it to us for Saturday. We will ship it back for Monday and pray that they can get it to China and get our Travel Arrangements approved before Chinese New Years which starts on the 16th.

If that can happen we have a chance of traveling late February or early March.

It is all in Gods hands and we trust his timing is best but pray that his timing is fast. We are all very anxious to get Shiyan home with us.

More updates to come.

New Pictures

Well today we received new photos and some updated medical information. Shiyan seems to be doing very well all though she does not appear very happy in these pictures. We keep praying that our LOA will arrive so we can get on to our travel arrangements. We will update when we know more.

No news yet

Well still no paperwork from China so we continue to wait. We are at the point now that it will have to be after Chinese New Years before we can travel. So best case would be travel in late February. However if things continue this slowly we could easily push into March.

The waiting is so frustrating. We trust that every delay is all in God's timing and that he is watching over her until we can get there. Pray for us as we wait. Pray for Shiyan's health and for her to be well cared for. We will keep you all updated on any progress that we have.

More Paperwork but we are getting close

Well we learned last week that China is now requiring a new acceptance form. They will not approve our travel until we get and sign this document. Our best bet is travel after Chinese New Year so end of February.

We did get an update from our agency. Sounds like Shiyan is doing very well. She is shy but loves attention. Her health seems to be doing good overall but we are anxious to get her home and under the care of our physicians.

Keep us in your prayers as we wait to travel