Faceplant #2

Lily completed a not so graceful faceplant at Grandma and Grandpa Robey's this afternoon. She had quite the goose egg on her forhead. This is faceplant #2. The first one happened in Richmond. The first was less visible, but much more bloody. She cut the inside of her lip.

This one, however, will be out there for the whole world to see. She has the goose egg and three other scrapes on the right side of her face. Fortunately, they are just surface scratches. Grandpa got to her first, but she was all about Daddy.

She cried more than she would usually have cried, because she was tired and really needed a nap.

Linda is in Xuwen!

I received this message this morning. Linda will be looking for and taking pictures of the "finding places" while we sleep tonight. Pray that she is able to find all of them. It is such a precious bit of information about our daughters' pasts. We know very little about them before they were found, so this info is very special!

Most of you are aware of this already, but it bears repeating. Steve and I have decided to keep Lily's finding place private. This way she has some ownership of her past. SHe will be able to choose who, when about realeasing that information.

"This is Linda's husband, Paul.Linda arrived in Xuwen this morning (East Coast U.S. Time). There was a concern that due to the recent typhoon in the area, the ferries crossing the straight from Haikou may not be running. Fortunately,the weather was okay and the ferries were operating.

Linda is staying at the Sunny Bay Hot Spring Resort which overlooksthe South China Sea. It is very warm and humid. At 9:00 p.m. this evening (East Coast U.S. Time, 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning China time) she will go to the Xuwen SWI to start her day. She will do her best to get as many of the finding location photos taken as possible.

She will also give the requests for the post cards from Xuwen to the Orphange Director so that they can be mailed. She has about 20 cards to mail and about 10 finding locations to visit. Linda plans to spend the entire day in Xuwen and then return to Guangzhou the next day. We will let you know how things go. Best Wishes,Paul & Linda Fielding"

Pictures from Yesterday

Yes, I know it looks like she needs a haircut. We are trying to get her hair grown out, so it will all go into a ponytail. It is actually pretty close to all being the same length.

Enjoy!

Update Car Situation

Well, we are 2 days into our search. I have spent nearly every waking moment that I haven't been with Lily looking/searching for another car.

Our conundrum is that we ABSOLUTELY cannot afford a car payment. We need a reliable used car with low mileage for under $5000. Even with that, we have to get a temporary loan, because some of our savings is tied up in a CD until December. Yuck!

We won't say that we have decided to suck it up and just fix the transmission just yet. We may not have a choice though. The repair is going to cost more than the car is valued at (possibly as much as double the value on the car), so we didn't want to go there. Several cars that seemed like good options for us have all been sold. The rest ended up with mileage too high for the price.

Thanks for letting me vent! Just pray, pray, pray! I know in my head that God is in control, but I'm not feeling it in my heart at this moment. Right now, I am wanting some "me" time and to not worry about the car situation. Wishing I was more content!

It's Official

We are in the market for a new car.

Prayers, Please!

Well, we knew this day would come eventually. We had to have the discussion about the possibility that one of our cars is dying! We aren't sure yet. My dad is pretty sure that it has something to do with the transmission. We will be trying to get an appointment for a estimate as soon as possible.

Right now we are functioning on one vehicle. It needs to have it's brakes looked at, but we can't do that until we figure out the other car as it is not drivable right now. Pray that it is an easy fix. Also pray if it isn't an easy fix, that we'll not incure too many expenses before having to purchase another vehicle. Wisdom, Wisdom, Wisdom!

Jen

New Pajamas

Kinda a random post, but isn't that what blogging is about - talking about regular life?

Lily is still wearing 6-9 mth clothing. We've been given tons of clothing. I think I could open a consignment shop! (Thanks to the Papets, Shaddocks, Zugs, Aunt Mo and Cherish, many others too)

Yesterday Tabitha gave me a set of 18 mth footed PJ's to have. I thought - no way these will fit. We tried them on and guess what? Weight wise they are Huge, but are perfect in length. Hopefully, she will make it through a few months. It's probably too much to wish for making all the way through Winter.

She wore them last night. We took a couple of pics before bedtime. The pic of her in her crib is from this morning. The neck is plenty big and she somehow got her right arm through the neck. Hopefully, she won't be able to get both arms out in the future. Yes, that is her foot on the top rail of the crib. She'll be climbing out in no time!

I've joined the ranks . . .

I have finally joined the ranks of the sleep deprived moms (after 5 blissful months). Our Gotcha was 4/3/07. I specifically can remember and can count on one hand the number of times that she did not sleep through the night since Gotcha.

Lily woke up 5 times last night. I got up with her three of those times, Steve got up once (he worked a long day on Saturday or I could have asked him to get up more). In fact the one time that he got up, I didn't even hear her.

I'm sure it is one of 2 things: teething or separation anxiety. I am leaning towards the latter. We have yet to leave her for more than 5 minutes with anyone other than each other. Our goal was 6 months and we are nearly there. Lily and I did go to a surprise birthday party yesterday. It was the longest she has spent around total strangers. We were there nearly 4 hours. There were 20 or so people there and my parents were the only people there (outside of myself) that she knew.

We've been looking for a new church, so she's been around strangers every Sunday the last 6 weeks or so. But . . . We are only at church about an hour and a half and there really is very little interaction between Lily and people she doesn't know. She was rarely out of my sight, but I allowed my parents to do most of the running around and playing with her. She only left my sight a few times (with one of my parents), but interacted tons with everyone.

I used to be afraid to tell people how well she was doing, because they would always tell me they were jealous. Yes, I know one sleepless night doesn't mean that I am not lucky anymore. Whew, I do feel remarkably like I did when I had jet lag upon on arrival back in the states. My brain is not processing as well and I am definitely not as tolerant!

To date, we have not experienced very many symptoms of attachment issues. I'm not worried. I know it takes time. In fact, I always preface my "she's doing well" with "it takes at least 2 years to form a secure bond." I did "wear" her to church this morning to avoid people who try and take her out of our arms. Thought that might help her feel better too. Last week, I nearly had to wrestle a lady to keep her in my arms. Well, I am nearly falling over at the computer. Coffee has been my best friend the last 2 days!

For those of you who know me, know that I am not a fan unless it doesn't taste like coffee.

SOOO Excited!

I am going to copy and paste a couple e-mails I received from a lady who is visiting the town where Lily is from:

"I will try to send cards from Xuwen again to any families who wouldlike that for their child's memory books---or just because it's fun toget some mail from China!I'm sure the director will be happy to send a greeting to each child as she did before. "

"Hi Everyone, I received confirmation that we'll be traveling to Xuwen on the 25th-27th. We're even supposed to stay at a hotel IN Xuwen, not on Haikou. Someone at the orphanage said it was a pretty nice hotel,but I'm bracing myself. The advantage is being able to have more time to explore and record the area for all of the families, plus get to talk to the director of Xuwen perhaps more than once."

We are sooo very excited as missing the trip to Xucheng City and Xuwen CWI (her orphanage) was a huge disappoint for us.

We will post pics when they are received.

Sonic, Saturday Mornings, and Teeth

Yes, it is an odd title. Last night, Lily and I visited Sonic while Daddy was studying. We shared a Coconut Cream Pie Shake. She gulped it down as fast as I was able to spoon it into her mouth. We both thought it was AWESOME!

This morning we went to two rummage sales. We didn't get anything, but we were really out just to be out doing something relaxing as a family. Honestly, we hung out in our bed this morning for too long to really see any deals at the sales. The pics are from this morning. Lily was jumping up and down on daddy, laying on his legs, and then using one of his Star Wars: Episode I figures as a weapon against Daddy. She may be a girl, but she plays hard with Daddy.

Teeth - Lily's 4th molar finally broke through yesterday. She is still working on her upper canines, but I'm sure they will be coming through soon enough. What I find most amusing is that her bottom lateral incisor still has yet to show any sign of even "wanting" to come in. No redness or swelling. The chart that I have says that it usually comes in around 7 months!?!? The chart says usually the bottom teeth will come in first. It seems to me that all the teeth that she's gotten since we've been home have been top first and then bottom. Otherwise, she's on track.

Hope you're having as beautiful of a day as we are!

Raisin Bran

Well, Lily decided that she didn't want her oatmeal this morning. I couldn't figure out why she didn't want it. She always eats it. We were running low on oatmeal, so my bowl had Raisin Bran in it instead of oatmeal.

Evidently, she wanted my Raisin Bran. I drained the milk off and fed the flakes to her at first. Then I tried a raisin or 2. She loved it! Lily ate the whole bowl. Not sure what her diapers will look like later. :)

More Good News

Anthem still had not paid for the labs that we had done for Lily back in April. I had pretty much resigned myself to having to pay for the labs . . . until today!

I finally was able to get in touch with someone in the billing office where Lily had all of her bloodwork done in April. Her pediatrician's office faxed the request for a coding change back in July. Fast forward - 2 months to now. The lady said that the coding had not been changed. Evidently, she was out on maternity leave when the original fax was sent. The fax got lost in the shuffle. I still don't know how much we will acutally owe at this point, but it will be significantly less than the original amount, $872.25.

Pray that it all gets paid! While you are praying, pray for the bloodwork that Steve and I had done today. We are in process of getting more life insurance. The last time the bloodwork was done our cholesterol was pretty high (well over 200 and around 170). Pray that the oatmeal that we've been eating every morning for the last 5 1/2 months has done the trick.

32 Years!

Yes, today is my birthday. I have had a very pleasant day so far. Steve baked a shortcake from scratch for me last night (not allowed to eat it until tonight). I had a nice Birthday dinner with my parents on Sunday evening. I received 3 e-mails this morning wishing me a Happy Birthday. I've gotten 2 cards so far. Kyrie, the girl I walk with, even remembered and brought cinnamon rolls and a drink.

Steve asks me what I want every year. I usually respond with nothing really. Today has been a reminder for me for how nice it is for people to remember special days like Birthdays and Anniversaries.

I know that I am terrible at remembering other people's b-days. I always remind myself to get a card or do something as the day approaches. Then the day passes and I feel awful about missing it. I will not make any promises. I am going to make a concerted effort to make others feel as special as I have felt today!