What a mix

What a mixture of emotions and roller coaster of ups and downs. At a time of year when most people are happy to be with family and taking in the sights of all around us, I find myself a little withdrawn.

We are expecting our forth child in April. I have a 1/150 chance of having a baby with downs syndrome. This has not been easy news and we have decided to not go through with the amnio test due to risk factors and complications. But it is hard not to worry and blame yourself as a mother.

Two weeks ago we had to put our loving dog down. Most of the time we are so busy I don't have the time to dwell on her absence. But it is in the quiet hours - our time we had with just her I find tears falling. I wake up to think I heard her breathing only to realize one of our kids have snuck into our bed. I found her old tennis ball by the foot of our couch and didn't have the will to pick it up yet. One of my errands yesterday was to pick up her ashes from the vets. What an odd time to have to pick up ashes, during the holiday season.

My uncle passed away Tuesday. He was a wonderful man. I did not know him as well as I would have liked, their family lived in FL. I grew up in WI. He battled with Lou Gehrig's disease for a few years. His funeral will be December 27 - the same day was have plans to celebrate Aurora's birthday with her cousin Katelyn.

Then there is Aurora's birthday. Her third birthday. My first with her. I am excited but also sad. I missed her first two. As I have watched and rejoiced in family and friends celebrating their daughter's first birthdays - I now find myself envious and sad. I don't know what those days were like for her. I don't know how to celebrate them from here - when I missed the first two.

Anyway, like I said we have been on the roller coaster ride for awhile. While most of the time we are excited for the holiday time to be upon us, their are also times where we are having to explain the circle of life to our oldest. He comes across Copper's things as well and we have discussions about her death. He has handled it very well.

Then I think of my cousin's children, the same age as our boys. They have lost a loving grandpa. What a hard time of year this is.

November and warm weather

I will take it! Warm weather in November...no problem. Halloween night was very enjoyable. I stood outside by a nice fire pit and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. Copper would have tried to knock over the door each time so it was easier on her for me to be outside. I enjoyed having a nice night out before it gets colder.

We have been having family discussions for the last few nights - grabbing questions out of a container that was given to me at Aidan's school's open house before school started. Anyway, one question was what do you want to be when you grow up. Aidan (as of late) responded he wants to be a cop. (For the last year it has been a Marine Biologist). When we asked Jonah and Aurora - their response was a monkey. Yep my kids have great aspirations of growing up to be monkeys. I guess I shouldn't complain, at least no one wants to be a car!!

Also, we had a wonderful time this last week meeting up with some families in the Twin Cities area. One family was celebrating their anniversary of their Gotcha Day! It was special to share in their day and their memories. The kids had fun - we went to an indoor inflatable jumping place. Note to self, Aurora seems to get bloody noses easily. I think it took her about 5 minutes and some how she bonked her nose and got a bloody nose jumping around. Did not phase her - however I sat close by to make sure it didn't happen again. :)

We now have two days noted on our chalkboard - one for when Heather comes for a visit and the other when we leave to go to Nanna and Pappa's!

For those who have known about Copper, she is doing much better. Our dog was very very sick and may still be sick, but she miraculously took a turn for the better and we are taking it day by day right now.

Happy Fall thoughts to everyone....who will get the first snow?? It doesn't count until it sticks on the ground. :)

Fall 2008

I can not believe how quickly time flies. Where is the year going? The kids continue to grow and learn. Aurora and Jonah enjoy everything - playing in the leaves, eating apples, checking out the pumpkins. Aidan loves playing with school kids and learning new things.

We finalized our adoption today!

Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything. We have been busy. Our biggest excitement has been to finalize our adoption today. Legally changing Aurora’s name and getting birth records established here for her. Still have a few more steps, but this was a big one to get out of the way. The picture above is of us outside the courtroom. Kind of a happy atmosphere that lingers around here – other families in completing the same step. A kind person walked by and offered to take our picture. Glad she did because the ones from the court room turned out pretty blurry.

Aurora is getting better on letting me try to put her hair in a pony tail or a barrette. But Jonah would still volunteer to get his hair done before she would. She just continually fits in – willful, bossy, ….
I have heard from her foster family. I now know that there was the mom, dad, older sister (who I communicate with) and brother. So she was kind of used to a big family before she came to us. Our contact in Yulin has offered to take a picture of her foster family for us before she leaves China so I am excited to see that.

Aidan starts 1st grade next Tuesday. Can’t believe how that has sneaked up on us. He is excited. His teacher this year is Mr. Bates.

All of the kids did really well with their little cousin Miriam. We saw her earlier this month. Jonah and Aurora liked getting her toys or taking them from her too. Aidan always wanted to hold her. I think Miriam thought the circus came to live with her for the week so she was thrilled to have us. Mesmerized by the chaos.

Fun in the Sun

I tried to post pictures a few days ago but was not able to get it to work... So here goes the second try. We have been having fun....Aidan had his soccer games, Ocean Odyssey camp, swim lessons...looking forward to the rest of summer with no schedule! Aurora and Jonah are just experiencing summer - running through sprinklers, swimming in a pool, camping, fireworks, baseball games, various playgrounds....

Peter's parents were here the first week of July. It was wonderful to have them and the kids loved spending time with them. The week went by too fast. But then again, summer days always fly by!

Summer is here

Warm weather has finally come to MN. It has been slow in coming. I think last week was the first week we have had to turn on air conditioning. We have been out and about with Aurora introducing her to many firsts. First playgrounds, first camping trip, first time in a pool, first parade, first overnight trip to Grandpa's, first boat trip and the list goes on. She is amazing. She is put in all the new situations and she just takes off and experiences the moment! There are times she just wants to watch for awhile but she eventually gives the task a try - like swimming in a pool and running through sprinklers. Then there are moments when whatever we are doing for the first time she seems to have known all along that she was going to love it - I got this look on her first boat ride last night like "This was the life I was cut out for - riding fast in a boat and the wind blowing through my hair."

Jonah and she have their moments of fighting but for the most part they get along great. They look out for one another and share about half of the time....I couldn't ask for more at this stage. Aidan is the big brother - always coming to their rescue and trying to mother them...sometimes a little too much. :)

Anyway, I will try to post more often - it is always on my mind. The first two weeks of summer break went by fast - we celebrated Aidan's 6th birthday and then he had Ocean Odyssey camp at the MN zoo. Quite the haul for the week driving back and forth, but he loved it so it was worth it. We have also been out to many new parks - water parks and playgrounds. Playing with the neighbor kids and going to soccer games. So please forgive me if I don't always get new posts up - we are out living in the moment.

Good Neighbors

I have wanted to write a note to everyone. We have been doing fine. As you all may know our small town of Hugo was hit by a tornado Memorial Day weekend. Quickly followed by a severe hail storm. One child was killed, his sister is still in critical care. About 50 homes were destroyed, many more had damage. Many of the other homes were damaged by the hail, including ours.

Every year about this time our little town celebrates Good Neighbor Days. I will agree that this year it is especially appropriate. The purpose is for our community to come together and honor our citizens, people we call “good neighbors”. Time to visit with your neighbors and realize how important a caring community is. Last Saturday there was an organized clean up day – volunteers came from all over. By midweek before that Saturday, City Hall had to turn volunteers away. From what I know they could only accommodate 1000 volunteers. In today’s paper, in little print below a clean up picture, they explained City Hall turned away over 4000 additional volunteers. It is wonderful to know human goodness is still there and alive! The volunteers that came almost had to tell homeowners to stop thanking them so they could get on with their work. But when you live in a little town that has a big heart…thankfulness runs deep.

Throughout the days since the tornado all sorts of stories have been printed. Around town I see insurance tents set up to help with damage claims, car rentals. We have been visited by numerous contractors to get started on repairs to our house. People donating almost anything to those who lost their homes, free daycare, meals, places to stay…. At Aidan’s school there are 2 kids – one in second grade and another in third grade who lost their homes. They are classroom buddies to his kindergarten class. Tomorrow they will have a ‘shower’ for the two kids. Teachers asked if families could bring in clothing, toys, etc for these two kids.

I agree with our paper – the amazing stories from after the storm just can’t be recorded. But looking through the pictures, reading the letters of thanks from so many individuals, the accounts of people setting up food stands to help feed people immediately after the storm, the man who woke up the next morning and saw over 20 people in his yard cleaning up downed trees - it just is truly amazing.

So that is what I wanted to share – what our little town is like – fours street lights and all!

We are celebrating Aidan’s 6 birthday early – kicking off the day at the Good Neighbor’s Day parade as usual! Friday night there will be city fireworks and over the weekend we will be sure to visit the small fair grounds in back of City Hall. But above all, we will be thankful for good neighbors.

We are safe

Just in case anyone has been up to speed with the weather report - Hugo was hit by a tornado this weekend. Our house is fine - we were out of town. Got back Monday night and wanted to let everyone know we are okay. We were in Wisconsin for a weekend with my family. It was great to see our little niece, Miriam. Fun to watch Aurora travel and meet more family and friends. Our kids just amaze us - they handle change so well.

Spring is finally here...almost

Well we have had a slow coming spring. I have still had to turn up the heat on days that are too chilly. The kids continue to do great together. Aurora tends to mother her little brother - so I need to keep an eye on that. Jonah lets her push him around. As you can see she is trying to push him down the slide. But for the most part they do very well together - they are to hold hands when we are out crossing a street - otherwise they are like bouncy balls scattering in opposite directions. I have realized that I need to have a good sense of humor with me whenever we are out - 2 two year olds are chaos. Big brother will finish up school in about 2 weeks - can not believe the end of the school year has come so quickly for him. He is busy with soccer (first game tonight) and summer camp at the zoo!

Foster Mom - Happy Mother's Day

In thinking of Mother's Day approaching ... I would like to ask anyone out there to think of a mom who means very much to our family. Aurora's Foster mom. She was her foster mom for almost two years. I am including a few favorite pictures of them together.

Also, I would also like to mention - somewhere in China is a woman who gave birth to a little girl on December 25. She caring left this baby in a safe place with a quilt and a bottle. This woman gave her the gift of life. That little girl was turned over to her foster mom who gave her a nurturing family life; one that included a dad, mom, big sister and another foster baby. That foster mom came to say good bye before this little girl left to be with her forever family, us.

Weather, please make up your mind

Well we are enjoying being a family of 5. What else can I say. We all play with cars and trains. Occasionally we play with a doll for 5 minutes....

Well, here a few pictures from home.

Meanwhile the weather has gone from cold and snow to warm and sunny to rain and cold to cold and snow again! UGH!

We are home!

So the last few days the song with the words...I wish I was...Homeward Bound. Have been playing over and over in my head. It feels very good to be home. As much as I wanted to leave I was very sad to leave China. It is something to feel excited to go someplace familiar and safe to you and at the same time know the place will be something entirely different to your daughter at the same time. Sad to say goodbye to the families that we just shared a very precious experience with. Sad to see them go. Sad to say goodbye to guides who had been taking care of us while we were there. Our guide was Michelle. She helped in every way possible. We will miss her! I kept catching myself listening to hear her voice on the plane flight home - she had been telling us what our days would include, sharing cultural stories...somehow I still expected to look up to see her talking to us.

Anyway, Aurora has done well. We were on the track to freedom from mom until we got home. Now we are a little clingy again. She is warming up to Aidan and Jonah. Dad will take more time. We have issues with pets....just going to take a lot more time there. That is putting it mildly.

I will try to share more updates as soon as I can. Pictures of Aurora in her dress that Grandma made and picture of our guide Michelle, me and Aurora outside the Terracotta Warriors.

Lots of love

Sarah

Lamb or Lion

Hello everyone again...

Just typed a message only to have it erase on me.....trying in vain to add pictures. Anyway, lessons learned to pass on to adopting parents....buy things when you see them. I listened to the advice to wait until Guangzhou to buy things. I saw a few things in Beijing I wished I would have bought...just not seeing the same here. But I have only been here a day in Guangzhou...we will see. Xi'an was great, however we were in a business area where there was only restaurants and hotels. Not much for shopping. Not unless you wanted to go down to Wal-mart. It was hard to venture out with the toddlers. Our 4 families had all 2 year olds and one 4 year old. A hard age to be out doing a lot. Not to mention we were normally given a lot of attention by the local people. Very friendly - however overwhelming for all our girls. At the airport I made the mistake of showing my badge that explains I am an American adopting a Chinese girl and we are so happy and going to love her so much....Very sweet little explanation made by our guide. Well, this girl reads it and soon enough about 10 other employees have joined her side. Aurora does not like people talking to her...so she really starts crying. So getting on the plane 5 minutes later, she is still upset. She eventually calmed down. Plane flight was okay, hard but okay. Not looking forward to the long flight home....just knowing we will get home will be my goal. Kind of felt weird thinking on the way to Guangzhou - I was a bit more relieved to be moving on...getting closer to home. Where as Aurora is further from her home than she has ever been.
Guangzhou is much warmer and humid. However today and supposedly tomorrow we have had Seattle rain. Nice. The island we are on is very European in design. The park area is nice to walk through. Today I saw about 8 wedding couples out there doing something...pictures - I don't know. I saw people exercising and kids playing. Also, people here are very used to seeing Western people with Chinese babies. We don't get the attention as much - although she still had a few strangers take her picture. Aurora has this not so lovely defense mechanism she has discovered for dealing with a stranger...she will either take a very hard swing at you or shout "raaaa!" Well, at least she speaks up for herself. I have been trying to get her to wave at people...getting better. Sometimes she may even give someone a smile.
Thus my title lamb or lion. She can be sweet and give kisses. Then at the drop of a hat she can pinch, hit, or spit. She can easily out eat her brothers put together...found she does have a stopping point which includes her spitting out food. Lovely. She loves her noodles. However now we are in the rice part of China. She does not care for rice. Still does not like chocolate. She loves to smear it or chew and spit it. But she does not eat it. People keep giving it to her thinking they are being helpful. She hugs her panda bear and then throws him off the bed. She will continue this if I let her. She can say a lot of words already. Mama, Dada, Donah for Jonah, A-war-a for Aurora, and of course no. She learned that by day 2. We are working on Aidan. She says a lot in Chinese. Wish I knew what. I just try my best to repeat them back. Until she gets too loud and then she gets shushed...which she mimics back. She is quite the tape recorder.

Anyway, since they are charging me by the minute...I need to run. I will try to update later.

Much love
Sarah and Aurora and Grandma

What a girl!!

Hello all! I got a chance to update everyone. Our little girl continues to be more expressive everyday. She was very car sick the day we got her. It was a full day before she made any noise at all. Then the second night she woke up, smiled at me and babbled. Everyday, when we are in our room she gets a little more outgoing. When we are out she gets pretty quiet again. If people try talking to her she gets even more serious. We have had two wonderful dinners at night the last two nights. Amazing food for about 30 yuan per person....about 5 US dollars. Today we were at the Terracotta Warriors...a beautiful country drive. The villages are beautiful. From what we have been told we are very lucky - to have it so sunny. We could see the mountains in the distance once we got off the bus. Not very clear but somewhat of an outline.

We hope everyone is well back home. As much as I am enjoying my clingy little girl - everyday she gets a little more outgoing and rebellious - I know my days are numbered...just hope I can make the plane ride home before she really lets loose :) I am sure her two brothers will really help her blend into our crazy family!! We will have our hands full...but in a very lucky way. :)

We sign papers today!!

First of all - I am so sorry I have not posted since I left for China. I finally got a chance to post in the hotel we are at in Xi'an. I will not be able to post pictures unless I find a card reader - no USB cord with. Anyway, Beijing was a cultural lesson cramed into 2 days. We had a great time - nice to get to know other couples before you get your babies. I was glad we got there a day early - the extra tour was well worth it. Beijing weather was hazy and cool. We arrived in Xi'an Sunday morning. It was sunny and beautiful!! I was not expecting the area to be so beautiful. We went past farm fields and green trees!! Just to see color has been wonderful. We got our daughter yesterday evening at about 5pm. She has been in a daze ever since. She slept okay...just wish I could get her to let go of some emotion. She is beautiful and tall!! Some of my 2 T did not fit around her wrist and ankles. She finally said something like "hi" today. I got her to smile and she is such a different person when she smiles. She eats everything...loves playing with the car I brought her...oh-oh!:) Another car player. She is very quiet. I have been spending time keeping things quiet...letting her take her time to start expressing herself. She has a small cold and I know she got car sick yesterday - they had to travel 7 hours to get here. Poor thing. She has the sweetest giggle when you get her to laugh. I just got a book translated from the director of the orphanage...it was something I had sent ahead to have them filled out. What a treasure...so many thing I thought I wouldn't know are in this book. I know her first word and when she got her first tooth...I know she was in foster care with a mom and dad and big sister. This has been the first mention of this. I know she loves to be hugged and touched and that she likes to sleep on her back. I know of all the things - she loves the outdoors! All these things make me cry - what a treasure. Words just can not express.

She is asleep right now. I can not be too long. But I wanted to give everyone back home some type of news. I miss Peter and the boys. I wish they were here but at the same time - I know we would be a mess. Looking forward to coming home. I sign papers at 1:30 today. Then we will be the parents of Aurora Mengxue Scott. Love to all!! Sarah

Ready to Go

I am all set to go. Bags are packed (mostly). The house is almost clean. Little details are checked off. I can not believe that in less than a week I will finally meet our daughter! This amazing beautiful girl who I have only seen in pictures! We are all so excited. Aidan is very excited - however as it gets closer to mom leaving, he is starting to express that he will miss me and he does not want me to go. I know he will be fine - I will miss our boys like crazy. Everyone is asleep - I should head that direction myself - hard to relax! I am ready to go!! My mom and I fly out March 19 at 3:oo PM, we will get into Beijing around 9:30 PM on March 20. We will fly to Xi'an on March 23 to get Aurora that afternoon! We will fly to Guangzhou March 29 and we will be homeward bound April 3. I hope I am faithful at keeping up with reporting back to everyone while I am gone!

Beautiful girl

More pictures of our daughter.

Here she is!!

Meng Xue Yu

Born 12-25-2005

She is in the Yulin Chlidren's Welfare Institute, Shaanxi Province