Badger Family

A year ago - now and then photos

2009-03-24T01:20:00.006-05:00

As fitting for the one year anniversary of meeting Aurora – I have thought many times about that day, especially today. I don’t have the zillion things I wanted to have done such as her adoption story put together….but I will still get that done.

So the ‘fitting’ thing I did today was to visit the Social Security office in downtown St. Paul. Not planned…just wrong turns on my part and little to no explanation on our agency’s part.

So SS#….we did have a few options – I wasn’t sure which one was the best route – still don’t, just trusting the man who told me what was best at the office today. In a nutshell I waited with two toddlers for about 1 ½ hours to file her papers. Actually was impressed at the office. The fingerprinting office wasn’t so nice - those people – not an ounce of friendliness. These people are much nicer and deal with a lot of stuff - as I witnessed when the security officer had to deal with a rather outspoken angry man repeatedly….

So the lovely iPod that I occasionally listen to has come in handy once again…I downloaded Nick Jr. cartoons on it like Ni Hao, Kai Lan and Go Diego Go – so Jonah and Aurora shared the earpieces and watched cartoons while we waited. So not bad really. The part I wasn’t shocked by either was her information was not accepted by immigration. Which makes getting a number longer – now everything has to go through immigration. When I asked the man who I was trusting – pretty much looking to anyone who can tell me anything as the one who would know everything – he said most likely because her name does not match – her passport and her US Resident card. For whatever reason, our government broke up her name. Instead of Mengxue as her first name, they have her first name being Meng, middle name being Xue.

So in about 6 weeks I will get her SS# as a non-resident and we need to go back to down to refile when we get her Certificate of Citizenship….Now I need to find out how and if and when I can file an extension on taxes….have no clue on the steps involved there.

But looking back on today – kind of funny that I spent the day in a government office – one year ago today I was waiting in a Chinese Government office. The weather was cool, it was in the afternoon. Mom and I were still a bit groggy – after spending our first two days on our feet hiking all over Beijing, only to be told on that the last day there a few last minute things to do- ….We were arriving back at our hotel. It was super time. We had spent the afternoon at the Great Wall….which despite it being a tourist stop – was amazing. To wander the hillsides would have been wonderful. We were only there for a couple of hours, but wonderful. On our way back we saw the site of the Olympics.

So supper time, Beijing. Coming back from another extremely long day of history lessons…our guide from our agency while in Beijing, tells us that we need to have our bags packed and outside our rooms at 10 pm that night due to our flight times the next morning. Oh and due to heightened security – no liquids of any size in our carry-ons. We are to meet down in the lobby around 5 in the morning…if I remember right. Oh and by the way have all your money exchanged for the orphanage….no big deal as the office to exchange closes in about 1 hour of us returning….banks are closed. No other options. Guide disappears. We are left with 30 some families trying to exchange a massive amount of money and the office starts to reject people after about 5 families….Needless to say I didn’t feel like tipping our guide at the end of my stay in Beijing. Long story short, I got my money exchanged through the help of one other couple. However, the panic the guide put us through was for nothing – we had plenty of time to do it when we got to Xi’an.

So this is my last night in Beijing. Head cloudy, panicked about money, money solved after a crazy hour or so, rethinking my packing, mom coming up with smart idea of leaving toothpaste on our toothbrush for the morning. (Trying to feel human on some level). Waiting around for the man to come and get our luggage…sorry just don’t feel that safe leaving my luggage in the hall at 10 pm. Ready to fall over onto the floor by the time he comes. Fall asleep only to wake up at the routine time of about 2 pm wide awake. Probably sleep on and off until time to get up and go downstairs. Now once we are at the airport….we are on our own. Us and the three families traveling onto Xi’an. We were all together for Beijing as a group, but from there we go to the capital of the province we are adopting from. In our case, Xi’an. So I knew one couple via email prior to coming to China. I made a point to meet the other two while in Beijing. Our new guide will meet us in Xi’an – once we are on the other side of security in the airport.

I believe we arrived in Xi’an around 8 in the morning…something like that. Xi’an was not how I pictured it – however that was because we were lucky. While most of the year it is smog covered and dismal, we have arrived during a beautiful spring. The fields as we go by are green and colorful. The sky is blue and the weather is very nice. We get to our hotel and have plenty of time to organize and stretch. Michelle is now our guide and she is wonderful. She tells us when we need to come down to the lobby and what papers to bring with. Today we will get the children and tomorrow we will go back to sign papers.

Michelle – as we learn quickly – is very organized and likes getting to places early. She gets us to the government building early. Although we are peering around the building – wondering if the children are kept out of sight – we learn they will arrive via car. Two girls coming from Xi’an orphanage – about 1 hour away. Then the girls coming from Yulin – about a 7 hour car ride. So we are waiting.

I found myself wishing Aurora could have more time being explained what is about to happen to her. Thinking of Jonah and knowing how devastated he would have been to just be taken from us and put into the hands of someone who doesn’t speak the same language, eat the same foods, live in the same country. So as happy as I am that day to be waiting for her on those steps – I feel immense sadness for what her world is about to feel like – wishing I could make the transition easier and feeling powerless that there is nothing I can do.

The first van pulls up – upon seeing Paige – the little girl who is four – I know that it is from Xi’an orphanage. Now she is older and knows today she is meeting her mother and father. Every one of us could try to explain the look of sheer joy on her face when she saw them. I could try – but you had to be there. To see her look at them with this open mouth grin – was beauty at its best.

So Jamie (the other Yulin mom) and I are waiting on the steps. Waiting. Knowing the next vehicle that parks itself on the sidewalk is ours. Waiting. Finally two cars pull up. The children are taken from the floor of the back of the car. Melody is easily spotted as well as Aurora. We wait on the steps for the staff and kids to come forward. I watch Aurora – no expression on her face. She is pulling at her t-shirt. She is tall – although I knew this before seeing her – I doubted the records. She is so tall for her age.

They are brought inside and we wait until we are called. I kneel down to talk to her. Again – wishing I had more time – not wanting to invade her space. She looks everywhere else but at my eyes. If I touch her arms or her shoulders – she is limp and unresponsive. Michelle is busy doing stuff I am not sure what – but she is everywhere. That night we have a picture taken. Most kids are crying. Aurora is unresponsive still. It shows by the expressionless picture we have on every document from China.

After each family has a picture taken, we sign a release form saying we are responsible for the child. Remember it isn’t until the following day we sign papers. Thus we sign some paper of responsibility. Like all papers I sign – it is in Chinese and I blindly agree and sign. We then load the bus.

Now while we are getting all this done, I am handed an envelope with a quick explanation from Michelle – this is her with her foster mother. ??????

This family is no mystery now. But back then I had repeatedly asked about whether she had a foster family. The orphanage she comes from – if the children are healthy – they are generally put with foster families. There is a pretty decent network of foster families there. Anyway, I had asked, and asked and been told no,no, no. So this had my attention.

We get on the bus to go back. Before getting on the bus mom took the picture of Aurora and me outside the bus. Our first picture (minus the ones being taken in the government building). Once back at our room – although I had wanted to listen to the advice – don’t be so quick to clean them up and clothe them like Americans….I couldn’t resist giving her a bath in the sink. Not that she fit in the sink that well – it seemed less traumatizing than the bath tub. But this little girl who was pulling at her shirt had been car sick the entire time traveling. She was soaked in her own vomit. As much as I didn’t want to put her through one more stress it needed to happen.

So that night she got her first bath. Her pjs were tight on her – most of her clothes just right – 24 month clothing. The other girls – the 2 year olds – were swimming in 18 month. Length was a big issue for Aurora!

So we went to bed clean. I let her lay down with me in my bed. She wasn’t thrilled about the crib. I knew that it helped immensely with bonding so I was more than happy to let her sleep with me. She went to bed like clock work. Still not a sound. Not a cry.

We would spend the 24th of March signing papers at the same office. Her part would be to put her footprint on papers. The only question that I was sort of asked was why I was adopting – seeing as I had biological children. This baffled most people. When the woman was about to ask me – if I promised to love her as my other children….or something as to that affect. She took a look at me and smiled and answered it herself. For whatever reason – she moved along. She was quite satisfied in seeing how I was sitting there with Aurora on my lap. Aurora content to sit with me. Happy no one was trying to take her foot and stamp it to a piece of paper anymore.

We then went to Wal-mart that day. Sad but true. Wal-mart is alive and well in China. Not a bad place to get a lot of stuff as well. One thing being shoes for Aurora. Although I have kept her shoes – which are cute – they were dirty to say the least, just won’t go there – we wanted a second pair while the old ones dried out. We had washed them in the sink the night before. So shoes were on my list. Any item is hard to find in China. So Wal-mart with its slim pickings – was a joy. We got food and snacks and a stash of water bottles. Everyday preparations included how much water we would need for the day. From drinking to rinsing your teeth when you brushed.

Anyway, my long answer…I have spent many minutes today thinking of that first day. From the tired state we were in to the grungy government building to the waiting for the car…all the way up to seeing her the first time. To the following 24 hours of waiting for a reaction from her. Any. When we got back that second night – I expressed to Michelle my concerns. She came to our room. She sat with Aurora on her lap, talked very gently with her and she started to cry. I was so relieved to see her react. Michelle sat for awhile and when she got up to go I asked what she had said. She just said that I was her mom and I was going to love her forever. Aurora was fine and wanted to come to me. Whatever the reason – those words opened up her emotions and she got better from there. That night she would wake me up saying something playful in Chinese and turn away laughing. Now that I have talked to her foster family – I think I might know what she might have been saying. I had asked Michelle but she either didn’t understand me – or I didn’t say it right – or she was being polite.

It is hard to believe it has been a year. It went so fast and she is such an amazing person. I have never regretted us not all being together in China (as a family), this day a year ago I had wished we were all there. Most of the time I was glad the have the capability to give Aurora almost all of my attention. With the boys there – that just would not have happened. Much of my time in Beijing I wished Aidan was there – there were a handful of kids his age and he would have had a blast. I love Jonah – but the kid who is upset about a chair being moved in our house and complains about wanting to go home when we are at the grocery store….nothing about that made me want to travel with him on a plane for 24 hours and be in a hotel where I couldn’t express the easiest question you could think of in Chinese. I did miss Jonah when we watched the ducks – he was fascinated with ducks when I left and I always thought of him when I saw the ducks at our hotel. I love the boys and missed them a lot….it just was the easiest route for all of us – traveling the way we did.

Peter, of course, - I wished he could have been there. He is more outgoing than me and I think I would have been more adventurous if he had been there. But for all the times I wished they were there – it was comforting to know they were back at home, routines were the same and hopefully when we all were back together again, things would go okay. Which they did for the most part. There was the screaming little girl who didn’t like Copper. That lasted for a week. Poor Copper. Poor Aurora. Then there was my first day with the kids alone – was supposed to be all of us but something came up and Peter had to work. I remember sitting on Jonah’s floor. He is crying. Aurora is crying. Both of them wanting the other person to disappear so they could have mom to themselves….not a fun morning. But we lived. You wouldn’t think we started there to see them play like they did today. Going from book reading, to playing trains, to watching a show on a small screen, to playing dolls and finally choosing books for bedtime after they ran around with their backpacks on claiming they were off for school…. all in a day’s work!

But it started – quite a few years ago if you want to be technical about the research and paperwork part. But today I have thought about how we started being her family as I waited on the steps of a government building in China.

A year ago today...

2009-02-04T15:07:00.002-06:00

Happy anniversary!! One year ago today we received our call about having a little girl many miles away. As the day would leave us full of joy, excitement and amazement; we would have a hard time turning off the computer that night. I stared at her picture for long time that night before I was able to turn it off. Our only link to our little girl at the time was a call and an email with attachments.

The strongest feeling I repeatedly felt that day (and still do) is she is perfect. An absolute definition of perfection. Would not change a single thing about her. We are a very lucky family. I love remembering this day - our first real link to her and her past was started on this day one year ago.

Smiles all around. :)

Cold but still loving winter

2009-01-16T15:04:00.003-06:00

Well it is about time for me to update my blog. Sorry this has taken so long to get to. We had a wonderful time in North Carolina. The drive there and back was long but rewarding. Driving through the mountains made me long for Washington. We have been home for almost two weeks and trying to get back into a routine. Aidan won't start up Spanish and swimming lessons until next month. I am looking into preschools for Aurora and Jonah for next fall. Seeing Aidan's old teachers this last week was fun but the time seemed to go too fast....everyone felt Jonah should still be in an infant seat, not a next year preschooler. Aurora celebrated turning 3 by having 3 cakes with different family members. First cake and party with her little cousin, Katelyn. The second cake with an older second cousin, Julianne. She had stayed up the night before helping her mom make a cake for Aurora! Then the last cake was with her other little cousin, Miriam. Kind of exciting to have so many girl birthdays together!

Enjoy the new pictures.

What a mix

2008-12-18T10:34:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-02T15:53:00.003-06:00

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

2008-10-23T22:34:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-08-27T23:06:00.005-05:00

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

2008-07-16T00:09:00.004-05:00

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

2008-06-25T10:44:00.004-05:00

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

2008-06-04T23:16:00.001-05:00

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

2008-05-27T00:26:00.004-05:00

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

2008-05-21T14:45:00.002-05:00

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

2008-04-27T19:14:00.001-05:00

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

2008-04-27T18:53:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-04-04T15:03:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-30T07:33:00.002-05:00

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!!

2008-03-27T01:17:00.002-05:00

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!!

2008-03-23T22:31:00.002-05:00

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

2008-03-17T23:44:00.003-05:00

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

2008-02-04T21:56:00.000-06:00

More pictures of our daughter.

Here she is!!

2008-02-04T16:17:00.000-06:00

Meng Xue Yu

Born 12-25-2005

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

Happy Snow

2007-12-24T13:35:00.000-06:00

Here we are - December 2007. Another year come and gone and our daughter is not home yet. But hopefully that will all change in 2008. We have been busy enjoying the boys. Jonah is all boy and trying to keep up with Aidan. Aidan continues to grow in so many ways as well. Just the last few days we have noticed how tall he is getting and it seems he grows over night. He has been having a fun winter playing for hours outside in the snow. Jonah wants to go out as well but once he is outside he isn't so sure about following - but he is too stubborn to go back in.

School Time

2007-09-17T00:25:00.000-05:00

The school year is off. Still feels weird to tell Aidan, "tomorrow is a school day; we have to get to bed early." We had it easy while he was in preschool last year - he had it in the afternoons. Now we all need to be up and dressed and fed and out the door everyday much earlier than we are used to.

Jonah has been slowed down a bit the last few days. He hurt his foot but I think he will be back into trouble tomorrow. Saturday we went to a craft show and he was quite content to sit all day. Someone was amazed at how mellow our little one was...couldn't take the credit for that. No, mellow has never been a word to describe our boys...only when they are sick or injured.

Summer is here

2007-05-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Aidan has graduated from preschool! We spent a much needed weekend afterwards getting things done around the house. Amazing the junk that accumulates in a short period of time - cleaned the garage, the shed....don't worry we had some fun as well. We enjoyed our neighbor's pedal boat again. Dad and Aidan got some fishing in.
Now I just need to figure a summer schedule to keep us all sane.
Jonah is learning how to climb to new levels. He would rather stand on top of the Thomas the train scooter than do anything else with it at the present. He took a few steps today! Enjoy the video!!

Aidan's preschool graduation

2007-05-24T02:04:00.000-05:00

I can't believe we are already at the end of the school year. At moments it seems right, while other times I am stunned, breathless. How did we get here? How did our oldest get to be 5 years old? How is it he is graduating from preschool, closing that door to that chapter of his life?

I am awed by the brevity of life.

So this will be hard and joyful all at the same time. Saying goodbye to teacher Lynn will be difficult. She has held my hand as well as Aidan's, helping me let go those first few days, almost two years ago. She has helped him grow and learn. She has shared in the joy of seeing him change. What a precious link she has been in our lives.

Congratulations, Aidan! Today is your day.

First of who knows how many

2007-04-02T19:39:00.000-05:00

Hello all! I am starting up our info on us as a family. Primarily to have a website for our trip to China, but we will see how it works for just info about us. Hopefully it will be a fun way to share pictures of us and the boys as well as the journey to bring our daughter home.