The responsibility will never cease

This morning, I was catching up on all of the Facebook Halloween posts. I always love seeing all of the kids and adults in their costumes! I love seeing all of the kids running up to the door to get a special treat. Liberty wanted to be Rainbow Dash this year and she was so stinking cute!!
I admit Halloween isn't one of my favorite holidays. I don't know if it is the fact that I don't like to be unsure of frightened. But I think that has a lot to do with it. I can remember being about 6 years old and my parents took us to a Haunted House. I DID NOT want to go. I reluctantly entered the house in my father's arms holding tight to his neck. There came a point in the Haunted House that we had to crawl through an opening. I refused to let go of my father and in turn, knocked his glasses off his face. The Haunted House stopped. All the lights were turned on to find my fathers glasses. When all the lights were on, I could see that things that I was afraid of were not scary at all. The workers were very kind to me and made me feel a little calmer. Needless to say, my dad and I didn't finish the tour.  But this story reminds me of where Liberty is... and where she has been. Although it has been 2.5 years since we have become a family, there are still trials and tribulations that we face every day. Some old....some new.

One of these trials is Liberty's fear. She has always been afraid of "new",  "different", and "unfamiliar". But we have noticed that sometimes, she is still afraid of things that aren't new but a daily ritual. An example of this and the one that breaks my heart every morning is this. When I drop her off at school, every morning, before her hug and after her kiss, she asked, "Mommy, you are coming to get me, right?" It is heart-wrenching to think that after 2.5 years, the thought of abandonment still haunts her.... Like a bad dream, being left without parents. It kills me. My answer every morning is "Of course I am. I would never leave you!"
Another small glimpse of her past shown through earlier this week when a field trip date was changed and I was unable to go. She told me that she didn't want to visit the pumpkin patch with her class. When I asked her why, she said that since I was not going, there wouldn't be anyone to make sure she was safe.  This broke my heart .... and melted it as well. Although we understand that she has the fear of NOT being safe, It did make me feel wonderful that I was a sense of safety in her whole. Thank God for Ms. Amy, her teacher, who sat with her and me and promised to keep her safe during the trip.
We continue to reassure her that she is most definitely safe with us and that our family will do all we can to keep it that way!
School has been another change for her. We decided she might need a little more attention that the Public School was giving her. We have had her at Kankakee Valley Montessori School for first grade and have been so happy. It is a different way of learning and it is a perfect fit for Liberty! Her teacher Ms. Amy is a blessing to our family!!!  She is exactly what Liberty needed! She continues to grow and learn more and more every day! He social skills are improving immensely! We have discovered that, like her brother Sam, likes being the class clown!!  Oh boy!!!  Hope I can make it through this...

We had a super special treat last month!! We were able to meet up with two other families who had adopted children from the same orphanage and classroom as Liberty! I have pics of her with these two boys when they were babies and NOW!! :) I am not sure if they "remembered" one another but they were like old friends who hadn't seen each other in awhile.  It was cool to hear how all htree of the kids were struggling with some of the same issues. The families have vowed to keep up the visits and relationships!!  It was so exciting for us to show Liberty that her life before becoming a "Myers" is very important.
It was very inspiring to hear that both of the families were in the process of adopting again. Even thought adopting again is not in our future, the responsibility to share our story to help even one family decide to adopt will never end for us.  It is our God- given responsibility to share all we know and all we have learned. If our adoption story helps even one child, it makes telling this story over and over worth it!  So I will continue to share our journey with Liberty for as long as people are listening.....
Thank You, God for giving us this gift and responsibility! We are ever grateful even when it's tough!

God says "I got this!"

Well, alot has changed since the last post in May but one thing holds strong. The lesson God is trying to teach me. He has shown me and told me over and over... "I got this!" Our whole adoption journey has had many bumps but God kept saying "Kathi, I got this!" Even now, He screams this at my deaf, worrying ears! I try so hard to remember this when things are tough.  I am getting better at it but still sometimes forget. So God started using Liberty to show me... God's got this!
Liberty has started school and she is just a miracle child, I swear!
Her dad and I were very nervous about her starting school, about who her teacher was going to be & if she could handle it, both socially and emotionally. There were so many fears we all were facing.  We decided to meet with the school staff to explain our fears, Liberty's challenges and to see if there was anything we could do to prepare Liberty, us and the staff for this journey.
The school was wonderful and took all of our concerns to heart, gave us some ideas to prepare her and get her started with extra help she might need and really helped us to understand they were on our side to help Liberty reach success.
The day had come and we had prayed long and hard that God would give Liberty the teachers and friends that she needed to flourish. The Lord answered our prayers!! She has a wonderful group of teachers that just love our little girl as much as we do. They all look out for her and give her the loving she needs while she is with them during the day. Mr. Ron on the morning bus, Mrs. Richardson (her teacher), Mrs. Palicki (her PE teacher), Mrs. Saindon (her speech teacher), Mrs. Wenzel (her math teacher), Mr. Emerson (her principal who she adores!), and Mr. Bob on the afternoon bus are all exactly what she needed! She just had her first report card and is doing so great!!  None of her teachers believe me when I say she has only been here 18 months.  Of course, she has a few issues with some things but hey! When we think of where she was 18 months ago.... We can only smile. :)
As always, I had been worrying about everything for no reason!  As we were driving over to school the first day, I could see it on Liberty's face. She was saying "I got this!" and she surely does!

She has been enjoying music class with Ms. LeighAnn at King Music. They had a Halloween recital where the kids has to make up their own song. She made hers about her family. It was so sweet and touched our hearts! The kids got to wear their halloween costumes. Liberty was "The Statue of Liberty"! I figured it was the only year she would think that was cool!

She had her check-up with the cardiologist and all is well with her heart! Yay!! Its so funny because she is such a go-getter we sometimes forget she has a heart condition. When the time comes to have her check-up, we start getting nervous. But once again, God says "I got this!"

This month is National Adoption Month. I think about all of the 153 million orphans who are still waiting for their families and my heart breaks for them. My prayer has always been if our adoption story helps even one family to choose to adopt, We will keep sharing it!

Prayers to all of the little ones waiting to be adopted.
Prayers to all of the mothers and fathers who have chosen adoption for their little ones.
Prayers for all the families that have adopted even though it's tough, trying, tiring, heart-breaking, and WONDERFUL all at once.
Prayers for all of the adopted because the process is most definitely more difficult for them than it is for us.

Thank you, Lord for choosing us to parent Liberty Jane-YiRun.... The most important little girl in our lives!
And Lord, I know... YOU GOT THIS! :)

They told us she's smart! I think we knew that! :)

 Liberty has been growing like a weed!!!!  Physically and socially! Recently, we had her at her kindergarten physical where we learned that she had grown 5 inches and gained 10 lbs!! She has gone from 24 month shorts last spring to 3-4T! She wore a size 6 shoe when she first came home and now she is a size 9. It's crazy!!
When we were at the doctor, we decided to have her visit a pediatric urologist and have a sensory screening since she still struggles with potty training. We want to make sure there isn't anything physically wrong.
We had that visit last week. The urologist wants to be very thorough since we have no family history. Something these little ones have to deal with their entire lives. :( So we had blood work, X-rays, ultrasounds and are waiting for the results. If these tests come back normal, the next step is a over-active bladder medication along with the strict potty schedule we have her on now. We not only are dealing with having to potty train her but also trying to break 4 1/2 years of habits she has of her own. Its a struggle but we are dealing with it.
She had her sensory screening and the OT was truly impressed with her abilities. When she heard that Liberty was adopted from China just one year ago, she was shocked to find this little girl who is very well adjusted, speaking wonderful English and who is super intelligent. :) The OT said that Liberty blew every test out of the water and we should have no worries that she has any sensory issues! YAY! We are happy about that!!
She is doing very well writing her name, coloring in the lines, cutting out shapes and following direction. We think once we have met her kindergarten teacher, we are going to ask that Liberty be able to go into the classroom before school starts to become familiar with her surroundings. She can get overwhelmed with a new atmosphere. This will help her on Day One of school.
We had our 1 year follow-up with her cardiologist and she passed with flying colors!!  Thank God for that! We are so happy that her heart continues to grow stronger and stronger without any issues! We don't have to go back for another 6 months!!   Thank God for that! It gives us time to save the $ to pay for it!! Haha!
She has recently had a few incidents with other kids making comments about her scar. One little girl said ,"EWW! You have a worm on you!!" Liberty responded as she lifted her shirt, "Oh No that is just my scar!" We hope her positive attitude continues. We explain to her that her scar is part of who she is and a part of her story.
As we continue our journey with Little Miss Liberty, we are filled with humility and gratefulness that people continue to read her story. We feel as though God is telling us He is not done with us. We feel He wants us to continue sharing her story... our story because you just never know who you are going to lead to adopt a child who desperately needs a family. If our story helps, then I will keep sharing.
We are getting a presentation ready to share in November for National Adoption Month. It will be a great opportunity to share Little Miss Liberty's story from the start.
As always, Thank you Lord for giving us this little ray of sunshine to love and raise! Love her to pieces.... now and forever!!

Almost a year....

It's been awhile since my last post....And so much has changed. :)

We have had almost a year with our Little Miss Liberty! A year of firsts, a year of exploring, a year of growing, a year of change.... for all of us.

It has been such a crazy year for us! There have been so many awesome and cool experiences for Liberty and for our family! 

First, Liberty's health is excellent! She has had a few check-ups with the cardiologist and all is going perfectly with her heart! Praise God! She does have a slight arrhythmia but it is very slight and needs no treatment at this time. A special shout-out to Grandma Clark (my mom) for helping us with Liberty right after her surgery. She watched Liberty when I had to return to work but wasn't quite ready to send her to daycare. Love you for it, Mom!

This summer we decided NOT to send her to school in the fall. We were really stressing about what was best for her but then we both realized that she had been through so much already this year that we chose to wait a year before sending her. She does go to pre-school and has been learning so much thanks to all of the wonderful teachers at Stepping Stones in Manteno. :) She LOVES going to school and playing with all of her friends. and she adores Ms. Kristen and Ms. Kirsten. :)

Our next challenge is POTTY TRAINING!!  She has done so great but is still in a diaper at night and nap time. But realistically, we are trying to break habits that she has had for 4.5 years! Like Dr. Batish says, "Give her a bit of a break, Kathi. She's been through quite a bit this year." This is very true and in the grand scheme of things... WHO CARES! :) She will get it!

Liberty's language has come a long way! She speaks 98% English. She has a bit of trouble with "S", "ST" and "CH". but we have had her evaluated and were told she will catch on and not to worry about it. We are sure she will catch up quick. She is doing much better lately.

We were super excited to get into a Mandarin/ Chinese Culture class which met at Olivet. We were with about 7 other families with children adopted from China. I really loved that Liberty was learning that being an Asian child with Caucasian parents was no big deal. :) She loved getting together with the kids. She even would answer questions in class when the teacher asked in Chinese. We were thrilled! We really want to do all we can to keep a lot of her culture and language in her life. We were sad to learn that after 8 weeks, the teacher has to take a hiatus for a bit. We are hoping to pick back up in the Spring.

Liberty took a dance class and was a bit confused and really didn't seem to understand why she had to kick her leg up.. haha

So we started Music class at King Music with Ms. LeighAnn and she LOVES it! She really enjoys music of all kinds. Loves playing the instruments and dancing to her own beat. :) 

We also have her in gymnastics which our doctor said would be good for her heart and for stretching her torso out. I guess a lot of babies who grew up in orphanages have stiff torsos. Not to mention her core has been opened 4 times. So we are at Golden's with Ms. Donna and we love it!

Halloween we laid low and just handed out candy. She was Minnie Mouse and loved seeing all of the kids come to her house to visit. Thanksgiving was so fun. Her eyes were popping out of her head at all of the goodies she was going to get to try! And being able to play with all of her cousins, ALL DAY was a special treat too!

Christmas was so fun even though she doesn't really get the whole Santa thing. We have a Santa statue in our foyer. I would say, "Santa is watching you... You need to behave." then she would go over to the Santa and say, "Are you watching me??" I think it kinda creeped her out. haha!

We talked more about Jesus' birthday and she seems to maybe understand that a bit better than a fat, white-bearded man sneaking into the house at night. 

Not having Damon home for Christmas was sad but Sammy and Liberty are keeping up traditions. :)

My Brother-in-Law did an awesome sermon this Christmas season about adoption and how we all are adopted by God. He used Liberty's story to introduce the adoption concept in a way people understand it. The love we felt from the sermon and from the people of the church was so overwhelming! Liberty has been her just under a year and so many people were talking about following this blog during the process and how touched they were. She has touched so many with her story. We just hope it will help to bring many other families together.

Liberty has been Sam's little cheerleader this year during wrestling season. She's like a little parrot yelling everything her dad and I yell out.. "C'mon, Sammy! You can do it!"  It is so cute and a bit entertaining for the crowd. :) She sure loves her brothers...even tho they butt heads a bit. I think it is because Sam and Liberty are both a bit bossy. haha

We just celebrated Chinese New Year by reading about the Year of the Horse, making Chinese lanterns, swept the "evil spirits" out of the house , received red envelopes, and shared Chinese gold coins and Chinese sweets with her friends at school. We also dressed up in our best Chinese Dress we bought while in Shanghai! She loved it! 

One more thing to share! She can verbalize things much better now and is realizing that she didn't have parents in China and now...she does! She said one day "Mama, in China I didn't have a Mama and Baba but now I do.  I love my family so much! They keep me safe!" Talk about needing a tissue!!  

Thank you God for the blessing of this little light!!  We couldn't be more blessed!!

Now onward to another year of adventure with Little Miss Liberty!!!  Let's see what she can do this year!! :)

She's our little fighter! :)

On Thursday May 23rd, Little Miss Liberty went in for her corrective heart surgery.  She was born with a CHD called Tetrology of Fallot. We knew that she had this and would need to have surgery but didn't know that she would have to have it so soon. After her heart catheterization, The doctor recommended that we have it corrected asap. Her oxygen levels were running at about 80% when normal is 100%. One would never know it by looking at her. We figured that she was so used to being short of breath, she just overcame it. She has overcome a lot in her 4 short years. I think that is what makes her so strong.
We had her surgery at Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL. We have nothing but wonderful and outstanding comments about this hospital and its staff! Dr. Ilbawi, Dr. Javois, the nurses,(Sarah, Megan, Molly, Krista, Sue), workers in the cafeteria and housekeeping, the registration girls, I mean seriously, everyone we came in contact with was so nice and helpful. We were so comfortable while we were there.
Liberty had some versed going into surgery so she was happy as could be as she was wheeled away. Sarah, (our nurse) came out and updated us every 1 1/2 hours which was so nice.  We did find out during the surgery that the doctor was not able to open up Liberty's pulmonary artery so they had to use a conduit from her Right Ventricle to her Pulmonary artery. This means she will have to have another surgery to replace this as she grows.  After 7 hours of surgery, we were moved to a waiting room and told that we'd be able to see her in about 15 minutes.
An HOUR later, Sarah came out and told us that everything was fine but Liberty had pulled out her arterial line so they had to put in a new one. They kept her sedated pretty much the rest of the night. She was on pain meds, a medication to help her heart rhythm, Lasix and a antibiotic. They told us to help her to sit up and that she had to stay in bed. Yeah, that wasn't going to be easy.
The next morning, she was lying in bed, opened her eyes and sat straight up. She was ready to go! :)
She was never really whiney or crabby. Every once in a while she would say her chest hurt but that was it. Everyone was saying she was the toughest little thing they had ever seen. The P-SHU had a doctor on the floor 24/7 which was so reassuring. But one night, the doctor that was working came in and said "Well, we have a problem. I am supposed to be working but I just keep getting distracted by all of the cute things Liberty is saying so I had to come in here and see her!" She really captured everyone's heart.
On Sunday, May 26th, we were released from the hospital. She has been doing great since we have been home. She is only on the Lasix until we go back to the doctor. She has pain meds but as of yesterday only takes them at night.  She is running and jumping around like a wild little monkey. :) We do our best to keep her as quiet as possible....BUT that's quite IM-possible! haha We are so happy that she is energetic and not lethargic. I would be so worried if that were the case.
The doctor's told us since she was on the Heart-Lung Bypass machine for 7 hours, her immune system will be compromised for about a month. So if you come to our house, don't be offended by the sign that says, "If you are coming in, you have to wash your hands first!" Also, Don't laugh if you see me with my disinfectant wipes. Getting sick is the last thing we need.
I will finish this entry with again, my thankfulness for God's blessings to our family. From the talented doctors and nurses to everyone who has helped us out during this time, we thank you all!
I also pray that as God heals Liberty's heart that He continues to heal the heart of Liberty's biological parents who I know truly loved this little girl or they wouldn't have given her family heirlooms or left her in a medical clinic. God hold them tight to You and somehow help them to know that Liberty is doing well, cared for, happy and loved.

A Blessing sprinkled with a little pain...

Things have been going so good for Little Miss Liberty! She has been exploring the wonderful, beautiful and BIG world! So many "FIRSTS" for her! Every day is a new experience for her. Whenever we are out, I think, "I bet this is the first time she's been to a place like this!" We were at a grocery store and she was so excited to see so many watermelons! It was so adorable.  Her english is coming right along. She's about 50/50 when she speaks. 50% English and 50% Chinese. So we are having a much easier time communicating. We have a friend who teaches ESL who is going to work with her this summer. We are super excited and appreciative for this!
Many times people ask me how she is adjusting and we honestly have to say that it has been a pretty good experience. It is difficult when she does something she shouldn't and we are not to be able to explain why she shouldn't do it. Like why she has to hold my hand in the parking lot or why she can't play with a knife. We tell her why but she doesn't understand why. Then we feel bad because we just have to force her to do it or not do it. I know it will come with time. But it is hard.
She eats well. She sleeps well. She plays well. AND she repeats well!!  Going back to the "why" issue, sometimes we say to her "sshhh" like when she is interrupting adults or talking way to loud in a quite place. So now if she is talking and someone else talks, she tells them "sshh!" It is so hard not to laugh because it is so comical! Or she will tell me, "time out?" Kind of like when I ask her if she wants a time out when she is misbehaving.  From the mouths of babes!
Moving on to her health. She has been as healthy as can be since she got here. Her physician told us she had more vaccinations than an US born child. So thank China for being on top of that! We also found out that there is nothing wrong with her leg. (She has a funny walk sometimes) but she is just flat footed. We can deal with that.  But we did have an appointment with her cardiologist and he performed a Cardiac Cath on her. We were informed that she needed to have surgery sooner...not later. Most babies with the condition she has go through the corrective surgery at 6 months old. She's almost 5!
When we went in for the Cath, she was so enthralled by all of the attention we thought she'd be fine when separated from Mama so I told then to skip the oral Versed. Boy, did I make a mistake! When they took her from me, she was crying and screaming, "MAMA!!!MAMA!!" I thought I would die! And the "Worst Mom of the Year" goes to....ME!!! I told my mom that she will always get the versed before hand!   When she woke up, she would not even look at me for almost 2 hours. She was ticked at me for leaving her. After a bit, she forgave me and was such a good girl during recovery. She is such a busy little girl, I thought it was going to be very hard to make her understand some how that she needed to lay flat for 6 hours! I know from experience, some adults can't do that after a Heart Cath!
The Cardiac Catheterization didn't really show anything they weren't expecting except her right coronary artery comes off her left coronary artery instead of coming off her aorta. This causes a slight problem because her pulmonary stenosis sits directly behind this area and the right coronary artery rides across the aorta. :( He said he hasn't ever seen this before.
This week we went to see the cardio-vascular surgeon that will be performing her corrective surgery. He is such a nice guy and comes very highly recommended! We have the upmost confidence in the team at Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn.  He explained everything to us and told us that once he gets in there, he will determine if they are able to fix the pulmonary stenosis (blockage in the artery going to the lung) or if he will need to put in a conduit from her right ventricle to her pulmonary artery. If the latter happens, she will have to undergo another surgery later in life because the conduit will not grown with her. :( We are praying they don't have to put in a conduit! That will be the 5th time she will have to be opened! :(
We are so blessed that she is having her surgery here in the US. First, because we love these doctors and they know exactly what they are doing. Second, the staff at Advocate Children's Hospital are remarkable! I am not exaggerating when I say from the minute I walked in until the minute I walked out, every single person I came in contact with was super nice and professional! I was so impressed! And third, I know Liberty, although in pain, will have her family who loves her by her side comforting her and caring for her every step of the way!
Prayers on May 23rd and for the recovery weeks that will follow are much appreciated!

A hard-boiled egg and some happiness

Hello! It's been awhile since I wrote. We've been a bit busy so I thought I'd catch everyone up.
Liberty is fitting into our family as snug as a bug in a rug! She's sweet and sassy. She's funny and adorable. And she's a bit bossy. But so is everyone else in this family! :)
She is learning so much! We took her to a pre-school screening to see if they could give us any ideas if she was behind at all. It's difficult because she knows her numbers, colors & shapes in Chinese but not English. But as far as they all could tell after modifying the tests, she's doing great. She got an A+ for social skills. We thought that was funny because since we have had her, she has been a little social butterfly. She says, "Ni Hao" to everyone she sees and wants to be friends with anyone.
     She has learned how to ask for help instead of grunting. She has also mastered saying Thank you. I must say, it is so cute!  She can count to 10 and knows the ABC song...not perfectly but she's getting there. Potty training is coming along. She is just too busy to take the time to go but she will let me know she needs a dry diaper. She has a book with common pictures in it like an apple, an elephant, a flower. She can name them all in English but a few...like X is for xylophone. Really?? They couldn't  have used x-ray?? or I is for ink. How about ice cream??  Maybe I should write a kids book. haha. :)
     My mom, Paulette mom-in-law Carolyn, my Aunt Mary, Sisters Lori and Donna and my life long friend Debbie had a shower for me. It was so nice. Liberty got a lot of learning tools, LOTS of clothes and a few special gifts like a blanket with pics from our China trip on it. (Thanks Holley).  It was especially nice to see all of the love for Liberty. She was in heaven from all of the attention. It really touched my heart.
     Since we have been home we took her to the pediatrician. She got caught up on her immunizations. (Not a happy girl). We also took her to the pediatric cardiologist and he performed a cardiac Catheterization on her to get a road map for her upcoming surgery. She was a trooper!  They didn't find any huge surprises which is a blessing. But they are going to have to modify a part of the surgery because she has one deformity they haven't seen before. That's OK. We knew she was special. Maybe she'll be in the text books. :) We are planning the surgery within a few weeks. Send up some extra prayers for her. :)
    The day before her heart catheterization, I was copying and re-reading all of her medicals reports from China. I came across her routine from the orphanage. As I was reading her schedule, I noticed for breakfast, it said she ate oatmeal and boiled eggs. I had not given her a hard-boiled egg before so I thought I would feed her dinner and then make her one. I told her I had a treat for her if she ate all of her supper. I am sure she was thinking it was ice cream (her favorite) but when I placed the egg in front of her, she picked it up and was kissing it and saying "Oh my goodness!!!" She started dancing in her chair. It was the cutest thing ever! Here is this little girl who probably LOVES these eggs and hasn't had one for 2 months. She was probably thinking," What kind of place is this? They don't even have boiled eggs??" I could not get over how excited she was about a hard-boiled egg.  It melted my heart and reminded me once again how one small act of kindness can mean so much!
Thank you again, God for allowing us to raise Little Miss Liberty! We love her so much!

It's the little things in life!

It has been two weeks now and things are looking a bit different.  We are settling in pretty good. Getting into a routine, experiencing new adventures and... learning what a "time out" is. :(
Our youngest son, Sam, says it is so hard to watch her sit in time out but we explained to him that we can't have no rules today and then start rules in a few months. We have realized that she had to fight for anything she wanted in the orphanage so that is what she does here when she doesn't get her way. I guess that is the way it is with any child, right? :)  She is such a cutie and Sam is right, it's hard to see her sad.
She is really learning the routine of the day. After dinner, she always says "Dae-o" and "Conga" which means "bath" and "sleep". She is right! That is our routine for the night. :). She is going on 3 nights in a row without waking up, AAHHH! now THAT is a blessing. :) A full nights sleep makes the works of difference for us all!!
She is so smart and learning so fast. This week, along with getting better at Twinkle Twinkle, she is trying very hard to sing the "ABC" song. She only has bits and pieces of it but she is getting there! We have a friend who teaches the ESL kids at school that told us she would work with Liberty all summer! YAY! We are also still trying to get Liberty into the pre-school program at the school. I think it would really help her. I am pulling every string I can grasp to get her enrolled. Say a little prayer!
This week was filled with so many "little" blessings that I don't think I can list them all. But one that really stands out is today. Brandon went to the city to run the Shamrock 5K so Liberty and I drove to Dunkin Donuts to get a few! First blessing was that we made it there and back without any tears or whining about the car seat. WHEW! When we got back to the house, I let her sit on my lap to eat our donuts. As she was eating her little munchkins, she had the biggest "powdered sugar" smile on her face. I was thinking, "she is so happy about these little donuts!" It just meted my heart to see how happy she was about something so small.  It's moments like this one that I wish anyone who is even thinking about adoption could see. I mean, it was a donut. But there she was, sitting on HER mama's lap, in HER house, with HER donut. It was just awesome.
Later, we attended my great-nieces birthday party. I knew that she had never been to anything like it. so she was either going to have a great time or be shy and scared and just watch.
When we got to "SPARKLE", the place where the party was, she had her nails painted. The girl told her "Don't touch it" (wet nails) and so she was holding very still. After her nails were dry, she got down and another little girl was going to have her nails done. Liberty placed her hand on the little girls arm and said, "Don't touch it. " It was so funny.
She was then in line to get her hair done. All of the little girls had long, light colored hair. They were getting braids and pony-tails with bright colored hair spray. When Liberty got into the chair with her dark-haired pixie cut, the girl said, "And what are we going to do with your hair?" (sweetly not in a rude way) She put two little pig tails on top with tulle ribbons around them. Liberty was so proud of her mini-pig tails!  "Piao-long!", she said! (which means beautiful)
They got a little lip gloss and a star on their cheeks and headed to the dress-up room. After choosing their outfits, we blared the music and they held a fashion show with an actual cat-walk! The first
time through, Liberty had no idea what to do so she just stood there but after watching the other girls, the second time through she was dancing up a storm!
They got to do a little karaoke afterwards. The other little girls all knew a certain Disney song which, of course, Liberty didn't know so I just shut her mic off and she went to town, singing her own song.
I loved watching her as she sang and danced and played dress-up right along the other girls without being shy or scared or caring what anyone was thinking about her language that sounded so different.
She had a total blast!!
It's the little things that we are getting to share with her and watch her experience that I wish I could just inject into other people's hearts so they too would take a chance on adoption. It's so precious!
Thank you Lord, for leading us down this path and taking us on this journey!

PS. Hat's off to SPARKLE! in Bourbonnais! They did a great job with Liberty and with the party! Awesome girls and an awesome place for little girls to have fun!

It's been a week!! :D

Well, it's been a week since we have been home and our world sure has changed. We have gone to a family of four with the youngest at 15 to a family of 5 with the youngest at 4!  There's no more sleeping in or a quick trip to the store. No more jam sessions for Damon in the basement at 10PM or Sammy having a group of kids over till midnight watching movies. But we would have it no other way!
A lot has happened in a week! Liberty is in her new home, in her new bed, with her new family! She loves being the center of everyone's world! She has had many visitors who have been been anxiously awaiting her arrival.  Her grandparents, aunts, cousins friends, neighbors. We joke that she is going to start thinking every time the door bell rings, she is going to get a gift! :)  One of our very elderly neighbors was outside yesterday while we were doing Po-Po's (bubbles) and our neighbor said, "WOW! she's gotten big since the fall!" and as she got closer she said, "She's Chinese!" I explained to her that we adopted her from China. I think she was thinking of a different neighbor but it was so cute when she realized Liberty was Chinese.
We have taken a visit to our favorite pizza place, Monical's, and she loved it! I guess she is a true Myers if she loves Monical's Pizza! :) She also loves ice cream and bath time! She has discovered the bunnies that live in our yard (and tear up our yard, grrr!) We sit at the window and watch for bunnies. She gets so excited when she spots one. It's a whole new world for this little girl! She is getting used to it and figuring everything out.
We visited the park for the first time and she loved the see-saw. She was even a little dare-devil and tried letting go. I think my hair is going to get even more gray!! :)
She loves playing with her brothers and all of their friends who have come to see her. No one can stay away. I think it's great that so many people love her so much and want to meet her.
She has been adjusting very well as have we. The boys understand that after 8pm it needs to be fairly quite in the house. They also understand why I am in bed at 9pm. haha We think the hardest thing so far is just being tired. We have a routine and try to give each other breaks. When Brandon goes back to work.... and the kids go back to school, I'm on my own. I'm a little nervous about that but I think by then, she'll understand a bit more english and we will understand one another better.  We are so luck that Brandon got to take 6 weeks off and I get to take 12. (Shout out to the co-workers :D)
When we got back to the US, the local paper called and wanted to do a story about Little Miss Liberty. We agreed because we thought it would be neat for Liberty to have later in life. We also thought it would be an opportunity to share our story and maybe give someone the little push they might need to choose adoption.  Needless to say, we were shocked when she ended up on the front page of the paper, "above the fold" my husband pointed out. It was such an amazing article! (besides calling Damon, Mason.) Our hope is the article has inspired another family to give adoption a chance to change a child's life forever!!
One last little bit of "twinkle" for you! We have been singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to her since we were in Guangzhou. A few days ago, we were driving somewhere and she hates the car seat. So I asked her to sing for me. I couldn't believe it when she started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!" Of course, it was not perfect but I was so amazing at how quickly she learned that song!
We always knew she was brilliant! :)

We've only just begun...

We have been in China for 16 days. Tomorrow we are headed home. Although, we are SO ready to be back home with our boys and our family, it is bittersweet. This is the land where Liberty was born. This is where her roots began. We pray for her biological family every day... for hearts that will heal and be comforted by the Lord. I cannot imagine giving my baby up for any reason, under any circumstance. But imagine the pain these families go through never knowing what has happened to their babies... never knowing if they are OK, if they were adopted, what they will grow into. The pain has to be unbearable. So we pray that her family somehow knows, she is ok. She is loved, cherished, protected and taken care of. She will always have the best medical care, the best education, the best upbringing we can give her.  She will know the Lord as her Savior and the love He has for her.  She will know He is always there by her side... along with her family.
We thank God every day that he brought us together with Liberty to be a family along with Damon and Sam and all of our family and friends. The love we have felt from home has been out of this world. It has helped us get through the pain of missing home, the middle of the night tears our little one cried and we didn't know why and increased the excitement for Liberty when she sees how many people have been in the US praying for her, following her story and cheering her on.
We may not know what the first four years of her life contained but we are excited to see what the rest of her life will hold! We are almost home to start the next part of this journey!!
We love you Liberty Jane-Yirun Myers...forever and always.
And Debbie Brumitt....I'm ready for coffee! :)

A little piece of home...

Today we traveled to the Chen Clan Historic Home. All of the details and pics are on FB. It was very interesting to hear all about the home. We also traveled to Shamian Island for some shopping. I love how the shop owners let you bargain for what you want. We arent very good at it but it was fun to watch them try to get us buy more and more..."I will give you a good deal!" is what we heard. We bought a few things that we were looking for but we did not find what we really wanted to get. "Adoption Barbie" :( We have heard all about it and where to look but we didnt have any luck. Oh well. Guess it wasnt meant to be.
After shopping, we walked around by the river. It was so calm and peaceful. We were telling our guide how during the day, our parks are usually empty because everyone is working ect. He said that everyone goes to the parks because no one has a yard. Everyone lives in an apartment. Its true. All of the parks that we have been to have been filled with older people playing cards or hacky sack or grandparents with their grandkids. We saw a choir singing and people learning dance. There was one lady doing Tai Chi with a fan. Just so neat to see stuff that we dont see in the USA.
We then went to Lucy's for lunch. It is about as American you can get in China. I had a cheeseburger and fries... and it was heaven! We gave Liberty peanut butter and jelly. She loved it. :)
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and went over all of our paperwork with our guide for our US Consulate appointment tomorrow. Our guide told us that all of Liberty's medical came back good. So no problems there.
We walked around a bit and bought a fruit smoothies for a treat. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful besides Little Miss Liberty's first real fit. She was trying to shove way too many M&M's in her mouth so we told her that she couldn't do that. We tried again and she tried to shove them all in her mouth so we took them away and said no more.She cried and cried and wouldn't let us comfort her. She would cry for "Mama" and I would come by her but she'd push me away. We figured she was calling for her other "mama." :( Poor thing. We felt so bad for her. But soon she was over it and happy as could be.
We hope she learns quickly that we will always be here for her and we love her with all our hearts!

Little Blessings!

Today was a free day for us. Jack had some adoption documents from the Medical Center to take care of so we were on our own today.  We slept til 8:30 which I thought was pretty late considering we have a four year old in the house now. :)
After a leisurely breakfast, we headed the opposite way of our hotel just to explore a little bit. We found lots of little shops and food places. We werent brave enough to try any of the food from these places. I am sure it would have been fine but coming from a person who doesn like to use a straw that wasnt wrapped, I wasnt taking any chances. Oh there was a man squeezing fresh orange juice at his shop. It looked SSOOO good but he was putting it in what looked like used water bottles...so we passed.
We found Friendship Shopping Mall and ventured in. It was so interesting because the whole mall is set up by brand name. Like one floor for men's clothing, was separated by brands...Like Nike, Ralph Laren, Polo ect. It would be easy to shop if you knew what brand you wanted.Kinda different.
So we were on the hunt for a t-shirt for Liberty since it's suppose to be 80 degrees tomorrow We found a mall map and it said the kids clothing was on the 6th floor. We got on the elevator and it only went to 5.
So we got off on 5 and asked someone. They said the kids clothes were on the 6th (showing 6 fingers) floor. We went to a different elevator but never found it. It was strange. Sometimes this language barrier is a pain. :) Especially, when you are trying to tell a four year old to stop doing something and she thinks its a game. Oh boy.... She definately has a stubborn streak in her. :) I figure its because she always had to fight for what she wanted. :( It makes me sad to think about but Im glad she is with us now.
Little Miss Liberty gave us three little blessings today.
First, when we were getting her ready for her bath this morning...(she gets 2 a day because she loves them so!) she went potty on the toilet for us! Its the first time! Trying to teach a child to go potty is one thing but when they have no idea what you are saying, It's a whole other ballgame!
The second blessing was that she sat and watched cartoons for 30 mins today. We arent trying to use tv as a babysitter but she is on the go the ENTIRE time she is awake. It was so nice just to lay with her, Baba on one side, Mama on the other for 30 minutes! But then she was done! I dont think they watched much TV in the orphanage so she has no interest in it.
Our third blessing was after her night-time bath. I had her on my lap and I started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She must have recognized the tune or something and she started reciting all of the nursery rhymes that she knows. It was so adorable! We have it on video but the internet is really slow here and we cant download it to FB or the blog.
It was an incredible day!  Simple but filled with blessings. Thank you again, Lord!! Again and Again!

TO THE ZOO!!!

Today we visited the Gangzhou Zoo. It was a beutiful place. The trees were so tall that we werent able to see all of the surrounding buildings.  This zoo sits in the middle of the city but it didnt feel like it at all. It felt like we wee in the center of paradise!
Liberty was so cute! She loved the monkeys and was scared of the tigers. Her and Baba rode the train. We werent really sure if she liked it or not.  Maybe she was a little scared or was thinking whats the point of going round and round in a circle. Haha.
It was nice to spend some time talking with Jack about the Chinese culture. He like our other guides knows alot about Chinese culture and history. Brandon really enjoyed this history lesson.
After the zoo, our guide dropped us off and we headed to the "mall" to look around. We just picked up some diapers and some of Liberty's favorite cookies. We bought the biggest bag of them we could find. Not sure what we'll do when we run out in the USA. I'm going to have to search for them in Chinatown. :)
We stopped by McDonald's for a chicken sandwich, fries and a COLD pop and headed to the Garden at our hotel to enjoy a picinic. The grounds of this hotel is so gorgeous!! After we enjoyed imagining we were in the US and eating our lunch, we took our leftovers to the feed the fish. It's so cute to watch her get so excited and talk, talk, talk in Chinese. All we can do is smile and say, "Oh really?" :) I wish we knew what she was saying but it's so enjoyable to see her so happy.
We went back to the room for a restful afternoon but found out about a playroom the hotel had. So we ventured the the 6th floor to check it out. We were hoping for more but Liberty had a good time. It was so funny to watch her pretending with legos. We will be glad when we are home and she has more room to play and more toys to play with. Its so hard to bring a bunch of toys with us but there are plenty waiting for her at home.
She had a great bedtime and let Baba rock her to sleep. It only took about 5 minutes. She sleeps like a rock! 12 hours...ahhh. And then she's up and running the seconds she wakes up. She is a lot like our Sammy. He was the same. They are going to wear each other out. :)

Medical Center World Record!

Today we had to go to the Medical Center for Liberty's last physical and blood test in China. Now I know this is crazy and probably so outdated but I had heard somewhere along this adoption journey that one shouldnt ask for all kinds of blood work to be done due to dirty needles being used in lower income areas. So I have always worried about this. Silly, I know but once you hear something like this, it sticks with you. So as I fell asleep last night I was thinking about this and praying, as far-fetched as it seemed, that this would NOT happen to our little girl. When I woke up this morning, I had had a dream that I saw the medical staff use the same needle on two kids and Liberty was headed into the room next. That's all I remembered. When Brandon woke up, he told me that I leaned over to him in my sleep and whispered that the medical staff was using dirty needles and that Liberty was next. I said we had to make sure they used a clean needle. He said my eyes were wide open and I was very demanding. haha I guess that means I was pretty stressed about it somewhere in my mind.
When we got down to the hotel lobby, it was filled with adoptive families that were all going to the same place we were. We were in for a long day of waiting and crying babies. Then we were even more discouraged because a bus-load of these families left before our guide picked us up.
When we got to the clinic, IT WAS PACKED!  There sure was alot of love in that room today!  Jack, our guide, went right up to the counter and got us in right away. I dont know what he said or what he did but we were in and out of the medical clinic in less than an hour.  It was great! We saw families that were at the clinic getting back to the hotel 2 hours after we did.
Liberty did great during the physical. We were told by the ENT that she was such a polite little girl. We don't ever know what she is saying so that was good to hear. :)  We didnt get to go in with her when she had her blood drawn but by the time she came out, she was done crying. But the tears started again when she realized that we werent going to give her the "treat" the lab girls gave her. A hard piece of candy??She's four. We dug around and found a fruit snack to satisfy her while the hard candy when in the garbage.We did notice that she had a huge scrape on the front and back of her arm where they strapped her arm down. Being in the medical field myself, I can't imagine what would have happened if a child left with a mark in the US. I understand they didnt intentionally do it but still, we felt bad for her. Now we wait for her TB test and US visa and that's it! :)
After the appointment, we went walking around and found Liberty an authentic Chinese dress. We thought she needed at least one. :) It is so cute. (its on fb) She is so adorable. I know everyone is probably sick of hearing us say that. :) We also tried the garden park behind the hotel. It was gorgeous and what was even better...NO STARES!  I guess adoption is just seen more here since eveery family has to come to the US Consulate.
Tonight Liberty fell asleep at 5pm. :/ Too early for bed and too late for a nap so we woke her up at 7:30, fed her and gave her a bath. We are just playing now and trying to wear her out so maybe we can get to bed by 10.
Tomorrow is the zoo because it looks like rain the rest of the week. :(
Thanks for following! We love that so many love this little one and she's not even in the US yet! We plan on printing out all of the FB messages and the blog to keep in her baby book along with the TV interview, and the bangles and gold penant the orphanage saved from when she was found. I think she'll treasure it all! :)

There's a first time for everything

Today was a day filled with "first times"as we left Shanghai for Guangzhou. We were talking a bout all the "first times" Liberty has and will have in the next few months of her life. It started with the first time she had a mommy and daddy since she was 9 months old. :)
Today was her first airplane ride and her first time out of Shanghai. We were a little anxious about this because we weren't sure how she was going to react or behave. She didn't seem to mind the take-off (besides the seatbelt) and she was adored by the staff. I am sure they get lots of adopted children on this particular flight route so they pay extra attention to them. One flight attendant stopped to talk to Liberty and then scooped her up and took her to the back of the plane to talk with the other staff members. At first, we were thinking, "Hey, that's our baby!" but then realized that she really couldnt take off with her...we were in the plane. haha Liberty came back with extra snacks and a yogurt. (They drink their yogurt with a straw, by the way).
After the plane landed, we were all standing, crammed in the aisle of the plane waiting for the doors to open, while Liberty entertained everyone around. She is so social and friendly. Brandon and I have no idea what she was saying but they were all laughing. She was probably saying, "These people are crazy! They do anything I say and give me anything I want!" haha We are not that bad. :)
Once we were picked up by our guide,Jack, we headed to the hotel while Jack asked us questions about our adopting journey. Of course, I love telling this story so he heard the whole thing and I ended up in tears. Happy tears though. When I say out loud the things that have happened, I get overwhelmed with emotion. We have been thanking everyone who has helped us along this China journey,. They all have played a part in giving Liberty a family. It's just so incredible! Jack told us he has helped over 1,000 families in his career. I love hearing things like this!
For dinner, we headed over to PIZZA HUT where we got a good old USA pizza and pop WITH ICE!! Everything is just warm here so ice soounded so good in my pop.:) It was Liberty's first time in a restaurant and the first time she had pizza. This was the final test. Was she destined to be a Myers??(hahahah) She loved it! :)
So we are headed to the physical tomorrow and then we will have a few days of site-seeing.  Liberty will have even more "firsts". We are going to the zoo where she will see all kinds of animals for the first time. :) Can you imagine what is running through this little sweet potato's head?? She must just not really understand it all.  Later we will go to a market to do some shopping. (Not too much though, Our bags are getting close to the weight limit!!)
The busy-ness of our trip is winding down and we are ready to head home! Just a few more hoops to jump through and then we can not only end this trip but start a new one as a family!

Thanks SWI and ICShanghai

Today we had the privilege of visiting the Shanghai Childrens Welfare Center where Liberty spent the last four years. It was a beautful center that was really clean and had everything that any US school or pre-school would have. Everyone was so nice. We got to tour her room and the classroom she went to for pre-school. We were really nervous about taking her back there because we didn't want her to think that we were leaving her there. We had MingMing explain to her that we were just going to visit and meet her friends but she would be coming home with us. She ws fine with it earlier in the day but when it got closer she told MingMing she didnt want to go...she didnt miss her friends. I was pretty nervous. But she did great. She let Brandon put her down but just so she could show us where her bed was. Then he had to pick her back up right away. She was fine with saying goodbye but she did get a little teary-eyed. When I asked MingMing what she said when she was upset and she said she didnt want to stay there. So even though we explained things to her, she still was scared.
When we went to visit her pre-school classroom, we met her teacher while she played with her toys...one last time.  Her teacher told us a funny story about her. She said that when she would ask Liberty a question that she didn't know the answer to, she would say she needed to go to the bathroom. haha Such a funny little girl. :)
As we left, I started crying. I just couldn't hold it in. I thought of all of the people who have helped Liberty and us get to this point. From her birth mother, to our adoption agency, to her caregivers and most of all God, I just was overwhelmed and so so thankful to all that my family has been given.
We headed back to the hotel to get ready for our newspaper interview. We were a little nervous. We didnt want to say anything that would offend anyone. There was a knock at the door and the journalist was there....with his camera-man!!!  Oh My Gosh!!! It turned into a television interview! HAHA We were so nervous then!!  Not only were we going to be on TV but we had to be careful what we said and then had to worry about Liberty behaving. It was nerve-wracking but it turned out to be a cool experience. (Thanks to the ice cream! ) We will see how it turns out at 9pm Shangahi time. 8AM home time. www.ICShanghai.com
Tonight has been a little rougher with her. I think she has just had a hard day. A little whiney and crabby but arent we all?? We feel locked in our hotel because we get bombarded with questions about why we have a Chinese child when we are American and how we dont have her dressed warm enough ect. I know they mean no harm but we feel more comfortable in the safe haven of our hotel. The staff all are used to us walking the halls with our China doll.
Tomorrow Liberty Jane-Yirun Myers leaves Shanghai. It is bittersweet but we would have it no other way! She's ours from now until forever!

NO TEARS TONIGHT!! :)

I am starting this post with tonight's activities. At bed time, Liberty crawled right into bed, no crying, no tears. Just laid down and went to sleep. Every night she cries and says the same thing over and over. We found out she was saying that she was wet and wanted to be changed. awww, I felt so bad!
But tonight...NO TEARS!!  YAY!! It made us feel so good, like she trusts that we will be here when she wakes up. :) It was also good because B and I are not feeling that well today. Both of us have upset stomachs. :/ It'll be better tomorrow.
Today we went site-seeing to the Pearl TV Tower. Relate it to Sears/Willis Tower. Sort of the same thing. We walked on the clear flooring. Liberty had no fear about that. Mom, on the other hand, stayed close to the cement flooring.
After, we went to the market that was previously a Buddist Temple. It was some of the coolest architecture I have ever seen! While we were shopping, I had bought something special for the boys and was waiting for it to be made so B took Liberty around to look at stuff. People started gathering around asking questions. So he headed back to where we were. It is not the "Melting Pot" atmosphere we are used to in the USA where its nothing to see Caucasian Parents with an Africa-American child or Caucasian Parents with an Asian child. Its rare here so they are curious. We decided that we are carrying our adoption papers with us for the rest of the trip. Just to be safe.
After getting some lunch and dropping off our laundry, we headed back to the hotel because it was raining and windy and cold today. We ate lunch and went for a walk around the hotel to try to expend some of this little one's energy. When we got back, Ming Ming our guide, was calling us. She said that a Shanghai Newspaper wanted to interview us for an article about adoption. HOW COOL IS THAT?? It is cool on two parts. In one way, we want it for Liberty later in life. We think it will be great for her to see. Also, it could be a comfort if her bio parents saw it.
Secondly, We feel God's hands are still at work with us. If this interview could spark even one adoption, it would be so worth it! We are nervous but our guide said she will be there and help us.
We feel like it took so long for this adoption to actually happen. The entire time, even thought it was so hard, we held to the fact that we started this journey because we were trying to be faithful to what we felt God was telling us. Now the blessings are overflowing! From how sweet Liberty is and how well she is bonding with us, how good her health is considering her CHD, how many people have been supporting us and cheering us on through email, our blog and FB, and now this interview!!  It is so emtionally overwhelming to feel all of this love and experience all of God's blessings. We dont feel worthy of it. But if this is what it feel like to be faithful to God even through the rough times.... Well it sure is worth it! Thanks to  God who we give all of the glory!

She's a Spit-fire and she's officially OUR Spit-fire!! :)

We have definately found out this little one has a personality! She is such a fun little girl and so happy!!   It took us awhile to get her to sleep last night, but she slept like a rock! We got a crib today to see if that helps with the bed time thing.
Today was a gorgeous day!!  Sunny and about 65! We traveled to the Civil Affairs office to file the adoption paperwork. They interviewed us and asked us why we wanted to adopt this little girl. Also about what are plans were for her health care and education. It was a little nerve wracking but it helped that our person was very young. We had our official picture taken (posted on FB) and then headed to the Notary Office. On our way there Run Run had a messy diaper so I asked where I could change her since there was no place in the restroom. MingMng said, "Oh Chinese women change the babies right here!" On the bench, in the public! haha I am sure the people next to us were not happy having to smell that! But even though the Chinese culture is different from ours, they dont really find anything offensive.  After I changed her, she said, according to the guide, that she had to go to the bathroom. I took her and she did go on the toilet so I think potty training will be easy when we get back. For now, she is wearing diapers since we are not close to a bathroom at all times.
At the notary office, everything was made official. China calls her ours! :)After getting back to the hotel and having lunch, we decided to head to the park behind our hotel. It's not a kids park like US parks, More like walking "Perry farm" type park. Anyway, as we were walking around, EVERYONE was staring at us. Run Run was so social! She'd go up to all of the people at the park and say, "Ni Hao!" Oh it was adorable! But then it got a little scary. We had one woman following us around. Then she and another woman came up to us and started speaking in Chinese. Thank God my husband knows how to say,"We dont speak Chinese."  They kept asking questions at us. Finally, one pointed and Brandon and said, "BABA?...then pointed to me,"MAMA?" then pointed to Run Run and said " Chinese!" and shook her head no. So I walked up and said with gestures that I wasnt pregnant (Big belly) but she was adopted.(writing on paper). Then it clicked. BUT we were a little freaked out and left quickly. We decided that we will carry our adoption papers with us if we go out alone again.  We did pick up ice cream on the way home and after she got used to the coldness of it, she loved it. She kept saying "Tong Lau"(sp?) which means hot. I guess because it was so cold.
We've just been playing with her in the hotel room. Getting ready for dinner and her favorite time of the day BATH TIME!! :)
Tomorrow we are headed to the Pearl Tower and a shopping market. It should be fun and we will feel safe because our guide will be able to explain any questioning, staring, people.
My favorite time today was when she was singing all of the little nursery rhymes she has learned at pre-school. One was to the tune of  "Oh my darling! Oh My darling! Oh my darling Clementine!" Then we said "Bonglau!" which means good job!!
We are BEAT but loving every minute of it!

She's in our arms!!

Wow! What a day! Brandon and I have forgotten the energy it takes to have a four year old!!
Our appointment with the Civil Affairs office wasnt until 12:30 so we met our guide at 12, exchanged all of the money we needed and then headed over to the office. When we got there, we filled out all of our paper work that was needed.
Then we waited... There were two other families adopting from Shanghai Childrens Welfare Institute so we were all nervously chit-chatting away. The other families had already paid but we hadn't so Brandon left the room with our Guide, MingMing to do so. That was when the other two families children came in so I was able to video for them.  Then when brandon came back, MingMing said Run Run was coming and Brandon said he heard her talking in the hall when they were headed back.
She came running into the room towards me saying, Mama,Mama! and then went right past me to see everything that was going on in the room.  All three families had gift bags and she wanted to know what was in them! :) So we got out the toys we had brought her and she came over to us...to get the toys. haha. But the her caregiver took the toys until she said Ni Hao and gave us a minute of her time. She was so inquizitive and talkative. It was so adorable!!
Her caregiver and the orphanage gave us a bag of gifts which included a seal/stamp of her chinese name, a flash drive with all of the pics they have of her, a photo book, and the gold bangles and pennant that she was found with, I was hoping she would get these and she did!! What a great symbol of the love her parents have for her.
When her caregiver was leaving, she started crying...It broke our hearts because she was calling out "mama". But MingMing told us the children call all of the workers mama. When Brandon got her a snack and MingMing told her how much we loved her, she stopped crying and was fine.
We left the Civil Affairs office and headed to the grocery store.  She wasnt too happy about the seatbelt..I wonder how she'll like the car seat at home. haha We let her pick out what she liked to eat. Fruits, noodles and some cookies. Then when Brandon got 2 packs of Coke, our guide told us she said, "Thats so much soda!"  when we got back to the hotel, she told MingMing that she was tired, (she missed her nap) BUT when we got up to the room, there was so much excitment she was NOT going to sleep. 
We played with all of her toys, tried on all of her shoes and her coat.  She ate and ate and ate and drank and drank and drank. They say that this is normal because at the orphanage they never get more, just enough. Then the three of us went to the lobby to try to get some help ordering pizza. RunRun and I went exploring while Brandon was getting help. When we came around the corner and Run Run saw Brandon, she yelled "BaBa!!" (which is what she calls him) and went running to him. My heart melted!! 
Its funny though to see Chinese people look at us like we kidnapped her or something. Its hilarious!
After the pizza ordeal, we went back to the room and tried to get her into the bathtub. She wasnt having it. But she did agree to a sink bath so we did a sink bath with her feet only in the sink. Then we coaxed her into sitting in the sink.  Then when we couldn't get all the soap out of her hair, we finally got her into the bathtub and she loved it!!  About 45 minutes in the tub! Brandon and she played while I took a shower. When she came in and saw me in the shower, she insisted in getting in too. Bath # 2. Then when we were done, she wanted to get into the bath tub again. bath #3!!  At this point, we were saying, "Whatever makes her happy!!"
We finally got to SKYPE the boys and they got to see RunRun. She was a bit confused about her brothers IN the computer but they were so happy and she was laughing and talking to them in Chinese. She is quite the talker! It's like she has four years worth of stuff to fill us in on! She doesnt care that we dont know what she is saying.  She is so funny!
We thought bed time would be a breeze but....we were wrong! We were trying everything! But she is so funny! She wears diapers but everytime she is wet, she will try to take her diaper off so we have to change her. This happened 4 times in about 30 minutes. She most likely hasnt slept in a bed before so she kept getting up and jumping around, falling on us and laughing her cute little face off!!  She really is a happy little girl! She hasnt cried once. But she does have a temper. If we say something she doesn't like... you can see it on her face. I think we are going to have our hands full.
Finally, we shut off all the lights and Brandon held her and sang to her until she fell asleep. This took about 45 minutes.
Our journey has started! It is going to be challenging but so worth it!
Thank you, God for your faithfulness and blessings to our family!

Shanghai Nights and KFC

We made it to Shanghai!! We chose to take the High speed Train instead of the airplane so we could see the countryside. WOW there is alot of poverty on the country side. But it was very interesting to see. One of the most interesting things we saw was farmers using handtools to farm the land. I am not sure if it was because of what they were growing or not but it was neat to see. Of course we would only see it for a brief second because the high speed train travels at 320 miles per hour. It was so fast! Alot of my pics didn't turn out because of the speed. Another thing is there will be no more pics while we are in Shanghai due to the fact that they dont have Wi-Fi at the hotel... only cable hook up. All of our pics are on my IPad. :( So sorry!!  But as soon as we get to Hong Kong, I will post all of the pics we take of us meeting Run Run for the first time.
We asked our guide, Jack, about Zheng Yi Run's name. He said it is pronounced Cheng Yi Wren. We thought this was funny because now she can be our little birdie (wren) and her English name is Liberty (li-BIRD-ty) haha.
We had a great meal tonight. We found a KFC. Although it took us a long time to order, those mashed potatoes were the best I have ever had!!  We need a Monicals's pizza or some Texas Roadhouse Fed-Ex'ed to us! We were starving today. Once we get Run Run, maybe she can order for us! Brandon actually has been doing great speaking Chinese when needed, like tonight. He said to the KFC girl, in Chinese, "Excuse me, Can I ask, do you speak english?" She smiled and went to get another girl who spoke English. As we were waiting for our food, we were brought back to the days of Hardee's when all the girls would scream their orders back to the cooks. It was so loud and then adding the Chinese language to the situation made it even funnier. It is such a harsh, loud language. And you wanna talk about line-jumping!! These people would for sure get kicked out of Six Flags. Everyone just cuts and pushes you out of their way. And no one goes off!! I told B that I will probably blow at least once before we leave. I was already run over by a wheel chair. Needless to say, we are having a good time and realize it is just cultural differences that we are not used to.
Tomorrow is the big day!! Our appointment got pushed back to 12:30 though. We have all of our gifts and money ready. We have her bag packed with toys, stickerbooks, sippy cup and snacks. We are nervous but excited to start the next part of our lives with her as a part of our family! As of tomorrow, the Myers will be a family of FIVE! Love you all and keep the prayers coming! I can feel them!