Meilin...... it doesn't get any cuter than this!

There is one thing that I am certain of.  When these girls get home, our grocery bill will go up!

From the wonderful collection of pictures we have of Molly and Meilin, I see a trend.

They like to eat!

 

(And, we need to work on using chopsticks!)

 

 

Molly seems to have the same tastes as we do!

 

But they aren't alone in their love for food:

And now we have two more reasons for birthday cake a year!

Who doesn't get excited over birthday cake?!

And if money gets tight, we can always feed them snow!  There is plenty around for all of us!

Adoption is such an amazing thing.  Half way around the world, in a foster home, sits this little girl,

and this little girl.

Who one day will be walking hand in hand as brothers and sisters

with these guys!

 

 

They will have many cousins to play with.  These are just a few but they are so excited for Molly to come home and hang out with them!

All these children have come together, or will come together, as brother and sister.  All with different pasts and history but together as one family!

They will be silly together.

Play in the snow together.

And just be together.  Since we have pretty much adopted back to back since we brought Mia home, someone is always missing.  What a feeling of peace it will be when Molly and Meilin will be home and we will all be together.  Well sort of, now we will have the older to moving on to college this year and next!

We will need a bigger couch for family pictures but I am so ready to bring them home.  Please pray for all our hearts as we wait the next several months to finish up this process!

Bringing home two!

Well the good news is out!  We are adopting Meilin Eliana along with Molly.  Here is a little background on how we ended up with one more.  We will probably travel to China sometime this fall and bring them both home together!   

 

Our home study took longer than we had hoped but of course it is always God's timing which is perfect.  Because it was taking awhile (no ones fault just timing on paperwork etc) we had time to decide to get approved for two just in case!  China allows you to adopt two and there are so many children waiting that we just wanted to be open to what God had planned for us.

 

I wasn't actively looking at first but am on some facebook groups that are always advocating for children.  That is how we found Molly as well.  One day someone showed me a picture of a little girl waiting in China.  She thought of me because this precious little girl also has Williams Syndrome just like Molly does.  First I saw this beautiful face that looked so much like a younger version of Molly. 

 Then I was a bit surprised that she had WS too since it is pretty rare.  There are many many many children in China with DS but not WS.  Just like Molly, they didn't even know right away she had it.  I do know of a beautiful 11 year old there right now though with WS if anyone is interested!

 

I started to find our more about Meilin Eliana and the New Day Foster Homes she is in had so many pictures of her.  It seemed from the comments that anyone that has met her fell in love with her as well.  She had so many people praying for a family to come along.  There is one picture where several kids are sitting in a row after preschool and she was the only one that didn't have a family coming for her.  It broke my heart.

We ran into a few roadblocks from there which is typical in most adoptions.  Another agency had her file and at first told me they wouldn't release it to my agency.  I was heartbroken to say the least but vowed to keep fighting for her.  But, with time and trying to protect my heart I started to move on.  I joined another group advocating for children in China to see if there was another child out there for us.  Then just a few days after I joined someone posted Eliana's picture and info!  There she was again!  After some more talking to the agency and help from others, we were finally able to get her file and lock it.  We got preapproval from China this week!

 

We know that she is 4 1/2 years old.  She will be 6 months older than Mia!  She is charming and a very happy little girl.  She loves music and laughter.   She had heart surgery when she was one.  Heart issues are common in children with WS as well as DS.  The two syndromes have so much in common.  Her and Mia will have matching scars on their chests but both are doing great now!

 

So many families were scared away because of WS.  You just don't hear much about it.  From what we know and have learned it isn't a big deal.  That didn't scare us.  I also did a lot of research and talked to many other families that adopted two at once.  They all said go for it!  They would do it again and the children bonded because they had each other.  It wasn't always easy at first but not much harder than one at a time and I just couldn't imagine making her stay in China any longer.

 

We know it won't be easy atleast right away.  It will be two more than need us.  Molly has been through so much in her 9 years that we wanted to make sure we can give her what she needs first of all.  In the end we decided that this in the road God has paved for us.  Were we scared?  Of course!  In the end we will have 4 children with special needs at home.  But, it doesn't matter.  They are beautiful little girls that have no future in China.  We have the support and resources here to give them all their hearts desire.  We will be blessed beyond belief when they come home!

What we need most is support.  First emotional support and prayer!  Adoption is hard.  The paperwork is overwhelming.  The children we adopt have had difficult pasts and trauma so any support we can get helps so much.  We aren't saints, we are just doing what God has called us to do.  We aren't crazy (well technically speaking anyway) we just have a heart for orphans and the bible tells us over and over again to help the widows and the orphans.

 

The second is financial support.  Not everyone is called to adopt but everyone can help give support in many ways.  Adding another child will add an additional $10,000 or so to our adoption.  It is a lot of money and something we took into consideration about adding a second child but I just couldn't see leaving her behind because of money.  This is our 3r and 4th adoption in 3 years.  We were blessed enough to pay for the first two on our own.  This time we didn't have time to recover before we started again.  We hate to have to ask for help and like to do things on our own but it isn't possible. So many people love both our girls in China and the US and can have a part in bringing them home.  Yes adoption is costly but when it comes to a child's life who can put a price on that?

 

We are doing what we can to save and sell things on our own.  I have made quite a bit on my name puzzles and keep selling them.  We will have a huge garage sale in the spring and are trying to come up with other fundraisers.  We have already been blessed by several wonderful donations as well and are so thankful for all of it!  There is a donation button on our blog and donations go through Reece's Rainbow and are tax deductible.  We will post more on funds next week and figure out exactly what we hope to raise.

 

The last thing we will need is help when we first get home.  Life will be busy and crazy.  There will be jet lag to deal with as well!  I will post more on this when we get closer to travel.

For now we are just overjoyed by the love and support we are getting.  We feel incredibly blessed to bring two more girls home and thank you all for you love, support and prayers!

 

 

 It is not hard to see the pure joy in her heart is it?!

Adoption Video!

I finally made an adoption video of our journey to bring our children home! 

There is a little bonus ending!

 

I will post more in the next day or two but want you to enjoy the video first!

USCIS

We got our USCIS approval in the mail today!  That means we can finalize our dossier and get it ready to send to China!  Things are moving along!!!! 

Introducing Max

It is official!  We had court Thursday and Ronglin Zhang is officially Max Ronglin now!

Court went really well and the judge was a lot of fun.  He called all the kids to the stand and asked them each a couple questions.  He even called my sisters three girls up there!

This was right before court.

We are so blessed to have so many adorable baby pictures of him from his wonderful foster mom!

These are in Hong Kong and with our wonderful SW Stella!

These two are quite the pair.  They are so close and act like twins.  They rarely fight but quite often team up to get into trouble together!  They are always on the go and into something!

The whole crew, well so far anyway.  Going to need to find a bigger couch for the next family picture!

Max loves to be outside.  I can't wait until spring and then he can use up some of that energy he has!

Halloween.  My cute little gnomes  :)

And my little pumpkin!

 

Max has done really great adjusting to our family.  The first month was a total honeymoon period.  No fits, slept a lot and so sweet.  Then reality hit him one day that he was here to stay and yet everything was new and unknown to him.  There were a few months of tantrums and adjusting.  The need for sleep decreased too.  Then about 5 months home he realized this is where he belongs.  He started to call me mom and got very attached.  Mia started to walk into preschool without crying and Max had just started and didn't want me to leave.  It was a role reversal. 

 

Now I think we are seeing the real Max.  He has a huge smile and is silly.  He throws tantrums like many 3 year olds.  Take the ipod or food away from him and he lets you know what he thinks.  The good thing is the tantrums are short and he quickly forgets and moves on.  The kids all love him and are getting used to another boy around.  He isn't the snugly type like Mia but more likely to tackle you if you sit still.  He also likes to throw balls or anything so you need quick reflexes when he is around.  He also learned to open and close doors.  Nothing is safe now!

 

Like his big brother Travis, he always has a ball in his hands.  He loves to play basketball as well.  Mia and Max and so close and hit it off right away.  I am so thankful they have each other.  Max's vocabulary is increasing everyday too.  He can say and sign quite a few words.   He is taking in new info everyday and it is fun to watch!

 

So thankful I can now share pictures and info about Max!