Merry Christmas to You

Merry Christmas!
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We pray that God will richly bless you this Holiday Season with love, good friends, peace in your heart, laughter, family, yummy food, health, and the true (very humbling) awe of the miracle He gave us all those years ago - in a cold stable, under the starry sky. The Son that came to earth as a tiny, helpless baby, yet knowing full well what would be expected of Him in the years to come. He willingly sacrificed Himself in order to save us all!
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From our House to Yours - Merry Christmas and Best Wishes in the New Year!
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A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS LETTER

You may recall that at the end of October, we sent a letter to ElleAnna's orphanage. We included many photos of her over the past year, to show them how much she was growing and changing. We hoped, in our hearts, that we would hear back from them, but we had no promises. This past Saturday, however, we got a very special Christmas gift - a letter from her caregivers in China. It took a few days for us to have it translated into English, but it was worth the wait!

In the letter, they were very glad that PanSuo was in a family who loved her. They enjoyed seeing her sweet smiles in the photos. They wished her much happiness and good health. They told her that she was very lucky. They were grateful to us for adopting her, giving her parents and brothers who love her very much.

Now, I am even more excited to write them a reply! Even before we had found ElleAnna, we intended to send a "care package" to our daughter's orphanage each year to recognize the anniversary of her adoption. We have been picking up items over the past year with that intention, but we were reluctant until we were certain that the address was correct. Now that we know, we will finish filling the box and get it ready to be shipped. We have clothes for boys and girls, some small toys, little gifts for the nannies...

Amazingly, just a week or two ago, I was approached by a wonderful lady (Wilma) at our church. Each Sunday, the little children pick up lose change when the ushers take the regular collection. Wilma had wanted to send that money to Elle's orphanage, but I had told her how we were waiting for a reply to our letter first. If/when that happened, we could use some of the children's collection and buy a few more things for the box to be sent to the orphanage. I am excited that I can let Wilma know that our prayers were answered and we can move ahead with her terrific plan. :-)

I also plan to send a few disposable cameras in the box and ask the orphanage staff to take photos that we can have developed for ElleAnna. Through this venue, they can share faces of her caregivers and other children that she lived with. I hope that it will give Elle a way to remember her life gently, the life she left behind when she came to us.

Our daughter reminds us constantly that she, Mommy, Daddy, Bryant, and Alex are a family - Elle's family. I am grateful to God every day for her sweet giggles and contagious smile. I am glad that He kept her safe and guided her to us, to her family. She made us the lucky ones, in spite of what the orphanage believes. We are the ones who are blessed to have her as our daughter!
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Compare Pix

Look at this one from a year ago compared to the one above, from this Christmas. Even the twinkle in her eyes.... All three of them have changed so much, but especially Elle. We look forward to celebrating the holidays together this year as she is having so much fun getting ready!

Cartooned Pix from Today

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Elle's Cleft Appointment

We left the house at 4am on Friday for the long drive.... We met with the Cleft Team from 8:30a-12noon. During that time, Elle had her hearing tested, had a speech evaluation, the Otolaryngologist examined her as well as an Orthodontist, a Pediatrician, two dental students, a nurse, and a plastic surgeon. She did well, so now we wait to go again until next year.
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She scolded one of the speech therapists for calling her "Sweetie". Elle informed her that her name was not "Sweetie, it was Elle". She kept saying "Thank you, Doctor" when they would get done checking her. She played with two other little girls in the waiting room for a long time. One was adopted from Korea and the other from China. They had a great fun in a playhouse set up in the lobby. They would giggle and laugh, especially when some of the boys would come tell them they were going to huff and puff and blow their house down!

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It was so amazing for us to watch Elle be so independent and confident as she worked with each of the professionals. Last year when we went, we'd barely been home for three weeks and she was so frightened by everything. This year, she would wave and give us thumbs up through the window of the hearing lab as she played the games and listened to the beeps.... It was truly remarkable to realize how much she has blossomed and grown!

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The pictures above are from this morning. Elle got one of those mirrors on the dental tool, so she had to show Alex how it worked. Needless to say, she stuck it in there a little too far :-). There is also a video posted below of the same exciting fun she had showing Alex what happened on Friday while he was at school.

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Elle Teaching Alex about Her Cleft Exam

Its Been Busy, Busy....

Time has flown by this week, but not without plenty of basketball, a trip to the Cleft Team for Elle's annual exam, Christmas shopping, spending the night in a hotel, deer hunting, Elle's program at school, another visit with Santa and Mrs. Clause, plus still more Christmas shopping. I hope that you enjoy the blog's new FESTIVE HOLIDAY look. Here are some photos from the past week's events!

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Christmas Is Coming!

Santa will be here any minute - Elle is excited. We've been practicing what he will ask and what she wants to tell him that she wants for Christmas.

Oh, look Daddy! Here he comes!

Elle with Santa and her bag of candy!

See, don't they all cooperate well for photos! The balloons were too much fun and very distracting.

Does the angel go up here, Daddy? Like this?Wow - the bright lights, a giant tree, and an angel on top. Elle thinks we are done, but we've only just started!

Elle finding the perfect place for the little China girl ornament from Aunt Karen. She is holding a paper lantern and has a little square house. The butterflies on the tree were for the Christmas in 2006, when we were still praying and waiting for our little E to find her way to us.

Everyone working hard to hang up the ornaments they've been given over the years.

Its getting pretty full and looks great - doesn't it Elle? NO, Scooby Doo does not come out of the Mystery Van no matter how much Elle has tried to help him get out.
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Its been very busy, and the hustle and bustle is only beginning. Between basketball games, Christmas parties, online shopping, more basketball, school programs, and everything else, things get a little hectic. Elle has learned so many cute songs that I am anxious to go to her program tomorrow morning and see it all in action. Grama, Grampa, Granny, Dayton, and Daddy will be there too - so I am sure we'll have fun.

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Here are some photos of tree decorating, the five grandkids, and Elle meeting Santa for the first time. I have lots of video too from the past few days, so I'll try and get them loaded soon.

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I will give you Holiday Celebrations in small doses that way :-).

November 28, 2007 - GOING HOME!

Truly, this day was the LONGEST day of our lives! Imagine yourself in some sort of Star Trek time warp where hours pass, and yet, the time doesn't change. Over the course of the day, we crossed back over 14 time zones, spent over 15 hours flying, sat in two ER's, ate nothing but airplane food, and drove over six hours in a car. Ken was really, really uncomfortable at this point and feeling pretty miserable. ElleAnna was nervous about what was going to happen next. We were lugging around 8 stuffed suitcases plus several carry ons. We were all excited to be headed home, but growing more and more tired as the day went on. If anyone caught a nap, it was short and not very restful.

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We left our hotel in Guangzhou, China at 5:20am to board our first of three flights. We said good-bye to the other families and our wonderful guide, Cordelia. That flight was from 8:25am - 9:05am and took us from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. There, we sat in the airport until our 12:50 flight to San Francisco. When that 12+ hour flight was over, we landed in San Francisco and headed through Immigration to allow ElleAnna to enter the United States. We had to show all her documents and prove that we were her family. Once that rite of passage was over, we went to wait for our next flight. Of course, the plane going from SF to Denver had problems and the new plane had fewer seats. Most of our seats were effected, so we had to go beg to get on the same flight together as a family. When we landed in Denver, it wasn't even 2:15pm... We were tired after being up so long, but less than 90 minutes had passed since we boarded the flight to San Francisco.

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Add to this ElleAnna's intense rage about being strapped into a car seat for the first time. She screamed bloody murder for at least the first 90 minutes, but we couldn't let her out. We had intended to stay in Denver with a friend that night, but with Ken's urgent medical needs, we headed to a hospital hopes of getting him some help. That was a waste of time. We left the Med Center in disgust at their lack of professionalism. We decided to start heading home and would find another ER.... ElleAnna had fallen asleep in the car with the boys while we were in the ER, so she at least was calm for the next few hours.

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When we finally got Ken some medical attention, the doctor was very concerned. He wanted to admit Ken to their facility, but we begged to head on home where we could see our regular physicians - and at least allow some of us to sleep in our own beds. It had been an unmerciful long day.... He gave Ken a shot, opened the wound to clean it out some, and then packed it. NOT GOOD!

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We got back in the car and traveled the rest of the way home, arriving at about 1:15am on the 29th. With all the time changes, its hard to do the math, but it looks like we were awake for at least 37 hours straight... YIKES! Thank goodness that Bryant was able to help me drive because Ken was in no condition to help. We were all so glad to get into our tiny house and crash. ElleAnna didn't want anything to do with any of the beds or sleeping with anyone else. She kept her feet on the floor and slept with her head in the recliner most of what was left of the night. Ken slept on the couch as he couldn't let anyone get near his arm.

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We were glad to be home, but our journey had ended on a rather sour note... we needed Ken to get well so that we could enjoy our time as a family!

Just a WEE BIT Sassy...

Celebrating as a Family

We had a small party last night to celebrate our one year milestone as a family. A friend of mine gave Elle the most beautiful American Girl doll named Ivy. She even has a Chinese New Years dress! Bryant was such a kind big brother. He didn't even hesitate helping Elle make sure that Ivy's hair was all combed and her dress was just right. Alex made Elle a cake with all her favorite farm animals to decorate it. Everyone got a gift to help us commemorate the special day in 2007 when ElleAnna Suo joined our family, making it complete.

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Here are a couple of pictures from the evening. Enjoy and thank you for following our journey to bring E home!

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November 19, 2007 - Bringing E Home

It was one year ago today that we first met this frightened, sad little girl. Her heart was broken when her nannies told her that she was to go with us. They explained to her that we were her new Momma and Babba and that the boys were her brothers, but you could see the intense fear in her eyes. She was crying and screaming beyond what I can ever fathom. She lost everything that she had ever known that day and was often inconsolable. Over time, she came to love each of us and now, will tell you that PanSuo "cried and cried" that day - and she did. We love her too and cannot imagine life without her in our family. We truly did BRING E HOME!

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November 18, 2007

One year ago today, we boarded another flight - heading to Shenyang from Beijing. It was supposed to be easy... but in my world, NOTHING is EVER as planned. Our guides always had to leave us at the ticket counters because of security, so moving through the airport process, finding gates, listening for boarding calls, etc. had an extra element of stress given the fact that we don't speak Chinese. But, we always made it ok, eventually. Bryant usually lost his drink though, just ask him :-).

As we were boarding the flight to Shenyang, however, the stewards insisted that we check most of our carry on luggage as they claimed there was not enough room in the overhead compartments. Given all the important documents, cameras, laptop, and all those good things, checking bags always has its own element of fear, but we complied as best we could.

We landed in Shenyang, located all our bags, and began the search for our next guide at the freezing cold airport. He was not to be found. Everyone was anxious to give us a ride somewhere, but the language barrier was a little unnerving. Finally, after an hour or two (that seemed like eternity) waiting, we called the guide in Beijing. She told us to find a cab driver and she would instruct him as to our hotel location.

With eight giant suitcases and four people, no single cab could accommodate us, so we ended up in two cabs. Ken and Alex were in the back cab. Bryant and I were in the front one. Racing through the streets, knowing that we weren't together, was terrifying. I had visions of a bad Brad Pitt/George Clooney movie where they tied us up in a basement and held us for ransom as some poor Americans. It was late in the day, so the sky was gloomy and gray. It was unbelievably cold there too. The drive between the airport and our hotel was very desolate with lots of trees and "huts" along the road.

Finally, we re-entered an urban area. The traffic and huge numbers of people were overwhelming. I still cannot fathom how people don't get run over all the time! We eventually arrived at our hotel. Without a guide, checking in was a little difficult. Shenyang was not overpopulated with English speaking folks as its not a "tourist" spot. I am fairly certain that we were among the only people staying in this enormous hotel that did not speak Chinese fluently. We got up to our room and collapsed. I think I could have used some Ativan and Pepto Bismal after the harrowing experience. There was a crib in our room, however, waiting for the little girl who would be coming to us in the morning.... provided our guide showed up to get us there :-).

November 17, 2007

November 17, 2007 - The Beijing Adventure Continued. We all met in the lobby, bright and early to start the day. Today's activities included going to a Jade Factory, climbing the Great Wall, having lunch at a Cloissone Factory (that is the enamal paintings), a Tea Ceremony, and then, some of us went to see a Chinese Acrobat show in the evening. Here are a few photos from that chilly but amazing day.

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Back in the United States that day, there was a wedding being celebrated in my family. Lyndsay and Cody got married. Julie Marie also had her 21st birthday that day :-).

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Today, I want to wish Lyndsay and Cody and Happy First Anniversary. We also want to tell Julie, Happy Birthday!
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Waiting in the Lobby, Meeting out Front for the Bus - Below

Jade Factory - Below

Climbing The Great Wall - Below

Lunch at the Cloissone Factory - Below - Notice the Fries too, not just the odd things

Tea Ceremony - Below

Chinese Acrobats - Below

November 16, 2007

The Forbidden City - Below

TianAnMen Square, then the Silk Factory - Below

The Summer Palace - Below

One year ago today, we went to see The Forbidden City, TianAnMen Square, a Silk Factory, and The Summer Palace. We saw the Birds Nest and other buildings where the 2008 Olympics would be held. It felt as if we were taking pictures constantly (at least when the cameras would cooperate), and yet, there are so many things that we missed. We barely have any pictures of ourselves and only one of the four of us together, at the Great Wall. We really should have had done one of those at each location, but, as usual, those photos are the ones always forgotten .... Even worse, we only have one picture of the five of us together in China - on the Red Couch. Pretty depressing given the significance, huh?

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Anyway, I digress. November 16 was actually the first day that we met the others in our traveling group. We had all arrived in Beijing on different flights, from different parts of the United States. Each family was preparing to meet their babies in their own way. Some were soaking in the culture that was so much a part of our new daughters, trying to learn as much as we could about this world so far away from our own homes. It truly was an amazing place with its own unique sights, smells, tastes, and sounds. We saw things that our daughters had never seen - even though it was their heritage and not ours. That makes me sad for ElleAnna and the thousands of children like her. Maybe someday, we can go back again, as a family. We can show ElleAnna and she in turn can show us - just as its been all along.

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