A Clear Sign

A Lovely Easter

2010-05-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

This Easter, Sinclair had a wonderful time. She seemed to know all about Jesus and Easter eggs. A special thing this year was that Uncle Brian, Aunty Megan and baby Emma were here! Sinclair was so excited, as we all were, to meet Emma for the first time. On Easter Sunday, Sinclair got to wear a beautiful dress that she had received as a welcome home gift over a year and half ago. We had a wonderful time playing with the Stockards and having lunch and an egg hunt at Grammy Armijo's house with all of them and Aunty Amber and her kids as well. Even the earthquake didn't ruin our day!

Meeting Granddad and Grandma Harriet

2010-05-05T18:11:00.000-07:00

Sinclair has been part of our family for so long, but there were still two close family members who she hadn't gotten to meet yet. At the end of February, Matt's Dad and stepmom came out from Tennessee just to see her. They all took to each other quite easily.
It's probably better that Granddad and Grandma Harriet waited a while to come see her, because she is much more outgoing with others now. She let them hold her and she talked to them a lot. This would not have happened had they come out in the first 6-12 months that she was with us. She has become quite the social butterfly since then! She loves to talk to people, and knows the names of the friends and neighbors that we see regularly.
Sinclair got to show Granddad and Harriet her room, her adoption documents, her church and her favorite restaurants. They watched her jump on the trampoline and she played Play-Doh with them--her favorite activities. She and all of us had a great time with Dad and Harriet!

Chinese New Year Dinner

2010-04-20T08:15:00.001-07:00

Christmas photos

2010-01-09T17:38:00.001-08:00

Sinclair's 2nd Birthday!

2009-11-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

We were tickled pink (and green) to celebrate Sinclair's second birthday!

Moon Festival 2009

2009-10-23T20:39:00.001-07:00

This year's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival was our first gathering in our new home. Our patio was strung with lights and Chinese lanterns. We invited several families with children from China, one of which are some of our new neighbors, the Worrells! We also had one family from our church's adoption fellowship group, the Barretts, and the Landinos who were in our travel group in China. We all wore traditional Chinese dress and brought moon cakes, Chinese pastries, and other desserts to share. We sat and talked of China and our various adoption experiences and the kids had fun playing. It was a lovely time.

One Year A Smith!

2009-10-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

September 1st marked our one-year adoption anniversary. It is such a special memory to celebrate. What a great adventure adoption has been. To celebrate, we weren't able to do too much, because we moved into a new home exactly on September 1st. We had some close friends over for Chinese food and we put Sinclair in a ladybug dress, but that was about it. On the other hand, moving into a new home has been a great thing for our family, and I find it interesting that the dates coincided. We have been blessed to be able to move into a 1900 square-foot one-story home with a HUGE backyard. There are trees, and grass and bugs and lizards. We previously lived in a 1400 square foot townhome, so this feels like a palace. Sinclair loves it here. She likes to run in the grass, jump on the trampoline, and get dirty. God gave our family a wonderfully amazing gift to celebrate Adoption Day.

First Independence Day

2009-07-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Sinclair enjoyed her first 4th of July! We relaxed most of the day, trying to let her get as much of a nap in as possible so she could stay up late for the fireworks. Every year, we go to a huge fireworks display in Veterans Park. This year we met some friends from church there and reserved our spots on the lawn. We brought KFC and some fruit for dinner and hung out with the crowds. There is always a band playing on stage and booths to play and eat at. Brevin was in Tennessee visiting Matt's dad for the holiday, but nevertheless we all had our own flag tee in different colors to wear for the occasion. Sinclair ran around with the other toddlers, chasing bubbles, etc. We always see a lot of people we know from the community and so it's a great time even while we are all waiting for sundown. Sinclair absolutely loved the fireworks! She oohed and ahhed and clapped and jumped up and down. It was so cute. She really is getting very expressive and animated. She had a blast!

18 months old

2009-06-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

This was taken when Sinclair was exactly 18 months old. It just took me awhile to post it!

Sinclair's Dedication video--Finally!

2009-04-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

Watch below or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU_85G8WJsA

Sinclair's First Easter

2009-04-19T09:29:00.001-07:00

Sinclair's first Easter home with us was so much fun. We died and ate Easter eggs, attended the Hickerson family annual Easter egg hunt, enjoyed our church service and ate a delicious brunch at Marie Callendar's with Grammy and Boo-boo.

Sinclair had a great time. It was so funny to watch her try to figure out what to do at the egg hunt. She could barely reach for the eggs, and then she didn't want to put them in her basket. She wanted to play with them--shake them and throw them. She had no idea there was candy inside of them.

The Easter services at church were quite different than a normal Sunday for us. Madison was in the service as she and some of her junior high group were going to be prayed over before leaving for a service trip over Easter break. Anita was dancing in the services, so Daddy had to bring the family. Mommy laid out all of the children's clothing, so Daddy knew what to do. Sinclair began calling out "Ma, ma!!" when she saw Anita on stage and Matt almost had to take her out of the service. Afterwards, we were in such a hurry to get over to Marie Callendar's before a huge lunch rush that we didn't take any pictures in all of our special Easter outfits. Sinclair looked adorable in a beautiful lavendar dress, but we'll have to get pictures of her in it on another day.

Six Months A Smith

2009-03-23T17:03:00.001-07:00

Sinclair has been part of our family for six whole months! Wow! We had our 6 month post placement visit with our social worker. We told her how well Sinclair has attached to us and all the updates on her health and development.

Now that Sinclair is so well-attached, we are starting to see her branch out some. She has begun to make eye contact more with people outside the family who talk to her and will even babble to them and point at things to show them. She gets down and runs around when we are out in public much more, too. In fact, this weekend, we were at a party at the Chelliah's (the hosts of her birthday party), and she was going into the house without a parent and playing with the kids while we watched from the patio window totally amazed. It was great to see how secure she is now in our relationship. She still does not let too many people outside the family hold her for very long. But as our social worker has said, that's really a good thing.

As far as talking goes, she has her word "Ma" which means everything. She looks right at Matt and says, "Ma!" She looks at Madison and says "Ma!" She points to something she wants to show any of us and says "Ma!" She has many other ways of communicating and believe me, she gets her point across. She recently learned to shake her head "no" and that has been helpful for all of us (less screeching to listen to when she doesn't like something). She also knows the sign language for "more" and uses it anytime she wants something. She is beginning to imitate words, but nothing that she uses regularly. But that's okay...after all, she listened to Chinese for the first 10 months of her life!

We are so proud of our little daughter for all the changes she has experienced over the last six months and how God has woven her into our family. We can't imagine life without her!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

Valentine's day is a family thing in our house. No romantic dinner for Mom and Dad here. But that's fine with us. We enjoy loving on our little sweeies. Grammy Stockard came by, and look how cute she and the girls looked all in pink.

The kids had a home-school Valentine exchange at Chuck E. Cheese. One of the kids made Sinclair her own bag to receive Valentines, too.

We divided up Sinclair's candy between the rest of us, but I did allow her to eat her first lollypop. Although half of the sucker was drooled down her bib, she loved it. (Jen W., pretend like you didn't see this.)

Chinese New Year

2009-02-08T14:22:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! This is officially the year of the Ox. We had a great time celebrating this occasion with the Landinos, the Hickersons and the Mellem kids. Who would have thought that when we met the Landinos 11 years ago at Taylor Hickerson's first birthday party that we would someday travel to China with the Landinos to adopt our youngest daughters?

Julie Landino, Dee Hickerson, and Anita

We had a wonderful evening eating Chinese food and enjoying a few Chinese traditions together.

Ivy Fu Chen Landino

Ella Landino, Sinclair, and Eden Hickerson

Nathan Landino, Brevin, Matt and Sinclair

Claire Landino, Eden, Ella, Caleb Hickerson, Taylor, Paige Landino, Madison, Katie Mellem and Hazel Mellem

Sinclair's Dedication

2009-02-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

On January 25th, 2009--the anniversary of our log-in-date and the day before Chinese New Year--we had the privelege of dedicating Sinclair Bo-Zheng to God.
It was a beautiful day! Sinclair was in a great mood as we waited backstage before the church service began. Our children's pastor, Lauren Matt, introduced all of the babies being dedicated in that service as we stood on the stage.
Each child's full name was said and each member of the family was introduced as they showed a picture on the screens of each baby so that the congregation could see them well. Those in the audience who knew the families were asked to stand and reach out a hand as our lead pastor and friend, Matthew Cork, prayed over each child and laid hands on him or her. When he got to Sinclair, he paused as he was choked up with emotion over her and the miracle that she is to us and us to her. It was a touching moment for all of us and for those of our family and friends who were there.

Our friends, Kyle and Shana Beym, came to the ceremony with their four daughters. The Beyms became dear to our hearts during our adoption process as Anita baby-sat their eight-week-old daughter, Isabella, in order to earn some extra money for the adoption costs. In the meantime, they were blessed with three more girls before we finally had Sinclair in our arms! Here are the Beyms and Smiths from back row, left to right: Caitlin, Shana, Olivia, Kyle, Penelope, Matt, Madison, Sinclair, Anita; and front row, l to r: Isabella, Brevin, Elijah.
Another special thing about the day was that us Smith girls all wore our pearls which were purchased in China. (Anita was completely unaware of this as Matt had another dad buy the string of pearls for him while Anita was pouting disappointedly because Matt wasn't letting her buy anything at the pearl showroom!) This was all planned between Matt and a friend of ours from church, Carolyn McLean, who knew how excited I was to buy some pearls in China for Sinclair and also for Madison whose birthstone is pearl. Carolyn (pictured with the girls), who is a jewelry artist, then custom-made the pearls into bracelets for us for Christmas. The talent and sentiment she has put into these bracelets is just precious. Anita's pearls are interspersed with "love knots" and there are a heart and a ladybug charm dangling from the clasp. Madison's bracelet also has a heart. And Sinclair got two bracelets: one to wear now with a tiny heart charm and one for when she's older with a piece of jade in the center that we also bought for her in China.

After the church service we had brunch with our parents back at our HOA clubhouse. We prayed together, ate, and then read some Scriptures to Sinclair. Each family member chose a special verse that they wanted to share with her for this occasion and which we will put in her baby book for her to refer to in the years to come. We also read the life verse we have chosen for her. It is Lamentations 3:22-24 which says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore, I will hope in him.'" God has truly been faithful to all of us as he brought us together as a family, and we hope that Sinclair will learn to trust and hope in Him whose love for her will never fail.

Another walking video

2009-01-17T14:36:00.001-08:00

I did this one right. :) Notice Sinclair always has something in her hands when she's walking around. She loves carrying stuff!

Walking Video!

2009-01-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

I video'd this with my camera lenthwise to get the full-length shot; I didn't think about the fact that I wouldn't be able to turn it (like I do with photos) when I uploaded it. So, just turn your head sideways and enjoy. :)

Sinclair's 1st Christmas Home

2009-01-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas--Sinclair's first with us. It started off by going to the tree lighting of the gi-normous, real tree at Fashion Island in Newport Beach with Anita's parents. Madison was at a church function, so she missed it; but the rest of us enjoyed the show that was done by a youth musical theater group and Cathy Rigby.

We decorated the house as usual, but this year we finally got to hang FOUR stockings. It was a joy to finally write Sinclair's name on her stocking and see it hanging with the rest.

Madison performed in the Nutcracker with Sunrise Ballet Theater, and most of the family made it to her performance. She did a great job in her three parts: "Street Dancer", "Cavalry Soldier" and "Harlequin" (click here for photos).

Another highlight was that Matt's brother and sister-in-law, Brian and Megan, were here all the way from Pennsylvania. Sinclair got to meet them for the first time, and Uncle Brian really made her laugh, as he does all of our children. We spent the Sunday before Christmas with them at Matt's mother's house to have dinner and exchange gifts. This year, we enjoyed giving special gifts purchased in China.

On Christmas Eve, Anita danced in the Christmas show/service at Yorba Linda Friends Church where we are members. Both sides of the family came out for the last performance and we all had dinner at Chili's afterwards. Not a very traditional Christmas eve dinner, but still a great time.

On Christmas morning, the kids were up before the sun. We put a fire in the fireplace and cinnamon rolls in the oven and watched them open their gifts and stockings. Sinclair's favorite gift was her own toy cell phone. So now she can stop stealing Anita's! After breakfast and getting dressed we headed out to Anita's parents' home to exchange gifts with them and eat tamales and Anita's birthday cake. Sinclair did great with all of the excitement. In fact, she took her first solo steps across the room while we were there. She is officially a walker now!

Before Uncle Brian and Auntie Megan left to go home, we took them out to eat at the Chinese restaurant where we bought the food for Sinclair's birthday party. Megan did a great job learning to use chopsticks. Sinclair loved the fish tank there. At the end of the night, Sinclair actually let Uncle Brian hold her for a couple minutes. That was truly special.

California Girl

2008-12-26T10:23:00.000-08:00

I know you are all expecting a Christmas post today, but I haven't had time to blog in a while, and I didn't want to skip Sinclair's first trip to the beach.

We had wanted to take Sinclair to the beach since we first got home. The weather was not the problem as it was 80 degrees in So Cal all the way until mid November this year. But between winter baseball games and dance rehearsals, we had no time to go. Finally, we had time during the week of Thanksgiving, although it was pretty chilly. It was just Mom, the boys, and Sinclair; but we loved it. Sinclair just stared at the waves when we first arrived. When I set her feet in the sand, she quickly pulled them up and was very nervous about what in the world it was. She slowly got comfortable with the sand as I sat down with her and showed her how to dig and play in it. Then she couldn't keep her hands out of it!

Growing up so fast!

2008-11-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

It seems Sinclair has gone from being a six-month old in motor development to a twelve-month old in only 2 months! When we first came home all she could do was sit up. We were told she could roll over, but never saw her do so, and she could not sit up on her own from a lying position. But she was a determined little girl. She loved to hold our hands and stand on our laps and that increased her strength tremendously. We have seen progress almost daily, and in literally the last 2-3 weeks she has accomplished so much. She can now roll over, push up into a sitting position, pull up on the furniture, stand for up to 10 seconds and even stand up from a sitting position in the middle of the floor. She scoots around almost everywhere on her bottom, and she is working on walking holding on to our hands, too. Go Sinclair!

She is so proud of herself!

Our Littlest Pumpkin

2008-11-13T19:56:00.001-08:00

Sinclair Turns 1!

2008-11-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Sinclair just celebrated her first birthday! We decided to have a welcome home/1st birthday party all in one, since many of our friends had not even met our new sweetie yet. The theme for the party was ladybugs, of course! We were able to host the party at our friends, the Chelliah's, beautiful home; they were so kind to allow us to do that. We had about 80 people (half of them kids) show up to meet Sinclair, enjoy Chinese food, play, and sing "Happy Birthday." It was still warm enough for the kids to swim, and we also had some games out for them to play. I must admit, though, that everything happened so fast. We didn't get a chance to talk to everyone or even get as many photos as I wanted. We had to have a next-day photo shoot of Sinclair in her ladybug dress just to commemorate the day. As far as cake goes, we had a white cake with a sun shining down on flowers and ladybugs, chocolate ladybug cupcakes, and Sinclair's very own little 1st birthday cake. She did not know what to do with that cake, but she had one to herself nevertheless. We had taken off her dress thinking that she would have that cake all over, but no. She just wasn't interested. I think she may have been a little overwhelmed at that point as everyone was all crowded around watching her. She did have fun drinking from a straw for the first time as she sipped from a juice box. Overall, we just loved introducing her to our friends. It was a great time.

First trip to the pumpkin patch

2008-10-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday we got to take Sinclair to Tanaka Farms for her first trip to the pumpkin patch. This is a local organic farm where the kids get to take a tractor ride, pick vegetables, roam through a corn maze, pet animals and pick out their own pumpkin. Sinclair squealed at the animals and enjoyed being in the outdoors. It was a lot of fun. We were all in our black and orange Halloween shirts, but boy, was it hot. It's hard for it to feel like fall when it is still 80 degrees or more here in California. These pictures are all the ones with Sinclair. We will post more pictures of all of us on our MySpace page. Enjoy!

All About Sinclair--11 months young today

2008-09-27T16:22:00.000-07:00

We have had Sinclair in our family for almost one month now, and we've learned so much about this sweet baby of ours. She adjusted so well to us in China and is happy and healthy. When she had her physical exam in China she weighed in at 18.2 pounds and measured 28 inches long. To us, all of these things are evidence of being well-cared for at the orphanage where she spent her first 10 months.

Sinclair is adjusting well in her new home. When we first came home, she wouldn't let Anita get up to cross the room and back, but now she is doing better. She still prefers Anita to the rest of the family if Anita is around, but if Anita is out of sight, she is fine being held by Daddy or Madison or playing on the floor with Brevin. Sinclair is sharing a room with Madison, and since we've been back she has slept through the night twice. She didn't like to be put on the changing table at all for diapering. Now she is fine with that, and her poops have been much better since that traumatic episode in China. For the first week or so Sinclair would cry each time we put her in the car, but that has also subsided for the most part.
The carpet took some getting used to for her, but she laughed out loud when she first met Phoebe, our cat. She has had so many changes in her life and routine over the last month, but overall people keep commenting on how happy and well-adjusted she seems.

Sinclair is getting into the routine of things in our family, too. She wakes up in the morning around 6:30 or 7:00 and is happy to see us. She is a good eater and takes about 4 bottles per day plus whatever fruit or vegetable baby food we offer.
She is enjoying sitting on the floor with toys or in Anita's lap with Anita and the kids while they are reading and doing schoolwork. She seems to be taking one morning nap and one afternoon nap--we're still figuring out her habits/routine as she has figured out ours. Madison usually plays with her for 30 minutes or so while Anita has some uninterrupted teaching time with Brevin. She has already gone on one home-school field trip to the LA County fair and loved it. She is enjoying being in the Moby-wrap with Anita at church, or at Brevin's baseball games or while Anita does chores around the house. We hold her bottle for her when she eats, so she can gaze up at us and we can enjoy that bonding time with her. Attachment is so important for all babies, but especially for adopted children. We wouldn't miss these moments for the world.

Sinclair's little personality is coming out, too. Her favorite toy is a water bottle, but she also likes her stacking/nesting cups. She babbles and smiles quite a bit and is very cuddly. The kids still make her smile and laugh more than anyone, and she is never lack for attention! Whenever we put on music, she bounces herself up and down, smiles, and tries to sing along. She is not crawling, yet, but loves to stand holding on to someones hands for balance. So far she has learned to play peek-a-boo, wave hello and good-bye, and puts her hands up when we say "up." She is so cute!

So many people have commented on how well Sinclair just fits with us Smiths. While in China, some of the shop owners there had to ask if she was a Chinese baby! One woman said she looks like she could be my biological child. Lineker (one of our guides) said he thought that Sinclair was possibly a Chinese minority as she didn't look Han Chinese to him. We researched what minority groups live in the Jiangxi province where she was born, and she may possibly be from the Hakka group. That is truly a guess, but she does resemble some of the Hakka people whose photos were online. But besides appearances, she still fits so well with us and us with her. She is a wonderful addition to the Smith family and we are all so lucky.

The Moon Festival

2008-09-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

Our mooncakes may have been confiscated by customs, but we would still celebrate the moon festival. Last Sunday, with Chinese lanterns hung, Sinclair got to meet more of her family. Grammy Stockard (Matt's mom) and Boo-boo, Grammy Armijo and Poppy (Anita's parents), Aunty Amber (Anita's sister) with cousins Alicia and Josy, and Great Grams and Gramps (Anita's paternal grandparents) all came over for tea and samples of Chinese baked goods. There was green tea and red bean cake, pastries of green bean, pork jerky, and date with walnut, and some other more "normal" treats. We showed everyone all of our mementos from China, including Sinclair's adoption decree and other documents. Brevin and Elijah put on a wonderful Chinese sword fight demonstration. Sinclair opened presents. It was a great time for everyone just to see Sinclair and celebrate her arrival into our family. Oh, and some of us did gaze at the moon for a couple minutes.

Coming Home

2008-09-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had a long trip home. We woke up at 4am on Wednesday morning, Sept. 10th(Tuesday night in the U.S.) to meet in the lobby at 6am. Luckily, all of our luggage was already picked up by the bell boys the night before. Other families were leaving along with us, and one family woke up early just to say good-bye to us. We will really miss these people! We had a short flight to Hong Kong with the Landino family and a couple other families. Julie (Landino) and I were talking about how we need to figure out how to get our two families together more often and realized that we have 9 kids between us! You wouldn't have known it, though, as all of our children were such troopers during all of our travels.

Once in Hong Kong, we all had our own routes home. We said good-bye, and we Smiths decided to have breakfast at Starbucks in the airport. It was D-lish.

On the plane to Korea Sinclair was given her very own baby meal. She enjoyed it very much, then she took a nap on the plane as we had bulk-head seats with a bassinet for her. It worked out great. In Korea, we all rested, got some McFlurries, and played with Sinclair. I think she was happy to be down on the floor instead of cooped up on a lap or in the baby carrier.

The next leg of the trip was the longest--from Korea to Los Angeles. The great thing was that it was almost bedtime. We had dinner, got Sinclair in some jammies, and she went to sleep. She didn't settle in right away, but after a little more cuddling in Mommy's arms, she was out. We all slept as much we could; Sinclair slept a total of 8 hours.

Once we landed, we had to get through customs in the immigration line and then we got our mooncakes confiscated because of the egg yolk inside them (boo!). But finally, we made it out of the airport with all 7 pieces of luggage, 5 carry-ons, a mom, a dad, and 4 kids. It was about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon, but the wee hours of Thursday morning to us. We were so relieved to get out of the airport, that you wouldn't know how exhausted we were. Plus, we were so excited that Sinclair was a US citizen now (yeah)! As we walked up the ramp out of immigration, Anita's parents were lined up on the railing waving and taking pictures.

Matt's mom and stepdad were there, too, circling the car around to pick us up at the curb. Sinclair did not like being strapped into a carseat. I'm sure she was wondering why she couldn't sit on my lap and look out the window like on the bus in China.

But she got to go to home for the first time.

What a joy to see her in our home, her home now.

Day 11--Guangzhou

2008-09-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

This morning we met our group downstairs in the lobby for a picture with our entire travel group. It is awesome to see how each adopted child has fit perfectly into their new families. As I look at each one, they just belong. There is no doubt in my mind that each and every child here was predestined by God to be right in the family in which they were placed. I cannot imagine any of these children being with anyone else. Adoption is truly a miracle.

Families 1-6:

Families 7-16:

This afternoon we went to the US Consulate in person to get Sinclair's Visa to America! It was great to see how many children will be coming in to a new home and a new life in the United States. Yesterday we felt so ready to go home, but today we feel sad about it. Our trip is coming to a close and we have to say good-bye to friends we've made and bonded with.

The Jiangxi Spicy Girls are coming home! (Reunions are already being planned for the Bo sisters and their cousin, Sheng Bei)

Star Performances

2008-09-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

Days 9 and 10--Guangzhou

2008-09-07T02:08:00.000-07:00

We are hanging in here in Guangzhou, a city more like New York than anything we've seen in China thus far. We are staying in the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in or ever will again which takes up 1/2 a city block. There is a high end mall on the bottom floor complete with a Starbucks where I have been sipping on my latte (oh, joy!) and enjoying time alone to blog.

Early yesterday morning Sinclair awoke with a slight fever, but after some Tylenol and a few more hours sleep, she seemed to be feeling better. She was babbling and smiling at breakfast and had a dirty diaper that did not cause any pain (thanks to the prune baby food). It was visibly noticeable that Brevin was feeling better as his eyes were no longer bloodshot or glossed over. Madison, on the other hand, woke up with a rash on her legs. Ugh! We think it may be an allergic reaction to the laundry detergent in the bed sheets, so she will be sleeping with her blanket from home tonight. Good thing I brought that Benadryl.

Sunday's activities were a trip to the 110 year old Chen Clan Temple which used to be used for ancestral worship and later an academy. It is now the Guandong Folk Art museum. Sinclair slept comfortably in the baby carrier with me while we walked around the museum. After that we went to a tea house and learned about proper tea-pouring and drank samples of several Chinese teas. Back at the hotel, we ate MacDonald's in our room and Sinclair went back to sleep for another 2 hours. She must have been truly exhausted! You can only imagine the overload she must be feeling after being yanked from her familiar and imaginably dull routine at the orphanage into this family of five who seem to be on the run every moment of every day with a whole bunch of other people. Despite being run-down and sick, Sinclair did manage to learn to wave hello. I can't believe she is changing and growing already; but we are so proud.

That evening we had a great view of the thunderstorm from our 13th floor rooms. It was really cool. The storm forced us to stay in for dinner at the hotel which is twice as expensive as the hotel-food in Nanchang--yikes. However, we had some wonderful entertainment by a Chinese trio who sang American songs such as "Sweet Caroline," and our request "Hotel California" which sounded like "Hotel Shawfa-phone-ya." Another adoptive family requested "Country Road," which was equally hysterical. The boys enjoyed getting Play-doh creations made to order by a master craftsman (Who knew Play-doh art could be a career?!). After dinner, Matt headed over to 7-Eleven upon which he was solicited on the street. It caught him off-guard only because of the ordinary appearance of the "business-woman."

Today was our US Consulate appointment and an afternoon spent on Shaiman Island. We actually didn't have to go to the Consulate ourselves, as Lineker and Amy were able to represent all of the families by delivering the paperwork we had prepared on Saturday. We just had to stay in our hotel room in case they needed to call us with questions. It was quite restful. On Shaiman Island we visited the White Swan hotel, the traditional hotel where adoptive families always stayed in times gone by and in which there is a beautiful koi pond and waterfall. Then I dragged Matt around looking in all the shops where deals can be made on everything Chinese. The boys each got a handmade wooden sword (surprise, surprise) and the girls all got traditional Chinese dresses. We also enjoyed talking in the plaza with the Landino family.

Sinclair's nose was not running nearly as much today, but I speak for all of us when I say, we are so ready to come home!

Day 8--Guangzhou

2008-09-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

Today (Saturday) was "business" day and Sinclair was miserable for most of it. She and Brevin now have the cold that the family has been passing around. Poor Brevin has had body aches and congestion since yesterday when we had to fly here. So Matt and the three big kids stayed back at the hotel while Anita took Sinclair out for her Visa photo and medical examination. Last night and today Sinclair's nose was running like a faucet. She usually naps in the morning around 10am and had just dozed off on the bus when it was time to have her photo taken. This picture leading into the medical exam was the last content moment of the day. The medical exam included a weight and height check, a look into Sinclair's eyes, ears and throat and then a quick look at her body. She screamed about the ear check and Anita had to hold her really tightly to let the doctor finish looking. She was so tired and so sad. She fell asleep again on the bus, but awoke when they got out to go to the grocery store. They finally got back to the hotel room where she and Anita both took a much-needed nap. In the afternoon, Anita had to meet the group for a two hour paperwork meeting. She had to fill out the applications to the US Consulate for Sinclair's immigration to the US (yeah!) and her visa. There were a lot of details needed. Our local guide for Guangzhou is Amy (Lineker's wife), and the two of them did a great job walking the group through each step of the documents and applications. Meanwhile, Matt, Madison, Brevin and Elijah were bored out of their minds being cooped up in the hotel the whole day. We ended the day with a group dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant.
This was a cool dinner served in small rooms in groups of twelve, where we took off our shoes, sat on the floor (kind of) and ate together. It would have been really wonderful had we not had two sick children with us. One nice thing about today was being reunited with the families that had gone to get their babies from another province. The Landinos have beautiful Ivy Fu Chen, and it was great to hear about their experiences in Guangxi Province.

Matt and Madison are much better now, so let's pray that Elijah and Anita are not next to get sick. The best part of Sincair's day, by far, was the bath in the sink after dinner. We finally got some giggles after an exhausting day.

"Sinclair, how do you spell relief?" "B-A-T-H!"

New "Mother's Day" Photo

2008-09-06T08:02:00.000-07:00

Day 7--The Poop from Hell (now in Guangzhou)

2008-09-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about elimination (I apologize to the weak-stomached). The first couple diapers that I changed with Sinclair had urine and a pinkish spot on her diaper. I was concerned, but did not see any blood around either of her bodily exits. It was just over 24 hours before she made poop. She fussed and pushed, but it seemed like she got it out okay. I have been feeding her the same formula she has been drinking at the orphanage. The next day, I decided to give her some prune baby food, just so she wouldn't have to push so hard. This helped and the next diaper was, well, mush. I figured we'd gotten over that hump, and continued feeding her regularly with the same formula, applesauce baby food, congee, baby rice cereal with bananas, and any table food she could chomp with her four little teeth.

Then came the trauma. During our trip here to Guangzhou, Sinclair had tried to push something out a couple times; I could hear her grunting and feel her stomach muscles contracting, but nothing but a little smell came out. But about thirty minutes after she went to sleep in the hotel, she started fussing and crying. We picked her up and she was pushing a lot between cries. I smelled something, and when we laid her down on the bed to look in the diaper, there was poop sticking out about 1 inch, stuck in place. Her skin was stretched out to the max, it seemed. I thought I was going to see her perineum tear right before my eyes. I pulled her legs up to her chest to help her get it out and she just cried and cried. Matt quickly went to try to get a warm washcloth since that was what the nurses used for me when I gave birth. By the time he got that, the first VERY WIDE poop had come out. He came over and then one more shorter, but just as wide, poop came out. There was some blood, and a very tearful family. It was very upsetting to both Matt and me. Luckily, the other children were already asleep. I thought I'd seen everything as a mother, but I guess not. My other children were all breast-fed, and God's perfect food was always easily digested. This morning I fed her lactose-free Enfamil that I brought with us and there will be one more serving of prune baby food this afternoon. Please pray for Sinclair's little bottom and for her digestion. And I want to say thank you for all the wonderful comments and well-wishes we have received. We are so blessed by all of you.

Day 6--Nanchang

2008-09-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a mellow day. We didn't meet up with the other Jiangxi families until 10am and went out for only a couple hours. Our guides took us to see the countryside just outside the city. It wasn't a farming community, but a village of clustered houses. Mary explained that Beijing and Shanghai are the face of China to the rest of the world, but 70% of China's population lives in the country and is very poor. She said that it may seem like China is making a lot of economical progress, but that for most of the population that is not the case. People living in the country would not be able to pay the fine for having more than one child even if they wanted to (the fine is three years' pay!).
We got to walk through a village and go into a couple homes. Although the houses were not mud-huts, it felt like we were in a National Geographic type documentary. The land to live on is granted to each family, but each must build their own house and it is very expensive for them. There is no running water in the village, but they do have electricity that they use very scarcely. They do not have refrigerators, but do have TV's. I didn't see a bathroom, and I was afraid to ask where they would go for that. Mary did say we wouldn't stay long because it is very unsanitary. Many people and children came out to stare at us Americans. This is the type of conditions that Sinclair would have lived in had she stayed with her birth family. I kept thinking we should promote sponsorship of these children through Compassion or World Vision, but then I remembered that evangelism is against the law. Even though the conditions here are poor, we truly love the culture and people of China; they have been so friendly and hospitable and beautiful.

Next we went to the porcelain shop to view and purchase some of the famous Jingdezhen porcelain. We bought a beautiful plate to have something special just from Jiangxi.

Our afternoon was free once again. Madison was feeling much better, but still had a stuffy nose. Matt now had body aches and shakes, so he took a long nap when Sinclair did. The boys got to watch a whole bunch of TV (Discovery Channel, Mythbusters, Nascar...). They were quite content.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the Jiangxi province and all the memories we have made here. We got all of the notarized documents for Sinclair that certifies that she is definitely a orphaned child who is now adopted into our family. Tomorrow morning we will get her passport and be off to Guangzhou for the next steps in this adventure.

Days 4 and 5--Nanchang

2008-09-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday morning we had to complete our adoption paperwork. We met up right after breakfast to go to 3 different offices. The first stop was back at the adoption center. We paid the fee to the orphanage and for the various documents we would acquire that day. The most important thing was that we got Sinclair's adoption certificate! Some of the orphanage nannies were there again and they were so happy to see Sinclair. One of them asked to hold her and Sinclair went right to her, got a little tummy tickle and then went right back to Anita. She wasn't upset about it at all. It really seems that the people from SWI Poyang County really liked Bo Zheng. When we first got her, all the workers were calling her name and trying to get her to calm down and be happy. So before we left, Anita asked Lineker to thank the nannies and tell them we could really see that they loved Bo Zheng and took good care of her. They smiled and nodded and said "Thank you," and then to Sinclair they said, "Bye-bye!" Anita got really emotional as we walked out. It just sunk in that Sinclair Bo-Zheng is really ours.

The second stop was the police station for Sinclair's passport application and photo.

The third stop was the notary office. This person is not like our notaries, but more like a judge. We sat down at a desk and answered a couple quick questions about ourselves and why we wanted to adopt from China. We then promised to take good care of Sinclair and promised never to abuse or abandon her (of course not!).

After that, we went to Wal-Mart. This was the biggest Wal-Mart we've ever seen--three stories with shopping carts that can go up and down the escalator ramps. All we needed was some bread and jelly and formula, but it took forever. It was so crowded (Nanchang feels much more like the China we expected than Beijing did). One whole floor was like a grocery store and we saw some very interesting and "Fear Factor"-type things being sold in the deli area. Then we all got KFC to go. The rest of the afternoon we finally got to do nothing.

We woke up well-rested on Wednesday morning, except for Madison who woke up really congested. Nevertheless, we had a wonderful trip to the Tengwang Pavilion. This pavilion, or tower, was built by Prince Teng and is included in a famous poem written about the whole Jiangxi Province (please see our post on the Jiangxi province). We walked through the gardens where men were practicing Tai-Chi here and there. We watched a short music and dancing demonstration inside and looked at the view of the Gan River and August the 1st bridge. The artwork on each floor of the pavilion was so beautiful. People were staring at all of us and so we showed them a little card that AWAA had given to us which reads in Chinese, "We love China and travelled here from America to complete our adoption. This baby is part of our family now and we will love and take care of her forever." The people smiled and nodded and one man said, "You are very good." Again it brought tears to our eyes. We don't feel like we are very good, but that we are very lucky.

We headed back to our hotel for free time once again (Wow, two days in a row!) For lunch we enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches back in our room. That really hit the spot! Madison stayed in bed sleeping for the rest of the day while we took a little dip in the pool. I can't say Sinclair loved the pool, but she warmed up to it. She seems to be really cautious and serious when we show her new things. Overall, though, her personality is really starting to show. She really loves her siblings and laughs and smiles at them a lot. She goes to all of us now without fussing and seems to enjoy each one of us. We are all so happy!

Day 3--Gotcha Day

2008-09-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

What a day! We got up at 4 am to catch our plane to Nanchang. Lineker travelled with us from Beijing and we met our local guide Mary when we arrived. They were so nice to give each family a bag of Hero formula, which is the brand our babies have been drinking since birth and which is manufactured right here in Jiangxi Province. Thankfully, we had time to settle into our rooms at the Galactic Peace International Hotel (best hotel name EVER!) before we went to get our babies. Elijah took a two hour nap, but the rest of us, although exhausted, were too anxious with anticipation to try to sleep.

The adoption center is located across the street from our hotel, so once we met up with the other families and our guides, it was just a few minutes before we were at the building where Sinclair was waiting for us. When we got off the elevator, we were asked to wait in the hallway. We could hear babies crying and fussing and Anita starting tearing up. We all took pictures in front of the "Welcome" sign while trying not to look into the adoption room just around the corner. When we got the cue to come in, we walked into a large room with the babies all around, some sitting in laps, some being held by various nannies and helpers. We were looking around trying to see if we could recognize our own Bo baby, but we must admit we either did not see her or did not recognize her. It was very loud in the smoke-filled room and so many babies were already crying. We're not sure if we didn't recognize Sinclair because she was crying or because we've never seen her profile before. Our local guide, Mary, asked us to bring our passports and travel approvals to her. As we did she called out the Chinese baby names to the nannies who would then bring the babies to the families. It was all happening at once, so it was very chaotic. Someone called out a Chinese name that is so similar to "Bo Zheng" that Anita thought they'd handed Sinclair to someone else! Then we heard the name "Bo Zheng". Madison and Brevin were poised and ready with the cameras (see previous post for video). Sinclair's nose was running from crying, and Matt's eyes were welled up with tears.

Each baby had a name tag on a lanyard around their necks and Sinclair's picture did not look anything like her referral picture. Anita made Matt double check her Chinese name with our documents, because honestly she was still not sure it was the right baby. We were all so overwhelmed! Then several nannies came over to us. Anita asked how to say "Bo Zheng" the way they pronounce it, because it sounded different than the way our Mandarin-speaking friend had told us. To us, it sounded somewhere between "Bo Chen" and "Bo Jen" when they said it. Perhaps it's a different dialect? There was a young man there who spoke some English and wanted to take a picture with Sinclair and Anita and a couple other nannies.
He told Anita that Bo Zheng was very beautiful (I guess he wanted her to know what they consider a beautiful baby). Anita asked him who took care of her at the orphanage and he said it was him. We didn't know there were male nannies. One of the female nannies walked up to us and pointed to our four kids from oldest to youngest, saying, "Do-Ray-Me-Fa". We all just laughed. Sinclair had stopped crying by now, and we had wiped her nose, so she was beginning to look more and more like her referral photos. When Anita tried to pass her to Matt, she turned back and hugged Anita's shoulders. So we decided to let her stay with Anita for a while until things calmed down. We asked our guide to find out if Sinclair had received the package that we'd sent her. They said yes, but they didn't bring it because they didn't know we wanted it back. This was odd, since we'd sent a letter written in both English and Chinese characters which explained we did want it back. We were very disappointed, because we really wanted to keep the teddy bear forever, and we never did get an answer on whether we could get it sent to us later or what. By then, it was time to go.

As we walked back to our hotel, Brevin was able to get Sinclair to coo at him and smack her lips like he was doing and Madison got Sinclair to smile. We were just amazed. Back at the room, we only had a short time before we had to meet back in the conference room to preview some paperwork. During that time, we had some wonderful moments. Anita passed Sinclair to Matt and although she fussed, it was only for a few seconds. When he tried to pass her back later, she fussed again. So we realized that whoever she was with was who she wanted to stay with. Each of the kids got a chance to hold her, too, and Elijah got the first laugh out of her.

When we met back with the group to fill out our paperwork and check the rough draft of our adoption papers, we were each given a small photo book of our baby and the newspaper with the baby's finding ad which is placed whenever a baby is abandoned to try to locate the family. It is part of Sinclair's life before we had her, and so although it is a sad part of her past, we are so glad to have it. After the paperwork, we just had time to eat dinner and go to bed. Everyone was so fried with such an emotional day, we were all asleep by 8 o'clock!

The Big Moment!

2008-09-01T23:19:00.000-07:00

Quotable Smiths on waiting for mei-mei

2008-09-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

We are about to go meet our precious little mei-mei! We meet our group in the lobby at 3:40pm Beijing time to take a short walk to the adoption center. I just wanted to share a couple quick things first. The guys in our family have said some of the sweetest things while waiting to bring Sinclair home. When we received our referral of Bo Zheng, Matt said, "I miss her." Yesterday on the bus, Brevin said, "I love Sinclair so much....even though I've never met her. I just love her." And when asked if he was ready to be a big brother, Elijah replied, "I'm already a big brother. I was a big brother the day Sinclair was born." Then he added, "I can't wait to see that little, tiny face." And on the plane this morning Anita and Madison's faces say a thousand words:

Day Two--Beijing slide show

2008-09-01T00:01:00.001-07:00

Day Two--Beijing

2008-08-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we woke up to a beautiful, clear day. Sherry said this was what they called fall weather which they only get about one month out of the year. We started out a little later in the morning yesterday and went to an international church service. We had to show our passports at the door, as the citizens here are not allowed to attend. It was great to worship with people from all over the world. There were about eight pastors who each shared briefly on the topic "One World, One Dream" as the Olympics theme was this year, but specifically regarding the unity of the universal body of Christ. Before leaving church, Anita braved using the typical Chinese toilet. This is a porcelain toilet set into the ground which you squat over. During most of our trip, we have waited for the "4 or 5 Star" bathrooms, but sometimes you just gotta go. After church we visited a jade factory and had a chance to purchase jade. It is a tradition here to wear a jade bracelet, specifically a bangle, on the woman's left wrist. This bangle would be then passed to the woman's daughter when the girl turned 16. At $400-1000 per bracelet, we decided we could not afford this tradition! Then we had lunch and headed to the Great Wall. All I can say about walking on the wall is "Stairmaster Level: 10." But what pretty views we had! After that we had dinner and Madison and Anita went to a Chinese acrobat show. It was amazing! The boys stayed in the rooms because they wanted to swim one more time in the indoor pool. It was also our desire to make sure they got to bed early and for Matt to begin packing our bags. Our suitcases were picked up last night at 10:30pm so that we can all get out early this morning for our flight to Jiangxi where we will meet Sinclair! Got to run, got to get on plane, today is Gotcha Day!!!!!

Day One--Beijing Tour

2008-08-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

After almost 12 hours of sleep, we woke up feeling great and completely switched over to the time change. We had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel and began to meet people in our adoption travel group. There are sixteen families in our group. One couple, the Nakagumas, have been exchanging emails with us over the last 2 1/2 years (but mostly in the last few months). It is so nice to meet them in person. Another family, the Landinos, are acquaintances of ours through a mutual friend and who by some amazing coincidence happened to decide to adopt around the same time as we did and are here with us also. It is so nice for our kids to be around another family--the Landinos have four bio children ages 6 to 15--and it is so nice to have people we know here with us, too. We learned so much about Chinese culture today, but I will only share here enough to explain our pictures. We started out in Ti'an men Square, a political area, which still had some Olympic displays out. In the middle there is the people's monument which has eight inscriptions for each of the eight people's revolutions in China's history. It was here that we began our celebrity status as foreigners and our children were asked to take many pictures throughout our day with the local tourists. After that we headed to the Forbidden City where we walked for about two hours. On the doors of the buildings are brass knobs which are supposed to give you good luck if you rub them. We had a nice Chinese lunch served family style with a large lazy susan in the middle of each table. Next stop was a pearl factory where we learned so much about fresh water and salt water pearls and were able to purchase some if we chose. Then we went to the Summer Palace. Here we learned about the mythical creature Ching Ling, which has the parts of many animals. Boys are often called Ching Ling, meaning that they can do anything. There was a bronze statue of a Phoenix as well, representing beauty and the emperess. After that we went to a silk factory where we learned how silk is made into cloth and had a chance to purchase silk items. Finally, we had dinner and headed back to the hotel. What a day!

Making ourselves at home

2008-08-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

We are so glad we had almost a whole day in Beijing before our tour began. After checking in to our hotel and getting our things arranged in our room, we headed out for lunch. Where do you think we went? Oh, yes, the golden arches! I guess we figured that was the best chance that Elijah would eat some protein. He had only eaten rolls and fruit on the airplanes. So, we got to look at a picture menu and point to things. No Diet Coke here, though, so Anita will have to cope. After that we bought some water at the Chinese Wal-mart ("Carrefour") which is right next to our hotel and bought water bottles. The kids were so excited and needed to burn some energy after that, so we let them swim at the indoor pool. They had a blast, especially since it was pouring rain outside at this point. For dinner, what do you think we had? Well, KFC, of course! By the end of dinner, Elijah was nodding off. We all crashed in bed by about 7pm to be ready for our busy Saturday.

Airport Hoppin'

2008-08-29T04:20:00.000-07:00

Anita's parents and Matt's mother and stepdad brought us Smith's to the Los Angeles International airport (aka LAX) on Wednesday night. It was so nice to have them pray with us before we left, and we were so blessed to have had the extra help at the house with the last minute details of leaving it for two weeks!
We boarded our flight with Asiana Airlines at 12:20 am on Thursday morning, August 28th. The kids were so excited to stay up late. Asiana Airlines was great! The plane was very nice and even in coach class we got hot towels to wash our face at bedtime. All the seats had a personal screen to view various channels of entertainment and movies. I think each of the kids watched at least two movies during the flight. Elijah probably slept the most--I cut off his movies at 2am Cali time. Madison slept the least--almost none. Except for the crick in our necks, it was a great flight.
We were a grumpy crew as we arrived in Seoul, Korea, at about 6am Korea time, but overall the kids and we were doing very well. The airport was nice and empty. We all stretched out across the chairs and slept. It was so nice to sleep stretched out flat! We were there two hours and then got our connection to Beijing. Madison and Brevin both slept the entire flight. When we got off the plane we said, "We're in China! Guess what? We're in China!" The airport here is really nice having been remodeled prior to the Olympics. Our America World guide, Sherry, informed us that the airport is in the shape of a turtle because the turtle is a symbol of longevity. I love all the symbolism that is part of the Chinese culture.

We still can't believe it, but the Smiths have arrived in China!

We're off!!

2008-08-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

China, here we come!

The Particulars

2008-08-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

"God is not in the vastness of greatness. He is hid in the vastness of smallness. He is not in the general. He is in the particular." -Pearl S. Buck

This is the quote that came up today on my Words to Warm a Mother's Heart flip calendar and which was penned by the author who showed me Chinese culture (beyond Chinese New Year, watercolor, and calligraphy, that is). It truly speaks to how the details of our journey have fallen into place, especially over the last two weeks. Let me show how true this quote is. About two weeks ago, as the Olympics in Beijing commenced, we did not have the final amounts--the largest amounts--that would be due for our adoption. God first moved by helping Matt to close a large sale which would pay him just over $7700. The glitch was that the commission would not be in our bank account until October. Several days later, we received the invoice for the cost of our in-country travel for our whole family (hotel, flights in China, etc.) and the amount was?...that's right, just over $7700. It seemed that Matt's commission was meant to cover this expense, but how would we pay it on time? America World graciously extended the due date for the in-country travel until August 20th, but also needed to know how we were going to get the $5,000 for the adoption finalization and the $1000 we would need for meals and incidentals in China. But God is in the particular and He knows every detail of our lives. On August 19th, we heard from two people: one who said we could borrow their credit card to pay for the in-country travel and another who wanted to loan us $5,000 cash. We were in tears! Meanwhile, our ChipIn fund (see the left column of this blog) has gone up to $450 and others have given gifts of cash which will cover the meals and incidentals. We give the GLORY to God! We have wondered over the last year and a half why was God allowing our income to be less and less, knowing that we had the adoption ahead of us? I believe it is so that Matt could not say, "See what I did? I worked hard, and I'm a great salesman, and that is what brought this baby to us." But God says, "I AM."

Preparing for Travel

2008-08-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

As this whole adoption has been a walk of faith for us, we continue to be stretched. With only 12 days before we depart from China, we still do not have all the funds to get our whole family there and back. We have dreamt of taking Madison, Brevin and Elijah with us to meet their sister as that seems most right to us, but the ultimate goal is to bring our baby home. We continue to step out in faith as I am going to the Chinese Consulate today to apply for visas for the whole family. We will wait and see what they Lord will do!
"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west." Isaiah 43:5 (New International Version)
If you are new to our sight, please read the posts from June entitled "The Whole Story, part one" and the "The Whole Story, part two." Thanks for following our journey.

The Social Welfare Institute of Poyang County

2008-08-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

The Social Welfare Institute of Poyang (formerly Boyang) County is where our precious baby has been cared for since birth. All the babies who are placed there are given the surname "Bo", in our baby's case, "Bo Zheng" (In China the surname comes first and the given name second). We will most likley not get to visit the orphanage itself when we go to get our own little "Bo Beauty", but some families have.

We have found a Yahoo! group with families who have adopted babies specifically from SWI Poyang County. It has been great to connect with some of these families and read about their experiences. Some families who have gone to the orphanage have shared pictures with the group that you will see below. One group was at the orphanage as recent as June, and we have seen one photo that may possibly have Bo Zheng in the picture! We have been asked not to post pictures of babies whose faces are recognizable, but we're glad to have copies of these photos.

The orphanage building is fairly new and seems to be run by very caring people. There is no heat in the orphanage except for small space heaters, so the babies are very well-bundled during the cold months. Although Poyang is one of the poorer areas of Jiangxi and Jiangxi is one of the poorest provinces in China, we have not heard any reports of children that are malnourished that come from this orphanage. In fact, Hero formula is manufactured in the Jiangxi province and the Poyang orphanage evidently has a good supply.

Through the Yahoo! Group we were able to acquire the orphanage's address and send Sinclair Bo-Zheng a care package. We sent her a photo album with headshots of all us in hopes that this will help her recognize us when we meet. We also sent her a very soft pink teddy bear that has a ladybug on it. The teddy bear slept with Anita for a few days before we sent it out since baby's are so in tune with scents and smells--anything to help familiarize her with us! And lastly we sent a disposable camera for the orphanage workers to photograph Sinclair with her caregivers and friends for us to have a memoir of her first home. All of these were sent with a note in both English and Chinese (thanks again to the Poyang families Yahoo! Group) which indicated what we hoped that the workers there would do with these items. Many families have said that their baby's caregivers did take photos and brought their baby's gifts back with them when they were united with their forever families.

Here are the pictures we can share:

We have our travel approval!

2008-08-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

We now have our concrete travel dates! We will be leaving for China on August 27th--only 26 days from now! We have our U.S. Consulate appointment in Guangzhou on September 8th and will return home with our whole family on September 10th. Anita is so excited she was skipping into the kitchen this morning!

Jiangxi Province

2008-07-28T23:31:00.001-07:00

The Jiangxi Province, Sinclair's birthplace, will always have special significance to us and her. We may not get to tour around much while we are there, but we would like to pass on some of the amazing facts we have learned about this special province.

Jiangxi (jyong-shee) is a southern province of China, bordered to the north by the famous Yangtze River. The Gan River runs through the entire province from south to north, emptying into Lake Poyang which in turn empties into the Yangtze River. In fact, the short name for Jiangxi is "Gan" after the river. The subtropical Jiangxi province has a warm and humid climate with cold springs and winters, hot summers and dry autumns. The average temperature of the province is 37-48 degrees Fahrenheit in January and 80-88 degrees in July. Jiangxi province has a large forest area, mountainous terrain and beautiful scenery. It is one of the more wild places of central China especially around the marshes of Lake Poyang where every year about 2800 white cranes migrate to spend their winter. The lake has been well known as "a land of abundance" and is reputed as a "bright pearl." On the east side of this lake is Mount Lushan, Lushan National Park, and the location of a well-known Buddhist monastery, the Donglin Temple. In 2007, Survivor was filmed in the Zhelin Reservoir of Jiangxi Province!

The capital and main industrial center of Jiangxi is Nanchang. It is home to the Tengwang Pavilion, a towering pavilion dating back to 653 AD and the setting of the first communist-led armed uprising against the nationalists in 1927. Bayi Square is the second largest public square in China, after Beijing's Tiananmen Square. It is also home to the The Star of Nanchang, formerly the world's tallest Ferris wheel. We will most likely first meet Sinclair Bo-Zheng in Nanchang!

Another famous city in this province is Jingdezhen which has been producing pottery from the white clay of a nearby mountain since the Han Dynasty. It is known as the "capital of porcelain" and regarded as the producer of the best porcelain in China.

There are several crops grown in the Jiangxi province, with rice as the most predominant. Cash crops commonly grown include cotton, rapeseed and oranges. The Black Tea produced in Ningzhou City and the Green Tea produced in Wuyuan City are well-known throughout China.

We think it is very interesting that chili peppers are also grown in Jiangxi province and the people here eat spicy food. Girls from this province are known as "Spicy Girls!" It is no coincidence that we would be matched with a baby from this province, though the CCAA had no idea that Anita's grandparents come from New Mexico from where they still order and roast red chilis for sauces for their food. Anita's whole family loves spicy food. Our Spicy Girl will fit in perfectly!

Sinclair is 9 months today!

2008-07-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sinclair is now 9 months old. We can't wait to kiss those chubby cheeks and see her little toes! We may only have to wait 5 more weeks. We'll keep everyone posted on the exact dates when we receive our travel approval. For now, we'll keep gazing at the pictures we have of her around our house. I wonder what she's doing today....

More about Sinclair

2008-07-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

This week we got the translation of the rest of Sinclair's dossier. We got information about her immunizations thus far and her daily eating routine. We also got more information about her life over the last 8 months. Here is a summary of what it says:

Sinclair was abandoned at the gate of the Social Welfare Institute (SWI) under Bureau of Civil Affairs of Poyang County on Oct. 27, 2007. Once she was found, her abandonment was reported to the police station. She was examined by a doctor and it was estimated that her birthday was on Oct. 27, 2007 according to her umbilical part and a birth note left with her. She was identified as a healthy baby. She was named Bo Zheng and has been living at SWI Poyang County ever since.

Sinclair has been growing well under the care of the orphanage where she is living. When she first arrived she was "gentle and sensible." After one month "she sometimes looked as if smiling, maybe unconsciously, but it was such a nice smile." After two months, she would giggle at the expressions and voices of her caregivers. After four months, she liked to babble to herself. "She is happy to see familiar people and sometimes waves her hands and feet. She would hide, she even cries, when she sees strangers. Now she is a pretty girl with big eyes and rosy lips. She is very cute....Let us pray together for the healthy and happy growing of this child."

We have been praying for this child for so very long! In fact, we have prayed for her and her caregivers since before her conception. We are so excited to be her parents! "For this child I have prayed and God has granted me what I asked of Him" (I Samuel 1:27).

Finally...Sinclair!!

2008-07-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

With hearts overflowing, we introduce Sinclair Bo-Zheng!!

Bo Zheng was Born on Oct. 27, 2007
in the Jiangxi Province of the People's Republic of China.
At 5 months old she weighed 13 pounds and measured 24 1/2 inches long.
She is currently being cared for at the Social Welfare Institute of Poyang County.

Here are some of the comments from her "State of Growth":

Bo Zheng is a deep sleeper. She can hold her head up while lying on her stomach. She can roll from supine to prone position by herself. She can locate the direction of sounds and voices. She visually follows moving toys and looks down for dropped toys. She can hold a block in each hand at the same time. She follows a person by moving her head from one side to the other and distinguishes between acquaintances and strangers. She makes vocalizations directed at people and toys and she laughs aloud. She is active, fond of listening to music, fond of playing with toys, and fond of playing games. She is also found of quietness. She is closest to her caregiver.

Most importanly, WE LOVE HER!!!

Referrals on the way to the U.S.!

2008-07-07T08:13:00.001-07:00

We just received the following email from our agency:

It is with great excitement that we email you today to let you know that you will be receiving your referral soon! Referrals have not yet arrived in our office, but the CCAA has posted the cut off date for processing and your LID was included. The cut off date for this referral group is 1/25/06. You have endured the difficult wait and have persevered, and will soon see the face of your child that you have long waited for. We look forward to contacting you soon to tell you about your precious child.

We are waiting on pins and needles now! What will we do with ourselves all day?! We're so excited!

How does the CCAA match children to parents?

2008-07-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

It is the CCAA’s job to match all of the available orphans in China with their adoptive families. Many people have asked why the youngest children available from China are 6 months old—why not younger? It is because it takes some time to get these children paper-ready and then send their dossiers to the CCAA, just as it took us about 6 months to get our dossier together. The children’s dossiers are in one queue and the adoptive families dossiers are in another. The child that the CCAA matches us with is greatly dependent on the types of children next up for placement. Here is what we have read about the matching process from several different websites.

First, they review the baby dossiers and make sure there are no issues with them. Then they count up all of the baby dossiers that are eligible for matching that month and then look to see how far this stack will go in the parent dossiers without sending out a partial day of LID’s, and they pull all of those parent files.

Secondly, they match orphanages up with agencies. For example, this orphanage has six babies, this agency has six families; these two orphanages are in the same province and have a total of 12 babies, this agency has 12 families, etc.

Thirdly, they start matching individual babies to individual families. They first look for something that stands out: a matching birthday, a baby who looks a lot like a parent, or a baby who likes music and a parent who teaches music. Several matching people have stated they match by bone structure of the baby’s face and the parents’ faces (this is why parents send their passport photos, so they can compare our mug shot with the baby’s mug shot). Some have stated that they have used Chinese astrology also. Once they’ve matched the obvious matches they then start to look at things like age of child requested. The age requested is not a priority for them, because they feel they are matching families and not filling orders. But at this point they do try to satisfy the particular requests of the applicants. Our request was for a baby aged 9-14 months. Most people ask for the youngest child possible; therefore, in most groups, the youngest couples will get the youngest children (babies) in that group and the older families will tend to get the older children (toddlers). Keep in mind that the youngest families will be 30 years old and the oldest families will be 50 based on China’s adoption requirements. Therefore, we are on the younger side.

Ultimately, it is God who will do the matching! We have prayed for His hand in all of this and trust in Him to work through the CCAA. He has known and planned all along whom our baby would be. Psalm 68:5-6a says, “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families.” We can’t wait to see who He has chosen to place into our family!

Ladybugs

2008-07-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Ladybugs are supposed to be good luck in the China adoption community. The story goes that several years ago, while numerous people waited for their referrals, there was a huge infiltration of ladybugs across the nation. Immediately following the ladybug sightings, a flood of referrals came in for many of the waiting parents. Many people now believe that when a ladybug is seen, a referral is not far behind.

We swore we weren't going to get into this ladybug trend when we started out on our adoption. But honestly, we can't resist. Ladybugs are too cute! We're not superstitious people and really don't believe it means anything, but have found ourselves compelled to buy ladybug wrapping paper, stickers, and whatever little things we see.

Matt saw a ladybug on a website the other day, and the ladybug seemed to have nothing to do with the website. It was just there. So that's one sighting this week! Let's have fun with this: if you see any ladybugs, post your finds in the comments section of this post!

Adoption lingo

2008-06-28T14:20:00.001-07:00

Adoption Day: the day you swear to care for and love your child and sign the official adoption papers.

Bio: an abbreviation for "biological"

CCAA: China Center of Adoption Affairs, the governmental agency in China which processes all adoptive families dossiers and all of China's paper-ready orphans including translation, approval, and matching of families to children.

DOR: date of referral.

Dossier: pronounced "doss-ee-ay", a collection or file of documents on the same subject, especially a complete file containing detailed information about a person or topic.

DTC: Dossier To China, this is the date a family's adoption agency mailed their dossier to China

Family Coordinator: the wonderful person at an adoption agency who guides a family throughout the adoption process coordinating all aspects of the adoption, answering questions, praying for and encouraging their families.

Gotcha Day: the day you finally get to meet and hold your child and take him/her with you.

Home Study: A social investigation where a social worker interviews prospective adoptive parents concerning their background and their ability to raise a child. Often this is done in a series of interviews (4 for China), with at least one interview in the home. It can also include information to help an individual or couple to prepare for adoption. Homestudies can become "outdated". There is a time period, usually 18 months, before a homestudy needs to be updated.

I-171H: the approval form you must have from USCIS to adopt a foreign-born child.

LID: Log-In-Date, the date that China received our dossier and logged it into their system; this is a family's spot in the queue at the CCAA

LOA: Letter of Acceptance

LOI: Letter of Intent

"Mei-mei": the Chinese word for "little sister".

PA: Pre-approval.

Paper-chase: the act of gathering up all the paper work that is needed for the dossier.

Paper "pregnancy": the stage of adoption where the parents are gathering all their needed documents for their dossier

Paper-ready: an adjective used to describe an orphan who has been examined and registered with the CCAA to be adopted.

Re-adoption: refers to a process by which a U.S. state court in the state of the parents' or sole parent's, as applicable, residence reviews the details of the adoption abroad along with additional information as it deems necessary, and issues a new adoption decree, independent from the foreign decree, stating that the child has been adopted in conformity with the adoption law of the applicable state. The ultimate purpose is to ensure that your child by adoption is entitled to all of the rights that he or she should have as your child under U.S. federal and state law.

Referral: The information a family receives about their child which includes two 3x5 photos, one passport size photo, a medical report with coinciding lab results and graphs, a growth report and one to two pages of biographical information.

SN: Special Needs, refers to children who are physically, developmentally or emotionally disabled, or an older child who might remain in institutionalized care should no adoptive family be available.

Social orphan: a child whose families cannot care for them due to extreme poverty, abuse, incarceration or abandonment.

SW: Social Worker

TA: Travel Approval, the approval to travel to another country for adoption and the dates you will be there.

True orphan: a child with no parents or extended family to care for them.

USCIS: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, formerly the INS.

Waiting Children: Another term for children with special needs, especially children who are in need of homes to be adopted into. Also children who are older than five years of age.

Our family, Mother's Day 2008

2008-06-24T20:39:00.001-07:00

The Whole Story, part one

2008-06-23T08:19:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when you hear of world happenings, it so affects you that you dwell upon it long after the time you first learned of it.

It was back in high school when I first became aware of China's one-child policy. When I heard of the ways in which this policy was enforced, I felt devastated. Combined with the Chinese cultural preference for boys, my heart truly broke for the women and girls of China.

When Matt and I got married, we both knew we wanted about three kids, maybe four. We were first blessed with Madison in 1996 and then Brevin in 1999.

The idea of adoption came along in an unexpected way. One day I was sitting on a park bench watching Madison play while nursing Brevin and admiring a little Asian girl who was playing and laughing nearby. I commented to Matt about how cute she was, and he responded, "I would be happy to try to give you one of those, Anita, but I just don't think we can make one. I'll be glad to try for the rest of my life, though!" In my attempt for a rebuttal to that, I blurted out, "Well, we could adopt one!"

I'm sure Matt didn't think about it again, and he had no idea of the flood of thoughts he had just loosed within me. All my feelings towards the situation in China came back to me. And I knew that China must have an exorbitant amount of female orphans. I realized that adopting an orphan from China would be a great way to do something to help the social crisis there. I knew I would probably never be a missionary to China nor be able to change the policies there, but I could make a difference in the life of one child.

One day I said to Matt, "You know, we really could adopt a baby from China." To which he replied, "Yeah, right!" As I got him to realize I was serious, he agreed to at least pray about it. I prayed about it as well.

One day I remember in particular, I had spent the morning praying about adopting from China and asking God to show us His will. Afterwards, I took Madison (approx. 5 yrs.) and Brevin (about 2) to the park to play. And there at the playground was a Caucasian woman with her three children: two caucasian and one adopted from China. I was stunned. How many times had I asked for God to just tell me what to do, just send me a FAX or a burning bush? This time He had. This was A CLEAR SIGN.

I continued to pray and think about it as Matt did. When we came back to discuss God's will for our family, we both had to admit that while being open to adoption, we still wanted to have one more biological child. What's truly amazing is that now we know that at the time we weren't even old enough nor did we have enough annual income for an adoption from China.

In 2002, we were blessed with Elijah. I remember that once I had my second boy, I knew that I also wanted another girl. And I began secretly researching China adoptions when Matt wasn't looking. (At this point in our lives, we were living in a 2 bedroom apartment and the idea was totally implausible) When Elijah turned one, we both agreed that we were done having biological children. Matt especially felt that if we were to have more children, it would be better to provide a family to one of the millions of orphans already in the world rather than to bring another child into the world. Though the definite decision to adopt had not been made at this point, I knew Matt was on board and it would only be a matter of time....

The Whole Story, part two

2008-06-22T18:45:00.001-07:00

It was nothing short of a miracle! By the end of 2004, Matt's income had almost doubled at Dealer Fusion. He had also begun his business with World Financial Group. We were living in a bigger home, and I no longer had to research adoption "in secret".

Yet the cost was still daunting. While we were renting a more comfortable home and had less monthly financial strain, we did not have anything saved. But God had always taken care of us, and we'd gone through very difficult times when Matt had been in ministry living on a "faith" budget for almost...well, our whole marriage minus one year. We told ourselves, "If God is leading us to do this, then God will provide."

Since Elijah was now about 2 1/2, we knew that it was time to really decide about whether to have another child. One day I typed "Christian adoption" into Google. There were a lot of listings, but one certain ad in the sidebar caught my eye. It was America World Adoption Agency (AWAA). I clicked on it right away and I just knew that this was the right agency for us. I saw an endorsement by Steven Curtis Chapman on the home page, and it was such an encouragement to see that he and his wife had adopted from China after having a biological daughter and two sons just as we did. On the website there was a place to send for an information packet, which I did, and then there was a listing of upcoming adoption seminars. There was one scheduled in Southern California that very weekend. It happened to be at a church in Manhattan Beach which Matt had been extremely close to being hired at for the youth pastor position about 4 years prior. I called our neighbors to see if they were free to watch the kids, which they were, and we were on our way.

The night before the seminar, Matt got a call from Dealer Fusion: he was being given a new territory to oversee with a $5,000/yr raise! This was another CLEAR SIGN.

I probably don't need to say that the seminar was just what we needed. We got to meet a regional public relations rep from AWAA who shared his adoption story and how God provided for that. We got to meet another couple with their baby who had just returned from China and hear how amazing that had been. Both of these families had biological children before adopting. We were impressed with the video we saw of the director of AWAA and his heart for orphans and adoption. We got the information on the cost breakdown and many available ways in which to cover the cost--cost seems to be the one issue for every adoptive couple. We also found out that we met the requirements for China adoption (this was before the China Center of Adoption Affairs added the "net worth" requirement). When we got home from the seminar, the information packet had arrived in the mail. We were so impressed by AWAA.

Now that we had an agency chosen, we decided to take two weeks to pray again before beginning to step forth. This is what we heard:

"Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don't you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in dry land." (Isaiah 43:19)

"Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from Him.... How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates." (Psalm 127:3,5)

"How happy are those who fear [respect and revere] the Lord--all who follow his ways*! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How happy you will be! How rich your life! Your wife will be like a frutiful vine flourishing within your home. And look at all those children! There they sit around your table as vigorous and healthy as young olive trees. That is the reward for those who fear Him." (Psalm 128:1-4)

And what are the ways* of the Lord?

"His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 1:5a)

On Father's Day, 2005, we submitted our adoption application to America World!