It's Christmas time

 Christmas time is such a busy time for us.  Fortunately, Mia loves to be busy.  Her file had mentioned that "she likes to go many places."  I am realizing just how true this is.  When we asked her foster mother what she was afraid of, she said, "nothing."  This is also true.  

Mia has done so much these last few weeks.  She has attended several Christmas parties and festivities, started her 4th week of school, gone rollerskating, watched the Nutcracker, gone to the zoo to see the wildlights, sang on stage at church and smiled through many Christmas photo attempts (sorry Christmas photos just didn't happen this year).  

She is learning English and amazing me with new words and phrases each day.  And she understands a ton now. 

She has also begun to learn the alphabet.   I think she knows at least half her letters/sounds (everyday we eat lunch while watching the Letter Factory Video...an added bonus is that Austin is learning his letters too) and is slowly but surely beginning to write her letters (so far Aa, Bb, Cc, i, and M).  I don't think she had much practice writing/coloring/drawing in China and had a lot of trouble in the beginning.  She couldn't even draw a circle.  So, I "make" her write a page of letters each day and she is making progress.  One of the best tips (got this from her kindergarten teacher) is to use a highlighter to make the letters and then let Mia trace with a pencil.  This has worked wonderfully for her. 

Her favorite letter is "B" because it stands for "Baba" and I am beginning to think that is the only thing it stands for in her mind. 

 Here Mia is singing on stage at our church.  She is standing on the middle right side next to the candle decoration in the pink dress.  Ashlyn is above her in a pink dress and Ryan is on the top row second from the left.  She amazed me with how well she did on stage.  She was a pro!  This definitely ranks as one of my top proud parent moments. 

 Getting ready to hang Christmas ornaments bought in China.

 Hanging the ornaments.

 It is kind of blurry but if you come to my house on a Friday night this is what you might see.  Hot chocolate and a movie.  Although, just as likely they are in jammies snuggled on the floor with pillows and blankets. 

 Adam's work puts on a children's Christmas party each year complete with balloons, breakfast, Santa, presents, and crafts.  They do such a great job.
 
 At the work Christmas Party.  One of my favorites.
All of us with Santa.  Austin wanted nothing to do with him and Mia couldn't jump in his lap fast enough.

 Going to the Columbus Zoo to see the wildlights.  So fun!

 Mia loves to help me in the kitchen.  Making sugar cookies on this day.

 Attempting a Christmas photo.

 And then Mia started to do this.

 Followed by this... so cute!

 I love this picture of Mia with Nana and Papa.  They took care of the boys while we were in China and then spent Thanksgiving with us.  Mia hasn't seen them since Thanksgiving but she talks about them ALL the time.

Our family of 6. 

One more attempt at the perfect photo...oh well.

I love that a new stocking has been added this year.

Our Adoption Video - 2012

We've been home now for nearly 3 weeks - just long enough to put together a video chronicling our adoption adventures. I hope you enjoy and share in our new blessing.

Adoption Video - 2012 from Adam Schrader on Vimeo.

First days

This is Ginny.

In the last 3 days Mia has gone to her first day of Sunday School at church and her first two days of Kindergarten.  Amazing!!!

Before getting Mia I had no idea how we would transition her to school.  Should we start her right away (this was what the school wanted), at least wait until the new year (this was my thought), or wait for the new school year so she would at least know some English.  Our social worker suggested we might even need to wait a year or two.  Come to find out there is really no right answer to this...everybody does it differently. 

Last week Ryan and Ashlyn had school on Monday and Tuesday.  On Monday as they were getting ready for school I noticed Mia was getting ready too.... uh oh.  How do I explain this to her???  We had tried using Google translator during our time in China and she paid no attention to it so I had no way to tell her what was happening.  She even put her shoes on and found her backpack.  She smiled big and thought she was going too.  She even tried to stuff Ryan's lunch into her backpack.  I had no idea what to do or how to explain to her what was going on.

As they ran out the door for the bus, Mia stood looking out the window with the saddest face.  After a few moments I remembered her love for baths and announced bath time for her and Austin.  Of course, I had to show her for her to understand but that definitely did the trick and her frown turned into a smile.  Later she got to go shopping with Nana to get new sneakers and new boots (we held off from buying new shoes in China) and so the day turned into a stellar one for Mia.  She loved shopping!  She loved getting new shoes!  And she loved getting new boots!   

Based on her reaction on Monday, I decided to let her "visit" her school on Tuesday.  Adam and I both brought her in and she met many adults.  It was a bit overwhelming for her (and for me) but also very sweet and touching that so many of the adults in the building were excited to meet her.  It was decided that she should start school on the following Monday (after the Thanksgiving holiday).  Mia seemed confused as to why she couldn't stay longer that day. 

I was glad when Wednesday came and everyone would be home.  Adam's parents have been with Ryan and Austin since before we left for China and continued to stay with us to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Danielle (Adam's youngest sister came) as well as my sister Leandra.  It was a full house and Mia loved it.  Basically, she went from family member to family member begging for whatever electronic they would let her use.  Laptop computer, ipad, iphone, DSI, Leappad...yep, just one to another.  Can you think of a better way to bond?

At one point Leandra started using the google translater with Mia.  I tried to let Leandra know it wouldn't work and not to waste her time but before I had a chance she was already using it and Mia was responding to it.  Maybe it is working now because it is the only Chinese she is hearing so her ears are more attuned to it?  But whatever the reason it has made things so much easier.

We are communicating with her in a couple of ways.  She has already learned lots of English words (she knew no English when we got her).  She understands- eat, all done, bye bye, hello, brush teeth, time for bed, potty, just a minute, go get a hairbrush (lots of simple things).  And words that she says a lot in Chinese that we have learned- all done, mine!, pee pee, look at me!  We usually have hand signals that we use too....running our finger back and forth along our teeth to demonstrate brush teeth, rubbing our belly to demonstrate being full, etc..  She has learned to do this as well to help us understand her. 

For the most part I think we are understanding her basic needs (hungry, tired, thirsty, bathroom, want to watch Ni Hao Kai Lan (you know the important stuff) but there is still so much she says that we don't know and all we can do is nod and tell her yeah.  That works some times and other times she just keeps repeating the same thing over and over with obvious frustration.  Fortunately, those moments are fairly few and far between but whenever they occur I wonder how much longer till she learns English and then I start thinking about that and trying to tune out the fact that I can't answer her correctly.  And to be perfectly honest, those moments have been by far the hardest part for me and I am sure for Mia too. 

But ahhh, the google translator has become our life saver!!!!  It has saved us from several melt downs I am sure!  Being able to speak into it and tell her what is going on or telling her that yes, she can do X but first we need to do Y has been invaluable.  We have tried to also have her speak into it but maybe because she speaks Mandarin with a Guizhou accent or because she isn't speaking slowly or clearly enough that just isn't working. 

We decided to go to church yesterday.  I had no idea what to do with her.  Would she go to a class or sit with us in the big service.  Should I stay with her in her class or have Ashlyn go with her or have her go to Ashlyn's class or maybe have Ryan go with her.... so many possibilities and again I didn't know the right answer.  So before we left I got out the google translator.  I first told her, "we are going to church today."  Then, "Ryan will go to his class," "Ashlyn will go to her class," Austin will go to his class."  Before I could go any further, Mia said, "Jin Guo Guo wada ........." and I recognized her name and the word "mine" and knew she was asking what about her and her class.  So, I then told her, "Mia will go to her class" and she got the biggest grin on her face. 

We got to church and dropped Austin off first.  As we were rounding the hallway for Mia's classroom we saw all these cute faces peering out of the door of her classroom just waiting for her.  I wish I had a camera ready because it was the cutest thing.  Mia was basically beside herself to go and waved and smiled at us when we said goodbye.  When we came to pick her up the teacher had a big smile and said she did great!  We honestly had no idea how she would do and were so relieved and also felt better about sending her to school the next day.

We got in the car and then out of nowhere (well I am sure somewhere but we couldn't understand) she completely melted down.  I have no idea why but she cried (similar to how she cried that one day in China) and then after a few minutes settled down and was absolutely fine again.

On Monday she was so excited to go to school.  She got herself dressed and ready in no time.  Ryan and Ashlyn left first on the bus and then Adam and I drove her to school.  We walked her to her classroom.  Her teacher showed her where her backpack and coat go and where her seat was.  Mia was ready and we said goodbye.  When I picked her up her teacher told me she did great and will adjust very well!  yeah!!! 

We got in the car and she was definitely trying to tell me something and I definitely did not understand.  We got home and she melted down (again not sure why??).  Fortunately, after a few minutes she composed herself and was fine. 

We had a great afternoon while Austin napped.  We watched the Letter Factory video while eating Ramen Noodles, colored, did a puzzle, played starfall on the computer, read a couple of books and just hung out together.  After spending close to 2 hours with her and Austin was still sleeping I thought I would slip away to clean bathrooms.  Mia followed me to the bathroom and insisted on helping...ummmm really I thought, she will be bored after the first bathroom (there are 3 to clean).  Nope, she got more into it with each one and seemed to enjoy herself more cleaning toilets than during any of the other activities we did earlier.  I am still not sure what to make of that.   

And today she went to her second day of kindergarten.  I was a little bit nervous that the meltdown the day before might hinder her wanting to go today and wondered if she would still be as excited on the second day.  I shouldn't have worried because she dropped off great again.  When I picked her up the teacher again said she did great, did everything she was suppose to, and will adjust really well. 

And the best part was there was no meltdown afterwards!  I know things are overwhelming and I can't wrap my mind around it but she is determined to move forward and to enjoy herself despite all the obstacles trying to hold her back.  Can I just say she amazes me!

Tonight she watched the tail end of Ryan and Ashlyn's Tae Kwon Do class.  She LOVED it and was trying to mimic the kids in the class.  I have a feeling she will be asking to start that soon too.

Some have asked how she is making out with one hand.  We like to call it a big arm and a little arm.  And she uses both to do everything she needs to do.  There are a couple of things she has trouble with (starting the zipper on her coat, taking caps of markers, buckling her seatbelt and honestly those are the ONLY things I can think of) but I am realizing they are things she probably didn't have to do in China and so they are new to her.  Most things she can do by herself.  One thing she can do by herself is peel an orange...have you ever tried to peel an orange with one hand?  Mia makes it look easy.  If she wants to do it she will find a way. 

 

Getting ready for her first day of school.

Hurry up mom!

 

 

 

 

Thankful

Here is an update of Mia from the Nana's viewpoint for all those going through withdrawal of posts.

I know this is very prejudicial but this little girl is amazing! Everything in her world has changed dramatically and she is rolling with it. There are times she gets upset but it is usually because she doesn't understand what is happening. That is not a frequent thing thankfully & her attitude quickly adjusts which is impressive. She has a fun personality that can be seen through the language barrier. She is like a little sponge soaking up all our love.

Mia had no knowledge of computers or technology before she came into this family. Can I say she is adjusting just fine. She is Ryan's little sister and Adam's daughter after all :-) She loves some of the apps on our phones, games & such on the iPad.  She often comes to me to climb on my lap...only to find out she wants to check my computer. She has watched the video of herself coming down the slide about 100 times...and counting! She repeats..."Ryan said ok" which is heard in the clip. 

Tuesday Mia went to school to meet her teachers and see her classroom. She was a bit overwhelmed by  the entourage' of 10 adults all trying to see her at the same time....needless to say they are very excited to have her in school.  She will get quiet and appear shy when in those kind of situations, but she seemed generally disappointed she didn't stay longer. 

Ginny was very pleased with her teacher/teachers who will be working with her. They are very caring & willing to make sure she is adjusting.  Mia will be in kindergarten for the mornings starting next week! She is an eager learner and I am sure she will do great.

When Mia is excited it is funny to see her get louder and louder trying to make herself understood. She also will go to each of one of us to tell the same story over and over again. Wish we knew what she was trying to say....that time will come...just not soon enough.

Mia is bonding very nicely with all of us. She calls us by name usually rather loudly. She is genuinely happy most of the time...downright silly about simple things and just a joy. 

Ryan is very gentle with her and you can tell she enjoys her "gaga", big brother and vice versa.
"Deedee", little brother is Austin. Mia has quickly learned to say "no" to him as he tries to steal the iPhone or iPad from her. They both converse in a language unknown to all of us. 
Hopefully, Mia will learn English instead of Austin learning Chinese...although anything is possible:/ 

Ashlyn, Jiejie, is happy to be home with all her friends in the neighborhood. She is willing sharing them with Mia who is quite the celebrity with the little girls.  The other day a little girl came to the door to play with Mia...she had never met her before but wanted to play.  Then another little girl came over and she quickly started counting in Chinese to Mia to show off her skill of the Chinese language.  The school where the kids attend are having after school classes in Chinese & the first graders are all doing it as a special during their school day. 

Five years ago,  Adam and Ginny told us of their plans to adopt from China. At the time, we had to keep it a secret from the rest of the family until they could announce it to everyone else.  
During that time, Danielle and I would just look at each other and our eyes would fill with tears!  
I think we get to feel the very heart of God when we love on an orphan which is why it moves our hearts to tears.  Just a small piece of His amazingly love.
To see her precious face and be able to wrap our arms of love around her is an amazing gift to us.  
As the blessed Nana, I am privileged to be a part of this whole adventure.  

 Intense iPhone playing

 Silly faces...well, at least for me

 She took this picture of Ryan...she was having fun with my camera phone

 Self portrait

She was making Ashlyn say "cheese"

HOME!!!

Hey everyone... sorry for not posting for a few days. I'm going to blame the jet lag for my procrastination...

Anyways, we made it home!! Our total travel time was over 24 hours from when we left our hotel to when we arrived back into Columbus, OH. Thankfully, our daughters both did great coming home...  our 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago went about as well as could be imagined, with the minor disappointments of turbulence for the first 2 hours (i.e. no food/drink service for a while), and also not having the personal entertainment consoles in each of the chairs like we had going over... I know... minor minor issues. We ended up going thru customs, which was remarkably EASY! We handed the customs official our sealed envelope from the US consulate, and were ushered over to a separate room, where another nice official came, stamped the papers a couple of times, and congratulated us on her citizenship. After that, we had to go back through security, and then, we ended up at the nice playground in O'Hare for about 3 hours. Overall, it was an exhausting, but uneventful day.

We finally brought Mia home around 7:30 pm and she was somewhat overwhelmed with the jet lag, meeting new family members (brothers, grandparents), and from seeing her new home. She was ecstatic, but also exhausted.

Now we're onto the part of the adoption called real life :) We're going to be keeping her home this next week during Thanksgiving holiday, and then getting her enrolled in school starting next week Monday... so it should be fun!

Our 747 getting prepped for our flight home

Mia after landing in Chicago (and becoming a US Citizen)

Three of our kids enjoying cake pops from Starbucks this morning

My mother and Mia after we arrived into the Columbus airport

Mommy and Mia relaxing together at home

Our new daughter :)



Day 15: And away we go...

We're about 20 minutes away from checking out of our hotel in Guangzhou to begin the process of coming home. We first head back over to the US consulate office to get Mia's visa and documentation package... Then it's off to Hong Kong for the night. Tomorrow, we head to the airport for our 11am flight out to Chicago - which comically lands around the exact same time... Just 15 hours later... Then a 5 hr layover in O'Hare, then our quick flight back to Columbus... Sounds easy... Right?!?

Day 14: And how is it really going???

This is Ginny.

The Sunday before we left for China we had several people at our church pray for us.  One of the main things we prayed for was our Gotcha Day.  We prayed that Mia would be "stupidly peaceful" which I know sounds kind of odd. 

But we remembered how both Adam and I were "stupidly peaceful" during our incredibly scary pregnancy with Austin.  We had lots of people praying for us and we felt unexplainably calm and yes "stupidly peaceful." 

We knew Gotcha Day was going to be an incredibly scary time for Mia and we thought why not pray this for her as well.  I have to admit it even though we prayed for it, it still worried me a little bit just how "stupidly peaceful and happy" she was. 

Gotcha Day felt very much like a fairy tale and I wondered if she fully comprehended what was happening and how long this honeymoon phase would last.  Surely she will grieve at some point and what will that look like for our daughter.  

Our entire first week with our daughter was EASY!  She was chatty the first couple of days but then quieter after she realized we had no idea what she was saying.  She did everything she was suppose to and never cried once.  We did lots of sight seeing which required lots of walking and she never complained once.     

This second week has been very different.  It is obvious that she is bonding well with us which we are thrilled with and also beginning to grieve.  We have seen so much more of her personality during this second week and we love it!  But alongside this she is beginning to grieve and that is hard especially since we still can't fully communicate with her.       

I read in one of my adoption books that whining is acutally a good sign.  It means she is becoming comfortable with us and is attaching to us.  So yeah, she is attaching!!!  She is letting me know when we are walking too far and she gets tired or hungry and I am only just today fully understanding her when she tells me she has to go to the bathroom (up until yesterday the poor girl had to jump up and down and hold herself before I got the hint). 

Actually, we found out that "pee pee" is pronounced kind of like "meow meow" expect with an "n" so it is "neow neow."  Yesterday, we were out shopping and she had to go to the bathroom (and I understood!).  I didn't know where the bathroom was so I asked an employee in English.  Lots of people in Guangzhou know some English but this person did not.  So, I said the only thing I knew to say, "neow neow."  After stifling some laughter, she showed me where the bathroom was. 

Adam wrote how a couple of days ago Mia cried (okay screamed) the entire way home because she didn't want to hold his hand so he carried her.  She will only hold my hand or Ashlyn's hand but not Adam's hand when we are out in public.  I found this puzzling since in many ways Adam is the favored parent.  It is obvious she loves him.  She is quick to share her food with him and engage him in silly antics.  She laughs the most when she is with him.  She lets him tickle her, lift her up, swing her around, and be just plain goofy, so why not hold his hand in public settings?  We recalled that she said she was with her father when the train accident occured (no mention of the mother) and wonder if he was holding her hand when the scary accident took place.  We did have a slight break through today when she was holding my hand and held out her little arm for Adam to hold as we were crossing a busy street.  Small steps.

So what are our days like?  Lots of giggling and laughter, lots of fun and lots of smiles, lots of bonding.  She is back to being her chatty self again and will get louder when we don't understand her to the point of almost shouting at us in Chinese. 

She is a very happy and adventurous kid.  We really haven't found her to be afraid of anything.  We took her to the pool today (it was kind of cold) but she loved it!  Even after she lost her balance and fell in and needed help getting out she went right back in.  She loves animals and was disappointed she couldn't be inside with the animals at the zoo.  She will love the petting zoo.  She loved the amusement park rides we took her on yesterday.  I get the impression that she will try anything.

Alongside this happy and adventurous kid though is a kid who is grieving.  It is coming out over little things.  No, you can't have a bath before you get dressed because we have to get breakfast and meet our guide soon (nevermind that she had 2 baths the day before).  No, you have to go to bed now (fortunately, she is tired by 7:00 and will fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly for 10-11 hours each night).  No, you can't tell Ashlyn which headband she will wear today.  No, we don't have matching clothes today (choices of clean clothes are getting limited at this point).  Each time she reacts the same way with a somewhat adorable pout and soft crying.  The crying usually last 5-10 minutes and then she complies and is happy again.

We recognize this for what it is.  Not as a child who is spoiled and use to getting her way but as a child who has lost everything she knows and is being forced to completely start over (language, customs, food, clothes, etc., etc).  It is mind boggling really when you think about it.  And when I try to wrap my mind around all of the changes she has incured these last couple of weeks I am in awe of this child of ours.... strong and determined, a fighter, loving and fun....OUR daughter.     

 Right outside the US consulate appointment (the reason why we needed to stay here this long).

Day 13: Lake parks and Shamian Island (again)

One of the things that I have found to be really cool is breakfast here... not because it is about the best breakfast buffet ever, but because of the company we have whenever we go downstairs to the restaurant.

Today, we were seated back in the "adoption family" corner of the restaurant, where about 10-15 different families are seated - all adopting a child from China. I think there was a Spanish family, and the rest were Americans (or maybe an English family as well ... I couldn't tell). Most, if not all, of the children are special needs (including ours)... which makes being near these adoptive families at this moment in their life... so so special.

Since we are going on Day 13 here, my selection of "clean" garments is limited... so today, I chose to wear my Ohio State t-shirt. That shirt opened up 2 conversations with families today because they either live in Ohio, or have in the not-so-distant past. If you are interested in seeing these families at the same point in their adoption processes as us, you can check out their blogs in the "Blogs I follow" section...

After a quick Facetime call home to my parents to say "Hi" to our boys at home, we met our guide to go out to the lake park over by the China Hotel (the hotel we were supposed to be at, but got bumped to the Garden Hotel instead). It was quite beautiful with all the palm trees and such - this area reminds me so much of Houston, TX - except for all the Chinese everywhere. We walked around the park/lake - and one thing that I really think is cool here is watching all the older folks here exercise. Many of them will dance and do Tai Chi to music here in groups... which is just fascinating. Another thing we came across here was a public gym - including outdoor cardio / weight training equipment. There were also badminton courts, as well as table tennis games going on.

Towards the end of the park, we came to the playground for the kids... except that it's closed for renovations. There were several amusement park-like rides available for the kids to ride... so we bought tickets for the girls to go on 3 different rides. It was fun, but kinda sad in a way seeing all this stuff available for the adults, but almost nothing for kids. It made us homesick for our parks back home.

Anyways, after we were done there, we went back over to Shamian Island to get a few more souvenirs... but while we were over there, we came across 8-9 bride/groom couples getting their wedding photos taken. It was Wednesday lunch time... we were just amazed at how many were running around having photos taken there.

So tomorrow is our big day - our US consulate appointment... 10 AM sharp. Hopefully, we'll be in and out in no time... then Friday we check out, get our US visa for Mia, head to Hong Kong for the night, then fly home the next morning.... so our time here is quickly coming to a close. In so many ways, it seems like our trip has just started... but also feels like we've been here for so long. We can't wait to see our other kids again... and have them meet their new sister :)

Our girls by the lake in Guangzhou

Mia and Ashlyn on one of the amusement rides

The girls found a parrot and wanted to feed it

Three brides trying to share the street for pictures... glad Bridzilla wasn't there

One of my favorite stops... Starbucks :)

Looks like Starbucks, but it's alittle different

Here I am sporting my OSU t-shirt that helped us meet two new families today :)



Day 12 continued...

Just updating with photos from our outing at the Guangzhou zoo this afternoon... We really enjoyed the zoo, even if Mia was disappointed that the animals were all behind fences and cages... remember, she lived in a city where the monkeys roamed free in a park... :)

But besides that, the zoo is actually quite nice... it's an older zoo, but a nice one though. There were even 2 panda bears there as well... One other nice thing was that since the exhibits were all smaller than typical ones in the US - you can see the animals quite easily here (i.e. tigers, lions, bears, etc.).

We had yet another Chinese paparazzi moment with Ashlyn today, but the funniest part about that was the mother who wanted to have her picture taken with Ashlyn was holding her baby - who was probably no more than 12 months old - wearing the split pants. I'll refrain from posting those for everyone's sakes...

Mia, Mommy, and Ashlyn at the zoo 

Mia and Ashlyn together 

Love this face!! :) 

Mommy and Mia together 

Mia pointing out the pandas 

Our guide Wensi, Ashlyn, and Mia together in front of the giraffes. Mia was quite disappointed though that she couldn't feed them. She was about to start throwing personal items to them to eat... I'm glad she chose otherwise...