We're famous

We've been finding things to do this summer even though not too much is actually on the calendar. Over the weekend, we were at a local festival and ZhuZhu had her first snocone. It was orange flavor. The boys came home with two goldfish - great for when the pond is finished. Tuesday, we went to a local county 4-H fair to see the cousins show their cattle. ZhuZhu was most impressed by the other animals and didn't care too much about the show. However, cousin John, she was recognizing you in the show ring.

That is one fuzzy chicken!

Hey, this goat is trying to eat my shoe (well, actually it is my brother's old shoe bacause mine are all too pretty to be wearing at the fair).

We even have time to blow bubbles.
We had our first check at Riley yesterday. I was surprised ZhuZhu could walk out of the clinic after they drew so much blood. She wasn't very cooperative when they wanted to poke at her, but we know her lungs are functioning well.

Today and tomorrow, our local radio station is running a human interest story regarding our adoption. You must remember, this is small-town America. Link here to see and hear our story. Vince will be on tomorrow so I will link his story then.

We're home!

It's been a very blurry 5 days since we have been home. We arrived in Cincinnati on schedule last Wednesday night, the 2nd of July, but were delayed on the tarmac. Some other plane was at our gate - the nerve of them! We sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes before being cleared to proceed to a gate. It was tears of joy to see Keegan and Oliver. They had both grown while we were gone! In fact, Keegan has grown at least an inch since May! Vince thinks that the boys seem so tall because ZhuZhu is so small (she is about the height of K&O at 2.5 years). We were so happy to be united as a family! And also happy to be off airplanes! We had been in 3 countries (China, Japan and the U.S.) and 3 states (Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana) within a 24hour period. We were overjoyed to arrive at home, but ZhuZhu took one look at the house (we had shown her pictures of our farm in China) and realized that the fairytale of having housekeeping, room service and a personal driver was over. At least I think that is what initiated the crying...

The details of the next three days escape me, but I do remember that there was almost nothing we could do to put a smile on our daughter's face. We were trying to catch up on sleep, find foods that she would eat (watermelon and apple juice were her staples), and comfort her. Trying to impose a few household rules didn't make her very happy either. To top it off, Oliver wasn't feeling well. Keegan held down the fort for a few days by answering the phone, fetching and reading books to ZhuZhu. For those of you who have brought a newborn home from the hospital, I'm sure you recall the overwhelming feeling of fatigue and helplessness. Very similar conditions at our house, only our "baby" was 32 pounds and potty-trained (a definite plus!).

Vince had a very low-key Fourth of July birthday. We did manage to make a cake and find a can of ready-made frosting. The boys decorated it with red, white and blue star sprinkles. ZhuZhu did not like the extinguishing of the candles. We were so tired that we were not able to attend any of the firework displays this year. Perhaps next year we will be able to attend at least one firework celebration for Baba's birthday.

Saturday evening, I made fried rice (I have never made this before) and salmon. ZhuZhu ate great and even had seconds! Guess what?! She slept 8 hours that night! Sunday, we managed to get out to a nearby family reunion for a couple of hours (with ZhuZhu, of course) and did not have any crying until supper. This is progress! Sunday night she slept great and today we did get into town to the library and a couple other places. She did very well, although still very shy, and I know the boys were itching to get out of the house (as was their Mom).

The boys adore their sister and ZhuZhu will follow Keegan around like his shadow. She is still warming up to Oliver, but he is just now recovering from his illness and is starting to play with her more. Vince went back to work today and I spent 2 hours in the garden pulling weeds - they grew while we were gone, also. It's pretty much back to normal here for all of us but ZhuZhu. She is discovering new places in the house and outside.

We continue to see improvement by the hour. Today, she started counting silverware while Keegan was unloading the dishwasher - in English! When we got to the letter "L" with her alphabet cards, I said "Lara starts with L. Who's Lara?". She responded, "ZhuZhu". She is smiling more and finding her place within our family.

We want to express our appreciation for your prayers and acts of congratulations to us. We will continue to update this blog, but on a less frequent basis. This has been the journey of a lifetime and I encourage any of you, if a red thread is tugging at your heart, to open it to the life of a child and encounter joy at every step. God Bless Us, Everyone!

Farewell China

The bags are packed and have already been taken away by the bellboy. We leave for the airport at 5:30 tomorrow morning and will not land in Cincinnati until 6:35. That means 26-27 hours of travel time until we finally get home if all goes well. We have had a great adventure so far, but are ready to get home and get started with life as a family of five.

Today we had a few group activities before preparing to depart. The first thing was an attempt to get a group photo of the children. This was rather entertaining to watch. Someone may have gotten a good photo, but we didn't. The best one is attached below. At least you can see all twelve of the children!Next was a group photo of all the families that traveled with us. This went better as we were able to contain the children. Our group consisted of twelve families from various parts of the U.S. We hope that we are able to keep in touch as we all have shared a very special experience.

This afternoon we had our group oath at the U.S. consulate. The room was packed with adoptive families (including many crying children). I would estimate there were over 50 families there. We had to present our passports and ZhuZhu's Chinese passport so they could confirm that we matched the paperwork. After that the whole group said the oath. Basically all we said was that the information in our documents was accurate to the best of our knowledge. Next we received more documents and ZhuZhu's Visa that allows her to come to the U.S. ZhuZhu will officially be a U.S. citizen as soon as her Visa is stamped in Detroit tomorrow!

This truly has been a remarkable journey! I admit that I didn't fully understand what we were getting into during our preparation. I read the information that FTIA gave us and even read most of the postings on the related Yahoo groups, but all of that doesn't prepare you for what happens to your heart. The only way to fully understand, is to experience it yourself.

We will post again after we have arrived home and ZhuZhu is a U.S. citizen. We wish our entire travel group a safe and pleasant trip home. God bless America!