A Little Brother for B.E.L.

MARISSA AND DAVE'S WEDDING

2010-09-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

Limo rides are the best!

Oh what a wonderful, beautiful, wedding. Everything was absolutely as perfect as can be. No detail was left undone! Marissa and June did a phenomenal job of putting on a wedding that will be talked about for many, many years to come! I only hope my girls don't remember it all when it comes time for their big day, cause there's no way we could pull something like that off! The whole weekend was so much fun! We think Marissa and Dave should renew their vows every year!!!

St. Louis Nite Ride

2010-09-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

1st Day of school - August 11th

2010-09-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

Kai's 4th birthday was August 2nd

2010-09-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

He had a wonderful day riding ponies and going to Chucky Cheese. A lot of things sure have changed for him since his 3rd Birthday!

FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA FLORIDA

2010-08-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful, wonderful vacation in Florida!!! We all just loved the beach and it was beautiful. No oil anywhere in sight. The kids are FEARLESS in the ocean. All four can boogie board like pros!

Spring Mill State Park

2010-07-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful and relaxing place. We camped and had a really wonderful time.

RUBY - our new baby

2010-07-08T18:32:00.002-07:00

British soccer camp

2010-07-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

The girls all attended a soccer day camp for one week. It was 92 degrees out and they loved every minute of it anyway! Londyn thought her coach was "really cool" with his great British accent and winning smile (her first crush).

END OF SCHOOL BEACH PARTY !

2010-07-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

We had an end of school beach party for the girls classmates and it was a huge hit! After school we had about 30 assorted kids and many parents also. We played games, grilled out and mostly counted heads while the kids swam, and swam, and swam! What a fun way to start the summer. I think we'll make it a yearly event!

Flying Kites in the State Park

2010-04-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

We had soooo much fun flying kites and hunting Easter eggs in BC State Park with Michelle! It's becoming an Easter tradition complete with fried chicken and Hawiaan rolls. Yum! The weather was oh so perfect and the highlight of the day was when Kai let go of his Toy Story kite and we watched it fly far above the hills and trees until we we could no longer even see it. "Bye Woody!"

Baelyn's beautiful Toes

2010-04-13T13:01:00.000-07:00

Baelyn got her first pedicure with her best friend. It was her friend's birthday and they had a great time.

Gatlinburg

2010-04-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Emelia

2010-04-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

Emelia turned 7 on February 21st. We celebrated with family at the Indy Children's Museum. Later when asked what her favorite part of her birthday was she said, "getting to spend it with my cousins!"

Happy Birthday Londyn Jei

2010-04-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Londyn turned 5 years old on January 21st. She's ready for Kindergarten!

FOUR LITTLE BAKERS

2010-01-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

The family that cooks white chocolate pretzels together...

yes, we ate the whole double batch in about two days!

Kai 4 months post op

2010-01-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

He can finally smile with his whole face again!
Some days he's still swollen and every once in a while we still find a stitch that hasn't desolved.
His nose is very tender, but much better than it was.

Four wheelin fun

2010-01-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

All Londyn asked for was a four wheeler for Christmas and good ole Santa came through. It's been fun for everyone

Christmas with the cousins

2010-01-12T15:56:00.000-08:00

Greta, Ben, Kai and Drew

Lucas

Baelyn

Joshua

Emelia

Reagan

Londyn

Kai

Greta

What a fun bunch! We're so lucky to

call you family!

Merry Christmas to all!

2010-01-12T15:25:00.000-08:00

2009-11-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Leaves, oh wonderful leaves!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN LITTLE PUPPY !

2009-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

Kai was the cutest little puppy for Halloween. He loved dressing up and especially enjoyed the trick or treating! He wore the same costume the girls all wore when they were two, but it fit him just fine!

Kai 2 months post op

2009-11-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Here's our little cutie enjoying his first parade at Anne's house. He loved the fire trucks, marching bands and candy!

Baelyn's 9th Birthday

2009-10-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Baelyn had a big slumber party for her 9th birthday. She invited eight girls from her class and they all came for an indoor campout. It was a raging success and everyone had a wonderful time!

Little Posers

2009-09-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Good News!

2009-09-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

We had Kai's post op visit yesterday. They did three different hearing tests on him and his hearing is 100 % ! I forgot to mention that he had tubes put in his ears during the lip operation. He had a cronic ear infection in both ears that the doc said was one of the worst he'd seen and Kai had probably had since birth (ear infections and clefts go hand in hand). We are so fortunate that there is no permanant damage or hearing loss. They also said during surgery that he has "good, healthy ear drums". YIPPEE.

The plastic surgeon is very happy with the way Kai's lip is healing and wants to do the palate repair in three months. The lip doesn't look as good as it did a week ago because the scar is making his lip pull up and tighten. The doc said this is part of the healing process and always happens and makes parents panic a bit. We have to massage several times daily and use Mederma or Vitamin E.

Kai's nose is as close to perfect as any repair I've ever seen. It's the hardest part of a cleft repair and almost always has to be re-done in the teen years. Dr. Flores said his goal was to "do it right the first time so no future repairs are needed". Boy, did he ever live up to his word! As the swelling goes down each day we are just thrilled beyond words. It looks amazing! Could he be any cuter?

15 days post op

2009-09-10T18:13:00.001-07:00

14 days post op

2009-09-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

13 days post op

2009-09-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

"How does this new mouth work anyway?"

One week past stitches removal

2009-09-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

We can't believe how great Kai's lip is healing. It's been exactly one week today since the stitches were removed and you can hardy see where they were. He just looks like a kid with chapped lips. He's enjoying having his picture taken again and is experimenting with new smiles. It's pretty funny.

Kai update

2009-09-03T16:16:00.000-07:00

Kai is doing fantastic! We traveled to Riley again yesterday for the stitches to be removed. They had to put him under again and I thought he would be terrified the second we walked in the door, but he was a little brave man again. Didn't make a peep. Now he has a big piece of white tape where the stitches were. We thought the stitches were pretty cute and we're not too fond of the tape. He has to keep it on for two weeks and the no no's (arm restraits) too. He's eating everything in sight, but we have to feed him and it takes such a long time to feed a three year old! Plus his mouth is a lot smaller now so he can't take as big of bites. He doesn't like to look at himself in the mirror yet, but has just started looking at his pictures on the digital camera without looking away. Of course it took us a couple of days to get used to him too, but now we think he is just the most beautiful boy ever!!! Thank you to Dr. Flores, the incredibly talented plastic surgeon who performed Kai's operation and to the wonderful staff at Riley Children's Hospital.

2009-08-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of photos of Kai post op. His eyes aren't as bright as usual because he's still a little doped up, but you can see the results.

2009-08-26T12:48:00.001-07:00

Getting ready for surgery

Kai's out of surgery!

2009-08-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

It's 3:20 and Kai has been out of surgery for about 2 hours. He is doing so well. The nurses are amazed as he hasn't cried once and has already drank two glasses of Gatorade. He's super groggy and sleeping right now. His lip and nose look really good, but are pretty swollen. Dad and I are having a very hard time adjusting to it. He looks like a completely different child, but very cute. We'll post a picture as soon as he's awake and we can get a good one. He's not a big fan of the arm restraits and keeps holding them up for me to take off. When he's more alert I think I will show him the mirror and explain why he can't bend his arms. He's such a trooper though!!! Jo

2009-08-25T21:12:00.001-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day (1st of many). Kai is having his lip surgery done at Riley Children's hospital at 9:00 a.m. (August 26th). He has no idea what is about to happen, but we did watch a documentary on cleft repairs a couple of weeks ago and he was enthralled by it. We're staying at the Ronald McDonald House tonight as we have to be at the hospital at 7:30. He is sleeping with his finger in his mouth like always and it's so sad that this is the last time he will be able to do that. He has to be in arm restraints for three weeks after surgery to make sure he doesn't touch his mouth. That is going to be rough! We'll post more tomorrow.

I need to add that the Ronald McDonald House is amazing! What a blessing to soooo many families. Please drop all your change into that thingy at McDonalds from now on. Jo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAI !!!

2009-08-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

Kai had a great 3rd birthday on August 2nd. We had it down by the lake and it was a beautiful sunny day. He didn't know what to make of a day devoted completely to him, but he really enjoyed himself. Of course it was car/truck themed since that's what he's CRAZY about. He got 22 new cars, trucks and motorcycles to add to his growing collection!

Finally Home!!!

2009-05-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

Oh it's so nice to be home! The flights were torture. Four in all and a total of 30 hours travel time. The girls did great and Kai did well too except he hated take offs and landings because we had to strap him in and he couldn't be on my lap. We bribed him with m@ms and chocolate cake which he ate a ton of for the entire flight and then threw up just as we were landing in Chicago. Thanks to Baelyn's quick grab for the air sickness bag we kept the mess to a minimum.

It was so nice to arrive home to a well cared for dog and lots of yummie things to eat! Thank you Michelle, Beth, Martha and our neighbors. You guys are the best! Martha, how did you know Mac and Cheese was the one food the girls missed most in China???

I worried about Daubie so much this time, because he's so old, then on the flight home they showed that movie Marley and Me which I vowed to never watch. I ended up watching it on the peoples screen in front of me without the sound and I still bawled like a baby. I needn't have worried cause Daubie was happy and healthy. Papa watched Miley for us and we are super grateful to him. The girls missed her terribly and talked about her every single day.

Jet lag is a horrible thing. We are all mixed up. We went to bed at 1:00 a.m. and all six of us ended up in our bed at 5:00 a.m. this morning watching Uncle Buck and eating rotisserie chicken and hot rolls (which I had made last night, but no one was hungry then). Hopefully we'll get straightened out soon.

Kai loves his new home with all the toys. We put new batteries in every toy we had before we left and had them all out for him. He's played for hours and hours. He's such a good boy! He loves to play with his sisters or by himself. He shares really well and so far hasn't shown any aggressive behavior other than the throwing which has ceased. He's fully potty trained (we finally cracked the code) YEA!!! He understands a lot of what we say already and can say all our names plus several other words. He has slept through the night every night since we got him. He's a really good eater and is starting to fill out. In 10 days his little stick arms and legs look so much healthier and he's getting a chubby little belly now. He's terrified of the dogs. In China he pointed to every single dog on the street or tv and said "ooh wah", but now that there are two in close proximity he is very frightened of them. He won't walk by them, but likes to watch them and gets very excited so I don't think it will take long.

Kai has his first doc appt. at Riley on June 1st. We should know more about his upcoming surgeries after that. We are already dreading it. Jo

A post from Emelia

2009-05-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

I am having fun in Guangzhou. I like the fish, pool, and shopping. I miss my class and my dog.

LOVE EMELIA

Hanging out at the playground

2009-05-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

We had a nice day yesterday, no paperwork just hanging out with each other learning more and more about one another. Kai seems to not be afraid of too much will try anything swimming, playground toys, all kinds of toys in the big playroom here at the hotel.

He still likes Jo as the" go to person "(when he is tried or unease about surrounding). But I'm the main guy for clean-up duties ( spills or bathroom runs). Wayne

tweet tweet

2009-05-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Look whats in our hotel. Theres a big bird cage on the 2nd foor. My favorite one is this one with lots of colors. And its the only one I could get. written by Baelyn.

2009-05-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hay , look at that dress !When we walk down to an awesome park there are thousands of girls in wedding dresses getting their picture taken. It is really fun to watch. And fun to take pictures of. There's so many of them. See you soon Baelyn.

2009-05-11T07:37:00.000-07:00

We were unable to visit the Kai's orphanage due to the swine flu. They wouldn't even let us drive by it! We did visit his hometown and go to see and climb the Hanging Temple which was absolutely amazing! Well worth the four hour trip each way. Here are some pics.

2009-05-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

I know we haven't posted for a while, but we are in Guangzhou now which is very much like a wonderful tropical vacation spot and there are just way too many fun things to do rather than sit in the room on a computer. Plus, we have to pay for internet here and we're cheap. We've been spending our afternoons in the hotel pool with other families in our group. We've gotten really close with the Broadfields, a wonderful family from Texas who traveled here with their two boys to adopt a five year old little guy. Our girls are really enjoying their kids.

Today we went to the zoo. Kai loved all the animals, and would stare, point and roar at each one until it was time to move on. He'd still be there looking into the cages if we would have let him. The older kids were always ready to move on way before he was. The zoo made me sad as there was obviously way more money spent on the grounds and landscaping than the animals themselves. I hate zoos, but I put up a brave front for the kiddos.

All our paperwork cleared the US consolate today and we go for our swearing in oath tomorrow. This means the end of a long adoption journey and Kai gets to become a US citizen. Yippee!!!

We went for his medical checkup a couple of days ago which is just a quick exam to make sure he's healthy and everything is on the up and up. When the doctor, a gentle, older Chinese lady took off Kai's diaper, she practically shrieked, "Oh my! It boy! I think it girl, it so pretty with so much hair!" Then she just laughed and laughed, as did I. Kai had been crying because he had to not be held for 2 seconds, but he stopped abruptly because of our laughing and didn't cry again for the rest of the exam which the doctor continued to giggle through. I never video tape those exams because they're so traumatic for the little ones, but I sure wish I would have had a tape rolling then! I have to agree, he is a really pretty boy! There are many American couples here at the hotel with their newly adopted children. I had wondered if I would see the couples with their tiny baby girls and be a bit envious, but instead I'm prancing around with this darling little guy that I'm so in love with and thinking, see my gorgeous child? Don't you wish you had one just like him? Ha, ha. Love is a powerful thing. Jo

Goofin off with my new big sisters!

2009-05-07T02:34:00.001-07:00

A few things about our little Kai

2009-05-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

First of all, he is small. I mean VERY small. All the clothes we brought are too big. A size 6-12 months fits him perfectly. We made a Walmart run last night to buy him a few new duds. I was worried that he would be very behind developmentally because of his size, but that's not the case at all. He's very smart and quick to pick up new things. He loves to figure out how things work and has a great attention span.

Second of all, he's got a lot of hair!!! It's actually driving me crazy and I can't wait to trim it. We've got the only boy in China who doesn't have a buzz cut. Everywhere you go there are little boys with hardly any hair and then there's Kai who could be a child spokesmodel for Pantene.

Third of all, he speaks Chinese. I know what you're saying, this shouldn't be a shock to us because of his age, but from all we had read cleft babies have very limited speech until their palates are repaired. Well, Kai talks quite a bit. His caretakers told us he did, but he waited until the fourth day to show us. We do a lot of smiling and nodding which must seem pretty dumb to a 2 1/2 year old.

Fourth of all, he's half way potty trained. Meaning he goes number 1 on the potty, but so far not number 2. It's pretty confusing because he doesn't tell us he needs to go, but just waits for us to remember to take him.

Last of all, he is loving, sweet, smart, fun and a little rotten. He thinks his sisters are pretty funny, but occasionally likes to lob hard objects at their heads without warning. He really shows his personality in the hotel room, but shuts down when we go outside. I can tell he understands what the Chinese people are saying about him and it makes me feel sad for him. They stand very close and stare without looking away for a long time. They talk and gesture about him and he clings to me for dear life. Their loss.

Son and Dad

2009-05-07T01:08:00.000-07:00

Kai and I are trying to catch up on life and learn a little bit about each other.
Things I have learn about Kai is that Dad is number 1 when Moms not around and he likes to tease me by handing me toys then putting them behind his back.
Things Kai learned about me--maybe I'm not that bad and we will be pals soon

Finding place

2009-05-07T00:56:00.000-07:00

Hospital 5# Datong was where Kai was left over 2.5 years ago. He was found in the lobby very early in the morning by the cleaning crew. The hospital is very big and located in the middle of town.

Emelia and Kai trip to Datong

2009-05-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

Me and Kai in the van to Datong to visit Kai's hometown.

Miss everyone alot, see ya soon

Love Eme

We have him and he's amazing!

2009-05-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Ok so here's how it went down. We drive 10 excrutiating minutes to the civil affairs office. The whole time I'm fumbling with my brand new camera that I decided I didn't need to read the manual for because I can figure it out on my own. ha, ha. Let me just say that the adrenaline rush folks get from bungy jumping, parachuting or mountain climbing cannot possibly compare to that few minutes before you meet your child for the first time. Mere words cannot express. We walk in, take an elevater up one flight, step out, and there walking toward us down a dark hallway with two young ladies is the tiniest little guy! I'm thinking, "that can't be him, he's too small!" But it was and we stopped and he stopped and the ladies with him pushed him forward and said Ma Ma and Ba Ba (Daddy) and Jie Jie (big sisters). He just stared with the biggest eyes you've ever seen! He was holding the little toy flashlight we had sent him. Then he walked right to me and sort of lifted his arms up (kind of like he'd been coached), but needless to say I melted right there!!! The girls instantly swarmed all over him, cameras flashed, Wayne videotaped and that was that.

We played with him for a while in the office and then when it was time to leave he cried (loudly) the whole time I carried him to the van, but was fine when we settled in and he could see out the window. Like all boys he seems to love cars. Back at the hotel he cried for a bit until Baelyn started blowing bubbles and then he played with us for about five hours straight. Turns out he's quite a little comedian. He not only likes to laugh, but likes to make us laugh!

It took him about five minutes to fall asleep in his crib while sucking his finger on one hand (the same one Londyn sucks) and holding my hand with his other little hand. In the words of one of the girl's, "I think we'll keep him!"

Enjoy the pics. Jo

2009-05-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Great Wall.

FIVE HOURS TO GO

2009-05-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we thought we would get Kai this morning, but we aren't actually getting him until 3:00 this afternoon so now we're trying to kill some time and keep calm. Not easy.

Tiayuan is interesting. We've had wonderful weather, but the pollution is very bad. The sky is a thick grey color all the time. We know Shanxi province where we are is one of the worst polluted areas in China.

Everyone, everywhere is very interested in us. We went to a large park yesterday and were quite the attraction. Our girls stand out in their western attire with their funny looking white parents. Some little kids screamed and ran from us. Funny!

Last night in an attempt to keep the girls awake we decided to use the hotel pool. We were escorted to a tiny locker room where half a dozen naked Chinese ladies surrounded us and proceeded to watch us get into our suits. They were talking excitedly, laughing and pointing at us. It was obvious they couldn't wait to see a naked white woman. Very unnerving. I dissapointed them because I'm pretty adept at getting into a swimsuit under my clothes without showing anything. The girls got a big kick out of it and found it very amusing! Wayne and I didn't end up getting in the pool because it was FREEZING! The girls swam for a while, but then got kicked out because they didn't have on bathing caps.

I'll try to post this evening after we have Kai.

A post from Emelia

2009-05-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

I had fun in Beijing. I miss you. Today I will get Kai. I am excited. The food is good.
LOVE, EMELIA

A Post from Baelyn

2009-05-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

The Olympic Park is realy cool. I got to see the Bird's Nest, the Cube and the Olympic torch stand up close. Our hotel is inside the Olympic Park. I got to walk there and take pictures at night. It was awesome! Baelyn

We're here, we're here, it's so surreal!!!

2009-05-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings from China!
We're doing great so far. We traveled for exactly 24 hours from the time we left on the airport shuttle in Indy to the time we arrived at our hotel in China. The girls did amazingly well. Not one complaint about the long flight and still happy after being awake for 24 straight hours (they only napped a wee bit on the flight. I'm so happy because no one is sick, everyone is eating well and the jet lag hasn't been too bad. Yesterday we went to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and Tiannamen Square. The weather was perfect. Very warm, but not too hot.
This morning we fly to Taiyuan where we will meet Kai tomorrow morning. We have butterflies in the stomach and are both excited and terrified at the same time. We are traveling with three other wonderful families, but will split off from them today and go to different areas of China. They are all adopting little boys ages 7 1/2, 5 and 2. The 7 1/2 year old and 5 year old have both been with their foster families for a long time. I cannot help but think about how rough the next few days will be for them. We will meet up with these families again in a few days with their adopted children.
Please say a little prayer that these little boy's and Kai's adjustment will be an easy one. I think Kai will be so happy to have lots of attention since he's been in an orphanage, but he will be so confused and scared. Poor little guy. We're planning to win him over with lots of yummy treats. After all, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Right?
I'll try to post after we get him. Jo

A little history

2009-04-20T06:59:00.000-07:00

We're starting this blog just before we travel to China to pick up Kai so here's a brief history on our family and our journey to Kai. Wayne and I have been married for 20 years next month. Wow 20 years!!! We are truly soul mates/best friends and do everything together. We have three adopted daughters from China. Baelyn is 8 1/2 and in the second grade. Emelia is 5 and in Kindergarten and Londyn is 4. All three girls were adopted as infants and are truly the light of our lives. In late 2007, Wayne and I decided we would add one more child to our family. We assumed it would be another baby girl from China. Well, as sometimes happens in life, little things happened one after another that changed our direction from girl to boy, healthy to special needs, baby to toddler. We found Kai on a list in July 2008. Another family had been in the process of adopting him for many months and it fell through. I'll never forget the first time I saw his picture. After 8 months of viewing hundreds of darling little faces available for adoption, I saw a name had been added to our agency's individual list. My heart jumped and I started to scroll down to see his picture. The top of his little head was barely in view and I KNEW he was OUR SON! It was the most amazing feeling. The following days were a blur of activity. Our agency sent us updated pictures that were taken just two weeks before. The girls all gathered around as we pulled the pictures up and Baelyn's eyes filled with tears of joy when she saw Kai for the first time. They all three cried out "Can we go get him right now?" They too, knew he was meant for us! Kai has un unrepaired cleft lip and palate, but my girls seemed to not even notice. They instantly loved him, wanted him, oohed and awwed over him, accepted him as their brother. Our girls are truly amazing!
Well, that was ten long, agonizing months ago and we're finally preparing for travel. We will leave on April 30th and will hopefully get our precious boy on May 2nd. Hope you enjoy our blog. This is a family blog so you will be reading some postings fom each of us. Thanks for following along.

Kai

2009-03-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Our most current picture of Kai, taken on March 7th. Isn't he just adorable?