Celebrating 8!

'Tis the season of birthdays in these parts.

Sadly, only some of them have been memorialized in pictures.  Good intentions and then...well, life.

Yesterday we celebrated this girl!

Kinley Grace, you are my spunky, witty, super-smart, cute-as-a-bug, now 8-year-old girl.  I love you to the moon and back!!!

The Rest of the Story

So...you know our day went well.  Exceedingly well!

How great is our God?!?  I spent much of the two-hour trip to the hospital at 4 a.m. praising Him.  He is worthy.  Always!  We can pray with expectation and confidence.

Dr. Smith knew we have another surgery tomorrow, and he knew we hoped to recuperate at home.  But he also knew we were willing to do whatever was best for the girls' recovery.

The plan was to harvest cartilage from each of their ears for the rhinoplasty, and his greatest concern was swelling, blood accumulation and possible infection of the graft site.

For that reason he thought it best we stay overnight for observation. 

But these rock star patients did so well, and Kinley didn't even need a graft ...

 ...so he let us go home...JUST AS WE'D PRAYED!

That was an answer to prayer, and we thank you for joining us in that request.

And then as we were pulling away from the hospital, the phone rang with good news!  We have 

 (that's pre-approval from China to adopt our littlest Treasure!)  
Didn't expect that!

What I didn't tell you is at 2 a.m. we woke up to this...

 Our heat and air unit has crashed!  And if that weren't enough, it has ruined the ceiling.

Maybe you've heard the adage, "You might be adopting if things start breaking."

Well, we have a broken AC and a broken lawn mower so we're off to a great start :) 

But I choose to praise HIM!
He is worthy!
There is nothing too big for Him.  No costly heat and air unit, no fear of surgery and no obstacle to bringing our Treasure home.  Nothing!

Are you approaching the throne of grace with confidence?

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Heb 10:19-23

Are We There Yet?

To the end of this week, I mean!

Tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. we will head south for back-to-back surgeries, hopefully beginning at 8:30.  Kennah and Kinley are both having cleft-related revisions.  

Our hope and prayer is that we get to spend tomorrow night at home.  
*Would you join us in that prayer?*

The week gets a little crazy after tomorrow, but we continue to seek perspective from the Lord.  We are so in awe of His handiwork!  We face this week with peaceful hearts, even amid the chaotic events, praise be to Him!

We will keep you posted on the progress.

Thursday is the last shot at the Canon!!  We will be posting the winner by Thursday night.
Thank you to all who have given and shared, and may you be blessed 

Forever Home - 4 Years!

I can't believe it's been 4 years since I first held our sweet Kinley Grace!  Here is the journal entry from Gotcha Day, as posted on Table for Ten:

TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD  Psa 34:8

 

Behold the beauty and praise the Father!

I'll journal about the day later ... but I know what you really want :)

 

 

 

first glimpse!!

album we sent ~ trying to convince her mama and baba are ok....

didn't work

 

getting better

 

family pic ...minus six

 

gifts

 

It's like 90 degrees here - but no complaints!

Mama can't get too far away (!!!!)

My goodness, look at that beautiful face!

 

Amazing big brother!

Down for the count

Hungry girl

 

Yes, Baba does exist

 

 

So I finally get to post about the day.  Ya’ll kept hitting the site and kicking me offline when I was posting pictures … so I decided to leave you alone :)  It’s all good!

In retrospect, I don’t think the reality of getting Kinley Grace today really hit me until we arrived at the Civil Affairs office!  I just kept thinking, “How can it get any better?”  My kids at home are having a blast, Kambry is doing awesome, Andy and Christina are amazing, all my friends keeping the littles during the daytime are giving good reports, Kooper is a.m.a.z.i.n.g!  At what point do we say, “Enough!  We totally don’t deserve Your goodness!”

We arrived at Civil Affairs before 9:30 expecting to see our girl when we topped the stairs.  The emotions had already built to overflow and I was containing a scream… but as we quickly scanned the room there was no sign of our daughter. Two other families were united today, and it was a joy to watch them! 

The director arrived and said the baby was on the way, so we did paper work before she arrived.  Clayton kept asking if he could run to the restroom and I refused … you have to understand something.  When we were near delivery of two of our babies he ran downstairs for lunch one time, coffee another; when we deplaned from China last year he insisted on a pit stop before we saw our kids after three long weeks.  I just didn’t think he needed to miss this special moment!

We were in the middle of placing our thumbprints on documents when Hai Xin entered the room!  I think I screamed, “Forget your thumb – get the camera!”  (My poor husband).  She was fine as long as she was in the arms of the director.  It was painful to continue on with paper work as my baby sat three chairs down.  Finally they gave her a biscuit and handed her to Mama.  Well, not exactly handed her to me.  More like pried her fingers from the director’s clothes as I tried to hang onto her.  The girl can scream!  I’m talking s.c.r.e.a.mlike a girl!

She is absolutely beautiful though.  She has tiny little features, beautiful fingers and the most gorgeous skin. We have been told many times how lucky we are. Lucky, not so much; blessed, beyond measure!

Once she settled down she wouldn’t let go of Mama.  What finally made her think I was ok is when she was handed to Daddy.  She kicked, screamed and reached for Mama.  Whatever works, right?

When we got back to the room she didn’t want me to put her down.  We sat on the bed and played.  We knew Kooper would be awesome with her.  He is a natural big brother.  He makes little noises at her, plays with her hands and gives her objects.  He has never spoken Chinese to her.  He just makes playful noises, and he doesn’t hover.  It’s perfect!

She is off the bottle and eats everything.  She drinks from a cup.  I was able to feed her with chopsticks and a spoon at lunchtime, she really didn’t care.  Right now she’s completely shut down.  She doesn’t like change.  We put her in the Ergo to go to Carrefour.  It was a wrestling match, but once inside she was fine. We purchased some diapers and wipes for the orphanage, some toddler snacks, Kooper snacks, juice and water.  We’re set for our trip to Ningbo tomorrow to get Kinley’s passport.

I can tell Kinley Grace is loved!  Every gift we sent her was returned to us, along with a beautiful keepsake from Ningbo.  They even used the two disposable cameras, and we’re having them developed now.  Possibly the most precious gift is the wrist band she received from the hospital at birth!  It will be a very special keepsake for our precious girl.

I just wanted to share that this afternoon CJ was reading his Bible, and Kooper pointed at it and said Bible in Chinese.  You think I’m a little excited that he at least knows what it is?!? 

Now we can’t wait to skype the kids so they can meet their newest sibling.

We just can’t fathom the goodness of God!  We are in awe!  We praise You, Father!

However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”  1 Cor 2:9

Happy 5th Birthday, Kinley Grace!

Where has the time gone?
Is this the timid little girlie who wouldn't leave my hip just 2.5 years ago?

What a treasure you are!

It's always a party around here...or something like that.

Happy birthday, Princess!

Company's Comin'!!!

We are SO excited to meet this precious family for the first time when they come to our place tonight!

Recognize the lil' Munchkin on the left? That's Kinley Grace, oh yes, it is! About 2 years ago! Becky met our shy girl and sent some treasured pictures to us.

And now, 2 years later, we get to meet them! Here! Tonight!

I love how the Lord puts these things together!

I Feel Like Dancin'

Go Kinley...go Kinley...

We all feel like dancin' these days! We're so excited to draw for the iPad winner tomorrow, and we are so very grateful to everyone who has spread the word and contributed! Would you look at that ticker!!!! We serve an awesome God!

The Princess is in Her Castle!

What an amazing day! Thank you for praying for our girl!

We were to report to the hospital at 5:30 a.m., plan for a 3-hour surgery and an overnight stay.

After an hour and a half Dr. Miller came out to report the surgery was finished and Kinley had done so well he was releasing us to go home - yippee, Jesus!!!

The room is cold, the loopy juice hasn't kicked in and Daddy's tired.

What a trooper! She woke up with, "I love you, Mommy," and was happy to see Pillow Pet Puppy had been prepped for surgery cuz he wouldn't let her go alone!
Skip the Jello, skip the Sprite ~ just take me home!

Daddy packed up 'everything but the kitchen sink,' and we rushed home to surprise the waiting Krowd.
Miraculously, she's not fighting the splints. In fact, she kinda likes being spoon-fed by the Queen, waited on hand and foot by the King and entertained by the sibling princes and princesses.

And now, if you will excuse us, we are taking our royal selves to bed because we are headed back for a post-op visit tomorrow. But we are home, praise the Lord!

NHBO

Check out my guest post on No Hands But Ours, "No Holding Her Back!" You will find a ton of resources on the NHBO site!

Oh, and inquiring minds want to know...

yes, Kinley Grace is from Zhejiang province, and we finalized her adoption in Hangzhou!

No Holding Her Back!

(Adopting two at the same time)

13 months and 28 days…but who’s counting? That’s how long our two newest Treasures have been home. It’s a journey that has seemed like a lifetime, and will last another lifetime.

When we met our son Kooper, almost 14 at the time; and our daughter Kinley Grace, 2, we had no idea what the following year would hold. All we knew was that God had clearly invited us to join Him on an adventure that would be impossible on our own.

My writings over the past year have mostly focused on the joys and struggles of Kooper’s transition, in hopes of encouraging families that teen adoption is doable. Not necessarily easy, but doable nonetheless.

But what about Kinley Grace? Sometimes I wonder if she’s gotten the short straw in facilitating her transition into our supersize family.

On October 26, 2009 we first held our screaming beautiful daughter. She was the 5^th Treasure God had placed in our arms, and never had we experienced a reaction this negative.

In a span of 30 minutes she went from a kicking, screaming frenzy to complete shut-down. She would not utter a word or leave my hip for five l.o.n.g. days. She literally ate, slept and poohed – all preferably as my appendage. And she would have nothing to do with her daddy.

I remember vividly a day in China that I was so exhausted and discouraged I thought maybe these two Treasures really would be better left in their birth country. I began to reflect on all the photos we had of Kinley, realizing she was never smiling. And then I remembered the comments of a family who had met her, observing that she was very introverted and wouldn’t smile. I began to wonder if she’d ever come out of her shell.

Fortunately, it was only a matter of hours till I realized that I was buying into a lie straight from the enemy! The battle was on, but we would emerge victorious!

Six days after Gotcha while Kinley was cautiously standing beside my chair, she ‘accidentally’ started talking. She immediately looked at me, as if to say, “Did you hear that? I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

At last, hope! After that breakthrough she began to smile, then giggle and eventually chatter in two-year-old gibberish. She would venture away from her lifeline (Mama!) and play with toys. By the time we flew home she actually occupied her own seat.

Once home, she had no problem interacting with her older siblings, but she still wanted nothing to do with Daddy…until two weeks home. For the first time, she saw Daddy and ran to him. Really ran to him!

Kinley Grace’s medical need was listed as post-operative left cleft lip. Her lip was repaired in China under the Tomorrow Plan. However, her gum line is also cleft, which was a bit of a surprise to us – but we wouldn’t change a thing! We have scheduled a revision to straighten her nose and reduce her scar this spring. At the same time, she will undergo testing for the muscle development and tone in her mouth, and her gum line will be repaired once her permanent teeth start coming in.

Now that we’ve begun the adoption process again, as I reflect on the past year I realize I’ve sometimes worried that Kinley would get left in the shadows and not receive al l the attention she deserved, but God, in His sovereignty, has protected her and preserved our family.

He has grown her into a beautiful, outgoing, spunky little firecracker who will talk your leg off! There is nothing in this world that can hold her back - not my parenting fears and failures or the ginormous needs of her siblings! Because no matter what chaos our life brings, there is One always in control … and there is nothing beyond His redemption!