handsful

Today is Chinese New Year!  In China, they call it the Spring Festival and it is celebrated many ways: families come together, red lanterns and decorations are put up everywhere, red envelopes with money inside are given, houses are freshly cleaned, new clothes are bought, old debts are paid off, and many fireworks are shot off! 

We were in China during the last Chinese New Year, and it was beautiful…the picture above shows one of the many fruit trees adorned with red decorations and envelopes in one of our hotel lobbys.  And, there were fireworks shot off almost every night, especially the last night of CNY – we were fortunate to watch them from our windows (and, fortunate that Lainey slept through them!)  Oh, how I would love to be there now! 

Xin Nian Kuai Le!  (literal translation from Mandarin – Happy New Year!)

Abbey cutting the celebration cake, with Deni smiling behind.

Last Sunday, Abbey participated in a very special evening with her Real Life Group at church.  Let me back up…her group is made up of all 7th grade girls, and they’ve been meeting weekly since the beginning of 6th grade, with Mrs. Deni (as they call her) as their leader. 

Recently their topic of discussions has centered around the concept of “True Love Waits”…going against the mainstream attitudes toward physical relationships and instead encouraging moral purity and abstinance until marriage.  Deni felt led to arrange for a beautiful night, where the girls took group and individual pledges.  She also led us all in a lesson on what it means to have a real, God designed love story. 

Abbey, repeating the pledge to us.  We also had something to repeat to her, pledging to help her as she follows God’s plan for her life. 

Randy puts the silver locket around her neck.  It’s a small silver box that opens.  We typed up 2nd Timothy 2:22 and rolled it up inside.  We gave her the option of a ring or necklace, and she chose necklace…but we surprised her with what it looked like. 

Deni and her girls…she’ll have them all together for one more year, 8th grade. 

Thank you, Deni, for taking the time and effort to put this together.  It’s obvious that you love our girls, and desire only God’s best for them.  Thank you for the example that you are to our daughter. 

Today was children dedication day at our church, and today’s children were ALL adopted…very cool!  Lainey was the only international adoption, the others were either domestic or were foster-adopt children.  It’s so wonderful to see so many adding to their families through adoption!  What made today even sweeter was the day.  November 16th.  Need a hint?  ONE YEAR ago today, we received the call that our agency had matched us with this sweet girl and we first saw her face.  So, let’s go down memory lane, shall we?  Here is my write-up of “The Call” that I wrote a year ago.  I didn’t want to forget any details about that day, so I wrote it all down….

The Call

I woke up on Friday, November 16, 2007 feeling only a little bit optimistic about getting “the call” from CCAI.  It had been more than a week since we thought we WOULD get a call, and the phone just wouldn’t ring.  I was starting to lose hope, and just begin wishing for next week. 

We had a busy day planned.  I had Jazzercise class at 8:45 and then we were due at the Operation Christmas Child collection center at 10:30.  We had a great morning volunteering; the kids really enjoyed helping to pack the crates full of Christmas shoe boxes for the kids around the world.  I had my cell phone on top of my purse, and for the 3+hours we were there, I constantly checked to see if I had any messages…none. 

We finished up volunteering around 2pm.  We were all hungry, but I decided to run by Office Depot to get a new pencil sharpener.  Our existing one was terrible, and really needed to be replaced.  So, we ran in, I found a high end model that I felt sure could handle the amount of sharpening we do in a day, and headed out to the truck. 

We got into the truck, and I cranked it.  Suddenly, I felt my cell phone vibrating in my jacket pocket.  Could it be?  Took it out…looked at the number.  It was a 303 area code…Colorado.  I remember repeating “oh my, oh my, oh my…” and Abbey (who was in the passenger seat) tells the kids in the back “it’s the call!”  I shushed everyone and answered the phone.  It was Deniece, and she asked if I had a minute to talk, that she had a little princess to tell me about to see if this is our daughter.  I squeaked out “yes, please!”  She asks if I’m somewhere where I can talk.  I tell her “Well, I’m in my truck, but I’m parked so let me find a pencil and paper!”  Of course, I had my neatly typed up referral sheet (in the plastic sheet protector) in my purse so Abbey helps me dig it out and find a pen.  Around now, my seatbelt signal is going off, telling me it’s time to buckle up.  I try to decide if I should attempt to buckle up (which I try but it doesn’t work while holding a cell phone, pen and paper) or just turn off the truck (it’s still cranked).  I turn the truck off.  My head was swimming. 

Deniece gives me all the wonderful details about 16 month old Ling Qing Qin in Bengbu, Anhui province.  I write as much down as I can, in my “oh wow, this is really happening” shaky handwriting.  She asks if we want to see her file and I say “yes, definitely!”  I tell her that I’m going to try and NOT get a ticket speeding home to see the file and she makes me promise to do just that!  I thank her profusely, and hang up.  Immediately, the kids and I let out a few yells and screams of happiness, and then I call Randy.  Quick small talk and then I tell him “We got the CALL!!!!!!”  I tell him the basics and ask him WHEN he can get home so we can see the file.  He leaves right then and we’re racing to see who gets home first.  Okay, not racing since I did promise Deniece I wouldn’t.  I’m sure I had this silly smile on my face all the way home.  The kids and I talked about her a mile a minute, all anxious to get home.    

I get home first, and call Randy to see where he is.  I wanted to look at the medical information and he forbids me to until he arrive home!!  Thankfully, it was only maybe 10 (long) minutes.  We all gathered around the computer to read her medical information.  All sounds good, no red flags, standard cleft lip/palate that can be corrected, small hemangioma that most likely won’t need any intervention.  The reading takes a while and the kids wander off to do other things. 

By the time we’re done, it’s just Randy and I and we look at each other.  We decide that this is, indeed, our girl and we’re ready to see her.  Those moments waiting for her picture to pop up were so long…first we saw her “mug shot”.  Adorable…her slight little pouty face and beautiful eyes, big round cheeks, dark brown hair.  She’s wearing what looks like a girl’s shirt with a boy’s orange/brown sweater.  Next picture, she’s in a walker and has the slightest smile with an open mouth, and wearing a red velour one-piece.  Next, she’s in the same outfit, riding a yellow plastic horse.  She looks a little anxious in this one, like she’d rather the person taking the picture be beside her.  There are also two close-up pictures.  One of her full face, with someone behind her (I assume holding her up to the camera), and another with just her lip.  It looks like a good repair, from what we can tell. 

Sometime during all this, the kids run back to the computer and see the pictures, everybody oohing and ahhing and saying how cute she is.  They ask…is this Lainey?  We tell them yes, this is your little sister.  The kids are happy, all smiles and excitement.  Ethan comes up to me and gives me a long, tight hug.  I wonder if he’ll ever let go and when he does, I see tears in his eyes.  Talk about melting my heart…my baby, happy that he can now be a big brother. 

We spend time researching her province and orphanage and then decide to go out to dinner.  We end up at Jackie Lee’s Chinese Bistro and have a nice Chinese meal in celebration of our little girl.  At the end of the meal, we all get fortune cookies.  The best one says this:  “The joyful energy of the day will have a positive effect on you”.  What an understatement.  We’re overjoyed and over the moon for our Ling Qing Qin, our Lainey. 

Here are more pics from our morning…

Look closely to see the scrape on her nose that she got last night…she fell in the truck and her face met the console.  Randy said it gives her character. 

Randy and Jon…two very goofy good friends. 

Our boys with their great friend, Zach…they were headed to his house today after church. 

Lainey surprises Zach’s sister, Kate, with a “squeeze”. 

Marley restrains…I mean holds Lainey. 

In the light of the silvery moon…

This weekend, we had the pleasure of getting together with our local FCC (Families with Children from China) group to celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival.  Here is a little info on this holiday…

The Autumn Moon Festival…sometimes called the Mid-Autumn Festival or Lantern Festival…dates back to over 3,000 years to moon worship in China’s Shang (or Tang, I saw references to both) dynasty.  It’s held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.  It’s one of the two most important Chinese holidays (the other being Chinese New Year).  It is a time for families to come together to admire the moon, eat mooncakes, light lanterns, and watch dragon dances.  Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the roundest and the brightest, signaling a time of completeness and abundance.  

Our group decided to spend our evening at the St. Augustine splash park, right beside the beach and under the moon.  We were very excited to be there, as it was our first FCC event WITH our Lainey.  We had attended other things in the past (as a “waiting family”) and had admired all the beautiful little girls (and some boys) in our group, with a wee bit of jealousy ;)  This time, it felt great to actually be a family with a child from China. 

Here are some photos from the night…

Lainey, Mom, Abbey, Marley, and Ethan…splashing with a view of the ocean.  Can’t beat that. 

Pure joy

Payton throws a little kung fu on the fountains

Payton, there’s water EVERYWHERE!

It was a fun night!  On my sidebar, you’ll see a category called “local families”.  Check out some of their blogs…I’ll be adding more soon.