Oh Mercie

You might remember our story of our baby girl.  

I met her in 2012 and fell in love. It was easy to do. She captivated most of us on that trip with her sweet smile and spunky personality. She was just HAPPY and so easy to love.

The way God wrote our story is nothing short of a miracle, and I am still in awe.

As you know, as much as WE wanted Mercie on Gotcha Day, she wanted nothing to do with us! We had been with her all weekend before gotcha, and I think that helped her seeing Malaine but NOT me. It was almost like the more they pushed ME, the less she wanted me.

So it was a rough few days. Watching this child you have dreamed of for so long be SO heartbroken was, well, heartbreaking! I was her least favorite person in the world FOR SURE and she ONLY found comfort in her Jie Jie. (big sister)

One thing that brought us comfort is being with her the weekend before, we had SEEN her personality. In the orphanage she laughed, she played she hit on the other kids and gave us scary visions of nursery trouble and the PLANE ride. We knew she had spunk and of course I had seen her on 3 previous trips!

I had asked the nannies to love her well these past 2 years and they did, she was well taken care of, and probably spoiled.  I am so thankful for how much they cared for her.

But oh those first few days!

Slowly though we saw smiles. She started to let me do a bit more each day.

And then, she started to reach for ME for comfort. Today she gave me KISSES.

I am seeing glimpses of that baby girl that stole my heart almost 2 years ago.

Mark is finally seeing WHY I fell head over heels, and he is quickly falling there himself.

She has the most amazing smile! When we get out the camera she frowns, but really she can light up a room.

She is a MONKEY. (this will surprise no one who knows my children!) She climbs, she jumps, she dives off the bed, the couch, the coffee table! She is into EVERYTHING and we are tired. I really wish I had spent the last year baby proofing my house!

She is tiny but mighty. She is actually taller than I expected, just so thin.  But she has big feet! Our guide kept commenting, her feet are huge! J

She has such a sweet tiny voice. But she can be LOUD.

She eats great. She sleeps great! Though she still needs Malaine to help her fall asleep. She sleeps with us, and so I hope we can break the habit of needing Malaine soon. (because 4 in a bed would be a bit much!)  I feel it is coming. As I see her reach for me over Malaine more, I know eventually it will happen. 

She is very nervous with change, and if she is uncertain of what will happen she clings.

Which means she REFUSES to walk most of the time and don’t even think about a stroller. We know carrying her is good, but it is tiring!

Did I mention her giggle? She LOVES to laugh and we love hearing her laugh!

12 days together and SO much change in our miracle Mercie. It is like watching a little flower that is blooming right before our eyes and we are loving every second! I can’t wait for you all to meet her. I know you will adore her too.

We pray that Mercie will see how God has given US mercy and that she will understand what a miracle she is.

What is This?

My daughter's friend wrote this for us and I wanted to share. We were so touched & encouraged by it. We feel loved. 

What is this?

Love so perfect it makes you cry
Brokenness that shatters your heart
And the healing process just further crushes it apart
What about the firsts, the fears, the lost years
The screaming, about to lose it in these tears
What is this?
Joyous yet broken, why is it so hard
Saved and excited but for sure still scarred
But now it's over, that life's behind you
No more leaving and abuse to blind you!
We promise to never ever go and to always find you.
What is this?
This is love beyond measure
A persons trash but another man's treasure
Someone's burden and the other's pleasure
Hearts bound together, binded and tethered
Such healing love NO old brokenness can ever sever
What is this?
What kind of happiness wells your eyes with pity
That clouds your thinking and brings you out of your own city
What kind of sadness can be mixed in the same concoction
Tears of happiness or brokenness, no other option
What is this?
This, this is adoption

God's miracle to the broken
Their escape, their only token
To the never before "i love you's" spoken
A message to you- YOU ARE LOVED.
For in someone the gospel of Christ has been awoken
And just as we were saved and came to love
We PRAY AND PRAY that you'd know the care we speak of
We came to family and into His embrace
And now you can see our sincerity from the tears streaming down our face
We want you. You won't go unnoticed. You won't go unprayed for, fought for.
Thought for, sacrificed for, and sought for
You're all miracles from God, and trust me I wished we'd caught more
More miracles, more of you, our children, our pleasure
Our takers of abuse and hurt, our family forever
...
You won't go unthought for, sacrificed for, and sought for.
Shannon and Mark I'm glad you just caught more
Gotcha day is a reason to celebrate
Whether you call it God's will or fate
You dispelled the abuse and hate
And answered the call from Him and you couldn't wait
It was your JOY. Your PLEASURE.
You just brought a highschool guy to tears
The healing hearts of insecurities and fears-
I know it has it's hardships
But the hope you're giving Syler and Mercie- No old scars can ever part this.
So stay strong, I know you'll finish what you started
Giving hope to the broken, abused, or mentally retarted
The baby's left on trains...
Their hurt, their pains...
ARE healed by God's love-
So I'm so glad you're in His reigns

What is this?
Just a poem from the weak-hearted
Saying I know you'll finish what you started
You're almost home.
Syler and Mercie are almost HOME.
Never ever to be given up and alone-
Not again... Not on their own.
So here's me just saying that I'm praying you're staying in His embrace and His word
And that through the tough and the rough crap and stuff- don't let the love get blurred
You too are well thought for, prayed for, and knowing you- I'm better off for.

Refuse to Sink.

-Quin 

Consulate Day Pictures

Hunan Donkeys AKA Hunan Barbarians?

Today our guide told us that if there is an army, it is not complete with out the Hunan barbarians and that they are known to be as stubborn as donkeys!

Because that is exactly what we need in our house, more barbarians!! :-) 

We appreciate so much your prayers and support, we FELT them today!

It was a good day. Syler had his normal afternoon slump but we are choosing to focus on the positive today.

This morning we went to the US consulate where we moved towards our children becoming US citizens. 

While this ceremony was a bit different than before, it was still moving to swear on their behalf and know that they are ALMOST citizens. (they will be as soon as they land on US soil)  As we repeated the vow and I looked down at Syler who had his little hand raised along with us I was so choked up. I know that he can’t even comprehend all that this ceremony meant, but he knew enough to realize it was a BIG deal.  We were in the room with many other families and together we all moved just a bit closer to home. Seeing SO many kids, SO loved, I wish we could take photos for you. But no camera’s allowed in the building.

Afterwards, per advice from a friend, we asked our guide to talk to Syler about some things over lunch. About life in a family, how this is just a vacation and not how it will be once home etc and so on. Hopefully some of it sunk in. I am a bit worried because he told him that in the US police would get him if he doesn’t wear a seat belt but I suppose that IS true. He sure did sit calmly in the car today!! J

I DO wish we had someone that lived close that spoke mandarin. Syler is quiet and doesn’t talk much, even to our guide. But it would sure be nice as the weeks go on for him to have someone to talk with. We did visit with the owner of our local Chinese buffet before we left who gave me her phone number and I think we will be using that. 

For lunch we ate at a place called Macau Street, near the hotel. The food was DELICOUS. (Chinese food, if you are coming) We had duck and it was ALL of the duck. Remember in A Christmas story.. “It’s staring at me?”  Well that duck stared at us through our meal, which might be why Malaine did not enjoy it. The rest of us LOVED it. Syler was most excited about the legs. Mercie ate more than I have seen yet.  (also great are the Eggplant, sliced potatoes,  steamed bread, fried rice) It was probably one of our favorite meals of the trip. (duck did not have bone and you wrapped it in the egg shells, YUM!)

Before we started to eat lunch today Syler prompted us to PRAY! We were so shocked and excited! It is those moments when your heart feels just a bit more settled and you know that it is going to be ok.  

Malaine and I took a taxi back over to the island to shop this afternoon.  Some of the same owners are there and I enjoyed chatting with them. Some of you might remember my shoe purchases back in 2006. Maybe a suitcase full?? That was not the case this trip. I was pretty bummed at how high things were and they just don’t budge on the price.  We did get Mercie 2 pairs of squeaky shoes, because you can’t come to China with out buying those! Though for child 7 I am sure the squeaker will be out of them MUCH quicker than with the other girls!

We got back to the room and Syler was mad over TV. But he perked up with a promise to swim! He LOVES the pool, as did Mercie! Face in the water? No problem!

After dinner we ate in the lounge. Tonight’s menu included panini’s, Japanese chicken (no idea but it was good) mini quiche, veggie pizza. Or in Mercie’s case she just chowed down on leftover duck.

We played on the playground after dinner and then came back to the room to start packing.

Mercie is changing SO much and I feel I have not had a chance to share on her progress so I am hoping to give her a post of her own.

Tomorrow we are free till we leave the hotel at 2:45pm. I am hopeful to get the kids pictures in silks. I am so sad to miss the red couch that we had at the White Swan but still have to have their photos taken.

Thank you again for the prayers and encouragement! Our spirits were so lifted today. 

Tuesday in Guangzhou

We are SO ready to be home. If you remember before I left my friends had a going away/prayer lunch for me. And I talked about “my village”.

I could sure use my village now! This is the first time we have not traveled with another family and it is hard. Having other families to compare stories with, eat with and just the support is a really big deal.  

We are ready to be back with our family and supported by those who we know will walk along side us.

I so appreciate the emails and texts/messages, they really are good for the heart.

Today we slept in which was nice.

The breakfast buffet with Syler is like an Olympic event. He eats at least 4 plates of food. OVERFLOWING plates of food. He wants to get his own food and there are some things that are so hard to translate.

Do not TOUCH the food on the buffet.

If you DO touch the food before we can stop you, you must TAKE the food.

And if you PICK UP the food, you must KEEP the food, DO NOT put it back on the platter.

You do NOT need to take 5 of each thing to “try” because that is wasteful.

We do not play with knives.

We do not put our food into our glass to make a mixed drink.

We do not slurp our drink.

Or BURP after every drink. (this is driving us bonkers!)

We must be careful with glass everything.

When we get home, breakfast is not going to be a buffet, so don't get to used to this! 

I AM thankful he eats well, and he is willing to try just about everything.

But we are flipping a coin to see who has to go through the buffet with him every morning. J

After breakfast we met up with our guide Richard and the other family with our agency. They have an adorable almost 2 year old girl, first child.

We went pearl shopping where we bought Mercie a set of pearls that we will give her when she is older, as we did for the other girls. We also bought Syler a piece of jade. After that we headed to the Island.

We stayed on the Island with our last adoptions and we loved it. It is quiet, tons of little shops and just so quaint. There was a main hotel all families stayed at called the White Swan. That is closed and most of the shops have also closed, sadly. We went in a few but it was not so much fun.

Mark hates shopping as it is and had already used his patience with the pearls. Syler by this point was mad at us and Mercie was overtired and screaming. So, it was not the most fun experience.  With Sage & Mavery I bought lots of “junk” to put away for each year as gifts. (which I actually have yet to give them because I know they would just lose or destroy it.) Considering how often I am in China now, that stuff just doesn’t seem as big of a deal. I figure I can buy it on another trip, when I am here with out children. OR Mark. J

We did eat lunch at Subway on the Island. So far I have eaten lettuce & vegetables, had ice in my drinks, brushed my teeth with the water and lived to tell about it. Hopefully I did not just jinx myself.

We came back to the hotel and Malaine and I did walk around a bit near the hotel. She wanted a hot chocolate so we stopped at Starbucks in our hotel. There is also a Mc Donalds & 7/11 next door if you are staying here!

We decided for dinner to venture over to a Mexican restaurant everyone had talked about. It is near the Gardent hotel, a taxi ride for us. We can’t seem to get anything timed right so by the time we went Syler was being defiant. (tired and hungry) He was trying to run away from us and when we got in the taxi I tried to make him sit on the seat and he sat on the floor glaring at me. Then glared through most of dinner. BUT once he finally ate his mood did lift thankfully.

We started with chips and salsa, which was SO spicy even Syler could not take it.  $12 for a small plate of chips! I had fajitas. Which had no cheese. Mark said his enchiladas were ok. It is about $2 for the 20 minute taxi ride, a MUCH better deal than the food in my opinion. I am not a huge mexican fan as it is. 

We are having some electronic issues with Syler. The hardest thing with an older child is boundaries. If we say no, he pouts and withdraws. When shopping he asks for EVERYTHING. In the room he wants to be watching TV, playing on the ipad, etc.. We have started hiding remotes and that does work. We bought some Chinese kids movies today, which he was SO Excited about. We let him watch one this afternoon and then he wanted to just keep on watching.  You want to make them happy, but I also want to let him know that he has to listen to us too.

We read quite a bit before adopting about “cocooning”. Keeping the kids home and on a routine. We are SURE that we will have no problems doing that! I am convinced I am never leaving the house again! I do get it now, some of those things I read. Here, you have no choice. If we stayed in the room we would all be crazy. But our house will be where Syler & Mercie will learn what home is.

We are SOO ready to be HOME!

Consulate tomorrow, our FINAL step towards home! Ok, well almost. We then have to wait to get their visa’s, but getting SO close!

Safari Park

Guangzhou Safari Park-Monday

Today we visited the Guangzhou Safari Park. Also known as a really big zoo. We had to wake the kids up, which I hate doing. We are all finally sleeping in and sleeping so well.

One not so fun thing that happened this morning. We were getting off the elevator to come back to our room after breakfast. Syler runs off, Mark and I step off. I look back and Malaine, holding Fei Fei is STILL on as the doors close. EEK!! Talk about panic! Mark took another elevator down while I waited on our floor crying. Syler just kept watching me and watching the elevators. Poor Malaine was so upset and I felt horrible. My children can now add this to the stories they use to make fun of me! Remember when Mom.... 

On to the zoo! 

The safari is huge and Syler was SOOO excited when we pulled up. He took the map and studied it and started pointing and talking about the pandas as soon as he found them on the map. (when I say talking I mean making noise, of course he knows we don’t understand him!)

They have a tram ride through the animals that is actually pretty impressive. You can drive through in your car or ride the tram. The animals are so close and I can promise you, Syler has never seen anything like that! His whole face would light up and he would smile so big, pointing at the animals, pulling on us to make sure we would look.

I was in tears just thinking how something like a zoo, which is SO ordinary for us, is so extraordinary for my sweet son.  I prayed that he would never lose this sense of wonder, and that WE would also remember how blessed we are. That we would take more time to stop and enjoy the little things.

For lunch we dined in the Panda Restaurant.  It has glass overlooking pandas. Which sounded much more exciting than it was. We had pigtails for lunch. Literally pig tails. It was in a pot with boiled peanuts. Actually not so bad.

After lunch Mercie was tired. She REFUSES to go in a stroller, and so we take turns carrying her. But when she is tired, she wants Malaine ONLY. Who of course can’t carry her long. So we spent about 2 hours walking around with her SCREAMING. We had no option, we were there alone with no communication, just a pick up time. We were all super stressed out by the time we got back to the hotel!

We did let the kids feed the giraffes (which they loved) AND baby tigers .In 2008 we fed the baby tiger with Mavery. Malaine has wanted to do it ever since. We looked ALL day for this baby tiger and praise the Lord right before we left we found it! I am not sure it was nearly as exciting as Malaine thought it would be, but we did it.

We were not in the van 2 minutes and both kids were OUT.

We went to the playground and then had dinner in the executive lounge. Have I mentioned how nice that is? Menu changes nightly. Tonight it was mini enchiladas, sandwiches, hot dogs (Syler ate 5!) waffle fries, salad bar, fruit, desserts etc.. SO easy with the kids.

We played UNO back in the room, hide and seek and Mark wrestled the kids. Syler LOVES his daddy. If you know Mark you know he is just amazing with kids in general. He plays with them, and makes them laugh SO loud!  Syler was much more interactive tonight with Malaine. His mood overall just seems more settled.  Right now he and Malaine are watching High School Musical. J

Mercie is still up and down. If she is comfortable, she is happy. So in the room, eating, breakfast, playground etc. BUT if it is a new situation, watch out. You can see she is just scared to death. She is VERY attached to Malaine and it seems the more we try to stop that attachment, the worse she gets. So right now we are in survival mode. She does do well letting me feed her, change her and willingly comes to me. When she is tired though, we ALL struggle!

I have been fighting a headache all day. I am going to blame it on the stress of a screaming baby!

We are pretty amazed at how quickly Syler is learning things already. Today at lunch when he was finished he clearly said “LET’s GO!”  .

He also says:

Baba(daddy in Chinese) go night night!

Baba no tickle! Or Baba YES tickle.

When playing hide and seek he calls out, Baba, Baba! SO sweet!

Night Night

Mama

Baba

Lainey

Yes

No

Tickle

Shoes

Counts to 7 clearly.

He will also repeat whatever we tell him to say, often adding SAY which cracks us up. “Say Sawyer, Say Kenna! Etc..!

I am trying to upload pictures and it is just so slow for some reason. Going to just let Amy add them in another post. 

Tomorrow is Pearl Shopping. I am sure that Syler will be thrilled.  I am thrilled though we are meeting up with another family with our agency. They are staying at the other hotel. We are missing having a travel group on this trip.