Swimming and more Snow!

I loved this picture of Julia sleeping in Wayne's chair.

Cam saying hello from underwater!

Julia and her Poppa in the hottub.

Anna and the goggles!!!

A very snowy Riley Jean!

A just as snowy Wayne!

Wayne snowblowing with our mini-snowblower!

A side view of the house with Riley as it's snowing.

A view of the neighbor's house (looking east).

Snow

This is what it is doing here today!

MADE IN CHINA...an adoptive mom's view

Made in China

What do those 3 words mean to you? Do they represent inexpensive products that don’t work very well? Does it mean jobs lost to a country that can provide cheaper labor? Do you grow tired of seeing it on everyday items you use? I have encountered people who throw out comments about China without knowing that I have a daughter who was “Made in China”. They comment about all the junk that is poorly or cheaply made, they talk about American jobs that went overseas because ‘those people will work for nothing’, some even go as far as to derogatory words to describe Asian or Chinese people or culture.

Well, “Made in China” means something totally different me. When I think of China, I think of a very friendly country where everyone was curious about why we were in there and when they found out they were very grateful. When I think of China, I think of the all the beautiful buildings and architecture. I think of a country where people are very proud of whom they are and work very hard. “Made in China” isn’t a bad thing, I want my daughter to grow up being proud of her “Made in China” title. I want her to understand the struggles and the ability to over come those struggles that her birth country has endured. Having grown up in a country where freedom is an everyday luxury, I can say that I don’t always agree with how China has treated its people or the situation that lead us to adopting one of their beautiful children. However, I do feel as though it’s important for Julia to know where she came from and what her birth country is all about. For now we can sugarcoat the stark reality of how she came to be our daughter. I have no desire to tell her the honest truth about why she was abandoned or why her birth family chose to give her up. I can speculate and put my spin as to why she was left at the gate of the orphanage. There will come a time when she wants to know and we will give her the truth about the one child policy, about how children with special needs are viewed in China, about the financial situation of most average Chinese families. Those are some tough topics and I can only ask for the guidance and strength to know what to say when the time comes. Who knows, maybe things will change and ideas of the past will only be just that….the past. Wouldn’t it be great for children in China to no longer be abandoned, for there to no longer be a need for orphanages or foster care, for there no longer to be a need for international adoptions? Alas, it is only a dream for now.

So the next time you see “Made in China” on something in your home, think of Julia; think of what a beautiful country China is and what China means to her. Think of China as a place where the osmanthus flowers grow, where buildings are decorated in the brightest hues of red and blue, where our precious daughter was born. I can only hope that in her lifetime that the perception of the “Made in China” labels will be something to be proud of.


Xie Xie (Thank you)

Love

I was reading Cindy Champnella's book "The Waiting Child" awhile back and found this quote from another adoptive mom. I loved it and wanted to share it.

"Love is mighty powerful thing to fight. I have loved, been loved and been in love. The one thing I know about love is that either it wins or you're miserable. There is no compromising love. There is no 'make a deal' with love. It wins or you lose. Love is not logical. Love doesn't care if boys like wiggly things. Love is not practical. Love doesn't care if you have the money or not. Love is not reasonable. Love doesn't care if you have the time or the energy or not. Love doesn't care if you are already exhausted. It doesn't care who needs therapy. It doesn't care how full or dirty your house is. Love doesn't care if you are old or afraid. How can you fight love and hope to win?"

A real grass roots campaign

The kids and I have started a campaign to convince Wayne that we need a little brother from China. My mom got the kids these Grass Head people for Christmas and then we added the signs to them. :-) A friend of mine said hopefully Wayne doesn't get us a little Grass Head brother!

Anna's Bed Head

The Front
The Back

The starfish story revisited

Way back in May of 2005 (has it been that long?!) I posted a entry about the starfish story. I was thinking it was a good time to bring that back and repost it. Enjoy!

There was a young man walking down a deserted beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a frail old man. As he approached the old man, he saw him picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. The young man gazed in wonder as the old man again and again threw the small starfish from the sand to the water. He asked, "Old man, why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time." The old man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. "But there must be thousands of beaches and millions of starfish!" exclaimed the young man. "How can you make any difference?"The old man looked at the small starfish in his hand and as he threw it to the safety of the sea, he said, "It makes a difference to this one!".

Author unknown

Congrats to Tim and Kristy!!!

I wanted to do a quick shout out to our friends Kristy and Tim in Denver. They just got PA (pre-approval) for their son, Dawson. Kristy and I have become quick friends as they are using AAI to adopt Dawson. What an exciting time for their family!!

The Dash Movie

Just wanted to pass this along. Our pastor had talked about, "What are you doing with your dash?" a few months back. Enjoy the little movie and think about the meaning.
http://thedashmovie.com/

Much love!
Melissa

And you thought your drive was bad!!

The M25, central London, the Autobahn...if you thought these roads were traffic-congested then take a look at this picture. Hundreds of cars queue aimlessly for the chance to actually get to their destination in Xiamen, south China.
The country has experienced a massive increase this year in the sale of cars, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers

Anna and the earrings!

Here she is!! Anna got her ears pierced over Christmas break. Please don't mind the lip fungus. She struggles with it constantly! Everything is good, she's on meds for it. But don't ya love the earrings???

Know what this means?

Family

The best quote of 2007

This is from a friend of mine from one of my adoption groups. I love it and wanted to share it with all of you!

We don't adopt perfect children. We adopt children who are perfect to us. We fix what we can and love what we can't fix.

"Stuff to Love"

Introducing Junie the horse, McDyess the frog and Rina the pig! Santa brought these cuties to us from a little company called Stuff to Love. My friend Sharon is doing a fundraiser and these are the finished product. They come much like the Build-A-Bear animals do. We had a great time stuffing them and then dressing them. The kids loved it! Here's the link to Sharon's store:

http://www.stuff-to-love.com/

The Fury...The Champs!

Oh...if you haven't noticed, our kids love the Muskegon Fury. Why you ask? I think part of it is because my soon to be brother in law works for them and so they get to go to lots of games and get to meet the players. Thanks so much to Tyler for arranging this latest picture. Here the kids are with Pool. He's a good guy (married with kids) and was kind of enough to have his picture taken with Cam and Anna. THANKS TYLER! THANKS POOLIE!

A few new pictures

Julia and her Josh! Josh is Korean and plays for the Muskegon Fury. Julia thinks he's too cool!

Here is Anna and Julia in their new shirts and bows from my friends Sharon and Tonni

Here we are in our matching shirts and bows. The shirts I got at Old Navy.

No more music! :-(

For whatever reason (I think Blogger hates me!), we can no longer have music play on our blog. I can't seem to get the code to work. I'm guessing it's something to do with the new beta version. If you have our old blog, apparently the music is still there. Go figure!

Well, I'm off to finish up our final present wrapping. We have Wagner Christmas this afternoon and there's just a few more gifts to attend to. I will post pictures from that party tonight.

Jammy picture!

Here are the jammy's that Aunt Cheryl got the kids. Anna loved hers with the jacket. Julia loves Strawberry Shortcake and Cam loves sharks! Don'tcha love bed head?? :-)

Awesome Chinese shirts and personalized items!

I wanted to send along this link to my friend Sharon's Ebay store. They adopted their youngest daughter, Brinley at the same time we were adopting Julia. Her and her husband Marty are about the nicest, sweetest people you will meet. They decided to add to their family again and are now adopting Bailey. She is from the same province as Brinley! How great is that!?! So here is the link to her store! http://www.my-little-pretty.com

I will post some pictures of Anna and Julia in the shirts I got from Sharon. There is another mom in my adoption group who sells matching bows to Sharon's shirts. Her name is Tonni and will can give you her email address if you are seriously interested. I bought Christmas bows for the girls and LOVE THEM! :-) Thanks Tonni!!

Christmas with the Wagner's 2006

Tyler and Wayne loving their new shirts.

Our goofy family picture!

Julia getting ready to tear into another present.

Instead of the 3 wise men, it's the 3 wise sisters. Me, Samantha and Theresa.
Cam and Aunt Pammy PEACE'IN OUT!

Theresa, Samantha and Tyler checking out the guitar

Yes, the kids outside on Christmas Eve with no coats. It was 43 degrees here today!

As you can see, there is no snow! The kids love these deer.

The kids in front of the tree.

Grandma and Anna opening their matching aprons!

Poppa showing how much he likes Christmas!

Samantha with her nutcracker collection. She has over 250!

Julia looking too excited about opening presents!

Daddy, Cameron and Mommy before the BIG ONE is opened!

Anna showing off her new guitar. She's the new Sheryl Crow.

A post that is long overdue...

Seeing how I couldn't post this back in November, I wanted to post it now. Enjoy!

Wow! It’s November 30, 2006. Just one short year ago today we drove up to the Civil Affairs building in Wuhan, Hubei in the People’s Republic of China. There we saw the most beautiful children entering at the same time. They wore matching outfits and carried glasses of juices with them. Oh how their lives were about to change.

Looking back, I realize that I had no idea as to what would happen that day. Wayne and I, Liz and Brion woke up in Beijing and would soon be taking a plane ride that would forever change our families. Until we heard “I have made an appointment at 4:00 pm to get the babies” from our guide, did we really get what was about to take place.

The only word I have to describe the feeling of seeing Julia for the first time is love. You know that feeling of your first date or when you walk down the aisle to your soon to be spouse, or maybe when you see you baby for the first time after giving birth. Here we were and it was happening again. I knew from the minute we saw her, she was ours and I would love her forever. The best part was sharing it with another family who felt just as we did. Even though both our families have older children at home, this was just as exciting as the day of birth of our bio kids. All the new parent anxieties, all the frustration of not knowing what your child really wants…all those things were present. But at the same time, Wayne and I just stared in amazement as she slept next to us. She was so beautiful. How could we have been so blessed?

As our days in China passed quickly, Julia and Isaac blended into our routines. It was hard and yet encouraging at the same time. I think we all just knew that everything would work out and that God had chosen the right children for us.


Today is a day, as well as Julia’s birthday, I think of 2 women in China that had so much to do with who Julia is and how she came to be our daughter. First, for the birth mom that placed her daughter in a place that she knew she would be found. She knew that her baby would be taken care of there. My heart aches her. If I could have just one wish, it would be to tell Julia’s birth family that she is safe and loved; that we will make sure she that she gets a good education and good medical care. You know, when I look at her smile at me, if I could just send that smile to her birth mom, because that’s her smile. And to the foster mom, we can’t possibly thank you enough for taking care of Julia. We know that you did an amazing job raising her for 2 years. Julia is a very smart and articulate girl. We believe it was all the things that you did with her that made her what she is today.

So what is life like for Julia now? Well, she loves Dora and Barbie. She loves to dance and color. She’s a very good kid who loves our family as though she’s been here forever. We still meet up with Liz and Brion. Isaac is just as cute as bug. Julia calls him “her Isaac” and likes to look at pictures of them together in China and of other times we’ve spent with him.

Our website plays the song “I knew that I loved you” by Savage Garden. For a while I thought I would change it, but really…it means so much to me and Wayne. We knew that we loved Julia before we met her and couldn’t be more grateful to God for placing the perfect child in our arms. So as you go about your day today; say a little prayer for Julia, for her birth mom and foster mom in China, and for Isaac and his family. November 30th is a special day for us.

With much love,
Melissa, Wayne, Cameron, Anna and Julia Wagner

More class pictures!

"The Boys" of Mrs. Smith's first grade. Anna likes the 2 boys on the far right. ;-)

This Anna and Sara. They both love to wear dresses!

Here are "The Boys" of Mrs. Dahringer's 3rd grade. Cam is in the white shirt on the left.

This is Damien and Cam at the party. Damien's dad works with Wayne.

Cam and Julia at Cam's party. He's such a loving big bro!

Anna's class party 2006

New Pictures!

This is me and my cousin Tom, we've been best buds since we were little

Here are the Aunties (and my Grandma)

Here are the monkies in the back of the truck before the Santa parade in Hart

WHOA! Blogger has gone whacky!!

Hey All!

For the past 8-10 weeks, I've had issues with Blogger/Blogspot. I can't seem to log in on my laptop (which is where all my pictures are). I have no idea what happened, but it won't load the log-in page. BIZARRE to say the least.

Soooo...now that we have high speed internet at our house (YES! I love you, Wayne!! Thanks so much for convincing me that we needed it!), I'm going to work on using our dinosaur desk-top machine to load some new pictures. Please be patient!!

Thanks so much and MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!