A Room with a VIEW!

This is looking...umm...right (not sure of the direction!) from my window!!

Same direction, different view!

Looking left out my window!

This is my room. This is my bed!! 7!!! PILLOWS just for me!! I've died and gone to heaven!

2 years ago...about this week...

We saw Julia's picture for the first time. We saw this tiny, bald headed baby girl who had mishapped ear. I'm sure you've heard of people speak of "love at first sight"...well, that's exactly what it was. There was something in those dark brown eyes that caught me and whispered, "Are you my mommy?". The picture of above is the exact picture Wayne and I saw for the first time. As we get closer to the date that we got her info, I will post the other photos we have of her. But, this is our Love at First Sight.

I find it interesting that now, two years later, there isn't a picture of a little child who doesn't speak to me. They are all asking the same question. "Are you my mommy?" From what knowledge I have gained in the past two years; being around other adoptive families, most of us moms feel that way. We all have the desire to parent, love, nurture and care for a child who doesn't have a family to call their own.

I'm still amazed at how this has all played out. God is incredible and I am in constant awe of His ability to change lives.

From China comes a tiny plea
Won’t someone come and rescue me
I long to see a mother’s face
To feel warmth of her embrace
My heart is longing for a home
For a father I can call my own
As I wait …I whisper a silent prayer
God, please can’t you find them
I know they’re out there…
Somewhere

Author Unknown

Bucket Project 2007

More new pictures

New Pictures

These are pictures that were taken at Anna's birthday party at the bowling alley. :-)

Wanted: MOM

POSITION : Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Ma

JOB DESCRIPTION : Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES : The rest of your life. Must be willing to behated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willingto bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the Next. Must handle assembly andproduct safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT &PROMOTION: Virtually none. Your job isto remain in the same position for years, without complaining,constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those inyour charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE : None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis. : Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment isdue when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left.The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS : While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE BREATHS WE TAKE, BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR BREATH AWAY.

Quote

My friend Tim has a quote on his profile page at Yahoo that says, "There are many ways to measure success; not the least of which is the way your child describes you when talking to a friend."

I overheard Anna telling one of her friends that I was a good mom because I came in to help out in her classroom a lot. :-) And I was a good mom because I let her use my iPod. LOL!

Giving Up

As much as I hate to type this, we have decided that WACAP is not the agency for us. The have some very unethical business practices and we can no longer go through the heartache. They have a family that applied for YP after we did and because that family will get their paperwork in before us, they will "win" the race and be able to adopt him. We cant't work with an agency who doesn't see what's wrong with that picture.

We appreciate all the support that our family and friends have given us and we hope that YP finds a loving home, it just won't be with us. So, for now, our adoption journey is on hold as we struggle with what to do next. Only God knows what the plan is and we give everything to him.

Melissa & Wayne
Cameron, Anna and Julia

(This was posted on our Chopsticks for 6 blog as well.)

Chinese New Year pictures

Cameron, Anna and Julia in their newest Chinese outfits

Julia enjoying her Egg Drop soup

Cam was being a little crabby here.

Anna loves going to China Buffet!

Here are my goofball kids at China Buffet.

Oops, We did it again!

So, you’re wondering what the oops is? Umm, well, we decided that 3 kids weren’t nearly enough chaos and we are headed back to China for a son. Yep, you read that right. We started paperwork on February 14th (my Valentine’s Day present!) to pursue adopting a little boy. Don’t look so surprised! All it takes is a few drinks and a little unprotected paperwork. Here’s a little poem that I like:

An Accidental Adoption

Have you ever noticed that you hear all the time about "accidental" pregnancies,
but never about couples who experience "accidental" adoptions?

Can you imagine:

Honey, sit down. I have some news for you.

What is it?

Well, I don't know how to say this, so I'll just come out with it.

I went out to the mailbox today and ... well, we got an I-171H.

A what?!?

An I171H? As in, we're going to have another baby?!?

It looks that way.

But how? We've been so careful! I put away all the blank I600A forms.
Didn't you hide our home study update?

Of course I did. But don't forget, there was that one night...

What night?

(pauses)

Ohhh, that night. But it was only once. We were just messing around.
I didn't print clearly. I didn't even use ink!

(pauses again)

But it was kind of fun.
(giggles)
It was, wasn't it? I'll never forget how cute you looked

getting your fingerprints.
So now we've got our I-171H, eh?

But that doesn't always mean you'll adopt, does it?
I mean, shouldn't you see the agency or something, make sure everything's okay?

I already did.

And?

I'm five documents along.

Five documents! And they're all notarized, certified and authenticated… okay?

There was one small scare when the agency couldn't see the notary's middle initial,
but it showed up just fine under the magnifying glass.

Thank God.

And you honey? Are you feeling okay?

I'm feeling fine. As long as I know you're happy about this.

Happy?

I'm thrilled! It's always a shock at first when something

like this happens, but of course I'm happy!

Ok, so our story is a little different that than, but, you get the picture. We’ve been talking about it since we got home with Julia. Cameron’s desire to have a brother is so strong and Wayne’s experience of growing up in a large family with 8 boys just really seems to help us decide; that and our faith. For those that believe, you know what I mean. I have so many friends in my late August adoption group that know the feeling. God plays such big part in adding children to our families. He knew what he was doing back in 2000 by giving us Anna and her hearing loss. At the time I didn’t understand why we had been chosen to parent a child with special needs and now I can’t imagine my life any other way. God planted Anna in our lives to give us direction to Julia and to our son waiting in China.

Well, to wrap up this long post, I’m going to give you the link to our new blog. It’s called Chopsticks for 6. (http://www.chopsticksfor6.blogspot.com) I wanted to start a new blog for the journey to our son. Who shall remain nameless for now! We are are still debating names. If anyone has any suggestions, send on over our way!

Sit back and get ready for another roller coaster ride of paperwork, paperchasing, dossiers, visas and finally a life changing trip to the most beautiful country, China.

Melissa & Wayne
Big Brother Cameron (Ge Ge), Big Sister Anna (Jie Jie) and Little Sister Julia (Mei Mei)

and our soon to be Middle Brother (Di Di)

Lost in translation

Oh good god!! I posted the wrong link!! ACK! I meant to post this one!!!

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/world/2007/02/19/vause.china.lost.in.translation.cnn

Happy President's Day!!

Allo!

Just thought you'd like to celebrate with a little quiz! :-) Oh yeah, we are not neglecting Chinese New Year!!! We are celebrating Tuesday night and I will post pictures of our dinner and celebration!!

http://reference.aol.com/quizzes/presidents_day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

My Stuff a Friend site

Hey everyone! After talking with my friend Sharon about her Stuff to Love site, she convinced me that I could set one up too. So I did! I had purchased 3 animals from Sharon and loved them so I decided it was worth a shot. I'm not trying to get anyone to buy anything. But...hey, if I can make a little extra money by doing this, then it's worth a try. :-) Here's the direct link or you can click on my tab on the right that says, "Melissa's Stuff a Friend"

http://www.stuffafriend.biz/members/chopsticks_n_eggrolls/

Cheers!

The Goo Goo Dolls singing "Give a Little Bit"

Music Video:GIVE A LITTLE BIT (LIVE) (by Goo Goo Dolls)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Wagner in Chinese?

I found this really cool website that changes English names into Chinese. I thought it was pretty cool so I translated our family. Here's the link if you want to try! http://www.chinesenames.org/

WAGNER

WAYNE

MELISSA

CAMERON
ANNA (Annie)

JULIA

Give a little bit...

I've been hearing the Goo Goo Dolls version of this song so I decided to download it, not knowing there was an ORIGINAL version by Supertramp. Soooo...I downloaded that one too!

GIVE A LITTLE BIT

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my love to you
There's so much that we need to share
Send a smile and show you care

I'll give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
So give a little bit
Give a little bit of your time to me
See the man with the lonely eyes
Take his hand, you'll be surprised

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
Now's the time that we need to share
So find yourself, we're on our way back home

...going home...
...don't you need to feel at home...
...oh yeah, we gotta sing

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!