Merry Christmas!

I feel like such a blog-slacker! We are preparing for Christmas: wrapping presents, baking cookies, cleaning house, decorating, etc. This year is much calmer than last year. Things have gotten better with the kids' behavior in the past 2-3 months. Yanmei and I are bonding and getting closer. Jiujiu seems to be in a holding pattern with bonding, at least with me. Yanmei and Jiujiu are in the same class in school and it seems to be going well. Their English is improving and they are learning alot in their classes, even if they don't think so! Yanmei made the basketball team and she is excited, but also nervous.

Abby is in her school's chorus and they had a Christmas concert recently, they did so well! The five songs they sang were lovely!

Emily's reading is getting better and her teacher is so impressed with her math abilities!

Brian is doing well in kindergarten and is quite the goofball in class. Even with his "goofy" tendencies he is getting mostly green on his behavior chart so I'm happy.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Merry Christmas!!

We're still here.

Our summer has been stressful so far. There is a lot of defiance of Mark and I and it is coming from all the kids.

Abby, Emily and Brian went to a backyard bible club at a friend's house a couple of weeks ago. it was nice for them to spend some stress-free time but they wanted me to stay the whole time so I wasn't able to get some "me" time like I have in past years. There is some clingyness with one of my kids and this has been for the past nine months. I believe she doesn't feel safe unless she is with me.

Please keep us in your prayers. I feel like the behaviors of defiance that we saw at about 4 months home have continued for five months with little or no change. It is frustrating to see no progress in this area.

Jiujiu and Yanmei's english is improving but there are still comunication issues.

Beth

I'm back....

I took a hiatus from blogging for a bit. I have been too overwhelmed to blog about our journey. Today is Easter. I am so thankful for the resurrection of our Lord.

Our family life has settled down some recently. Abby and Yanmei are getting closer and closer. Abby's bedroom was moved to the basement and I think the privacy of having a room to retreat to makes her more willing to spend time with her new sister. Yanmei and Emily are sharing a bedroom and get along well together. Brian doesn't take "no" for an answer when it comes to bonding with his new sister. Sometimes he just assumes she will welcome him laying on her lap or hugging her and I think it is easier for her to just allow it than to say no. That's what happens when you are little and cute! :smile: Yanmei is getting closer to Mark and I but she does have a stubborn streak that we see quite frequently.

Jiujiu is not always willing to bond with his new siblings. Jiujiu is very helpful around the house and really enjoys spending time with Mark. There are temper issues that we are working on.

Mark, Jiujiu, Yanmei and I are seeing an adoption therapist once a week. We are trying to work on issues that come from living in an orphanage for years. Please pray for us as we continue with our therapy.

Emily will be turning 7 tomorrow. We will have a small birthday party: our immediate family, grandparents and two of Emily's friends. Just dinner and cake. Emily has requested Mom's homemade icing for the cake and she wants it orange!

I pray everyone has had a wonderful Easter!

Beth

Four down and one to go!

Well, Yanmei, Emily and Jiujiu are all riding their bikes by themselves! I have videos of Yanmei and Emily but I haven't gotten Jiujiu yet. Here are two more of our girls riding their bikes.

Now we just have to wait for Brian....

Bike riding!

Our daughter Abby just learned to ride her bike. Yay Abby! She has motivated Jiujiu and Yanmei, they were practicing this evening. They are almost there, I think another few days of practice and they will be zooming along with Abby. Here's a video of Abby riding.

A little progress...

Our children are not willing to have us take their picture. I'm not really sure why. They didn't mind it in China but since they have been in America I usually get this.....








But on Sunday I was able to get this....




So there is a little progress. Now, it's a good thing that my other daughters aren't shy!

Family Movie Night

Our family went to Family Movie Night last night at our church. We wanted to do something fun as a family and we thought showing Jiujiu and Yanmei that there are fun activities at church would be a good idea. There was popcorn provided and we brought candy. The movie was How to Train Your Dragon. It was a good movie and everyone seem to enjoy it. Yay for a fun evening together.

If you have a chance could you say a prayer for my grandfather. He is 82 and he has been confused, his heart is off rhythem and he may have had a small stroke. He is at the hospital right now getting checked out.

Beth

First Conversation

Last night Yanmei and I had our first conversation. It was pretty cool. Yanmei was asking how old Mark's parents and siblings are and how old my parents and sister is. Also we talked about my grandfather and how the rest of Mark and my grandparents have died (I even told her that they are all in heaven with Jesus..I don't know if she understood that). I explained that Jiujiu is her Didi (little brother) which she didn't agree with (I don't know if she doesn't think of him as her brother yet or if she just didn't want to call him her Didi or if she thought Jiujiu would be upset if he heard that) I explained that even though they are both 12 her birthday is in June and his is in Sept so she is old then him, I know she undestood because she said "three", meaning three months.

It was pretty cool.

Beth

Small update

We are having some good days but the bad days are so bad that they over shadow the good days.
I told my mom that it feels like all the good stuff is being drained out of me and the only thing left is stress.

Yesterday I took Yanmei to see an opthomologist to have her eyes examined. It went well. Her left eye is 20/20 and her right eye is 20/40. We are going to try to get her right eye to improve if possible before the Dr does surgery on Yanmei's left eye. Yanmei is resisting the idea of surgery right now. We are hoping that she changes her mind. We won't force her to have surgery but I think it will help her so much. Yanmei's opthomologist is Chinese and was able to explain everything without having to have an interpreter involved. She is a very nice woman and she told Yanmei that she could call her anytime.

Beth

Silence

Things have been very difficult in our family for awhile. I am not sure what to put on our blog so I have been silent. I would like to ask for prayer, our family needs it. Thank you.

Beth

The tortise and the hare....

Our attachment to our children seems to resemble "The Tortise and the Hare" Jiujiu is our hare and Yanmei is our tortise. Jiujiu was quick to open up but seems to be "sleeping on the side of the road." Yanmei was slow to start but she is slowly pulling ahead!

Beth

Awww!

How cute is this photo? Brian can worm his way into any heart! Yanmei is warming up to Brian the most.

School days...

Well,
after our first day of stress...um I mean school, Jiujiu seems to be doing well at school. Everyday this week has gone well. I'll be crossing my fingers that it continues! (And praying, which is much more effective!)

Beth

First Day of School....

We have two children who started school today and they had two different experiences. I'm going to end on a good note so here is Jiujiu's day. Due to fear and frustration, Jiujiu was not cooperative in school. I was called into the school, along with our friend who translates for us. I ended up staying in the classroom for over an hour. We will continue to explain to Jiujiu the importance of respect and obedience when in the school setting (at home too, obviously!).

Yanmei had a good day, from what I can tell. Her teacher said that she was upset at first and there were some tears but she started interacting with other students, she was doing her work and the ESL teacher said that they had some good moments together.

Please keep Jiujiu and Yanmei in your prayers on monday for their second day of school.

Please pray for us.

We are going through a very rough time right now. I want to respect the privacy of my child so I won't post any details. Please pray.

Beth

my week and "firsts"!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. On Monday I missed our first step and fell down two steps onto a concrete pad. I landed on on my elbow and chipped the end of my elbow bone and ripped my tendon. I had surgery on Weds and will not be able to use my right arm for three weeks.

Tonight was a night of "firsts" for Jiujiu and Yanmei. Our church had a harvest party there was a moonbounce, games for candy prizes, balloon animals, hay ride and moonbounce obstacle course. They didn't do the games but everything else was a "first" for them! They really enjoyed the moonbounce and the moonbounce obstacle course!!

Beth

A good day.

Today was a good day for our family. We went yard saleing, costume shopping and toy shopping. No major issues today and it ended well. Thank you Lord!

Beth

I am having trouble...

...loving my new children. Their treatment of another child in our family is causing me great distress. Right now I am trying to fight how I feel. I do not want to love them. I am tired and frustrated and so discouraged. I am emotionally exhausted. Please pray for me.

Beth

Jiujiu and Yanmei

Our children prefer to use their Chinese names for the moment. These names are also their middle names so even if they decide to keep using them it shouldn't be a problem. Adam Jiujiu Smith wants to be called Jiujiu (sounds like Joe Joe) Megan Yanmei Smith wants to be called Yanmei. (think "Jan May" but change the J to a Y) This is a normal situation for older adopted children. In fact, we planned for this when we decided to keep their chinese name as their middle name. They may use their first names at some point so we plan to be flexible.

Beth

I am NOT a fan...

...of Jet Lag! I know it will take awhile to get readjusted but I don't like waking at 4:00 am and needing a nap at 4:00 pm. I REALLY don't like having to wake 3 of my kids (and sometime all 5 of them) from their afternoon naps so they can eat dinner. They aren't very "morning people" and that extends to naps I guess.

Tonight I looked online for ways to ease jet lag, what a surprise...sunlight! Unfortunately, we don't have any...it is rainy and dreary. It's also supposed to be that way until Thursday. Yuck!

Let's see, exercise helps, but no running around outside. I don't really want to clean mud off of our floors. Double Yuck!

Other than jet lag things are still going well. We have our small issues but they can be dealt with.

Off to get some of my kids in bed...two have been alseep since 6:45.... :sigh:

Beth