Saturday, June 27, 2009

Worried?.... Who, me?! Naahhh............

"The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Phil. 4:5-7


There are so many things I could be worried about right now....

Attachment problems, developmental delays, unforeseen health issues, going from 4 to 5 children, homeschooling them all, flying to China (I've only flown once and I've never been outside North America), leaving my other 4 children for 2 whole weeks (I've never been apart from them more than 2 days), and if that wasn't enough...

For those of us that fall within the Hague adoption treaty, there are mandatory vaccinations that your adoptive child MUST have up to date before you are allowed to leave China. (exceptions are made only with severe health issues) This could be as many as 7 shots all at once! (U.S. rules not China) Not to mention there is now mandatory TB testing. A positive skin test will require a chest x-ray, which if positive could mean your child will not be leaving with you as planned. A 9 month regime of antibiotics is usually prescribed. How long the child needs to be on them before being deemed not contagious hasn't been determined at this point as far as I know. 1 week? 2 weeks? month/s? Then, and only then, are you allowed to bring them home. Not many parents can afford to be away from their job, or family that long, so this may mean leaving their child behind, and coming back for him/her at a later date. Not something ANY parent would want to do.

On top of this smorgasbord of stress is the fact that, although the H1N1 (aka swine flu) has faded from the media eye here in the U.S., the flu itself is still alive and well (or is it unwell?) and has put China on the utmost defensive. They are taking no chances... quarantines, hazmat suits, temperature scans and all... rightly so, I guess, when you take into consideration what happened with SARS. The flu is fairly weak right now but in the fall when flu season hits, who knows? After hearing of two other adoptive couples and their children being quarantined in the last week, many other AP's are rethinking their own travel plans... children or no children? one parent or two? backup plans if quarantined and have to stay extra # days?

With so much to worry about, I am surprised I am taking this all so well right now. Then again, I have moments...

BUT...

"The Lord is at hand." Phil 4:5

He is near.

When I start feeling anxious I ask Him to calm me and remind me that He is in control. And you know what? It works.


"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit."

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Friday, June 12, 2009

LID!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAHOOO!!!!! We finally have our LID! And it was faster than I thought it would be, which is awesome! I was expecting it to be about 2 weeks after our DTC date, but it was only 7 days! That means we are already 3 weeks into waiting for our LOA!

I had been checking our agency's website where they post LID's for everyone and for the last 2 weeks they've only had up to March 20th posted. Soooo, I emailed our agency and asked "Do we have to wait 2 months before we learn our LID??" Thankfully the answer was no. She said call back on the 19th, but I've been checking the website (just in case they update it) and lo and behold there it was!!! YAY!!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

We knew from the beginning of this adoption journey that, whatever child we received, we wanted to try to keep her Chinese name. Before we ever saw Xiao Juan's picture, I prayed that the little girl we adopt would have a name somewhat close to an American sounding name so we could keep it. Not that we couldn't have kept any name she was given... but it would be easier for people to pronounce and there wouldn't be the constant explaining of how to pronounce it, etc, etc...

When we first saw Xiao Juan we only knew her as Girl/year/#. Once we found out her name I set to work trying to figure out what her name meant and how to pronounce it, via the internet. My first guess was something like Zhe-ow Wan. (I think most people would guess Wan since Juan it's such a popular Spanish name) I was very tickled to find out that her name is really pronounced She-ow Joo-en. The Joo-en is said sort of slurred together quickly, so it actually sounds very similar to the name Jen! God is so cool! That He would notice my tiny prayer and honor it. And on top of that, the couple from our church that has been helping us, (also adopted a little girl from China through Holt) the wife's name is Jen! I know it's a little thing, but I thought it was neat how God tied those things together.

The only thing we decided to do differently is the spelling of her name. To keep the spelling Juan would confuse people and make them think "Wan". The name Jen is short for Jennifer and means "fair haired, white wave" (definitely not fitting for an Asian girl). Since our other daughter has a G name that sounds like a J, I thought, hmmm why not? I typed Gen into a baby name web search and found that it originated in Japan and means "spring (as in water) or origin, source". At first I got overly excited thinking that it was spring as in the season spring (see first post about her name Xiao Juan), but then quickly realized it meant spring as in water. Oh well... still very nice. We liked it. In Japan they would pronounce it with a hard G like goat but I think it's not too far of a jump to pronounce it with a soft G. So Gen it is! All the kids like it very much, especially Gemma. She's waited a long time for a sister (3 brothers later!) and now she'll have one that not only shares a May birthday, but a similar name as well!