STORIES

We have updated our other site.  Please visit to see how our visit with the neurosurgeon went today.  http://lovinglia.blogspot.com/ 

February 14, 2008

Just a quick reminder, we are now updating on the other site! http://lovinglia.blogspot.com/ 

February 5,2008

I forgot to mention that our church held a shower for Lia last week! She received so many beautiful items! We are so lucky to have such a wonderful church body that supports us. She was so good that night too which helped a ton! So my project this week is to send out thank you cards!

Oh I must not forget to mention that Lia slept all night last night! Yeah!!! She did wake at 6:30 but went back to sleep on her own! I hope this becomes a habit. I can sure handle nights like that!

Oh and I think we are going to try another site so here is the link! Don't forget to book mark it and check back for updates! I'll see if there is a way to sign up for updates later. http://lovinglia.blogspot.com/

February 4, 2008

I'm not sure how many of you are aware of the problem in China right now. They are experiencing major snow storms and freezing temps. This has caused major problems for many orphanages. If you click the link below you can read the need for many of these orphanages. The best way to help is to donate $. Sending things over right now will not get to them. This is a non for profit organization and has done wonderful things for the orphaned children in China!

http://www.halfthesky.org/work/littlemouse.php

As you can see we've added some new pictures to the website. The girls actually had matching outfits on that day. Trying to get pictures of Lia is challenging! She is def. a mover and a shaker!

Last week she had her eye exam! Oh joy what fun that was! NOT! The poor thing was scared out of her mind. I have not heard her cry like that since the day she was placed in our arms in China. Imagine these strange people prying your eyes open with bright lights in your eyes and this stuff getting dropped in your eyes that burn. It took me, a nurse and the doctor to get her to hold still for this exam. The poor baby had swollen eyes when everything was said and done. Her eyes are fine and the nerves are great! We don't need to go back for two years! Hopefully she won't remember when we go back!

Lia now has her ears pierced! She looks adorable! She has little diamond studs in. She fell asleep in the car and I was able to carry her into the mall and the lady cleaned her ears and marked both of them without her wakening up. She did the first earring and she woke up with a startle and the lady was quick to do the other side. Lia cried for maybe a second. I think it scared her to wake that way but there is no way we could have done it any other way. Our other two girls were younger when they had theirs done so I wasn't sure how this was going to go. She's done great with it though.

We finally have a date for her sedated MRI, hearing test and EEG. It will be on Feb 22nd. All three will be sedated so that will be good. It will be a long day for me. I'm not sure how long any of the test will take but I'm not planning on leaving the hospital before noon. The following week (29th) is her appointment with Dr. Holsapple (neurosurgeon) so we should get the results of all her tests then. We're not really expecting anything earth shattering, just details. It will be nice to finally have some answers. I think we will go forward and make an appointment with Boston next and see what they have to say.

Thursday she has Early Intervention come in and do their assessment to see what services she may need. We've already been told that she will need all three OT, PT, and ST. Her oral aversion is starting subside on it's own without the help of OT. We still need to get her to work on eating on the sides of her mouth and the front.

It's amazing to see how far this little one has come in just a few short weeks of being home! It's awesome to watch her develop into a little person and to see what God can do. Faith is a wonderful thing. We are so blessed to have this wonderful little girl in our lives! Please pray that the tests go well and we have no problems! I'll update in a couple weeks!

January 18:

Well Lia's birthday has come and gone.   We have some pictures and I promise we will upload them today.  Our party did not go initially as expected.  Cheri was on her way to Wal-Mart to pick everything up when she saw a pretty bad accident at the end of our road.  She got out to help and proceeded to help until emergency crews got there and then was asked to continue to do what she was doing even when they did get there.  She was pretty shaken by the entire thing and just came home afterwards.  Please pray for the person she was helping.  We hear it is still touch and go as to whether she will make it or not.  We did have cake and lia tried a cupcake that night but she wanted nothing to do with it.  The following day the girls went out and bought some balloons and presents and we did part two of Lia's birthday the next night.  As we expected all Lia wanted to do was play with the wrapping paper.

Lia continues to show progress with many things.  It will be a long process but we are praying that God will continue to guide us through it all.  Lia has been a little under the weather the last few days but ironically she is actually sleeping a little better.  Early intervention comes in Tuesday for an initial consult.  Cheri and I are contemplating a couple of different physical therapy approaches for her arm and our first appt. with the neurosurgeon is on the calendar for Feb 29th.  Cheri had her first bad experience from a Wegmans cashier of all places with some comments and expressions that were made about Lia.  We expected that we would run into this from time to time but it is still frustrating to deal with.  Cheri did complain to the manager which was good.  Pictures are coming, I promise!!! 

Bob 

January 15, 2008

Happy 2nd Birthday to our newest daughter! Today is Lia's 2nd birthday but her first with us! We will be having a small party tonight for her. I'm not sure she is ready for a large party quite yet. Kera has been telling me for weeks that we need to buy a birthday cake for Lia! Well guess who I'm taking with me to go get the cake and the balloons? You bet, Kera!

Lia has had a busy day! She went to see Dr. Dosa today who specializes in physical disabilities. She is an awesome doctor! She basically did a evaluation of Lia to see what Lia could benefit from. We were there for two hours and just wait until you here what Lia has to have done! I'm sure you'll be overwhelmed but not as overwhelmed as us!

Lia will have the following done in the next month or two-

- Sedated MRI

- EEG

- Consult with Neuro Surgeon

- Sedated hearing test

- Pediatric vision test

- Hip X-ray

- Possible left arm casting (still have to look into this)

- Pediatric Dental Exam

- Speech Therapy

- Physical Therapy

- Occupational Therapy

Ok deep breathe! Yeap it's a lot but we'll get through it one appointment at a time. I can't wait to see where Lia is one year from now! She has come so far in just one month it amazes me. She is doing great but could be sleeping better. I'll write more tomorrow after our party. I'll also post some new pictures!

January 7, 2008

I know many of you are wondering how Lia's appointment went so I will get down to business with the details! Let's just say our girl is going to be taller than most American's! She is in the 95% for her height (35in I think, I was trying to keep her on the table and didn't hear that part just the 95th part) and 50% in weight (26lbs). She was not too happy with these strange people looking at her. Lia would put her hand in a fit and place it between her two eyes as to say "you can't see me". Her doctor is referring her to a pediatric neuro surgeon in Syracuse to see where she stands with the cyst. They also did a referral for physical therapy and occupational therapy to start as soon as possible. We have decided to do all of her immunizations over as it is recommended by a Infection Control Doctor in Syracuse . We just don't know how strong the immunizations are and even if we were to do blood tests they could show up fine and then a year from now she could have no immunity to the disease. So that is our reasoning.

I was able to bring Lia in with me to see my neurosurgeon the day before her appointment with her regular doctor so I knew what to ask for. I must say I have the best neurosurgeon in the world! He took so much time to look over Lia's cat scan and to look her over it was just awesome. He said she looked better than he expected. We had showed him the report we received of her that China sent to us and the pictures when we first learned of her. He explained things to us at that time and told us when she came home to bring her in with the scan. So here we were and he was wonderful. He said that with the therapies that she will regain all movement in her right side. He was pleased to see her move the hand because in the report it made it sound like she could not.  He said she may not even need the surgery but he said the pediatric neurosurgeon would need to make that call. We also feel we would like to have it drained before she becomes an adult and causes her more problems. So we will see. As of now we will not be going to CA, we will however be going to Boston for any surgery. If for some reason the cyst fills back up and they start talking about a shunt then we will start looking into CA again.

So that is the medical info. I'll get back on in a day or two and post more about our everyday life. Hopefully she will sit still long enough and I snap a few new pictures! :)

December 26, 2007

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We have been totally exhausted and could probably sleep for days! Before I forget, there is a feature at the bottom of the main page for you to sign up for updates for the website. We are no longer writing daily so if you wanted an update you could sign up and you would get an e-mail notifying you when we updated the website. As we get closer to her surgery we will update more frequently.

China was awesome! I can't wait to go back but not too soon, I loved it. The people were friendly but puzzled as to why we had a Chinese baby in some areas. I can't begin to tell you how lucky we are to live in the country we do. I just don't think people get it. Then again maybe they do and could careless.

Lia is doing so much better! She is finally eating solid foods. We had the camera developed that we sent to her orphanage and we so blessed to have pictures of her foster parents on them. We also learned the she likes a pacifier. We had tried one in China but it must have been too fat. We picked one up a Target that looked more like a bottle nipple and we finally got a full night of sleep! WoooHooo! We also put her in the crib which has worked great! So she is eating solid food, taking a pacifier, sleeping through the night (well she does wake but she puts herself back to sleep) and we are down to three bottles and are working on a sippy cup. I am also working on some one handed sign language in hopes that she will be able to pick that up and tell me what she wants. She loves the other children but plays a little rough with Kera. She still cries when daddy leaves the room or if he is in the room. It's like she doesn't know what she wants when he is around. She has finally warmed up to me but much prefers dad when he is around.

She has a doctor's appointment on Jan 4th. and hopefully that will start the ball rolling. I have a ton of paper work to fill out for the doctor out in California. I'll probably start that today. Our little girl has a birthday On January 15th! I can hardly believe it! Thanks again for all the well wishes!

Cheri~

December 20

Well Lia finally went to bed around 530 this morning.  Tried to put her down at 430 and she wanted nothing to do with that and cried probably the hardest she has cried yet for a good hour.  She finally sat up and started to rock and I rocked with her and she fell asleep.  Since she fell asleep on me I did not sleep at all again but was able to close my eyes and rest a little.  Cheri did not fair to well from the plane and is not doing the best right now so please pray for her. 

Well I got to say that I was dreading the flight home for the last 4-5 days.  Was not sure how Lia would do.  God worked his miracles in many different way though.  The night before our flight, for the first time in about 10 nights Lia did not sleep well at all.  She woke about every 2 hours.  Mom and dad did not sleep because of this but I think this may have helped Lia to be extra tired come travel day (miracle 1).  Our guide lived in Beijing so she flew from Goundzou to Beijing with us and took care of everything.  Huge jet with 10 seats across.  They really fill those planes up in China . Plane was packed and I think there was only one empty seat, yup, you guessed it.  We had it so we were able to spread out and let Lia have some room (miracle 2).  She played well the first 1.5 hours and then slept the second 1.5 hours.  I had decided the night before that I was going to upgrade to Economy Plus with the flight from Beijing to Chicago but having that extra room convinced me to buy a third econ. plus ticket no matter what.  In Goundzous they had a United Hub that we went to the night before we left.  I asked them about upgrading and she said no problem, was fairly empty but that we would have to do it at the airport.  When we got to the Beijing airport I got in line behind about 20 adopting families or so.  They all started to spread the word to upgrade and that it was cheap and I started to see my chances of doing the same start to fade away.  Got up there, told the guy I wanted to upgrade 2 to econ plus and then purchase a third one. He was able to get us seat A and C and then he said he would put a block on seat B and that there was no charge for seat B (miracle 3).  Lia played the first 2 hours, slept the next 7 hours (miracle 4, but we are paying for it now), played/cried (more cried) the next two hours and then again slept the last 2 hours.  All in all a very good flight.  We got to Chicago and our 2.5 hour lay over quickly evaporated to the point where I was convinced we were not going to make our flight to Syracuse .  We got through immigration fairly quickly but got stuck in customs for awhile.  Had to sit off to the side with about 30+ other people with this guy at a desk who did some paperwork and then called each family up one at a time.  Seemed like it took forever.  Got tied up in security and they wanted to look more closely at various items we brought back from China.  We then had to fly to catch the plane.  Good thing it was delayed about 30 min. Lia again did great on our flight from Chic. to Syracuse and it was great to see everyone meeting us at the airport. 

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we move into phase 2/3 which is Lia getting acclimated with her brother and sisters as well as her new surroundings and then phase 3 which is the medical decisions that await us.  We are leaning towards going to California to get this done due to the advanced procedure that they use out there. 

Well this will be my last post for awhile.  This was Cheri's site to start with but I sort of jumped in and contributed some of my thoughts as well.  Thank you again for everything you all have done to make this dream come true of ours.  Lia is such a precious gift from God. 

Merry Christmas to you all

Bob

December 20

What a long day this has been but all in all not that bad.  Lia slept most of the flights but we did not.  It is 2am and Cheri and I are taking turns staying up with Lia.  I am exhausted.  I did not sleep on the flights at all and Lia was up every two hours the night before for some reason.  She wants to type with me so i will make this post fast.  I cant get the room to stop spinning.  Had this a lot in China and it is still with me.  I think I just need some sleep and more food.  Lia and I are watching Polar Express right now.  Maybe will get her to bed around 4 or so, we shall see. 

Bob

December 18 (Last Post)

Well, as it says above, this will be our last post in China.  It has been a physically, mentally and emotionally draining process but one that we would not trade for anything.  Today we went to the US consulate and did our oath and got our final paperwork with many other US families.  Was only about a 30 minute process but a very important one.  We tried to upgrade our tickets tonight and were told we should not have a problem doing so because the flight is fairly empty but that we would have to do it at the airport.  Lia is such a happy little girl but when she is tired, watch out.  That can be said for most children though.  We went to Starbucks tonight with Carla and Britt.  We leave for Beijing at 9am tomorrow and our flight is at 11 something.  We then take the 545pm from Beijing to Chicago and then home to good ole central NY.  We are mostly packed but need to do a little more tonight.  Cant wait to introduce Lia Mei to everyone.  Please say a few prayers for our flights.  Hopefully she will sleep through most of it.  Kids we will see you really soon.  We love you.  Signing off from China

Bob, Cheri and Lia Mei ChuMeng

December 17

Cheri was going to upload some pictures tonight but I see that her putting Lia to sleep has also put her to sleep so they are sleeping restfully.  Lia was such a joy tonight.  I am typing in the dark so you will have to excuse the mis-spellings.  We hung around the hotel until 230 this afternoon. At that time we went to some sort of outside museum.  Was nice but am glad we did not stay all that long.  Everyone keeps staring at us.  They just stop walking and will stand right by us and stare.  Many will smile but also many will just glare at us.  I think they are curious more than anything but I just stare back at them.  I have to once again make a correction that i posted about earlier.  The medical office is open more than just sat. mornings.  Brit heard the same thing I did so I think the translation just didnt happen very good from our guide.  After the museum we went to shamiam island again.  We lost Lias photo album that she loved so much so we back tracked a little but could not find it.  Bought some more things of course.  We then went to a Thai restaurant to celebrate.  Was nice but Lia crashed so we ate fast and then went outside so Lia could run around a little while the others finished.  We also dressed the little ones up in tradional Chinese outfits and got their picture taken on the red couch.  Lia looked adorable.  We hang around here till 315 tomorrow and go to the consulate for some ceremony and then I think we are done.  Fly out of here around 11am on Wed morning.  Hope the weather clears up and there are no issues or delays when we come home.  Carla and Britt took their little one to a Western doctor this morning.  Got much better advice and she seems to be doing a little better but continue to keep them in your prayers.  Taylor Noah and Kera, just two more days and we will be home.  Love and miss you guys tons.  Dad/Bob

December 17

Just two more days and we are sooo anxious to get home.  We have loved our visit but miss everyone.  One other thing I meant to mention yesterday was that we ran into a family from Albany NY while we were walking around shopping and she mentioned that the snow storm that they had in Beijing on Monday ended up cancelling most of the flights out that morning.  Good thing we went out at 7am cause i think that most of the flights after that point were probably cancelled and that would have delayed us meeting Lia.  Bob

December 16 (Day10)

We went shopping this morning at Shamian Island .  We got lots of neat stuff and plan on going back tomorrow after our consulate appt.  Apparently we just stay in our hotel room during a certain time period and our guide takes care of everything.  Lots of times there are questions so we need to stay by our hotel phone in case there are any.  That will all get over around noon tomorrow and then we go shopping again and will all go out for dinner to celebrate.  On Tuesday we all go to the consulate and do our swearing in ceremony.  Tonight we plan on walking around with Carla and Britt.  Had KFC for lunch just now and will hit starbucks later tonight.  Please continue to keep their little one in your prayers.  She is still sick and having a hard time keeping anything down. 

Lia is doing just awesome.  She actually woke up this morning and for the first time did not bury her head and cry when she saw us.  The last few days have been very good.  She is taking a good nap right now.  When she gets tired though it gets a little rough and because many times we are out with the group when she is tired it is more difficult.  When we get home we will get her on a better schedule.  We went to Jordans place at shamian island.  We ran into this guy while we were walking there and he just was very nice and started talking to us.  He then said for us to make sure we hit his store - Jordans Store.  Cheri recognized the name and the conversation went from there.  He is a fellow Christian.  At the end he shook all our hands without letting go of any of them and we all shook hands together and he said "you are all my brothers and sisters" which I thought was really neat.  We are going to hit his store again tomorrow since it was actually one of the better ones that we saw there.  Lia and I are listening to a chinese story on CD right now.  She seems to like to it.  Please keep Cheri is your prayers as well.  She has done very well so far but I think it is all starting to catch up with her.  She has been in a fair bit of pain the last couple of days.  She is going to hit the spa tonight so hopefully that will help some.  Love ya all.  Bob

December 15 (Day 9)

We arrived in Guangzhou without any problems.  I was a nervous wreck as to how Lia would handle the flight.  PTL it was only an hour and 20 minute flight.  She did very well the first 45 minutes and then started to have some problems.  A lady at the very other end of the seats one row in front of us was trying to be helpful and tell us what to do (like we really needed that).  Anyway,  all in all Lia did great.  In fact the last two days have been the best yet.  She still throws herself back but it is getting better and does not seem to be as violent as she did initially.  We arrived at about 9pm last night and just crashed.  Was good to see all the families and their children at breakfast this morning.  They all seem to be doing just great.  We went to the medical appt this morning.  Apparently they are only opened on Sat mornings so it was a mad house in there.  There were several other groups from other agencies in there at the same time.  We got through it and again Lia did pretty good considering all the things they had to do to her.  They said she weighs 26.5 lbs. and I'm not really sure how true that is. I'm not sure how long she was because her feet over the edge of the baby measuring system. We forgot our camera today so no new pictures.  Our friend took pictures and will send some to us and as soon as she does we will post them. Still dreading the long flight home and how Lia will do.  Going up and coming down did not seem to bother her at all.  We were very worried about how the pressure was going to effect her cyst in her head. We did give her Motrin to help with any pain she might have.

Our hotel is pretty cool. On the top floor it has a revolving restaurant. We have paperwork we have to do tonight. Should be an interesting time. Tomorrow we will go to Shamian Island and go shopping! Lia really needs some cloths and a new pair of shoes. Hope to put some new pictures up soon!

Taylor, Noah and Kera it won't be long and we'll be coming home! We miss you very much and can't wait to see you. Lia is going to love playing with you all! BIG HUGS and BIG KISSES to you all.

Cheri~

December 14 (morning of day 8)

We leave later today.  YEEAAAHHH.  We are anxious to meet up with the other couples and then to get home.  Cheri and I went walking with Carla to get Pizza again last night and then to the store to pick some things up.  We have had our share of Chinese food.  We will have some more in Goundzhou (I think I spell this differently each time I spell it, oh well).  We had a couple of really good hours with Lia last night from about 6-8.  She was so playful and had a really good time.  Carla and Britt came down and we had pizza together and visited.  Lia went to sleep around 9, woke up around 2 and went back to bed and both mom and Lia are still sleeping now, 745am.  Weather is beautiful here.  Carla and Britt were able to go to the orphanage early and have their baby seen by the doctor there.  She seems to be doing a little better.  We are dreading the flights and what the change in altitude will do with lia's head.  It is a short flight so will give us a brief idea what to expect for our longer flights.  Lia still does not like to wake up and see us.  I think she keeps hoping it is just a bad dream.  Taylor, Noah and Kera - just 6 more days.  It will go by fast.  Love ya all.  Bob

December 13 (Day 7)

Well the next couple of days will be slow days.  We went to a park this morning and then to a minority museum.  We had wanted to go to the minority village but for some reason we were not able to go.  The other couple decided this morning not to go.  Please pray for them and their little one.  Cheri is in their room now helping.  The little one seems to not be feeling well.  Lia is napping right now.  Not many pictures today.  We were not aloud to take them inside the museum and you can only take so many pictures of sea gulls in a park.  Lia was not doing well at the park or the museum so we were anxious to get back to the hotel and rest.  Lia had a rough night last night.  Finally went to bed around 930 but woke at 1am and started in.  About 2am she settled down again.  We were able to buy some nice embroidery pieces at the museum that were made from people in her minority group.  We will frame them.  We will not see our guide again until we check out tomorrow at 3pm.  May walk to pizza hut or McDonalds again tonight.  Would like to get out and do something.  On our trip to the stone forest yesterday we were able to go through the country side and see a lot of the country folks working in their fields.  Was very nice.

Bob 

December 12 (Wednesday Night) Lia is finally asleep and I have uploaded some pictures from today's adventure. It was an amazing park! The natural beauty is breath taking.

Lia is not having normal "tantrums". It is her way of morning her loss of her foster parents. She has about three spells a day and the night time spell being the worst. It lasts for awhile and is so hard to see her go through such emotional pain. If any of you who have gone through this have any words of wisdom we can use it right about now. We are doing holding time during these but the end of the day one goes on for awhile.

Well it is late and she is asleep so I am off to bed. Thank you to everyone who has signed our guest book! It is awesome to get up in the morning and see who is following along with us. Your support means so much to us! Thank you! I'm off to snuggle up to my newest girl. I can't wait to get home to cuddle up with the rest of my children!

Taylor, Noah and Kera - I miss you all so much! One more week and we'll be home. It was great to hear your voices tonight! Love you all!

Cheri~

December 12 (Wednesday Day 6)

Another long and busy day today.  Lia is doing her normal night time tantrum.  We expected this but she likes to throw herself back very violently which is difficult to handle.  She weighs 31 lbs and is very strong.  We went to the stone forrest today which is the 4th best attration in China with the Great Wall being the first.  Awesome place to go.  I did not look hard but found this site that talks about it a little.  http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/yunnan/kunming/stone_forest.htm

Lia decided to get very upset while we were walking around and it was rough.  We had to climb and walk around tight spaces between the rocks.  Very beautiful place.  We went walking with Carla and Britt around town tonight and went to McDonalds for dinner.  We leave for Gundhzous at 545pm on Friday.  Lia is really fighting us again tonight so will try and post more later. 

Bob

December 12 (Morning of Day 6)

PTL - Lia got up for 5 min around 9PM last night and went back to sleep for the entire night.  It is 715 am now and she is still sleeping.  Both Cheri and I got a good night sleep for once.  We meet one on one with our guide last night in the room and we went over more things that the two directors had said when we got Lia.  We were in such a hurry to get to the police station for more paperwork that day that he said he would have to translate another time.  We found out that the letter was actually from her foster parents and not from the orphanage directors.  We found out that the orphanage is actually only 2 hours away and not 12 like I previously mentioned.  Jerry, the guide said that about a year ago a family went to a very poor orphanage, took lots of pictures and then posted them on the net.  Not sure if there was more to it than that but apparently the goverenment was not happy and now no one is aloud there.  Again, not sure if I understood the guide 100% on that one.  We understanda about 1 out of every 4/5 words he says and then we try and either piece it together or ask him to repeat it.  It takes awhile to upload pictures so we only do a few at a time.  Will try and do more now. 

Bob