All Is Well

Ruby. Sweet Ruby. Can I tell you how cute this little one is? I mean really cute!! It doesn't matter what mood she is in, we find ourselves constantly smiling! She is a treasure, an absolute pleasure! We are blessed beyond measure! We are so thankful for all she adds to our family.

We had an opportunity to minister in North Carolina this past weekend with Ruby. We are hoping and praying that God will use our story to inspire others to walk in faith and adopt a child in need of the love and care of a family. While we were there, we were able to see the sights of Mount Airy, aka Mayberry. That's where Andy Griffith grew up and where the show found its seed. The people there told us that the TV producers filmed the shops, business and homes and then recreated Mayberry on 35 acres in California. We had such a great time.

The cardiologist has decided to wait and watch this hole in Ruby's heart. We are praying we will watch it close on its own and have a good report as time goes on.... After having her blood analyzed, we have discovered that she did not have adequate amounts of many of her immunizations and so they will need to be done as soon as they finish testing her blood...

I am so thankful for the love and support of my family and friends during this transition. We had a difficult time at first with bonding between Ruby and myself but she loves me lots now! Yipee! When I have more time I will pop back on and share more pictures. School break is almost here and Christmas preparation is upon us. We are so excited... not only to watch her enjoy a warm home and a yummy variety of foods but we are so looking forward to Christmas morning when she opens her gifts and is overwhelmed with the shower of love we will bathe her in, in celebration of the One who moved us to the point of inviting her into our hearts and lives.

Up For Air

Our girlies...

This was us in the airport at Hong Kong waiting to go home...
Sorry it has taken so long to post. We are adjusting very well though it was extremely difficult at first. After the dreaded biting incident in Changsha, Ruby was afraid of me and took to her Daddy which is perfectly understandable but it still left my heart in pieces. We have had to isolate Ruby and I to promote a strong bond and it is working. She still prefers her Dad when he enters the room and screams when he exits (you would think he was Elvis or something). Because of this, I have found that she and I feel the same that way about David. She just responds with reckless abandon and I play hard to get...

We are finally on schedule with our sleeping. They say it takes two weeks to recover and I can surely testify to that. Today is the two week mark and I am actually starting to feel human again. We have tried to get back into the swing of schooling but boy, is it a challenge. I try not to beat myself up about it and continue to make efforts to accomplish the tasks at hand. I can do this. It's not easy but I can do it by the grace of God.

Now... on to Ruby. She was a little aggressive at first but, thank God she is beyond that. I can't imagine what is going through her head with all of the changes in her life. She is an incredible sleeper and a great eater. I am enjoying so much watching her do the simplest things like eating a candy bar or sucking her big toe. She has picked up many new words like "hello, hi, wow, look, baba, bubble, meow-meow, yeah, love you, mama, dada". I know there are more that I can't think of right now. Bath time is her favorite time though in China we had to bathe standing in the tub. We take her to the pediatric cardiologist next week and I will let you know how that goes. Her heart feels so different that anything I've felt before. At first it was a little frightening.

My house is completely out of sorts as we had to get the tubs down out of the attic for the biyearly wardrobe change. Life is messy, meals aren't what I want them to be but we are blessed beyond measure. We have plenty of food, clean clothes, soft, warm beds and laughter every day. Ruby is such a bright addition to our family.

I'm in love...

Going Home...

It's been a great trip, but we're all VERY ready to be home. We arrive in Nashville at 11:55 pm on Wednesday night after 30+ hours of travelling. UGH.. I am so dreading tomorrow. It's going to be soooo loooooooong. But it's okay. Please pray for an ABUNDANCE of patience and joy for our family tomorrow as we are stressing and rushing and being bored and all kinds of things like that...

Love you everyone. Thank you for all of your encouragement with Mom and the baby. Things will work out just fine, I'm sure.

See some of you within a few days!!!

Abbie

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days... we just haven't been doing much. We're in Guangzhou now, and our flight here was fine, only about an hour long. Ruby is bonding very well with Dad, but she and Mommy haven't bonded very well yet, so they're spending some more time together tonight. Please pray for Mom... it's hard for her and Ruby not to bond very well. But everything will work out... Ruby is just more drawn to men. She won't let Mom or any women hold her, but she'll go to men that are pretty much strangers to her. It's crazy... but once we get home especially, it'll all work out. This happens often where the baby will bond better with men, but the babies always come around and bond with the Mommies. :)

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the last few days. Enjoy!

Abbie

These first two are pictures of the view out of the window of our hotel (the White Swan) at night and early in the morning...

All the girlies...
Sisters..... and my new parasol :)
Phoebe and Ruby
They always take the traditional Bethany "red couch" photo of all the babies together... they were all pretty upset

All the Mommies with the babies (Mom and Ruby are all the way on the far right)
Ruby in her little Chinese outfit for the red couch photo



This is our hotel from the outside at night.

Changsha

Hey everybody... I want to post some pictures of the city tonight, because we've taken a ton, but I've been trying so hard to get Ruby pictures up that I haven't put up anything else...

We also have pictures from today and yesterday. Yesterday we went to a museum about the Han tombs. It's just these tombs they found here in Hunan province. An empress from the Han Dynasty was buried there. I have a few pictures that I took in there before I was informed that we're not allowed to take pictures... Today, we went to Yue Lu Academy, a 1000 year old school. It was very pretty there. We also went to an emroidery factory and an embroidery institute/museum. We got to watch some women in the middle of special order embroidery projects. You can bring a photo there, and they'll embroider it for you, but it takes like a year and it costs a ton. It was so cool to see them do it though.


Tomorrow is a free day... we'll probably do some shopping and get packed for our trip the next day to our final stop - Guangzhou. I am so excited to finally shop a lot in Guangzhou... they have the best prices there, so we've all been holding out for the deals! :D

Love you guys... Enjoy the pictures. :)

Abbie




Changsha Pictures

these next two pictures are of the view outside our hotel window












The Han Tombs Museum


some SUPER old embroidery found in the tombs





Yue Lu Academy


There was a gallery at the Academy of all these sand paintings... it was really fascinating!

a little music show at the Academy

Ruby and Claire





Embroidery







Oh, and we went swimming today in the hotel, so here's a couple of pictures of Ruby in her little swimsuit. :)

FINALLY - the pictures are uploading!

Some more pictures from the Civil Affairs Building where we got Ruby...









Just hangin' out...

Ruby can do the splits!



bathtime...

her little Chinese hat from Walmart :)
breakfast