Trek to China for Joshua

Very Overdue Post!

2008-03-06T05:23:00.001-08:00

I have been very negligent in posting about Joshua and his fun times over the past 3 months! We have been caught up in basketball. Chase and William both played on our homeschool basketball team this year and it really takes a lot of time. So, now that basketball is over . . .

Joshua is doing great! Since Thanksgiving he has been to Shriner's Hospital to get his braces for his feet and lower legs. He doesn't mind having them at all. He can actually get around better without them, but has improved walking with them quite a bit. We go back to Shriner's next Monday to see the Neurologist and the Urologist. We are hoping to get some answers about some issues he is having.

He loved Christmas!! He wanted a police car. He got 3! A big one - cozy coupe type you actually sit in, medium size and a little bigger than hot wheel size. He was extremely happy. His brothers got him a police uniform to go with it. He had a great day!

His language skills are really coming along. He is asking questions a lot!! "Mommy, where are oooo?" "Yogurt, where are oooo? (as he is looking in the fridge). "What dis?"(about everything) and then he repeats everything you say over and over and over!! The other morning he came and got in bed with Lawrence & I and he had the biggest smile on his face (which is actually every morning:)) and he said, "What ooo doin mommy?" He is the most loving and sweet child!

My parents sent him $5 for Valentines Day and he was so excited he said he wanted to buy cowboy boots. So, he got cowboy boots last week end and he has slept in them several nights and wants to wear them all the time. He loves to go with Baba (dad) to feed the "moos."

Joshua has a birthday this month. He will be 4 years old on March 24th. He made his birthday list the other day of who he wants to invite to his birthday and at the top of the list is one of the elders at our church - Paul Cook. He loves people and has certain people he loves to see when he goes to church. Paul is one of those. Most of these people are adults that he loves to see. He makes his rounds every time we go to church. If he doesn't see one of these people there he asks about them several times on the way home.

Joshua is already learning letters of the alphabet. We have officially taught him 3 letters and he looks for them everywhere he goes and in books he reads and on peoples shirts or just anywhere. He loves to learn and is very curious. He is also beginning to put puzzles together. He can count to about 8 and soon will be up to 10. He is learning his colors as well.

We are having so much fun with him! He has been a great blessing to our lives!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T19:17:00.001-08:00

Joshua's first Thanksgiving was full of food & fun!

We had a wonderful day and are extremely thankful for all the blessings that we have received from God's hands this past year.

To the right you can see the shirt Olivia just had to buy for Joshua. It says "I don't need mistletoe". If you know Joshua, you know it is true. He is extremely loving and sweet. He loves to hug and kiss people. It is very rare for him to have a bad day!

He is beginning to say many more new things. This week in particular he has become very inquisitive. He will say "what this?" and point to several things. He can count to three. He has learned the color yellow and red this week. He is able to distinguish between them when he is not joking around!! He loves to tease people and he loves to be teased! He has a great personality!! He has also decided that he likes coke and gum! He wants coke to drink all the time (that doesn't mean he gets it) and he sneaks gum out of my purse when he knows he can get away with it!

We have begun to work on pronunciation of the words he does know. We know what he is saying, but no one else does! He has a hard time with s, sh, ch, r, l. He mainly says the beginnings of words and the endings are either left off or are nonsensical. I have been amazed at how well he understands what we are saying. Now, we just need to work on the obeying part without a fit or tears. You have to love a 3 year old!

He has started to pretend. He has gotten all my pots and pans out and pretended to cook and serve dinner. He has pretended to die with the other kids several times. He thinks it is really funny when he comes back to life! He has also pretended to be a baby a lot lately! He needs to be held like a baby and drink out of a sippy cup like it is a bottle. He loves to pretend to cry and try to fool you into thinking he is really sad and then he just dies laughing!

He has lost my keys yet again. The first time we found them in the trash. This time we have searched the house over and over and I still have not found them. They have been lost since Saturday. No telling where or when they will turn up!

He has learned to jump this week. This was a task he has not been able to do until just this week. He is so excited to know how to jump!! He is jumping all the time. He wants everyone's attention so we can all watch him jump and clap for him. He has learned that you can climb on top of things and jump off and that is even more exciting!! He knows it shouldn't be too tall though. He will jump off the hearth and it is only about 6 inches high!

Please pray for Joshua. We will be going to Shriner's next week where he will be evaluated for his medical condition. He will need corrective measures for his legs and we are still uncertain about continence. We would greatly appreciate your prayers on his behalf. We know that with God all things are possible and complete healing is our prayer. If total healing is not in the plan, then we pray for Joshua to be able to lead as full and normal life as possible and to be an example of Christ for others.

Thanks to all of you who are reading this blog! I have kept updating because I have so many friends that have kept reading and sharing my blog with others. I pray that through our experiences it may spur someone else on to the wonderful journey of adoption, especially the waiting children of China with special needs. I can tell how much our family has meant to Joshua already. He is so happy to be here and we are so happy to have him as part of our family! Adoption is a blessing to both parties!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

It was one year ago this week that I found Joshua's beautiful photo on the website of All God's Children. He was one of the children that had been waiting for a home since he was found in August 2004. We adopted him almost 3 years to the day he was found abandoned. This time last year we were frantically praying, reading about his medical condition and checking out our financial situation. Since then we have been home about 3 months and we are so thankful that God has put Joshua in our lives. He has been a tremendous blessing to our entire family. He is a loving and sweet child.

The last couple of weeks he has asked me at two different times (many times each occurrance) if I was his mommy. I would tell him yes and he would ask me again and again each time I would answer him in the affirmative. It sometimes breaks my heart when he asks things like that, but I know he is wondering if this is the real thing or not. I sometimes think he must be wondering how long he will stay with us until the next place. I can tell by his actions though he is so thankful and happy to have a family and a place to call home.

So,this year at the Thanksgiving table we will have an additional child at the table for which we are so thankful to God. Thanksgiving is not just about feasting, but thanking God for all the many blessings big or small that he has given us. This week take time to thank God for the wonderful things he has done in your life.

Update on Joshua

2007-11-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

For the last month there have been many new things for Joshua. He met both sets of grandparents, caught his first fish, went to his first birthday party, went to bible class by himself 3 times now, attempted to get his teeth cleaned, trick or treating as spiderman, rode a horse, carved a pumpkin and he has grown 1 inch since September 4th!

His teeth cleaning experience did not go as well as I had hoped, but we did find out that his teeth looked good! No cavities! I think she cleaned about 4 teeth and polished one! Maybe next time he will do better!

He loved trick or treating!! He went as spiderman and had a great time! He woke up the next day and wanted to go again!! He loved to wear his costume.

We measured him on November 1st and he has grown from 35 1/2 inches to 36 inches. He is also beginning to look a little more muscular in his legs and seems to be getting stronger every day. He can now peddle his tricycle.

He loves to go to bible class. He says "my God so big" all the time! He wants to go all the time. He was upset today because he and I stayed home from church. I have been sick and Lawrence was preaching both times so I thought he should stay home with me.

He has also begun to see the first glimpses of the Christmas holidays! He is loving looking in all the stores at the displays. He is not sure what it is all about, but he loves the trees, lights and decorations!

New Words/phrases (this is not an all inclusive list): spider, bath, one, two, three, Paul Cook, pumpkin, cat, truck, drink, cup, basketball, napkin, I love you, coffee, french fries, apple juice, thank you, Spiderman, gum, chips, brush, teeth, shampoo, shower, happy birthday, trick or treat, go to church, Leslie, Stacey, Merr (for Merritt), Merr's mom (Julia), see ya later

Answers two questions: What is your name & How old are you?

I am constantly amazed at the providential hand of God. I don't know why, but I am. I am continually blessed by the love and affection of this young child! It seems as if he has always been a part of our family. I can't believe the amount of love you can have in your heart automatically for a person you have never seen before! Not only that you have never seen them, but they can't even speak your language! God has richly blessed our lives with this little bundle of energy! Every tiem I hear his sweet voice say Mommy, I love you, my heart melts!

Joshua's First Visit to Texas

2007-10-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Texas. We spent the week at my mom and dad's. The kids always love to go there. They have many animals, dogs, goats, cats and cows. The kids get to fish there and ride on the lawn tractor. They spend most of their time outside with the animals. This time they fished a lot and caught 19 fish. They had a great time & so did I! Poor Lawrence had to work all week in Greenville! Joshua got to meet both sets of Grandparents and all of my sisters and a few of his cousins! What a great week! I will have to add more photos later. For some reason there is an error when I try to upload some more photos. I will update again in a few days!

Joshua has learned many things since our last update. He has finally learned to peddle all the way around. Before he would only go about half way round and then peddle backwards. He has also learned to say so many more words such as: Mamaw, Papaw, Donna, Freckles ( my mom and dad's dog), goat, tractor, fish, pow (for shooting a gun), juice, sprite, Kelsey, NO, Thank you, go to work, car, eat, gum, candy, french fries, chicken, poo-poo, Gigs go Nao-nao(meaning Gigs go teetee), and bible.

He has also learned in the last week how to really throw a tantrum! Several times this past week has has kicked and screamed and cried really hard when he did not get his way! Wow! It is something to view - even after having had three other children!! I mostly ignore the fit or make him sit down beside me until he is done with the fit. He is getting better I think. We are trying to teach him that the fit still will not get him what he wants.

We are also making him go to sleep without me laying down with him every nap and bedtime. He is doing great with that. The first night he started to cry a little bit and I said, " Well, Joshua, let's say another prayer. " We prayed for God to help him to be a big boy and to help him to go to sleep by himself. And . . . He did! I usually stay in the room and pick up and clean up for a little while or read and he knows I am not leaving and he relaxes and goes right to sleep. It was taking about 45 minutes for him to go to sleep with me laying down with him and then I would get sleepy!! So, it is getting better around here.

We also bought him some really good shoes. They are Stride Rite shoes and they seem to be really helping his walking, running and clumsiness. It seems like I can already tell a difference in the strength of his legs. He is improving in so many ways.

Today, I tried to play the memory game with him. He got more matches than me! We did not play the whole game. His attention won't last that long, but we played for about 5 minutes. When we first got him his attention span was only about 10 seconds at the most!!

We are also still trying to potty train. It is frustrating, but we are not going to give up! He is staying dryer for longer periods of time it seems. I know that the transition must be hard for him and there is so much emotional trauma involved in this transition, we are really trying to be very patient with him.

I know I have forgotten to post so many of the cute things he has done, but I will try to think of them and write them down as they come to my mind! He has truly kept us in stitches!!

3rd/4th Week home

2007-09-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I had planned to update every week after returning home, but we have been incredibly busy last week and this week. Last week we had a meeting at church every night and that took a lot of time. We have also had many other things going on! That happens when you have 3 older children and they all are involved in something!

So, on to Joshua! He did great in church during the meeting. He was really tired during the week, but is learning about how to behave during services. At times it is a challenge to try to keep him busy and quiet in the pew, especially since he doesn't really understand what is going on. He has gotten the concept of bowing your head and putting your hands together to pray. He doesn't stay that way long, but understands what to do.

Last week, we started him on a medication for a parasite he has. I would name it, but it is so long and no one has ever heard of it anyway. He is taking an antibiotic for 20 days to get rid of it. Apparently it comes from drinking contaminated water. This would explain why he was anemic when we had the blood tests run. We also got his hearing and vision tested last week. They were both normal. We also started his immunizations on last Thursday. He got two shots. He will go back in 2 months for 3 more shots. He will have to repeat them all:(. So, this past week was full of appointments and running around.

He is really beginning to pick up words quickly and trying to use them without being prompted. He says diaper, bath, babba at work, babba's car/truck, Dobby (from Harry Potter), (Curious )George, pray, Amen, and definitely tries to repeat anything you say! He is a lot of fun to have around. He keeps us all laughing and extremely busy!

I will try to post again over the weekend! I will also try to put some new photos on here! So many of you have been so good to read about our journey and are curious about how he is doing! I will try to answer some commonly asked questions in our next post!

Have a great end of the week!
Janice

Our Second Week Home

2007-09-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

Joshua is learning rapidly! Everyday I am impressed with what he is trying to say and learn. He has begun to venture out of the room away from us a little bit. He doesn't have to sit in someone's lap or be right beside them all the time, but is beginning to feel comfortable to run about the house a little more freely! He has slept in his bed every night since Sunday night. He doesn't always stay in it all night, but comes pretty close. This morning he slept in his bed until 5:00 a.m. which seems to be becoming pretty normal and then he stays in our bed until about 6:00.

He has had fun this week meeting two new friends - Clint and Mason. Clint goes to church with us and lives in our neighborhood and Mason lives across the street. He loves being with other children and seems to play well with them. Communication does not seem to be a barrier for him with other children. Yesterday, he got on Mason's electric Harley and about took out their tree in their front yard. He had no idea how to work the thing!! It was sooo funny!! Those things go really fast!!

He has been to bible class now 3 times. He really likes going. He loves to do every thing everyone else does. He likes to put his sticker on his chart, pick out a song to sing and say the prayer. He gets a little nervous during the lesson and the singing part of class and asks to go to the bathroom. He doesn't really need to go, but just wants out of the situation that he feels uncomfortable in. I can certainly understand how he feels.

Today, he played outside for a long while and he actually peddled his trike for about 3 turns!! He gives up rather quickly because it is hard, but he is really beginning to catch on! He is also going up and down the stairs better. We are trying to make him start up with his right leg since it seems to be the one he has the most difficulty with. This is just an attempt at making his leg stronger. He has to hold our hand going up if he walks instead of crawls. His legs are just not strong enough to go up by himself - yet! He is getting more comfortable going up and down on his own. He seems to understand that he knows he can't do it by himself. He is very careful about it.

New Words this week:
Good Morning, See ya, Clint, Mason, Baba at work, More clearly- Chase, Sissy & William, milk, eggs, America, cheese, ball, Gigs (our dog's name), teeth, shoes, brush teeth, bath, cold, hot, pray, grow, big, God, popcorn, shewwe(for when something stinks - which is quite frequent with 3 boys, a man and a dog in the same house!) - !

New Songs: Jesus loves me, My God is so Big, Read your Bible & Pray every Day

Joshua is all about playing and having fun! He loves to play! He is very loving and sweet. He has gotten so much better about sitting for longer. Today I was able to sit with him and read and entire book to him - Dr. Suess's "The Hair Book". I could not believe it! We haven't even had him a month and he is already able to sit for that long. When we first got him, it was about 5 seconds at the most. Open book/shut book!

Wednesday Joshua managed to confiscate and throw away my keys! I started looking for them when it was time to go to church and had to use the hide-a-key to get there. When we got home we checked the trash can and sure enough they were there!! I am going to have to watch that! He loves to throw things away!

I don't know why I am so amazed at how well he has done. I would suppose it is from my lack of faith. We have prayed about this and so have so many others on our behalf so there is no reason to expect anything but good. He has done so well and we feel so fortunate to have had such a smooth transition.

We got papers in the mail today from Shriners Hospital. He will go there on December 6th for his intial evaluation. We are anxious for that day to get here! We will begin to count down the days! We just want to get him the care he needs as soon as possible and see what we need to do to help him. We are so thankful to Dr. Burch for referring us to them!

So many people have done so many wonderful things to help us! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family of God's people that help us in so many different ways!! I will continue to update the blog about once a week just to keep everyone updated on his progress! I still can't believe how many people have read this thing!!

Since I was a child I can remember always wanting to do something big & grand for God. However, I have come to realize as I have grown up , that being a mother is the biggest and best thing I could do for God. Done right, mothering is the most important job that God has given anyone. Everyone needs a mother and it is the most vital part of shaping a child's life and personality. If mothering is done with the purpose of teaching their children how to glorify and praise God and to be a living sacrifice for Him then what else on earth could be either more important or more grand than that? I cannot think of anything!

Have a great week! Live for Him!
Love,
Janice

Our first week home - Whew!

2007-09-08T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I just wanted to update you all on our week. First of all we went to the pediatrician on Tuesday. All the general tests came out negative (Hep b & c, HIV, unrinalysis, etc.) He was a little anemic, but only slightly. Probably due to poor nutrition. I know that is hard to believe since he is sooo chunky, but enough food and the right kinds of food are not the same. We got those results back yesterday. We also went to the Orthopedic surgeon yesterday – he is a member of our church who is referring him to the Shriners hospital in Lexington. He will probably need some braces that fit into his shoes to correct his feet problems. Apparently his feet malformation is due to the inner muscle of his calf which never developed. However his feet can be corrected by these braces. Praise God for that!

When he goes to Shriners, he will see a whole team of doctors who specialize in spina bifida. There will be an orthopedist, urologist, nephritist (sp.- kidney doc.), nuerologist, etc. We will see all these specialists in one day and return home. Hopefully next week we will know when our appointment is. Dr. Burch thought we could get him in in about a month or two, but we will know soon enough. We still have lots of things to do here anyway. He has to have a hearing and vision test and also has to start all over with his immunizations. We got him started on vitamins with iron yesterday. I don’t think he will need them long. Last night I sautéed some broccoli in butter in garlic and he ate a huge amount of that – more than I could eat!!

He will also need some physical and occupational therapy which we will contact the school system for. Since we homeschool, I think they will come to the home for that. I am not sure, but I think he might possibly need some speech therapy some where down the road. He is coming along with his English! He can say: please, thank you, amen, eye, ear, nose mouth, tongue, hair, chin, shoe, mama, baba, gigs, get down, bye bye, milk, yeah (yes), nite-nite, I love you, outside and sit down. He understands much more that this, but is not able to verbalize it yet.

As far as sleeping goes, he has been sleeping in the floor of our bedroom for the last week. We started Thursday putting him in his bed for his naps (which happens to be the only day he has had a nap at home). The rest of his naps happen in the car while taking the other kids to and fro. Today we will purchase bed rails for his bed and maybe begin putting him in his bed at night on Sunday night. He is doing better at going up and down the stairs. He doesn’t even try to walk down them anymore since he realized how fun it is to scoot down!!

He is loving his new toys. We have purchased a trike for outside and a ride on toy for inside. We are looking for a used wooden swing set with a slide. We have also bought him some toys that will help with motors skills and thinking processes. So far we have gotten a Mr. potato Head, the square toy where you have to fit the shapes into the right place, stacking toy, magnetic numbers for the fridge and a see and say farm animal toy. We had some hand me down BIG legos from the boys and he has loved playing with those!! All of these toys have really helped him with using his hands and thinking things through. He has progressed so much in a few weeks. It is amazing to watch!!

Update on Joshua with the dog: They love each other – most of the time. Gigs will let Joshua pet and kiss her. She will let him throw her toys for her to fetch. She will even roll over on her back for him to rub her stomach! The only time they don’t get along is when he has something like a broom in his hand – just let your imagination run wild and you can picture it! He especially likes to zip her up in her kennel! He locked me out of the house a few days ago when I was letting her back in! Everyone was asleep and I had to walk around the house on the crunchy, pokey grass barefooted to hopefully find another door unlocked!! Needless to say I did get in the house and I was really glad I was not in my pajamas!!

Lawrence is finally over his jetlag. He was really sick all week, but is better now. The rest of us have felt good for about 4 days now.

Thanks so much for your prayers on his behalf and ours! Things are going much more smoothly than we had anticipated and I know that is because so many people have been praying for us and our transition! We love you all and appreciate all the many kindnesses shown to us over the past week!

Love, The Kelley Family

Home and the first 3 days!

2007-09-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

Joshua on his new trike!
Joshua opening a present of a handmade blanket and a tooth fairy pillow from Joann and Bud Albers.

Chase and Olivia touching some wall in the Forbidden City. It is said in China that if you touch this wall it means marriage in your future! William did not think he wanted to touch it. He is not really interested in marriage!! - YET!

Sorry I havn't posted in the last few days, but with jetlag, unpacking and catching up it has been too much.

Thursday morning we took the subway to "The Forbidden City" and Tienam Square. Went back to the hotel and packed up to go to the airport. We had to take two taxis!! We made it fine and the taxis stayed together - believe it or not.

Our trip home was uneventful. We left Beijing at 3:45 in the afternoon and got to Newark at 5:20 the same afternoon!! Is that weird or what? It was a 13 1/2 hour flight in which Joshua slept about 9 hours of that! Benadryl helped a little!! It did not work for the rest of us though! We got to Newark rechecked our luggage and made it to the next gate with about 1o minutes to spare! Enough time for Lawrence to go and purchase two small pizzas and one large drink for all of us to share and guzzle down quickly before boarding our next plane! Our flight to Nashville was a little late leaving (about 40 minutes), but we still arrived in Nashvill at 9:10 p.m. on shedule. We collected our luggage called the hotel to come and retreive us and we got in our car about 10:30 p.m. Thursday night. We were all starving and we got some fast food and started home. Joshua did not mind getting into the car seat at all! He adjusts to everything so easily.

We got home around 11:30 p.m and were welcomed by balloons, cards, gifts and most importantly food!! We were blessed to have several families purchase milk, bread lunch meat, drinks and snacks for us and some other families bring us casseroles ready to bake!! They have been really helpful to us as we have struggled with jetlag the last few days! We went to bed about 1:30 am on Friday morning. I got up around 10 and everyone else got up around 12 or 1 p.m. Lawrence went to the office, I ran some errands which included adding Joshua to our medical insurance and buying him a tricycle. That night we all went to bed around 10 p.m. Some of us slept well (Joshua - 15 hours and Chase - 10 hours) the rest of us had a hard night.

Satuday night again - Joshua and Chase slept well and the rest of us did not!

Today - Sunday- was great to be with our family in Christ! Joshua did really well in bible class. I stayed with him and he wanted to do everyting everyone else did. Lawrence preached a lesson on the spirit of adoption and we came home ate lunch and took a 2 hour nap!!

When we first got home Joshua was terrified of the dog! We have made great strides in the past 3 days! Yesterday he saw me throwing the dogs toy and Gigs bringing it back and he decided he wanted to throw it to her. He still did not want her to touch him, but he did want to play with her.

Today he is petting her and playing with her a lot. He is still a little afraid of her but is adjusting quickly!!

Tuesday we will take him to the pediatrician. We will hopefully get a referral to an orthopedist (Doc. John) and hopefully go to Shriners soon to have him evaluated. He is a clumsy walker and has a hard time going up and down the stairs. We are teaching him to crawl up and scoot down. He is sleeping in our room at night. He starts out on the floor and ends up in our bed by around 2-3 a.m. We will eventually get him in his room, but need to make sure he is comfortable with his surroundings and can get up and down the stairs easily.

Thanks for all of your comments. We have enjoyed going over them and reading them! Joshua will be glad to read them as he gets older!! He will be glad to know he has such a wonderful family - both spiritual and physical - and that they were all praying for him and waiting for his coming to the US!

As our plane landed in Newark, NJ, I was struck by the fact that he was now a US citizen and the freedoms that will bring in his life that he otherwise would never know. However, I am more grateful and struck by the fact of the freedoms he will have in a relationship with Christ that otherwise he may not have ever known. We rejoice in his coming into our family and are so appreciative of everyone accepting him so joyously!! Praise God for his mercy, compassion and goodness.

We love you all and thank you for your support throughout this journey! We will still be updating photos and stuff about Joshua's medical progress periodically so keep checking!!

Take care! Love, All 6 Kelley's

Beijing

2007-08-29T02:48:00.000-07:00

Our flight was cancelled this morning. It was supposed to leave at 8:30. So they reticketed us for 9:30. That flight was delayed due to mechanical failure. We finally left for Beijing at 10:30. We arrived in Beijing around 1:30. By the time we got our bags and got to the hotel it was about 3:00 p.m. We found out when we got to the hotel that instead of 40 minutes to the Great Wall it was 2 hours. There was no way we could go today! We were sooooo disappointed! Then we decided we would go to the Forbidden City and Tianmen Square. We looked for about an hour - walking and subway and never found it. The taxi would not take us because there was 6 of us. His limit must be 4 people. We ate KFC and came back to the Hotel. We will try again in the morning on fresh legs! I think we will take the subway next time.

Although greatly disappointed about not seeing the Great Wall, that was not our purpose of this trip. We have done what we came to do and anything else is just like icing on the cake! We are coming back with the biggest treasure there is! We are all so ready to be home and cannot wait until we touchdown on US soil!

We are going to go to bed early tonight and rest up for our long trip home. I think it should be about 20 hours total. Last time it was about 26 hours. This time we don't have a 5 hour layover and that helps a lot! This is definitely our last post until we arrive home. We look forward to seeing you all. Hopefully jet lag won't be too bad! Can't wait to see everyone! Have a great day!
Love,
The Kelley's - Lawrence, Janice, Chase, Olivia, William & Joshua

Last Day In Guangzhou!

2007-08-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

The four families in our group with All God's Children.

Photos of our kids in front of this large sailboat made of Jade at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou.

Joshua and William having a little "brother time".

Joshua and Josiah on the red couch.

Joshua in his outfit for the oath ceremony.

The jade sailboat at the White Swan.
Joshua and me on the red couch!

Tomorrow morning we leave for Beijing very early. We arrive in Beijing at 11:30 a.m. and hopefully will get to go and see the Great Wall in the afternoon after we check into our hotel. We will be there one night and return home the next afternoon. We are soooo looking forward to coming home.

We had a great day today. The four families in our group went and had the "red couch" photo made today at the White Swan hotel. This is a tradition for adoptive families. We also went to the swearing ceremony today where we had to swear that all information we have given is true and accurate and that we will never leave or abandon this child. That was an honor and pleasure to swear to.

When we touch ground in the US Joshua will become a US citizen. I thought it was today, but it will be Thursday, August 30th! We are so excited and can't wait for that moment. We will fly past the statue of Liberty and then land in Newark NJ and fly home to Nashville about two hours later. We cannot wait! We are all already putting requests for our favorite food items. I personally am so excited to go and use my massage gift card which Lawrence gave me for Valentines Day! I am glad I waited!!

We are also anxious to check on all of our pets! We have adjusted to having four children already! We already love it! Olivia and I are already hoping to come back and rescue a little girl! And yes, rescue is the right word! Every child deserves to have a home and a family that loves them. I felt like this would be the same as delivering a child in that you soon forget about all the pain and trouble of being pregnant and just think about the wonderful blessing of a child. I hope that anyone considering adoption will know and understand that this is an incredible gift from God for both parties. Love abounds in all of our hearts for our new son who is already bringing so much joy to our hearts.

This could be our last post until we get home. I am not sure what kind of internet options we will have at the hotel in Beijing, but if this is our last post we will see you in the US - God willing!
We look forward to seeing you on US Soil!! Two more nights in China than my own bed!

May God bless you all richly with His love and mercy. We love you all and have learned much while we have been gone. We are truly blessed beyond measure and most Americans have no idea how much! May the God of peace be with you.

Middle Name

2007-08-26T17:14:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that we did name Joshua. We had to do that the second day we were in Changchun. So. . . here it is . . .

Joshua Paul Huasuo Kelley

His middle name is taken from Lawrence's middle name Paul.

Let me also tell you all a little more about his personality. He is very active!! He is always trying to get into something he shouldn't. He hides things in his pockets. Anything from food to toys to pieces of paper. He gets very attached to anything you give him. So far he has been attached to a jar of peanut butter, a package of Ramen type noodles, a box of saltines, a bottle of orange juice and a can of pringles potato chips. He has to carry these items (one at a time luckily) where ever we go!! He loves to play anytime!! He loves to laugh and has the sweetest sounding giggle ever! He loves to ride in the stroller and the taxi. He has started to give us all really good hugs.about 3 days after we got him. Before he would just kind of lay on you and feel like a blob! He will give kisses when you ask or just out of the blue now. We have already had to discipline him several times due to direct defiance. It really hurts his feelings and then he gets mad at you and won't look at you, but will make up with you in a couple of minutes. He is a very loving child. He loves to be held. He loves to go all the time. He will fit in really well with our family! God knows what he is doing!

Well, better go eat breakfast! Have a great day!
Love, Janice

Sunday in Guangzhou

2007-08-26T04:42:00.002-07:00

Joshua in his traditional Chinese outfit and swim goggles!

Photo in front of the hotel with Zack's mom and dad and Aunt and Uncle.

Sorry about the side view of this photo, but I could not figure out how to turn it on the blog. It is of Shouwa and Joshua. Shouwa is Zack's father.

Me and Olivia posing with some silly statues.

Shadow, Durell's friend eating lunch with us and Zack's family.

Zack's mom, Penwin and dad Shouwa. Joshua loves Shouwa.

Joshua's first airplane ride from Changchun to Guangzhou.
More photos of Dinner.

Ok - Today was Great!! We started out going to a great Western/Chinese breakfast buffet at the Hotel. Then Lawrence met with Shadow for the Chinese church @ 9:30. Shadow took the Subway 2 hours one way to come and be with us. Then we met with the Chinese/English church service at 11:00. It was very interesting to say the least! Then we got back to the Hotel and Zack's family was there. His mom and dad and Aunt and Uncle. They are all such lovely people. His mom and dad took us to a traditional Chinese restaurant and we were well fed. We had a whole room to ourself. We ate shrimp - they are served whole - head and all! We ate chicken - also served whole - head and all!! You should have seen Joshua's face when he saw the chicken head! It was hilarious!! We had mooncake, jellyfish, almonds, broccoli, flounder (also whole), rice noodles, wheat noodles, two kinds of pork, chinese dumplings, tofu(bean curd) and some kind of boiled salad. Everything I tried was good. Then we walked all around Shamin Island and did some shopping with his family! It was good, but they informed us that all the shops around here charge too much!! Then, they wanted to take us to dinner. So, we went to McDonald's for dinner. We had a great time. Zack's Uncle H.L. works in Hong Kong and speaks very good English and he was able to translate for us very well. We had a wonderful day.

We wanted to spend more alone time with Shadow, but did not have opportunity for that today. Possibly tomorrow or the next day we will have more time. She has lots of questions. She is an English teacher and speaks English very well! She went to lunch with us, but had to return home soon after lunch.

Now it is evening and we are going to have our own worship service here in the room before we go to bed. Just wanted to give you all a quick update! Tomorrow we find out about all of our paperwork. If we don't get a phone call between 10:30 a.m. and noon then all paperwork is done and complete. We had a wonderful day spending it with friends. Zack's family rode the train all night 10 hours to come and see us today! How special we feel that they would make such a sacrifice to come and visit with us!! God is so good to us in so many ways!

We leave here on Wednesday and go to Beijing and then Thursday - HOME!! YEAH!! I hope you all have a great week. We love you all and can't wait to see everyone soon!

Love, Janice

Guangzhou - Yeah!!

2007-08-25T04:47:00.000-07:00

We made it to Guangzhou on Friday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. We got to the hotel by 3:15 or so. We had about a 6 hour flight. We were quite tired when we got here. I had a terrible headache that was the migraine type that makes you feel extremely nauseated. As soon as we got to the hotel and checked in I had to take medicine and lay down for a while. While I rested, Lawrence and the kids checked out the area. We ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner and went to bed around 10:00 p.m.

Joshua slept until 8:00 am.! WE could not believe it! He had only gotten about a 45 minute nap that day. We had to leave this morning and go to the medical exam at 9:00 a.m. Then at 10:30, we filled out all the paperwork for the American Consulate. WE went to eat lunch at a restaurant called Lucy's. It was pretty close to American food! They did french fries really well. Joshua ate an entire basket and he loved the ketchup with them. He is a big eater. After lunch Olivia and I went shopping. We bought Joshua two traditional Chinese outfits. One was black with red and the other was red with black. One was short sleeve and one was long sleeve. We tried them on him and he did not want to take them off!! We will take photos tomorrow and post them. He looks so cute in them! They are only about $10!! We also bought some souveniors for friends and family. We had noodles in the room for dinner! We can eat those for about $3.00 for the whole family!! We may never have noodles again after we leave China!!

This hotel is called the Victory Hotel. It is very nice. We have two double beds and two kids on the floor with air matresses. We now make Joshua sleep on the floor because he is constantly falling off the bed all night! He is a violent sleeper! One night he fell off the bed at least 10 times! The beds at this hotel are soft! It was so pleasant to be able to sleep in a comfortable bed. Most families stay at the White Swan, but everyone in our group (4 families) did not want to spend that much money on Hotel!

Tomorrow morning we will go to church with a friend of Durell's. After church Zack's mom and dad will meet us at the hotel and maybe eat lunch with us. They are taking an all night train trip to be able to come and see us while we are here. Zack's mother's sister lives here in Guangzhou. We are happy to be able to see them again. I can't believe they will go to so much trouble to see us while we are here, but we look forward to spending some time with them. Hopefully we will have lunch with them and with Durell's friend.

I will try to post some photos tomorrow We did not take that many today! I hope you all are doing well! We look forward to coming home!! THanks fo all of your comments on our blog! Most of all thank you for your prayers and support. We look forward to coming home to Bowling Green and worshipping with our spiritual family. Praise be to God for His people everywhere who shine their lights where they are and do what they can to be an example for others!

Love, Janice

Thursday in Changchun - Our Last Day here!

2007-08-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

Today was spent just relaxing again. We thought about doing some sightseeing at the Emperor's Palace which was were the film "The Last Emperor" was shot, but Joshua is having some stomach issues today. I think he is having a hard time adjusting to the difference in food. He is only used to eating mainly rice and noodles.

We just got through bowling - yes again!! I have really improved and so has everyone else!! I bowled a 140! Olivia was 41, William 39, Chase 95 and Dad 168. We played some games in the room and finally found a show on HBO we could watch (some spongebob movie).

In case you have been watching the news and seeing the airline crashes in China - we were not on either of those planes. However we will be flying Air China again this next week when we go back to Beijing before coming home. Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 6:00 a.m and fly to Guangzhou. We should arrive there around 2:00 p.m. We should get Joshua's passport today. That is what we have been waiting on here in Changchun.

Saturday, Joshua will get a basic physical from a doctor. It is called his polyclinic appointment. Sunday is a day of rest. Monday we have our US Embassy and immigrant Visa Exit Interview. Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. we have an Oath Ceremony where he becomes a US Citizen and gets his Visa. Wednesday we fly to Beijing. We get there about 11:30 a.m. and hope to see the Great Wall Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning we will walk to the Forbidden City and Tienamen Square from the Hotel and leave for home that afternoon at 3:45. We will be home next Thursday -one week from today. Our plane lands around 9:00 p.m. and we hope to be home around 11:00 p.m. that night. Hopefully we will be able to sleep! It seems like it would only be a short plane ride, but you have to remember there is a 13 hour time difference. So it will feel like 4:45 a.m. when we arrive home!!

I don't have any photos today. We have just been lazy!! We will walk down to Wal Mart later and stock up before we go to the next city!! It has been really nice to have one here! The banana bread and Oreos were a real hit in the room! We also had Ramen type noodles everyday for lunch! We will eat dinner at KFC tonight. Our entire family can eat at KFC for about 15$ and McDonalds for about $10. Pizza Hut is a little more expensive about $20, but well worth it!! We have been very fortunate to stay in this hotel. It was really nice. This room has two rooms a bedroom and a living area and a bath and a half. It was extremely cheap for such a nice hotel - only about $74 a night. The only problem we have had is that the beds were extremely hard. It will be so nice to be able to sleep in a nice soft bed!!

I have figured out how to read comments in English! Thanks for all the comments! They are very encouraging to us! I hope we will have internet access at our next hotel so we can check email and post some more.

Our guide just stopped by and gave us Joshua's passport! Yeah!! On to Guangzhou tomorrow!

Thanks for your constant prayers. I can really tell that there are many prayers being offered on our behalf. Joshua has been doing really well and adjusting great! He has been a joy and a blessing to us already!

As I have walked the streets of this extremely populated city, I can see the sadness in so many faces of the people here. I know it is from the absence of God in the lives of so many here. It is really kind of eerie not to see any signs of religion anywhere here. We don't realize how fortuate we are to live in a free country! Praise God!

Nanhu Park

2007-08-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

Dad and the kids at Nanhu Pak

The Bike we rented

Entrance to Nanhu Park

Joshua on Dad's shoulders

A little ham with a bowl on his head!

We had a great day yesterday - 8/21/2007. We got up in the early morning hours (6:00 a.m. to be exact) and realized that the day was going to be beautiful. A cool front came through and there was sunshine all day. All the smog and pollution was blown away and there was a nice cool breeze. We ate breakfast, talked on Skype for a while and took a taxi to Nanhu Park.

Nanhu Park is where Joshua was abandoned on 8/24/04. He was 5 months old at the time. The park is really a neat place. It is about 300 acres and has gardens, carnival type rides, boat rentals, food to purchase and bike rentals. We rented a 6 person bike. It had two bench seats and three people sit on each bench. Four people peddle while the other two (me and Joshua) get to ride. We rented it for about an hour and had a great time. We walked around the park for a while and took photos of where we thought she might have left him. All the paperwork said was the southwest corner of the park so we just took photos of the park for him. It was really a very sad time. As we walked through the parkI realized that it was almost exactly 3 years to the day when he was abandoned. I wondered as we walked if his mother ever comes back to the park and what she must have been thinking when she left her baby at this extremely busy place. I wondered if she hid behind some bushes as Miriam did when Moses was left to make sure he was found. Whatever the case, she left him somewhere that she new he would be found. I believe with all my heart that she wanted to give him more than she could.

We got back to the hotel and ate noodles for lunch in the room. While Joshua napped, Chase, William & Lawrence went to bowl (yes again)! We played some games in the room and went to dinner at McDonalds. After dinner we went to Wal Mart again!! This time we found some oreos and bannana bread! The banana bread was baked in the bakery and was only $.50! We will go back tonight for more of that! It is great for breakfast.

Site of the Day:

As we walked to McDonalds we saw a man begging on the sidewalk. He had no hands and no feet. They were just like limbs that ended abrubtly and I can't see anyway that the man could walk. It was so sad! I could hardly eat my meal without feeling terrible!

Miscellaneous thoughts:
1. Anyone want to lose weight - come to China and adopt a baby!! I think I have lost 10 pounds already!!

As I type this the boys are teaching Joshua to play baseball with an empty one liter bottle and an inflatable ball.

In case you have left comments on here, I can't read them! I am sorry! I am hoping to try to correct the problem, but it won't bring up my blog and when it does it comes up in Chinese!! Keep commenting though! I hope to read them when I correct the problem!

Thanks to all of you who have visited with us on Skype! That has been great!

Thanks for your prayers! We only have one more day here and on to Guangzhou on Friday!
Joshua is a pack rat! He puts all of his things in Wal Mart bags or any kind of bag he can find and carries it with him everywhere.

He loves his jar of peanut butter and he says it sooo cute. I wish you could all hear him.

I may not post again until we get to Guangzhou on Friday! I hope you all are doing well!

Love, The Kelley Family

Sunday and Monday in Changchun - 8/19 & 8/20

2007-08-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

Our Official Adoption Certificate - dated 8/17/07

Sunday was spent talking with friends and family on Skype in the early morning hours, worship in our room, late lunch/dinner at Pizza Hut about 3:00 p.m., bowling in the afternoon, and to bed at a decent time - 9:00 p.m. I felt like we all had a good night's rest finally after about one week of jet lag!

Today is Lawrence's 39th birthday. We spent the morning talking to friends and family on Skype. We walked about 30-40 minutes and found a park to play in for a while. The boys played basketball with some Chinese boys and Joshua got to ride in a little remote control car. We came home and ate noodles in the room for lunch. We played some games in the room this afternoon and went out to eat at KFC tonight.

We have been working on potty training the last couple of days. He is doing better today than he was yesterday. He has only wet two pair of underwear today. He gets really busy playing and doesn't want to take the time to go to the bathroom.

He is beginning to branch out a little. He is starting to come to all of us more, but he is still greatly attached to his baba (daddy). He is learning some new things. He can point to his nose, mouth and eyes. He can count (with help) to five. He can say William's name really well. He tries to say sissy and Chase. He understands much more than he can express. He seems to be detaching a little from the peanut butter jar he has been carrying everywhere. He is so funny when he tries to say peanut butter. He adds about 6 extra syllables to butter! He cracks us all up! He loves being the center of attention. I think he has been spoiled long before we got him. He must have been a favorite in the orphanage. He is extremely chubby and loves to eat any kind of food you give him (except for skittles).

Sight of the day: As we were walking to dinner tonight we saw at least 5 beggars. The first was an elderly woman holding her hand out to Lawrence and asking for money over and over again. As we continued to walk we noticed someone hollering out something. It was an elderly man banging his head on the concrete sidewalk and screaming out some word over and over agian. Laying beside him was an elderly woman (I guess she was ill or about to die) and he was begging for money. It was a horrible sight. As I walk the streets of this city it is so sad to see the absolute destitution of some and the extreme affluence of others.

Yesterday when we were in Wal Mart it was incredibly busy. You all just think our Wal-Mart is busy!! Ha! You have to be rude it seems just to be able to get into the store!! Chase was entirely too polite and was about 30 people behind us on the escalator. As we were walking through Wal-Mart (of course everyone was staring as usual), but one man in particular stopped us and was asking us all kinds of questions in Chinese. He would ask someting and point to Joshua over and over. He apparently wanted to know what we were doing with him. Every day I get more and more uncomfortable with all of the staring and questions about what we are doing with this Chinese little boy! It makes me afraid someone will call the police or something!! Most of these people have never seen an American in the entire lives and especially have never seen one with 3 children and a Chinese little boy! One lady kept asking me how many children I had and she would say 3 and I would say, "no, 4." She asked me at least 3 times! I am sure that most of them don't understand what is occuring with us adopting Joshua.

We met an English teacher at the park today. His name is David. He teaches at the Middle School and his wife works here at the hotel we are staying at. He told us he was embarressed that someone in his country would abandon their baby. He was very nice and he spoke very good English.

Here are today's photos: Joshua riding a remote control car at the park today.

Lawrence talking with David (the English teacher) at the Park.

Chase and William playing basketball with Chinese boys at the Park

Joshua chowing down on noodles.

Saturday in Changchun

2007-08-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

Playing with big brother Chase!

Carts like this are seen all over. Some are even pulled by donkeys and some by men not even bikes.

Cuddle time with mom!

A man painting with his feet. He has no left arm and his right arm is useless. The suitcase is laid out there for donations for his paintings.

Fresh and clean after a bath!

Joshua's first happy meal at McDonald's.

Cuddling with Olivia & William.

Photo of his first bath.
He loved it! After he got out he still stank so bad!! We had to get

q-tips and soap up his belly button and scrub it really good several times to get the stink out! It was black! After we got it clean he smelled fine!

Saturday morning we spent a lot of time on Skype talking with friends and family. It has been really nice to have that option!! We did a little school with the kids. Went to eat lunch at McDonalds. We came back to the hotel for another round of bowling and we brought our guide with us. She did not want to bowl though. She just watched. We stayed up later last night and feel like we are finally about to get on schedule.

Joshua is getting more comfortable with us which means several things. He is more loving to all of us, but is also beginning to test the limits. He also seems to be having a few emotional issues today. He is adjusting to a lot of changes - people, language, food, schedule and environment. We are very patient, but consistent with him. He loves to carry around a jar of peanut butter whereever he goes. We bought it at Wal-Mart and let him carry it through the store and he must think it was a gift. He took a nap with it yesterday. He also loves to look through the photo album we had sent him some time ago. He loves to watch video of himself on the camera. We taught him how to lace cards yesterday and to color with crayons. His fine motor skills seem to be quite lacking. He is also regressing with the toilet training, but that is partly our fault. I can't stand to take him in any of the public toilets. They are disgustingly filthy.

As we walked the streets Saturday to McDonalds we say an elderly man begging in the street and the man in the photo above painting with his feet. He did not have a left arm and his right arm is useless. You could see the scars on his right hand where he had had some kind of surgery on his hand. We also saw a 7 year old boy who was walking down the street with his family. Apparently he had to urinate and well he did - right on the sidewalk. Apparently that is very common. No one else seemed to mind!!

Well, I'd better go! We are getting ready to go eat dinner and make our daily Wal-Mart run for essentials that we forgot the last time. I think it will be Pizza Hut again. Last time a fight broke out between two ladies! That was quite an experience.

I hope you all are doing well and time seems to be going a little faster for us. It is Sunday here. So, 5 more days in Changchun and then off to Guangzhou!

Saying Goodbye

2007-08-17T01:09:00.000-07:00

After our dinner at pizza hut last night we were all so tired, but could not go to sleep that early (5:00 p.m. here) so we went to the hotel bowling alley. Four of us bowled for 5$!! That kept us awake and we had a good time. Joshua watched and loved every minute of it and especially when it was time to clap for someone!!

His affection for Lawrence is really great! He wants him to hold him a lot and always wants his attention. He spontaeously gave him a kiss on the check twice today. He also gave Olivia a kiss on the check. He is doing so well. He already knows a few English words and it has only been 1 1/2 days! He can say hello, bye bye, and no. The last one is very important. When he gets really tired he gets extremely hyper and agressive. So we need him to understand the word no! When he gets like that we hold him close and rock him either standing or sitting and he goes right to sleep.

He slept all night last night in the bed with Chase. I found him at around 1:00 a.m. standing on the floor with half of his body on the bed and he was still asleep!! It was funny! He has woken (not sure that is a word) up from every nap or night time and been very sweet. He wakes up very pleasant.

Today we spent the morning in the hotel room eating, playing with Joshua, and relaxing. It has been a very dreary day. It is cloudy and rainy. We went to eat lunch at KFC. As we were arriving there we saw a woman sitting on a square board with wheels on the bottom and pushing herself along the filthy ground with her hands. As she passed we noticed that her legs were not quite right and she had two club feet. It was an extremely sad sight.

After we ate at KFC, we went to Wal-Mart (our daily excursion) to get bigger pullups for Joshua, some light up spider man tennis shoes for Joshua and some more peanut butter and jelly for us to have some sandwiches in the room.

We got back to the hotel to find out we had to go and apply for Joshua's passport at 1:20. I did not know that the man (his caregiver from the orphanage) would be there. Joshua was happy to see him and gave him a kiss on the check. We did what we had to do there and he came back with us to the hotel to receive the donations for the orphanage. We were told we could not visit the orphanage due to some road construction, so he came to get them here. We helped him get them all down to the taxi and it came time for Joshua to say goodbye to him. I am not sure if he realized this would be the last time he would see him or not. He told him goodbye, kissed him on the check and hugged him . He watched him with longing eyes and waved goodbye. He kept his eyes on him as long as he could. I was just about to break into a cry, but I managed to hold it together for his sake.

We got back to the room and he played for a while and is taking a nap right now. Everyone else is getting stir crazy and has gone to the fitness center for some exercise. We were told today that we must stay here until next Friday, but there is nothing left here for us to do until Thursday and that is when we get his passport. Please pray that the time will pass by fast for us. There is not much to do here. You can only walk the streets so much. EVERYONE stares at us everywhere we go. We just thought it was bad before we got Joshua!!

I found out today that Joshua was found in a park. I hope to go and visit the park with him and take some photos of the park if it is not too far from here. As I look into the eyes of the many Chinese women here I can't help but wonder if one of them could be his mother. I would love to be able to tell her that we already love him so much and will take care of his medical needs so that he can live a healthy and happy life. And much more important than that, we will teach him how to live eternally and bring glory to God something which she may never get the chance to know or understand herself.

I hope all of you are doing well and know that we long to be home already!

Where to Begin???

2007-08-16T01:56:00.000-07:00

All of these photos are of us at the Notorial interview where we met Joshua for the first time. The man in the photo below with Lawrence and Joshua is the caregiver at the orphanage.

The photo on the left is at the hotel after an exhausting day of paperwork, crazy cab drivers and meeting his parents for the first time!!

I want today to be forever ingrained in my memory. We all did not sleep well last night and are still suffering from major jet lag. We are hoping to stay awake until about 9:00 p.m. so we can get on the right schedule. We got up early and ate breakfast in the hotel. That is always interesting. We met Emma, our guide, at 9:00 a.m. in the lobby to go to the Notorial Interview. Since there were so many of us and the cabs are so small we had to take two cabs everywhere we went! The streets here are so busy and the taxi drivers are crazy. I am not sure I can count all the close calls we had today and there are no seatbelts! You don't realize how much you appreciate those until you don't have them.

We went through all the paperwork at the notorial interview, met Joshua, went to take passport photos and a family photo and then back to the hotel! It was about 11:30 when we got back and about 1:00 when Joshua finally just crashed in my arms. He was soooo tired!

Our initial visit with him in the notorial office went extremely well. We were going over paperwork with the officer and all of a sudden we looked up and there was a man standing in the door with Joshua!! We were not expecting it yet and were completely surprised. He was a little hesistant to come to us at first, but really took to Lawrence right off the bat! We were so happy to finally see him. After a few minutes of receiving several toys from us (including a stuffed mickey mouse that he will not let go of) he came to me. He had to go to the bathroom two times while we were there at the first visit so we are wondering if there are issues there or not. We also noticed later after getting back to the hotel and giving him a bath that he has something wrong with his feet. He walks fine except maybe a little clumsy and we think it has something to do with his feel. They are not shaped exactly right or something. He may need surgery or braces to correct the problem! I hope it is not too late to correct it! He does have an extremely large scar on his back that goes between his hip bones and it runs horizontal across his back.

We all went to eat a late lunch and early dinner at Pizza Hut around 3:00 p.m. He loves pizza. He apparently loves food period!! He has eaten everything we have given him and more!! He is really chubby!! I am not sure, but I am guessing he weighs about 35 lbs. He seems to understand us more than what I thought he would. He can tell us by gestures when he needs to go to the bathroom. This is really important!!

As we drove from place to place and have walked the streets of Changchun, I become deeply saddened by the way of life of so many people and I realize that I will never really understand or experience what poverty is. I have been brought to tears many times over the past two days as we walk these streets. We have seen blind people walking with sticks, old people barely able to peddle their bikes up a hill, people living in a tent on the sidewalk and poverty striken people just trying to sell something to be able to eat. The conditions in which most of these people live are unbelievable to say the least.

I hope my thoughts are clear enough for you to understand! I still feel like I am in a fog! I will update again tomorrow. I can't believe how smooth this has gone and can almost feel that we have been lifted up in prayer by so many! Thank you for those prayers. They are working!!

Finally in Changchun!!!

2007-08-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

I did not sleep after 11:30 on Sunday night. I tossed and turned all night in anticipation of our trip. All three of our flights were nice. The one in Newark left one hour late due to mechanical problems, but we got to Beijing with no problems - 13 hours and 15 minutes later! My whole body is sore from the plane trip. They did have movies and video games to entertain you. We atually flew around the north Pole, to Siberia and then to Beijing. We had a four hour stay at the Beijing airport!! That was an experience!! We were all extremely tired!! There was no where to sit and Lawrence and William slept on the floor! Now that is being tired!! There were people everywhere!! All the children did great on our trip!! We got to Changchun by 8:30 last night and to our hotel by 10:00 p.m. We have a very nice hotel. It has two double beds which are like extra large twin beds and a living area and 1 1/2 bathrooms. I think we will be very comfortable here.

We had the breakfast buffet here at the hotel this morning and the food was good. Our guide, Emma then took us to Wal Mart where we bought some food items, drinks and a stroller for Joshua. Crossing the streets can be very dangerous here!!

We thought we would receive Joshua today, but we will have to wait until tomorrow. We will go to the Civil Affairs office and get the paperwork started. It should be interesting. All 6 of us will have to get two taxi's to get there. The cars here are much smaller.

God has been good to us to bring us to this point. I am so glad that we are finally here. We are disappointed about not seeing and receiving Joshua today, but maybe the extra day of rest will do us all good.

More to come later, I am really tired and need to rest for a while. We are trying to get on schedule. Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

Last Post from American Soil

2007-08-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday afternoon. We have all bags packed! All the kids have a backpack full of stuff to keep them busy for the 26 hour trip! Lawrence will carry on the laptop bag with all the important papers and laptop and I will carry the BIG purse full of all kinds of necessities!!HA! You should see inside it!! We have 4 bags to check in - all under 50 lbs - hopefully! Two of which are donations to the orphanage! ( Thanks to all of you who helped with that!) We also have 5 carry on suitcases! I am not sure how we are going to get all these to where they need to go, but I am sure it will happen somehow!! I just hope I don't misplace a child somewhere along the way - those are irreplaceable!!

After services tonight, we will go to the LaQuinta and spend the night. They will shuttle us to the airport at 5:00 a.m. and allow us to leave our vehicle at the hotel while we are away. It leaves us with peace of mind about not missing our flight and no cost for leaving our car at the airport!! When we get back the hotel will come and pick us up and take us to our car.

The most recent great thing that we found out yesterday is Skype! What a neat thing! Anyone who downloads skype onto their computer can call any other skype member for free on their computer. The download is free - just go to Skype.com. All you need is a microphone! These are the people we can call using skype that we know of - Yvette (my neighbor), my mom and dad, Lawrence's mom and dad, Donna (one of my sisters and Zack (our exchange student from last year). We have a web cam and so anyone we call can see the actual image of Joshua or whoever the camera is on!! That is sooooo neat!! Technology is amazing!! If any of you should decide to get Skype on your computer in the next week or so add us to your contacts. Our Skype name is janice.marie.kelley or you can search for us by our email address - janicekelley@insightbb.com.

Please pray for us, especially our health, safe journey and Joshua's transition.

We will post again after we get to China!! TTFN, Janice

4 days until Joshua is with us!

2007-08-10T04:20:00.000-07:00

The official countdown has begun! I have accomplished enough gathering and packing that I feel like I am ready to count down now!! We will receive Joshua in 4 days. If will be Tuesday night here in the US, but in China it will be Wednesday morning!!

We will go to Nashville on Sunday night after evening services to spend the night there. We don't want to take any chances on the ever so common hour long traffic problems that can occur. We will be able to leave our vehicle at the hotel and they will shuttle us to the airport. We have to be there so early due to our flight being at 6:30. I will be so happy to step foot on the first flight!!

Lawrence comes home today! We are so excited to have him come home! I can't wait until he gets back! Two weeks is a long time! I hope we never do that again!(I say that every time he's gone more than a week - so does he!)

I know this will be an extremely long and tiring journey. I am going to reiterate to myself and the children that we are christians and we must at all time display the kind of behavior that God would have us to. Gal. 5:22 "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." I hope that we can remember these through long lines, tired bodies, stressful deadlines and new toddler!

Have a great day and remember to praise God for all he has done!

"the God of peace will be with you"

2007-08-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

Phillipians 4:4-13
This is one of my favorite passages. It tells us how to have peace, what to think about, and encourages us to persevere.

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you hvelearned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revivied your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in anyand every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Too many details!!

2007-08-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, what you are seeing is 5 passports, I don't even know how many airline tickets and our invitation by the Chinese government to come and receive our son!

This morning I woke up feeling like Martha, but tonight I hope to go to bed and be more like Mary. I woke up worried about many things and details for our trip, instead of just trusting in the Lord to see us through this. He brought us to this event in our life and has seen us through every part of this trek thus far, so why would I think He would let us down now? God is so good!

I was overwhelmed at our evening bible studies tonight with the goodness of God's people. So many are praying for us, encouraging us and supporting us in so many ways. I really feel as if everyone in our lives has contributed in some way to help us bring Joshua home! He is already part of our spiritual family and he doesn't even know it yet!

I must say also, that I have the absolute best husband in world. He has been away now for almost two weeks and the kids and I have missed him terribly!! He does so many things for which we take granted! He knows just what to do and say to help me when I need it! I must be the luckiest woman anywhere! He's the one that has helped me to be able to pillow my head tonight as Mary instead of Martha.

Packing, medicines & Document Gathering

2007-08-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday I rounded up enough suitcases for us all to be able to carryon our clothes. I am thankful to those who have allowed us to borrow these small suitcases. We only had one carry on size. I was hoping to only check two bags, but it looks like it may be three?? I already have the kids working on their suitcases and backpacks.

Today I will be working on getting all of our documents in order before we leave and picking up medications that we will want to take with us. I hope we don't need any medications, but chances are out of 6 of us someone will need something!

The paperwork in adoption is overwhelming to say the least! I thought once we got all of our paperwork off to china the bulf was done, but I was wrong yet again!! There is a pretty long list of documents that we must prepare and take with us. So, if I get all of these things accomplished today I will be a very happy camper.

I would love for Lawrence to come home on Friday and have everything taken care of except for his packing! Since he has been gone two weeks it would be nice to just have a relaxing evening!!

TTFN, Janice

Travel is upon us!!

2007-08-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today was spent booking tickets for our trip! It was really unbelievably stressful trying to do this without Lawrence around! I am so glad to be done with that part of our journey!! Tickets were a lot more than what I had been told - almost twice as high! I could not believe it!! Later in the day after trying different travel agencies and calling airlines myself, I just had to commit to one because the time is so short and it was getting hard to find 5 and 6 seats on same flights. Apparently this is peak traveling season in China! Lucky us!! So . . . here is our itinerary:

1.4KELLEY/LAWRENCE/JANICE/CHARLES/OLIVIA*4ADT
2.1KELLEY/WILLIAM*CNN

CO=Continental Airline, CA=Air China
1*CO2745 13AUG MO Nashville/Newark 630A 954A
2 CO 89 13AUG MO Newark/Beijing 1210P 145P#1day(arrive in Beijing on Aug 14)
3 CA1647 14AUG TU Beijing/Changchun 655P 835P
4 CA1310 29AUG WE Guangzhou/Beijing 835A 1130A
5 CO 88 30AUG TH Beijing/Newark 345P 530P
6*CO3037 30AUG TH Newark/Nashville 720P 910P

I felt really sick to my stomach all day just trying to get this taken care of, but I am so glad to have it done!! This is a major hurdle!! I also decided to try and only check two suitcases in and take carry-ons and backpacks on the plane. I hope that this will ease my mind about the possibility of losing suitcases. We are only going to take 4 outfits and have laundry done while we are in China. We are going to be gone 17 days! So, each outfit must be worn 4 times! (Hmmmmm . . . Maybe I'm having second thoughts!)

Even though some of this is extremely stressful, I know that God has a plan for Joshua and it includes our family! So, I have much peace even through the stress of getting all the details taken care of (that is when I take the time to slow down)! Praise God he has worked it all out for us!

We Got Travel Approval!!

2007-08-04T08:26:00.000-07:00

On August 2, 2007 we got our travel approval!! I never thought it would come and here it is!! We can't make any firm plans yet, but tentatively are leaving on August 12th and should return sometime around September 1st. We are all sooo excited! Lawrence is out of town. He left on July 28th and won't return until August 10th and then we leave two days later!!

God has provided for this adoption the entire way through. When I wake up and feel anxious and worried about what we are doing I immediately have comfort knowing and seeing the hand of God working in our lives to bring this about over the past year.

Our journey for adoption really started 6 years ago when I met our friends David and Sharon Woody. David and Sharon had adopted Emma some time before we met them. When I found out what they had done I was overtaken with compassion and emotion and could hardly fight back the tears. Ever since that very day, I had hoped that one day we could do the very same thing!! Now, God has providentially taken care of us! I knew deep down we would never be able to afford to do such an endeavor, but God has provided for us all along this journey. From the day we decided to adopt Joshua, we did not have the funds nor did we know how we were to pay for this journey, but I knew in my heart that God would provide a way! After prayerfully considering Joshua and his special needs for a couple of weeks, we decided to go ahead. When we decided to go forward with the adoption, we found out the next day before we had sent in any money or contracts that someone was giving an incredible and awesome gift for our son's adoption. We were almost too late. We then fell into a pool of an enormous amount of people who wanted to suddenly adopt Joshua!! However, we were picked to be his family about a week later and received a sizable grant for his adoption. We then just had to figure out a way to pay for the other half!!

Again, God has been with us and provided for us through this entire year and has made it possible for this to happen! I wanted to thank all of our friends and family for their help and support over the past year in our endeavor to adopt Joshua. So many of you have done so many kind things and said encouraging words to us!!

We feel very fortunate to be the family blest with Joshua!

Photos from Visiting Orphans Mission Group

2007-07-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Tina and Steve Martin, we were able to get these photos of Joshua. They were at his orphanage (Changchun SWI) from July 14-20 and were able to spend some time with him. Here are the photos!

Trek for Joshua

2007-05-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is our story about Joshua, otherwise known as Chang Hua Suo. My husband and I have three children Chase, 15, Olivia, 13, and William, 10. We decided a couple of years ago that we would like to have more children. We knew of several families that had adopted from foreign countries and decided we would like to look into adoption. In the process of looking into adoption, we found Joshua on the waiting child list and decided we would love to adopt him. He was two at the time (Nov., 2006) and has since had his 3rd birthday on March 24th. We are hoping to travel to China to receive him in August, 2007.