He is settling in & Some China Highlights

Since I didn't have much time to send updates for Makenna to add here while we were in China, I am going to try to do a blog post about it now. Asher is napping restlessly today, so if he wakes up I might have to make it shorter than longer.

He is doing well also. He is a pretty good sleeper so that is helping me with this overwhelming feeling that I keep having. This wounded child needs so much from me, from us, I feel this huge responsibility. Then of course, there is my other children that still need mama too. He sleeps with Jay and me, so my sleep isn't as good as usual, not that it was always great before. I am getting used to having him there, he is quite the snuggler and squirmy sometimes too. He loves his bottle and my time snuggling him with it before bed. Then after eating he takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes to fall asleep. I am just enjoying it. I sing him lullabies and hymns and pray over him. He likes to lay right on top of me for a few minutes, as if I am holding him in the Ergo carrier. Then he switches back to the mattress. Then a few minutes later he demands to come back on my chest. And we do this back and forth for about 30 minutes. It is quite sweet and cute to be a part of this.  I am not sure what he is doing, other then learning about his world and his new mama, if he can trust her. I keep gently telling him, "Night, Night Asher".. He knows what that means and cover him back up with blankets. But even so, it takes all that time to unwind. When he is finally done with his antsiness and ready for sleep he is out all of a sudden out, in a matter of a few seconds. Pretty funny how he does that.

He is very smart and picking up signs quickly. I need to learn some more. I know it will likely be a long time until he is talking well, even after surgeries. But, I think he will feel less frustrated that he can communicate and be understood than all the grunting he has been doing.

Okay, here are some China highlights:

Some of my photos are still on my other computer, but here are a few.

Asher didn't eat much while in China, but he did love those instant (Think Top Ramen only better) noodle I made in the hotel room.

This was us at Asher's "Finding Place", which also happened to be at the gate of the orphanage. He was found at 6 AM, 3 days old, wrapped in a traditional red blanket (which no they didn't keep for him) and a note attached to him with birthday. I was having a difficult time standing there, as I was trying to understand what his mother might have been feeling and how scared he must have felt.

This was us about to have dinner at the famous Lucy's on Shaiman ilsand in Guangzhou. I actually liked the restaurant. Lots of cheap food choices, we could eat outside, and the wait staff spoke English. The food wasn't too bad either.

I don't know the name of this restaurant, but I did not eat there. I took a few photos of just some of the things you could choose to eat, they let you pick and made if fresh for you. Some of the choices included, snake, silk worms, red crab, eel, a fish that looked like a sting ray and many large fish.

This was right after our Ceremony at the Consulate. He would be a US citizen as soon as we landed on the US soil. Happy Day!!!! And we were leaving the next day to Hong Kong.

This was at the Hong Kong airport. The cute little girl was Charlotte, another family we met through the internet and hooked up with in Beijing and Guangzhou. Charlotte and Asher were cute watching the airplanes.

This was Kendra and Charlotte and Asher and me, right before we said "Goodbye"..

Home Sweet Home

I am sorry I haven't posted since being home. And "Thank You" to Makenna who posted the few posts while we were in China. I couldn't access my blog so I just gave her bits and pieces of information and she put it together for me.


We got home later afternoon on the 30th and it took a good 4 days to get over jet lag. It was an exhausting flight home, which I did not sleep at all and he slept maybe 5 hours on the 2 flights combined, poor guy. I think finally Asher is adjusted to the time difference. Up until last night he was waking up at night and sometimes staying up for 4 hours at 2 AM! But Jay had off until yesterday, so I did sleep in with him and tried to nap each day. But now we are trying to find a new normal and I am trying to take just one step at a time and not think about all that I really have to accomplish in my day and add an adorable toddler on top of it all.


He is one happy and fun little guy. Everyone in our home wants to be and play with him, but I am trying to hold them back just a bit as he still needs to bond with Jay and me. I think with all our children and some of them being adult children, he is getting a little confused as to who his parents are, but we will get there.

We also went to the peditrican yesterday. They tried to take some blood to get over 20 tests done on him. They poked him 2 times and were only able to get about 3/4 of what they needed as his veins wouldn't give anymore. We go back tomorrow to try to get the rest. 3 of us held him and kept him from kicking and squirming. For a 23 pound boy he is sure strong!! He put my hip totally out from the way I held him during the blood draw. Of course, my back has been yelling at me on and off from our flight home anyway, this was just the last straw. Good news, I go to the chiropractor tonight, so hopefully I can walk without pain soon.

We need to get a clean stool sample to make sure there isn't any parasites in his body. This is going to be one challenging task as he wears diapers and it can't touch urine or the diaper. The details as to our attempt at doing it are a little too much information that most of you probably don't want to hear, but just trust me it is interesting. So if you think about how to pray for us, it would be that this test would work without much more difficulty.

He also got a TB test which will get read tomorrow, but so far it looks okay. Then he is supposed to see the Cleft Doctor next Tuesday. We are still trying to get our insurance coverage updated for the referral to be approved, so more prayers for that would be appreciated as well. Even though we gave them all they needed, he still isn't showing up in their computer system. It should be easy to fix, but each day we wait we lose another day for the referral process. If I have to reschedule this appointment it will likely be middle of January or early February due to the holidays and a busy doctor's schedule.

We also have an appointment for an evaluation for the state covered therapies. This is not until January 10th, again because of the holidays. But they could approve him for speech, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and a Dietician up until age 3, which would be free for us. Then when he turns 3 we will use private therapy as needed, through our medical insurance. We have great medical insurance due to being in the military, but the co-pays do add up so anything is helpful at this point. Plus the therapy would all be In-Home Therapy, which to me as a great benefit at this point. We already go to Speech, OT and PT for a couple of our other children a couple times a week.

Asher is doing great! He is a sweet baby. I feel so blessed to have him in my life, in our family. I am still processing the truth that he is ours. When I was filling out paperwork at the pediatrician for him yesterday they wanted family medical history. I almost answered all the questions as if he was my flesh and blood. I already think of him that way. My prayer is continued that his heart would be healed from the abandonment and trauma that has been in his short life already, and that he would come to truly feel I am his Mama and Jay, his Daddy.

Look at that that smile.
"Asher" means joy, happy. I think his new name suits him well!