She had become my daughter in my heart over a year ago when we submitted our paperwork to begin our second adoption and when I first saw her adorable face in August, well I imagine that feeling is similar to what a biological mother would feel when she first heard her child's heartbeat, or saw her child moving around on a sonogram screen, or felt the first flutters as the baby moved around in her womb. But that day, January 17, 2011 Liu Rong Jie became Aryn Rachel Liu Rong-Jie Stopyra and my daughter. What God had ordained in the heavenlies became recognized by the world as I promised to care for her and to never abandon her. 
Seeing Daddy was love at first sight. Now that we've been home for a while I was shocked to discover that we were at our three month anniversary as Rachel's parents. It seems like she has been with us for so much longer that at times we have to remind ourselves that really she has been with us such a brief time. Her little personality is really coming out and the funny thing is that she is more quiet just like Daddy. Isaac is more like his Mama. Who other than God would know that when we gave Isaac the name Li after my Lea that he would favor my personality and that Rachel's Aryn after Daddy's Aaron would show her personality emerging to be more like his.
Bedtime definately HAD to be revisited because before Rachel came home Isaac was milking the bedtime ritual for an hour and a half some nights. Now we have milk and quiet time on the couch before settling down for the night. We'll read, chat about our day and pray. Then we take turns putting our blessings to bed. What was taking forever is now usually accomplished in about thirty minutes. Wow! What a miracle!! The best thing is that Rachel has adjusted to bedtime MUCH better than Isaac did. At three months she has been sleeping through the night for a while and it took Isaac almost two years to accomplish this feat. Of course, their situations before coming to our family were very different and I had some good advice for working with Rachel to help her adjust. God is so good!!
I love this picture! Playing peek-a-book with the cupboards. They generally get along very well and I would say that we are blessed!! Of course like all siblings there are times that well, aren't so picture worthy.
On February 21st Isaac had to go to the hospital to recieve a 2nd set of ear tubes. These are supposed to last a while. Poor guy gets ear infections all the time! I never knew what a high pain tolerance this boy has until Rachel developed an ear-infection. I am amazed at his tolerance and it breaks my heart to think that his time in China probably contributed to this because it is my understanding that they do not administer pain medication after surgery and he had his lip revision surgery in China. His ears were a MESS when he came home to us and I am sure that he had some monster ear-infections before he came to us. When we had his hearing tested prior to receiving his first set of tubes he was practically deaf. Afterwards his hearing was much improved! Now that he is older they were able to get a more accurate test by using headphones and blocks. Isaac's hearing is fantastic. YEAH GOD!!!
Laughter is the best medicine! I love the sound of the laughter that fills my home!
Story time with Daddy.
Isaac still loves his trains! Right now Mama can not wait for this season to end, but one day I will look back on all of the train pictures fondly and forget the agony Isaac went through as he tried to build tracks in the air like the monerail at Disney. Who knows, I may be raising a future engineer! This kid is very creative! (The green train and the red train at the right side of the picture are being used to raise the tracks up in the air.)
On January 15th I sent a frantic e-mail to Craig and asked you all for prayer because we had learned that Rachel was afraid of dogs and dolls. So poor Pepper was relegated to our room and the doll that I worked so hard to find took up residence in the hall closet. Shortly after coming home she learned to tolerate the dog and after she started day-care about a month later she learned to love dolls. Here she is getting ready to feed her baby.
I wanted to have Rachel dedicated to the LORD on our first Sunday back in the states, but I thought it would be too much and what if we were unable to make it to church and they had planned for us to be there. We had Aryn Rachel dedicated to the LORD on her birthday weekend. My Aunt Hubba was in town so it was great that she was able to be a part of this special ceremony. Rachel wore the dress her foster family had picked out for her when she met us. She likes to pick her clothes so I presented her with two outfits and was greatly pleased when she chose the outfit that they had chosen for her. To me it made it seem like the people who had spend so much of her life with her were there with us to celebrate this special day.
Happy Birthday sweet Rachel! We love you!!! Last year Rachel was not able to celebrate her birthday in the orphanage. This year she celebrated three times to make up for lost time! She celebrated with her friends at daycare on the day and with Mama, Daddy, and Isaac that evening. On Sunday we celebrated with family.
Here she is having a tea party with her Daddy with one of her favorite gifts. A tea-set from Aunt Hubba. I remember Zoe had a similar tea-set at her age and totally loved it. So did my cousin's daugther Brianna.
Finally, Isaac gets to go see Mickey Mouse again. Before leaving to meet Rachel Isaac kept bugging us to go to Mickey Mouse House. We kept telling him that he had to wait because Mickey Mouse wanted to meet his sister. The first thing he said after Rachel stopped crying and things settled down on the evening we met her is, "We go Mickey Mouse?" Not yet... So the poor kid was just waiting and waiting to go back to Disney. Finally we got to go during Spring Break!!
It was so crowded that we hardly got to go on any rides and we waited for over thirty minutes to ride the tea-cups! If I had had to pay to go to the park I would have been very upset, but thank you LORD that Daddy works for Mickey and we are able to go for free! What a blessing!
Lollypops!!
Isaac loves "diggers" almost as much as he loves trains. What a joyful day when we discovered a digger outside of the restaurant the other night.
Fun at the park!
After the park we decided it was definately past time to mow the lawn. Our neighbors have already mowed a few times, but this was the first of the season. Isaac loves to help. He has a servants heart and I just love my boy. Last night he helped Daddy mow the lawn. This was so priceless!!
So precious! She wanted to help but you can see the look of love on her face. She loves her brother. She loves her Daddy. Rachel had fun watching them mow the lawn. I need to figure out how to get pictures of Rachel & Mama. We were pulling weeds and trees so that the boys could mow, but there is no evidence of that... Who knew that mowing the lawn could be family fun?
I know!! I need to blog more often so it's not such a lengthy post with zillions of photos. I am trying to get better, but time flies!
God, You are so good! I look back over the photos of the past three months and I think of all You have accomplished. You are amazing! We went to have an echo-cardiogram on Rachel's heart the first day of spring break. The doctor said that her heart looks amazing! She originally said she didn't want to see us for three years. "Three years?!" I was shocked, in a surprised, this is great sort of way, but I guess I sounded worried, because she quickly ammended, "Ok, two years." Some children with repaired VSD still have a leakage and require antibiotics prior to dental treatment and other things, but her cardiologists said that things are great. She said absolutely no restrictions. Yeah God!!!
Isaac is doing great in speech at school. He has progressed so much. I know that He has a way to go, but wow!! God opened the door where he can receive speech every day through the school system. And the school is wonderful and his teacher is fantastic!! We are blessed because he will be with her next year as well.
I'm sure I could go on, but I'll try to do another blog and I need something to write about. If I put it all down in writing now, it will be a long time before I come back. So good night.
1 comment:
Love catching up with the happenings in your family. Aryn is precious, and I know Isaac is being the best big brother.
Post a Comment