It's a GIRL!!!!!

Last Tuesday, August 17th, the stork landed in Orlando, Florida. We knew that CCAA should be adding more children to the shared list soon and were hoping that we could receive "The Call", but we were trying not to get our hopes up. Last month anytime the phone rang we risked bodily injury as we raced to answer the phone. This time we were more cautious, but when the call came through and "Holt Adoption Agency" was listed on my caller ID I forgot all about caution as I raced from the room where my team (the group of teachers in my hall) was meeting to pick up a better reception. I heard the most wonderful words, "We believe we found a child that will be a good match for your family." As we prepared our dossier to send to China we were told that we would probably be matched with a boy because many families are only open to adopting little girls. I was SHOCKED when Masha said, "We have a little girl."





"A girl?" I said, it didn't really make sense.





"Yes, is that ok?"





"Of course it is!" I assured her.





Liu Rong Jie was born on March 18, 2009 and is now 17 months old. She is presently residing in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province in southeastern China. She was born with VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) which is a mild heart condition. She received surgery to repair her VSD last October and is doing well. We believe her family chose adoption for her because they were not able to care for her medical needs. I can't imagine the heartache they went through, when they left her after caring for her for five months. This past Sunday at church I prayed for her family, that they would know peace and know that she has been treated for her heart condition and that she has now been matched with a loving family and will grow up knowing love.

We have been told that the wait to travel can be anywhere from four to nine months. We are praying fervently that we will be able to travel in four months. That would mean that our sweet baby will be home by the end of the year. Here is the much anticipated photo of our new daughter.

We will name our beautiful daughter Aryn Rachel Liu-Rong. As we paperchased we prayed for a name. We wanted a name that was strong and a name that had a beautiful meaning. We wanted the name to be a blessing for all of the wonderful things we hope life will hold. It was difficult to find a name because sometimes we would love the way a name sounded, but when we researched the meaning of a name, we were not impressed. We agreed upon the name Aaron for three reasons. First we wanted to honor Craig and his middle name is Aaron, secondly we liked that God chose to build the royal priesthood through the tribe of Levi and that Aaron was the first high priest, lastly we chose the name Aaron because it means "mountain of strength", "exalted", or "strong." We agreed that we would also like to use the name for a girl, but we didn't want to go with the traditional Erin which means "Ireland" and though I can't find the meaning myself I have heard also means "girl." So I have become what I thought I would never become. I have become one of "those" mothers who takes a boy's name and modifies it for her daughter. I'm shaking my head at the irony of it all. The name Rachel drew us in a few times in a few different ways and we were pretty sure we would not use it until we received a confirmation that it should be a part of her name. Rachel means "ewe" a female lamb. After thinking about the symbolizm and the way Jesus always says He is our sheppard and cares for our needs and how he would leave the 99 to go search for the 1, we had to use the name. We can't imagine not haveing Rachel as part of her name now.

When Aryn was found last August she was taken to the hosptial to be treated. She was named by the doctor attending her and we felt that we should keep part of her Chinese name just like we had kept part of Isaac's Chinese name. We didn't want to use her entire name because Aryn Rachel LiuRongJie Stopyra is a mouthful so we chose the names that seemed to flow with the rest of her name. So we are keeping Liu-Rong as her middle name. From my research, which could be wrong because it all depends upon the Chinese symbol used for her name and I'm not sure I looked at the right symbols as I looked online. We believe Liu means "willow" and I think that is beautiful, I love willows and my middle name means a meadow and I think a willow would look lovely in the meadow. I think it fits nicely. Rong means many things, but "honor" is a part of many definitions, "high honor" is my favorite that I have found. Rong can also mean, "flourish" and we hope she does flourish with our love. It can also mean "harmonious", "glory" or "to hold." I would like to incorporate Jie, but I don't want to make her name so long. I am really torn. Perhaps we will include it. The doctor who named her chose beautiful names. Jie means "One who rises above the rest" or "prominent" and "successful." Maybe well end up with LiuRong-Jie. I don't know!!!!

Getting Ready for the 1st Day of School

We are thrilled that Isaac qualified for the Pre-K VE (varying exceptionalities) class for speech and language this year. He will be attending Pershing Elementary for a half day in the morning session. On Thursday we went to meet his teacher and she is simply AMAZING! We are very excited about this new year. Tonight we went to Target to buy school supplies on his list. Grandma bought a Thomas the Train backpack a few weeks ago because Isaac continues to L-O-V-E Thomas and all choo-choos. We were afraid that if we waited to buy the Thomas backpack that the stores would be sold out. School starts Monday morning and Isaac will ride the school bus to and from school. In the morning they will pick him up at Aunt Wendy's house and in the afternoon they will bring him back where he will eat lunch, nap, and continue to have wonderful relationships with his Auntie, cousins, and the other adorable kids in her home day-care. We are so blessed to have Aunt Wendy as his primary care giver while Mama and Daddy are working. God is so good to us.

Speak Up for "SAY"

The super big toy company Mattel is sueing a minor small business over the use of the word "say." It is preposturous that something like this could make it into the court systems and onto a judges docket when their are real issues in the world. SuperDuper is a small publisher that makes speech products and other things for children with special needs. We use some of their products with Isaac and I believe that his speech therapist gets some of her things from this company as well. We have been told about this small business from different speech therapists and when he was tested to qualify for the speech program with the public school system.



I am so unbelievably upset that Mattel thinks they have a trademark on the word "say." Are they for real!? Seriously?! I mean we say things all day, the word say is a major word for a speech therapist, I can't imagine them going through a session without using the word "say" as part of the session. Now Mattel wants them to change the name of some of their materials or to pay them (Mattel) millions of dollars for using the word "say." What #$@#$#@%% I don't know how many characters I put there, but it would suffice for whatever mean word you could think to use in place of them. Since this is a public blog I don't want the public to think poorly of my use of the English language or to be sued by some crazy person who thinks they have the rights of all bad language. Whatever.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO??? Contact Mattel and tell them to have the courts to vacate the judgment against Super Duper, and then tell them to leave this special needs company alone. Follow this link for various contact information.

Even if your child has not used the SuperDuper products there is a chance that someone you know and love does or has in the past. Thank you for taking the time to read this and to consider helping.