Jazmyne Rose-Noel's Amazing Red Thread Journey Home

WJ Preview

2012-02-04T09:43:00.000-08:00

"If I have to go half way around the world ..to love you...I will ...I will"

2012-01-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

Great Site For Parents To Learn How To Incorporate Chinese Customs & Traditions Into Your Child's Life.

2011-12-29T05:56:00.000-08:00

China Travel and Cultural Wonders

This site is for you if you want your kids to have a better appreciation for their roots and most of all, to learn to value all that you have at home and that we so often and easily take for granted.
This site shares experiences from travels in China as well as from the site developers their own cultural heritage, and help you on your way to having your own China Family Adventure!

Site Email Address: http://www.china-family-adventure.com/index.html

Happy New Year Blog Family!

2011-12-29T05:11:00.000-08:00

This digital ecard created with Smilebox

Merry Christmas Santa!

2011-11-19T17:55:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe but this is our Jazzy's 4th picture with this Santa! When this picture setting was over I was crying and so were the elves. This Santa works with many orphanages in Guatemala so Jazzy is near and dear to his heart. Every year he remembers her well! He has watched her grow and to simply blossom! But before this pictures was taken they held hands, starred into each others' eyes and had the warmest most wonderful conversation! If you are in Michigan and want to take your child to see the "real" Santa take them to the Midland Mall it is well worth it! He is as real as his white beard! Love you Santa!

Our Day At Chateau Chantal

2011-10-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Every year we get invited by the owners, Bob and Nadeen of Chateau Chantal to their Fall Harvest Party. Chateau Chantal is a Winery with Vineyards and is also an Inn. Rick & I were married in this vineyard on September 22, 1997 so it is always like going home for us to be there. It is very sacred grounds to us! Bob ate lunch with us and was completely taken by our Jazzy Rose! She is such a little charmer! We chatted in awe about the fact that that day in November of 1997 how we would never have imagined our beautiful Chinese daughter. Thank you Lord for such an awesome gift of a daughter! Jazzy Rose is the Serendipity of a life time!!!!

Jazzy's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-09-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

On the 16th of this month we will celebrate our 3rd Gotcha Day with our beloved Jazzy! It is hard to believe that are little angel could possibly be in Kindergarten! At the end of the year last year Preschool Assessments indicated that all skill areas were at the end of 1st grade. She is amazing!!!

Jazzy's First Baseball Games - Whitecaps VS Silver Hawks

2011-08-22T20:21:00.001-07:00

Adoption Day at the Whitecaps game! She got the players to sign her baseball and loved running the bases!!!!

What Happens In Preschool Stays In Preschool - Jazzy's Last Day At Preschool!

2011-07-06T16:12:00.001-07:00

I was thinking that on her last day of preschool that she needed to have on a beautiful outfit. But she would have none of it! This T-Shirt was her favorite shirt and she insisted on waring it one last time. She was right....it was the perfect last day of Preschool shirt!!!!!

Jazzy's Preschool Graduation

2011-06-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

For the life of me I do not know where the last three years have gone! How can she be graduated from Preschool and yet she did! Our China Child of Promise, in the Special Needs Process simply for only having an extra toe on each foot, was assessed at the end of Preschool. All skill areas at mid to end of 1st grade!!!!Her Preschool Teacher says that her Kindergarten Teacher next year is sure going to love having her in class! We love you so very much Jazzy Rose. Ma Ma and Ba Ba are so very proud of you!!!Oh how I wish some how, some way those who gave you up so long ago could only know how well you are doing. If they could only know how much you are loved. If they could only see how beautiful you have already become! That they could only know that the opportunities they prayed would open doors for you have already started!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day Everybody!

2011-03-17T18:22:00.001-07:00

Our Girl Is Sty'len!!!

2011-03-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

Gymboree Jazzy Score: All Matching; Umbrella, Rain Coat, Rain Boots, Hat, Skirt, Shirt, Necklace, Bracelet, Hair Barrettes and Purse $80...Smile On Jazzy's Face When We Gave It To Her At Grandma's House...Priceless! When we got her in China at age 2.2years old she came with just the clothes on her back and a baby bottle. Those clothes were the 1st new clothes that she had ever had in her life! She had been found at the bus station in old, dirty, shabby clothing. Mama is making up for all of that now and ya know what...she remembers having nothing which is what puts that huge smile on her face when you give her anything and makes me want to do it even more!!

Webinar On Adopting Through The Holt Child of Promise Program - I Have Been Asked to Be One Of The Speakers!

2011-02-22T05:29:00.000-08:00

I have been asked to speak in a live, interactive national online seminar about the China Child of Promise Option, an expedited option to adopt a child with a treatable/manageable, identified physical condition. On February 24th I will be talking about Jazmyne's adoption thru this program & people will be able to ask me questions. You can sign up for the Webinar by clicking on this picture in this post concerning the Webinars!

I Am Re-posting This Entry Ahead Of The Chinese New Year Posts (10 of Them) Because It Is A Critical Post Right Now And I Did Not Want It To Get Lost!

2011-02-13T12:53:00.000-08:00

Yes… Rick and I spend time with Jazmyne…a lot of time! Yes we do work with her a lot but certainly we cannot take all of the credit for how smart she really is. And of course the twist of fate is such an ironic twist that she was adopted out of the Special Needs Process for simply having an extra toe on each foot, she is a Holt: China Child of Promise" who made good on her "Promise"! With me being a Special Education Director and Rick being a certified Special Education Teacher as well, we adopted out of the Special Needs Process. We felt that we had the skills to help any child with any disability live up to their fullest potential! Never in our wildest dreams did we even entertain any thoughts that our child would be exceptional! We felt for sure that at best our child would be developmentally behind so...remediation at home, Preschool, 2 years of Kindergarten and maybe we would close in on that developmental gap but again thinking that was the best case scenario. But we never thought about the other end of the spectrum or as my mother-in-law says, "What in the world are they going to do with her in Kindergarten? Isn't she going to be bored?" She is certainly a challenge for us but in a very different way. Chinese School will help to stretch her next year and I do not mean to push her...there is a distinct difference! Her Kindergarten Teacher next year will also stretch her and not limit her to doing what everyone else is doing.

She has 7 doctor’s kits and proclaims: "I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up!". She spent a lot of time with the Doctor of the Qian Jiang Orphanage, a beautiful Chinese Woman, in her clinic and her home. The doctor went so far as to travel with Jazmyne to meet us on Jazzy’s Gottcha Day,to make sure that we knew that in her professional opinion Jazmyne was not Special Needs at all and in fact was “gifted”! The good doctor was absolutely correct in her opinion! I have no idea if Jazmyne will keep on this course to wanting to be a doctor or not but I can tell you something for certain even now, “What ever she chooses to do in life she will be successful! A success she never could possibly have realized in China! The beautiful Chinese doctor is certainly an exception which can only happen in China if you come from wealth. Jazzy was originally found in "old-shabby-dirty' clothing as her information states with a note that revealed that the person who wrote it was barely literate. We are so fortunate to live in a country where public education is attainable and free! She has a fantastic Public School Preschool Teacher and a classroom aide!!She also has an incredible Day Care Provider! It is a team approach! Her Preschool Teacher could not do the great job she is doing without our support and we her. Her Day Care Provider could not do the great job she is doing without our support and we her. Having been an educator for the past 25 years, with the last 14 years having been an Elementary Principal, I know that I would do her a great deserve if I presumed that I could do a much better job all by myself in my own home. I thank God for an Educational System of trained professionals who will provide the expertise, the structure and support both she and we will need to help her to become the most she can be!

In addition to her Public Education Experience, next year she is old enough to go to Chinese School Sunday afternoons! Who again are the trained experts that I am not, who will teach her to read and write in Chinese, as well as teaching her about her Chinese culture. To coin an overused phrase, “It takes a Village To Raise a Child!” And in Jazmyne’s case a Chinese and American Village.

I will leave you with pictures of our 4 year old “Special Needs” ”daughter’s “Homework” as she calls it. She sat up at the counter all on her own, all by herself and sounded out each letter of all 4 of her names and wrote them. She then decided to write her numbers and she did so up to 12, only stopping because she ran out of room on the line! Incredible for her age, for only speaking Chinese when we got her and having only been with us for the past 2 ½ years!!!I will also leave you with her dance video from her recital from last year and a picture of her at ski class. Lets see: abandoned at a bus station at 10 months, living in an orphanage for over a year, being in the Sichuan Province in that orphanage when the earth quake hit, evacuated with every after shock even after the earth quake evacuation, adopted by foreigners, again losing everybody that she knew, coming to a foreign country half way around the word, adjusting to a new home, only 3 months later having the operation to correct her feet and all the while learning a new language! And to think now...having only been here 2 1/2 years, only being 4 years old: excelling in Preschool at the speed of light, the star of her dance class, gymnastics and ski lessons! Thank-you God for such as incredible gift in our lives as our beloved Jazzy Rose!

Click Arrow At Left To Play.
Wow...she rocked the house! People were blown away because she does not have to think about the dance steps..those are easy for her. That allows her to sing her little heart out and to put such expression in her face and gestures. A dance instructor from one of the other classes came up to Rick after this performance and said, "Wow what a natural performer...I want her in my class next year!" Of course Mom was in tears during both performances. Jazmyne's intelligence, beauty, her artistic abilities,her voice of song & dance and above all the love she pours out to us blows me away!She is the child that never in a million years did we dare dream for and yet here she is.

My heart does break when people respond so harshly when they hear that she was abandoned at a bus stations at 10 months. I also am equally horrified to think of her being left at that bus station all alone!!The fear that must have gripped her is unthinkable! But I am also at the same time very aware that we do not understand in our culture the governmental pressure in only having one child and a culture which the male child is the "only hope" to take care of the parents when they age because there is no Social Security. It will be the "male" child's responsibility to take care of them when that child is an adult. These young Chinese pregnant girls married or not have pressure placed upon them that we could never imagine to do the family "right" thing! I think of Jazmyne's birth mother who will search for an absolution that will never come for having abandoned her! It causes such conflicting emotions for me when I think about that and yet I can not deny that Jazmyne will live an enriched, privileged life, loved beyond measure, because of the actions of her birth mother. A life full of endless possibilities for her future. I can do nothing to change all that Jazmyne went through before she was placed in our arms but I can do something about everything that will happen to her beyond that. I am humbled with the Lord's conviction that she is now in the right home and Rick & I both take great responsibility in doing all we can to make sure that we live up to that conviction!

Please Make Sure That You Click On "Older Posts" At The Bottom Of This Last Post - I Posted 10 New Posts On Chinese New Year 2011

2011-02-13T12:46:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year 20111- Gung Hay Fat Choy!

2011-02-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

Our guest of honor... are own little Jazzy Rose! She has graced all of our lives in our family with such love and joy. My promise to her is the same I made to China...I will do all that I can to honor her birth land, her culture and her heritage. Child of my heart...I could go back to China and bring home 200 more and never find another one like you my love!!!

Now that Jazmyne is in School I have done a much bigger push with Chinese New Year. I will follow even more of the traditions as she gets older. I was amazed how this filtered in to her. Her birthday is in July so this will take the place of her Birthday Celebration because it is a celebration of her "Birth Land" and it falls within the school year. Our Chinese Adoptive Group did a celebration too... in Frankenmuth at the Water Park. I was stunned, I mean no true disrespect but in my opinion they don't get it! After last weekend and the Chinese New Years Celebration on Monday with her Preschool Class I know who does get it and that is our Jazmyne! After the weekend in China Town in Chicago and the Preschool Party I saw something that I had never seen in her before, "Chinese pride". She was proud of being Chinese. Proud to show the kids on the globe where she came from. Proud to share the Dragon Dance. Proud of her authentic dress and sharing that type of clothing with one of her very best friends, Gwen! She realizes she has a unique heritage and it is special and it is something to be proud of!

I now am going to put a plea out to all International Adoptive Parents no matter what country you did or are adopting from. Find some way to spot light their country at least one time a year! In Jazzy's case it is obvious that she looks different which makes it critical to help her to understand that that difference is something to embrace and be proud of. We do a huge push with Chinese New Years but I also write our Qian Jiang Orphanage Yahoo Group's Yearly Qian Jiang Harvest Moon Year Book which I do every year to up date everyone about what our children are doing. Everyone in our group adopted from the very same orphanage in China. When I saw this Year's Yearbook complete in hard book form I sobbed. It is amazing to see these children; ballet, piano, violin, skiing, sports, etc. I chose to do the year book during the Chinese Harvest Moon Festival because that festival has to do with gathering of very special things and celebrating the good fortune of having those things. Please think very carefully about how you will celebrate your child's country's traditions. Hold true to those promises you made to the countries who had faith in you to do just that! Gung Hay Fat Choy Everyone!!!

Chinese New Years 2011 - Preschool Celebration

2011-02-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

Below You Will Find What I Proposed Do With Jazmyne's Preschool:

With your permission I would love to come in and do a Chinese New Years Celebration with the class on Monday afternoon Feb. 7th. Jazzy's birthday is July 1st so she can not celebrate it during the school year but she could celebrate Chinese New Years. We ordered and just received a Dragon head (Pictured Just Below)for the Dragon Dance, as well as music for the Dragon Parade.It is called Dragon dance but it really is a parade that we could do through the Preschool. I also have an age appropriate Flap book that very simply explains Chinese New Year and the Dragon Dance. There is also an activity with the book to make a dragon paper bag puppet. I also have Chinese coloring pictures. I have ordered Chinese noise makers drums, red enveloped that we will fill with traditional things such as money. We also have chop sticks for the kids. We are going to China Town for Chinese New Years and the parade. I can get some authentic types of traditional Chinese New Year's Fruits for the kids for a treat. Jazzy will wear a traditional Chinese New Years outfit. I will not go into any of the religious connects to the holiday. It is the one time of year that we focus on her heritage and we would love to share it with your class. She will learn by teaching others. I by no means want to push this onto your curriculum. I am hoping that this could be something fun and exciting for you and your students. Please let me know what you think.

Books I Have To Bring:

Lion Dancer On the Chinese New Year, six-year-old Ernie will perform his first Lion Dance. Here's an intimate look at a Chinese household as the family shares a proud moment with Ernie. "A strong supplement for its immediacy, its vibrant color, and its sympathetic look at a Chinese family." -- School Library Journal. A Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies; also a Reading Rainbow selection.Ages4-8.

Dragon Dance - A Chinese New Year Lift-the-Flap Book
It's Chinese New Year and there are so many fun things to do! Shopping at the outdoor market for fresh flowers, eating New Year's dinner with the whole family, receiving red envelopes from Grandma and Grandpa, and best of all-watching the spectacular Chinese New Year's parade! Introduce the customs of Chinese New Year to even the youngest readers with this festive new lift-the-flap book.

Chinese New Year For Kids
Published by ChinaSprout, "Chinese New Year for Kids" is a full color paperback book with beautiful, authentic Chinese illustrations. This is a hands-on workbook for parents and teachers, written for children from ages 3 to 12 years old, for use in the classroom or at home. Children will enjoy the party ideas, dragon parades, lion dances, art projects, and zodiac games. The art projects are designed to be easy, as well as inexpensive to reproduce for large groups. All the activities in this book have been thoroughly tested in the classroom, with very successful results, and have elicited lots of enthusiasm from children and teachers alike. Music, physical movement, art, and food all add to the ambiance of taking an imaginary trip to China during the Chinese New Year.

So I Propose:

1) Rug Activity With Globe Talking About What Chinese New Years Is - I put a star on
the United States and China on the globe so the kids can see Jazmyne's birthland
is half a world away. We can roll the globe to each child and have them find
both countries. Jazmyne and I will also teach the students some very basic
Chinese words
and phrases.
2) Story Reading - 2 Books After Which Jazmyne has Red Envelopes for every one.
3) Dragon Puppet Making
4) Performing The Dragon Dance - I have noise makers for everyone
5) Chinese Foods - Rice (I have chop sticks for everyone) Tradtional Chinese Fruits
and Breads from China Town.
6) Fire Crackers Simulation - I have a big roll of Pink extra large bubble wrap. As
soon as I say,"Gung Hat Fat Choy!" the kids can jump on the wrap, "Pop, Pop, Pop,
Pop!"

For music through the day I have this CD:

Happy New Year Beaming with Cheer

:
Now you can commemorate the New Year and other Chinese holidays with authentic music! Enjoy this collection of Chinese music played by traditional instruments and songs performed by choir while you celebrate special occasions throughout the year, and you'll be bringing a bit more Chinese tradition to your festivities.

1.Spring Festival Overture (Instrument)
2.Spring is Here
3.New Year's Greetings
4.Wish You a Happy New Year
5.Welcoming New Year with Fortune
6.Pay New Year Calls
7.Happy New Year
8.Congratulations for the New Year
9.Feng Yang Drum Dance
10.Four Seasons
11.Congratulations
12.Courtesy Call in New Year
13.Winter Jasmine
14.Blossoms Throughout the Year
15.Welcoming New Year with Fortune (Instrument)t)
16.Feng Yang Drum Dance (Instrument)
17.Pay New Year Calls (Instrument)
18.Beaming with Cheer (Instrument)

I took a personal Day Off on Monday so I can prepare everything.

Chinese New Year 2011 - China Town Chicago - THE PARADE!!!!!

2011-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Years 2011 - Family Dinner At Three Happiness Restaurant Food - For Those of Us Who Have Spent Time In China This Is The REAL Deal!

2011-02-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

The rest of the family found the meal much too interesting to just eat!!!Pictured above is Jessica taking pictures of the food! As usual we filled up on the Dim Sum which is a lot like our appetizers. Chinese women roll carts up to your table with little metal pots and porcelean dishes full of delicious foods in them which are called Dim Sum. My favorite Dim Sum is large grape leaves, which are steamed with a mixture of rice, meats and vegetables inside them...yummy!! Three Happiness Restaurant is the only place in the United States that I have been able to get that type of Dim Sum outside of China! This meal was our main Chinese New Year Celebration Dinner. Again, this is equivalent to Christmas Day Dinner in terms of its importance in the Chinese Culture!!

Chinese New Year 2011 - A Night Of Shopping In Chicago - Look Out American Girl Here We Come!!

2011-02-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Congratulation Jazmyne - It's A Set of Asian Twins From American Girl!

Chinese New Year 2011- Mommy Look At All The Sky Scrappers, Ms. Marci (Preschool Teacher) Told Me About Them!

2011-02-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year 2011 - Shedd Aquarium

2011-02-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year 2011 - Lunch At Rain Forest Cafe

2011-02-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

If you have never been to a Rain Forest Cafe they are awesome. They simulate a rain storm while you are eating. There are electronically animated jungle animals that go off all around the tables at various intravels. Fun, fun fun!!!

Chinese New Years 2011 - Sunrise At The Chicago Condo....Beautiful!!

2011-02-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year 2011 - Our HUGE, Gorgeous Condo - China Town Chicago Last Weekend

2011-02-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

Love those vacation rental by owner (VRBO). This huge gorgeous condo in Chicago only $369 for the entire Chicago Chinese New Years weekend and it sleeps 8!Loved it!!!In true Chinese New Year Tradition as much of the family came as possible. Next year there are plans for my sisters family to rent the adjoining Condo and her whole family is coming. Chinese New Years is all about family gathering and food much like our Christmas!

Public Education Works!!I Thank God We Live In A Country Where Public Education Is Attainable And Free!

2011-02-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

9&10 News - Storm brings more than foot of snow to Michigan

2011-02-02T02:57:00.000-08:00

9&10 News - Storm brings more than foot of snow to Michigan

God Bless You Harry & Bertha Holt!

2011-01-27T16:47:00.000-08:00

Last night Rick, Jazzy and I went out to dinner at Ponderosa. The first thing I did was go up to the food bar with Jazzy and ask her what she wanted. She gave me her stock answer, “Chinese Noodles”!I noticed that a beautiful Asian woman got quite a chuckle out of hearing her say that. We went to the table and began eating. The woman was sitting with her husband almost directly beside us. They both appeared to be around Rick and my ages. They asked innocent questions about Jazzy including asking us what country she was from. When I told the woman China she then told me that she has been adopted from Korea towards the end of the Korean War. She had been found in the streets as a small child. Hearing that she had been adopted at the end of the Korean War stopped me in my tracks. I asked the question that at this point I already knew the answer to, “Do you remember the name of the agency your adoptive parents used?" She said they used “Holt”. She was in one of the very first groups of babies to be brought over for adoption just after the Korean War in the mid 50s. We excitedly told her that we adopted Jazmyne through Holt International too! She told us that their daughter had also adopted a child from China through Holt! What unfolded after that is nothing short of miracle! She explained how her parents were both gone now and that she misses them terribly every day! She said that the love that they poured on to her was incredible! She and her husband explained that her parents were not rich people and that it took every penny they had at the time to adopt her. Then the story took an amazing direction. Her parents actually met Bertha Holt (Harry and Bertha Holt were the founders of Holt International Adoption) and that her parents actually had to write to congressmen to have an act passed to allow her to enter the country for International Adoption. The Act actually bears her name! I told her what an honor it was to meet her and I thanked her for being one of the pioneers that made it possible for our little Jazmyne to even be here sitting at the table with us. Because of her parents and the amazing relentless, selfless efforts of Bertha and Harry Holt and their belief that every child deserves a permanent, loving home, thousands of orphans across the world have done just that!

Holt International Adoption History

The Korean War that tore Korea apart in 1950 left the land with few resources and broken families. During the war, relations between Korean women and American soldiers resulted in thousands of Korean-American children. When their fathers retreated from the country to return to American at the end of the war in 1953, these children were left behind to face prejudice and scorn. In December of 1954, Harry and Bertha Holt, two farmers in Oregon who had built a fortune on lumber, farming, and fishing, saw a documentary film on these children in Korean orphanages. They sent money to Korea to help feed and cloth the orphans. But they both wanted to do more for these children - the children needed families, and the Holts wanted to be their parents. They wanted to adopt eight Korean orphans to join their already large family of six children.

But international adoptions were virtually non-existent at the time, so a friend who researched the adoption found that the Holts would have to get both Houses of Congress to agree to the adoption in order to pass a law. So while Harry Holt left for Korea to get the Korean orphans, Bertha Holt lobbied Congress - she wrote letters to congressmen and rallied friends to help her fight for a law that would allow her and her husband to adopt the children. Just after two months, Congress passed the Holt bill in early 1955, enabling Harry to bring home eight Korean children in October of 1955.

The Holt's story received a lot of media attention and inspired thousands of families across the nation to seek Korean children in need as well. As a result, Harry and Bertha began and financed the Holt Agency, and they helped other American families adopt biracial Korean children. Holt International Children's Services continues to run strong today and is one of the largest agencies of international adoption, serving children and families in twelve countries.

The Holt's actions were important and revolutionary for several reasons. International adoption was rare in the 1950s, so America had few laws and a lacking structure for inter-country adoption - little was known or explored in that area. The Holt bill and the consequent Holt Agency helped define adoption legislation and policy. The Seattle Post Intelligencer says: "This remained the primary social policy for children abandoned and by impoverished families in the 1950s and 1960s." So the Holts had a substantial and lasting impact on the adoption system in America.

They also changed social practices with their system of adoption. Established social organizations and norms in the early 1950s discouraged and looked down upon inter-country adoption. Adoption agencies went along the traditional route by making sure to match children by color and background to their adopting parents, especially to cover up the adoption. But Harry and Bertha Holt broke tradition and showed that there was nothing wrong with adoption and families made up of members of different ethnicities. They proved that that the love of a family is stronger than the conflicts of race and origin.

As for Rick and I and the rest of our extended family...we are proud to be a bi-racial family!

The Fifteen Day Chinese New Year Celebration - 2011 The Year of The Rabbit - Quickly Approaches (January 20 through February 3rd)

2011-01-14T05:05:00.000-08:00

A great site for information on Chinese New Year is:http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/chinese-new-year-celebration.htm All of the information I am going to share with you comes from that site!

Now that Jazzy is in school and after 2 years of settling down into a nice little "American" life it is time to start making way to taking serious steps to help keep her connected back to her heritage. The best time of year to do this is Chinese New Years. If you have adopted or adopting from a foreign country please give careful consideration how you are going to honor, respect and acknowledge that culture with your Internationally Adopted Child! She is in Preschool now and the best way for her to learn is to teach her friends. When she was Star of the week she brought in her "Life Book" that I wrote in Shutterfly to tell her story through pictures and story. Educate them early as to how they joined your family out of the greatest amount of love and desire to have a child that there could possibly be.

In regards to Chinese New Year, I have been ordering like crazy from China Sprout and Asian Ideas (table covers, Chinese Noise Makers, Red Envelopes, sparkle flashlights). The biggest most wonderful thing that I have ordered is the Lion Head for the Lion Dance she will leads the kids through out the Preschool Buildings. I pulled this out of the box and Jazzy's eyes popped right out!!!!It is amazing...just $48.00 from www.asianideas.com a real bargain for what you get...he (pictured below) is awesome!

New Year Cleaning

On the days before the New Year, Chinese families give their houses a thorough cleaning. But traditionally, this practice is done on New Year Eve. The dust and dirt are traditionally associated with "old" in Chinese culture, so cleaning the houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the past new and usher in the new year. It is my understanding that it is important to sweep outword not in word because you want to sweep out the evil spirits!

New Year's Feast

The New Year's Feast is "a must" banquet with all the family members getting together. People from north and south have different sayings about the food they eat on this special day. Southern Chinese eat "niangao" (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this special day, because a homophone of "Niangao", means "higher and higher every year". In northern China, a traditional dish for the feast is "Jiaozi" or dumplings which are shaped like a crescent moon.

Watching CCTV New Year Gala

The annual CCTV New Year Gala begins at 8:00 and lasts for 4 hours to the beginning of the New Year.

Shousui-Staying up late

Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the New Year's Feast, families sit together and watch CCTV New Year Gala to wait for the New Year's arrival.

Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year

The first rising bell is a symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to large squares where there are huge bells set up on New Year's Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. People believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring fortune to them. In recent years, some people have begun going to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing of a bell. Hanshan Temple in Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province, is very famous for its first ringing of the bell to herald Chinese New Year. Waiting for the First Bell Ringing is now beginning to be adopted by the ex-pat community here, which is evidenced by the number of foreigners going to Hanshan Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.

House Decorations

Days before the New Year festival, department stores, official buildings, office buildings and streets will be decorated with red lanterns and red couplets. Decorations for private houses are usually done on New Year's Eve. People will paste red couplets and door gods on doors, hold red lanterns in their houses. The reason why red color is frequently used for New Year decorations is that it is associated with good fortune and happiness in Chinese culture. In North China, it is customary to paste paper-cut on windows while in South China, such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong, certain flowers and plants are used. Over the last three years I have been adding to our Chinese New Years Decorations!The First Day
Lighting Firecrackers

Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Chinese New Year celebration. But because of the danger and the noise disturbance that firecrackers may bring the government has banned this practice in many major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. However, people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Just as the clock strikes 12 o'clock, beginning a new year on the Chinese lunar calendar, cities and towns are lit up with the sparkle of fireworks and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully celebrate by throwing the small explosives one by one into the street, whilst plugging their ears. This is why I ordered the large bubble wrap and flashlight sparklers so the Preschool kids can jump on the bubbles and wave their lights to simulate fire crackers!
Parents or elders give "lucky money" to their children

"Lucky money" is the money given to kids from their parents, grandparents and bosses to their employees as a New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck and ward off evil spirits, hence the name "lucky money". Parents and grandparents first put the money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids in the first day of the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They wish the lucky color will bring their children good luck in the coming year. This activity is often the kids' favorite.

Greeting to Each Other

On the first day of the New Year, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi (congratulations), wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In the first day of the New Year, it's customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity. See Chinese New Year greetings. The 15 days of Chinese New Years begins on January 20th and ends on Feb 3rd which is the fifteenth Day of the New Year called the Yuanxiao (Lantern Festival), which marks the end of the Spring Festival celebrations also know as Chinese New Year. January 20th will begin the wearing of the red for both Jazzy and I every day of the 15 days.While the wearing of red is not a direct custom it is our way of making a Chinese New Year statement to honor every one of the 15 days. I started this family tradition the year before she came home!

Summary of Customs:

The First Day

On the first day of the New Year, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi (congratulations), wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In the first day of the New Year, it's customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.
A new way of new year greeting has appeared in large cities in recent years. Busy people who do not have time to pay a visit to their friends' house will opt to send New Year Card and text massage to their friends or relatives. See Chinese New Year Cards .

The Second Day
Traditionally, the second day of Chinese New Year is for married daughter to visit the house of her parents.

The Third to the Seventh Day
From the third day to the seventh day, people go out to visit relatives and friends.

The Eight Day
The eight day is the end of the official New Year Holiday and people will go to work on this day. All of government agencies and business will stop celebrating on the eighth day.

The Fifteenth Day
The fifteenth Day of the New Year is the Yuanxiao (Lantern Festival), which marks the end of the Spring Festival celebrations.

Sometime during this time period we will travel to China Town Chicago for Authentic Chinese New Years Celebrations. We have rented a Condo in Chicago for a small period of time. We have gone to China town in Chicago the past 3 years which was a year before she even came home. This year will be different because this is the first year our entire family is going which is why we had to rent the condo! This is a tradition we hope to maintain for years to come in honor of our Jazzy Rose and her beautiful homeland. China will always have a piece of Rick and my heart.. a country that gave us the greatest gift there could ever be...a beautiful child!

Christmas Chinese American Magic!

2011-01-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

Finally The Third Santa Visit Worked Like A Charm - No More Fear & Tears- All Three times With the SAME REAL SANTA!

2010-12-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

She loved seeing Santa this year and she asked for: Chinese Baby Doll & Thomas The Train. Later we came back by (we were in the Mall) and she saw Santa again. He had taken off his hat and coat and she was worried that there was something wrong and we both concluded that he must get pretty hot when he is not at the North Pole.

Wow what a difference this Christmas is. Her first Christmas home she had no clue what it was about. The Second Christmas was more of a learning experience. This Third Christmas wow...there is excitement and expectations. She knows all of the Christmas stories and rituals! All day on Saturday every where we were she was singing Christmas carols at the top of her lungs!She lives her life as a musical, making up songs about everything she is doing...on and on she sings!

The 2nd Christmas

You can see in these pictures she was warming up to Jolly Ode St. Nick but still with some uncertainty.

First Year Santa Visit - Blog Entry
We were very concerned that Jazzy Rose would want no part of Santa and would scream and cry. Rick and I promised each other that we would not make her if that happen. Fifteen minutes earlier we had just arrived in Midland for our last marathon day of Christmas shopping, plus Jazmyne had her Pre-Op work at the doctor's for her up coming surgery in January! We got to Midland and she starting insisting, "I hungry!" She had had breakfast and it was only 10:15 but she was so insistent that when she saw the golden arches (yes...the damage has been done.. she worships the golden arches like every other American child) we stopped and got her favorite (her Christmas french fries..somehow calling them Christmas fries implies the entitlement of such an indulgence on this day). We arrived at the Mall and she was eating her french fries and we stood in a surprisingly short line to see Santa. We were already getting the pulling back and quiet protests all indicators that this was, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. And then Rick hit a stroke of genius. He started explaining to her that Santa was hungry and tired and was taking a little rest right before he has lots and lots of work to be done delivering presents for all the good little girls and boys. And since she has been the best little girl ever Santa was sure to fill his sleigh with lots of presents for Jazmyne. He said, "I wonder if you have a french fry or two that you could share to ease his hungry tummy." And with that he hit the tender heart of this little girl we have all come to know and love so well. The thought of this jolly old soul being hungry was enough for her to muster up the courage to sit on his lap and share her fries with this wonderful old man. He had slung his coat over the side of his chair and simply had on his red pants that were held up by suspenders over a red and black plaid flannel shirt. His white beard and mustache were real. It really did personify him greatly. His mannerisms were gentle and kind. He truly seemed like a comfortable grandpa. Much like my own father who played Santa himself for years, even when he was ravaged with cancer through out his entire body. He sang Christmas carols and told Christmas stories and always had my sister and I long as elves. Rose and I had to rotate depending upon which one of us was pregnant at the time. I felt that same wonderful spirit radiating from this Santa as well. What a wonderful first Santa experience for a little girl who cares so much for so many, even when they don a white beard & mustache and a red suit!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-07T03:41:00.001-08:00

Click here to view this video

I Was Not The Only One Who Thought This Was A Picture of A Life Time!

2010-12-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

As I wrote about in the post just below this truly is a wonderful picture! We just found out today that it was chosen as photo of the week by Amber Henry Photography and is being featured on their site! This picture is a treasure beyond treasures!

Yesterday I found out that I would do anything for this precious child. On November 23rd I had knee surgery and had been recovering quite nicely. Yesterday Jazzy decided to run around our parked car into street, holding my hand one second & breaking free the next. I screamed & ran for her. She stopped & I fell off the sidewalk directly on my surgery knee. Black & blue knee right on the incisions, trip to hospital, need to see surgeon ASAP. Would I do it again? ...You bet! Better my knee than her hit by a car. She truly was just 2-3 steps from being on the road!

She felt just terrible! She typically would never, ever do that. We were in Christmas in the Village and she was super excited to get to the next event and just was not thinking. When it happened I was laying on the side walk screaming and crying in pain. A large crowd gathered and I could hear her being reassured that I would be all right by several people who came to my aid. At the hospital she asked every doctor and every nurse who worked with me if I was going to be alright. She kept saying, "It's my fault...it is all my fault!" I pulled her to me and raised her little chin and looked directly into her black eyes welling with tears and said, "Jazzy...it is not your fault and it is not my fault..no one did this on purpose it was an accident..but you have got to hold Mommy's hand tightly when we are out around a road or parking lot so that another accident does not happen." She of course promised that from now on she always will hold my hand. But then she threw her little arms around my neck and kissed me!!!

There is no doubt in my mind that I would throw myself under a bus for her! I remember this feeling well from my older children...you know the one...the realization that you know that you could not live with out them. A parent putting themselves in danger over their child being in danger is our only option!

Pictures of A Life Time!

2010-12-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

The wait was so long to get her if only I had had a crystal ball and I could have seen these two pictures that would be taken just two short years after she came home. If only I could have seen them I would not have spent the entire time worrying all of the time if the adoption was really going to happen or not. I do not think that I knew that it was real until the afternoon in our hotel in Chongqing China, 1 1/2 hours before I would hold her for the very first time, when they delivered the crib to our room. The thoughts of these pictures even being possible was what drove us on. I imagined what family portraits might look like and pictures capturing special moments shared between she and mommy and she and daddy. These pictures of her and I together are my dream come to life. Eskimo kisses picture and a close up shot of our happiness together. I still pinch myself everyday just to make sure that it is real...that she is real. I wake up early many mornings and tip toe into her room just so I can make sure that she is there and has her Tinkerbell fleece favorite blankie, given to her by her big sister (Jei Jei) pulled up to her chin and that she has her favorite Asian doll (the doll I gave her on her Gotta Day the moment I met her) tucked under her arm. She is and always will be the greatest serendipity of my life!!!!I love you more than words could ever express my Jazzy Rose!!!!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

2010-12-02T15:43:00.000-08:00

Make a free scrapbook

Thanksgiving Day Blueberry Pie Helper

2010-12-02T10:03:00.001-08:00

Our 3rd Thanksgiving together unbelievable! Her first Thanksgiving she helped stuff the celery with the cream cheese, licking her fingers on the tops of the ones she stuffed. Three years later she's baking pies! She has always been in the middle of every and any thing we do!!1She is simply amazing!!!!!

Christmas Card 2010

2010-12-01T20:45:00.001-08:00

Classic Mistletoe Frame Holiday 5x7 folded card

Shop hundreds of holiday photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Amber of Amber Henry Photography You Are The Best! Rick, Kathy & Jazzy Spread Pre-Christmas Cheer!

2010-11-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

First Day of Preschool - November 1, 2010

2010-11-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Today was finally the first day of preschool. We opened our Preschool in a new facility and the inspectors put us through the mill on a great building (job security.) We were finally allowed to open today. She made a fast friend with this little girl and they quickly were attached to each other and went every where together!

I am not sure where the times goes! The six months we waited after we were matched to her took forever and now here she is just over 2 years later at school already! It seems like the sands in the hour glass melt away in record time once you get them home. She was a toddler when we got her so we did not have much of a baby stage. But each stage is so awesome. Right now her favorite thing to say out of the blue, "You are the b--e--s--t Mommy and Daddy In The Whole Wide World!"Yea...works with me every time ...I melt into an emotional puddle inside every time! Another one of those times were I am awe of the power of God...to think that we could have gone an entire life time never hearing that, or having her kiss us or hug us or tell us whole much she loves us...Thank-you Lord for such a precious gift as our little Jazzy Rose!!!Thank-you for making sure that we heard the call for her!

Trick Or Treat 2010

2010-11-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

These Halloween pictures were taken at the top of the stairs of Rick and my bedroom.
Wow we did Trick or Treat at Cross Roads Village Saturday afternoon (including the haunted steam locomotive and Magic Show at the Old Opera House),Trick or Treat in Beaverton Saturday Night, St. Helen and Roscommon Sunday Night, Gerrish Township Trick or Trunk and the Gerrish Township haunted forrest also Sunday night!Jaz wants to know where we will be doing Trick or Treating tonight....geez Louise!!!!!!But what fun!!!Isn't it great to have a reason to be a kid again when you have little ones!?! This is a second family for both Rick and I...it is simply amazing the second time through with a little one!!!!!!

Mommy How Does Santa Know To Bring Me A Dollie With Hair & Eyes Like Mine???

2010-10-24T13:39:00.001-07:00

I had someone ask me the other day about Asian Dolls. It takes me a while to determine which doll to order for Jazzy for Christmas. I can not walk into any store and simply find an Asian Doll. Jazzy does take note when she sees children who, as she says, have black eyes and hair like hers so I have always though that it was very important that she can count on her dollies looking like her. After much thought this is the doll that I have chosen for Santa to bring her this year. The Artist: Jannie DeLange does an amazing job of making this doll look life like. Just look on Jazzy's picture in the pink snow suite & hat in the right margin, the similarities are incredible! And yes Sanata is the one who delivers it because after all Santa knows she is Asian and needs an Asian Doll!

I recommend Berenguer Dolls and Corolle Dolls. There dolls are by far the best, all though I am a big fan now of the artist of this year's Santa Baby!

In 2009 I chose a Berenguer Doll to tell Sanata about!

Jazzy's First Doll in 2008 was Corolle Mon Premier Calin Yang Doll. This was the first toy that was ever her's and she is Jazzy's prize baby!!
This doll as you can see by the picture above is special beyond belief!

Jazmyne's Big Sister Jessica Marries Jazzy's New Brother

2010-10-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

Customize your own photo album

The Wonder of Our Jazmyne Rose-Noel Rees!

2010-09-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Make your own picture slideshow

Happy 2nd Gotcha Day Jazmyne! How Could Two Years Have Passed Already?

2010-09-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

This was the first time we had ever laid eyes on her. The long 7.5 hour train ride and then the van ride was just too much for her little tummy. The orphanage director is on the right of her and the doctor she loved so much was to her left. We had caught them off guard by arriving at exactly the same moment they did. In my heart, I now know that was God's small reward to her for being such a brave and loving little soldier to so many babies at Qian Jiang. He was not going to make her wait one minute longer! She needed her mommy and daddy at that very moment to take care of her. We cleaned her up, held her close and whispered to her that we loved her and that we were finally really there!
Rick was the first to hold her. A year earlier he promised me that at the end of this long, incredible adoption journey he would put a baby in my arms and on September 16, 2009, on a side walk in Chongqing, China, he did just that!Thank-you my love you have never given me anything sweeter nor will you ever!My favorite line from a muscical comes from, The Sound of Music, "How can you hold a moon beam in your hand?"On September 16, 2008 we held a moon beam in our loving arms.Above she was so scared when we first held her but look at her now!
When I think of those first few hours with her this picture is the picture I see in my mind. She did not want to look at us. Most parents bribe their newly adopted children with Cheerios, I kicked it up a bit and offered Lucky Charms, after all, "They Are Magically Delicious!" As I offered her the Lucky Charms I hummed, "Baby Of Mine" from the Disney movie, "Dumbo". I never sang the words I only hummed the melody. Music in it's purest form is a universal language all on it's own. The English language was too scary at first but any time I hummed that melody to her then or even now, there is nothing that sooths her more. Thus, our choice of music for you to listen to as you read this blog, "Baby of Mine". It may have been love at first sight to us but it sure was not too her. She was not going to let us off that easy. If we wanted this girl's heart we would have to earn it! It has not always been easy but at that same time is hasn't been too hard either, to win her heart!

Please Hear The Call

2010-09-16T17:58:00.001-07:00

As I read this poem I could not help but wonder what would have happened if we had not heard God's Call or chose to ignore it. For months she waited with her little photo album, the only thing that had ever been her very own, of her family that was coming. For six months we were coming! It must have seemed to her as though we would never get there. If there is anyone out there reading this post and think that they may faintly hear that call too from far, far, away please listen, please hear it. Do no let it be silenced by hundreds of reasons as to how your life is comfortable the way it is. I pray that the call echoes through out the chambers of your very heart and soul until the sound is almost deafening.Jazmyne is the child in yellow standing in the very front of the picture taken at the orphanage. Just think, this is only "one" room of many at this "one" orphanage. The babies you see in this picture represent the 1.4 million orphans in China right this very minute. All of these babies pictured above were and some still are ...waiting!

An Orphans Prayer

I am waiting...somewhere far...far away on the other side of the world. I may not know who you are or what you look like, but somewhere deep in my heart I know you are out there. That one day you will come and find me. It's a long journey, and it takes a lot of time...I wish it could be easier. But I know the ones that come for me will not count the cost. They will only see the joy in finding me. For now I abide in the fields of the fatherless. Day by day wondering why I was born here and not somewhere else? Asking why my life couldn't have been different? It is so lonely. Even though I am surrounded by hundreds of other children, I know that something is missing...I know in my heart I need a place to call home. My arms long to be wrapped in a fathers embrace...I long to be saved by a mother's love...Gazing out the orphans window, I offer a prayer of hope, "Oh God please help them come quickly." Even as I lay in the darkness each night somehow I feel assured, that no matter how lost I appear, I am not alone. Holy hands guard my steps; sacred fingers wipe my tears, touching my lonely heart. The one who made me, the God that knew me before I was born, hears me every time I call. He whispers His promises in my ear. I listen with hope to His voice. But what I worry about most is that no one wants to look for me. The fields are vast and there are so many scattered all over the earth. I wonder how one little child, so lost, can be found? Yet He calms my heart and assures me He will find you. That He will make sure that you hear His voice clearly. He has promised me that he will make a way through the fields, that He will personally cut a path, and lead you right to my orphanage door. My prayer is....When He speaks...Please don't forget to listen...When He calls don't be too afraid to go. For I am waiting...somewhere, far...far away on the other side of the world to come home.
Author Unknown

Are You Considering Adopting a Child with A Minor/Correctable Condition?

2010-09-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

We used Dr. Todd Ochs out of Chicago when we adopted our child who was in the Holt China Child of Promise Program. She was labeled as special needs just because she has an extra toe on each foot. I have a Bachelors and 2 Master Degrees in Special Education and believe me she is NOT a special needs child. Dr. Ochs has adopted 4 Special Needs Children from China himself. Our first referral was a very serious medical condition. Dr. Ochs has many physician friends in China who are more than willing to help. He told us that when asked to do specific tests they will do them so he ordered many additional tests and could even talk to the doctors in China who did the tests. The extra tests costs us nothing! Sadly to say what we learned was that our first little girl may not have even lived through the trip home, that was how serious her condition was. Our own doctor had encouraged us to adopt her in the first place. Our number one mistake was to go off of the recommendation of our family doctor, who is a great doctor but has no experience with reviewing the medial records from a foreign country. If it were not for the involvement of Dr. Ochs we would have gone to China and found a very medically fragile child. When you think about the great overall expense of adoption, spending a few more dollars to hire an expert to make sure that you completely understand the health condition and needs of your referral child is money well spent. You are committing yourself to this child for life, you need to make sure that you understand as completely as you possible can exactly what you are committing yourself too. You owe it to yourself and that child to not be caught up with a beautiful photo and receiving the call you have waited months and perhaps years for. It is hard to imagine declining a referral but sometimes it is the best thing that you can do for your family and that child. You will not do that child any good if you can not meet their needs. Our 2nd referral only had an extra toe on each foot but after the first experience we had Dr. Ochs look over her paper work and we had fantastic results which lead to us bringing home our beloved Jazmyne. Dr. Ochs now has a website devoted to assisting families who adopt International Special Needs Children http://www.thinkingofadopting.com/html/medissueschina.html

Kathy Rees

www.jazzyrose.blogspot.com

Jazmyne's Brother-In-Law To Be Takes Her Fishing For The Very First Time!

2010-08-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Jazmyne's Brother-In-Law To Be (Bryan) bought her a Pink & Purple Disney Princess Rod & Reel and Jazzy caught this fish within the first 5 minutes right off of our docks! This was her very first time fishing ever! We are going to have our own fish fry tonight.

Three Years Ago Today Jazmyne Endured The Worst Pain of Her Life - May 28, 2007 Was Her Abandonment Date

2010-05-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

Today is an anniversary...not necessarily one to celebrate but one to take note of all the same. Three years ago today our darling little girl was left at the gate entrance of a Bus Station. Rick & I have discussed many times what she may or may not ever remember about that day. She was 10 months old so she was older than most babies who tend to be abandoned soon after birth but she was still young none the less. While I do not think that she has vivid memories of the actual event I do believe that the emotions inside of her manifest themselves from time to time when she asks over and over again if we are ever going to leave her. She has always tolerated us going to different rooms which not all of these children do but she does make sure that we are not leaving her some where. Below you will find one of the first posts I wrote when I began this Blog in June of 2008. This post was written for her birth parents to commemorate the "Abandonment" Day.

We do not know who you are but we will help Jazmyne learn to carry love in her heart for you always. We will do everything we can to help her to understand that you left her out of the greatest kind of love imaginable. You kept her until she was 10 months old. I can't imagine how you must have felt that day in that bus station as you sat there thinking about what you were about to do. I can't imagine the kind of courage it took to walk away and leave her alone there at that bus entrance. How you must have prayed that someone would find her quickly after you were gone. God how I wish for you and for her that you had had other options. We have no doubt that you loved her with every fiber of your being, how else could you have ever let her go? But let her go you did in hopes for a better life. a better future and for the medical treatment that you knew that she would need. We promise you and her that we will never let you down. We will love her just as much as you would have loved her. We will make sure that those dreams that you had for her that drove you to that fateful decision that day will become realities for her.

We Will Always Think of You

We Think Of You...
How you must have felt as you sat there in that bus station making the biggest, most heart wrenching decision of your life.
We Think Of You...
How you must have prayed to God that someone would find her quickly after you were gone.
We Think Of You..
How you must of ached as you looked down into that innocent face at that bus station and thought about how scared she was about to be and how you would not be there to comfort her.
We Think Of You...
How you must have felt raising her for the first 10 months of her life and constantly wrestling with the decision about what was the best thing to do for her.
We Think Of You...
How you must wonder what she will think of you one day when she is old enough to come to terms with the fact that you "abandoned" her.
Now We Think Of Us...
How will we tell her that you loved her?
Now We Think Of Us ...
How will we help her to see that what you did was the greatest act of love there could ever be?
Now We Think of Us...
How will we love her enough that we will gain her trust to know that her daddy and mommy will always be here and that we too will never leave her?
Now We Think of Us....
How will we ever be able to live with the image in our minds of her at the bus station with out you or us to hold and comfort her?
And Now We Think of the Almighty God...
How he watches over all of us and I know that the answers for both you and for us was that you did not abandon her completely and we were also there because Jesus was there to hold on tight to her little soul until this initial part of her journey was over. He lives in all of our hearts so through him, silent heroes, we were all there with her that day, just as we will all be there with her always!

Please Pray For Our Burning Community

2010-05-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

Please pray for our community! My little Elementary Building has become the official Red Cross Center. We have people sleeping in cots in our gym (elderly, children and beloved pets). The pictures above were taken out my best friend's back door!We loaded our dogs up and some things from our home plus our most precious possession our little Jazzy Rose. My last image of her was her looking back at the huge fire billow in the sky and she was screaming, "Mama..Mama!!" While I was relieved that she was being taken over 50 miles away to safety I will never forget Rick driving her away. Below is the latest information I have from the press:

The major wildfire burning in Crawford County has spread to 7,500 acres. It is only 20% contained. It has led to evacuations all around the area and now M-18 is currently blocked at M-72 until the Roscommon County line.

The forest service says four structures are burned, but we don't know if these are homes or businesses.

Those who were evacuated are encouraged to call the Red Cross, 989-438-1000. Residents are being evacuated to St. Helen Elementary School. Below is a fire boundary map.

A Chinese American Star Is Born: Presenting Front and Center Ms. Jazzy Rose

2010-05-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

Click Arrow At Left To Play.

Wow...she rocked the house! People were blown away because she does not have to think about the dance steps..those are easy for her. That allows her to sing her little heart out and to put such expression in her face and gestures. A dance instructor from one of the other classes came up to Rick after this performance and said, "Wow what a natural performer...I want her in my class next year!" Of course Mom was in tears during both performances. Jazmyne's intelligence, beauty, her artistic abilities,her voice of song & dance and above all the love she pours out ot us blows me away!She is the child that never in a million years did we dare dream for and yet here she is. The irony of Jazzy being placed in the Special Needs Category for simply having an extra toe on each foot is unbelievable! I have worked with Special Needs children for the past 24 years and I can tell you that this child is Special Needs alright, "She is Gifted!!!" Sorry Mama's bragging rights go out here but at the same time a professional Mama's observations too!Thank-you Lord for the honor, privilege and joy of raising her!

Jazzy's First Dance Recital

2010-05-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Adoption Friendly Workplace

2010-04-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/Our-Work/Adoption-Friendly-Workplace

The Adoption-Friendly Workplace is a signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption that encourages employers to offer adoption benefits and celebrates those who do. Their Free Adoption-Friendly Workplace Toolkit makes it easy to establish an adoption benefits policy.

Introducing Princess Jazmyne Dancing Through The Photography of Amber Henry to, "Cinderella" By The Great Steven Curtis Chapman

2010-03-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Economy Is Tight But...International Adoption Is More Affordable Than You Think!

2010-03-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Rick and I were amazed when we did our income taxes last year. We got over $12,000 back in refunds. So our total costs were about $21,000, got back over 12 thousand, drum roll please...It cost us last year $9,000 for 2 weeks in China, five star hotels all the way and a priceless, beautiful child pictured above. I thank God everyday for encouraging Rick and I during trying economical times to take the leap of faith to listen to his calling for us to adopt. It scares me to think that we almost went through a life time without knowing her love, warmth, grace, wit, intelligence and beauty! We love you so very much Jazmyne! You are the Serendipity of a life time!

Below you will find what Martha Osborne (www.rainbowkids.com) is posting about the additional previsions of the new health bill! If you are not familiar with Rainbow Kids it is an extraordinary source for adoption for all countries in the word. They have a great system for narrowing your search by agency & country. They feature an awfully lot of waiting children (mild and moderate special needs)! Yeah for our side!!

Adoption Tax Credit Victory
Now a credit and a refund
March 01,2010 / Martha Osborne

With the signing of the new health care bill, adoptive parents received some very welcome news. Not only will the adoption tax credit be extended until December 2011, but it has also been increased from $12,170 to $13,170 for adoptions occurring after January 2010. And for the first time, the credit will now be refundable. Families may receive a refund for documented expenses for the adoption of their child.

What this mean to adoptive families:
The best news: This new tax law means that adoptive parents may apply up to $13,170 of their adoption expenses toward their taxes owed, thereby decreasing the amount owed overall by this amount. However, the news gets even better. For the first time, families may be getting cash back from the IRS for their adoption expenses. That's right, the credit may now be taken as a refund for the first time. In the event that the couple owes less than the tax credit amount stated, they may receive some or all of the balance as a refund on their Federal taxes.

The tax credit is important to both international and domestic adoptive families, but it's greatest beneficiaries are the children who will now have permanent families thanks to adoption being more affordable. Many groups and individuals have successfully lobbied to help extend this tax credit beyond its original expiration date of December 2010, and are still seeking to make the tax credit permanent. As we celebrate the extension of the deadline to December 2011, we must also remain vigilant in seeking to make this legislation a lasting gift to the children who wait.

Life Is A Playground For All Of The Wonders Of The World!

2010-03-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

What A Difference A "Forever Family" Makes In The Face of A Child!

2010-03-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

March 13, 2010
February 13, 2008

March 15, 2008 Changed Our Lives Forever!

2010-03-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Rick is at a two day Blueberry Conference and Jazzy and I are on our own. But I could not resist taking our daughter out for dinner to celebrate a very important phone call Daddy and I received 2 years ago this very day! It was a call from Beth Smith at Holt with the referral for Qian Jiang Can, a little girl who had 12 toes!It took us less than 24 hours to reply, "YES!!!!" I can not believe that it is now 2 years ago and at the same time I can't remember life without her nor do I want to!!!And what about our little 12 toed Special Needs Child (China Child of Promise)well...one surgery and no more 12 toes. And our little Special Needs 3 year old puts together 100 piece box puzzles upside down by looking at the shapes of the pieces. Early On Services evaluated her twice and she is intellectually off the charts!

These pictures were taken by who, well Amber Henry of course, one of the very best photographers in the United States. Check out her add at the bottom of the blog and visit her website. She is also going to do our daughter Jessica's wedding!

Our ESS Puppies All Have Been Placed In Their "Forever Homes"!

2010-02-22T12:39:00.000-08:00

Pictured Above - Jasper Jax - Jazmyne just loved these puppies!!Here she is taking a little nap with Jasper Jax. It was really hard for her to see them go to their new homes.
Pictured Above - Jasper Jax
Pictured Above - Lydia
Pictured Above - Luka

Our Qian Jiang Asian Beauty!

2010-02-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

Picture Above - Taken Christmas 2009

Picture Above - Referral Pictures 12/27/07

I have never made any secret out of the fact that we were completely caught off guard by the beauty of our Jazmyne. Her referral photos did not do any justice to her beauty at all! Since coming home we have met so many beautiful Chinese children, all unique little beauties in their own ways. I never registered before that Jazmyne looked that much differently until recently some friends pointed that fact out to me. Chinese New Year Day we met two other families with daughters from China whom we have discovered. Both families live very close to us. The three girls were playing together and both of the mothers began to comment on how different that Jazmyne looked from their daughters. I was shocked to hear those words and I turned around and immediately saw what they were talking about, she did look completely different! Since that day I have looked at several photos of Jazmyne with other Chinese little girls and I see it clearly in every photo that I have since with the exception of the girls from Qian Jiang. In fact, there are a couple of those girls who I think could maybe look enough alike to be Jazmyne's sisters. Our girls from Qian Jiang appear to have much larger, rounder eyes. Their eyebrows are a lot more "Brooke Shields" full. Their faces are a lot more round and full. Their skin tone is more "China" porcelain white. If there is any followers out there who have also observed this please comment below. I will conclude by referring you to the 2 pictures above which is one of her referral pictures and one of Jazzy recently. When we waited for a referral 2 years ago we never cared what she looked like and where she came from. We just wanted a healthy little girl to share our lives and love with. But I do have to admit she is a real beauty!

Happy Chinese New Year Ya'll - Year of The Tiger 2010

2010-02-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

These are pictures of Jazmyne at the Chinese New Year Party that our Chinese FCC Group puts on every year. She was making traditional Chinese calligraphy drawings to hang in your home and Dragon Flags.
She is waring an outfit that one of my best friends in all the world Kathy W. bought for her in Shanghai, China. Kathy's daughter is living there with her family right now and Kathy has visited twice now. The outfit was purchased in Old Town Shanghai and is a traditional, customary Chinese New Year Dress. It has a matching purse that is used to put all of the red envelopes that are given to the children and unmarried adults.

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone - Year of the Tiger!

2010-02-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Send this eCard !

Rick, Kathy & Jazmyne Wish Everyone A "Roaring" Good Happy Chinese New Year!

Our Christmas Angel! Ms. Jazmyne Rose-Noel Rees!

2010-02-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

Jazmyne and her Gotcha Sign

2009-09-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

BaBa and Jazmyne took some time Wednesday evening to go to the bank and take some video in front of the announcement that it was Jazzy's one year anniversary. It does not seem possible. She sure likes riding in the PT Cruiser.

Happy Gotcha Day Jazmyne Rose-Noel, September 16, 2009 - How Could An Entire Year Have Passed?

2009-09-15T03:02:00.000-07:00

This was the first time we had ever laid eyes on her. The long 7.5 hour train ride and then the van ride was just too much for her little tummy. The orphanage director is on the right of her and the doctor she loved so much was to her left. We had caught them off guard by arriving at exactly the same moment they did. In my heart, I now know that was God's small reward to her for being such a brave and loving little soldier to so many babies at Qian Jiang. He was not going to make her wait one minute longer! She needed her mommy and daddy at that very moment to take care of her. We cleaned her up, held her close and whispered to her that we loved her and that we were finally really there!
Rick was the first to hold her. A year earlier he promised me that at the end of this long, incredible adoption journey he would put a baby in my arms and on September 16, 2009, on a side walk in Chongqing, China, he did just that!Thank-you my love you have never given me anything sweeter nor will you ever!My favorite line from a muscical comes from, The Sound of Music, "How can you hold a moon beam in your hand?"On September 16, 2008 we held a moon beam in our loving arms.Above she was so scared when we first held her but look at her now!

When I think of those first few hours with her this picture is the picture I see in my mind. She did not want to look at us. Most parents bribe their newly adopted children with Cheerios, I kicked it up a bit and offered Lucky Charms, after all, "They Are Magically Delicious!" As I offered her the Lucky Charms I hummed, "Baby Of Mine" from the Disney movie, "Dumbo". I never sang the words I only hummed the melody. Music in it's purest form is a universal language all on it's own. The English language was too scary at first but any time I hummed that melody to her then or even now, there is nothing that sooths her more. Thus, our choice of music for you to listen to as you read this blog, "Baby of Mine". It may have been love at first sight to us but it sure was not too her. She was not going to let us off that easy. If we wanted this girl's heart we would have to earn it! It has not always been easy but at that same time is hasn't been too hard either, to win her heart!

An Orphan's Prayer

2009-08-22T19:43:00.001-07:00

As Jazmyne's Gotcha Day and Adoption Day One Year Anniversaries are close at hand I know that I will need to post a lot of Past and Current stories and photos but I wanted this poem to begin to make way to all of that. As I read this poem I could not help but wonder what would have happened if we had not heard God's Call or chose to ignore it. For months she waited with her little photo album, the only thing that had ever been her very own, of her family that was coming. For six months we were coming! It must have seemed to her as though we would never get there. If there is anyone out there reading this post and think that they may faintly hear that call too from far, far, away please listen, please hear it. Do no let it be silenced by hundreds of reasons as to how your life is comfortable the way it is. I pray that the call echoes through out the chambers of your very heart and soul until the sound is almost deafening.Jazmyne is the child in yellow standing in the very front of the picture taken at the orphanage. Just think, this is only "one" room of many at this "one" orphanage. The babies you see in this picture represent the 1.4 million orphans in China right this very minute. All of these babies pictured above were and some still are ...waiting!

An Orphans Prayer

I am waiting...somewhere far...far away on the other side of the world. I may not know who you are or what you look like, but somewhere deep in my heart I know you are out there. That one day you will come and find me. It's a long journey, and it takes a lot of time...I wish it could be easier. But I know the ones that come for me will not count the cost. They will only see the joy in finding me. For now I abide in the fields of the fatherless. Day by day wondering why I was born here and not somewhere else? Asking why my life couldn't have been different? It is so lonely. Even though I am surrounded by hundreds of other children, I know that something is missing...I know in my heart I need a place to call home. My arms long to be wrapped in a fathers embrace...I long to be saved by a mother's love...Gazing out the orphans window, I offer a prayer of hope, "Oh God please help them come quickly." Even as I lay in the darkness each night somehow I feel assured, that no matter how lost I appear, I am not alone. Holy hands guard my steps; sacred fingers wipe my tears, touching my lonely heart. The one who made me, the God that knew me before I was born, hears me every time I call. He whispers His promises in my ear. I listen with hope to His voice. But what I worry about most is that no one wants to look for me. The fields are vast and there are so many scattered all over the earth. I wonder how one little child, so lost, can be found? Yet He calms my heart and assures me He will find you. That He will make sure that you hear His voice clearly. He has promised me that he will make a way through the fields, that He will personally cut a path, and lead you right to my orphanage door. My prayer is....When He speaks...Please don't forget to listen...When He calls don't be too afraid to go. For I am waiting...somewhere, far...far away on the other side of the world to come home.
Author Unknown

Jazmynes Whole New World Disney Adventure

2009-08-10T10:59:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Dumbo Will Always Be Special To Jazzy Rose and I

2009-07-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

When I first met Jazmyne and sat with her in the Civil Affairs Office I did not sing the words to a song I hummed them to her. I knew the language difference would be too scary so I hummed. The song I hummed over and over again to her is in the movie Dumbo and it is called, "Baby of Mine". Over and over again through the trip I hummed the same song, "Baby of Mine" and it always soothed her. Even now when she is distressed and I hum it to her she always responds to it. The same melody rather then singing, held sacred for the sake of soothing her...it works every time. Her Disney souvenir was a baby Dumbo wrapped in a blanket!

Entering The Magic Kingdom

2009-07-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

It's A Small World

2009-07-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today while picking berries with some friends my friend Tom Dale said, "Kathy have you ever thought that out of the thousands of chinese orphans this little girl made her way to you and Rick and is now picking berries along side you in a blueberry patch half a world away! She got to be one of the lucky ones!" My response, "Everyday I remind myself of that fact. She is only one out of the few 17,000 out of 1.4 million orphans estimated in China to get a home. And if it were not for Rick and my decision to adopt at the the eact time we decided to she would not be here. And while she would have likely gotten a home due to her minor condition some other child down the chain got a home that would not have." No you can not save the world by adopting one orphan but for that one orphan the world changes and they are saved! Without a doubt Jazmyne's favorite thing at Disney was, "It's a Small World". More than once over the three times we went back through it for her I looked over at her face and cried. Such awe and wonder in her reactions. I could not help but think about what a small world it really became for us when one special little girl, one beautiful little girl from Qian Jiang, China came home with us where she belongs, from half a world away!As you look at the faces of the dolls from so many countries taken when we went through this awesome Disney attraction plus the pictures of Jazmyne's face, please think of all of the orphans from so many lands that need homes and maybe you could also consider if you have a place in your heart and home for just one of them!

She Loved The Painted Ponies On The Carousel!

2009-07-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

It is amazing some times the similarities you can see in your adopted child to yourself. If you look at my baby pictures and simply look at my smile it looks just like Jazmyne's smile. And just like I loved the Carousel and the painted ponies so does she!

She Was A Real Character!

2009-07-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

We carried our lap top all the way to Disney and it would not work. Our newest puppy chewed on it and had done more damage than we knew. We just got a power cord back yesterday so I can cath up on Disney posts. We were there for three wonderful days and her reaction was as awesome as I had hoped. She was all eyes and star struck by all of the characters. Each day she was a Character herself: Minnie Mouse, Tinker Bell and of course Princess Jazmyne! She was thrilled to not only be in the presence of Mickey Mouse but to have both he and Minnie kiss her was simply over the top! Once we entered the gates she began to watch for Mickey Mouse!

Same Airport But A Much Different Little Girl

2009-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

The top picture was taken at MBS Airport this morning the bottom picture was taken September 26, 2008 when Jazmyne arrived home.

We Are Off To Disney World! Come Follow Along!!

2009-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

This Sugar and Spice & Everything Nice Chongqing girl is headed for Florida to spend some Lazy Hazy Days of Summer with Mickey Mouse! Our Disney 1st Birthday outside of the walls of an orphanage is now under way! We are going to post from Disney World through out our trip! We have been at the Airport now for about 20 minutes. I was not prepared for all of the emotions. They caught me unprepared! We have not been back to this airport since we went to China to bring home our Princess Jazmyne. Last September I cried when we got here because we were finally going to bring home our girl! And I cried when we got home when we were greeted by family and friends. I was carrying Jazmyne on my hip and dove sobbing into the open arms of my sister Rose who was also crying! We entered the airport and I once again was sobbing!!!

Daddy's Father's Day Gift.

2009-06-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

Daddy wanted a mower for the cottage so he did not have to be loading up a mower and hauling it back and forth from the Lake House. So Jazzy hunted up some change and we went and bought Daddy a mower. She then proceeded to help him put it together.

When we began our adoption adventure August of 2007 it was because of Jazmyne's Daddy! For all of our married life we dealt with not benig able to have a child of our own. We accepted that fact for many years until in a moments notice we took in my kindergarten and 1st grade niece and nephew. They went back to where they belonged after a year with my brother but with them they took a piece of our hearts. We spent the next three years trying to figure out what to do. It was Rick who kept saying I like our time together... just the two of us. Then one day out of the blue he came into my office and said that he wanted to show me something. He then showed me an International Adoption Website and told me that we were not too old, that we could still do it and with that he promised me that he would put a baby in my arms and he did! When I asked him what made him to decide to do it now, his reply was, "I can't explain it...I was...just ready. I just knew that God had spoken to my heart and I knew what I had to do and immediately started looking up International Adoption!" I love you Rick more than words could ever say! The baby you placed in my arms was the greatest gift that you have ever given to me. God truly blessed my life when he sent the husband that had so carefully picked for me my way. This poem from both Jazmyne & I is out of gratitude for Rick having the wisdom to recognize God's will.

Thank-you God For Finding My Daddy

Out of all the daddies that God picked through,
I thank Him everyday that for me He picked you.
You are always there to lend a hand, to pick me up when I can not stand.
To guide me and love me and to show me the way,
I love you more daddy each and everyday.
You always know when something is not quite right,
and you always find a way to fix it before the day turns to night.
Thank you daddy for believing and having a strong faith in God,and for allowing Him to show you the child that He had so carefully picked out for you to raise.
I would not have a forever family today,
with out the faith that God had sent your way.

Jazmyne's 1st Boat Ride

2009-06-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

We picked the boat up from the Marina on Father's Day! This was her first time on the boat. Since we picked it up at the Marina she thinks we went "at shopping" and bought it just for her. Everyday she gets up and has to look out our bedroom balcony to make sure the boat it still there. We live on a large lake and as the pizza picture shows we went up to the local store and picked up a pizza we ordered on our cell phone from the boat and tied to their dock to pick it up. OK Min MIn and the Beach Family when are you coming to Michigan for a day or two on the lake? She loves the boat and so will Min Min!

2009-H1N1 Quarantine Is A Real Threat

2009-06-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

CHINA: The US State Department has issued a warning to traveling families. This warning relates to quarantine measures the Chinese government has instituted in response to the H1N1 pandemic. This warning may affect families that plan to travel with children during adoption or homeland trips. The State Department's website states "in some instances, children have been separated from their parents because either the parent or the child tested positive for 2009-H1N1 and was placed in quarantine for treatment. This situation presents the possibility of Chinese medical personnel administering medications to minors without first having consulted their parents."

Below is two emails from a family from our Xingu Yahoo Group who are in quarantine right now and still have not been united with their daughter.

First Email:
Well, here we are. As Pam said, quarantined. We're fine, as of yet. The people in the row directly behind Rob and the boys on the plane have actual h1N1, not just symptoms. We do not. They swabbed our throats, and haven't given us the results, but we suspect, and the hotel staff here agrees, that if they're negative, they're going to hold off on giving them to us, because they don't want us to start asking to leave. That's the optimistic way of looking at it. We're not going to, in any case, we are going to sit tight and polite, doing exactly what they ask, until 2:00 Wednesday. We've been allowed to remain in our hotel, and I'm pretty sure we're a lot better off than people who were moved to official quarantine hotels. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves.

Here's what I think you want to know--assuming none of us is sick, we can leave Wednesday. Pam is working hard to ensure that we will still meet our daughter that week. Our consulate appt may need to be delayed, but we think not by much, and because we missed most of Beijing, we're planning to come back and fly out of here in any case. Gotta see the Great Wall.
China would have paid for accomodations if we had moved, but because we didn't, they won't. Our hotel is giving us a break. There's no penalty for changing in-country flights over 24 hours in advance, so that's fine. We haven't changed the end flights yet. I hope the airline will understand, but if they won't, there it is.

The travel agency HAS uses here has been wonderful. They've just delivered more soda than we could drink in a week, snacks, every english language book or magazine they could find in their office and toys for the kids., and I'm sure they will be back tomorrow. We just need to find a way to persuade them to accept money. And they want to refund our tour. We're hoping to just take it later!
Email with questions. I have LOTS of time to answer. But so far, we're ok. I guess, in retrospect, I might suggest you think hard about bringing kids as young as our youngest. They definitely intended to split us up, at least to one adult per child. The embassy tells us they will step in if any of us is sick and there is an attempt to separate us from the kids, but they say it in a way that suggest that it's happened before. I am still a little fearful that there could be a frightening experience ahead--and if one of them were to get sick, there's the possibility of whatever is considered appropriate treatment here being forced on us. My husband disagrees, citing the low odds of this happening at all, but I'm feeling like maybe this is something we should not have risked on their behalf.

Email 2 Her Husband could not have been more wrong!

HI all.

My husband's flu test was positive. They took us all from our original hotel, where we fought so hard to stay, to the hospital in the middle of the night. They put Rob in a 10x10 room with a metal cot and a camera on him at all times. Very few people speak English (I understand that's normal, it's not like we all speak Chinese at home, but it's difficult.) He feels fine--he had one day of mild symptoms. He's very cooped up and frustrated. As soon as he tests negative twice, he's out. That could be before we're out--or it might not.

As for us, after a night in the hospital with no symptoms, they moved us to the Guo Men hotel. On the one hand, it's tiny and moldy and has a few holes in the walls. I'd put it at about the level of a non-chain roadside motel in the states, the kind where you rent rooms by the hour or by the week. It used to be nice, though--you can tell. It's kind of sad. The flip side is that they are trying to take care of us. We have internet now, they brought us a dvd player and snacks. Anything you ask for, within reason, they seem to want to try to get. There is abundant food--kind of strange food, sometimes--this morning we had french fries for breakfast--but we won't go hungry. There's no a/c, but it hasn't been awful so far. We can go outside and around the hotel if we wear our masks. We are stuck here until Saturday at midnight unless someone works a miracle, and assuming none of us gets sick. They take our temperature twice a day....or rather, they let us do it. interesting system.

As for coming with kids...I don't know. I've had some moments of being horrified at what we've done. The embassy has very little power. If one of the kids were sick, they'd be in that hospital--with one of us, as that's the only thing the embassy can insist on--and that's a frightening thought. It's dirty--they mopped our room out with the same mop they used to swab around the in-floor toilet--and scary. If I'd let one of my kids in for that--I'd have a hard time forgiving myself. But then again, we did get pretty unlucky. And the kids are enjoying even parts of this trip. SO I don't know what to say.

Please pray for this family!

Additional medical requirements for older children:

As of July 1, 2009 all children to be adopted from China who are two as of their medical examination day in Guangzhou must be tested for tuberculosis. Families who are in process with referrals of children two or older should discuss the TB testing timing with their adoption agencies in order to adjust their travel plans accordingly.

My prayers go out to several of our blogger friends as they prepare for their journies to China.

Kathy Rees

Just 3 More Sleeps Jazzy Rose!

2009-06-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

We told Jazzy Rose this morning that she only had 3 more sleeps before we board the big plane and head out for Disney World where she will meet "the" Mr. Mickey Mouse himself! She and I ran errands this morning and bought some things we need for the trip!I can not tell you all of the flash backs I had to last year when we were preparing for our trip to China to bring home our beloved Jazmyne. But what fun I had this morning buying things for a wonderful trip and doing the shopping this time with her. Any time we need something Jazzy will say, "We get it at shopping!" She loves to shop!!!

Disney World & Mickey "House" Here We Come! Celebrating Her First Birthday In Her Whole New World

2009-06-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

Long before there was a Jazmyne there was a "Jazmyne" in our hearts. Right from the very beginning of our adoption process we had always referred to her as "Jazmyne". She was real to us even before we filled out the intial application. The name choice was good because Jazmyne is a popular Chinese name, although when we chose the name we did not know we were adopting from China. We had always said that we did not care where she was from. We looked at many countries and many agencies before we decided to adopt from China through Holt International. We said that God would lead us to her and he did.

We have decided that even though she is young we are taking her to Disney World for her 3rd birthday which is her 1st birthday outside of the walls of an orphanage. We want this birthday to be a complete "blow out!" The celebration's will actually begin tomorrow, exactly on week before our air flight leaves for Disney, by breaking out our boat and doing a birthday picnic on the lake we live on. Jazzy Rose and I will bake her birthday cake together, something we could not do last year. When we are on the lake we will order a pizza at the Marina, boat up to it and Rick can just hop out of the boat and get it! Next Saturday we have a wedding to go to which has children's swimming pizza party that she will attend. We leave the next day, on Sunday for Florida and Disney World. She will be at Disney two days before her birthday and the actual day of her birthday. When we get back my sister and I are doing a Birthday Party for Jazmyne and Aiden. Aiden is my sister's grand baby and their birthday's are only 5 days apart.

Over kill you may say??? Maybe! Aren't you spoiling her you may say? Oh, probably!! There are 3 reasons why we are going over the top! First, if you have read the Silent Hero Tribute below you know that we have a promise to keep. I have no doubt that on this day in China a woman will mourn from the depths of her soul for the child that I hold in my arms everyday. This birthday I can do something to justify all of that mourning and pain. As it is so great so too will be the celebration joy of our Jazmyne. This wonderful trip will justify that pain because it proves that her prayers for her daughter to have a better life are coming true. She let Jazmyne go just over a month before her first birthday so she never spent one with her. I hate it when people speak so critically of Jazmyne's birth mother because she left her. I feel protective of this woman for making the only decision she thought that she could. After all she did something for Jazmyne that I never could...she gave her life...she gave birth to her. Without this woman there would be no Jazmyne! Second, during the Chinese New Years the Chinese people celebrate family and friends for 15 days. We believe that Jazmyne's birthday should also be celebrated for 15 days. If we start tomorrow the 15th day is July 4th! What a way to mark the final day of her birthday celebrations! Third, the final reason is because of the memories of last summer when we were waiting and waiting! It broke my heart when she was not home for her 2nd birthday. I gave her the only present I could that day...I wrote her a poem which I will post again in a few days. This trip is Rick and my celebration that she is finally home!!

Children are not always able to articulate in their own words how they are processing everything that is happening in their world. But I do believe we have stumbled on to a way to help her express it by accident through the Disney Aladdin Movie. With all of the Disney talk and the letters from Mickey Mouse himself and the phones calls from him we also began talking about the Magic Kingdom. We have arranged for a special luncheon on her birthday with "the" Princess Jasmine. We also have ordered a Princess Jazmyne cake to be delivered to this special luncheon. With all of the talk about the Castle and Princess Jasmine, our Jazmyne began to think we were talking about her. She has referred to herself off and on for the last two weeks as, "Princess Jazmyne". She also refers to the Lake House as her Castle! I do believe that if she can articulate to us that she is a Princess and sees her home as a castle then she has summed up how she feels about her "Whole New World". And with that I will leave you to process the words of the Disney Aladdin Musical: A Whole New World. And to you our beloved Princess Jazmyne, "Welcome To Your Whole New World!"

Disney Aladdin Musical: A Whole New World

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, princess, now when did
You last let your heart decide?

I can open your eyes
Take you wonder by wonder
Over, sideways and under
On a magic carpet ride

A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

A whole new world
A dazzling place I never knew
But when I'm way up here
It's crystal clear
That now I'm in a whole new world with you
Now I'm in a whole new world with you

Unbelievable sights
Indescribable feeling
Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling
Through an endless diamond sky

A whole new world
Don't you dare close your eyes
A hundred thousand things to see
Hold your breath - it gets better
I'm like a shooting star
I've come so far
I can't go back to where I used to be

A whole new world
Every turn a surprise
With new horizons to pursue
Every moment red-letter
I'll chase them anywhere
There's time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you

A Whole New World
That's Where Well' Be
A thrilling Chase
A Wondrous Place
For You And Me

A Tribute To The Silent Hero - The Woman Who Gave Our Daughter Life!

2009-06-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

As summer approaches my heart and mind are so full of memories! Could a whole year possibly have passed?It seems just like yesterday when it all seemed to be taking FOREVER!! But it did not take forever, now there is not a second of the day I do not know where she is and what she is doing. She is the child that I dared not hope for: beautiful, smart, loving, caring and giving. As my mother states in awe, "You would never even know that she had not always been with you and has not been part of our whole family since the day she was born!" She is not the typical child who comes from an orphanage. She is the beautiful rose that grew between the orphanage cracks. The picture on the left below, found posted by someone who's disposable camera captured it and the picture on the right are both of our little Jazzy Rose and yet the differences are amazing. Our Rose between the orphanage cracks:

I started this blog June 6, 2008, just last year. I would like to post one of the very first posts that I wrote on this blog:

We do not know who you are but we will help Jazmyne learn to carry love in her heart for you always. We will do everything we can to help her to understand that you left her out of the greatest kind of love imaginable. You kept her until she was 10 months old. I can't imagine how you must have felt that day in that bus station as you sat there thinking about what you were about to do. I can't imagine the kind of courage it took to walk away and leave her alone there on that seat. How you must have prayed that someone would find her quickly after you were gone. God how I wish for you and for her that you had had other options. We have no doubt that you loved her with every fiber of your being, how else could you have ever let her go? But let her go you did in hopes for a better life. a better future and for the medical treatment that you knew that she would need. We promise you and her that we will never let you down. We will love her just as much as you would have loved her. We will make sure that those dreams that you had for her that drove you to that fateful decision that day will become realities for her.

We Will Always Think of You

We Think Of You...
How you must have felt as you sat there in that bus station making the biggest, most heart wrenching decision of your life.
We Think Of You...
How you must have prayed to God that someone would find her quickly after you were gone.
We Think Of You..
How you must of ached as you looked down into that innocent face at that bus station and thought about how scared she was about to be and how you would not be there to comfort her.
We Think Of You...
How you must have felt raising her for the first 10 months of her life and constantly wrestling with the decision about what was the best thing to do for her.
We Think Of You...
How you must wonder what she will think of you one day when she is old enough to come to terms with the fact that you "abandoned" her.
Now We Think Of Us...
How will we tell her that you loved her?
Now We Think Of Us ...
How will we help her to see that what you did was the greatest act of love there could ever be?
Now We Think of Us...
How will we love her enough that we will gain her trust to know that her daddy and mommy will always be here and that we too will never leave her?
Now We Think of Us....
How will we ever be able to live with the image in our minds of her at the bus station with out you or us to hold and comfort her?
And Now We Think of the Almighty God...
How he watches over all of us and I know that the answers for both you and for us was that you did not abandon her completely and we were also there because Jesus was there to hold on tight to her little soul until this initial part of her journey was over. He lives in all of our hearts so through him, silent heroe, we were all there with her that day, just as we will all be there with her always!

This Is Delilah Day!

2009-06-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

Through the world of blogging we meet a lot of new friends. I have been exchanging emails with a mother (Sherri)who adopted two girls from China after their older children were grown, just as we have done by adopting Jazmyne. They are in China right this very minute and today is "Delilah Day!" Delilah should be in their arms! They were to meet in a room in their hotel at 3:00 PM,4:00 AM our time which means she has now been with them about 5 hours now! I remember those 1st few hours with Jazmyne so well. We knew that everyone at home had set their alarm clocks to mark the moment we finally had her and we felt like we needed to post for their sake but we just could not focus on anything else but her! Cut and paste this address into your browser http://letitbechina.blogspot.com to follow their journey to Delilah. Sherri, I will be praying for a smooth trip and transition for Delilah!

At this very moment I am left with my vivid memories of Jazmyne's "Gotcha Day. I leave you with the post that I wrote that very day:

I have a favorite line from a musical,the Sound of Music in fact, "How Can You Hold A Moonbeam In Your Hand?" Well today guys... guess what, that is exactly what Rick & I did, we held one in our arms! I pictured this meeting hundreds of ways but I could not have imagined what really took place. We pull up in front of the Office of Civil Affairs and guess what.. the babies got there exactly at the same time. Suddenly, our translator, Echo gets very excited, the driver jumps out, Echo jumps out, she is chasing after a man with baby, Chinese words are flying in the wind. It reminds me of a movie from Vietnam where people are running on the sidewalks and their language is being delivered at a 100 miles per hour. Rick and I are attempting to run too and suddenly Echo yells,"There she is!" and slings her arm and pointed finger the opposite direction and I whirl around and sure enough, there is our little angel standing on the side walk. Rick & I both slow down and walk gently to her. The nannies are knelt down to her. The long ride has proved to be too much. She was so excited about the ride and had had too much fun! The first thing she did was throw up all over herself when they took her out of the van and put her down. The nannies are both apologizing to me but I assure them it is no problem and Rick comes flying up with the diaper bag. I grab out the baby wipes and rip off the plastic with my teeth and take some to wipe her up. But just as soon as I do that Rick scoops her up, holds her a while and hands her to me. I press her close, we'd come to far to let a little puke come between us. I apologize for not posting before now but we did have to concentrate on her. There was grief and tears at first but within an hour she was on the bed, still not too happy but doing better. She let me change her and give her a bottle. Plus she let me take off her new shoes which were a big deal to her. Ladies keep your dolls, the way to this girl's heart is a new dress! I was told that so I broke out all of her new clothes wow she was impressed! She touches them over and over again and this look of sheer joy comes over her face! But the real transition took place when I rubbed her legs and arms with lotion. She loves the human touch! We had a great night's sleep, she was up at 1:30 for her bottle but otherwise slept all night and in fact she is still sleeping. There is so much more to tell but I have got to close for now. We need to get ready for the big day, the day she legally becomes a Rees! Rick is ironing her court outfit while I blog. And I have to close by saying, yes she giggles and laughs and has a smile that will blow you away! I almost want to pinch her to wake her back up so we can play some more!

Bring Me Hope - Can You Be That Hope For A Child Who Desperately Needs The Love of A Forever Family?

2009-06-08T15:39:00.000-07:00

I once saw this very powerful message, "Adopting One Child Does Not Change The World But For That One Child The Whole World Changes!" The most amazing thing about hearing the call for Hope for us was that Jazmyne heard it too from our empty hearts that longed for a child of our own. In China they refer to this connection as a Red Thread that connected us. While I believe that is true I also believe that the thread got it's color by being washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and through him we found her!

The Journey To Delilah Begins In 1 Day and 17.5 hours!

2009-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Through the world of blogging we meet a lot of new friends. I have been exchanging emails with a mother (Sherri)who adopted two girls from China after their older children were grown, just as we have done by adopting Jazmyne. They leave in 1 day and 17.5 hours to Mongolia to bring home their dear sweet Delilah who will be their
2nd child from China. Cut and paste this address into your browser http://letitbechina.blogspot.com to follow their journey to Delilah. Sherri, I will be praying for a smooth trip and transition for Delilah!

Taking Action Regarding Immunization Requirements!

2009-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Misty from the Yahoo Homeland Xingful I am a member writes:

As some of you know, under the Hague Convention, children are required to be up to date on all immunizations recommended by the CDC prior to entering the US. In my opinion, for many reasons, it is both cruel and unethical to require newly adopted children to possibly receive several vaccines prior to entering the US. There are reports of children receiving 6-7 vaccines just a couple of days prior to boarding their flight to the US. Below you will find the letter I found and adapted concerning this issue. If you are an adoptive parent, future adoptive parent or a US citizen who finds this requirement as ludicrous as I do, may I ask a favor? Would you please copy and paste this letter, inserting your own personal information, and send it to the Congressional representatives for your state? Not only are you exercising your right as a US citizen, you are helping to protect the health and well being of our children. You can find the contact information for your state here...

Senate:
http://www.senate. gov/general/ contact_informat ion/senators_ cfm.cfm

House of Representatives:
https://writerep. house.gov/ writerep/ welcome.shtml

Dear (___________ _________ ________) ,

My name is ____________ ___. I am a soon-to-be adoptive Mother of a ____________ __ born in the People's Republic of China. I am writing this letter to ask your office to both quickly and diligently work toward correcting a Congressional oversight in the Hague Convention that effects internationally adopted children. This oversight requires immigrant children adopted from Hague Convention Countries be up to date on all Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended vaccines prior to entering the United States.

When the Hague Convention was passed, new regulations were issued in the Federal Register on October 30, 2007 at 72 FR 61301. The amendments revised the Department of State regulations to provide for intercountry adoptions that will occur pursuant to the Hague Convention. This provided a new definition of "child" under the Immigration and Nationality Act, amending 101(b)(1)(F) and adding 101(b)(1)(G) . Public Law 105-73 provided the exception for newly adopted children from the vaccination requirement by allowing for a written affidavit from the child's soon-to-be physician in lieu of receiving vaccinations abroad. While revising the law for the Hague's implementation, in an apparent oversight, Congress forgot to extend this part of the process. As stated above, this oversight requires these newly adopted children become up to date with all of the CDC's recommended vaccines before they will be granted entry into the US.

It is important to note most of these children come from orphanages in developing countries. Various countries may have given the orphans anywhere from several to no vaccines. Often they have received vaccines relevant to diseases in their country and not required by the CDC. Some may have no medical record or an outdated record of the vaccines they received at the orphanage. Without Public Law 105-73 in place, the newly adopted children would be required to receive the vaccinations again.

As you can imagine, adoption is a very complicated process both emotionally and physically. Taking this into considering, these vulnerable children may be required to receive a mega dose of vaccines all in one day, just days before they board the lengthy international flight home to the U.S. To date, there are reports of children receiving 6-7 injections at their medical exam in Guangzhou China in order to comply with this requirement. In my opinion, this is both cruel and unethical.

As is the case with many children, they may be medically fragile at the time these vaccinations are required. As the law stands, there is no available exemption for anyone, including the medically fragile. If the family wants to return to the United States with their child, the injections are mandatory without exception.

It is important to note, as the law stands today, these vulnerable children are now the only class of U.S. immigrants that are given no possible exemption from their overseas visa immunization requirements. All other U.S. immigrants are allowed the possibility of exemption due to medical necessity or religious or moral grounds. Can it really be this is a result of the Hague Convention which was intended to actually provide MORE protections for these children?

The best way to handle vaccinations, and the way it was done pre-Hague, was once at home the child's Pediatrician orders a blood test to discover the child's titer antibody levels. With test results in hand, the Pediatrician recommends only those vaccines that are shown to be missing, on a safe time schedule.

We ask that your office quickly seek to extend the previous exemption that allowed adopted children to postpone their immigrant visa vaccination requirements until they are safely at home. Such an exemption would be similar to 101(b)(1)(G) Public Law 105-73 which provided the exception for newly adopted children to the vaccination requirement by allowing for a written affidavit in lieu of receiving vaccinations abroad before receiving an immigrant visa.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I look forward to your prompt and timely response. The well being of some of America's newest and most vulnerable citizens depends on it.

Regards,
(__________name_ _________ _________ )
citizen of the great state of (__________) and adoptive parent

Urgent News From the Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU) U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou

2009-05-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Starting July 1, 2009, new screening and treatment requirements for tuberculosis will become effective for Chinese immigrants, including adopted children. For medical exams on or after this date, panel physicians will be required to follow the 2007 Technical Instructions for Tuberculosis Screening and Treatment issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Children between the ages of two and fourteen on the day of the medical exam will be required to have a tuberculin skin test. The test results must be read 48 to 72 hours after the test is administered. If the results are positive, a chest x-ray must be performed. Based upon the results of the chest x-ray, a physical exam, and the child's medical history, the panel physician will determine the appropriate classification, if any, of tuberculosis. Further testing and treatment, prior to immigration, may be required. For further information on the new requirements, please contact the CDC. Please keep these new requirements in mind when scheduling visa appointments with the U.S. Consulate.

This new requirement is blind siding many agencies and very little information is being given as to why the requirement came about. So far they have not said that there is has been a significant risk of spreading TB to the U.S. via Chinese orphans. There have been outbreaks of measles or chicken pox at one point, and the consulate temporarily quarantined those affected by having affected children and parents remain in Guangzhou until the risk of contagion was over.As news becomes available I will post that information!

Love Makes Us A Family!

2009-04-30T14:31:00.001-07:00

Yes we are a proud Chinese American biracial family!!We invite you to watch this amazing music picture video developed by Amber Henry Photography, of our precious Jazmyne. The song is entitled, When Love Takes You In, and is written by the one and only Steven Curtis Chapman. We strongly feel that this song captures the very essence of the powerful emotions of adoption beautifully! Two lonely worlds colliding into a sea of love and happiness. And yes as Steven puts it, "And like the rain that falls into the sea In a moment what has been is lost...in what will be" For our family that moment came on Jazmyne's Gotcha Day, September 16, 2008, at 3:42 PM. In that moment, our loneliness for a child and Jazmyne's for a family was lost in a sea of joy and praise in the name of Jesus of what will be.

New China Travel Restrictions Being Imposed Due to Swine Flu Precautions

2009-04-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in China last September during Jazmyne's medical examination.

Hello All,

This is a copy of the latest memo from CCAA:

April 29, 2009

Adoption agencies:

Currently there are cases of human infection of the swine flu found in some countries and regions. With the high infectivity of this disease, children are susceptible to it for their low resistance. In order to avoid cross infection during the process of adoption registration and protect the health of children in orphanages as well as the adoptive parents, we hereby announce that:

1. Adoption agencies are required to counsel the adoptive parents who have received Notice of Coming to China for Adoption to postpone their trip to China for the registration procedure.
2. The validity period of Notice of Coming to China for Adoption issued between March 1 to April 30 this year is prolonged from three months to five months (There is no need to update the paper).
3. Adoptive families are advised to follow the arrangement of local registration authorities and cooperate during the entrustment of child for the harmony period and the adoption registration process.
4. If adoptive parents feel unwell during their stay in China for the registration procedure, they shall go to the hospital for medical checkup in time and report to CCAA about relevant situation.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

China Center of Adoption Affairs
This post goes out to all who wait to be matched and those of you already matched, as new travel restriction due to the Swine Flu are being imposed by China. I know that you are all very frustrated and concerns about the latest set back in bringing your precious children home or even being matched but as the anniversary date of May 12th approaches I feel a need to share with you that awful experience.

It was May 12th of last year when I awoke to a beautiful sun shiny day. Of course my first thoughts as always, were of our Qian Jiang Can who was waiting for us in China. I always kept her referral pictures every where with me I went. We got matched to Jazmyne on March 15, 2008. I looked at her picture and wondered if she was getting ready to go to bed or perhaps even taking her evening bath before bed. My TV just above my head was chattering away with the local and then international news when all of a sudden I began to hear the most awful news that I could ever imagine. "Oh My God An Earth Quake In China!" Everything stopped for me in that moment and as I listened and watched my fear gave way to tears and pain. My baby was in the Sichuan Province! I called my husband on his cell phone sobbing. I thought I had been so organized with all of our adoption paper work and yet I struggled to even find the map of China our school librarian had given to me. Our agency is very careful with not giving you enough information that you can locate the orphanage you are adopting from which made it very difficult for me to even know where she was at. They have an agreement with the orphanages that they will not allow adoptive families to have contact with them before the adoption. We could not even send a care package to her! I knew the name of her orphanage on paper which was not even what it's complete name really is. Frustrated and scared out of my mind I scanned the materials that were thrown all over the bed by this time and then just dropped to my knees and started praying! I went to school and all day long loving people asked me what we had heard and every time one of them did I died a little bit more inside! We called our agency but there was a 3 hour difference in our times. In fact, we are who informed our agency first. They did not even know what we were talking about at first. It took 2 days for us to find out that she was as far out in the Sichuan Province that you can get and still be in it. We joined the Qian Jiang Yahoo Group and were able to talk to Jeff from Packages of Hope(Jeff is an exellent resource) who was there and confirmed that Jazmyne's Orphanage felt the earthquake at about a 2.4. They had been evacuated then and with every after shock but everyone was fine!!!

We were one of the lucky families. Jazmyne had to be evacuated during the earthquake and the after shocks but she could stay in her orphanage. Several adopting families were not so lucky. Not a single orphan was lost but many could not return to their orphanages and had to live in tents for months. Life as they knew it was no more! Hendrika from Red Thread Maps was also very helpful to us. She provided many contacts to us and that was how we got connected with the proper yahoo group. Hendrika created an EarthQuake China Map with all of the orphanages identified on it. You can see that map through the following link: http://www.redthreadmaps.com/sichuan_earthquake.html

It took 6 months from match to get her home: earth quake, Tibet Up-Risings and the Olympics all became factors in regards to travel. When we got her referral I would never have believed that we were looking at another half year before she would be in our arms. Natural disasters, manmade disasters, illness and social issues all play into solid travel dates to bring our babies home. Towards the end of our agonizing wait I began to say, "I am no longer an adoptive mother waiting for her child...I am now a mother being kept from her daughter!"Our Jazmyne has had countless twists and turns through out her entire young life at the ripe old age of 2 years 9 months: being abandoned at a bus station at 10 months, living in an orphanage for over a year, being evacuated into the night during the Sichuan Earthquake and all of the after shocks, being adopted to a foreign land, adjusting to a new family, learning a brand new language and surgery to remove her extra toe on each foot. Now she has an established home, a family that loves her beyond words, has been developmentally tests and is off the charts in all areas (including her speech in which she is about a year above the american average) and is on the road to complete health recovery, no more Special Needs! No more twists and turns just wide open spaces, room to do what ever she wants to do in life!

Bottom line, I know your waiting pain but at the same time you know your child is still alive. You know they are not hurt. In fact, the protective acts that are being employed by the Chinese government now is insuring your child remains healthy and well. There is an adoptive family's blog entitled, "In HIS Time." And that is what it comes down to, "In HIS time" your child will come home and he alone knows when that is best. Please remain strong and positive! Jazmyne's "Gotcha Day" is now 7 months and 2 weeks ago. Now it feels like the entire adoption process was over so quickly! We were matched to Jazmyne within 6 months of filling out the very first paper and she was home 6 months after that. I recognize that many of you have waited far longer than that but time is all relative once you get that match. Once you have a beautiful little face to look at and have those precious bits of information about him/her to read over and over again daily the wait becomes even more painful! Our match happened quickly but our wait time after that was far greater than average! What seems like an eternity to you now will feel like an eye blink later. I will pray for strength for all of you. Those who still wait to be matched and those already matched.

Parting advice, remember your agency is doing all they can! At first, they often know little more than you do in regards to these huge disasters! Be patient with them and allow them time to make their China and US contacts. Information will be easier for them to gain in regards to the Swine Flu precautions than it was last year during the Earthquake when every form of contact was cut off. Believe me they are working as hard as they can on behalf of our children!

God Bless You and Keep Your Waiting Children In China Healthy & Safe!
Kathy Rees
Proud Mommy to Qian Jiang Can

Jazmyne Helps Daddy Work At The Blueberry Farm

2009-04-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

Every spring we get a ton of water from melting snow and rain. Then the ditches have to be cleared of leaves in order for proper drainage. Blueberries can not tolerate a lot of water. There are over 7,000 bushes so it is essential to insure proper drainage! Jazmyne had her new "Pink" rake right out there with Daddy. He favorite thing in the world is water so she loved getting right in there with Rick! I have a feeling that Jazmyne's blood will run as blue as her father's!

Jazzy's Daddy Gets a PT "Koozer"!

2009-04-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Jazzy was so excited on Monday night. She and Daddy have been talking about getting as she calls it, a "PT Koozer"! We go to pick it up next Saturday. She just could not understand why we could not just drive it home the night we went to see it! Her favorite part of the car was the electronic moon roof!

Praise God, Jazmyne's Michigan Birth Certificate Is Here!

2009-04-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

I can not tell you how good it felt to see this US Birth Certificate!!! How awesome it was that it arrived Easter Weekend. What a way to celebrate that Christ has risen! Just 4 days ago last year on April 2, 2008 our Dossier and LOI (Letter of Intent to Adopt) were both officially uploaded to China!Now a year later she is home and we have her Michigan Birth Certificate!Rick & I were so excited when we opened this Birth Certificate that even though she did not understand what it is she was ready to call everyone in the family and tell them! She knew that Mommy's tears were happy tears because I was laughing while I was crying!!We also have her Social Security Card and number. The only thing left that we have to do right away is to apply for her US Passport. You don't really need to do the Passport but we will just so we can have all of her documents in order. The reason for that is coming in a post soon. I am finally about to announce a project that I have been working on for several months now. I will say this much, "God has found a way for us to give back to the Qian Jiang SWI, Jazmyne's Orphanage in a huge way! When I tell you about this you will also know the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, for through him all things are possible. You will appreciate how he can work miracles through mere mortals. And believe me I am a mere mortal but because he lives, he lives within my heart even I can do super human things! Thank you God, Jazmyne is every thing we ever dreamed that she would be and more. And Thank-you for hearing our prayers for her orphanage. The glory of this Project at the Qian Jiang SWI is all in the name of our savor,Jesus Christ!

Jazmyne's China Pearl

2009-04-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Valley & Bailey recently had a litter of puppies. Jessica has one of Kendal's puppies, Annie,from this past fall but other than that puppy we have never kept one of our Springer Puppies, until now. For the first time we are sharing the joy of our adoptive puppy families. Jazmyne has her very own dog now. She would like to introduce to you, Jazmyne's China Pearl, call name, "China"! Valley will also spend the rest of her life with one of her daughters which is also way cool!

It is so strange in May of last year when the earthquake had struck our daughter's orphanage region and we knew that she'd been evacuated for the earth quake and every after shock from that point, we also knew that the country was in an uproar due to the Tibet uprisings and we knew that the Olympics further complicated our every move. We just kept praying to God to help us get our daughter safely out of that God For Saken Country and now we find that that so called God Forsaken Country is part of us forever and that China is far from being God Forsaken. There fore it seems fitting that our new Springer Girl be named "China"! The beauty of China's country side only pales in comparison to the loving hearts of its people. China will always be just as much a part of our lives as Jazmyne. How do you ever forget a place on earth that through which God has given you so much?

As you can tell by the picture above Jazmyne's China Pearl is gorgeous! Anyone who knows anything about English Springer Spaniels will drool when they see this picture. It was not hard to choose which puppy to keep. As a breeder of ESS puppies I can say that when you look down into the puppy pool she jumps right out at you immediately! She is a prize to behold! Valley delivered on a Friday night and what a night it was! Because it was a Friday we did not have to take a day off from work! We had two days to watch babies, making sure that they were all plugged on equally. At the cottage, where they were born, we have just a full sized bed. Jazmyne was in the middle in bed with us and Rick had helped Valley get up on the bed with us. She had gotten so big that she could no longer put herself up there. We knew that she had labored all day so we were all on puppy alert. Besides Valley always squeezes in with all of us at the foot of the bed. Valley had just stood up walked up closer in the middle, took a couple of turns and squatted directly on Rick's hand and out popped the puppy right into his hand. Rick is her person so she is always trying to have the puppies at his feet, on top of his head, she just wants to present him with the first puppy of the litter! Rick yelled , " There's a puppy in the bed. Jazmyne and I jumped up. I grabbed the scissors from my night stand drawer. Rick popped the sack off of it's head and I cut the umbilical cord and we handed the puppy to Jazzy to rub with the towel. The whole time she was saying, "Oh my goomas! Oh my goomas!' The whole scene was priceless! We then took Valley to the puppy pool and set up camp in the living room. Jazmyne kept going back to Valley's back end calling for more puppies to come out! The next morning Jazmyne woke up and I put her in bed with Rick and I but she immediately started asking about the puppies. We took her into the living room and got more of a reaction out of her than we got at Christmas! Again she just kept saying, "Oh my goomas! Oh my goomas, puppies!" Now she keeps saying, "Puppies, no touch puppies!" She just can't keep her hands off of them! And everything I just wrote I believe is what sets us off from large kennels. Not too many breeders can say that they birthed the first puppy of the litter right in bed with them!

March 15, 2008 Changed Our Lives Forever As Did This Very First Photo of A Very Serious Qian Jian Can!

2009-03-30T03:50:00.000-07:00

Jazmyne's Baptism Date, March 15th was no ordinary date. Last year on March 15, 2008 we got the phone call that has changed our lives forever. We had had a previous referral to Jazmyne of a little girl named Hui Jia who after several updated medical tests emerged as a child who was very very ill and would require 24/7 care. It literally broke our hearts but we called and declined that referral after having built our dreams around this child for 6 whole weeks. But we knew that it would not be fair to her or us. It was very possible that she would not have even lived for very long and Rick and I could not put us or our family through all of this just to lose that child in the end. Within 2 days we got the referral for our beloved Jazmyne but it was a very hard period of time. Recently I emailed Beth Smith for further clarification of Jazmyne's referral while there was still time to remember. Beth confirmed my suspicions that on the morning of March 15, 2008 she had found our child but it took until 7:22 that night to confirm that Jazmyne had indeed been found. I need to document those memories here before they are lost forever. Prior to our Jazmyne's referral I had written in a journal that had started out to be to our Jazmyne but after Hui Jia's referral ended up being a daily journey to Hui Jia. After we lost Hui Jia I could never pick up the journal and write again. That is why I researched blogging. I needed to do something completely different when we got the referral for Qian Jiang Can. We have a box full of Hui Jia memories and we will always think of her but yet know in our hearts that God had always intended Qian Jiang Can to be our daughter and we rejoice and praise his name every day for her! I have purposely included referral pictures first and more current photos second through out this post so you can see the wonderful changes in her happy little face! Please read the correspondences below between Beth Smith Holt China Adoption Executive and I.

Beth,

Every moment of that day, March 15, 2008 has replayed in our minds thousands of times. Each moment like a precious rose that has been carefully preserved and pressed between the pages of the bible that lives within our very souls.

March 15, 2008 - The day that you blessed our lives.

11:26 our time but 8:30 yours, we are surprised to receive an email on a Saturday from you. I have to say for whatever reason we got excited. We thought why would Beth be working on a Saturday morning already at 8:30? You promised that we would not stop our search! You further told us that you would like to talk with us to update our conditions we were able to accept. You concluded by Congratulating us on the completing of our dossier.

Rick was varnishing the trim in the cottage. We had stayed there that weekend to finish some projects. All things we wanted to get done before the baby came home. I was on dial-up at the cottage and just happened to have it on that morning checking it back and forth between our work. I read your email out loud and we discussed why you might be working on a Saturday and we both agreed we were not going to wait to
talk to you about a conditions update We decided we were going to do it right then and there and emailed it to you. Rick kept varnishing and we went through the list with a fine tooth comb changing some things based on our recent experience with Hui Jia. We prayed over the email and then sent it out and waited!

7:22 our time, 4:22 yours we receive a second email asking us if we would be in that evening. We of course wrote back and told you absolutely! You said that you thought that you may have identified a child for us, with a minor condition that fit our updated medical conditions list. You ended by assuring us that you would be calling very soon! We laughed, we cried and held each other but called nobody at first. We were cautiously waiting to see what you phone call brought us.

8:23 the phone call finally came. I was scratching down every word I could and waiting for the bottom line, "What was her condition?" You finally said, "And she has an extra toe on each foot ." I asked you if that was all and you said yes, other than that she is perfectly healthy. In that next moment I probably could have told you we would take her.

9:12 our time, 6:12 yours which seemed like forever before we got the referral materials. We knew we were going to the school to see the materials better but we could not leave until we pulled it up and got a peak. We first saw her close up picture in what looked like a red uniform. Before we left that was the only picture we saw a first.
text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 137px; height: 178px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4UiQhW5LVpg/SdCsApeY98I/AAAAAAAAAuU/qGAGKY8QKgA/s320/Qian+Jiangcan1" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318940287057852354" />
She looked serious and definitely Chinese. Even when we went to the school and saw all of the pictures unlike Hui Jia's pictures, Qian Jian Can's were blurry and not very flattering but we did not care she was a healthy little girl! And as it turns out her name translates to "Healthy" She looked like a little bruiser! No it did not hit me that I knew her immediately! I couldn't see her well enough to even have a chance to recognize my own daughter. When I showed her pictures I got in the habit of immediately saying, "This is our daughter." If I did
not people assumed that she was a boy. Boy were we wrong! She is simply stunning! Nothing like what she looked like in the referral pictures. Your staff from Beijing might have told you our reaction when we saw those clear updated pictures there! We
were in complete disbelief when we saw a picture of her true beauty! I will never forget when that picture first came up on the screen in Beijing when we were asked to try and identify our children. Qian Jiang Can's picture came up and I instantly thought, "Wow..what a beautiful little girl she is. Someone is sure very lucky!" Then her name came up and I let out a squeal, 'Oh my God that's our daughter! Oh my God she is so beautiful!" I said that severally times but through a sea of tears. We took a break after that and I just kept going back into the room and looking at the screen and saying that same thing but this time I had a handful of referral pictures. No one could believe the difference!

March 16, 2008

We called Dr. Ochs (we had emailed him the referral materials the night before) the next day which was a Sunday and since he knew how all of this goes he knew he had to get back with us in a matter of a few hours. Beth, I could hardly breath for that 4-5 hours that he went over her paper work. We were waiting at my sister's, my mom was also there. I would be crying one minute because of losing Hui Jia and happy the next
because we got Qian Jiang Can. When I was sad about Hui Jia I felt like I was being disloyal to Qian Jiang Can. And when I was happy about Qian Jiang Can I would feel guilty because of Hui Jia. Rick and I both were on an emotional roller coaster ride! My mom and sister could do very little to help me! What I had to finally do was to focus on our Qian Jiang Can. I just kept saying, "She may not have been our 1st referral but we are her first and only referral family, therefore she deserves all of our excitement and happiness." We were actually in our car headed back home to St. Helen when we got the call. He told Rick that she looked like the healthiest child, standard or special needs process that he had seen coming out of China in years! We turned right back around and went back to my sister's to announce that we did indeed have a daughter and we knew that this referral was the real deal!!!!

March 16, 2008, 7:09 PM our time, 4:09 yours, you responded back to acknowledge our intent to adopt Qian Jiang Can, the daughter that we had longer for! The little girl who has defined the love Rick and I have always shared A defining that is no different than becoming pregnant together! What you may not know is that March 16th is the wedding anniversary of my parents (my dad passed away 14 years ago), the day Rick and I got engaged and the day that had already been typed into the LOI we had written earlier in the fall. We had previously thought that was a nice date to put there until we got the real date. Who would ever have thought that that was the real date! Not a coincidence but rather another God Incidence!

I would love to hear any of the behind the scenes memories you may have. For instance, that 1st email that you sent for the conditions update was that because you were already aware of Qian Jiang Can? Did we correctly pick up on something that was about to happen? The details of all of this will always be of great importance so anything you could remember will be treasured!

Love Kathy Rees

Beth Smith Response

Dear Kathy:

Wow, Kathy!

Your memory of this day back in March helped brush out the cobwebs of my own. A few details are still fuzzy. But here is what happened from my end. First, I knew that even though you were still grieving for Hui Jia I knew that you were anxious to be re-considered for another child. Plus, you were fresh on my mind since I had recently spoken with you at length. But I wanted to first see your medical conditions list before referring you another child so quickly. As I recall we found this child on the website in the early morning that Saturday. I felt sure you might be her family, but I wanted to make sure this time it was a simpler, less life changing condition that fit the conditions you would be prepared for. I went into the office later that day to look over your file and the conditions you had mentioned to me. I wanted to see the revised checklist--after that it was clear in my mind, that I should refer this child to you! I knew that the condition fit what you could handle and that between your persistence and Todd Ochs' willingness to
review on a week-end, the child would have the best chance to find her family. I was right! Thanks so much for this e-mail, and I am glad the end result was your child and you united. Despite a week-end of ups and downs! Take care,

Beth

100 Good Wishes Quilt Was Presented At the Baptism on Behalf of Jazzy's Grandma Rees

2009-03-30T03:20:00.000-07:00

When I first began this blog last summer I learned of an old Chinese Custom, originating in the northern part of China. It’s tradition to make a "One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt, or Bai Jia Bei as it’s called in Chinese, to celebrate a new life in a family. To create this quilt, one asks one hundred people to each contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck and good wishes from all those family members and friends. Jazmyne actually received well over 100 patches! In fact, Grandma Rees' friend Nancy is making a seperate lap quilt with the extra squares so none go to waste! On behalf of Jazmyne I would like to particularly thank the students, staff and parents of St. Helen Elementary who really got busy while we were in China and collected all of those squares! I would also like to thank our berry customers, family and friends who also contributed. Along with the square came a separate written wish or prayer for Jazmyne on a small index card. A small square of the fabric was added to the wish card. I placed these wishes into a scrapbook, so that when Jazmyne gets older she can match the squares of the quilt to the wishes in the scrapbook.

Jazmyne's Grandma Rees about a month ago fell and broke her hip. Last year she fell several times and broke her foot, a finger and her neck. The hip injury was too great for her to go home and the doctors informed us that until the hip heals she had to go to a Nursing Home. Just prior to the accident she and her friend Nancy had sewn all of the patches together, had pulled the quilt together and had it ready for the Baptism Ceremony. At the conclusion of the Baptism Ceremony Grandpa Rees and Nancy presented the Traditional Chinese 100 Wished Quilt to Jazmyne! It was very touching moment! Grandma Rees could not be there and yet at the same time her presence and love for Jazmyne was!

You may be wondering how big a traditional Chinese 100 Wishes Quilt actually is with the square size being "8X8". The Kind Sized Sleigh Bed above is in our Master Suite at the Lake House and as you can see it covers the entire bed! We are just thrilled with how beautiful the quilt turned out. For now it looks great in Jazmyne's room but someday it will look great in her home and years later in the homes of her children and grandchildren. We treasure the quilt now and so will her generations to come. All part of the legends that will be told through those generations about a little girl in an orphanage in Qian Jiang China who got to come to live with Grandma & Grandpa Rees simply because she had an extra toe on each foot. All of those stories will remind them of how awesome God's destination for all of us in his plan truly is!

After the ceremony we went to our favorite Chinese Restaurant in St. Johns, The China Garden and had a wonderful celebration!

Jazmyne's Baptism

2009-03-30T03:17:00.000-07:00

Jazmyne's Baptism Practice was perfect. She did absolutely wonderful. The actual ceremony in front of the entire congregation well...not so much! Jazmyne screamed, cried, begged to get down, begged various family members to come save her. As my son said it best, "Mom I got every last scream and cry for help immortalized on tape for ever. We can watch it over and over again for the next 50 years!" Wow!!! but we got some very nice pictures during the practice when she was an angel. I think it was due to a church full of people!My sister Rose(Jazmyne carries Rose's name in her name) and her husband Bill are Jazmyne's Godparents.

Jazmyne's Chinese American Extreme Foot Make-Over Part II

2009-03-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

Above you will see the before & after pictures of Jazmyne's feet. The before pictures of her feet were taken at the Orphanage on January 21, 2008. The after pictures were taken March 14, 2009. We did the same pose for all 3 pictures that they did at the orphanage, with the reveal picture being the first picture to each pose. Her feet look so completely normal now! They still are quite red along the side of each foot but that will all fade with time. As for Jazmyne...she is always eager to rip her shoes and socks off to show everybody her newly formed feet. She is very happy and proud of them which tells me how very troubled she really was by them! Again I repeat, Praise God, one operation, 10 days in casts and now...NO MORE SPECIAL NEEDS!!!!

Winter Jam Was A Blast!!!

2009-03-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Wow what an evening! We did not know what to expect but our job was so easy and so rewarding! Our table was covered with the faces of the event, the faces of needy children through-out the world. Each child had a brochure prepared about that child with a envelope prepared to record information to sponsor that child for $30 a month!

Before the event started our trainer stopped and started yelling, "Matt, Matt!" I did not know who Matt was but I started helping out by yelling Matt's name too. He heard and came over to us. It turns out he was Matt Butler of NewSong!

We also met the incredible Kim Deardorff. Kim is currently on tour with NewSong. Just before Intermission Kim gave an incredible Testimony! Our table was then mobbed by people wanting to become sponsors. Kim was just hours old when he was found amidst garbage in South Korea in 1964. Holt International cared for Kim and placed him with his adoptive family. His energy level is contagious! He came along and saw Rick & I in the T-shirts we had made for the event and he hurried right up to us. Even though we were there promoting Holt Sponsorship we also had made human Billboards of ourselves for the China Child of Promise Option. In fact,we had one man who spent a lot of time talking to us about it and was quite serious about pursuing it when he left. We also had business cards printed about the China Child of Promise Option, with Jazzy Rose's picture on it and our contact information that we passed out to several people who could not sponsor that night but wanted to go on line and still do it. The cards have contact information for Holt on them too! Kim had an iphone that he had someone take our picture together with and then emailed it to us right on the spot!

What a night!!!We would not have missed it for the world!Please click on the link below if you are interested in International Child Sponsorship. For just a dollar a day you can change a child's life forever!

Love Makes Us A Family!

2009-03-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

Holt Winter Jam 09 Concert Volunteers Desperately Needed At the Ypsilanti Michigan Site!

2009-03-03T13:13:00.000-08:00

Cut and paste the link below into your blowser to go to the winter Jam 09 Concert Website
http://www.jamtour.com/

Cut and paste the link below into your browser to find out a Winter Jam 09 Concert closer to your area
http://www.holtintl.org/volunteer/concert1.shtml

Dear Friends,

Our agency Holt International desperately needs volunteers at the Holt Winter Jam 09 Concert Ypilanti site! I know that we all have busy schedules but we need enthusiastic concert goers to advocate for children in Holt’s care, we can make a huge impact. In fact, volunteers make all the difference in Holt's ability to match Sponsors to children in need!

Holt is partnering with Dove award-winning, NewSong, to promote Holt Child Sponsorship at Winter Jam 09, and we need 30 adult volunteers for each city to assist concert attendees as they sign up to become Holt Child Sponsors. Concert goers will hear high-energy Christian worship/rock/pop music that will feature several artists, as well as a powerful message and the opportunity to help children in need around the world.

The perfect volunteer is a friendly, responsible adult who enjoys large crowds of young people and loud, Christian music for 3-4 hours. Volunteers arrive for training 1.5 hours before the concert begins, assist at a Holt table throughout the evening (not within view of the stage) and remain 30 minutes afterwards. In most venues, standing is required. As a volunteer, you’ll receive free admission upon arrival.

Concert Information
Address: 799 North Hewitt Road, Ypsilanti, MI
Location: EMU Convocation Center
Date/Time: Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

If you can be involved please drop me an email! We currently only have 8 volunteers. Don't worry this is not difficult. They give you 3 short handouts to read and you are ready!

Kathy Rees
Holt Ambassador & Holt Winter Jam 09 Volunteer
www.jazzyrose.blogspot.com

Our Suspicions And Those of The Doctor Who Brought Her To Us Have Been Confirmed, Our Special Needs Child Is Actually Gifted!

2009-02-28T12:50:00.000-08:00

Early-On Developmental Assessments Reveal that Jazmyne is off the charts compared to the average child usually assessed that have been with their parents from birth. Children who are unlike Jazmyne who has had countless twists and turns through out her entire young life at the ripe old age of 2 1/2: being abandoned at a bus station at 10 months, living in an orphanage for over a year, being evacuated into the night during the Sichuan Earthquake and all of the after shocks, being adopted to a foreign land, adjusting to a new family, learning a brand new language and now surgery. Now she has an established home, a family that loves her beyond words and is on the road to complete health recovery, no more Special Needs! No more twists and turns just wide open spaces, room to do what ever she wants to do in life! Can you imagine last September she spoke only Chinese and now she is speaking English better than the average child who typically is assessed with these instruments? Can you imagine what she will be like in a year or two?

I share these results with you in hopes that there will be someone out there who will see them and realize the rewards of adopting a Child From The China Child of Promise. The name of this option to me directly states that a child from this option has the promise of being worthy of trusting to have some minor/correctable needs that does not interfere with how awesome they really are, that they are just as worthy of being your child as a child who comes from the standard promise. A child who up front is acknowledged to have a need that will require extra care but nothing that is not possible for the average parent who does not have any medical or special needs backgrounds to handle. We are connected with lots of adoptive folks from the standard process who have had more post adoption medical needs than our China Child of Promise! These test results clearly show that Our China Child of Promise has certainly made good on her "promise". She has been the light that was turned on in the diamond room, forever casting rainbows on everything we will ever see, smell, touch, hear, or feel forever more!" Our rewards for believing in that promise was a match with our beloved Jazmyne less than 6 months after filling out the very first application form! Now with out further fanfare her are her amazing results:

Developmental Assessment Findings: At the chronological age of 31 months, 10 days, Jazmyne was evaluated using the Provence Birth-to-Three Developmental profile which assesses eight domains: gross motor, fine motor, relationship to inanimate objects, language/communication, self-help, relationship to persons, emotions and feeling states, and coping behaviors. Behaviors in the 18-36 month age zones were assessed. The findings in each domain are as follows:

Gross motor
33-36 months
Stiff legged occasionally
Jazmyne can: jump off the floor with both feet, balance on each foot. Her mother reports she can walk up and down stairs with alternating feet.
Jazmyne will do next: pedal a tricycle, hop on one foot.

Fine motor
24-30+ months
Jazmyne can: build a tower of 5 small blocks, and hold a crayon with a mature grasp. She traces her hand on a drawing board. Tracy reports that she is able to put beads on a pipe-cleaner.Jazmyne will do next: string beads on a string, copy vertical and horizontal lines.

Relationship to Inanimate Objects
24-30+ months
Jazmyne can: place shapes into a three piece formboard without help and when pieces are rotated. She knows how to use test objects without demonstration. She lines the blocks up into a train. She plays with a variety of toys appropriately. She enjoys pretend play with dolls.Jazmyne will do next: imitate a three cube block tower, stack 9 or more small blocks, copy a circle.

Language/Communication
30-33 months
Jazmyne can: follow four or more simple directions, identify pictures in a book, understand some basic prepositions. She says “I” and “mine”. She says phrases like, “Hey, what’s happening!” She can sing portions of a rhyme, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” She asks questions like, “Who’s that?” She says many single words to indicate her wants, “Please”, “No”, “Tracy”, and “Cookie”. Jazmyne will do next: respond to a comprehension question, such as, “What do you do when you are tired?” She will be able to tell the use of a test object. She will sing more rhymes.

Self-Help
33-36 months
Jazmyne can: help get herself dressed, put her shoes on, and feed herself competently. She will say her first name. She is progressing very well with potty training. Jazmyne will do next: say her first and last name.

Relationship to Persons
30-36 months
Jazmyne can: help with small tasks, understand turn taking, and responds more to her parents or caregiver. She plays cooperatively with other children at daycare.
Jazmyne will do next: begin curiosity about male/female differences and identify “boy” or “girl”.

Emotions and Feeling States
18-36 months
Jazmyne can: express a wide variety of emotions typical for her age. She has not shown jealousy. When provoked she sometimes gets aggressive and slaps in order to protect herself. In other words she is capable of standing up for herself. Jazmyne will do next: name feelings of others, in pictures, or in self.

Coping Behaviors
18-36 months
Jazmyne can: try to do things for herself, use words to ask for help or protest, responds to comforting from her parent or caregiver, and recovers from small hurts well. She has begun to try and defend herself.Jazmyne will do next: continue development of imaginative play.

Summary: Jazmyne’s strengths are her language/communication, self-help skills, emotions/feeling states, and coping behaviors. With observation it was determined that she also demonstrates age appropriate skills in gross and fine motor skills, and relationship to inanimate objects. She sometimes walks stiffly, although does not have any restrictions in her range of motion. She has some tenderness when her band aids are removed from the incision sites, although does not express pain when performing gross motor skills or when feet are manipulated. There is some swelling, but little redness around the incision sites. The incision sites are clean and dry. Denise, PTA, suggested she may be adjusting to the new sensation due to removal of one of her toes.

Recommendations: Jazmyne is NOT eligible for Early On based on a developmental delay. Her parents would like her reassessed to recheck her developmental progress near her third birthday. Her parents may request further assessment at any time.

Happy 2009 Chinese New Year Everyone - The Year of the Ox!

2009-02-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

These pictures were sent to us by Tinaka from our Mid Michigan Yahoo Group. They were taken at our Chinese New Years Celebration in Midland, February 7, 2009! Shortly after we joined this wonderful group I got an email from a grown up little girl that I used to baby sit for, my beloved Tinaka! I always thought she was one of the most beautiful little girls that I had ever seen in my life. And now she has grown into a beautiful woman with a heart of gold! Her mother Rosanne grew up straight across the road from my childhood home and is like family to my family. My mom was so tickled to learn that she and Rosanne share yet another thing in common, Chinese American grandchildren! Tinaka is part of this group because she has adopted 2 girls from China, is paper chasing an eleven year old boy who is waiting in China and is still on the list for a baby. Tinaka you are my hero!!!We pray daily for your new son's safe journey home.

Searching for Qian Jiang Hua - UPDATE! The Lost Has Been Found. Thank-you All Mighty and Powerful God!

2009-02-12T15:26:00.000-08:00

I believe the first two pictures above and the last one to be pictures of Jazmyne's best friend at the Qian Jiang SWI. She had the beloved babies she cared for and adored and she also had a best fiend. Some one who worked right along be side her caring for the babies. Jazmyne's paper work indicated that her best friend's name was Qian Jiang Hua. A little girl who was her same age that also acted as an Ayi to the little ones. I am in contact with a mother from the Netherlands named Monique. Through our Qian Jiang Yahoo Group I found Monique by posting that I was looking for Qian Jiang Hua. Monique and her family adopted Qian Jiang Hua. The third picture above is a picture of her daughter Nina that Monique sent to me. The child in each picture has thinner hair. Each picture shows there to be two indentations in the hair of her forehead on each side with the hair coming down further in the middle. The eyes of the girl in each picture are very Chinese eyes. And check out those cute little pixie ears in each photo! Besides most of the children in the Orphanage are young babies and Monique and I know that are girls are the same age. There is no doubt in my mind that Nina is the child in all of the pictures. But I am not her mother and only her mother will know for sure. I am posting these photos because Monique can see our blog from the Netherlands and I am praying that she will leave a comment in the comment section of this post and identify that the beautiful little girl in each picture is in fact her Nina, formally known as Qian Jiang Hua.

Here Is The Response From the Netherlands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Wonderfull!!!
Yes we are sure that this is Qian Jiang Hua (Nina)!!
We are very happy to see these picture's, they means a lot to us!!
In June or July they shaved Nina's hair, we know.
The blond girl on the picture is my oldest daughter, Carmen.
This was Nina's first smile to us, so it's a very special moment!!
Thank you very much, dear family!

From the Netherlands a BIG hugh to you from Nina, Maud, Carmen, Bert en Monique"