Could There Be a Sister?

I have waited a long time to tell this story, because we were just watching to see how things would develop. Shortly before we traveled last year to pick up Chloe, we got an email from a family in TN. They had adopted their little girl, now age 5, from Chloe's orphanage and they wrote to ask if we saw the similarities in our daughters. They had seen Chloe's referral photos on a yahoo group from Chloe's orphanage. (The same group that connected us to Chloe's orphanage "sister" Jazmyne.) Audrey and Chloe both have very distinctive features and the similarities are striking. Audrey's parents had never seen another Chinese child that looked like their little girl. We have been watching over the last year and the similarities just continue to develop. We're going to travel to TN for Spring Break and meet up with Audrey and her family. Hopefully, putting these girls together will give us some clarity and Audrey's mom will be able to recognize if their similarities go beyond their appearance.

Could it be possible that God has not only provided us with Chloe's orphanage "sister" in Jazmyne, but also connected us with a biological sister? He is in the miracle working business. Please pray for our wisdom and that the DNA testing that will probably be to come, will give us some answers.

So what do you think? Are we looking at sisters? The picture above is of Audrey just before she was adopted from the orphanage and the pictures below are also all pictures of Audrey.

Audrey at age 5

If you'd like to read more about Audrey, here is a link to their family blog: http://hannaclan.blogspot.com/ There is a video in the right column of Audrey's adoption trip that shows a lot of pictures of her at a young age.

All Tuckered Out

This is what Chloe looks like after a Sunday morning at church. She's so tired from missing her morning nap that she sometimes falls asleep eating lunch.

It's been a big week of first this week. Chloe got another tooth, that would be #12. It'd be great to be done with teething soon. She is really starting to get this talking thing down. Yesterday, she was asking where her sister was and she put together her name, school and bye bye. She was practicing saying 'Ni hao' today (Chinese for hi). Also, Chloe stayed with a babysitter for the first time since Sept. this week. Up to this point, she has had really severe separation anxiety issues and has not been secure enough to be away from either Greg & myself without days of recovery. It has made it very challenging to have her with us 24/7 for nearly a year. This week though Chloe started showing affection to Marlene, who cleans at our house weekly and babysits sometimes too. This is nearly the first time this has happened to anyone outside of our immediate family. Chloe doesn't allow hardly anyone to even hold her other than us, so this was a really big step. We've been working with an adoption psychologist, who said it's just a matter of time, so hopefully this is the turning point we've been waiting for.

Chloe loves to do what her big sisters are doing!

Happy Referral Day

Today, it's been exactly 1 year since we were matched with Chloe. We got the phone call from our agency with Chloe's information at 11:15am and this is the first photo we got to see of her.The video camera was set up and we got the conference call on tape. It was fun to watch it again a few nights ago and relive all those emotions again.She's come a long way in a year's time and it's hard to imagine our family without her.

First Chinese New Year With Chloe

We had such a great time getting together with a local adoptive group this weekend to celebrate Chinese New Year. We have been attending celebrations with this group for years through the waiting process and they have been a great source of support to us. Seeing other people's kids was a good dose of encouragement through our long wait and it was great to finally have Chloe there with us. I hope seeing her was an encouragement to others who are waiting too.

Chloe had a great time playing ball with her friends Brailey and Brin.

It seemed a little odd to have to pack American food for Chinese girl at a Chinese New Year Celebration. Those would be carrots in her mouth. Chloe is on a restricted diet because of the TB medication she is taking and she's not allowed to have any soy sauce. Well just about all Chinese food has soy in it somehow. So it was we Americans who got to eat the Chinese food and Chloe had to eat American.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Time has come to celebrate Chinese New Year. As Christian parents of a Chinese-American girl, it's challenging to find appropriate ways to celebrate this holiday that is so surrounded with superstition. We will not be setting off firecrackers to chase away evil spirits or doing many of the other traditional Chinese modes of celebration, but we do want to honor the culture of Chloe's homeland. So as she grows, we will look for ways to celebrate this holiday with family and friends that are God honoring and that honor the little girl whose homeland is so far away.

Chloe is growing like a weed and sprouting teeth left and right. We like the growing part, but the teeth are not so fun. She got a clean bill of health at her 18 month check this week and has grown 5 inches since we got her 10 months ago. No wonder she's looking so big these days. This baby is certainly becoming a toddler and she's expressing her opinion more "loudly" than ever. Teeth and family illnesses have made this kind of a grouchy month, but lets hope the glimpse of 60 degree weather we saw in Ohio this week is a sign of Spring and healthier times to come.

Chloe unfortunately still struggles to sleep well at night and Greg has taken the brunt of sleep duties since I'm with her all day. We see glimpses of great sleep, but these seem to pass too quickly. Chloe has grown enough to increase her TB medicine, so she is also working through some of those side effects again. She's back to a morning nap and is very sleepy by the time she's allowed to eat breakfast (an hour after taking her medicine). Hopefully, her body will adjust and the side effects will soon not be so noticeable.

Please pray for Chloe's continued emotional healing. This will be the key to her restful sleep. She no longer cries for her Jie Jie, but only God knows what it will take to work through the emotional scars that are obviously left behind by her abandonment and orphanage stay.

Listen to Elaine on the Radio

I was given an amazing opportunity to share Chloe and Jazmyne's story on a national radio talk show. The interview took place on Chris Fabry Live!, Monday, Jan. 26th at 3:00pm Eastern time. You can listen over the internet with the link below:

http://www.moodyradio.org/brd_programtoday.aspx?id=18270

Just click on the 'Past Programs' tab, scroll down to January 26th, and click the 'Listen' button on the right.

Thank you for your prayers that God would be glorified through their story.

A Baby at Christmas Time

A baby and Christmas time can be such a fun combination. Chloe truly made our Christmas this year a special joy. To be able to see everything through her eyes for the first time was a pleasure. Greg and I were sitting in living room shortly after all the presents were opened and we were reminded that just a year ago there was no one to give Chloe a gift to celebrate the gift that God gave us in sending His son Jesus to Earth. How things have changed in her life. Wrapping paper scattered everywhere and so many new things that it was hard to choose which one to play with first. We were the blessed ones this year, to have special gift of Chloe in our family.

Chloe enjoyed playing with her new "cell phone" with Papa and Grandma

Her play sweeper was the hit of Season! She even moves the throw rugs and sweeps under them.

We've had lots of snow in Ohio this month, so Chloe got to go sledding for the first time.

Here's our "All-American" girl sneaking icing out of the tub.

Chloe's new friend Mya came to visit with her family. It's always great to get together with other adoptive families.

Chloe has discovered climbing and she does it all the time! She climbs on the coffee table, window sill, chairs, stairs. You name it, she's tried to get on top of it.

Chloe has begun pretending and one of her favorite things to play is babies. She rocks them, kisses them, and gives them a bottle. I even caught her today trying to get her baby dressed. Of course, she was sitting on top of her toy.Help Me Grow - our counties early intervention program -was back last week to assess Chloe and she's doing great! She is ahead developmentally in every category now. It's amazing to think what a little love can do. We were counting how many words and phrases Chloe is able to say and came up with over 35. Some of my favorites are: 'I love you' and 'we're home' when we drive up our driveway. She's also gotten pretty good at telling the dog what to do. :)

Chloe loves to ride on her rocking horse. She has only recently discovered that her sisters could serve as horses too.

Just a quick note on Jazmyne, Chloe's Jie Jie from the orphanage. Jazmyne was adopted as a special needs child at age 2 because she had 6 toes on each foot. She had surgery last week to remove them and is doing great. The casts come off next week. If you'd like to read more about Jazmyne's story, here's a link to their blog: http://jazzyrose.blogspot.com/