Mackenzie's Finding Ad

Since 1999, the orphanages in China are required to run a provincial newspaper advertisement for children that are found and brought to their orphanage. These are commonly called "Finding Ads." These ads contain information about where and when the children were found and which orphanage is caring for them. Originally these were text-only ads, but most provinces now include photographs in their ads. These photographs are usually the earliest available pictures of the children, some from as young as a few weeks old. 

Tonight I couldn't sleep, and through using a Chinese search engine (www.baidu.com) I was able to locate Mackenzie's Finding Ad!  What an absolute treasure for us have a picture of our sweet daughter when she was an infant.

姓名:郑年淑 性别:女出生年月:2009.3.10入院日期:2009.4.17被捡拾时间地点:2009.3.11新华医院急诊室大楼内的长椅上被捡拾时随身携带物:遗弃条一张注出生日期 入院时身体特征:先天性心脏病

Name: Cheng Shu-years Sex: Female Date of birth: 2009.3.10 admission date: 2009.4.17 be picking up the time and place: 2009.3.11 Xinhua Hospital emergency room on a bench inside the building when the portable object is to pick up: abandonment of a Note date of birth, physical characteristics on admission: congenital heart disease (PDA, PFO)

I don't ever want to forget...

This has been a very hard week for me.  

When we sent our dossier to China we included a letter from Lily's pediatric cardiologist who strongly urged them to expedite our paperwork for medical reasons.  Lily needed her third open heart surgery back in July.  We are now nearing February and our little girl still struggles to breathe everyday with her O2 levels in the 50's.  

Much to our surprise and great joy, we received confirmation 

that China  had logged in our dossier, translated it, 

and moved the paperwork  to "in process" 

in only 14 days.  

Amazing!

We thought for sure the Chinese officials saw the desperate plea through the doctor's words and therefore had granted us a medical expedite.  Within 30 days, a family who is expediting for medical reasons "should" receive their LOA.  The Letter Of Acceptance is your golden ticket to proceed and send all of your documents for step two of the US Immigration process.  

Today is day 40 of our LOA wait.  

This week is also the Chinese New Year,
and China has shutdown to celebrate.   

I don't ever want to forget...
the sinking feel I felt when I received word from our adoption agency that the DHL package that arrived to them on Monday did not contain our LOA's.

I don't ever want to forget...
crying myself to sleep for the umpteenth time since we started on this adoption journey.

I don't ever want to forget...
the desperate longing and desire that I have to 

just...get...my...babies...HOME!

I don't ever want to forget any of these emotions
because when the girls are old enough to understand,
I want to vividly describe to them how much they are:

Desired
Cherished
Wanted
Needed
Treasured
Valued
Adored
&
LOVED.

All of those things before I have ever even held them in my arms.

Never once have I forgotten that God has ordained the exact moment
that the girls will be in our arms forever.

And it will be absolutely perfect!

Sweet Mackenzie Ty

 

Precious Lily Grace

Hairbows and Wiggly Pants

Dryden and Soleil are about as "girly" as girls can get.  They love pink and purple, prefer to wear dresses, and tutus are a common accessory in our house.  BUT, try as I may, my girls do not like to wear hairbows.  They tell me that they like their hair to be "plain".  My sweet friend Victoria has taught me how to make hairbows, and I really enjoy doing it.  Her two little girls love to wear hairbows, and I don't think I have actually seen them without a beautiful bow upon their heads.  I once asked Victoria how she convinced her girls to wear hairbows and keep them in all day long.  She said it was easy because she told her girls that princesses wear hairbows.  So, I gave her tactic a try with Dryden and her response to me was, "Oh mom please, I have never seen a princess wearing a hairbow".  I took a second look at the Disney princesses, and sure enough not one wears a hairbow.  They all have intricate hairdo's and possibly a ribon headband, but no bows.  Uggghhhh!

Here are Dryden and Soleil's hairbows:

On top of their distaste for hairbows, Dryden and Soleil have recently coined the term "wiggly pants".  What are wiggly pants you might ask?  Wiggly pants are basically any type of pant other than leggings.  If the pants have a waist band or are loose enough for air to sneak up the cuff, then those are wiggly pants.  And you know those cute bootcut or bell bottom pants, well, forget it.

My plan for Mackenzie and Lily is to introduce them to hairbows and wiggly pants while we are still in China before their big sisters can brainwash them.  At least a Momma can dream, right?  So when the waiting becomes more than I can bare, I make the little girls their own hairbows.  And when my arms yearn to hold the weight of my sweet daughters in them, I gather up all of the tiny wiggly pants in our house that never got worn, and excitedly hang them in their closet!

I bought some headbands since Mackenzie hardly has any hair...yet!

Wiggly pants from Naartjie - aren't they cute?

Super duper wiggly pants from Naartjie!

  

What's in a name?

Jacques and I named the girls about a month ago, 

but waited until Christmas Day to reveal their names.

The Rancourt's are beyond thrilled to introduce to you:

Mackenzie Ty

Little Miss Mackenzie is named after my brother, and very proud Uncle Tyler.  Tyler's nieces are the light in his life, and his excitement oozed on Christmas when he discovered that his third niece was named after him!  Tyler is one of the most joy-filled individuals that we know.  Ty has had many obstacles to overcome in his life, but his awesome positive attitude and persistence have gotten him to where he is today.  We hope and pray that Mackenzie will embody all of her namesake's awesome attributes!

Lily Grace

The name Lily means "hope".  Jacques and I have tremendous hope that Lily will thrive after her third heart surgery.  Many doctors who have reviewed her file warned that she has less than two years to live...and that was 7 months ago.  However, the team of doctors who will be treating Lily as soon as she arrives to the USA are optimistic about her outcome.  It just so happens that one of the world's leading experts in the Fontan procedure is a surgeon at the Washington DC Children's Hospital located only 40 minutes from our house.  He will perform Lily's third heart surgery.  However, our true hope is found in the Almighty Physician...the Lord Jesus Christ.  He knows our little girl's heart inside and out.  We chose the middle name of Grace because it is only by the grace of God that we were able to lock Lily's file and make her our daughter. 

We are so excited for next Christmas when Mackenzie and Lily's stockings will be filled.  The best part of all is that our family's hearts will be filled with love for our newest additions!

Logged In Dossier

I got a call today from our agency informing me that 

on 12/15/2011 our paperwork

was logged into the

CCCWA!

This makes us

 {Logged in Dossier}

One step closer to kissing those sweet cheeks...

and these sweet cheeks!!!!

Papa's Ponderings

The girls were more than a little startled on the way to church last night.  We were in the left lane driving 45 mph.  There was a turning lane on our left.  Apparently, I was in the blind spot of the person driving the blue pick-up truck on my right.  Because in one insanely dangerous move, he cut directly in front of me – one inch from my bumper and tried to slow down in time to make it to the left turning lane.  He didn’t even see – until I smashed into him.  In a split second, it was all I could do to swerve sharply to the right, and not completely ram him.  The headlight shattered, my driver side mirror exploded, and there is a huge dent in my car.  I pulled over.  The other driver did not.  Either he had no insurance or he knew what he did was so dangerous he didn’t want to face me. 

Either way – I am stuck with the bill!


That’s life.  What can you do?  Not much really.  Yeah, it stinks when something like that happens at Christmas.  Yeah, it’s a bummer considering we are trying to fund a trip to China to get our babies.  But – that’s life.  Someone else’s choice can cost me dearly.  It’s always been that way.  We assume that risk every time we get into a car.  We assume that risk anytime we begin a new relationship. I know that on many occasions, I have done things that hurt or cost someone else dearly.  Was it fair what that driver did?  No.  But I have a choice.  I can whine.  I can complain.  Or, I can understand that although I don’t see it now, there might be a blessing in it somewhere.  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-5).


Peace and Goodwill,
Jacques

Care Package for Qiuyan

We received a photograph today from Angela with Lady Bugs and Love

http://ladybugsnlove.com/

of the care package she put together for Qiuyan.

Dierctor Zhang of the Bayan Nur CWI asked us to please

send some photos of our family so that the Ayi's can help prepare Qiuyan,

and get her familiar with our faces!

I wish I could be a fly on the wall when Qiuyan gets her first glimpse

of the family that LOVES her so very much!

Our family photos are in the pink bunny book

Soft and cuddly Hello Kitty Blanket

Director Zhang also asked when we were coming!

I wish we knew...

She was trying to figure out whether or not Qiuyan

should attend pre-school.

I thought is was a good idea, and hope she gets to go.