Care Package and new picture!

Our Madeline is at Starfish Foster home in Xian, China ( check them out here, she goes by Charlotte). It's such a wonderful place that provides all that she needs to enjoy a healthy and loving life until we can bring her home. That said, We still wanted to send her a little something for her Birthday and Christmas so we hired Lady Bugs in Love to put together a package for us. We sent her a picture of us to give to our daughter, a letter that she translated, candies for the nannies and money to buy a little doll. Here is what she put together for us:)

We love the pillow, and hopefully it will help our faces not seem so foreign to her on adoption day ( That is the hope of course:). The Foster home is providing a cake for her birthday.

To some, this may seem normal. But in the adoption world, the care and treatment our daughter is getting isn't :) She is so very blessed to be at Starfish:)

Amanda, the founder and director of Starfish, posted this picture on her Face book last night ( I'm sure she wouldn't mind me stealing it:). The date stamp is wrong, as it was just taken yesterday, but isn't it the most precious? That is our Madeline in the back holding the bottle and her best friend Jane trying to feed the new little baby. Our hearts MELTED seeing this:)

**Note for those whom may be concerned about her coloring...our cardiologist said it is completely normal and no harm is happening. It will go away once she is home and has her surgery*




But, we had to send her a little something for her Birthday and Christmas.

Pitter Patter

Early (WAY EARLY) Sunday morning, I awoke with a start! As I sat straight up in my bed, I heard the pitter patter of little feet bolt across my bedroom.

I reached onto my bedside table, (half way awake, confused and groggy) and quickly grabbed my camera phone. I pointed it in the general direction of where the sound was coming from, and this is what I captured:)

**Side Note :Forgive the laundry on the chair. I had just not "felt" like putting it away the night before**

I stared at the picture blinking for a few moments as I entered into the conscious world:) Then I heard the pitter patter of little covered feet run across the room and stop right next to me. I immediately turned my phone and aimed it at my bedside.

As soon as the camera flashed and the picture was captured. The CUTEST.LITTLE.MAN with the CUTEST.LITTLE.GIGGLE started laughing and running all around the room. Unfortunately, the giggle awoke our little doggies Bridgette and Aspen. They were alerted to a foreign intruder in their midst and hence commenced a barking session :) I jumped up to turn on the "hall to the master bath" light so they could see who it was:) (and not wake Lee up) :)

:) My little nephew had come over with his Mom and Dad that night while I was asleep. They live three hours away and we were doing the tree farm the next day.

Then it dawned on me as I watched him run back and forth taunting Bridgette to chase him and play:)
Someday, those pitter pattering feet will be of our little Madeline.

That the little shadow of a child playing, (WAY TOO EARLY) :-), will mean our little girl is home...with us :-)

Oh, HOW I CAN NOT WAIT!! :) Hurry up I800A approval...PLEASE :-)

100 Good Wishes

In Northern China there is a tradition to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good wishes quilt". It's customary to invite friends and family to participate by sending in a 8x8 (prefer 100 percent cotton) piece of fabric. The fabric is then sewn together into a quilt that will wrap the child in luck, energy and good wishes. :) These quilts are passed down from generation to generation. (Disclaimer: Found these pictures online, this is not my quilt)

Along with the piece of fabric, a wish for Madeline:) It can be a Bible Verse, a prayer...anything :). This part can be written on a sticky note, or you can go very elaborate with a deocrated notecard. Anything works:) These "Good wishes" are put into a book for Madeline. Each card will correspond with a square on the quilt ( if your fabric and wish card don't match, I will cut a small piece of the fabric and attach :-)

Lee and I would love for you all to participate:) Message me on facebook, or here and I can send you my address:)

Madeline's little heart

We finally had our appointment with a cardiologist about our little Madeline's heart.

And hearing about it broke mine.

Although from researching and a few brief passings with cardiologists about her condition we had some inkling of what we may hear...

We weren't quite expecting to hear what we heard.

She's gone through so much in her short life.

But we know God can heal all :)

She will have the best Doctors "Money can buy ( or in our blessed case, Insurance) :-)

And all our love :-)!

And that combination...There's no beating that:)


Madeline, we are so blessed to be your Mommy and Baba(Daddy). We can't wait to bring you home and help your little heart begin to heal physically...and emotionally.

Introducing...

Our Daughter :-) Madeline Qian VanGrunsven

We are smitten:-) Her birthday is December 25th 2009, our little Christmas blessing from God!

I can't wait to tell you all about her, but for now here are the pictures of our little Madeline:) As you can see, she is in a WONDERFUL place run by a even more WONDERFUL woman...I'll share more on the next blog post because it would take to long to write it all up, and I'm just too excited to share:) We shared this on Facebook too, but we know not everyone has Facebook:)

Giddy, Happy, Blessed

Stay tuned... :-)

Homestudys, Fortune Cookies and Garage Sales

Our Homestudy WAS APPROVED by our agency! Woot woot! That means we get to fill out the I800A (thx Mary!) Form (Application for Determination of Suitability to adopt a child from a Convention Country form). This is a form we send to the American Government. It's currently a 2-3 month wait for approval.One more step closer! :-) Forgive the image quality. I took a picture of my computer screen and had to lighten it enough for you to read...making it a bit distorted:)

Also,I firmly believe that God can use crunchy pieces of goodness to deliver encouragment! Panda Express is a weakness of mine, but that was okay because the closest one to my house was 40 minutes round trip(making it difficult to indulge) Well,one was opened in my hometown right next to my other addiction(Starbucks!!!). Literally right next store. I was one happy girl. So, needless to say, my husband begrudgingly has been dragged there for dinner on more than one occasion. Each time I cracked that yummy fortune cookie I would ask God for maybe some special little fortunre for us about this adoption. Sure enough, he has delivered on more than one occassion! :-) Okay, I know these were pre-made...but out of the million of fortune cookies in their storage room, we got this one! This one really made us jump for joy...believe what you want, but I think it was divine :-)

And lastly! We had some things to get rid of. While normally we would just give them away or take them to the Goodwill, we decided to sell them at a Garage sale to help offset some of the expenses.

We had it at my In-Laws. I can't thank them enough! They went ABOVE and beyond anything I expected:) My Father in Law power washed his Driveway, trimmed the "Evil Cherry Tree" and made sure we have plenty of Tables. My inlaws also went and purchased a really nice White Canopy tent for my friends and I to sit under to escape the Heat ( It was pretty hot those days) My Mom in law priced, organized, and really made it all come together beautifully! Thanks Mom and Dad VanG!

I also wanted to thank my Mommy, she donated so many wonderful things. My sister Katie for all the toys, My Aunt in Law Gina for the Puzzles, My Mother in Law for all her misc. Items and Aunt in Law Aunt Judi for allowing us to sell some of her things for her to make our sale bigger:) And for my In-Laws neighbor Stacey who is just a Angel :-)

And, last but not Least, Amalia and Janeen. They sat out there with me in the Heat, and Amalia worked a crowd like no other. These two were pretty great considering I'm a sucker and can't stand my ground when it came to price bartering. These two really ROCKED! Here's me and Amalia on Saturday, Janeen was on Sunday. By Sunday I was too worn out and feeling oh so not pretty and avoided pix like the plague:-)

We still aren't matched yet, but it's coming! :)