Good News and Firsts!

     Last week it was heavy on our hearts that the boy in Ingrid's orphanage was not receiving the medical attention he needed.  There were many little boys that should be adopted and seeing them pulled deep at our hearts, our minds, our souls, our conscience.  As parents we know that a child should be loved and cared for.  That is basic.  This child, however, had his heart surgery at the same time Ingrid did, but the caretakers told us he turned "blue" and  did not feel the surgery worked.  We knew the orphanage itself could do very little to get him another surgery, and there were very few others that would be walking through the orphanage to see this little guy.  A verse that kept coming to us, (the same verse that kept our path towards Ingrid) is from Proverbs 24:12 "Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do.  God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."  We needed to do something.  We called our agency and left a message.  Through some tears and perhaps a desperate tone of voice we asked them if there was anything that could be done for this 2 year old boy through the agency to advocate for him, or through us to raise money to get him the medical attention he needed.  
    During the time we were still in China the agency was asked to come and view some children from the Jiangxi province (ironically out of all the provinces all over China, that was the little province we were in to get Ingrid)!  The goal was for our agency to sponsor and advocate for children who were waiting to be adopted.  Most of them would be older, and would "age-out" soon which means they can never be adopted.  Some of them had translation for their medical need that was not correct.  For a month the agency could "highlight" these 9 children (mostly boys), taking video, updating their medical reports, pictures, etc.  After that month they'd have to go back to the big shared list where again they could get lost in the shuffle. 
     The same day we left the message pleading for this little guy, the agency sent out an email to all of their clients throughout the country.  We could not believe it.  This little sunshine was on the list! This was all happening before we made the call and while we were still in China!  Oh how we pray that God will direct a family to adopt him!  We are so thankful for our chance to bring Ingrid home and know the family who could bring him home would be blessed beyond what they could every know.  His videos look great and pictures and praying this happens fast to get him surgery!
     That's our good news! 
     Ingrid's firsts.... so fun to see her eyes light up with foods and sounds and sights and smells!  What a joyful little girl!

First time at a Pumpkin Patch:

First time at a park, on a trike, playing (eating) with sidewalk chalk, and rolling pumpkins:

We took this of ourselves

I've been told....

I was told that friends only saw 2 pictures from the last post.  If you push the "read more" at the bottom of each post it gives many more pictures.  Guess I'm too long-winded for a one-page blog post! 

Two weeks home!

What a joy to have little Ingrid home! Each day there are so many new things for her to experience and for us to learn about her!  She loves to be held and kissed, cuddled, tickled, fed, and rocked.  We had 18 months of not being able to do that for her, so we are pouring it on thick around here!

Ingrid has been to our favorite pediatrician and all reports show she is healthy!! They feel she was fed some descent food - no nutritional deficiencies like we expected.  However, she  is underweight- due to not getting enough volume of food to eat.  We are offering as many calories as possible! We do know that she will be a more petite little one based on the region she came from, but 16 pounds at 18 months is pretty small.  She is eating up a storm... her favorite foods are roast beef, pork, and hamburger.  Interesting foods for this sweet little girl!

The last post was a long one.... click on "read more" at the bottom

Ingrid is home!!!!!

We made it home and Ingrid is doing beautifully!!!! What joy we have with her in our home, in our country, surrounded by so many people who have fallen in love with her from the moment they heard about her.  God has blessed us beyond what we could imagine in the gift of this little girl.  Here are some pictures with stories...

The day we departed the boys slipped a piece of paper under the hotel door of Sam's room that said,

"come and swim with us one more time before we get on the plane to go home.  meet us at 12:30 at the pool." 

(They had gone swimming before with Sam and gave him a skipping swim ball to keep.  He slept with that ball each night). Sam is four years old, adopted by a wonderful woman from Tennessee.   He has one leg amputated just below the knee and his other leg has a very small foot with some fused toes.  Right now he walks using the stump on one leg and the small foot on the other leg.  He will get prosthetics when he gets home.  The boys want to follow Sam's story so we hope to stay in touch.  We are encouraging Bjorn, who says he wants to be a surgeon, to do one of his physics papers on how he would make prosthetics for Sam.  Sketch the idea, learn about the bones and muscles involved, and then figure out the physics to making it effective.  Here's a picture of the boys in the pool.  Our goal was to tire our boys out before a long plane ride home, but that goal turned into something much bigger- they fell in love with this little guy.

The first leg of the flight to Tokyo went great.  Obviously this is Kris writing again, because she could move freely throughout the plane, read a magazine, sip coffee.  Matt had Ingrid clinging to his arms, chest, legs, lips, ears, leg hairs, magazines....

In Tokyo Ingrid started to want to walk more and babble.  She wanted one person at a time to give her just one of their fingers and let her walk all over the airport.  A few times she'd stop and hug, but she was on the move.  The boys and Kris could walk with her, but she would scream if we tried to hold her too long.  Matt's arms were safe and loving to her.

 

 

The boys attempted to sleep by putting their hoodies over their heads and slump over the tray table.  Kris slept and walked and Matt held Ingrid.

How are they both sleeping?

On our way home!!

We are now on our way to Hong Kong and then will board a plane for home!! We are so excited to finally bring Ingrid home!! We will land in Minneapolis on Wednesday at 1:00!!!!

Our flight info.

We are not sure that we will have time to blog from Hong Kong so here is our flight information if you want to meet us at the airport. We have been asked by some if it's ok to come to the airport and we say "yes!" we'd love to see you! We arerive Minneapolis
Delta #622 from Tokyo at 1:00 pm. We will have to go through customs first.
Yipeeeee!
Wahoooo!
Whoopie!!!

xoxooo