Somebody is three!

Hello from Guangzhou!

Today was little bit's 3rd birthday!  We were so excited to get to spend this day with her.  Had our paper work been delayed just a few more days, we would have traveled later and missed it.  It was a fun, relaxing day that started out with a little bit of this....

A happy morning with a sweet birthday shirt!  Then we moved on to a little bit of fish feeding after breakfast and happy birthday wishes from the grandparents via skype.

Lynli kept giving herself little bites of the bread, so we headed in for a snack. :)  After we filled our bellies, we headed out to try a birthday swim.  It started a little bit like this...

I swear I'm not torturing her. I just wanted a quick pic of the girls together and she likes to be held most of the time. Putting her down creates this sad face. :(

But then....

A little splashing until we got used to the water and ready for....

A swim with dad...

and Mia...

Then we headed out for dinner at what seems to be our go-to quick meal... Pizza Hut.  Yes.  Not kidding. They have many more options than pizza. :)

And then it was back to the room for a little party for Lynli Grace!  We arrived to an incredible cake that was a gift from our agency. 

Look closely, that is a chocolate bar box wrapped in white chocolate ribbon. The cake was inside. Beautiful.

Little bit loved it and had two pieces. And quite a bit of the ribbon. :)

Last, but not least, presents!!  We wrapped and packed 2 gifts for her special day.

She really had no clue what today was all about. But we did. And one day she will. 

Another day done, another day closer to coming home.  Honestly, we love China. We really do. But this trip, we just feel a little bit more ready to come home and get life started with our new sweetie. 

 So, yesterday the only appointment we had was for Lynli's passport.  I can't wait to see how the photo turned out. :)  We spent the morning visiting a big park not too far from our hotel.  The Martyr's Tomb is within the park, so we took a look at that.  It was SO hot!  Hot, Hot, Hot, yesterday.  We stopped at McDonald's for an ice cream on the way back. Little bit took a few bites, but didn't seem too crazy about it.

After her passport appointment, we headed back over to Shamian Island for a little bit of shopping and to eat at one of our favorite restaurants from our last trip.  Yummy!  

Sorry, for the boring post.  Not much going on really. :)  Lynli is still doing great.  Bath and bed was much better last night.  She screamed for the first part of her bath, but then settled down. She and Mia sat in the bed and watched t.v for awhile and then when I turned it off, she just settled in and fell asleep. Much better than the screaming of the night before. :)

So, we are off to start another day!  Heading to Lynli's medical appointment this morning and then to tour with our guide.  She is also taking us to dinner at a traditional Cantonese restaurant. Can't wait to see the pictures of cow tongue, fish heads and other "unknowns" on the menu. :)

The girls at the park. This is for all my buddies asking about Lynli's size compared to Mia. :)

I love this one. Mia so happy and Lynli giving her the eye for invading her space. :)

It's official!

Yesterday we completed our adoption of Lynli Grace!  She is officially a Jennings!  We even have her little footprint approval. :)

We headed out yesterday morning, back to the same office as Monday, to complete our paper work and have the officials, officially accept our adoption.  After that, we really just hung around all day.  We took the kiddos down to feed the fish, then went to cool off in the pool.  Lynli wasn't too fond of the water, but we may try again another day. She ended up sitting in my lap and taking a little nap.  After that, we headed to a new area of town, within walking distance, to try out a new restaurant and pick up some items at the store.  Can I just remind you how CRAZY roads and driving or walking is here. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way.  So, crossing a street, with no walkways, is a gamble.  Seriously.  Quite nerve-racking with 4 little ones.  So happy to have my mom's extra hands. :)

Little bit is doing great!  She is happy with either Keith or me, which is really nice and allows each of us to spend time with her and the other kids. She laughs and giggles a lot, but yesterday she was a little more quiet. I have a feeling it is starting to sink in that she is not going back. It may get a little more scary for her at this point.  We'll have to see.  I know one thing.  This little girl has a set of lungs. She does NOT like to take a shower or go to bed.  She knew as soon as she saw the pj's come out what was happening and she started screaming.  It is the sweetest little scream.  But it is LOUD! :)  It took about 15 minutes of pure screaming, but she finally settled into a great sleep.  I fell asleep beside her at 8:00 last night.  I was so tired, but I feel refreshed today!!

We are headed to breakfast in a few, then over to a park or something.  At 3:00p we will apply for Lynli's passport and I think we are headed over to Shamian Island for some shopping this evening.

Day 2 was good and I can't wait to see what Day 3 will hold...

Playing with a balloon as we wait for papers to be completed

Mama with her girls!

Lynli stamping the official documents

Look at that sweet foot!

Mia has grown so much since her adoption day here in 2010

Feeding the fish

One proud, happy Baba with his baby girl

She is so sweet. That's the best word to describe her so far. Sweet.

Introducing....

 We have Lynli Grace!  She is beautiful, sweet, tiny, and quite the busy girl!  I am posting pics first because I know that is what you want to see!!

Our last photo as a family of 5!

Meeting Lynli Grace!

The first few moments with Mama



Getting to know Baba (daddy)



Playing with Mam-maw



Keith getting all of the needed info from the orphanage representative, including the location of her town on a map.



Family of 6!!



Back at the room, coloring with big brother



Watching his sister - the MOST proud brother you will ever see!



Checking out new toys...



She is so sweet!  This is a cute little pose she did for us. :)



This is what we saw the most of today - laughs and giggles!

So, here is how it happened....

We spent the morning as usual - big, huge breakfast at the hotel buffet and a walk around the beautiful gardens and koi ponds at our hotel. And then there was a lot of waiting.  We didn't leave the hotel for her until 2:00pm , so there was lots of nervous time to pass. But, we managed to be completely prepared and ready before the appointed time, which is a small miracle itself. :)

So, off we headed to the adoption offices for this province.  This was the same place we met Mia, so it was a very familiar and helped to ease the nerves a little.  We arrived before Lynli so we sat and waited a little more.  I honestly didn't mind a few minutes wait.  Watching others meet there babies helps to settle you down a bit. :)  

Before we knew it she walked right in from the elevator... I couldn't see her face right away, but knew it was her from those crazy rainbow pants I had sent in a care package!  So funny!  I even thought when I bought them that these would probably be what they put her in instead of the super cute outfit #2 that I sent.  Of course it would be the crazy pants!  I digress...  Anyway, there she was!  We were thinking that, like Mia, she would be taken into a "holding room" while some paper work was done, but that was not the case.  Our guide just looked over and said, " Come on, you can come!"

Y'all, she is just precious.  She just looked at us, didn't cry, just kind of took it all in.  I picked her up to carry her to the area where we would speak to the orphanage staff and complete the paper work.  Still no crying.  She just sat with me and looked around.  I gave her a snack and water and she gave me some giggles.  The kids were just crazy for her!  It was a crazy half hour as the kids all vied for her attention.  It's so sweet how much they love her.

After we finished up the necessaries we headed back to the hotel.  She cried a little when we got in the elevator, but stopped as soon as we walked outside.  When we arrived back at the hotel, she and the kids just played and played. She is really silly.  I mean, really silly.  She laughed and giggled like crazy.  She explored and touched everything. So, so sweet.  

So far, so good.  She cried a little again when I first took her shoe off.  I was just trying to change her, so I put her shoe back on. :)  We actually felt she was doing well enough to go out for dinner and she did do great.  By the time we returned, we could tell she was pretty exhausted.  We gave her a quick shower (the staff told us she liked this better than a bath).  She screamed the entire time.  She did not like the shower. :)  We got her dressed for bed and within 10 minutes she fell asleep with me laying beside her.  She is a dream.  

Ok.  Lots more to come this week as we get to know our sweet girl.  This mama is pooped and heading to bed.  Thank you all for your notes of encouragement and prayers.  We have waited almost a year to meet Lynli.  And now I can hear her breathing heavily in a sound sleep, just a few feet away.

God is good. All the time.

Goodnight from the Jennings - party of 6  :)

Mia's Day

I'm up early again. This time it is a little on purpose.  I wanted to write about our day yesterday, but to be honest, last night it was still a little heavy on my heart and I just didn't quite have the words. Not sure I have them this morning either, but I will try.

Yesterday's trip to Mia's orphanage was incredible. Truly incredible.  We arrived in Heshan a little before 11:00am after about a 2 hour ride. You all know road travel in China is CRAZY.  We had tried our best to prepare Mia for this moment.  We knew the nannies would be so excited to see her, but what we didn't expect was for all of the children to be there!  On our last visit, we were only allowed to see one child, her special friend. So, this was a surprise - and a little overwhelming for Mia. She clung to me for about the first 30 minutes. We spent some time visiting in the gathering area. They were very thankful for the things we brought them, but most loved the photo album I had made of Mia's time with us. They just giggled and made comments about every picture. So sweet.

Mia's orphanage is small so there were only about 10 or so children there at that time to see us.  And the older ones definitely remembered her.  They were so excited to see her and just kept calling her name.  I knew the clinginess had to end and the best remedy would be the playground.  I politely asked if she could go play as this had been something she had been excited about from the pictures.  It took a little bit, but she did finally warm up. 

Can you imagine?  They remember you, but you don't remember them?  Overwhelming for sure. And heartbreaking too. 

While the kids were playing, our guide told us that the director wanted us to see the inside. What?!  Again, something not allowed last time.  We were so touched that they would allow us to see where Mia had spent her days.  We were able to see the room she slept in and where she ate her meals. There is a little play space upstairs where we saw a cutie walking around in a walker (after we woke him from his nap). Oops.  We were able to see where the older kids stay also.  I was pleased to hear that there are older girls that go out and work during the day, but are allowed to come back in the evening to live. There is an indoor play area also.  

Now for the most awesome part?  We were invited to lunch. Yep. And we didn't know what to do!  This is the funny part where we had an ongoing crazy conversation between me, Keith, the assistant director and our translator. Should we accept?  Of course we wanted to, but we didn't want to be a burden either. We are a party of 7 on this trip when you include our guide, Lily.  A lot of extra mouths to feed.  And it would be completely rude for us to offer to pay as I was told quickly by Lily when I asked her.  "No, No, No!", she said. "You no buy". They happy you come. They buy."  Well, ok then. And after saying goodbye to the littles, who were going in to have their own lunch, we headed out to a restaurant.  

Honestly, we were just completely thrilled to have the additional time with them.   I was also so happy that Ms. Huang, Mia's main nanny was able to join us.  Mia sat between the two of us. It was a beautiful, very traditional meal.  Lily had asked them to just do a small "rice and noodle" lunch. They obviously ignored her. :) The food kept coming, plate by plate.  I think we ended up with at least 7 different delicious dishes. It was nice to get to know them better. The best you can with everything being translated. We just ate and talked and laughed. It was really great. 

 Ms. Huang so sweetly cared for Mia. I loved that for the first, and probably only time in her life, her two "mommies" were there, together, both helping her with her meal. I can't even put into words what that means to me.  You see, we don't know anything about Mia's birth family. Nothing. We probably never will.  But, Ms. Huang was the one that held my baby and cared for her before me. I saw genuine love for my child from her.  She loved Mia. They all did. 

There are still those big gaping holes in her beginnings.  I don't know what her first moments were like. I don't know what her infant cry sounded like, or when she rolled over, crawled or walked for the first time. I don't have pictures of her as a baby. But, I do know this. They loved her enough to give her a better life. They told us that they had her lip repaired, but didn't have her palate repaired because they were afraid it would not be good enough. They wanted the best for her. They are so excited for her to have a "good family" as they kept telling Lily. They giggled so much at Mia playing with Tucker and Tate.  They said,"the boys love her very much".  Yes, they do.

So. That was our day back at Mia's first home. There are more stories to tell, but it is way too much to write. :)  I am just so thankful for more stories to tell her.  When she is ready and asks us, we just have more to give her.  Not all. I don't have the whole story.  But, I do have more.  And for that I will be forever grateful. 

A little bit of Heshan City

Seeing the children

Warming up in one of the play areas

The inside crib and meal area

Where the babies sleep

The indoor play area

A sweet friend so excited to see Mia

The lunch crew

At the restaurant

Ms. Huang watching Mia open her peanuts. :)

First Morning Back in China

I'm up super early this morning.  My heart is a little heavy and I just can't get back to sleep..

Today is a big day for one of my girls.  I'm so happy for Mia. This whole process has been so much about bringing Lynli home, but over the past couple of weeks, I have been reminded how important this trip is for Mia.  And she is the one who reminded me.

She has been looking at a photo album I made for her that contains pictures of her when she was "a baby" here. It also has pictures of the orphanage and her nannies.  These past few weeks we have talked more about her beginnings than before. She's curious, but from a 4 year old's eyes.  She knows she was born here and questions why she wasn't in my tummy, but it is more like a "birthing" type question than a birth family question.  She just doesn't grasp that yet.  BUT, she is super exited to be back in "MY China", as she calls it.

I can't wait for today.  I am excited for her to be gushed over by her nannies.  I really am.  But, it is hard too. See, last time we visited, we were just getting to know Mia.  She was still "theirs" in a way.  It was exciting to see where she lived and how she interacted with them. This time we know Mia in a different way.  She is ours. Our daughter.  And there is still a gaping hole of two years that is missing. We look at her early year pictures, we don't have many, and it is so hard to imagine her being away from us.  It seems like we have had her forever, but she was a toddler when she left here.  There are lots of moments and time that we know nothing about.  And it is just a strange feeling. I can't wait to see what today unfolds....

My heart is also quite heavy today because I know by this time, Lynli has been moved back to the orphanage while she waits for us.  She was in foster care with a family for almost 2 years.  I can't even imagine her sadness and heartbreak.  We are so happy and excited, yet my little peanut has just been taken from a family she has known for 2 years and is waiting to be placed with a family of strangers.  That is hard. We just hope and pray that she is safe and has some understanding of what is happening. I  feel confident that her foster mother has shown her pictures of us and talked to her about it.

All we can do at this point is pray for her little heart.  Will you join us?  Please keep Lynli Grace in your prayers the next few days as she waits for us.  Please pray not only for her health and safety, but for God to give her peace and comfort. That He will wrap his arms around her like only He can and love her through her grief.  I ask also that you pray for her foster family.  They have done a wonderful thing for our sweet girl. And I know their hearts must be breaking too. Please pray for them to be comforted and for the knowledge that we love her so much already. And that she is going to be ok.

Alright, y'all.  I hear my little bit waking up in the other room.  The day has started!  I can not wait!!!

Finally here!!!

After a travel marathon - we made it!!  We are finally here in Guangzhou getting settled down for the night.  The kids did great - no fussing or whining - they are just troopers!

We arrived to our hotel at about 2:00 this afternoon.  I took a quick trip to the "grocery" store with our guide.  We had a quick bite to eat at Pizza Hut - honestly just too tired to be creative with our food options tonight. :)

Tomorrow morning we are up and at 'em quite early to visit Mia's orphanage.  We are all super excited about that and I was able to purchase some diapers, cookies and candies for the kids while at the store earlier.

I'll post after our trip tomorrow - I have major brain fog and don't even know if what I am typing makes sense. :)  Time to sleep!!!

Thank you all for your prayers for safe travel!

Soon, Very soon!

Hi all!

It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I think I have officially earned the title of "worst blogger ever".  I left you in September with the announcement that we were adopting again and I haven't written since.  Bad, I know. :)

Let me just say that things have progressed and we are almost ready to head to China to bring home Lynli Grace!  The process has been fairly smooth with not much drama. Yay for that!  After submitting our Letter of Intent in September, we worked hard to complete our dossier and had everything submitted in January.  We were logged in with the China "adoption people" soon after and received our Letter of Acceptance in April. Since then, we had a few more paperwork steps that ended with our official Travel Approval coming last Monday.  And as you can only imagine, once the TA is issued, life seems to start going at warp speed!  So, I sit here tonight with airline tickets purchased, hotel reservations made and our "packing station" set up in our foyer.  And the station keeps growing...


So, I'm betting you guys might want an update on Lynli and some pics too? :)  Lynli will turn 3 years old on July 13th.  We are so excited to get to spend that day with her!   She has been in foster care for the past 2 years and seems to be thriving.  I have loved getting pictures of her - she is growing so fast!  At this point, her updates indicate that she is doing well developmentally and socially. It seems like she has also been healthy with few "colds or illnesses" along the way.  

One of the first pictures we saw of her after the referral pictures.

This is the most recent picture that we received the first week of June.

This is my favorite picture of all!  This was taken when the Love Without Boundaries staff visited Lynli's orphanage in February.  We sent her a photo album with our pictures in it.  This is her seeing us for the first time.

So, very soon we will be heading across the ocean to bring our sweet girl home.  We are over the top excited and this week will fly by with all of the preparation!

We will be blogging the entire trip and posting smaller updates to Facebook too. If you want to receive our updates by email, just click the tab above to join the feed!

Exciting News!

I know!  It's been a long time since I've blogged about what's happening in the Jennings' family.

But we've been up to something!  And we're excited to share it with you.

We are headed back to China!

And we can't wait for this little cutie to join our family...

We've chosen the name Lynli Grace Jiyi Jennings. 

Lynli is two years old and currently living in Shantou City, China.

At this point, we are still in the throws of paperwork.  We hope to have Lynli home early next summer.
We'll be using the blog to keep you up to date during the process.

For now, we wanted to share our exciting news and ask for your prayers for Lynli and our family.