Catching up

Wow, It seems like ages since I updated, and that's because it has been ages! There is a huge difference between being in a hotel room with time to kill and being home, with no time to kill at all! Once I have a minute to myself, I have so much to do that there seems to be no time to sit and write.

I re-discovered my love of writing while I was in China, and have promised myself that I will begin to do some writing every day...starting today! Life at home with 5 kids under the roof, and two away, is certainly a hindrance to sitting and putting thoughts together, but it sure gives me plenty to write about.

First of all, update on Maeleigh. I can hardly even remember a minute in the last month that she has not been smiling or happy.She seems to be sucking up all the business and hustle and bustle around here. She is slowly picking up English, but we communicate very well with a mixture of sign language, Chinese and English.The main thing is that she is relaxed and laid back about it, so she does not get frustrated or upset. She started school a few weeks ago at our local middle school. We were concerned about dropping her into the middle school, but our concerns were not warranted. Everyone there has been more than awesome, and she is like a celebrity there. the kids all want to help with her book bag, and they set her up with a great group of kids, and she does ESL every day with the sweetest teacher. We could not have asked for a more perfect place for her, and we know that God has, once again, answered our prayers as we prayed for her to have a great place for school.

Matt and I traveled up to Vermont to go to Mick's Fire and Rescue Banquet. As many of you know, Mick has been an EMT for a few years and he works at the college-run Fire and Rescue, and drives the ambulance there. We are so proud of this kid, and Mick gave a refelction at the Prayer service that had the whole crowd (even the dads) in tears as he spoke of the reasons they do rescue. These college kids man the resuce 24-7, give up holidays and breaks, and are literally saving lives and helping not only the college community, but surrounding towns in the Burlington area. Just about a week ago Mick's team saved the life of a man, 56, who had a heart attack. Mick hit the paddle that brought the man back, and two days later the doctors placed a pacemaker in his heart, and he walked out of the hospital. Mick and his team received a Code-Save medal for saving his life.How cool is that?

In a few weeks, Mick will turn 22. Twenty two years ago, on April 18, Michael Sean Roberto was born, after a total of 40 hours of labor. Back then there was no protocol for Beta strep infection, and I got it. They did not detect it until my water broke, and within a few hours, I had a fever of 102 degrees. At some point, I began to lose my hearing as my body was beginning to shut down. Matt was told that they would lose both the baby and myself if they did a C-section, and that I had to deliver vaginally if there was to be any chance of saving us. Matt, who was a coach for many years, knew that he had to keep me awake and alert, and had to make me deliver the baby. So, the more I moaned and groaned, and faded into unconsciousness, the more Matt 'yelled' at me, teeth gritted, in my ear...saying words that aggravated m enough to be mad at him, but he knew I they would get me aware. "I don't want to hear you moaning," I remember him saying. "Breathe, dammit, breathe!" Somehow, truly through the grace of God, and Matt's instincts, I could hear only 2 voices: Matt's and my nurse Kelly. I can still see my OB and the neonatologist standing near my bed talking, but I could not hear them. Finally, Mick was born, and once the placenta was delivered, I became fully conscious and aware. The infection went through the core of the placenta, so once it was out of me, I was fine. Mick, though born with the infection in his spinal fluid, left the hospital 7 days later, completely unscathed. Now, almost 22 years after he was born, he is saving lives and making a difference in the world. We could not be more grateful for this amazing young man, and we thank God for him.

Another event this past week (can you see why I do not post too much) is that Sophie made her 1st Penance. She was so nervous! She did an amazing job with examining her conscience and is beginning to see that her actions and behaviors have meanings. We had the Penance service with other deaf children, and the kids were able to do their penance with deaf priests. Sophie will be making her 1st Communion on Easter Sunday, and my dad, who is a Catholic Deacon, will give Sophie Communion for the first time. What an awesome blessing that is.

Home

If you weren't able to follow my blog while I was in china, please go to

www.babyjellybeans.com

There will be a box for first and last name, type in Maeleigh Roberto.

I will add some of the pictures from our trip here and there on this blog, and the add new ones as we go.


We have been home almost 2 weeks now, and things could not be any better.Maeleigh is so happy to be here, and if she misses her life, she is missing it quietly. I am sure she misses the many people who loved her, but she is so happy and busy, she doesn't have much time to think about things.

Tomorrow she will start at our local middle school. We looked into many options for her but in the end decided that she should at least start at the middle school to get the help and support she needs. They have been wonderful and will be ready to greet her tomorrow morning. She will ride the bus, and then I will put Shane on the bus and will drive over to the school. Once she gets acclimated, she will do fine.They will work with her on ESL, and get her adjusted to her new life.

At home, she is loving having so many sisters around, is getting used to Shane and his shenanigans, and is having fun with Sophie. She has discovered Hannah Montana on Netflix, so Shane is going around humming "You get the best of both worlds..."(sorry if that tune sticks in your head all day. Welcome to my world!

I am taking advantage of another day home, making stew, baking bread and pound cakes, and cleaning my house! Life is good.

Thanks again to everyone for following along with me on my trip, and for everyone who supported us to give Maeleigh a forever family!

Going to China!

We leave on Friday to head to China. I cannot believe that the day is almost here, after waiting for so long. Ready or not ( and I am almost ready, I am happy to say) we leave at 12 noon on Friday. While I am in China, I am going to be posting from a different site as it is easier to post from there and Maeleigh can follow along and see the posts. Blogger is blocked in China.Imagine that!

So, here is the site: www.babyjellybeans.com At the bottom right you will see a box that has a place for first and last name. Type in Maeleigh Roberto and you will find my site. Don't forget to sign the guestbook so we will know you were there.

Here we go! Thanks to everyone who has helped us to make this journey possible. We could not have done it without the generosity of so many friends and strangers, and from your heartfelt prayers. I am grateful to God for asking us to adopt this little girl and open the hearts of so many people to the joys of adoption, and the needs of so many orphans.

God Bless...Our Lady of China, pray for us.

When God is your travel agent.

We are officially one week away from leaving for China for our trip to get Maeleigh. It has been a long, long process. There have been many nights of tossing and turning, but never about the decision to adopt Maeleigh, always about the paperwork and finances. Over the Christmas holidays, I had a particular night of tossing and turning as I crunched the numbers to make the travel expenses come together. Our agency had been using a travel service that was charging per person, and the costs were higher than we could handle. Exhausted from worry and lack of sleep, praying the rosary in between numbers churning in my head, I took a deep breath and said "Lord, Maeleigh is your child. You have brought her to us, we need your help. Help us to figure this out."

The very next day (no exaggeration) we got notice that the agency was changing their travel provider, and costs would be much more manageable. We also received our Travel Approval that day.

We have been so blessed by the generosity of so many friends and many people we have never met. I have been truly humbled by donations that came at the exact time that I owed a payment.  I was planning on leaving Sophie home because of the high cost of airfare...within a half hour of telling the agency I could not bring her, I received a phone call that someone was giving us $600, and walked to the mailbox to find a card from a dear friend with a check for $500.  I emailed the agency...Sophie was going.

I contacted a wonderful travel agency and told the woman I needed to book the flights to China. Mary Jane from Vantresca travel was so excited about our story, and she gave me a quote for the flights that ranged right around $1100...exactly the donation we had been given. We didn't book that day because I wanted to have the passports in front of me, so I told her that I would stop in to the office. One thing led to another for the next few days, and I never made it in. Almost 5 days later, I called her back to book over the phone. I was a little sick in my stomach at the time lost, and the knowledge that the closer you get to travel, the higher the cost. But there was nothing I could do about it. when Mary Jane pulled up the information, she hesitated, gasped. "Oh, my" she said, incredulous.

  "Mary Jane, what's wrong?" I asked her. There was a another pause.
  
 "MaryAnne, the price has gone down...by $200 a person. Flights never go down, they always go up. I don't know who you have working for you!"

I laughed out loud. "I do, Mary Jane, I absolutely know who is working for me!"

Itinerary!

Our Lady of China, pray for us!

Well, we are officially booked for our flights, and were so thrilled to have a LOWER price for the flights than we were originally quoted.The travel agent said "You must have someone upstairs working for you!" I answered, "As I matter of fact, we do!"

Here is a synopsis of what our trip will look like:

Friday, Feb 24th: Newark fight to Beijing, fly 13 +hours and arrive in Beijing on  the 25th, a whole day later!

Sat, Feb 25th: Stay in Beijing overnight to get some rest

Sunday, Feb 26th : train to Tianjin, with our guide

Monday, Feb 27th: Meet Maeleigh WuShuang!!! (this is actually Sophie's 4th anniversary of her Family Day!!!)

Tuesday, Feb 28th: Sign paperwork, and take train to Beijing

Wed Feb 29th: Visit Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square (Matt and Mick and I were there, but it will be awesome for the girls to see

Thursday, March 1st : Visit Great Wall (Cable car!!!)

Friday:March 2: Our guide will go back to Tianjin to get Maeleigh's paperwork, when she arrives, we fly to Guangzhou, the next part of out trip!

Saturday, March 3rd: We will be in Guangzhou, where the US Consulate is.Maeleigh will have a medical exam and get a TB test. GZ's weather is more mild, like Florida, so we will be able to lose heavy coats and shed some layers!

Sunday, March 4th: Hoping to go to the local Catholic church, otherwise we have a free day!

Monday, March 5th Check TB test and possibly the Safari

Tuesday March 6th US Consulate appointment

Wednesday March 7: Maeleigh's visa gets picked up and we leave for Hong Kong for 1 night

Thursday March 8th: FLY HOME We leave Hong Kong about 12 am on March 8th and return home around 5 pm on March 8th...Can you say jet-lag?

Picturing the past...Picturing a new life

Maeleigh soon after going to the orphanage.

How tiny she was! 

 

 

Reading a recent letter we sent her...perhaps picturing her new life.

I love her hair!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    I opened my email this morning to find the baby pictures, above, from Elaine, who was the Physical Therapist who had worked with Maeleigh when she first arrived at the orphanage in 2000, when she was around 2 years old.Elaine used to take Maeleigh home with her on the weekends so that she would see what life was like outside the orphanage. Oh, my goodness, she was so adorable. We are so grateful to the many people from Tianjin International Committee for Chinese Orphans who have helped Maeleigh, and so many other children, to this day.

     The other day we were treated to the pictures of Maeleigh reading her letter from us. as we get closer to getting Maleigh, my heart is with her at the thought that she would be worried about us, worried about her new life. I think of my Shannon who is just a year older than her, and wonder how Shannon would feel about being taken away from the only life she ever knew, to be whisked into a world with a different language, culture, food, customs. Oh, my, my heart breaks for her. I hope she can feel our love from across the wold...I hope she can trust that we want the best for her, that we will make it work for her, no matter what.

     Asking for prayers for these weeks ahead as we prepare, and Maeleigh prepares. I know that in the end the prayers will be what gets us through.

I will be booking our flights today, and we are continuing our fundraisers! Check out the bracelets and art prints we have for sale!!!! Check in later this week for a special Valentine's Day bracelet special!!!

Thanks for your support!!!

"Do not fear"

"Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you...bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth."

Isaiah 43: 5-6

Wow.It has been quite a weekend. I have been constantly thinking about and planning on the finances and the logistics of travel expenses. There are many who do not understand adoption expenses, fees, etc. Many people comment to me that adoption should be free for the adoptive family. What they forget is the services that are required in order for a child to be adopted. For example, there must be a homestudy done, and the adoption agency must do that. They need to get paid for the work they do. They arrange paperwork, talk to the orphanage and Chinese officials, and advocate for the child and the family. this is the 3rd agency we have dealt with, Madison, and they did all of our homestudies. They are over-the-top amazing. I just love them. They have helped and advocated and their hearts are all about getting children home to their families. When I pay their fees, I am glad that they are there to help us, and will be there to help other families.

There are airfare fees, hotel fees, travel between provinces, food, and other expenses. Once, a woman (adoptive mom) looked at me with disdain at families who fund raise for adoption. She told me in no uncertain terms that if people did not have money for their adoptions, they should not adopt. If everyone who wanted to adopt had $25000 in cash, there would be more than 147 million orphans, because no one would adopt! Because we are all called to help the orphans, we all do it in different ways.Some of us open up our hearts and homes, and truly change the face of our family, the dynamics of our homes, and we welcome a child into our lives. For those who cannot open their homes, they open their hearts with love and support for the child and the family. And for those who can, they open their wallets and give, even the smallest amount, and by doing so, become a real part of the Family that is chosen for adoption.

The past few weeks, as the holidays are behind us and the fees for travel have piled up, I became more and more concerned about the mounting travel expenses.While I have been saving furiously, many things have transpired to chip away at our savings for the adoption, like two major car repairs, unexpected medical bills, etc. I would find myself awake at night, worrying and counting the pennies in my head.  While I tried to pray the sleepless hours away, worry would creep in and my best intentions left me tired and bleary-eyed in the morning. And then the other night, Thursday, to be exact, I had about had it. I woke up again, about 4 am, and started to worry, to pray, to worry more. I thought of the decision to adopt Maeleigh, and how I knew it was the right decision. Of that I have never wavered. I thought of all the angst that goes into saving the money, figuring things out, and at the same time trying to pay the bills and raise six kids. Suddenly, I felt  a release, a total surrender. I spoke to God directly "She is Your daughter, Lord, please figure this out." 

When I got home Friday night there was an email from a woman who is a Physical Therapist in California, and who had been sent my blog.She was a volunteer at Maeleigh's orphanage when Maeleigh arrived there in 2000, and she used to take Maeleigh home with her on weekends so that she could see what life outside the orphanage was like. She said she used to feel so sad because she knew WuShuang (Maeleigh) would not have a bright future in China. She will be sharing pictures and stories with me about her time with Maeleigh, so stay tuned.  About an hour later, I received another email from another volunteer from Maeleigh's orphanage, and she asked for my address to send us a check to help with our expenses. In addition, the travel person from Madison is working hard to help me make this trip affordable and not overly expensive. It was only within the last week or so that Madison changed travel providers to help families manage the travel costs. Had we traveled any earlier our costs would have been much more.

It is a constant privilege and honor to be the recipient of these kinds of blessings. I know so clearly that God has answered my prayers, and the He is working hard to help us. I know that I need to get out of the way, stop worrying, and trust that He is in charge. It is the most awesome and awe-inspiring experience to know that we are truly not in this alone. I am so buoyed up by the Holy Spirit, and so full of excitement to be a part of the work of bringing home a child into our family, and thankful that we have been asked to do this.

Thank you to all who have been so very generous and thoughtful to us during this process. We are forever grateful and keep you close in our prayers.

God Bless