Most Results are In!

I am up late tonight (thursday night) just rejoicing in the many prayers we have had answered.
This morning we saw a pediatric urologist for her enlarged kidney. He was able to show us on the ultrasound where the fluid was building up. He seemed to feel fairly confident that her condition-this hydro nephrosis-will go away eventually on its own. They do want to keep an eye on it every 3 months so we will repeat the ultrasound and see if she is better or worse. In the meantime-he wants to preventatively get her on some low dosages of antibiotics to help prevent a bad kidney infection possibly. Surgery is an option down the line but it is not necessary right now. Next-we went to the pediatric cardiologist and found that her heart is perfectly normal and healthy! We are so thankful! We will go to the inner ear specialists and plastic surgeon next month but as far as we can tell-she is hearing really well and responding to us! Our pediatrician called yesterday and said that all of her bloodwork can back normal...we are super grateful for that as well! TEIS (tennessee early intervention service) came out today and did an evaluation for us. It is a free service offered to those kids who are "delayed" and they help with all kinds of therapy-several people have told us they are great people who do their work well. She will have a customized plan for her in the coming months BUT I think main therapy will be engaging with all her siblings around the house! It will be good for me to learn some of their therapy techniques so I am eager to learn. She is already doing better trying to sit up on her own and she is holding toys on her own now. She has put on a full pound in the 3 weeks we have had her and we can tell that she is changing so much from the nourishment. She just seems stronger to us overall even though she is still so small.

Meeting cousins on Pereira side! Her second week home!

Its the second week home now! She seems to be getting settled into her own crib now and is starting to sleep through the night. We are seeing small strides in her gaining strength. She is grabbing for our fingers and toys now. She is beginning to like bouncy seat some and eggersaucer. She is actually eating some baby food for the first time-she only likes the all natural home made kind that Lilian makes so we are glad. We are thankful she is learning to use her tongue and experience some textures. It may be awhile before we begin introducing anything harder since she only has a speck of a tooth showing! She likes vanilla and chocolate pediasure only-not berry or banana! She is like her daddy-loves that chocolate flavor!
We are still awaiting her blood test results which we should get back any day. We went to vanderbilt last week and had all her bloodwork done-she hated it! Thankfully-a sweet friend went with me so i did not have to be the one pinning her down. We also got an ultrasound. The pictures revealed that she has an inflamed kidney-the condition is called hydro nephrosis. We will go in this thursday and meet with one of the best pediatric urologists at vandy about this condition and any other findings. Hopefully-we can gain a much better understanding of what this means at her appt. Then-we go have her echocardiogram after that appt. Our prayer is that her heart would be perfect! Please pray as we continue to get her little body examined and determine what health needs we may be facing. We feel really at peace knowing that our great God "has formed her innermost parts and knows them well." It is such a huge relief knowing that the Lord already knows every little detail about her formation.

One of the highlights this past weekend was having all of Tim's family together and all the cousins getting to love on her for the first time! I must say-this little Belle was one loved on little gal all weekend! Belle has 11 cousins and counting so far!

Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Rudi from Ohio

The girls all sewed Belle pillows!

We are thankful for Emma who just had a heart repair!
She enjoyed holding her new cousin!

Pool Time!

Lizzy and Luke with Belle!

Aunt Rudi with ballerina girl at RCC for first time!

So smitten!

We are working on trying to learn to sit up!

First Doctor Appointment!

Today we went to see our pediatrician who has been wonderful with all of our kids. He sees a lot of adopted kids so he is experienced and knows what to expect. Thankful he has walked this road with us and helped us make an informed decision-even though there are always lots of unknowns based on the limited into/photos you get in a referral sometimes. She totally feels like ours! Cant imagine her not being a Pereira.
We spent a good 2 hours there and got her looked over from head to toe. He answered a lot of my questions I had about her-from what to feed her, to constipation, to her joints popping, and her sweating!
She is like a 6 month old on growth chart in an 18 month old body. She has"severe delays"in development but I know we can catch up! We will be going to therapists for occupational therapy, speech therapy, and physical therapy and thankfully there are lots of good resources out there and suggestions he had! We had 5 vaccines yesterday and attempted to get 6 viles of blood (but only were able to get 2). Her veins are super small and you cant see them at all-nurses were so sweet. We will go down to Vanderbilt Children's today and try and get all her blood we need so he can run all the tests he wants to run. Pray for mama-whew! So hard to see them screaming so loud and getting poked and prodded! They sometimes go into their head vein-i am not a needles person either! Her kidney ultrasound is scheduled for Friday am. Dr. White had already lined up appts with specialists. We will have an echocardiogram, see the ear specialist, plastic surgeon, etc, We will know more about her overall health once we get all the data back. I look forward to learning exactly how to work with her on her gaining strength. She is already holding her head up better. She has extreme "laxity of the joints" so hopefully wtih the vitamins we are starting and pediasure we are pumping her with/exercises we are doing with her she will gain strength quickly. We continue to covet your prayers and we are thankful for all the amazing medical professionals here in our backyard!

When Love takes you In-Everything Changes!

morning snuggle time with Meyer and friend Eric

Fresh out of bath-I smell better now! I sweat a lot! 

 Kissable lips! 

bath time last night! 

 2 sweet cousins almost the same age!

All 5 with daddy-she loves water now!

papaw loving on belle!

my new magargee friends

We are back home safe and sound!

We arrived back safely at 8:30 pm on wednesday Night. We could not believe her Homecoming at the airport. Our hearts were overjoyed at the family and friends who took time out of their night to greet us and meet Belle.

Tim and I were afraid to take ambien on the way home because we wanted to be fully aware/awake for her so we were exhausted for thursday and friday. She did amazing for all three legs (about 20 hours total). She fussed maybe for 30 minutes on the really long 13 hour leg. That was just a huge answer to prayer for us. We smelled like sweat and were so ready for a shower. We never had much time between connections and customs so we were hungry and I was running low on diapers and formula-BUT WE MADE IT!

Thank you Lord for your protection over us and that there were no hitches and delays on our return! Thank you friends for reaching out to us over these past few days and making Belle feel so very loved and special.

There is no doubt in our minds that she was hand picked for our family. She seems to be adjusting well so far. The kids completely smothered her all day Thursday. My parents left that day so we were all sad to see them go but I know they must have been exhausted and tired themselves. They never once complained and they got a chance to really know our kids personalities over the past 2 weeks. They took them to doctors appointments, fireworks, to and  from camps, Radnor, shopping, out to dinner, pool time, bedtime-you name it! Thankfully-Tim did not have to go to work thursday and friday so we could spend time teaching our children how to attach to their new sister. We have spent hours getting unpacked, laundry, mail, e-mails, grocery-we are finally coming up for air! Finally got a nap in today! Belle is learning to adjust to her own room/crib and all the toys she has never seen. We are slowly letting her experience the eggsersaucer, bouncy seat, swings, etc. She seems to really follow noises well and likes to see what action is going on amongst her siblings. It has been fun to have friends stop by and want to meet her. Today was her first big outing. We went to a pool party. Again-Luke and Meyer and Anna Caroline are just in awe of her and want to introduce her to their friends. Michael is a total toddler-likes her but in his own little world. We are just trying to keep a close watch on him since he likes to swing things and find markers and write on things these days!

Tonight is Saturday night and we hung out by our pool together and she really loved to be in the water and watching the others swim. She also ate a tiny bit of the rice we were having for dinner-a yummy dish that Grandma Ellie had made for us. She ate a tiny bit of baby food yesterday. She loves her bottle best and she took some whole milk for the first time this morning! We are just slowly introducing it all to her. She is also barely cutting a tooth-yipee! Tonight when I was laying her down she actually had enough muscle control to pick her arms up and wrap them softly around my neck-made me tear up a little. Her great grandmother Nannie also left her a message today on the answering machine. I get emotional about all of this because it is such a gift for her to even have a great grandmother and she has been sooooo warmly welcomed into both of our families with grace, love, and hope-A picture of Christ's love for us. He comes to us with open arms and without judgement.

I better go to sleep now! We are going to attempt church in the morning with all 5! Love to all and hope you can see her precious ways from the photos. Please be praying for her doctors check-up this Tuesday if Belle comes to your mind.

All the little kids who came-such a treat for us! Will post some clearer ones later 

from those who got better photos! 

Meeting Cece for the first time!

Meeting uncle and Papaw for first time

Meeting Grandma Ellie for first time!

A priceless Homecoming for baby belle! Her new family!

Add caption

First night at home! Boys cannot wait to snuggle!

Anna Caroline shows off her Matching outfits she found with cece! She wants to dress up her sister 

like her! Guess Belle will have to wait on all the "accessories!

Mommy Time at Night!

 Luke in his new silk chinese pajamas! 

Thank you friends for the posters! She will know one

day how loved she is! We loved y'all greeting us with a warm welcome!

First bath ever! She took a baby one at the hotel but this was first "real one" last night!

Meyer is in heaven holding her-she loved it and did not cry! 

Luke giving his first bottle to her!

Luke is in his element! 

Last Days

A typical chicken dish... can you find the head? :)

Last night at the hotel

She loves looking up at her daddy

Pizza party with our group on the last night

We are almost home!

Here's our flight info...

Wed. july 13 United #850
depart beijing at 4:10 pm and arrive chicago at 4:03 pm
depart chicago at 7 pm (flight # 6078)

Arrive nashville at 8:38 pm on Wed July 13th!!!!!

Please pray specifically for our over 20 hours of travel home. We start off with a long in-country flight from Guangzhou to Beijing. Pray that we would have patience with one another, with baby Belle, the airlines, customs, potential delays and lines. Pray she would sleep some on the flight and that our backs would stay strong.

Thankfully, this has been a reminder to both of us that we travel well together, enjoy similar things, like the same pace, and try to be a team. I am thankful for the ways that being together for 2 solid weeks has built us, grown us, and forced us to communicate with more clarity.

We are off to a local chinese market right now. Then back to room for her nap and to begin packing! We should get her visa this afternoon. She is taking a nap on my chest right now as I type with one hand! Forgive the run on sentences and errors as I don't have time to edit! Eloise made a stretchy wrap sling that i wear and it comes in handy. Tim likes the Baby Bjorn. We are going to leave the stroller here as she can't quite sit up in it yet-we have one at home too!

She has made so much progress in the days we have had her! Rolling over, smiling, reaching! We love spending hours playing with her on the bed. It has been so good to attach without the distractions of home and other kids. We really think she is going to love the craziness of her 3 brothers and sister( and all you fun friends!)

Love,
Carissa and Tim

More photos...

Third pool day, no tears!

Sign around the pool... you can smoke thought

Photo shoot at a small park

Belle loves watching her fingers and toes move

This pair is a hoot! Both are 7 and being adopted by america world families-Paige is on the left and Cami is on the right-

they have been able to have talking in chinese all week and none of us can understand them! 

Our group travel photo from America World-all 5 families together! Each family is special in a very unique way and we will take away  some fond memories and laughs with them! 

Little Nugget feels bigger to us in one week! She even will pose for a photo now and can hold her head up! 

WE ARE OFFICIAL!!!!

Monday the 11th. We are official! Today we met our guide in the lobby at 7:30 am to take us to our consulate appointment! All in all-it took about an hour. We went through security and then waited on the fourth floor, did some paperwork, and took an oath with several other families. We now wait for her visa to be processed and our guide will pick it up and deliver it to us tuesday afternoon (we hope it all gets done at least!). Then, we fly out Wednesday morning for the 20 hours of travel home!

Right now Baby Belle is sleeping in her pack and play in the room. We meet up for a group photo in a few hours and travel to a museum. Tomorrow morning we hope to hit a local Chinese market that is supposedly very interesting. It has been nice to be in a clean hotel with a few people who speak English. Still seems all the Chinese people smoke-even around all the babies. I have learned that I always need to take my toilet paper with me... all the public toilets are holes in the floor and they do not have toilet paper in the stalls. We cannot thank you all enough for your prayers and words of encouragement that sustain us.

Carissa

Sunday am-Guanghoux

Yesterday was a free day and we went by bus with the other families to Shamia Island-where the famous White Swan Hotel is.  We went inside the hotel and saw several other families who were also in the adoption process and it seems high season for chinese tourists as well. The streets are very pretty around this area and there were bronze statues and fountains and tourist shops everywhere. We spent about 2 hours shopping and getting interesting little gifts for our kids. We had lunch at Lucy's with a few other families and then headed back to the hotel for Belles nap time. She will either nap once or twice a day.

Tim and I took turns hitting the gym (we are in a Marriott now and the facilities are much nicer than the previous hotels) and then we spent the early evening at the pool. It is an outdoor large pool that feels really nice. The second day she truly seems to love it. We enjoyed seeing two of the families who are adopting 7 year olds-have their daughters get in the pool for the very first time in their lives-it was a happy moment for sure and lots of squeals! It has been a real joy getting to know the other families these past 2 days... why they adopted... how long they have been in the process... their heartaches and challenges... how they are attaching, etc. Two of the families had older children that they brought along and the other 3 families were like us and left their kids behind. It has been a lot of fun for us to be able to Skype back home with our family and at least be able to see our kids. I think cece and papa chuck are surviving and having fun! Luke is at Daystar's Hopetown Camp right now and we know he is "in his element." My parents will go pick him up on Tuesday in Kentucky.

We had dinner last night at the hotel at their casual Chinese restaurant with a family from Maryland-we hit it off great with them and they have kids the same age. They are adopting a little girl named Cami, who has Spina Bifida.  She loves baby belle and loves to smile. You guessed it...fried rice and noodles! I am trying to stay away from the fruits and raw veggies since they are washed in tap water so I am dying to dive into fruits and veggies when I get home!

At night-Baby Belle has her fussy time right before bed. She is usually really sweet all day and then screams at night for awhile. This is a joyful time for Tim as you can imagine-he loves loud noises!:) We did have a break through in food yesterday with her-she liked the chocolate pediasure we mixed in her bottle. She still does not care for baby food or soft cereal bars. So-right now we are sticking to rice cereal and formula mixed in her bottle and she will try an occasional soft egg or play with her noodles. She looks really funny at her hands when they rice or noodle gets stuck to her hand and she cannot get it off. She does not seem to put her hands in her mouth so much or like to suck on her fingers. She definitely prefers taking her bottle on her back versus sitting us as this is the way they did it at the orphanage.

Weekend photos

Not sure if I'll like this...

I love this pool!

Daddy and Belle

Japanese dinner at our hotel bar :)

Belles name in ink block

Pereira in Chinese

She likes the action seat

I love this position

My new outfit

Quick photo in the lobby