About Me

My name is Tracy and I am married to an amazing man, his name is Thomas! We are a busy family that is always on the go between church, school, work and sports.... we are not a sitting around kind of family. We have 4 amazing children and are working on bringing home Elias to make 5. My hubby is Deaf and I am a sign language interpreter,we are very involved in the Deaf community and are excited to be adding another Deaf member to our family. Our kids, Aaron-19, Luke-11, Tommy-10 and Paige-5 are anxious for their new brother to be home. This is our second adoption and we are learning more everyday to lean on God, this journey is already strengthening our faith! We are working on learning how to turn everything over to God and know that He has a perfect plan and all will happen in His time! Good things come to those who wait.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

We are sooo in love and Blessed from above beyone words!!!!

I know I havent been the best of bloggers since we have gotten Luke but it has been a whirlwind. As I type this our precious gift from God is asleep in the bed behind me. We just had a conversation about the newspaper that got delivered to our room and we discussed the President of China and the President of America and even though I know he doesnt know what a President is he figured out they were important people in the world. He also figured out that Obama is where we are going to soon.

We spent today touring Jinan. What an interesting city, soo crowded and old and to be honest sorta dirty but it is full of history..We started our day with a great tour of Baotu Springs, this is a place that Jinan is famous for. We had a great time looking through the springs and just enjoying some amazing Chinese culture and history (even though it is aobut 20 degrees outside) we had an amazing day, it is truly fun and a joy to see things through Luke's eyes.


Today was a day of many firsts for Luke, he saw TV for the first time, had his 1st ice cream cone and saw Baotu Springs for the 1st time, he learned for the first time his zodiac sign and that he was born in the year of the Dragon, our guide was upset that Luke did not know anything about this and what that meant, she said "all Chinese people know this" well apparently Luke wasnt worth teaching in the orphanages eyes...

We were told in the orphange that Lukes paperwork says he is mentally retarded, well Tom and I couldnt help but laugh in the Directors face (not very appropriate I am sure) but hello this boy is SOOOOOO smart it is darn near scary.  He plays memory games like nobodies business, can have pretty in depth conversations in ASL (interesting since he knew about 2 year old level sign language in Chinese when we met and can only read and write in Chinese on a pre-school level too) but he is writing a ton for us in English,  he was never exposed to English before, he is just THAT bright!  Our days and nights are filled with awe and laughter, no it has not all been a bed of roses, as Luke has a ton to learn that our guide that he should know as the other children she has worked with for adoption seemed to know these things, even the children she helped that were deaf knew things he doesnt know, But it seems that since no one at the orphange could communicate with Luke they just didnt bother to teach him things. It is scary to think of what he would be doing now if someone taught him something for the last 10 years..but I must say it has pretty much been as close to a bed of roses as one could get!!!


Today Luke wanted to know what he could do when he gets older (this started because we were talking about Aaron being away at college,) I am not sure he gets what college is exactly but he knows it is school and Aaron is  older and there learning. Tom told him he could do whatever he wants and become whatever he wants, he said " I cant I am not allowed" When Tom told him yes you can do anything he still didnt beleive him. Tom told him a 3 rd time and started squeeling with delite that he could become something.  He is such a deliteful boy so full of joy and quick to laugh and be goofy. We love watching his delite in things we so take for granted on a daily basis. 

I could go on and on but I am getting exhausted and tomorrow we go to get Lukes Passport and then will tour Diamond Lake and then head to the airport, we are seriously going to miss  our guide, Missy as she is a delight  and a joy to be with, I cant imagine our guide down south being this dynamo.  Wish we could take her with us heheh!!!  Luke is going to miss her too, he is no dummy this girl is so nice it is hard to beleive she is real!

We are excited to say that Thanks to a friend we are going to meet a woman in southern China that is Deaf and a native to China but also knows ALS and CSL.. We cannot wait to see someone Deaf as that hasnt happened since we have been here. I am curious what Luke will think of her!!!

Ok I am off to sleep and ready to see what joy tomorrow will bring as we get Luke on the plane for his first ever plane ride of his life!! I can tell you that it made my heart break and elate when we packed his suitcase. Break because he looked at me packing his clothes and our clothes and pointed to his things and said " you are packing my clothes too?" (it makes me so sad to imagine how he must feel so worried we are going to leave him and not want him, I cant imagine how this must feel to a child but to think about it makes me feel so sad I feel like my heart is broken to just imagine even a little what that must feel like)I said of course you are coming on the plane with us.. the boy darn near jumped out of his skin with excitement, he squeeled and did the cutest happy dance ever. I got a huge hug (he normally will not hug) and he just kept giggling and laughing. I told him "Luke you are my son and you will always be with me and daddy) he just giggled and smiled even bigger.. hard to beleive one could smile that large, sooo big that both his eyes vanished hhehehe....

Ok off to sleep with promises to blog more soon, off to our next leg of this amazing journey!!!


 Baotu Springs, Jinan China
                                   Is that a happy face or what!!!!
                                 Our happy Jack and our awesome guide,Missy!
                                                    Tom and I at Baotu Springs
                                               He is such a handsome guy!
                                                      Luke and his Daddy!!!!
          Luke with his first Ice Cream cone ever!!!(I think he might have like it.. what do you think?)
                                                    Me on the bridge at the Springs

                                         Getting all decorated for Chinese New year!!!!!

7 comments:

Jo said...

He sounds amazing! If you were like us you worried ahead of time about bonding, grieving, etc but when everything turns out so great you can relax and have so much fun! How moving...now he knows he can be whatever he wants when he grows up.

I got a little emotional when we left Jinan. It's hard to think about leaving their country, culture, etc. I hope his first flight goes well and you all have even more fun in Guangzhou where it's warmer!

Terry said...

I think that my head cold get worse with all this crying I do while reading your posts! Give Luke and Tom a big hug from Me and Brad!!!! Oh so happy that he's coming home! You better prepare him for the love-mauling he's going to get at church...it may be overwhelming!

One Happy Momma said...

Tracy and Tom -

What a BEAUTIFUL Boy you have!!

Thank you for sharing him with us!

Blessings -

Cathy

Unknown said...

I am so grateful to our god that things are going so well, Yes bumps come up but our amazing god will help you through them!! Continue to enjoy yourself, your time bonding, laughing, the first's and whatever else god has in store!! Can't wait to have you all home together!!! Love You xoxo p.s please give the boys hugs from me!!! xoxo

Jewels of My Heart said...

OH Tracy...... how does one find words after reading your post...
Thank You Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am dancing with your precious son!
A victory dance indeed!
Oh, how thankful I am that the Lord has answered our prayers and your little guy is safe and sound and experiencing life with his mama and daddy. I am amazed at how quickly he is learning and how you all are communicating! Far better than most of us get to for a couple of months when we are first together. What a blessing.
Love you sister and enjoy each moment!
Praying for God's traveling mercies,
Love,
Daleea

Aus said...

The joy I'm feeling for (or with) ya'll is really beyond words - HOORAH - just amazing what a little love and dedication can do for a kid!

Can't wait to follow the rest of your journey - ya'll will love GZ - stop at Lucy's for us and have a TsingDao (they also have some of the best ice cream on the Island!) Yeah - Luke seems pretty good with that ice cream thing!

If he has any more anxiety about 'not staying' when you travel - put some of your stuff in his suitcase and some of his in yours - he'll get the idea quick enough!

Great joy for you guys - continued Blessings! Hugs - aus and co.

Stacy said...

Tracy,
Wow. I don't even know what to say after reading this!
When he thought you were leaving him and then finding out he was going with you....oh, my. I am loving your blog and you write so well about what is taking place. Thank you for letting us into your world of adoption. Luke is such an amazing boy and I can only imagine what he will do with his life.
You and Tom are amazing parents. Thank you for giving this boy life.
Stacy

Our little boy!

Our little boy!
Opening up my care package from my family!

Curious what he is thinking!

Curious what he is thinking!
Checking out my Family for the 1st time ever! (this pic is of my new Brothers and Sister!)

His first reaction after seeing us

His first reaction after seeing us
This is my Forever Family!

Some goodies from the care package

Some goodies from the care package
Some of my new books

This picture makes me cry every time I see it!

This picture makes me cry every time I see it!
My 1st picture of my mommy and daddy! They say I love to look at my pictures again and again!

Studying our faces....

Studying our faces....
Checking out my new family again!

Look at that face!

Look at that face!
Checking out my new books

Aaron's Graduation

Aaron's Graduation
We are so Proud!

Xin Hai's name in Chinese!

福新

Fu XinHai

Xin Hai

Xin Hai
Isnt he the cutest ever?

Aaron's Senior Prom

Aaron's Senior Prom
My handsome Son, Aaron

Aarons prom

Aarons prom
Paige, Aaron and Tommy

My Family

My Family
The Worrell Family

Our Precious one

Our Precious one
Xin Hai in 2008 - so precious! Love that smile!

adoption countdown

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers