Update on Natalie

Just a quick update on our Natalie. She is doing fantastic! She is the happiest little girl I have ever met! It took all of us about 4 weeks after returning home to get back to the normal swing of things, get over being sick (from our trip) and get Natalie into a routine. She sleeps an average of 10-11 hours a night and takes at least an hour nap-I was told that they are not use to all the stimulation so thus the long hours of sleep. Hey, I'm not complaining. After having a few weeks of interrupted sleep, I am enjoying the sleep! The only ongoing issue we have with her is eating habits. She refuses to eat fruits and vegetables, other than bananas. However, she will drink 8oz or more a day of the V-8 Fusion, so we know she is getting her needs there. She seems to "analyze" everything (including her food-each and every bit-which makes "hiding" veggies difficult.) She is extremely smart and learning at an extremely rapid pace! She talks (mostly baby talk) from the time she gets up in the morning until she goes to bed at night, and she has the most infectious smile which sucks everyone in! I have complete strangers stop us wherever we go to say how cute she is. Once she makes up her mind to do something, that's it-it's done. Like, remember how she screamed bloody murder whenever Brad tried to hold her? One day she just decided that he was ok, and now he can do anything with her-like they have known each other forever. She did the same thing with the bottle/sippy cup. She adamantly refused to take the sippy cup-then one day out of the clear blue, she started drinking from it and from that moment on refused the bottle. I suspect that out of the clear blue one day she will be spitting out complete sentences in English. I am hoping and praying she does the same thing for food!

All her blood tests came back negative/normal, and the pediatric cardiologist said the surgery that was done on her heart in china looked good. She does have severe pulmonary valve regurgitation and a slight enlargement of the heart. But the doctors feel she is doing so well, that right now they only want to see her every 6 months. If things remain OK, she should not need the valve replacement surgery until she is at least 10 years of age. Praise God for all the blessings we have been given thus far!

Natalie has now been with us for 2 months and I feel like we have had her since birth. Each day is just an amazing adventure. She is constantly making Brad and I laugh. I am trying to get back to choir on Wednesday nights, but I find I would rather be with her, and she does not like me leaving for very long (about ½ hour is her limit).

God bless everyone!

Brad & Elizabeth Herr

HOME

We are home at last! We arrived safely home at 8pm Saturday the 22nd (1 hour BEFORE we would have boarded a plane for BWI). We are so grateful to my parents who made the trip to Newark, NJ to pick us up at that airport. The flight home was not a good one-15 long hours. Natalie did as well as could be expected, but she slept for only 2 hours of those 15. The remainder of the time she fought sleep with every minute that passed. I told Brad by the time we got over Canada-10 hours into our flight-I felt like a punching bag. She never really cried for long, but she squirmed, kicked, punched, banged her head and literally would not sit still or sleep. She didn't want to be held, but she only wanted me at the same time. It was completely frustrating-and their wasn't a darn thing we could do. I have had a very bad head cold-and breathing was not easy on the plane-and the altitude made everything move to my chest. By the time we got off the plane, I had very little voice and was dehydrated. BUT, by God's grace we survived, and are finally feeling a little better.

Getting Natalie into a routine has been my priority since arriving home. I figure the sooner we are able to show her that each day is the same-the more secure she will feel. (After all, she was on a very regimented schedule at the orphanage, then her world was turned upside down in one day-and she has had NO consistency since then.) However, that is easier said than done with family stopping in and doctor appointments to keep. I thought when we arrived home we would just hunker down and hide in the house for about a month. But I am finding out real quick that I miss getting out of the house, and seeing people. I forgot about how much MY life would change with suddenly having no job to get up to go to each day-ontop of motherhood to a Velcro baby. I suddenly miss "peeing" in peace!

God has been gracious, but I sometimes wonder if the saying "He never gives you more than you can handle" was made up by some delusional human being. We arrived home Saturday night-sick and tired-and Sunday afternoon my husband was rushing one of our cats to the PET Emergency with urinary tract infection. Then yesterday we got a snowstorm and Natalie had a very important pediatrician appointment. But we too survived that. It stopped snowing before we had to leave-we had no problems with the roads-were able to get a few things at Babies R Us, and get home right before round two of the snow hit! We had 9 inches when we woke up this morning.

Natalie was a real trooper at the doctors. They all loved her to death. The pediatrician was pleased with her overall health, but because she had heart surgery in China, she has had NO vaccinations. So round one was yesterday. She got 4 shots, and blood work drawn. I can't believe her resiliency. She cried during the procedures, but had a smile on her face right after it was over. They even had a hard time finding her vein to draw blood-but after it was over, she still had a smile for the nurses and a bye-bye. WOW! Unfortunately, she will have to have more blood drawn tomorrow because she doesn't weigh enough to have taken it all at one time-not looking forward to that.

We introduced her to snow today. She didn't like it, but I know that will all change eventually. We have been blessed with family and friends from OES who have been supplying us with great meals-except for breakfast I haven't had to make a thing-that has been wonderful!!! We would like to try and get to church this Sunday-the Pastor is having a red rose service for Natalie. Otherwise, we will be staying at home.

Again, thank you to everyone for their words of encouragment while we were in China. This blog will not end here-this is an ongoing thing, however, I will eventually make it private.

Our last two days in Guangzhou

Well, we thought this week was never going to end and now we are 24 hours away from leaving Guangzhou and heading to Hong Kong for our flight home on Saturday. The last two days with Natalie have been better. She is better-emotionally. She has been eating very well, and pretty much sleeping through the night.

Yesterday we had to stay in our hotel in case our guide had any questions from the US Consulate, as they took our paperwork to the Consulate for approval to enter the US with a foreign child. The nice thing about the Hague Convention for Adoption is, she will be a US Citizen as soon as she enters US soil. In the afternoon we all boarded a bus and went to the consulate for the swearing-in ceremony. It was a very short oath we took on behalf of our children. We had to raise our right hand as we repeated after the US Official. I wish someone could have taken a picture, because Natalie raised her right hand right along with us! It was the funniest thing! In the evening the majority of the families got together for one last Chinese meal together. I will truly miss them all.

Each evening, after returning from dinner, we have allowed Natalie to run around the very big hotel entrance to run off some energy before bed and to help her get better balance. Throughout the week we have discovered that she was very spoiled by her Nanny. She never fed herself, never walked very much, and got whatever she wanted. In the last week she is now feeding herself (by fingers), and even tried holding a spoon (we need to work on that), and her balance has improved significantly. She is feeling more secure-as she will not hold my hand and will walk quite a distance away from me. Brad and I will let her go away from me and then I would slip around a corner, as he walked beside her. She always made her way back to me, on her own, but never got upset. It has been a few minutes of freedom for me as I let Brad run after her-and she's not clinging to me like Velcro. In the hotel Lobby is a display with red rabbits. This Chinese New Year is the Year of the Rabbit. She LOVES these rabbits-and we have been trying to find one for her, but with no luck. (Thus one of the pictures here.)

Today was our last day with most of the families. We went to Yuexiu Park in the morning. This park is one of the oldest and the largest in Guangzhou. It features the Five Ram Sculpture, which has become the identity of the City. There is an ancient myth that thousands of years ago the people that lived here were very poor and starving to death. They prayed to the God of the Heavens to save them and he sent down 5 Ewe and 5 Ram. With these animals they could make milk and plow fields thus saving the peoples lives. We took a picture of the sculpture. I also included a picture of our National Guide, Maggie, (the one on the left), who met us in Beijing and has been here in Guangzhou with us all week. (Her helper, Becky, is on the right.)

The other night after putting Natalie down, I laid down to watch a movie called "Something the Lord Made". I had never heard of this movie before, but here is a bit of irony for you. The movie is about Dr. Alfred Blalock and his Lab assistant Vivian Thomas, of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It was these two men, during WWII, who discovered how to save the "blue baby". They were the first to attempt to repair the heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallow. Natalie's heart defect! Had it not been for these two men, babies born with this particular heart defect would not live to adulthood-mortality rate was 100%. I found it ironic that we would see a movie about our child's heart condition, in China! See it!

Well, this will be my last blog entry until we get home and settled. Thank you to everyone who has followed our journey and prayed for us. Your prayers got us thru some very rough days! We can't wait to get home and see everyone and EAT lots and lots of homemade Dutch Food!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures of the Family

The Last blog entree I had a hard time loading so many pictures, so I am posting these updated photos seperately.

More Gardens

The weather here the last two days have been warm and sunny. Yesterday we thought it reached 60 degrees and today at least 65. But they are calling for the weather to change here by Thursday - cold and rainy. Yesterday was not good for Natalie. She was awake several times during the night, and refused to eat or drink most of the day. Needless to say I am exhausted. We were taken to Shamian Island, which was settled by the British. The layout of the streets and the buildings are very European. It reminds me of Savannah, Georgia, with all the willow trees and hanging vines. Here they have shoppes that cater to tourists, especially those adopting Chinese children (the consulate is close by.) We bought several traditional items as gifts for Natalie. We will spread these out and give her one each birthday until we run out. We also purchased a traditional dress for her-with the Phoenix on it because that is the meaning of her Chinese name-Feng. The Phoenix means beautiful and good luck. For the longest time I couldn't decide whether to have her baptized in a traditional christian dress or a traditional Chinese dress-she will definitely be baptized in her Chinese dress.

It is interesting all the different opinions we receive by Chinese women. Our guide in Nanjing thought Natalie was older than the age the doctor from the orphanage documented. She also thought she was going to be very tall because she has long fingers. Yesterday a Chinese woman thought she was small for her age. But all find her "very cute". Today three Chinese girls wanted to take our picture with them. We don't know who they were-it was quite humorous. Natalie definitely loves the outdoors-it is where she is the happiest-but I can understand that-she probably was never out of doors before. She seems to be fascinated with plants. We figure she should be a botanist or horticulturalist. We will definitely be sending her with my Uncle Glenn and her cousins Arlie and Ahna, when he takes his nature walks.

The first set of pictures are from our time shopping on the Island. The second set of pictures are from our tour this morning at Yuntai Gardens. This place was very much like Longwood Gardens. It is a man made Garden found at the foot of the White Cloud Mountain. It has many species of flowers and south east Asian plants-also a greenhouse. Today, (up until this moment when we tried to put Natalie down for a nap) she has had a very good day. She slept thru most of the night, and she ate a big breakfast. She continues to have a cold and bad cough. I will be glad to get her home and to the pediatrician next Wednesday-although that too should be a battle ground. She is a very strong little girl and if she does not want to do something, she puts up one huge fight.

We are now counting down! Four more days until we are home!!!! We miss the cats and familiar food. We did find a nice Italian restaurant down the street. And you don't know just how "delicious" Ritz crackers and Chips Ahoy cookies are until you find them in China!

Second Day in Guangzhou

OH MY....Do we ever treasure being outside in the sunshine! We are so sick and tired of hotel rooms!!!! The hotel we are currently in is about 50 stories high. We are on the 32nd floor-more feelings of claustrophobia!! I will try to get a picture from the breakfast room which is on the very top floor. The view is awesome-but I do not like being so far away from the ground. Maybe it's just because I am American, but I have these flashes of 9/11 and the World Trade Center Towers. You know, I never use to have this fear of heights-am I getting old or what?

This morning we enjoyed a tour thru the Chen Family Temple. It was an academy for students, and now is a museum of beautiful artworks of ceramics, paintings, ivory and bone carvings, and more. There were many chinese student artists drawing all over the gardens and we purchased several artwork pieces for Natalie. Our guide told us that the younger generation no longer wishes to continue some of the beautiful artwork-such as the ivory carvings-because it takes 8-10 years to complete one unique piece "they have no patience". There were small ivory carvings for purchase, but we were not aloud to purchase them-because they cannot leave the country.

The pictures I am posting are all of the temple and stone and wood carvings. There is one picture, we were "honored" to get-a girl named Sarah, the first adopted child of one of the family's here, honored us with a picture. She has been an enjoyable blessing to us and the other families. Like Natalie, she was adopted at the age of two, and her mother said that she too clung to her like "Velco" for weeks and would have nothing to do with her father. I asked if that will change and she said "Oh Yes!" Our Natalie had a good morning. She enjoyed walking around the gardens and I tried desperately to get a picture, but all I could get was blurr-she can really move; Brad and I are calling it the chinese two-step.

Thank you everyone for the encouraging emails! They have been a real blessing. I continue to feel poorly-but it is just something that will have to run it's course. The irony is-I am NEVER sick, and now twice in one week! I feel like I am missing out of so much of China. Our little one has worn herself out and is currently taking a nap-therefore I wanted to take advantage of the peace to update the blog. This afternoon we go to our guide's room for more paperwork preparation for the US Consulate appointment on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday afternoon our guide told us we would "go to the consulate to swear". Brad found that extremely humorous. He said that if there was a picture of Obama in the room he just might "swear". (I apologize to any democrats who may read this part of the blog!) The guide, of course, meant we would be going for the swearing in ceremony for our children. All formalities-ain't politics great!

On To Guangzhou

Our time in Nanjing has ended. Yesterday afternoon we took a two hour flight from Nanjing to Gaungzhou. While here we will take care of getting Natalie's USA Visa. We do apologize to everyone, who has been following the blog, for our silence. I found it very difficult to update things with a very active 22 month old who only wants Mama. I cannot get anything done. She will not allow anyone else to carry her, and she wants to be held all the time. She is fighting sleep at naptime and night time, and she does not let me work on the computer-therefore the long silences.

I was just beginning to feel somewhat familiar with my surroundings in Nanjing, and then we had to leave. We are now in another HUGE city. Guangzhou is suppose to be "subtropical" but today it is very cold and windy (although compared to Beijing its warm). We got to do alittle sightseeing in Nanjing. Our guide, Susan, took us to two very beautiful gardens. We could only imagine just how absolutely gorgeous they must be in the springtime. That was one of the things we loved about China-their gardens. They are done to absolute perfection-or as the chinese would say-absolute balance. Most of the pictures here are of the Gardens in Nanjing and of the old part of Nanjing.

We had an oppornity to visit Changzhou and Natalie's orphanage, but declined due to Brad's ill health and our complete lack of sleep. We were told that we would be unable to take any pictures, and that would have been our main reason for going. We decided that, should she decide one day that she would like to visit the city and orphanage from where she came from, we would return. We were given the email address of the orphanage director and were asked to please send frequent emails and pictures, as they would like to hear how she is doing.

Natalie has been a wonderful child to have around. She has her moments-like not eating certain foods we were told she ate. Also, the need she has for only me is a bit over whelming and hard on my back, but I just continue to count down the days for when we will be home and she can begin a "normal" and "consistent" daily routine. And hoepfully she will learn that I am always here-although I do not always need to hold her. For the most part she is a patient and happy child-smiling ALOT. Our guide says "she talks alot and is smart too."

Keep the prayers coming for all of us. Homesickness has set in for me and I just want to leave! I am not feeling well again, so it's a good thing Brad feels ok right now. We anticipate a smooth plane ride home because she did so well on the short ride yesterday-although the car ride home could be really stressful. The Chinese do not use car seats, let alone seatbelts-so a restraining car seat and not being on mama's lap could prove interesting.