LOOK WHO HAS A NEW FRIEND :-)

Shelby YiLin's new friend is Po Po the cat.  I never would have figured it, but she has grown fond of him and is now wrapping him in baby blankets and carring him around like one of her dolls.  It's so cute!  She calls me Ma, and I love it!  I can hear her from all over the house, "Ma.......Ma...."  and I call to her, "I'm coming sissy".  She loves showing me that she is not afraid of him anymore.  I praise her courage and gentleness for Po.

She really didn't act excited at all about Christmas.  She just doesn't understand.  She has enjoyed the baby stroller that she got and the shopping cart full of plastic food, but she carries more of her dolls in it than food.

I have so many pictures to upload, but now is not the time......soon.....soon.

Merry Christmas,

Mary

That's My God~

Yesterday, Jeremy and I spent the entire day in Nashville at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.  We met with the International Adoption Clinic Doctors and I'm still not sure what we paid for.  I guess it will be on the bill.  We also met with the Pediatric Cardiologist and had an ultrasound of Shelby YiLin's heart.  We had the report from May showing a PDA, small hole that never healed at birth, and it also showed that the right side of her heart was significantly enlarged with the pulmonary branch being extreamely underdeveloped and measuring 2mm.  That is what the report said.  Then we had the second report from September that was given to us by the nanny that still showed the PDA and another problem which we assumed was the same as before but it was in Chinese and we couldn't read it.  The interpreter and head nanny told us that she still had the PDA.  China had volunteered twice to do the surgery for us prior to arriving but we declined and wanted Vanderbilt to test her and do whatever was needed.  The team at Vanderbilt had read and studied the report from May and said that if it was accurate, there might not be anything they could do for her.  They could repair the PDA, but the other was very unlikely repairable.  None of it made any sence, she appeared to be healthy and why didn't they find it sooner if it was that serious?  Jeremy and I prayed and felt like the Lord was going to take care of it.  We would wait until she was incountry and have her evaluated.  Yesterday, they took 115  pictures of her heart and said she had a beautiful heart and they couldn't find anything wrong with it.  Well, that's my God!  Whether He healed her or allowed Satin to bring confusion, I don't know.  But I do know that He has cleared our path and brought us through.  I give Him all praise.
Next we had see the cleft palate team.  They told us that her palate repair was done  well and the holes that are in her mouth now are normal.  She will require 1-2 more surgeries but not until she is 9 or so.  He told me to get her in to see a pediatric dentist asap so they could evaluate the 2 broken teeth on top.  I had not noticed that they were rotten and probably broke off from that.  He was concerned that they might get infected.  We will go back in 6 months and he will evaluate her for starting speech theapy.  We also had blood work done.  She was stuck in both arms and didn't show any signs of pain. 
Things are still going well at home......I thank God for it all and thanks to all of you who have been praying.

Home 1 week and doing well~

We've been home 1 week and 2 days now and I am thankful to report that we are doing well.  We've had so many firsts.  Shelby YiLin finally allowed me to rock her while we looked at a book.  She finally looked at a picture of me and called me Mama.  We have played together and yes, we have laughed together.  She is finally feeling safe and is coming right out of her shell and we love the person she is.  She is so funny and clever.  Shelby YiLin loves to take pictures.  That is one of the ways I have been able to get her to like me....a little.  I will attach one of the pictures she took of me for your enjoyment.  She is understanding more and more each day.  She went to her first Christmas play Friday night and seem to really enjoy it.  She was very interested in nativity scene and laughed at the character the funny character, "Watson".  She attended Sunday School for the first time today and did very well.  She was anxious to see the kids in her class.  My sister-in-law put together a photo album of friends and family and put several pictures in it of her Sunday School class so she had been studing it closely.  Today, she chased the chickens around in the yard.  It brought great gladness to me to watch her run after them while yelling, "Hey, No!"  They weren't quite sure what to make of her and they cackled while they ran away.  She thought this was really funny.  Next, I took her on her first 4-wheeler ride, which she absolutely loved.  We went and fed the cows and then toured the woods a bit.  She already knows how to start it and was ready to take over driving.  She's gonna be a farm girl I can tell.  I'll have to make a trip to Tractor Supply for some mud boots soon.

Today we watched the video that the orphanage made for her and I don't think I will be doing that for a long time.  She spotted one of the nannies and called out, "Mama" then looked at me sort of confused.  I wasn't sure what to do.  After the video she seemed sad and I felt really bad for placing more confusion on her. 

She has been taking food to bed with her when she sleeps.  Some nights it is a banana or an apple or a Slim Jim.  Last night, she went to the place in her room where Jeremy had put some snacks just for her and grabbed 2 hand fulls and jumped into bed.  I fianlly convinced her to put them under her pillow instead of holding them all night.  They are still there.

Tomorrow we go to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where she will see 5 different doctors.  Please pray that her heart condition won't be serious.  I really feel like God is going to take care of it.  He's always been so faithful to us and I don't expect him to fail us now.

Trying to settle in.

The past few days have been ok with Shelby YiLin and me.  We have made progress and I am thankful for that.  She has me carry her around the house and she seems to tolerate me pretty well until her brothers get home.  We have been having our biggest struggles with sleeping at night.  I think she got up about 8 times last night.  Twice she was crying and the other times, she was just awake.  I have been walking around the house like a zombie and having trouble staying awake.  She has started taking a short nap during the day, less than an hour, in her own bed. I managed to explain to her that if she goes to sleep, we can go pick up Ian and Marshall.  It is very quiet in the house during the day.  When the boys get home, it turns into a house of laughter and play.  She will sit at the table with them and write or draw while they do their homework....at least for a little while.  She doesn't play much with me being the only one home, but she will carry her baby around and change it's clothes several times.  She likes watching Sesame Street Alphabet Jungle.  Other than that, she doesn't care for TV.  A friend of mine picked us up a Play Doh Dental Care Kit to try out tomorrow.  I also bought some wooden ornaments for her to paint.  Not much else is going on.....  She still doesn't speak for me, except to say chin and shay shay, or Ian and Marshall everytime she sees their picture.  She says many more words for the boys while they are playing.

Praying for some sleep,

Mary

Cute but dangerous :-)

Photos I promised

After our never ending day yesterday, (we actually went through Friday twice...) we all were in bed by 10:30 or so.  Shelby YiLin woke up crying around 1 am.  It is the first time she's done that since she threw up on me the first week we had her.  Jeremy got up with her and they didn't get back in bed until 4am.  The boys were up early playing but back in bed by 9:30am.  I was up and down until 2 in the afternoon and realized that everyone was still asleep so I woke them all up.  Shelby YiLin was very quiet and seemed alittle confused as to where she was.  This is the 4th place she's slept since we got her and I can see why she would be confused.  Besides that she did very well today.  She still dislikes the cat very much and guess what?  This works to my advantage because she doesn't like to be anywhere near it and when it comes into the room, she will jump into MY arms when he is spotted.  YAH!  Mama will keep you safe from the bad old kitty.  And just to confuse matters more....we went and picked up our house dog, Sully.  She doesn't like him either...YAH....more jumping into my arms.  I love it.  The boys showed her how to play nerf dart tag this evening and she loved it.  She's a pretty good shot too.  Her favorite target is the cat.  The boys went to their grandpa's house for a couple of hours this evening and that too worked to my advantage.  She did cry when they left, but then she had me to carry her all around the house.  She even ate in my lap :-)  She has had a difficult time with the large selection of clothes in her room.  She just can't make up her mind what she wants to wear.  She's a true girl alright!  When she got dressed for bed, she had 3 different sets of clothes on.  That is how many she had on the day we got her too.  I had to convince her to take 2 of those off due to the fact that she gets really hot at night.  She played with a doll some and changed it's clothes.  She put it to bed and then brushed the babies teeth.  She will be a wonderful mommy someday.  As I began to type this post, she came in and got in my lap and gave me a kiss....without a bribe!  Wow, thank you to all who are praying for us.  It is 12:30am and we are all still up.....can't sleep.  Jet lag is a pain.  Marshall told her he loved her tonight like he does all the time but this time a little voice spoke back, "I love you".  It melted all of our hearts.  What a joy. 

 

We have decided to keep Shelby YiLin home for about a week before we take her out.  I want her to really get use to the idea that this is home and we are her family before I bring more people into her life.  I know everyone is so excited to meet her.....soon, we promise.

With love,

The Grimms

 

 

Hong Kong and our flight home :-)

Our agency had rented a private van and driver to take us to Hong Kong and it was so nice.  It was a brand new Toyota and it still had the new smell.  However, we had our first problem only 5 minutes from the hotel when we realized that we forgot all Marshall's clothes in his closet.  After finding out that our driver did not speak English, he finally repeated "Hotel?" and we turned around and headed back.  The problem came when we got stuck in rush hour traffic on a one way street in the middle of the shopping market.  One hour later......we pull back in at the hotel and get Marshall's clothes.  The ride to Hong Kong was very nice.  The cities are bright with different colored lights all around the sky scrapers.  Hong Kong was a sight to see from the bridge.  It was enormous and the high buildings lit up the sky.  I don't think Jeremy noticed the beauty because he was too worried about our driver's  wreckless weaving in and out of traffic and not using the brake until we were way too close.  We arrived at the Regal Hotel that is connected to the airport and didn't have a clue what to do.  He just dropped our bags and left.  It took us some time to check in and ended up having to upgrade to a suite.....about $500 total.....not good.  The room they had us in had 2 twin beds and no room to make beds on the floor for the kids.  Jeremy also had to walk down into the airport to pick up some fast food for us to eat.  By the time we got in bed it was after midnight.  We were up at 7am and hurried off to the airport to check in.  Shelby YiLin was wonderful on the long flight to Detroit.  She only had 2 minor melt downs....one due to the fact that she had to sit by me :-( and the other because she had just slipped into a sound sleep when we arrived in Detroit.  She did well on the second flight too.  The long flight from China gave me lots of time to interact with her.....on her terms, of course.  We colored and wrote numbers, played with a doll, had snacks and packed every piece of paper found in the back of the seats into her pockets and backpack.  She cleaned the seats and trays.....many times, played with stickers, watched Beauty and the Beast and much more.  She took a good nap and started to wake up in the middle of it and reached over and held my hand (I'm sure she thought I was Jeremy)....of course I sat there and cried as I watched her sleep.  She is so beautiful, so precious.  It is hard to believe that she is our daughter.  Despite the discomfort of her rejection, she is so perfect for our family.  I can't begin to tell you how much she is just like her daddy.  Shelby YiLin will grab the corners of blankets, towels, and even her dress and fiddle with it between her fingers.  Jeremy has done the same thing ever since I've known him.  They both do it to relax themselves.  It is like she has always been ours, but not. 

 

When we arrived in Nashville, we managed to get all our luggage to Economy Long Term Parking and Jeremy did a fantastic job of making it all fit into the trunk of our car.  YiLin jumped right up in her car seat (which is in the middle of her brothers) and grabbed each of their hands and smiled as if to say, "Let's go home now".  Jeremy stayed awake and got us all home safetly.  We arrived home to balloons, pink bows, banners, flowers, posters, and a refrigerator full of food and drinks.  I thank God for our family.  They have all been so faithful to pray for us and support us.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ make up a huge part of our family and we appreciate them so much.  Shelby YiLin took to the balloons and bananas right off the bat.  She toured the house and checked out her room several times.  She did not take to the kitten we have for her, Mr. Chen Po Po.  He is black with almost black almond eyes and he looks like he is Chinese.  We are sad to report that he has probably eaten Marshall's lizard or else the lizard is Missing in Action.  Shelby YiLin has eagerly taken a bath, with my assistance :-) and Jeremy is reading her a book now and putting her to bed....in our bed.

 

I thank God for bringing us through the many hard days that were spent in China.  I couldn't have made it without Him.  I am thankful for all the emails and blog posts that we received that lifted us up and encouraged us.  I thank God for my dedicated husband who has been the constant model of Christ during times that I was overcome with sadness.  I thank God for my boys who have just been themselves and made this change so much easier on their little sister.  I am thankful we shared it together as a family.  Finally, I am thankful for my baby girl.  I know she was sent to us by the Lord and I know the He has a special plan for her life.

 

I'll post pictures of our last 2 days tomorrow ......stay tuned,

With all our love,

The Grimms

 

 

Our last morning in Guangzhou

Pictures of our day :-)

BLESSINGS FROM CHINA :-)

Guangzhou Park

We woke up early this morning for our Consulate Appointment.  There were several families going through the ceremony with us.  The purpose was for to take the oath that all the documents and information was true.  It was our last step in the adoption of YiLin.  Our agency guide, Alison, will pick up her visa tomorrow morning and will be off for Hong Kong at 4 pm tomorrow.  We fly out of Hong Kong Friday morning.....Thursday night in the states and we will be in Nashville 4:25pm on Friday.  We originally told everyone that we would be back Saturday night and that is true if you are on China time.....ooops!

 

Today was a pretty good day.  We spent a few hours at the park across the road with 2 other families in our group.  It really is nice park.  They have the adult play area which consists of ping pong and badmitten and a very large exercise area with all kinds of equiptment.  Then we went to the kids area where they have rides like bumper cars, swings, motor boats for the lake and many other rides.  It is pretty cheap too.

 

Today was the first day in 11 days that I have not cried, so I am doing better.  I'm not proud of myself for being so emotional and I am sorry if I have let my family down.  It has been a very difficult stay in China for me and I am so very glad to be coming home.  I have stopped trying so hard to please YiLin and get her to like me.  If I think she will melt down if I try to do something, I just don't do it and walk away and let Jeremy or the boys do it.  It seems to keep me from feeling so rejected.  Since she doesn't let me give her a bath anymore, my time with her is even more limited.  She will tolerate me first thing in the morning if everyone else is asleep.  Yesterday, Jeremy put her down for a nap and then he and the boys went next door to watch a movie with our friends.  When she woke up and cried, I rushed in and grabbed her telling her I will take you to baba.  When we got to the room next door, she had stopped crying and we found out that Jeremy and the boys had moved to another room to watch the movie.  So, we ended up sitting with one of the moms and having hot tea....I couldn't believe she stayed in my lap and didn't cry.  It was amazing.  It lasted for about an hour and then we had to go back and find Jeremy.  Yesterday, she also let me peel her banana and help her in the bathroom.  I have never been so happy to assist a child in the potty before :-)

 

Jeremy is so tired.  I feel bad for him, and wish she would let me do more.  Today, I have seen his patience slowly as he tires more and more.  It is the first time since YiLin came to us that I see frustration coming out.  He has been more than wonderful....really.  He has been so caring with me as I grieve her rejection and so tender with ShelbyYiLin as she grieves the loss of her whole world as she knew it. Our social worker suggested that I use treats to attract her to me and I have been giving her candy and cookies for a quick glance into my eyes and a peck on the cheek.  I don't care if I have to bribe her to get a small kiss.....it is a step forward and that is what matters.

 

The boys have really enjoyed our stay at the Marriott here in Guangzhou.  They are totally spoiled here.  I have been a terrible mom and letting them have all kinds of junk on the breakfast buffet.  Marshall's favorite is the strawberry shortcake and Ian's is the pinnaple muffin buns....pure sugar I'm sure.  They have had time at the pool and a short visit at the hot tub.....that ended very quickly when they discovered that the Chinese men do not wear bathing suits in there....EEEKS!  Marshall ran out and announced to me that he was scarred for life due to that experience.

 

We had an interesting dinner tonight at one of the local restraunts.  We had frog legs, pork, congee, fried noodles, steamed pork buns, fried rice and shrimp with their heads still on.  Then  we came back and ordered a Papa John's Pizza..

 

We send our love to everyone and can't wait to be home Friday :-)

Blessings from the Grimms 

Pictures from our Monday

Piggy Back Ride

A new day........A new Word

Hebrews 10:35-36 KJV

 

"Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."

 

We had a great nights sleep and we woke up to a beautiful Sunday morning.  YiLin is doing so well.  We took a video last night of her and Marsahall playing around on the bed.  She was so funny.  I had an opportunity to stay in the hotel room last night while everyone else went to McDonalds.  I remembered my mom sharing the scripture above with me, so I turned to it and began to read.  What a blessing!  I am thankful for God's Word and how you can grab hold of it and have peace.

 

Today we get the opportunity to worship with other believers in a country that is so cold and dark.  The area we are in now has a large Christian population due the influence of Christians from Hong Kong.  However, other places like Chengdu, the gospel is not accepted and there is darkness all around.  In cities like Chengdu, the gospel is preached very little and when it is, it is underground.  I am thankful for the light that comes from knowing Christ and that He lives to give us life.  I pray that the Lord will call others to reach out to the Chinese people with God's light.

 

 

Beautiful Sabbath Day

All ready for Church on Shamain Island in a dress made by Mary's Mother.

 

 

 

Opera

Panda Base

Beautiful Guangzhou

We arrived in Guangzhou last night and didn't get YiLin in bed until after midnight.  It is so beautiful here.  I love it.  Our hotel is the bomb! We have never stayed in such a nice place.  Marriott is way high class and man I am loving it.  We have 2 huge joining rooms with the coolest bathrooms.  The boys are soaking this up.  YiLin likes the space and being able to go room to room by herself.  There is a whole shopping mall in this hotel.  2 of the moms took me to Starbucks this afternoon and prayed with me!  I am so blessed.

 

We had YiLin's medical exam today and boy was that an experience.  We got there just before the rush.  She weighed 14 kg and her ears were fine.  She did good on the plane too by the way.  We go back tomorrow to let them read the TB test.  She didn't even cry when the did it.

 

I will attach photos from the past 3 days in the next post.....love you all very much. 

Panda Base and our flight to Guangzhou

I am finding it very difficult to post today.....I'm all tears after reading 40 emails and feeling the support of my family and brothers and sisters in Christ.  We had a good day yesterday at the Panda Base.  Our guide made sure to take us early so we could see them playing and eating.  It was wonderful.  I couldn't get near YiLin though, so I feel like an outcast.  It's hard.  I want to hold her and love on her.  She does let me give her a kiss very fast and then get away from her.  I am trying to be strong, but honestly, I'm not doing very well.  Pray that I will not take it personal.  That is very hard for me.  I did not have time to download the pictures.....will have internet in our room in Guangzhou and can post pictures tonight....sorry.

 

She is taking the antibiotic wonderfully.  We even gave her some cough medicine last night during her bath and it did help her sleep.  Wednesday night, she coughed so badly that she gagged in her sleep and ended up throwing up.....ALOT!  I managed to see it coming and grabbed a pillow and caught it all.  Funny comment here: Dr. Sewell once told me that you are not really a parent unless you have chased puke from your child.  Well, I am her parent for sure.  I felt so bad for her.  So, the cough medicine tasted horrible but she took it "FOR ME". 

 

I spent the entire afternoon paperchasing for the final steps of the adoption.  It is all done and Shelby YiLin Mali Grimm is ours, officially.  Mali means "Mary" after my mom and my great grandmother.  We wanted to use Mary, but wanted her to know her heritage is Chinese, so we translated it into Chinese.  She has no clue we will call her Shelby YiLin and I'm sure not telling her now.

 

We went to Pizza Hut for Thanksgiving dinner and then to the Chengdu Opera.  You can walk to both from our hotel.  It was a good show and the boys enjoyed it.  At first, YiLin teared up like she would cry but then was fine.  She is very easily scared.

 

She really loves Marshall.  He is her best friend, but daddy is her favorite.  She thinks Ian is ok.  She is running a slight fever today....we will give her motrin just prior to the flight for her ears too.  She was wired this morning after the cough medicine last night and she was a sight to see.  Marshall picks at her and she loves it....however, she has started smacking him in the face and laughing about it and I have to tell her, and him, NO.  It is not ok to hit, even in play.....Marshall drives her to rough play like he does the other kids at church.  He really loves her, and she really loves him.  She eats up his attention.  Ian is quiet and protective of her.

 

We leave for the hotel in 1 hour and I need to go help Jeremy.  He can't do much with her attached to his shirt.  At first I thought it was cute.....not so much anymore....I think I am jealous....YUK, I hate that feeling.  My flesh is not cooperating with my spirit.........there is a battle going on inside me.

 

Pray her ears do well, and we arrive safely in sunny, warm Guangzhou soon.  Hello from all of us, and we love you,

Mary

P.S.  Your words mean so much to me.  I can read the comments, the emails, and the fb posts on my wall, but I can not reply to anything but the emails.  Love you all.

A few more pics...

In the last post, picture #4 is YiLin's first smile for ME!!!!!  Love it!!!

Enjoy the others!