John:14:18

I will not leave you as orphans. I will come for you...John 14:18
This is a sweet reminiscence of our adoption journey to our son.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Rainbows and Unicorn Farts- one month home


What you are about to read is top secret and you must solemnly swear that you will not disclose any of it! 

Who am I kidding, you all know I'm an open book. 

A few years ago, when I was thrown into the adoption world, I had no idea how naïve I was and how much knowledge I would soon learn. You see, besides all the attachment and childhood trauma we learned about, there's a whole new jargon  for adoptive parents. There's  new words,nicknames for words, and abbreviations for words.  It is sometimes like being a spy. 
And since  I've now been in it long enough to feel like James Bond, I thought I might give you a few OO7 tips. 

In some circles, saying the words "gotcha day" will get you hog tied and tar feathered. 
Some people think it implies that the child was kidnapped on the day they met their families. Just don't say these words in groups with adult adoptees and you'll be okay. 

If you plan on asking about vaccines or whether or not to circumcise your new son, I have two requests. 
1. Make sure I'm added into the group. 
2. Send me a pm ten minutes before you post. This will give me time to pop some popcorn and pull up a chair. I have to get comfortable for this show. It won't be pretty but darn it I just won't be able to look away! 
Really though, ask these types of questions in very small kind trust worthy groups. Believe me! I learned the hard way. 


There's a phrase in the adoption community that goes something like this, "Adoption isn't all rainbows and unicorn farts." I'm not sure who coined that phrase but it's taken off like the unicorn's farts have enough force to send a jet into orbit.

A lovely visual, I know. 

Your welcome. 

Basically, it's a warning to adoptive parents to be honest about adoption so that new or potential adoptive parents have a honest idea of what adopting will be like. 

Adoption has a lot of loss involved. It is NOT all rainbows, though there are rainbows.  Some of the most beautiful rainbows I've ever seen! However, families will need to push through the hard muck to get to the rainbows. 
Touching u.s. Soil means she is now a u.s. Citizen. This was in L.A. She wasn't so pleasant at our next stop. Lol

Our little Iris Mei has been home a month today. 

She'd been fairly decent on the plane home, only crying for ten minutes every few hours. By the time She flew into our home state, She was tired, confused, and was just done with this new life that had been handed her! 

We touched down and she started crying and has pretty much been crying ever since. Not really, but that is how it has seemed, at times. 

She cried all the way through the airport and she screamed bloody murder while we waited for Baba to come with the car. 
I had three people stop and ask if they could try to comfort her. 
"No! She's been traveling for over 21 hours and we're not even done yet so back off!" 
Haha... I didn't actually say that but I'm sure I gave them a dirty look. Those poor people. 

There is really no place like home! We were so glad to be home. 
Iris Mei totally surprised us by smiling at the kids. Rainbows. 
It was so unexpected because on the plane, if a child walked by, she would scream at them.
   Cute welcome home decorations and our China blankets hanging out to dry. 
Walking into her forever home. 

More cute decore my mom and the kids made. 

We all showered and got settled in.
Iris went right to sleep. She slept all through the first night in her forever bed.  With us, her forever family, in awe that she was really FINALLY here! 
 Rainbows. 

Her first few days weren't too bad. She had a couple of hours that she would cry. 

First day home. That tongue! 
Jet lag is no joke people!  Lol  Poor girl fell asleep sitting up. 
She even played a bit with her new siblings.  This pretty much shows that she thought Chu's doll was much better then hers. 
Seriously mom, another picture?!


We took her to her first pediatrician appointment the fourth day home. It was awful! She screamed the entire time. 
It was very traumatic for her. 
That seemed to be the beginning of a few really rough weeks. 

She didn't know what she wanted. She'd push and arch to be put down then scream to be back up.
It was, and still sometimes is, like taking care of a newborn. She doesn't have any language skills so we're constantly guessing and trying different things to console her. 

She decide that second week that Chu was the enemy or competition for my attention and she started hitting him when he's gotten near. Poor sweet Chu...  

She does eat excellently well and when she eats we get a break. But eating is also the problem. 
I've made mistakes these last few weeks and one was this - Lydia wanted a cheerio and I absent mindedly said, "Just grab one of Iris'."That sent Iris into a tail spin and now she's hyper-protective of her high hair tray. She throws  her arms out to cover it if anyone walks by. 
Our poor girl has known so much starvation and her eating issues can be very frustrating. Chu has eating issues but he's come so far that we've forgotten how bad the issues were when he was first home. Iris panics if anyone even walks within a few feet of our kitchen. You see, she's so afraid someone's eating and not sharing.  

One night,  I went up and looked over a precious disk of pictures from when she first came to House of Grace. These pictures are breathtakingly sad. I won't share the worst of them.
Heavenly Father was giving me a good smack. "Lacy, this precious soul that I've entrusted you with needs your compassion! She's a fighter, a survivor! She knows only the hard of this world and you'll have to be patient while teaching her the soft."

And thank heavens, Heavenly Father blessed me with my China momma friends who were honest, for not just writing about rainbows and unicorn farts, because it helped prepare us for the hard! No, it's still harder living it then hearing it but we know that what's she's going through is very normal.

We are wading through the muck. 

Some days I might only get 30 minutes of rainbows but gosh darn it! I'm taking pictures of those rainbows and I know there's so many more to come.

Here's some rainbow pictures from the last month... 
Iris getting into her first bit of mischief emptying my sock drawer. 

 
Iris with Violet. Iris adores her non-Asian sibs. ;) 
An outfit sent from a mama friend. It sure brightened a hard day. 
Iris not crying in her car seat! Not just a rainbow but a miracle also. And isn't she beautiful?

Iris being happy to see us in the morning. 
She's so excited to eat. 

Iris decided that the sink wasn't such a bad place to bath, after all. 


Hers crawling! Go Iris Go! 
"What is that mop?" -Iris
"Oh, it's so fluffy! I like it! I have to have it! It makes me laugh."
Iris accepting a pacifier. This makes our lives so much easier!
Mom! Seriously?!
Have I mentioned jet lag?! 
Iris yanking her hat off and trying to put it back in herself. 
Pulling herself up to the couch!
Making her 2nd mess! ;)

And her 3rd! :)

I think she was on to me. She knew I was leaving that box out to entertain her while I got some laundry done. 
Getting another sweet gift in the mail from a China mama. 
Second try in the grocery cart. 
The first didn't go this well. ;)
Wearing poco dots. 

And back to our  "AdoptionJargon for Dummies" 

PA- means you've been "pre-approved" to adopt a most worthy precious darling child that will challenge you and make you grow.
HS- Home study... They are not only studying your home but your medical and mental state. 
They may also take a sample of your toe jam and and send to NASA for an inalisis. ;)

1800a- this involves fingerprinting for immigration saying you "might" be worthy of bringing a foreign child into the states. 

Dossier- A 400 pound book of paperwork and ever detail of your life, including the toe jam inalisis, that will be sent to China. 

Loa- by the time you get this. You'll forget what loa stands for but you'll still fall to your knees with happy tears on your face and praising the good lord. (Long run on sentence intended because at this point your Cray cray)

Then you'll pick yourself up off the ground because you'll realize you still have to wait 3-4 months to get your child.
You'll check "yes you accept this child" that China has approved you to adopt and send that LOA paper right back in the mail. 

You'll start packing and nesting! 

I800- the real one will be approved saying "yes" you are not a criminal. In case, you were not aware. 

Then there will be some crazy steps called Guz and Art 5. 

Your probably not sure why your doing them at this point but you'd do anything to get this child home including sell your kidney on the black market.

But keep that to yourself,  because remember, immigration said your NOT a criminal!

Then one day, TA or travel approval will come! 
You won't believe it! You won't. 
You'll be speechless! You may not even cry because your shocked. 
Then it will sink in, wholly mohlly WOMEN! 
Get packing! 
But plane tickets! 
Clean your house! 
It will seem like TA came out of the blue even though it didn't. 
You'll be running around like a mad women with your hair sticking out. 

Then you'll fly to China and you'll forget your scared of flying because your baby waits at the other side of the world.

When your feet touch the ground you'll be in quiet reverie that China really does exist!
You'll wait patiently the few days til "Gotcha" day! Or "the day you get your child day" because Gotcha is bad. 

And when it happens, you'll feel your child's warm skin against yours. Your arms are finally full.  In that moment, you'll know and you'll see how God has had control of this every step of the way! 


That only HE could write this story! 

That place in your heart will be so full,  it will leak out of your eyes. 

Now, China might be hard. Your Child might be hard, but China goes so fast 
and soon you'll be home. 
Suddenly, you'll realize you've been home for a whole month. 
And you'll see your precious child smile 
And rainbows will burst from your heart because they are HERE! 
They were worth the hell of a wait and THEY. ARE. HERE!
Your child is with her "forever family."

Forever family  is a magical awesome REAL adoption phrase that Satan and some fools on some fb group Hate! 

And you won't care that they hate it because love wins! God wins! 

She's here! 

Sincerely, Lacy Bond 



Monday, September 21, 2015

Iris' family day.

IAs you know, we were up at 4 a.m. 
She was making noise in her crib and I told Shane. 
"I can't handle it! I want to go get her and snuggle her, should I?"
Shane didn't answer he got up and walked over to the crib. Her bright eyes were wide awake. 
"She's awake." He said and bent down and picked her up. 
She promptly started screaming. Lol 
 
I'm sure we scare her. 
He handed her to me in the bed and she was having none of it! Lol 
So we got up and bounced and calmed her Down. She is so gorgeous even in her screamy state. 
After she calmed down I layed beside her on the bed and just admired her and kept thinking what will we name this sweet girl. I kept throwing out names and thinking none of them are right. 
I kept coming back to Iris. I know you know all this so I'll move on. 

She loves her feet. She lays down and those feet come right up. 
It's so cute. 
I was so excited to take her to breakfast and see how she did with all the food. 
She loves food and it's so cute to watch her eat. She's like a little bunny. Her nose moves up and down in the cutest way. 
We then went back to the civil affairs office.  Our awesome guide got us there early and put our paperwork in.  

We went up the elevator and back down a few times doing different paper work. 

We were interviewed twice. One was a simple one asking basic info. 
The next interview we were asked about her personality. What her sn was. Do we find her suitable? You bet your booty we do. Lol  I didn't answer that way. I told the lady, "yes, she's lovely" 
Do we promise to never abandoned her or mistreat her? "Yes! Yes!" We will love you forever darling! 
And we signed off on her new name. Which I'm still surprised about and totally thrilled! 

It fits her so perfectly! And guess what?! 
Months ago, when we were skyping we had told Sandra that we were considering three names and we told Sandra what the names was. Iris was one of the three names. Well the next week when we skyped, Sandra said, "I've been calling her Iris" 
Well Shane and I laughed because we had picked a different name. 

Well we called her this other name for a whole month. We even told Sandra to call her this other name. Then one day it just seemed "wrong" So there we were back to the drawing board.  No decisions were made until family day. As you know, we picked Iris Mei.  
Then Friday we went to House of Grace.
I told Sandra, "Your going to think we're nuts, Sandra but we changed her name." 
"To what" she asked
"Iris"
Sandra slapped her knee and laughed. "I knew it! Months ago I prayed and I knew she was an Iris" 
So how neat is that? Her  Nai Nai (China grandma) knew all along she was an Iris.