His Ways are not our ways...

Many people have become aware of Braxton through his passing, but may not know how he came to our family and how God worked in such a mighty way to bring him to his forever family, even if just for a short time.  We were introduced to him in 2012 before we traveled to China to get Sarah.  I have prayed for that little boy for a very long time!  God spoke to both Jerry and I and confirmed time and time again that this is the child he wanted us to have.  I have questioned why God would open so many doors and allow us to bring this child home for an outcome that seems so wrong.  We were not so naive to think it would not be hard, we knew he was VERY sick, we were fully aware of the commitment, doctor appointments and surgeries that would be needed.  We were fully prepared to do anything possible to watch Braxton continue to grow and develop into the young man I envisioned.  God had a different plan.  I don't know why, I don't agree with it – but I do believe “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

One month ago today my sweet precious little Braxton went to be with Jesus.  While it feels like a year to me I was thinking today that it probably only feels like a millisecond in the grand scheme of eternity and to Braxton.   My heart aches and I catch myself thinking people should be quiet in the house because Braxton’s asleep.  I feel empty when sitting at the table and he is not there.  While the pain is still so very real – we have seen so much love from people through this experience.  I know not everyone that goes through a loss has the love and support that has been shown to us – it’s been humbling and amazing.

I am so thankful for the time I had with him, I miss him, but I know he is rejoicing with the King of Kings and we celebrate Easter – he is there in his glory!

We were very fortunate to have family pictures made with Braxton, I will be posting more pictures soon.

Two Months Home, Two Years Old, Too Cute!!

Two months ago today we officially became Braxton’s parents.  It was a very emotional day, when we got Braxton he was extremely delayed (more than what we expected) and we definitely did not expect to get home and find out that he was severely malnourished and neglected.  This is a child that we were introduced to during the process of adopting Sarah.  Love Without Boundaries had begun raising funds for her surgery and when we made the decision to have her surgery the money was reallocated to little Braxton.  He was only 10 weeks old at the time and the orphanage staff was not sure he would even make it.  After surgery he stayed at a healing home. 

After we came home with Sarah we continued to check in on Braxton and found out that he was not up for adoption.  When asked why he was not up for adoption we were told because they did not think he would survive.  Thinking that he would just sit there until he died was not something Jerry or I could live with.  We pushed to get him paper ready (available for adoption), so we could get him the care and love he needed.  The whole process took about 7 months.  It was amazing the doors that God opened and the speed at which we were able to get there and get him.  When we saw him – it was VERY clear.  Braxton was very sick and needed attention right away.  The hardest part of the whole experience has been hearing over and over again that he has been severely malnourished and neglected.  

When we got Braxton we had lots of concerns, he could barely hold his head up, he was very blue, dark eyes that were sunken into his head, very small, no muscle tone, very small body and large head. We immediately started looking into syndromes that he could have.  I was convinced that it was more than just his heart condition.  We started seeing doctors as soon as we got home, they all had concerns – that is when we started learning the degree of malnourishment.  We were told by cardiology that there was a good chance there would not be anything they could do for Braxton.  They started talking about possibly a heart & lung transplant, but there were few hospitals that would even perform this and the outcomes are not very good.  After a 4.5 hour heart cath we learned that God has very different plans for this little boy.  He was, to their surprise, a candidate for surgery. 

In the two months Braxton has been home he has gained almost 2 lbs., he quickly learned how to sit up unassisted, he can scoot around, he can ride his little car and push backwards with his feet, he can roll over (both ways), he is learning to feed himself and go from sitting to lying by himself.  It’s amazing the accomplishments he has be able to make in just the short two months he has been home.  He has been seen by his cardiologist, heart cath cardiologist, hematologist, genetic specialist, nutritionist, gastrointestinal doctor and pediatrician.  It’s crazy, but each time they think he could have another issue / syndrome, the results come back negative.  God has protected this little baby and while I feel like he was set aside to die, we have the joy of being his parents and watching miracle after miracle and know that he will have an incredible story to tell one day. 

His heart surgery will be major, but I so look forward to getting it fixed and watching him continue to grow and learn new things.

We celebrated his second birthday tonight and I am so in love in this little boy – he is amazing…

Many of the things here are very hard to hear and comprehend, however it’s the truth for millions of children all around the world (many even worse than Braxton’s conditions).  It’s easy to talk and look at the good parts of adoption and look at how sweet and cute they are – but there are many, many children that need much prayer and a forever family that will give them the love and attention they so desperately need!  There was a statement in Max Lucado’s book Outlive your Life that really challenged me and is a big reason we ever looked into adoption – God does not call us to change the world, but he does call us to do something – what are you doing?  For us God has given us the ability to adopt and love these children, but your calling may be completely different, but you are called to do something.  I just ask that you pray about it, it changed our lives!

Moving right along...

Internet / VPN has been a little flaky over the past couple of days - so the post is pretty long!

Before leaving Nanchang we visited a large park in the city.  In China the government spends a lot of money on large parks that have exercise equipment, lakes, trees, amusement park, etc.. they are frequently full of people.  When we visited there were a large number of elderly people in the park and they gathered around us almost immediately.  They did not understand why we had 4 kids – why we had adopted when we had 2 kids (especially twice), they were nice and wanted us to get involved with them.  One of the guys gave us badminton rackets and sent Jerry and Allie on their way!!  It provided them with lots of entertainment as our crew was not very good – LOL!!  They loved watching our kids interact with them

We finally found a great restaurant in Nanchang (Bistro 100), it’s a French restaurant that was started by a guy from Texas – go figure, but the food was really good.  Just had to deal with the guy smoking every 5 minutes beside us!  It’s amazing to me how many people smoke here – no matter where you go – the taxi drivers, people in the hotel, restaurants.  Even in the Civil Affairs office where we had to sign papers for Braxton – the guy had a cigarette on the desk.  His full time job is to work with adoptive parents on finalizing the papers and he sits there smoking  – AMAZING and crazy!!

On Friday we flew from Nanchang to Guangzhou, so happy to be here.  While there are still many challenges – it just feels more like home.  This is the providence where Sarah is from and we spent about a week and a half here last time.  We feel more comfortable with the restaurants, people and the hotel is 100 times better.  Braxton did great on the flight, he was awake the whole time, looking around and checking out everyone.  

Braxton is making small improvements each day – it’s amazing to see him start to explore and use muscles he probably did not even know he had!  The kids continue to do well, although Sarah is getting a little tired of mommy holding this baby.  Trying to give her dedicated time, but she is a momma’s girl and it’s hard for her to give up anytime.   She is getting to sleep with me each night, so she loves that!  Braxton’s personality is starting to show through, he has discovered food and LOVES it!  We are amazed at how different he looks after just 1 week.  He is already looking healthier and I hope the weight gain comes shortly behind.  He is going to join the ranks with our biological children and be picky – he pushes away anything that does not taste sweet!  He can down a 4 oz bottle of apple juice in about 10 minutes, but give him water and he can go all day – who does that sound like????  Allie!!

Braxton had his medical appointment yesterday.  He did not like it, but everything went really well.  Since he is under 2 he did not have to get a TB test – YEAH!!  One less thing to cry about.  We ran into a couple that also adopted a little girl from the Heartbridge Healing Home and was in the same room with Braxton – how cool!!  We saw them briefly when we were at the healing home on Saturday.  There is a pretty big group of people here adopting – so exciting to see so many children going into loving homes (many strong Christians). 

After the medical exam we went through all of our paperwork and got our US Consulate appointment package ready – our last appointment before we leave for Hong Kong!!  Our appointment is Monday morning and we will be able to get his US Visa on Tuesday afternoon.   The kids were excited to have dinner at Lucy’s on Shaiman Island (one of their favorite places in Guangzhou)!  It was great!  

Today we visited an Academy where the Emperor families attended during the Chen Dynasty.  The workmanship that people did by hand is just amazing - the pictures do not do it justice.  

Then onto some more shopping... I think China wants to make sure they get as much US $$ as possible while we are here – LOL!!  They are doing a pretty good job of that.

My little shopper...

More pictures…

Sorry for not being better about posting.  We are in Nanchang and have finished all of the paperwork and just waiting for Braxton’s passport to be ready Friday so we can travel to Guangzhou.  Braxton is doing very good, he has adjusted to mama and baba – he cries when we put him down and is happy when we are holding him. He is laughing and clapping (especially for Mitchell, Allie and Sarah).  When they are in our room playing and leave he will start to cry and look for them.  So sweet!!

Braxton is more delayed in his motor skill development than we expected, but we will get him in physical therapy once home and hopefully he will be up and chasing the kids in no time.  As you can see from the pictures he is about the size of a 6 – 9 month old baby.  Looking forward to getting him home and to the doctor’s.

We are in Jiangxi province and there are very few people that speak English here, it’s more difficult to navigate than Beijing or Guangzhou.  Our guide has us crossing the road which freaks us out!!  It is so dangerous to cross the roads in China and you add 2 strollers to that and it is crazy!!  The good news – we are noticed everywhere we go, no one is going to miss the “big white family” they will hit the wall trying to see us.  We were in the shopping center yesterday and this guy almost walked right into something looking at Braxton in the stroller and the white family pushing him.  We get these looks every day, we have learned to just embrace it and give them the entertainment they deserve.  At lunch today has to be the best.  Our guide took us into a restaurant and helped us order and then she left – no one in the restaurant spoke English.   When we got our food (family style where everyone shared larger portions) there were no plates on the table, so we all ate out of the small saucer on the table.  They did not bring forks (you would think they would have gotten the hint when Sarah was slurping the noodles and Jerry CAN NOT use chop sticks, but they just all looked and laughed.  On a good note – no one understood us so we talked about them and laughed as well!  To add to the craziness yesterday Sarah and I were playing on the bed and she hit me in the eye with her head.  It must have been the perfect spot because my eye started to swell immediately!  So I either wear sunglasses everywhere we go or I go in and get even more looks for having a black eye.

Oh, the joys Braxton has to look forward to!

Now to the part you all really care about, the pictures!

Here is Sarah holding her brother for the first time – she’s pretty excited, he is NOT

Allie holding her brother for the first time (so sweet)!!!!

Mitchell holding his brother (not the first time, but a cute pic)

Today we visited the Pavilion which has a temple that was built in the 500’s AD by an emperor to use for entertainment.  Our first family pictures

 Mama’s babies

View’s of the city from the temple (you will notice the smog and pollution)

Took picture of some yummy chips. Really??  Who eats this??  In case you cant read it (Spicy Green Peppercorn Fish Flavor & Hot & Sour Fish Soup Flavor)

View from Hotel Room

Group that exercises each morning (outside our window)

 Other cute pics:

Saved the best for last.....