Six month update

This past Sunday we reached a milestone of sorts, it has been 6 months since our “Gotcha Day!”  It is hard to believe that we have had this amazing little girl in our lives for 6 months now.  It has been an incredible journey so far and so much has happened in this time frame. 

Gotcha Day (Jan. 13, 2014) after a bath.

Six months later, post surgery (July 13, 2014)

On Jan 13^th a little girl was handed to us in the crowded Adoption Registry Center and cried for approximately 10 seconds.  As she spent the rest of that day trying to figure out what was going on, we had no idea what to expect.  

The "hand-off" on Gotcha Day

In the days that followed in China, she slowly warmed up to us and all the hugs and kisses.  It has been neat to reflect upon our trip over the past few days as this milestone approached.  It is neat to see that this little girl who spent every day in an orphanage from 2 days old until she was placed in our arms, who did not fully understand love and affection, has become very affectionate.  Before night-night, she will give me hugs and kisses and immediately say, “Sissie’s turn.”  She absolutely loves it.  In the middle of eating she will look at either her mother or me and pucker up wanting sugar.  It is the sweetest thing.  Oh yeah, she also loves to give herself kisses on my phone.

She has grown to enjoy being around other family members.  She was apprehensive at first, which was expected, but now she sees all of them as family and loves to talk to them on the phone.

 

We’ve come a long way from the days of her hanging out by the mirror in the hotel room trying to figure us out.  Every day is a new adventure and we are still learning much about one another.  A few weeks ago we had a poignant moment take place out to the blue.  Belle has a dog grooming toy set and Primrose brought me the clippers.  

 When she was standing in front of me she said, “Daddy look!” and proceeded to run the clippers through her hair a few times.  She then looked up at me and smiled and showed me the clippers again.  I was floored by this action.  How did she know what clippers were and what they were used for?  Then it hit me… they usually shave their heads in the orphanages.  It was one of those moments where the reality of “life in the orphanage” resurfaced (of course it made me misty eyed).  We have had a few of these moments in the past 6 months, and I expect there to be more.

It has definitely been an incredible journey and I cannot wait to watch the rest of this unfold.  I am grateful for those of you who have been walking with us through this whether it is from a far or just down the road.  Remember, there is still a tremendous need out there.  You can help be a voice to the fatherless though child sponsorship, donating to orphanages, fostering, fostering to adopt, or by jumping in with both feet and adopt.  Do your part to help the helpless.

Week 1 update – The NEW Normal

Our first week home with Primrose has been an adventure.  She is quickly adapting to family life.  She follows her “sissie” all over the place and tries to imitate what she does.  This could be a bad thing!  It is mind-blowing to watch life unfold as we adapt to a family of four.  Primrose has made the rounds with mommy and Belle this week to Gymnastics, Ballet, and even a swing by our pediatrician’s office for an evaluation.  People love this little girl, and she seems to like the attention as long as you keep your distance.

Also this week, Primrose had the opportunity to see what it is like to “do life” with others as she debuted at small group.  She had balloons and a welcome home cookie cake awaiting her there.  It was a special time for us as a family to be able to bring this little girl who our small group has been praying for over the last few months.

Primrose also got to meet Pastor Rick this past Wednesday night while I was there to pick up Belle and Aubrey from AWANAS.  We had a pleasant conversation discussing our trip and her transition.

Saturday (2-1) we got together with some friends to celebrate Chinese New Year.  It was a lot of fun and Belle stood out like a sore thumb.  It was a beautiful thing to see 5 adopted little girls and their families.  Primrose seemed to be able to see that they were similar to her, but then again I cannot say for sure.  But this is definitely something that we will continue doing as she gets older.

Wearing their new silk dresses from China for CNY2014

The crew

Belle enjoying the sparklers

 

Sunday (2-2) Primrose attended her first church service at CHC Hernando Campus.  She got to sit with us and hear the music and the message.  We don’t think she is quite ready for the nursery experience just yet.  She did well, only got fussy toward the end so mamma walked her around a little and she was fine.

Not sure if she is using You Version Bible App or watching cartoons

On Monday (2-3) we had our evaluation meeting with Dr. Wallace for Prim’s cleft surgery.  We had a chance to discuss the severity of her cleft and the process for correcting it.  He was very optimistic about the procedure on her lip and as far as her cleft palate is concerned, well it closed up on its own.  It was rather small to begin with.  There is a remaining cleft/indention on her gum ridge that may or may not have a tooth under it.  We discussed these possibilities with the orthodontist consult.  Again, Dr. Wallace insisted that even this was an easy fix, excluding the tooth issue.  Overall it was a very positive visit and should know when the procedure will take place real soon.

Adjustment is a process, for all of us, and it can be very tiring.  We are extremely grateful for those of you who have signed up for the Meal Train and have or will provide a meal for us.  There are no words to express our gratitude for lightening our load during this time.  We are also grateful for all of the prayers.  It is so encouraging to see and hear of people praying for us.

 
I will keep you updated as to when Prim’s surgery will be.  Stay Tuned!

Home Day 1 – Family of Four and sisterhood, but no traveling pants

What a journey the past two weeks have been!  We have had highs and lows but now we can look back at them with gratitude.  God has been amazing during this time.  Belle was taken care of by many people in different ways and then the incredible turnaround with Primrose during my desperate pleas for God’s intervention.  Needless to say, it has been mind-blowing what all has occurred.

Looking at the trip that was ahead of us as we were about to travel back home, I was slightly concerned with how Primrose would handle flying.  Not only has she never flown before, but to be confined to a plane for 13 hours was my biggest concern.  But, she was GREAT!  She got fussy for just a little on the plane but slept most of the trip. To top it off, the man that was in the 3^rd seat on our row voluntarily moved to an empty seat to give us more room.  We could not have asked for a better behaved child on each flight.  She was AWESOME!

Coming home to the “Welcoming Committee” was wonderful.  It gave us an energy boost that we needed.  But probably the most overwhelming blessing through all of this is your participation in our journey.  As I would look at the blog dashboard it would show me how many people have read it each day, and I was blown away.  The number of FB shares, comments, and likes our blog links received was such an encouragement as well.  But today, The Satchers were trending on FB… ok not really but it felt like it.  All the pictures that were posted from the airport and then the tremendous outpouring of support has made today one of the most incredible of my life.  Social Media gets a bad rap, understandably so, most of the time but it is times like these that the good side of FB is revealed.

So let me just say on behalf of our family of four, “Thank you!”  Thank you for caring for us enough to read about our journey of adoption.  Thank you for your encouraging words.  Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for clicking the “like” button.  Thank you!

 
Watching Belle and Primrose interact as sisters today has been really cool.  I cannot wait to share this journey with you all as well.  Stay Tuned!

China Day 13 – Visas and Cultural Observations

Today is going to be the last blog until we get home Saturday morning.  Tomorrow will be about making sure everything is packed and ready to go, including my computer.  Today we received Primrose’s visa!  Now she can legally enter the US and once she does, she is a US citizen!  I am so excited that the paper trail has ended.  What started out as an application for adoption in March of 2012 has turned into a princess named Primrose.  As she is in the bath, April and I are both just ready to step off of that plane in Memphis.  We are ready to see and love on Belle as well as just sit in our house and be home.  This has been an amazing journey and we are grateful for those of you who have followed along.  As I was looking at our blog stats I was amazed that on Gotcha Day we had over 900 blog views.  Considering all that was taking place in our world during this time, I was so encouraged and overwhelmed at the response.  We are truly grateful for your prayers during our time here in China and ask you pray for our travel and our adjustment at home.  Neither Belle nor Primrose has had to share the spotlight with us just yet, so this could get interesting.  I am going to post some videos and pictures from our adventures here as well as some cultural observations to close out this post.

Before I move to the cultural observations, I want to mention how incredible many of the people we met who were also adopting are.  We have met so many families from our Holt group as well as other groups who are now connected with us for life.  Like I said in a previous blog post, it is amazing how you instantly connect with strangers through adoption and form a bond.  It is a community unlike any other.  Below are just a couple of pictures of some of the people we have met.

 This is the Weiler Family from Alaska.  They were here adopting the little boy, Jinzi.  The little girl who you rally cannot see was adopted from China as well.  One of the shop keepers on Shamian Island called Fred the "Happy Buddha."  He is a lot of fun.

 The couple on the left is the Lyle family from Hawaii, next to them is the Marburger family (who I mentioned in an earlier post) who adopted the girl in the purple top on the right, the man in the background is with the Cheung family, and the lady on the right is the incomparable Catherine.  She is an amazing lady who takes care of things for Holt.

I didn’t know what to truly expect coming to China, but after spending 13 days here I have a great love and admiration for the Chinese people.  As an American we get accustomed to life the way we live it and when taken out of our home country, some growth should be expected.  The first thing I noticed is the driving.  It is insane but organized.  I have never seen more congested traffic and crazy lane changes with as much courtesy as witnessed here.  Seriously, the lines on the road are more about suggested places to drive as opposed to required places to drive.  The cars/buses/taxis change lanes on a whim, with signal, and the cars let them merge.  No flipping off, no cussing, just the occasional horn honk if you are going too slowly.  It was crazy and scared us half to death the first few days, but today riding in the taxi it didn’t even phase us.

 Here is us on one of our bus rides to the civil affairs office.

Another thing that I didn’t expect is elevator etiquette.  In the US it is common to move to the back so that others can get on the elevator.  And when waiting for the elevator stand back to that anyone who needs to get off can before you get on it.  Not in China!  The first time I was on the elevator and the doors opened for me to get off I was shocked to see about 3 people standing almost nose to the door waiting for it to open, and then immediately jump on as I was trying to get off.  And when you are getting on the elevator with other people you better move fast because someone will be hitting that “door close” button like there is no tomorrow.  In fact, April about got shut out of the elevator one time because a man was hitting the button as soon as the doors opened and I barely got on as they were closing.  It makes for a fun experience.

The people of China are super helpful and we have many experiences of their courtesy toward us as we have been out checking out the city.  My favorite thing is how many of them just love to see an American.  We have had so many people get our attention to just say in English, “Hello!” and the smile so big when we say it back.  Kids are the best about this, we had an entire class of 8 or 9 year old girls yelling “Hello” or “Ni Hao” to us as we were walking around Shamian Island, and it made their day when we yelled “Ni Hao” back at them.  The Chinese have been a very welcoming people.  They are very curious when it comes to seeing us with Primrose or seeing her cleft lip, but due to language barriers they do not approach and ask questions.  You can see it on their face that they really want to know.

A few more:

• Chinese food in America is NOT the same as Chinese food in China

•  Porcelain toilets with seats are WAY better than the Chinese alternative

• The Chinese have an incredible respect for the elderly and people with children (a lady tried to give up her seat on the Metro so I could sit down with Primrose but I refused, this is what they do)

•   If you want to cross the street on foot, do it carefully

•  Watch out for bike riders on the sidewalks and the streets

•  Insane work ethic

• You do not tip in restaurants, they work hard because they are supposed to not to earn tips

All in all, I have to say that I have loved my time here except for the few hiccups we experienced with Primrose the first few days.  I am ready to be home, but I will miss being here.  I cannot wait to come back in a few years with Belle and Primrose to visit again.

Just so you know, mommy and Primrose are doing GREAT!!

Again, thank you all for reading and taking this journey with us.  There will be more blogs as we get home and experience life as a family of four.  Stay Tuned!

Prim did not nap today while we were running around, but as she was playing in front of the TV this happened.  I moved her so she would not fall and she went into tantrum pose and before she could get wound up fake crying she fell asleep.

 This is tantrum pose.  She is super flexible and literally puts her head on the floor between her legs.

Here is our little princess not getting her way and throwing a tantrum, when she is done there aren't any tears!  This is all for show.  Cute and pitiful at the same time.