Summon the Gymnastics Champion

Here's a little video I took and Keri edited of Eden enjoying her gymnastics class. There's not a whole lot of form to be found, but I think it's really helping her with her motor skills development. Keri takes her to the class each Wednesday and I took off from work a little early to see her be a maniac on the gym floor for 45 minutes.

Stinker

Eden is such a little stinker! Here are just some random cute photos of her stinker-ness. Enjoy!

Eden's first official pony tail. She calls it her "tail."

Playing in the tub. It's hard to believe she used to be terrified of baths.

Check out the pink leotard...Eden's first gymnastics class. She's a maniac!

Okay seriously, could her legs be any cuter???

Autumn Fun!

Just thought I would post a few pictures of our trip to the zoo this past weekend. Eden loved it! There is also a photo of her wearing this hat that she ADORES. She is so prissy! Things are about the same around here. Eden is definitely going through a clingy spell but she's doing great. Today Gene and I have been married for 3 years. This week is our Global Celebration at Brook Hills so we won't be able to celebrate until next week. But, this morning we made an Eden sandwich and covered her with kisses as we told each other "Happy Anniversary." God has given us the best gift in one another, and in our daughter. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Thanks for your prayers for Eden.

It's Official - I'm A Mommy!

Okay, so a couple of funny things happened to me this week that I feel officially promote me to full "mommy" status.

First of all, we went to Gene's office at the church yesterday to have lunch with him. I was rushing around that morning trying to get some laundry done, feed Eden breakfast, and get both her and I looking somewhat presentable so I wouldn't embarrass Gene at work. I looked in the mirror before I left and thought, "Hey, I look pretty good. My hair is down AND I'm wearing makeup." Well, I should have looked more closely because when I got to the church one of my friends there came up to me and whispered in my ear that my shirt was on inside out. So I ran into one of the empty offices and turned it right-side out. That was the first clue that I am definitely losing it.

Then, Eden and I were riding down the road and she was talking to me from the backseat like she ALWAYS does. She is either wanting me to hand her something, wanting to point at something, or wanting to hand me something. This is not so safe while driving a minivan. Well, she was trying to hand me something this time so I just stuck my hand back there while still watching the road. She put what I thought to be a crumb in my hand and when I pulled it back and looked at it...it was a buggar. Oh yes, you read right, a buggar from my sweet, precious child's nose. So I did what any good mother does and said, "Thank you sweetie for not eating it." I am indeed officially a mommy, aren't I?

Eden decided she wanted to brush her teeth for the first time this morning with actual toddler's toothpaste so I put a few photos up for you to see. She LOVES her stool that Mrs. Sandra gave her. The funny thing she is doing this week is that she asks for a bow to be put in her hair every time she is near a mirror. Then, she stands up, looks at herself, grins from ear to ear in admiration, and then kisses the mirror. If only we could hold on to that contentment with how God made us! She is so proud of how pretty she looks with a bow in her hair.

What a sweet angel.

A Wonderful Day in China

Today we had a shopping excursion to the local mall. It was quite large. Eden did really good today and was cracking herself up all morning. She likes to move all the time. Either she was in the stroller movin' along or she wanted out to walk. Mommy or daddy holding her only held passing interest now, like if it got her closer to something she wanted to investigate. We bought some gifts for friends and had lunch at Pizza Hut. It's just like Pizza Hut in the USA, right down to the Supreme Pan Pizza we had. Of course, if you want pizza with corn and salmon they have that too.

After lunch we tried out Benedryl on Eden for her nap. We have a 15 hour plane ride in 2 days, and wanted to see if a small dose would help her sleep. It did and she had a great nap and two relieved parents. It seems we might indeed have some help if she has trouble sleeping on the plane.

The pics today are indicative of typical Eden happiness. She's just turning into a genuinely fun little girl and we just love her more and more and more every day. A week ago we could not yet imagine life with her, and of course today we cannot imagine life without her. What a blessing!

The highlight of the day, however, was meeting with some friends from the USA who are here in Guangzhou. It was good to see some familiar faces and talk a little about the adoption, the culture and what it's really like to live in China. Of course, we've only seen a small portion of the country, and frankly the nicer portion at that. It's really just about impossible to explain what it's like here in a blog--most things you expect to see are familiar but the way people live and interact is so different than we know. Our friends were able to put some words to what we've been sensing since we arrived. They also gave us the best meal we've eaten since we've arrived in China!

Folks, I'm here to tell you that China doesn't have some of the comforts we know and there are of course many issues here that a country of 1.3 billion has to deal with, but they are ahead of us in a variety of ways. The entire city seems to be "under construction" with cranes dotting the skyline in all directions. In fact we've seen that in every city in China. The entire country seems to be in the process of being rebuilt before our eyes. It's wonderful to know that as we grow to understand China over time our family is now connected to China in a way that will last our entire lives and that we will be a part of the future of this country.

Oh, and one more small miracle. Bath time tonight was great. A few tears to start out, but then the fun began as she started playing with her bath toys. And of course she was completely adorable. Thank you, Lord, for the big and small things.

We Miss You!

Hey everyone,

I haven't posted since we picked Eden up almost a week ago. It seems like I've known her for so much longer! I just wanted to take this rare, precious few minutes this morning while Eden is still sleeping to tell everyone back home how much we (Keri, Nana and Gene) miss you and love you and can't wait to get home to you. I'm so thankful that Gene is such a good "blogger" because if it wasn't for him, you wouldn't have heard a peep out of us since Eden arrived. Literally every moment of my day revolves around her (I know you other moms get that). It's like the newborn stage of "figuring out" my child with the 19-month-old attitude, energy and budding independence thrown in together.

Plus, the language barrier which causes my sweet angel to SCREAM what she wants like I didn't hear her use Chinese the first 3 times she said it. It's a wonderfully beautiful and rewarding challenge parenting her. She is indeed a "happy nut" as her referral paperwork described her. My favorite thing about her right now is that she cracks herself up (I do the same thing and my friend Alisa thinks it's so funny when I do it). Eden will do something that isn't even funny and then start dying laughing at herself, which then causes us to laugh at her which perpetuates the cycle. I think she just loves to make people laugh.

I can't even imagine what it's going to be like in a few months once she moves through the grief process and we see more of her true personality. She is so precious, yall. Pictures don't even begin to show you how beautiful she is, inside and out. She communicates a lot through her eyes, which photos can't capture. She wrinkles her little eyebrows which her Nana LOVES. Well, she just woke up so I better wrap up. I am SO ready to get home. Can you imagine having a toddler with no schedule and eating out EVERY meal??? Yikes! I love you all and can't wait to let you all meet Eden. You have prayed her into our lives and I am eternally grateful for each of you. See you soon!
Love,
Keri

Moments and Miracles

Eden really came out of her shell today. Man, we have a full-on toddler on our hands. Today was a real turning point for her personality-wise and she opened up big time. We had lots of smiles, giggles, grins, tickles and frolicking around. I think it was by far our happiest day and filled with many fun and memorable moments. But let me tell you about one absolutely miraculous one...

This morning we were preparing to leave Wuhan for Guangzhou. We left the room and headed to the elevator and as we got on the elevator there was a Chinese woman getting off on our floor. Keri did a double-take as the doors closed and we went down to the lobby for breakfast. Could that possibly be?...

By the time we hit the lobby we knew something was probably up. Keri, Eden and her mom went on to the restaurant while I went back up to grab Eden's pictures from our room (all the families put their kids' pictures on the door of the room since we were all staying on the same floor). By the time I got back to the lobby, I spotted the Chinese lady we passed just outside the lobby talking on her cell phone. She walked around the side of the building and spotted me out of the corner of her eye, then walked quickly away from me.

Now, understand that in the city we were in, we knew going in we were not going to meet Eden's foster mom. But Keri had been praying that by some miracle we might meet her. By the time we got to China Keri had stopped praying about this, but she had asked others to pray for this as well.

We met up again in the restaurant, which has a long glass wall on one side. I brought out the picture of Eden we had, which has a woman's arm in the photo wearing a white blouse with flowers on it. The very same while blouse that this Chinese woman standing outside the hotel was wearing. It hit all of us in an instant--this was Eden's foster mom and she had come to see us.

Keri ran outside and approached her with Eden's picture. She was a little scared, I think, that we would not want to see her. We did not know each others' language but pictures and smiles were exchanged and she eased a bit understanding that we were honored she cared enough to find us and come by to see if Eden was okay. She had come not wanting us to discover her and just peer in from a distance. I pointed at the dress in the photo and her dress--she smiled, "Ah!"... so that's how they recognized me. At this point, Keri and the foster mom (we never actually got her name) were in tears. Keri hugged her and said, "Waa-Eye-Nee, Shee Shee" which means "I love you. Thank you."

Without really thinking, she asked me to run in and get Eden, who was just settling down to breakfast with Keri's mom. We embraced, let her hold Eden for a minute and took a picture with her. She pulled out her cell phone and excitedly called her husband to tell her she had met us. She held the phone up to Eden's ear to talk, but Eden was a little dumbstruck by the experience. Then she pointed to us and told Eden in Chinese, "This is mommy, and this is daddy."

Next she pulled out a picture of her family for us to keep. It was really a "God moment." We could not believe it. Something we had prayed for happening right before our eyes. She walked off and Eden got a little upset. She turned to come back and comfort Eden, but this time mommy instinct told Keri not to let Eden go. Instead she took Eden up to the room for a little bit to cry it out (actually it did not last very long at all, she was back down in 10 minutes). I gave her my email address, she smiled again, nodded thank you, and was gone.

For a little while after that we were just beside ourselves. We second-guessed a little bit as well. Should we have let her see Eden and Eden see her? No, it was the right thing to do, and it gave Eden some closure (I know that doesn't make sense for an 18 month old, but really, Eden at that age can comprehend the difference between someone disappearing/dying and someone letting go, even if she can't express it in words yet). Yes, we decided, even if we had to start over with Eden today, it was worth it. And what a blessing to know this woman cared enough to seek us out. You could tell she just had a wonderful love for Eden and really missed her. Words can't express our gratitude to this wonderful foster mom and to know years from now we can tell Eden we had the opportunity to meet her and thank her... God is just too good!

I'm not going to post that particular picture on the blog to protect her identity, but that's a treasured shot we will keep away until the day when Eden starts asking questions and we can pull it out and honor her foster mom's legacy by telling Eden about her.

As for the rest of the day... Well, like I said, Eden just blossomed today. We really believe that seeing her foster mom had something to do with it--seriously, it was like a light switch was flipped after that. Now, she's still grieving, and later in the morning we had a good tantrum and grief spirt, but she was markedly healthier today emotionally than any other day since we met her. I kept looking at Keri saying, "Is this the same sad little girl we adopted a few days ago?" She had us cracking up wearing sunglasses, talking on her Winnie-the-Poo cell phone, and toting her backpack of toys around the hotel halls.

Before lunch we received her passport and our adoption certificate. It's official--she's ours! Then after lunch it was off to the airport. Oh, we did stop by this little banzai tree museum first because we had some extra time. Same story there... sweltering, oppressive heat, ancient Chinese history. We got some fun pictures though, and the 30-minute tour ended, appropriately, in front of an air-conditioner cooling off until the bus arrived.

By the way, about the airports.... Every city in China either has a giant, ultra-modern, beautiful airport or is building one. Guangzhou has one, Beijing has one, Wuhan is building one. I've never seen such nice airports. They are all HUGE and made of glass and just go on and on and on. The nicest airports I've ever been in have all been in China. Folks, we got to do something about our airports in the USA--I mean these folks are just so far ahead of us in the concourse/gate area/moving sidewalk department. It's sad, really, for us. Oh, did I mention they were crowded?

We arrived tonight in Guangzhou, and will be here through Tuesday. We have a medical exam for Eden, then some paperwork for the American Consulate, then our appointment and "swearing in" on Tuesday morning to finalize Eden's citizenship for the USA. We are staying at the White Swan Hotel, which is kinda famous for China's adopting families and apparently well known in general. It is ultra-nice. There are pictures of Richard Nixon and George Bush (Sr.) staying here in the guest book. The mattresses however are still rocks with sheets on them... oh well.

Eden just dozed off. She's had a very active day--in fact, she just plum wore us out. I'm contemplating some kind of crash-fitness program to get me into shape. Even watching her today was tiring. I kept wanted to open her up and see what kind of nuclear reactor was generating all that energy. Many China adopting families say this last leg of the trip is a turning point, and that was certainly true for us today. We're looking forward to leaving on Tuesday (which, by quirk of time-zones, will be a 37-hour day for us as we circumnavigate the globe for 20 hours) and arriving in Birmingham on Wednesday morning.

Tomorrow we're gonna catch David Platt's message from last Sunday on the iPod. He's in the middle of a teaching series on prayer, and what a great sense of joy to be in the middle of many answered ones today.

Eden Hope Mason

We'd like to introduce you to Eden Hope Mason. She's a wonderful little 17-month-old (as of this posting) now living in foster care in China. We're awaiting final approval from China to complete her adoption. Her paperwork described her as a "happy nut", so we immediately knew she would fit perfectly into the Mason household.

Though she is half a world away, through much prayer we have been getting to know her. We have been asking God to prepare us to be her parents, even as He also prepares her heart for the tremendous change that she is about to undergo. Thankfully, God can do that--20,000 miles aren't really that big of deal for Him.