Psalm 68:5-6a

Psalm 68:5-6a “A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families……”

James 1:27

James 1:27 “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

Monday, February 24, 2014

UPDATE ON ELIZABETH

We received Elizabeth's Update this afternoon!  So exciting.  We have some new pictures and info.


2/19/2014 Update


Medical/Development:
Her current health is good.
She likes music, playing with other children.
She can say 3-4 word phrases.
She is potty trained, but still uses diaper at night.
She knows some colors.
She can drink from a cup.


Personality:
They call her Xiao Feng or Xin Feng.
She is active and smiles easily.
She is attached a specific nanny.
She likes musical toys and toy blocks.
There is no special way to calm her down when she’s upset or ready to go to sleep. She can go to sleep easily.


General:

She is in the orphanage.  There are 12 children and 4 nannies in her room. (I think that's amazing!) Since entering the institute, Sun Xin Feng has continuously lived her and has become accustomed to the life.  Her daily life is one of routine and she has set meals.  She eats 3 main meals and 2 supplementary meals and she eats very well.  Her sleeping is also great and she doesn’t fuss at night.  Her daily life is one of routine and she has not had any abnormal things happen.  At present, she likes to communicate with others, she’s not afraid of strangers, she loves to say words, loves to smile and can even say 4-6 characters.  She can also make sounds such as, “ma ma” and “nai nai (grandma)” etc.  She also will call out other simple phrases like, “don’t go, don’t want” etc.  She can understand the instructions such as, “grab that, throw it in the trash” etc.  She has a strong ability to imitate and she can express her needs.  She recognizes 2-3 types of fruit and can stack up 10 blocks.  With help, she can go up and down flights of stairs.
            Currently, she is 88 cm tall, weighs 11.5 kg, has a head circumference of 46 cm, a chest circumference of 48 cm, a foot length of 14 cm and 20 teeth.

Feeling blessed for this updated information.  Trying to prepare the house and ourselves still.  Please continue to pray with us for Elizabeth's health, her transition to our fmaily, continued finances toward her adoption and travel.  We are beyond excited!!!!!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

UPDATE ON LEVI

We received a brief update on Levi this week with a new picture.


2/12/2014 Update


Medical/Development:
His current health is good.
He can run,
He can say mama, baba and can understand what is said to him.
He is not potty trained.
  
Personality:
They call him Xi Yi.
He is introverted and has stranger anxiety.
  
General:
Sleeping time: 10:30pm-6:00am
Eating time: 7:00am, 11:00am, 12:00pm, 6:00pm
He drinks formula.

He is in the orphanage.

We anticipating one more update before we travel, we get to submit 5 questions for our agency to ask the orphanage about the kids.  It will also include medical and developmental updates.   Or, so we hope :)  As well as pictures :)

Monday, February 10, 2014

Soft LOA

Soft LOA

We received an email this afternoon that our Letters of Acceptance (LOA) are on their way!! This is the official letter from China giving us permission to adopt Levi and Elizabeth.  We should have the hard copy in a week or so and then anticipate travel to China 10-12 weeks from then.  So, we are cautiously anticipating a May travel date.  Things can still get caught up at this point, but it feels like we are entering the home stretch!  Sadly, we have not received an updates on the kids yet.  But this is another milestone we are passing.   The kids rooms are near-ready.  We have a toddler bed for Miss Elizabeth and are getting a crib from a friend that goes into a toddler bed for Levi and we have a portable crib in our room for the initial homecoming should we need/want it.  We've been blessed with hand me downs that cover a mojority of big things.  We have a high chair, a booster seat, car seats, beds.....  we see their missing presence everywhere in the house. 


People are always asking how they can help.  First we continue to seek prayers for Levi and Elizabeth to remain healthy and developing and for the transition to our family.  We are still fundraising and have a scheduled workday for a widow on 2-22-14 which you can make a donation to sponsor our work for this widow and 100% of the funding goes to our adoption. 
 http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/drew-and-aimee-ryan

We have felt such support from our friends and family as we have been on this journey.  We thank you so much!!   Until we know more,
Aimee