tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77245956586872548002024-02-20T14:44:12.929-08:00it's an obwald lifeObwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-394054388937310442017-04-19T18:52:00.003-07:002017-04-19T18:52:31.156-07:00My post on The Well websiteHey y'all!<br />
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It has been a busy, fun and exhausting year of learning and growing over here. I wanted to share a blog post I did for our church earlier this year.<br />
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I hope to post more as the days and weeks roll towards summer.<br />
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[check the link below]<br />
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<a href="http://thewellcommunity.org/blogs/the-well/mommy-wonder">http://thewellcommunity.org/blogs/the-well/mommy-wonder</a><br />
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here are a couple of random pictures, because pictures make everything better ;)<br />
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-18071736536093831782016-08-24T17:45:00.000-07:002016-08-24T17:45:03.917-07:00It's been a long long time...It has been quite some time since my last post. Maybe because we had a crazy few months (Jan-Aug) with birthdays, sickness, chest x-rays (Aunna), potty-training (both littles), new prosthetics (Ty), Juice Plus conference (Erin), hand surgery (Ty), ending our homeschool year (3 bigs), buying and selling our house, going on vacation, starting the new adventure of 3 in school, starting another homeschool year with the big girls and completing one full year of reGen (Dave)...whew...it's tiring just typing all of that out. And then the regular 3-6 trips to Shriner's in there somewhere.<br />
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For me things need to be quick, easy to access and 1-2 steps to fit into my life. The blog just isn't that. Instagram on the other hand is so simple and quick (which also links to fb) which is why there is even one picture on fb.<br />
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Our kids and grown so much over this year. So may pictures and milestones to be shared (mostly documented on IG. See our pages for timely updates @erinmichelleo (family page) and @color_and_spice (creative page).<br />
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I'm not sure if there will be more posts here because rankly I would rather spend my time with my family, my planner and my Bible.<br />
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With that here is possibly one last post:<br />
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Two years ago tomorrow we met our Aunna Hope for the first time. She screamed and cried and was scared for another transition as an orphan. Well that all changed that day and we will never be the same!<br />
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She is a delight.</div>
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She is strong.</div>
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She is determined.</div>
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She is sweet.</div>
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She is fiery.</div>
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She is funny. </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">She is an OVERCOMER!</span></b></div>
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<i>{a few pictures of our last few months}</i></div>
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Lightning Baby in her preschool class</div>
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mama and LH</div>
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Obwald girls in Newport</div>
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Obwald party of 7 - 4th of July</div>
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Obwald kids on the 1st day of school 2016</div>
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TyTy and mama </div>
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big girls enjoying a fun car</div>
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littles in the "picture spot" at school</div>
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married 17 years...</div>
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love to you all!</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-31419010302653731942016-02-27T11:43:00.000-08:002016-02-28T20:56:20.452-08:00Busy Busy over hereSince I posted last a few months have flown by. We have traveled to Shriners two times this year already. Our little man had his first (Jan 8th) and second trip (Feb 11th) where he was fitted for a lower leg/foot prosthetic. We are awaiting its arrival in the mail any day now. Here are a few pictures from those trips.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">January 8, 2016</span></b><br />
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Our Lightning Hope was also fit for "new feet" and a hand attachment for her bike.<br />
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I love to take "we're here" picture when we get to Shriners and remember who traveled with us. It was Fashion Faith's turn.</div>
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Waiting in the room playing Old Fart Booth on daddy's phone. It's pretty fun seeing these little ones as a 90 year old. hahaha Passes the time.</div>
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One of my favorite things of this whole process is seeing their X-rays!</div>
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Aftetr seeing these hand X-rays we confirmed hand surgery for Ty. They will separate the three</div>
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right-most fingers on his right hand.</div>
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This lower X-ray let us know that his hips and knees were in good shape and that surgery would not be necessary to fit him with a lower leg prosthetic. Hooray!</div>
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After being there for about 3 hours they brought in toys for each of our kids. Another AMAZING thing about Shriners. They were so kind to notice that our peeps were fading and needed some entertainment.<br />
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Ty checking out the sock that goes under the plaster to make his form. I thought he would freak out much more than he did. I think he only cried once.<br />
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Now that LH has had a few casts made for "new feet" she is a pro. She loves it and sits very still.<br />
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We try to find fun lunch spots on our one-day trips to Sac. We have scored a few Diners, Drive-ins and Dive spots. This was a fun place with lots of variety.<br />
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Pretty much the largest onion rings we have ever seen!</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">February 11, 2016</span></b></div>
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And we're off again...</div>
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Ty practicing "standing tall" waiting for his fitting.</div>
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Oh, that was a bit scary! After he freaked out (and cried/screamed for about 10 minutes) we asked if we could put on the prosthetic next time they brought it in. The prosthetist was so gracious and passed it to us and then left the room for a few minutes while we go it on. The prosthetist peeked into the room several time sot see if it fit well. </div>
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Ty was a little more accepting the second time. We forgot to take a video so we asked if he could try it one more time. The third time was a charm because he then didn't want to take it off and ventured outside the ramp with the handrails and even let go altogether! What a guy! So BRAVE!</div>
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Ty has to have one other small surgery at the same time as his hand surgery. We met with one of the pediatric surgeons on that trip. He was very nice as well. Ty warmed right up to him. He's so friendly! It's definitely one of Ty's gifts, being friendly!</div>
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Next trip will be Ty's surgery...</div>
Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-13642576680472112332016-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:002016-01-10T12:47:27.460-08:00December 2015 recap<div style="text-align: center;">
What a fun and packed Christmas season we had. Ty totally hung in there with all of our festivities. He is such a social guy and loves to play at new places with whatever toys are available.</div>
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We started out the holiday season with our two big girls participating in The Nutcracker (excerpts). They shined and loved every minute of it. We are so thankful for the staff and volunteers at BTB!</div>
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All of the grandparents were able to come but we didn't get a photo of them. Grandpa is always ready for a quick pic.</div>
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The dance director and their teacher.</div>
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She's just the sweetest and a beautiful dancer (who just had a baby. Amazing!)</div>
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Our friends from LG even came to watch. LH really wanted to join in the photo session. Funny girl.</div>
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This is the end of the Waltz of the Flowers that both of our big girls were in. It's tricky to get a video and a picture with a 2 year old bouncing on and off of your lap. Such is life. :)</div>
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I took the kids to Baskin Robbins in December as a "THANK YOU". The big kids have done such an amazing job helping us transition with another China baby. :) The don't complain when I ask them for endless "Helps". What a joy to share this journey with our big kids. Their lives are forever changed as well by adding these two darlings to our family.</div>
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It has been interesting learning Ty. There are times when he just seems to want to tune out. I'm sure he;s not used to this much personal interaction. I am navigating the times of letting him lay alone, sucking his thumb and when to pull him back into interactions. In the picture below I pulled him back into interaction with coloring with the Color Wonder pens and paper. (Love this invention by the way! No marks on anything but the correct paper. SCORE!)</div>
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Fashion Faith did a lot of baking in December. All by herself. What a blessing. Most of this was done before I even woke up (they dad was awake). </div>
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Our oldest just loves his littles! It is so special to see this big kid, a boy, loving on such small people.</div>
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Homeschooling with these littles sometimes looks like this. Ty just went over and plopped down on his big sis.</div>
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Here is FF with her finished Angel-food cake. She was so excited to make it for our ladies Life Group party. We did a sock exchange. So fun! These lades and their daughters are so special to us!</div>
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new socks</div>
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These two...all on their own got their babies and started feeding them on the couch. Out of the two couches we have (they are on the biggest one) they sat right next to each other. So funny.</div>
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A dear friend of our family, Eddie, came for a visit in December. It was his first time meeting our new guy. Ty just walked right over and gave him the biggest hug...with a big smile of course.</div>
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Daddy time :)</div>
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Our usual Discovery December with homeschool.</div>
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It is quite a thing learning to love a person who was a complete stranger just a bit ago. It is a challenging process but well worth it!</div>
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Getting English words into our kids in general is a process and sometimes difficult. With English-as-a -second-language is new for us. With bringing home a 16 month old it was pretty simple and similar to raising a bio kid. At least with Lightning Hope she picked it up quickly. But with a 4 year old, sheesh, very different...and takes way longer. Although we have the blessing of our new guy understanding all of what I say, the "him speaking back to us with English worlds" takes much longer...of course. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to respond in Mandarin as well as he is responding in English. Patience, learning patience once again.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Obwald Christmas 2015</span></b></div>
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One Christmas Eve we started the tradition years ago that the kids open their gifts to each other.</div>
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Christmas morning stockings! Obwald-party-of-7</div>
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First stocking!</div>
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Littlest one :)</div>
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Christmas at the Obwald's</div>
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these two...</div>
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Christmas at the Jones' (birthday buddies pic, LH and Grammie, 80 years apart)</div>
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Christmas at the Coit's (a sing along this year, so fun!)</div>
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Will and his fiancé Sarah :)</div>
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cousins on the stairs</div>
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His first sit on the goat :)</div>
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LH remembered from last year</div>
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Older dousing teaching younger cousin about the yo-yo :)</div>
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Christmas with Grandpa</div>
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sillies...</div>
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JJ got the best news about her foot/ankle injury in Dec! Instead of getting back to regular activity in July 2016 she is released in Feb 2016! She has been patient, a hard worker with her exercise and a great participant at BTB even though she was limited.</div>
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The four of us were able to get away for an afternoon to serve at our local Children's Hospital, helping families shop right there in the hospital for their kids who are patients and their other kids. What a gift to help them in this very difficult and stressful time.</div>
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My favorite experience was when when I was helping a mother shop in the store for her two girls (8 and 10, the same age as my two older girls). We are given a list of what they can choose from. They get 1-2 toys, a book, socks, blanket, game...We were looking through the books to find one they might be interested in. I spotted an American Girl story book and mentioned it to her. (The children are not with them just the parents are allowed to come in.) Her response, "Oh they love American Girl!" I has noticed earlier in the afternoon that there were American Girl dolls to the side that they could choose from as their toy. Real American Girl dolls, new and in their boxes! And there different three different ones to choose from! I mentioned this to her. She said,"Can I choose that?" I said,"Yes! One for each girl?" Her eyes teared up, "Really?, and we headed over to look at the dolls. We picked one for each of her girls. She looked at me, now nearly crying saying with a low voice,"You have no idea." And of course I was on the edge of losing it myself. What a privilege to assist her in shopping for her girls and blessing them this past Christmas! </div>
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**All of the toys, books, games, clothing and blankets are donated to the hospital and given to the families for free. The families who qualify for this program are likely to not be able to give there children any gifts at all...and on top of it they are in the hospital over the Christmas season.</div>
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We finished off the month with a visit from one of my best friends! What a treat!</div>
<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-38016122268079770512015-12-09T22:58:00.000-08:002015-12-09T23:19:31.032-08:00time flies<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"1 month an Obwald"</b></span></div>
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We have had Ty with us for one month an a day and he has been officially an Obwald for 1 full month. Wow, what a whirlwind! He has already grown in so many ways! There will forever be unanswered questions about his first 4 years of life but what we know for sure is that he was meant to be in a family...our family.<br />
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And it just dawned on me that we "locked" his file one year ago today! CRAZY! Yes, crazy!<br />
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{Ty this past week}</div>
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Although he will still have miles of overcoming to do, this month has shown his bravery, openness to learn, charm and tenderness. We are excited to see what this "1st year an Obwald" brings for our-guy-Ty.<br />
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It's so interesting to watch him take in new experiences, sights, smells, foods and sounds. I'm not sure what his first four years of life looked like in the orphanage but it seems that his exposure to things we are used to, and our kids are used to, were quite minimal. Here is a short list of some things that seemed new to Ty since he has been with us (keep in mind that he is 4 years old)...<br />
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--eating with a spoon<br />
--eating with a fork<br />
--drinking from a straw<br />
--swings<br />
--slides<br />
--grass<br />
--any form of transportation<br />
--dogs (or any animals for that matter)<br />
--using the potty<br />
...to name a few<br />
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With all of these new things, on top of learning a new language and being dropped in a new family and culture, you can only imagine what newly adopted children go through. Even though he is doing very well, better than we expected, please continue to pray for our little guy and our family as we build trust, set boundaries, and attach to each other as only families can do.<br />
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There are hard moments, hours, days...nap time is a little too short sometimes but we are working it through as a family and in it to WIN IT! ;) In those hard moments we are often given the gift of his little sparkly smile to follow it up. Thank you Lord for the small but great blessings.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: x-large;">orphan no more</span></div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-80879760006336876772015-12-01T22:34:00.002-08:002015-12-01T22:34:53.799-08:00Tu's-day!<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">December 2, 2014</span></div>
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was the day I first saw this picture</div>
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on the CCAI Facebook page...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUvxUoF610jDDF7feB0fF2xZWSaHdhaPyzS8SoOppjZ25xFxHUsnFDQTioFe21TGZhRKXCH3xqWhvxJEjhdM6IgnmpWJYNNVWj-vp4yQW0T4E5qR5kE5f5__9hFyGPQciYWltWisP2O9I/s1600/Li+Tu+Yan+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaUvxUoF610jDDF7feB0fF2xZWSaHdhaPyzS8SoOppjZ25xFxHUsnFDQTioFe21TGZhRKXCH3xqWhvxJEjhdM6IgnmpWJYNNVWj-vp4yQW0T4E5qR5kE5f5__9hFyGPQciYWltWisP2O9I/s640/Li+Tu+Yan+3.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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...they said <span style="font-size: large;">advocate</span> for him.</div>
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...they said <span style="font-size: large;">share</span> his picture.</div>
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...they said his file would be <span style="font-size: large;">returned</span>.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>My heart said,"That's my boy!"</b></span></div>
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The rest is history. God brought us together almost exactly 11 months later.</div>
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It really is amazing that the number <span style="font-size: large;"><b>2</b></span> continues to show up for him. </div>
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We found his picture on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014.</div>
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We said YES to his file on a Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2014 </div>
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(the second Tuesday in December that year)</div>
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His given name in China was Tu.</div>
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He has a total of two toenails.</div>
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He has two fingers on his right hand.</div>
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He is our second adoption.</div>
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He is our second son.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">He has been "unorphaned" exactly 22 days.</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunM77tcfNwOuevfaVL_anXKKzkmrKzpG0130DaWddCwJblR34vAQ8ETAYh_Mmm_7qU5UAYK33n5fqDoPkPyRHjMFKL54D2yMCnjQ1i0b_T1f0zWcJF0OJABGcVvoSY8jGz_NX_4r9MW0i/s1600/IMG_2273.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunM77tcfNwOuevfaVL_anXKKzkmrKzpG0130DaWddCwJblR34vAQ8ETAYh_Mmm_7qU5UAYK33n5fqDoPkPyRHjMFKL54D2yMCnjQ1i0b_T1f0zWcJF0OJABGcVvoSY8jGz_NX_4r9MW0i/s320/IMG_2273.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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You're stuck with us buddy! ;)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXVFOf-enqIHBnOhybrTAXYt51phy_en1qXxYr2YpdEKafY_ky1PWGnA41DbrVKLBbtH5ULfMvi5Acb5Rb9tajRY52D3YWb6Y8u26HAaGp2ojermKJTaPpwrYYy7IUZXWTDIpHRwdauLt/s1600/IMG_2363.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXVFOf-enqIHBnOhybrTAXYt51phy_en1qXxYr2YpdEKafY_ky1PWGnA41DbrVKLBbtH5ULfMvi5Acb5Rb9tajRY52D3YWb6Y8u26HAaGp2ojermKJTaPpwrYYy7IUZXWTDIpHRwdauLt/s320/IMG_2363.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Orphan No More!</span></b></div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-8376225549263265722015-11-19T04:44:00.002-08:002015-11-19T04:44:49.536-08:00Our last three days in China!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrgq5W2-T0PQcoRGhBumXgVUDtoY8OByfb_e5nT2mN8ovMf3e9X2ZdnDl_0FQtm25_5qJxOqP4fgJzxYI0-cDwMULLHzxX0uW83lCeMeaQp_8TG7ILx88ja2upYro4wFePktW4IZTwaxt/s1600/2015-11-17+19.42.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrgq5W2-T0PQcoRGhBumXgVUDtoY8OByfb_e5nT2mN8ovMf3e9X2ZdnDl_0FQtm25_5qJxOqP4fgJzxYI0-cDwMULLHzxX0uW83lCeMeaQp_8TG7ILx88ja2upYro4wFePktW4IZTwaxt/s320/2015-11-17+19.42.31.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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These two have been working hard for the last two weeks on getting their socks and shoes on and off. I must say with this kind of determination for a simple task such as this they bode well for the hurdles they will face in the years to come. They can both get their socks and shoes off and their socks and shoes on! Good job little people!</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Tuesday</span></b> (China time)</div>
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We had some down time from appointments and such so we decide to walk to a park that other families had mentioned. Wow, it was beautiful! A definite oasis in this busy city!</div>
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These next three pictures are an example of what happens when we leave our hotel. (Just so you get a real idea. They were within 30 steps of each other.) This is how blatant the people are in their wonder of why the heck we have two Chinese children with wonky limbs. I just give a big smile and "Hello!"</div>
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(this guy is literally pointing!)</div>
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(full head turn towards us and staring while walking)</div>
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(stopped in her tracks to take a look while we pass)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8Vxh5N-zDeJ1-NjjPrmpRlB6aNT_se63cUvdoZX_QcPmAllcU7V0TRTkT34rygSmY7jxiOqKP2-FYe6UHL0E-QzWfv8tO7Gb-Wlishm_rY0UexRddr9MNogzVUXoa4dnDAwuLWTaMNxU/s1600/2015-11-17+10.01.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX8Vxh5N-zDeJ1-NjjPrmpRlB6aNT_se63cUvdoZX_QcPmAllcU7V0TRTkT34rygSmY7jxiOqKP2-FYe6UHL0E-QzWfv8tO7Gb-Wlishm_rY0UexRddr9MNogzVUXoa4dnDAwuLWTaMNxU/s400/2015-11-17+10.01.20.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I just thought this sign was funny.</div>
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These two are some of my favorite shots of the day! One of the things in our guy's file said eh couldn't climb stairs. Well we tried it out at the park and up he went. Way to go buddy! I think this was his first time on a slide, or at least it seemed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioETOUgNOkhm2PPqXvSDTh19MfdEBW4TXAi69Wnhut_oUIZL4m6xVLj3haRKz_ebLAMilP2A3_vSsOvK-RM5FhHaFJ9m5ucTIP6hUau1QYBi3hnrWQ3B2E9oPs5eBnaAWiAI8SAg-5JpVN/s1600/2015-11-17+10.47.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioETOUgNOkhm2PPqXvSDTh19MfdEBW4TXAi69Wnhut_oUIZL4m6xVLj3haRKz_ebLAMilP2A3_vSsOvK-RM5FhHaFJ9m5ucTIP6hUau1QYBi3hnrWQ3B2E9oPs5eBnaAWiAI8SAg-5JpVN/s400/2015-11-17+10.47.55.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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I think he liked it!</div>
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We noticed this when we were leaving the park. These guys are writing in Chinese calligraphy with water and a huge paint brush on the side walk. There were quite a few of them. Of course we can't read it but how beautiful!</div>
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These two goofs. We went on a walk before dinner to the inside play room. They wanted to "walk" their two stings down too.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Wednesday</span></b> (China time)</div>
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We got the negative result call for our little man's TB blood test Tuesday afternoon. Check! So Wednesday we were off the the American Consulate. No cameras allowed but all went well and pretty fast. We have what we need to get our family home.</div>
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Later that morning we gathered for the group picture and final group meeting.</div>
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The infamous stairs pictures. So fun and what a big group! It was such a FANTASTIC group to be a part of! I look forward to keeping up on their families in the coming months and seeing their precious Chinese children grow and develop into who God has designed them to be!</div>
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(We're int eh upper right corner)</div>
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Endless possibilities y'all! </div>
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11 families</div>
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This was so cute! Daddy-O forgot something in the room so the kids and I waited in the hallway. Little man wandered back to the correct room, several doors down the hallway, and started knocking for daddy.</div>
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Look at his face when his daddy emerged! Huge smile!</div>
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The slide seems new to Ty but he does love it.</div>
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I love that Ty is clear in this pic but everything else is blurry.</div>
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Holding on tight to daddy while we explore the gardens on the fourth floor of the hotel before dinner.</div>
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I love this. Safety in his daddy's arms!</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Thursday </span></b>(China time)</div>
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We found another garden near our hotel today. We had the entire day off (with the exception of collecting our final paperwork from our guides at 4:20pm). It felt to good to meander to breakfast, wander the halls of the hotel, wander the streets of Guangzhou looking for a few last souvenirs for our big kids.</div>
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This man walk "walking" his duck! Only in China. ha!</div>
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We saw this at both parks. It's a group of people gathered under a small structure sitting and singing, while being lead by an instructor of some sort. It was beautiful music and added a fun element to the beautiful scenery. This group even had a woman playing an accordion. The man in the red shirt, in front, is pointing to the music hanging on that easel.</div>
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After the park we decided to go around the block to get back to our hotel. We spotted this alley on our way and decided to head that'a-way.</div>
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<i>It was actual China.</i></div>
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The everyday people in their natural, everyday environment. Not the big hotel, taxi-honking, large tour bus-driving, 5-star buffet, Starbucks-kind of China. Instead the average hole-in-the-wall store front owner, laundry handing from your window, selling mops and brooms, raw meat hanging from spikes kind of China. </div>
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Very interesting! We were so glad that we stumbled across this back alley! It seems that every once in a while there will be a small road leading from the main street into an area such as this.</div>
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One of the eclectic shops.</div>
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I spotted this guy on our way back. His bicycle (you can't even see it from here) is completely covered with new mops, brooms and buckets. He needs to get around that stopped bus so he is walking IN the lanes that the cars and busses and taxis go! Holy cow, the guts of some of these guys! He really has no other choice.</div>
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As our last day and night in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China we skyped with our big kids on last time. I was so happy to get all 5 of our kids in one shot. You may not be able to tell but the littles' faces are in the bottom corner. We are SO EXCITED to see our big kids. They have had a great two weeks as well but we are more than ready to be reunited.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you 100x over for all of your prayers and words of encouragement as we prepared and traveled to get Ty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And once again, like last year, please show your care for our family and Ty by giving him space and time to adjust when we get home.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Please DO NOT:</span></b></div>
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touch him</div>
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pick him up</div>
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offer him food</div>
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He is doing SO WELL but has been through a lot over the past two weeks. He still needs time to bond with us as his parents and sole providers. It would be confusing for him to have his needs met from another person for a while. We appreciate your understanding and know that he will love interacting with you just as soon as he is ready.</div>
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love, us7 ;)</div>
<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-15236693277043960352015-11-17T22:34:00.003-08:002015-11-17T22:34:48.210-08:00Bath time a success, Medical day and Pearl River Cruise<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Sunday</span></b> (China time)</div>
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After being with us for almost a week Ty finally decided he loved the bath. What a relief. We thought it could take up to a month before he gave in in this area with how he had reacted so far. We're so proud of him, yet again, for his <b><span style="font-size: large;">courage</span></b> to take another step of trusting us. Do you see LH's face. He was splashing so much almost every picture of her is like this...water all up in her face.</div>
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Oh brothers! ;)</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Monday</span></b> (China time)</div>
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This is a picture on our way to the visa picture and medical appointment. I don't think any new-adoptive parent was looking forward to this day. We were all happy to complete another step but not the wait or the poking and prodding of our already scared kids.</div>
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What a big week it had already been for these little guys.</div>
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It started with the visa picture for all of the kids. The photographer tried to move Ty's book because it was too close to his face. He LOST IT!</div>
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That was right before we went into the medical appointment. Darn!</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Because of our little guy's age he had four stations to complete for his medical exam.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">You could do them in any order for the first three and then the TB blood test (for all children over 2 years old) was last. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Here he is at the weight, height and temperature station. He did ok for a few minutes, maybe 2, then the screams started. The nurse was so sweet with him. She stroked his face and talked to him. It didn't help too much so I just said to lay him down quickly for his height and then he's be finished. They did his height laying down because of his short leg.</span></div>
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He's about 31 lbs.</div>
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Getting consoled by daddy. This was actually really cool because since we received Ty he has always slumped his back and leaned his head back when he was upset. For the first time, on the medical day, he leaned his head onto daddy's chest while crying. A sure sign that he is getting more comfortable and wants comfort from us in hard moments!</div>
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Next up was the ENT. I don't think he cried at all during this one. I remember this doctor from last year. He sure didn't want the tongue depressor going in his mouth though.</div>
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Our third step was the general screening. Ty was super nervous with this because he had to lay on the table and be undressed. The doc let me dress him when he was finished. At this time our little girl was about done with everyone around her crying even though she didn't get poked or prodded at all and was crying for me. So daddy took Ty and I picked her up. Exhausting for all involved for sure! </div>
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We saved the two suckers that another mom gave us for after he TB blood test. For this part the kids are taken from us into another room with the door closed. Hard but good. Then we can comfort them when they come out. When I told daddy-O about this after I heard I almost started to cry. Yet another separation from someone who they have just built trust with. These poor little people.</div>
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So much to process in such a short time! A few kids were in this particular room for up to 20 minutes because they couldn't get a vein. I think some of the kids were really dehydrated. Luckily our little guy was in and our in about 4 minutes. Praise the Lord!</div>
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He does seem to have come to us pretty healthy.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Monday evening</span></b> (China time)</div>
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Since Monday he has started to touch our arms softly or rest his hand on us in a sweet way.</div>
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Little steps of closeness. With me at least he tends to lay his hand down on my arm and then look up as if to ask with his eyes,"Is this ok?"</div>
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Last year we opted out of the river cruise so we thought we would give it a go this year. The kids were both doing well, the weather was way better than last year and it was something to do. It was really fun. Most of our group went as well and our guides. So much money, like millions of dollars, was put into lighting the buildings and bridges along the river. It was a fun experience and fun to go to the top of the boat for about 20 minutes and feel the breeze. The kids both loved it.</div>
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When we were on the top deck a Chinese man asked to take my picture with our little girl. I said sure with a smile and shaking of my head. about 5 minutes later he wanted to show me his phone. I thought he was going to ask to email me the picture or something. I looked at the phone and he had typed out in Mandarin, then translated something like "Thank you for your selfless love. Many blessings and peace to you." Wow! How sweet for him to take the time to do that.</div>
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One thing that we have learned from our travels her these two times and from our guides is that the Chinese people really are glad that the children are being adopted and thankful. They are so happy that they will have loving families and a future. In their curiosity there is love.</div>
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With each day our little guy gets down from our lap more and explores a little farther. He was walking around the boat a bit next to us.</div>
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Towards the end of our time on the boat there was a small magic show on the second floor.</div>
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A fun way to end the long day. </div>
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Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-58794411918746375682015-11-14T23:13:00.000-08:002015-11-14T23:25:32.123-08:00traveling to Guangzhou (Day 6 with Ty) & Touring in Guangzhou<div style="text-align: center;">
What a loooooong day yesterday was! </div>
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The kids are all packed up and ready to head downstairs for our van. LH is tickling SOC to get him to smile just as we do. Funny girl. They LOVE their backpacks!</div>
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Our morning went well as usual but by 10 am we were downstairs with all of our luggage and our two kiddos to head to the airport. Our last week awaited us in another city. So off we went. Our ride to the airport was quick and we were two hours early to our flight...good and bad. Two hours of waiting with two little ones in an airport is, well, you fill in the blank, and at lunch time to boot. Our plane was due to leave at 1:05 pm. It's a four hour flight from Shenyang, Liaoning to Guangzhou, Guangdong. We were leaving the extremely polluted air in a city of 10 million people to go to a city with some haze and 17 million people.<br />
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Anyhow after making quite a spectacle of ourselves at the airport (this includes stares from every.single.person that passes us, the cleaning lady at the restroom calling over two other cleaning ladies to come view the children in the stroller while daddy-O waited for me, people literally stopping in their tracks...) we made it onto the plane. One of the cutest things was when were looking for our counter with our guide before heading to the boarding gate daddy-O and our guide got ahead of me and the kids a bit. Ty called out to him,"DaDa!" Awesome!<br />
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Getting onto the plane was crazy crowded! Not normal crowded where people file onto the plane, find their seat and sit quietly until the plane is full. No. Like people moving like ants at a picnic, rushing, squeezing in small spaces, going way too far into the plane (like to row 15) and having to come back to row 5. What? Who does that. They don't seem to mind that you have a tiny 2 year old walking down the isle. Anyhow, we made it into our seats. I set LH down...then it was daddy's turn to set Ty down and get into his seat. Shoot, bad move! SCREAMS, ear-piercing, not quite as bad but not great for a crowded airplane. Poor guy. There was SO MUCH happening at one time. Too much for him. Daddy quickly took off his backpack and picked up his new son. Safe in his arms, Ty settled rather quickly considering. Ty became a lap-seat. Oh well. He didn't move from daddy's lap for FOUR HOURS!<br />
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Our "darling" two-year old, who was over tired and sitting next to the window, was restless for the first two hours. She just couldn't settle. After about an hour Ty woke up and after two hours LH finally fell asleep. They traded off sleeping but at least they both slept some.<br />
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We were not looking forward to disembarking because we had to give our stroller to go under the plane. They assured us that it would be at baggage claim. Oh great, thanks! That means we had to carry these two all the way to baggage claim! Ahh! Oh well, here we go! Put those arm muscles to work.<br />
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We were greeted by our next guide after getting our bags. We were so happy to see our guide from last year. A friendly face, not a staring face. Although they mean well and are very sweet I was kind of getting tired of the stares.<br />
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We finally back to our room at 7pm. Whew, what a day! We figured this was our warm-up for the even longer travels home in a week.<br />
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I thought this was so cute last year. It was in our room. They are prepared.</div>
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This morning, while in the lobby waiting for our group, one of the guides mentioned to me that it seemed like Ty had been with us over a year. Wow! She sees a lot of families pass through this city on their way back to the states. That was awesome to hear!</div>
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Touring today. It was so nice to get out and about with the other families. This hotel definitely has the best breakfast buffet as it hosts people from all over the world.<br />
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Some of you may remember the picture of the 6 of us last year on these stairs. I was so happy to come across them again on our tour.</div>
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He actually wanted to get down out of the carrier. So cool.</div>
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<b>More progress!</b> It was minion shirt day. ;)</div>
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For some reason LH really wanted to touch these elephants.</div>
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She kept saying,"Two e-fants, two e-fants."</div>
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It's not that often that our boy stands tall on his longer leg. I was able to get this shot so you guys can see just how big the discrepancy is. Inches. When he is on his short leg these two are about the same height but on his longer leg he is much taller!</div>
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Pretty soon little man you will be "standing tall" all of the time.</div>
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One of the things I am looking forward to the most is the first time he stands up straight and walks. Get the tissue!</div>
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I love this picture of us! He just sparkles!</div>
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Tickles with mom.</div>
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More fun with dad while we wait. Look at him fly.</div>
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He is getting more and more comfortable with each day! Daddy asks,"More?" His response,"Mo!"</div>
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He was wanting down again. So cool!</div>
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A visit to the grocery for snacks, diapers and wipes. Ummm, did you want some meat?</div>
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While we waited on the bus for the other families these two sat across the isle from us with snacks and their water cups. <b>More growth!</b></div>
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Coloring and stickers in the room while we waited for dad to fix our noodles. We have opted for Cup-o-Noodles and snacks most lunches because it's cheap and fast so we can get them down for a nap. This is the first day that he has colored and the first day that when I said,"It's nap time" he went right to his bed and laid down. LH was harder to get down today. He handed his sister her cup and backpack, rolled up in his blanket, with us backpack, started sucking his thumb and fell right to sleep. <b>More growth! </b>Every other day he has napped on our bed after playing quietly for 20 minutes.</div>
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<b>This week we have the following to look forward to:</b></div>
--medical exam (just a blood draw, no shots)<br />
--visa paperwork<br />
--consulate appointment<br />
--river cruise<br />
--touring Guangzhou<br />
--two restaurants that we like in this city<br />
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That's all for now. :)<br />
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Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-77292553203045108992015-11-13T03:21:00.000-08:002015-11-13T03:51:59.988-08:00last full day in ShenyangWe had a great day today. Both kiddos slept until 6:30am. What an improvement! The day is not only long but super long when they wake up at 3 am. We feel like we lived an entire day before breakfast.<br />
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It was "bath day" again for this little man. We knew it would be hard but it had to happen. We heard from his nannies that he does actually love taking a bath. So, we figure it's the "being so vulnerable" that he is getting used to. The bath lasted longer, 2.5 minutes, I was able to wash more of him and he cried for a bit longer afterwards. We strategically followed up bath time with lunch. He was right as rain within minutes and back to his fun-loving self.<br />
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At breakfast he used a straw for his juice. He didn't seem to be able to drink from an open cup or use a straw as of 4 days ago. The nannies told us he still got a bottle each morning. I also taught him how to hold a spoon properly at lunch. He loved that. He seems eager to feed himself. We were also told that part of Chinese culture is that the children don't do much for themselves so teaching him these things is fun and he seems excited to do them.<br />
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Some bum-push-ups today with dad.</div>
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He hasn't been a fan of quick movements but today he enjoyed this little ride.</div>
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All smiles!</div>
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Sorry for the bum shot of daddy-O but I wanted to show little man checking on his little sister. This was the first time that he was awake before her at nap time. He really wanted to get her up to play. So cute. When one of them is awake they think the other one should be too.</div>
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Horsey rides with dad.</div>
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He loved this as you can tell.</div>
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It's hard to get a good picture of this little guy.</div>
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He's so quick.</div>
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Another blurry yet adorable picture of this sparkle!</div>
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Little mommy caring for her bro. This is one of his sad moments.</div>
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Literally LH runs to get a tissue and come rub his back to help soothe him.<br />
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<b>Best parts of the day:</b><br />
-- we (the parents) for to hang out during nap time, watch a movie and pack for our travels tomorrow. One of both of us usually nap when they do.<br />
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-- baby girl said to her daddy this afternoon,"Dad you go sit. I'm playing with TyTy."<br />
They played together for about 40 minutes. So cool!<br />
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--little man rolled toward me during nap time today and fell asleep. We usually put him in the middle of our huge bed for his nap. He plays for a bit and then lays down to sleep.<br />
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<b>Something very interesting:</b><br />
Our guide from CCAI came to our hotel room tonight to deliver the official documents we need for the next city. Ty had just woken up so daddy was holding him. I needed to review each piece for accuracy (10 documents with 5 pages in each set) so we asked him to come in and have a seat. Daddy tried to put our little guy down and he totally melted. Out came the crying. Poor guy. We wondered if he associated our guide with the loss he is feeling. Daddy quickly picked him back up and he settled, oh and another snack. Our guide has been with us for each step of the process translating and taking care of the legal documents.</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-87564574849120573592015-11-12T01:48:00.000-08:002015-11-12T01:48:09.007-08:003 full days with TyToday was a great day! Only two very short cries from our little guy (which were our fault). He woke up with a smile and started playing right away. Bright eyes and fun all day! We rode them down in the double stroller to breakfast and he ate his breakfast in his stroller seat without a fuss. The first time we took him to breakfast we had to stand up and hold him while feeding him. YAY!!!<br />
He's such a good eater and loves variety. From orphanage to 5-star buffet!<br />
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This is on our way to breakfast. He even did a diaper change and clothes change this morning before breakfast without one cry, all smiles. Little steps each day for sure!</div>
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What a courageous guy trusting us so.</div>
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We took a long walk today. (It was about 35 degrees) We needed to get out of the room a bit more. The smoke cleared some so we thought we should go for it. We bundled up and braved the streets. I saw this guy peddling along. Hello! Large load. You'd be amazed what they fit on a bike or scooter.</div>
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This pic is from last night. I got their Frozen jammies on. Adorable! You can kind of see the little toes on his left foot in this picture. I think the only ones that are full length are the pinkie and one next to it. We haven't been able to get a good look at his whole body yet because of his hesitancy to get undressed. In time and for sure next week when he gets his medical exam before we leave. Pray for that day. Holy cow that might be rough. I'm pretty sure he gets blood drawn and some shots.</div>
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You can see in the picture above a little photo book. They both carry their photo books everywhere we go and all around the hotel room. It's so funny. The photos are of the 7 of us so they can both see pictures of the big kids too until we get home.</div>
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<b>Updates on little man:</b></div>
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he went to bed last night with 1-2 minutes of crying</div>
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the previous night it was 20 minutes of screaming/crying</div>
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he lets go of food trash within seconds now (like the wrapper from a fruit snack or squeezie yogurt)</div>
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he wakes up with a huge smile</div>
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he handed LH something today when she was crying</div>
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he and LH can play independent of us for a bit now</div>
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he has napped on our bed the last two days</div>
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he finally pooped ;)</div>
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he calls for mama and dada is we leave the room, not in a worried way but a loving way</div>
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he loves to high-5</div>
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he looked at books today for the first time</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-78988799393131971342015-11-11T01:21:00.000-08:002015-11-11T01:21:38.512-08:00first two days with TyWell of course it's been a few days of learning about our son, adjusting to his moods and grieving, earning his trust, feeding all of us, getting enough rest to function with two toddlers/preschoolers and well, thriving as best we can for the next 9 days in China to get home to our big kids. Thank goodness we have been able to Skype with them. What a blessing that has been!<br />
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Ok. Here's for a quick recap...<br />
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<b>Son of Courage</b> (newly adopted son)<br />
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he loves to eat<br />
he loves to play with Hot Wheels<br />
he loves bouncy balls<br />
he throw pretty hard with his left hand<br />
he gets around well<br />
he puts most of this weight on his right leg (short leg) most of the time<br />
he does "stand up" on his left leg sometimes<br />
he doesn't have any symptoms of being sick<br />
he is used to the nannies doing most everything for him (carrying, feeding...)<br />
he's not a fan of changes that concern his body (diaper changes, changing clothes, baths!)<br />
---when I say "not a fan" I mean blood-curdling screams of fear ---poor guy, so many new things<br />
he has an adorable, full faced smile and giggle<br />
his eyes light up the room<br />
he loves to share with his little sister<br />
he loves to share his food<br />
he likes his new shoes<br />
he wondered where his feet went in his footie jammies<br />
he sleeps well at night<br />
he has begun to let go (trash related to food) and put them in the garbage himself<br />
he responds to being tickled in a favorable way<br />
he called her by name all on his own today to pass her a toy (Amazing!)<br />
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<b>Lightning Hope</b><br />
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she loves her new brother<br />
she loves to share most of the time (unless it's something special to her)<br />
she wants him to wake up if she's awake and he's still sleeping<br />
she loves to comfort him and bring me a tissue if he's crying<br />
her eyes actually filled with tears of compassion one of the first times he cried (It was an amazing sight. She was genuinely concerned for him.)<br />
she doesn't mind being used as an example for me to show him how to do something<br />
she got a fever in the night which kept us home from visiting his orphanage (This may have been a huge blessing. He had a very hard morning. Both doing well now.)<br />
in her little person way she has stepped up to meet this challenge of welcoming him in<br />
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<b>Us </b>(the parents)<br />
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we are doing well<br />
the jet-lag has finally seemed to be subsiding<br />
the hotel upgraded our room "just because" which has been amazing! lots of space<br />
our schedule this trip is much slower, thus lots of time to connect with our kids<br />
good conversations about our transition<br />
enjoying teamwork as we transition with our SOC and LH<br />
each of us using our gifts to make this transition go as well as possible<br />
natural feelings of "What on earth are we doing?" and "We are so excited to see him reach his potential!"<br />
we are learning to rely on God in new ways, understanding our own spiritual adoption even more<br />
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Forever Family Day</div>
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(adoption finalization)</div>
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let's do this!</div>
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There you go! Another Obwald! 11.10.2015</div>
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Customary trip to Walmart for supplies. Christmas decor already up.</div>
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We are all suited up for a 20 minute walk back to our hotel, including masks because of the toxic pollution at an all-time high.</div>
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I love this frozen bicycle we passed. Icicles actually formed.</div>
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We spent a good 2.5 hours in our big bed yesterday playing while baby girl slept.</div>
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Last night at story time before bed...two kids, two blankets, two stuffed elephants, two water cups...check!</div>
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Today he got himself onto our bed without help.</div>
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He didn't do that when we first got him. New things everyday.</div>
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We got the double stroller out today to play in this afternoon. We cannot carry them through the airport (in 3 days) so we wanted him to get used to get it. He seemed to love it.</div>
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Baby girl told him just where to sit or course.</div>
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love to you all! Keep those prayers comin'!</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-32498571829418409752015-11-09T14:29:00.001-08:002015-11-09T14:29:31.522-08:00Gotcha Day! (11.9.15)Everything about this trip has been different from last year.<br />
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--which of our kids we are traveling with (last year our three big kids, this year just our adopted daughter from last year, also China)<br />
--what city and province our child is from (last year Henan province (central southern), this year Liaoning province, far northeast)<br />
--the weather (last year sweltering heat and humidity, this year literally freezing weather, snow and terrible air pollution from coal burning stoves and heaters)<br />
--our travel group size (last year 3 other families, this year just us for this first week and 6 other families for the last week)<br />
--the age and gender of our new child (last year 16 month old girl, this year 4 year old boy)<br />
--our new child's life history and dwelling before us (last year our daughter lived in a foster center, this year our son is from and orphanage)<br />
--how we received our child (last year waiting for almost an hour with other families and her screaming with fear, this year we met them in the lobby waiting for the elevator, he was very calm and interactive with one small cry)<br />
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Our little Lightning Hope was such an amazing blessing with us receiving Ty yesterday. She was a rockstar! She welcomed him, loved on him, shared with him and cared for him. She kept saying,"I hold it." We were passing him back and forth so we could sign papers. We all fed each other an entire bag of little sweet crackers.<br />
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This is the first moments that we saw our son.</div>
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What a surprise to see them in the lobby while waiting for the elevator!</div>
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He gazed at daddy for a while. Adorable!</div>
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Baby girl helping out by patting his back too.</div>
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The four of us!</div>
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We all munched on those crackers for about an hour.</div>
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Daddy got smiles our of him pretty quickly. </div>
Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-73855817668131118172015-11-08T05:51:00.000-08:002015-11-08T06:19:21.206-08:00What a special day!Day 3--Beijing<br />
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This morning was our last day in Beijing before taking off for our son's province. Through a series of events we arranged to meet the founder of the foster center our Lightning Hope lived in. There are so many amazing things to share about this morning's meeting but we're so tired and want to be refreshed to meet our son in the morning...so here are just a few highlights--<br />
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-- The director brought her 6 year old son with her and her English teacher to translate.<br />
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-- Her family lived at the foster center to help out when it was first started so her son played with our girl when she was there. He was great entertainment for LH at breakfast this morning.<br />
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-- Her son's name is David (pretty cute) and he saved up money to bring our girl a panda stuffed animal. He made money by teaching his father English. So cute!<br />
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-- The director of the center told us the story of how our girl got to there. She went to the orphanage in Pingdingshan for another child who was sick and needed to go to a medical facility for orphans for treatment. The director saw our girl and felt a connection to her so she brought her to the foster center too. This might have just saved her life! Our little one was the first to be adopted out of that foster center.<br />
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<b>Prayer for tomorrow:</b></div>
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-- the weather is bad here in Shenyang. When I say the weather is bad I mean that the actual for cast is "smoke". It reminds me of the recent fires in the central valley and how our city air was so polluted with particles that you could see them. When we got off the airplane and headed into the building there was a haze even inside the buildings! Crazy! Our guide says it is because of the colder temperatures everyone is using their coal burning stoves. He also informed us that the city is about size of SF but has 10 million people. Holy cow! We have headaches already and our eyes are irritated. We didn't not expect this part. Our guide says to stay inside if possible and it may clear in the next two days. The forecast is clearer skies this coming week. We would really like to see parts of the city to document for our boy.</div>
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It was fun to arrive in snow flurries but it may prohibit us actually getting to meet our boy tomorrow. If the weather doesn't clear then the motorway will be "locked" says our guide for hours or even all of Monday. Please join us in praying for the skies to clear and our meeting time to go as scheduled, 10:30am China time, Monday morning (Sunday night PST).</div>
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-- pray that our bond is solid and that they have given him the care packages with our pictures in them. What a huge day this is for us, of course, but especially for him! Pray for him to feel peace and security in his heart with us.</div>
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-- after seeing our girl with the director and her son we feel that our Lightning Hope will be ready to receive our Son of Courage (I named him this because it will take a lot of courage for him to join our family and for the upcoming year of potential surgeries.) Pray for him to receive our baby girl as well.</div>
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-- pray for our big kids who are home to be able to Skype with us and meet their new little brother. The internet seems much slower here so we shall see if that even works.</div>
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Good night from China!</div>
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(the internet is very slow. I hope to upload more pictures tomorrow)</div>
<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-75804079969289201142015-11-07T02:04:00.000-08:002015-11-07T02:35:01.240-08:00We made it to Beijing (China Day 1 & 2)<div style="text-align: center;">
Hello all!</div>
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{Day 1}</div>
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After 20 hours of traveling we made it to Beijing. Our little Lightning Hope did as well as can be expected for a 2 year old. She actually really likes traveling but it was pretty long.</div>
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Here are a few pics from our first day. It was hard (for me, mama bear) to leave our big kids at the airport this time. I warned them about two weeks ago, when we bought our tickets, that I may be "randomly emotional" and that they should to plan on that. LOL. It actually didn't kick in until we were getting ready to pack the car. I lost it...tears all over the place. I love those big kids so very much, they're pretty much awesome, and all of the mama fears of not making it back to them came flooding in.</div>
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Anyhow we had a fine time making our way across the ocean and were ready to get to our hotel and lie down.</div>
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We were greeted by our fabulous CCAI rep. There was also one other family on our flight from Atlanta. We rode with them to our hotel and turned in soon after we got settled.</div>
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Our first flight of 7 flights over the next 15 days...</div>
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One of the cutest thighs our girl has done so far for this trip is that whenever we went down the ramp to go to our plane she would shout, "Tyyyyyyyyyyy..."</div>
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I love watching the little plane make it closer and closer to our destination as the trip goes on. This map is fun because both of our kids' cities are on this view.</div>
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**Lightning Hope - Pingdingshan and Son of Courage - Anshan)</div>
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Our first 5 -star bathroom in the airport. Funny</div>
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{Day 2}</div>
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The three of us were up at 3am this morning. Not great but it gave us a chance to Skype with our big kids and my mom and step-dad. I guess there is an upside, right? Baby girl LOVED it!</div>
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We met the other families at breakfast this morning. There are 6 families in our group. After breakfast we all headed by bus to The Great Wall. We loved it last year but it was so hot and humid that it made the climb miserable. Today the ground and structures still have a dusting of snow. Beijing got their first snow yesterday. I must say that it was beautiful and worth the second trip! We were all very cold though. Our poor little one froze. We decided to go up a different way this year, much steeper but fun to climb with another couple.</div>
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We walked up the other side this time. It was much much steeper and the snow added a level of craziness but we had a great time getting to know another family on our climb.</div>
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After the Great Wall we headed to lunch and a jade factory/store with our group.</div>
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Our little one was checking our her options...hahaha</div>
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We didn't end up buying anything this time. We are looking forward to getting our new son something special from his province. (next week)</div>
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This little girl thought she was pretty funny while we were waiting for others in our group to make their purchases. I think she was a bit delirious from lack of sleep.</div>
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hahaha</div>
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The people who worked at the jade factory were quite intrigued with our little pumpkin.</div>
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She loved animals. She kept saying "It's a nice horse."</div>
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Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-42345960550826021712015-11-02T14:09:00.001-08:002015-11-02T14:09:58.697-08:00al.most.there<div style="text-align: center;">
We will be leaving here in 3 days. Now that it comes down to it I can't believe that we are going to China again in such a short amount of time.</div>
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(11 months for the process of adopting Ty)</div>
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I can't wait to cuddle my boy!</div>
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#werecomingTyTy</div>
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4 kids each trying put up one finger = 4 days to go</div>
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(this was yesterday)</div>
<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-11305171636109612372015-10-23T20:40:00.001-07:002015-10-23T20:40:39.813-07:00we're ready to go!<div style="text-align: center;">
This past week much progress was made, and made quick! </div>
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Monday morning I called our {wonderful agency} CCAI around 10am about something else and they let me know that we got our Travel Approval!</div>
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insert squeals by the whole family {but not daddy of course} not that he wasn't exited, he just does not squeal ;)</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>yipee!!!</b></span></div>
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Tuesday morning at 9am we got an email that we already had our consulate appointment. CRAZY!!!</div>
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By Tuesday afternoon we had airline tickets!</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">12 days</span></b> until we leave for China!</div>
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#werecominTyTy</div>
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Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-81564183361461064352015-10-12T23:09:00.000-07:002015-10-16T12:20:11.622-07:00we're comin' little boy...It's funny...I have always loved living near the airport. I point out planes, jets and such to the kids as we drive. But the past week has been different. I have entered the "it's really going to happen" phase of this adoption journey. Every time I see a plane now I get butterflies in my stomach thinking of us heading around the world to welcome our next child into our family!<br />
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#werecomingTyTy<br />
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CRAZY!!!<br />
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** as the days continue to march on we wait...<br />
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** we hit two holidays and our paperwork got snagged in China.<br />
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** with our first adoption we needed to wait to travel b/c of a class my husband was teaching so we had about 40 days from making our flights until departure. It looks like this time around we will have more like 7-10!<br />
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CRAZY!!!<br />
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We expect our Article 5 tomorrow or in the next few days. After that we wait for China to invite us to come adopt Ty (Travel Approval).<br />
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A few days later we request our consulate date, wait again for a date, hopefully only a few days, then make our flights.<br />
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Current prayer requests:<br />
--that we would not hit Thanksgiving for our in-China dates and have to push it off even further!<br />
--that we would heal from the colds that currently have us not-quite-right<br />
--that the flights would be reasonable in cost (they have been holding at $992 per adult for a few months now)<br />
--that Ty would be safe, warm, fed and cared for until we can get there<br />
--that our funds would stretch just enough to get us there and back<br />
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We got an update on our boy! I squealed, and so did the girls... ;) There was a great written report (so that helped) because the pictures of him made me sad. It was a hard week receiving these. It makes me want to get there all the quicker! But I am thankful that we see him like this (much different than the other pictures we received) so that when we get to him we won't be shocked if he's not all matching and wearing a sparkling smile.<br />
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<b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are some pics from what's up around here while we wait...</span></b><br />
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Lightning Hope got new feet! (longer and more room inside). She has grown so much! New kicks that open all the way to get her new feet in place with ease.</div>
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Jumping Joy's hair is getting so long. Braids for her the other day!</div>
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Crazy hair and makeup day at "school" the other day. They even went to Home Depot like this. It was so funny. The guys at the paint counter were trying not to stare. Finally one of them asked,"Is she just expressing her self?" LOL!</div>
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We celebrated Ty's bday on Sept 26th even though he wasn't with us.</div>
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Baby girl still loving her time in gymnastics!</div>
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That's all for now. Hopefully more news very soon!</div>
Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-81249263162133057612015-09-14T14:02:00.000-07:002015-09-14T14:02:47.514-07:00I800 provisional approval received TODAY!Our next checkmark on the long list of paperwork for adoption! YAY!<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">{insert butterflies in my tummy}</span><br />
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We received our provisional approval today (notified by email from our agency) and by mail from the Dept. of Homeland Security. Now we wait a few days to contact the National Visa Center (NVC) to continue the process of applying for Ty's visa. From there we are assigned a case number from the Guangzhou's consulate and the process continues.<br />
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Again, please pray for an update! I would love to get one more set of photos of our boy so we can see how he is doing.<br />
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<b>Now that we are getting close we are thinking of the following last fundraisers:</b><br />
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1. selling some small Bible Journaling packets<br />
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2. making prints of some of Erin's hand-lettered artwork (feel free to make suggestions on what you would like to see)<br />
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3. a send-off fundraiser dinner at the Home of the Obwald's a few weeks before we leave.<br />
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We're not sure if they will all happen but think we may come up a bit short otherwise.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">{stay tuned}</span><br />
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-32823874607743141882015-09-11T14:18:00.001-07:002015-09-11T14:18:38.954-07:00our last trip for the year...We made our last trip of the year to Shriner's Hospital for Children in Sacramento, CA last week.<br />
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Our little Lightning Hope needed "new feet" (we had molds made a few months ago). The sweet Orthotist called and said he could mail them to us instead of driving all the way up there just to pick them up. We were ecstatic when we go that call! We are SO THANKFUL for Shriner's and their work with children but the timing of the appointment was not great and would have added a ton of stress to our lives that particular week. We agreed, of course, that mailing the "new feet" would be great. When we got them in the mail we tried them on her feet. They were WAY TOO BIG! Shoot! So much for not traveling this time. We rescheduled the appointment and were on the road again.<br />
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(this leads us to last Friday)<br />
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It was Fashion Faith's turn to travel with us (we take one big kid with us each time and they get to choose the lunch spot and have some time with just us parents and baby-boo). We love to watch Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network. Daddy-man had a great idea to look up restaurants that were featured on that show in the Sacramento area that were close enough to Shriner's for lunch. FF ended up finding this cute little sandwichery called Cafe Rolle. It was delicious! It's a French-seafood-sandwich shop. Of course Fashion Faith, being the food that she is, picked a French place. She hopes to travel to France when she's older and wants to study French ASAP. Funny girl.<br />
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French sparkling soda</div>
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happy girl ready for some lunch</div>
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I ordered a hot ham sandwich with some special French cheese (I forgot what it's called. It started with a "g") and pesto mayo.</div>
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Daddy-D ordered their special Hot Salmon sandwich with the same cheese and basil-mayo.</div>
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Fashion Faith got the Jumbo Prawn sandwich with the same cheese and basil-mayo.</div>
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All of them served on a delicious fresh baguette.</div>
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...and of course Raspberry Creme Brule for dessert.</div>
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This is the inside of the small restaurant. We are all the way to one end and the open kitchen is on the opposite side behind that blue wall.</div>
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There is the chef working away. It was fun to see him right there doing his thing.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">On to Shriner's</span></b></div>
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The appointment went very well and the "new feet" were fixed up in about 30 minutes. This particular Orthotist will be retiring in December so we (I) just had to get a picture. He helps with kid's mobility ALL DAY. EVERYDAY. figuring out how to make their lives easier, more accessible and get them doing what they really want to do. We are sad to see him go but looking forward to who we get to know next as he moves on. After the appointment I asked for the picture, then asked Lightning Baby if she would give him a high-5, she did, then we said,"Hug?" She graciously leaned in for a hug, he held on tight to this tiny girl for a long hug. I'm pretty sure he had tears in his eyes when he let go. What a great guy!<br />
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Thank you GREG!</div>
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Waiting for her "new feet" to be fixed up. She was looking SO BIG to me on this day. She wore her new shoes around the room the whole time, even without her "old feet" in them.</div>
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She's one determined girl!</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">News on Ty:</span></b></div>
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We are waiting on our I800. After we received that, any day now, we will apply for three other papers and wait for our Travel Approval (TA). Getting closer and closer. Looks like we are about 6 weeks away from travel.</div>
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I hope we get an update. Our agency requested one last update. We hope for new pictures, measurements and answer to the five questions we were able to ask of his care givers.</div>
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Eeeek! Getting to excited!!!</div>
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<b>If you would like to <span style="font-size: large;">donate</span> towards our adoption and click on the red DONATE button</b> <b>on the upper right corner of the home screen of our blog :)</b></div>
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Thank you to all who have come along side of us these past few years to get our kids out of their orphan situation into a real family who loves them and cares for them!</div>
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We will never be able to thank all of you personally or with a little thank you note but please know that we are so grateful to your support both financially and through prayer! We would have loved to write individual notes to each and every one of you but with 9 months of paperwork getting our girl set here after arriving home, homeschooling the older three, being taxi-mom for the big kid's activities and getting all of the paperwork for Ty's adoption completed as well as applying for grants for his adoption, while Daddy-D taught extra classes and counseling on the side, it has been quite a year of adjustment. So here you go...</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">THANK YOU!!! from the bottom of our hearts!</span></div>
<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-40815329997917323982015-08-19T20:41:00.000-07:002015-08-19T20:41:09.043-07:00YAY! Moving along<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">We received our soft LOA today!!! </span></b></div>
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(that means that the electronic copy made it's way to our agency in CO and the hard copy will arrive in the next week or so.)</div>
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At this point in Lightning Baby's timeline it was about 7 weeks until we got our Travel Approval (TA). As a reminder the TA is where China invites us to come and get our child.</div>
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That is a very exciting day! And TA is about 10-14 days before travel!</div>
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Could they get any cuter?!</div>
Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-49512741400814708102015-08-12T13:12:00.001-07:002015-08-14T22:22:19.930-07:00Thank you Mary!<div style="text-align: center;">
Here is the story I have been waiting to share...</div>
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About 2 1/2 months after returning home from China with our precious baby girl, Aunna, there was a comment made by a Chinese woman that we had never met. She said that she knew our girl and called her by name. After some messaging back and forth I learned that she did in fact know our baby and had a special part in her life.</div>
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A few Chinese women started a medical care facility for orphan and our Lightning Hope was one of the first babies to come through their facility. I didn't even know she had been with them or been ill after leaving the orphanage. She put a piece together for us that we didn't know was missing. One of the coolest things is that she shared she goes to the foster center every sunday to take pictures of the kids. She had many more pictures of our girl that we had not seen. What a wonderful surprise!</div>
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We have kept in touch this whole year through Facebook. ( I definitely like fb for this reason!) About two weeks ago I notice that she had just arrived in San Francisco. Are you kidding me??? She was so close to us! I contacted her to see if we could meet. She was also delighted to try to get together while here on family vacation.</div>
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We (our whole family) were able to meet her at her hotel in Oakhurst last Wednesday. What a treat! We both wept at our first embrace. During our conversation we learned that she was even more special to our baby's story. She advocated to have her placed in a foster center instead of go back to the orphanage. That was a decision pivotal in her development! She had SUCH WONDERFUL care at that foster center!</div>
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Our little one didn't seem to remember her at all but gave a hug at the end.</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-85489198414985086472015-07-26T21:53:00.000-07:002015-07-31T21:18:26.008-07:00Two months 'til his bday<div style="text-align: center;">
We are still waiting for our LOA. Hopefully it will be just one more month for this step. Pray with us for God's timing. WE know He has perfect timing and we are excited to be a part of that.</div>
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Today makes just two months until our boy turns 4 years old. Originally my biggest prayer is that we would be there to celebrate with him. We'll see if that happens.</div>
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Here are a few pics of what the rest of us are up to while we wait.</div>
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We were blessed to go to Tahoe this summer with my mom, step-dad, brother and sis-in-law. Ok...I love Tahoe! This was the first time IN MY LIFE I have ever come home from a vacation or out of town trip that I was sad to live in where we do. HAHA. It was hot and dry and yuck! Oh well. The people are totally worth it.</div>
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On our way to Tahoe we got to spend some time with long time friends! We just love to see the Madsens! (missing our Jumping Joy in this pick makes me sad)</div>
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Our first few days in Tahoe...</div>
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One of my favorite things is to take a picture of all of us stuffed in the car right when we leave.</div>
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I remember a picture that my parents took when we went camping and I was hard to find in the backseat because of all of the items. I think I was 18 months. Maybe I love that picture and love to recreate it with our growing family.</div>
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(JJ went up with my mom and step-dad, that's why she is not in any of the pictures so far)</div>
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It was much warmer that I expected. We started out all bundled up to walk to town (about 1 mile) and shed layers was we went. It turned out to be a beautiful week in the 70s.</div>
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I love this twisted bark!</div>
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This is the city we stayed in. Amazing! So beautiful!</div>
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We headed to Virginia City, NV for an old-west feel. Lots of fun.</div>
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Crystal blue sky with white puffy clouds all day.</div>
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A train ride on the restored old steam train.</div>
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The guide was so knowledgable. Turns out that he and some friends relaid 4 miles of track themselves to restore it to what it was. Pretty cool that he is now the guide.</div>
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Lightning Baby slept through the whole thing.</div>
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This is the train we go to ride.</div>
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We (all except baby girl and I) enjoyed a gun-fight comedy show. After two shots she was DONE!</div>
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We toured a real mine. That was cool but simultaneously creepy and stuffy. No thanks! Check that off our list.<br />
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We followed up those activities with some good 'ol fashioned ice cream! Always a winner!<br />
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We said goodbye to Uncle Henry & Auntie Abby the next day. It was so fun to have four days of non-holiday related time with them. We laughed, played games, hiked, visited Virginia City, did make-up with the girls, star gazed...</div>
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Fun in the woods. Fun-husband bought a sling shot on the way up and we shot cans and water bottles in the woods. (with safety glasses on of course)</div>
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Sugar Pine Point with friends</div>
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Little girl LOVED the water. She came out a popsicle though.</div>
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The big kids learned how to hunt crawdads. C-dub is hooked (or should I say snapped). After catching about 9 the girls were so excited to take them home to cook for dinner. They looked up a recipe and cooked those little guys with dad. So fun!</div>
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There was a pier at Sugar Pine Point that had NO JUMPING OFF signs posted. Of course there were lots of people jumping. We didn't feel comfortable letting the kids jump after swimmer-husband scoped it out. Luckily there was a ladder that lead off the pier into this beautifully clear lake water. It was freezing though! The all lasted about 15 minutes.</div>
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Thank you Downey family for meeting up with us. How cool that we were up there are the same time. Crazy!</div>
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We are already looking forward to the next time we get to visit Lake Tahoe!</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-31384816964011287792015-06-26T21:52:00.000-07:002015-06-26T21:54:21.430-07:00We are LOGGED-IN!<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">LID</span></b></div>
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In just 3 days we have been Logged-in with the CCCWA (China). Now the countdown really begins. We wait on China to invite us to come get our boy. What an exciting end of summer. Ty's 4th bday is three months from today!</div>
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The time line they give from here (could be sooner):</div>
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2-3 months for LOA (Letter of Acceptance)</div>
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9-12 weeks from then to TA (Travel Approval)</div>
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2-3 weeks from then before departure</div>
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CRAZY!</div>
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In other news we go back to Shriners this coming Wednesday to get our Lightning Baby a lower limb check up and hopefully molds taken for a new and larger set of "feet". She gained three inches and three pounds in the first 9 months with us. The ones she has, the first set, are already getting too small.</div>
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Baby girl became the long awaited "Dancing girl". She likes it...sometimes. So far for both classes she has fallen asleep on the way to class! Not great for a two year old to get a 20 minute nap. Anyhow looking to go with a different strategy this coming week. But she is DARLING!</div>
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C-dub hosted his baseball team for the end-of-the-year swim party. He had such a great year, with great kids, families and coaches!<br />
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Fashion-Faith (track) and C-dub (baseball) each enjoyed some camps so far this summer while Jumping Joy did some extra work in gymnastics.<br />
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Another package off to our boy! I feel like it is important this time around to send him packages more frequently because he is older. I really want him to know we are thinking about him, praying for him, anticipating him and COMING! I think we can still get in two more packages before we travel.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Happy summer y'all!</b></span></div>
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Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7724595658687254800.post-24320864636573950502015-06-14T23:08:00.001-07:002015-06-14T23:08:17.621-07:00THANK YOU!!!<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Thanks to all who shared, prayed and donated to our</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">$2 Tu's-Day fundraiser!</span></b></div>
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It was great success in that the word about orphan care was shared (over 1,000 visits to our blog in 10 days!) and we raised some money for Ty's orphanage.<br />
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Stay tuned. Our paperwork continues to be processed. We pray that it is off to China by the end of this week and that we are Logged-In (LID) in early July. That should put us 2-3 months until we travel.<br />
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blessings to you! erin and fam<br />
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In other news we have a busy summer with camps and visiting family for various celebrations.</div>
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<br />Obwald Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17189107964778489365noreply@blogger.com0