A letter to the adoptive parents of Zhu Lan Mei

When we received Anna on "Gotcha Day", we also received 3 pages of hand written notes from her birth mother. Our social worker translated the letters for us, and we also videotaped her. Here is what was on them.

On the first page was her birth information:
Name-Zhu Lan Mei
Nickname- Qi-Qi
Born 04/09/2005
Chinese Lunar year 2005
Born at 4:40

On the second page was the letter:
To anyone who will adopt her, a good kind hearted person, I am Qi-Qi’s mother. I love her very much. I had no way out, I had to abandon her. I and my boyfriend didn’t get married, and I gave birth to her. My parents from the very beginning rejected and opposed my dating him. My boyfriend and I raise her in a very difficult situation. At first we thought if we could save, and live in a frugal life- we could let her live a good life. But we didn’t realize she was sick. We borrowed the money from my aunt/uncle to take her to see a doctor. The doctor said she has a congenital heart disease, and also her leg- she couldn’t stand. We don’t have any money to treat her. If she followed us, it would be a road toward death. For her, I could only choose this way. Only this way may bring her some hope. She is very smart, and very lovely, and likes to laugh. Though I am already a mother of her, I myself am still a young girl. I beg you to save her; I thank you again and hope you can treat her as your own child. I will pray for her, for what you do, and blessings. And I will remember this all my life.


On the third page was her feeding schedule.
5am- 1 bottle of milk
7am- congee, rice noodles
10am- drank 150ml milk
12 noon- congee, steamed egg
2:30- 1 bottle milk
5pm- rice noodles, congee
7pm- 1 bottle milk
Midnight-1 bottle milk
Needs a pacifier during sleeping. Cries at bedtime, but if you kiss her hand, she is better.

Mickey and I are much honored to have been chosen as the adoptive parents of Zhu Lan Mei, now AnnaMei Grace Rector. Just as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ adopted us into his family, so shall we adopt her into ours as one of our own.

Needles, Okra and Barefeet

We had another great week last week, and look forward to a great one this week. Last week we went for her ordered blood work and Chest x-ray ordered by our Pediatrician. It went as good as to be expected, but could have been better if not the 1 hour wait in the registration department :( Anyway, 7 vials later, the blood was drawn- just about every test that could be ordered, was almost ordered. But being a nurse, I was glad. And a friend of ours we know drew it and did fabulous- only 1 stick.


Last Friday we went and had lunch with Zachary, Jared and Olivia at their school. She loved it! She was able to get up at the lunch table by herself and enjoyed eating with the kids friends. She only ate corn, and wasn't too excited about the school pizza. Oh well, maybe that is an acquired taste.

She also enjoyed watching 2 nights of basketball and almost all day Saturday- she loves it, and asks almost every morning if we are going to basketball. Hope she likes baseball and softball as much, because they are just right around the corner.

We have discovered that she really may have some "southern" genes in her. Anna LOVES FRIED OKRA! She is going to give Olivia a run for her money, because Olivia often orders double okra on a veggie plate. Good thing my Uncle David was there to see her eat it, because that is where our okra and corn come from in the summer- his garden. She also is a big fan of corn on the cob! Mickey is thrilled we will be putting-up alot more this summer.LOL

We have been doing our own therapy in the house until we get our physical therapy referral. We have been working on going up/down stairs, and squats to try and build those leg muscles up.

We had a sensational Sunday!! We went to church and Anna made it all the way through Sunday school with no complaints. We then had a beautiful afternoon of sunshine and played out in the yard. However, Anna will not go barefoot. She thinks she has to have shoes on and won't let her bare feet touch the grass or driveway. So once the shoes were on, she had fun with throwing the baseballs like her daddy, sister and brothers.

Then our community group came over and Anna was the center of attention. Some of the girls pushed her on a bike, and she loved it. She had dessert first and got to eat with the adults in the living room, which is not characteristic of what the kids get to do in our group. She did amazing and continues to amaze us with her outgoing personality and her "go-with-the-flow" attitude.

***Next week on Monday, March 1st- we go to the orthopedic doctor at 9:15 and on Wednesday, March 3rd we go for the cardiologist appointment at 8am. Please be in prayer for these 2 appointments and pray that they will go smoothly, and give the doctors wisdom to know how to best treat Anna with the needs that she has.

Anna and cousin Addyson. It was so sweet Sunday when I went to get Anna from Sunday School and Addyson was getting picked up too. They hugged each other and held hands going down the hallway- too cute!!

Olivia with Addyson and Anna.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Happy Heart Day!

Anna has still been doing great this week. Of course Thursday and Friday nights were spent at the gym for basketball games, and Saturday we went to Chick fil A and then to more basketball games. We had a great evening of watching the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics and cheering on the US as well as China Saturday night. 
We had a great Valentines Day! We went to church and she got to meet alot of new people. She sat in Uncle Tommy's lap for the most part until she had to go to Sunday School. She lasted about 15 minutes in SS until the kids did an activity that scared her, so she ended back up with us for the service. She sat through it well, until she had to go potty......Oh well, we will try again next week.
We look forward to this week of just relaxing, before starting preschool next week. I look forward to seeing the progress Anna makes in preschool and the progression of her English as well.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A Perfect Fit

We have finally all got our sleep clocks adjusted and back on schedule. Anna is now sleeping till about 8AM. She normally gets up right before to see the kids off to school. We have settled in a nice routine- breakfast (hard boiled eggs, cereal and milk), and she immediately wants to take a bath. She loves baths! Then its Sesame Street and some educational cartoons, then time for lunch. Still working on trying to figure out what she likes for lunch- soups, ramen noodles, but no sandwiches. She loves fruits- bananas, apples, etc. And she is learning to eat what we have for supper. She has done EXCELLENT potty training- actually, no accidents since Feb. 1st, so I am considering her day potty training- DONE. But at night she still has to wear pull-ups. We are working on it though.


We went to see our Pediatrician this morning for her first Well Visit- she was 26 pounds. Everything checked out great for the most part. She is up to date on shots, although blood work in a couple of months will determine if Chinas immunizations are up to date with our immunizations, through titers. She does have a murmur, probably from the heart defect/repair she had, so we will be following up soon with a Cardiologist. But the big concern is her hip. She has major instability of her hip, where she had previously had a dislocation, and then repair. However, the repair hasn't totally fixed everything. She still has a waddled gait when she walks, and at times will be walking, and her leg will give out- and she will fall flat backwards. For the most part she wants to get up on her own, and continue on. We are waiting now to go see the orthopedic doctor to see what our next plan of action will be.


Anna has just “fit right in” with our family. She just goes with the flow on whatever our busy schedules entail. Whether it is basketball practice/games, church, shopping, going out to eat, or whatever- it's like she has been with us all along. She has exceeded our expectations these first few weeks at home, and know that in the future our family will be blessed. She has yet to be just totally afraid of anyone at this point. Animals- terrified!!! She is scared of birds, dogs, cats, any animal- so we are working on that.

And we did finally get our family red couch picture the last day we were in China. I forgot to post.

Home Saweeettttt HOME!!

Well, where do I begin?? Anna has slept through the nights since we have been home, however she keeps waking us up at 5-6AM. Still working on the whole time adjustment thing I guess. She has went down with ease all nights and Olivia has been a great big sister! We have tried to reduce naps and keep her up later at night, so hopefully that will help. Mickey and I are still trying to catch up on sleep, and I am battling a sinus infection- hopefully by the week’s end we will both be back to normal. Give Mickey 5 minutes on the couch- and he is out!!

I had been very discouraged since we got home, because Anna had refused to go to potty- on our home potties. On Monday I was determined to keep her in panties all day, and did- however she had accidents all day long. On Tuesday, a light switch turned on, because no accidents all day and today, so far- so good.(Maybe it was because the kids weren't here and she could focus more- who knows) She is so small and cannot get up and down by herself so far, but we will work on that with a step stool soon.

Anna loves her brothers and sister!!! She is thrilled to see them when she wakes up and when they get off the bus. From then on, it's non-stop playtime!

We have also significantly cut down on the whining/fussing that we experienced in China.

I forgot to mention that when we met Anna for the first time, she had two bags with her. 1 contained clothes, some keepsakes from the orphanage, and stuff we had sent to her, and the other bag contained diapers and FORMULA. Upon further investigating and talking to the orphanage workers, Anna was still on formula twice a day, and from a BOTTLE. Needless to say, I was not buying a bottle, or formula, and was not going to give it to her. She was 4 1/2 years old!! Needless to say, she did fabulous on milk in China, and is doing great on it here.

Also, a couple of days after we had Anna, our social worker had to check in with the orphanage about all of the adopted kids. She told them how she was doing and that she was bonding well, however they had forgot to tell us that "she can have a bad temper, and cries very loudly when she doesn't get her way!!" Wow, might have been helpful to know that when we got her. And we were always told she was shy/introverted- what a JOKE! Her fussing and fits have almost disappeared.

*She has broken out in some Chinese karaoke, courtesy of our guitar hero mic. (And it is HILARIOUS)

*She still prefers milk, but I am quite sure my home brewed sweet tea is growing on her.

*Loves to be the center of attention, and now has been deemed second loudest in our household (Zachary still holds the title for first)

*And I am so thankful for this great country I live in!

Here are some pics of Aunt Pam's and Uncle Ricky's visit.