Last leg

we arrived in Guangzhou last night. This is where the US side of his paperwork is completed. We had our medical appointments this morning where Henry got all checked out. It was such a different experience than with my girls. They threw a fit and screamed and cried and we cried... it was emotional. Today was easy peasy! Who knows how long it will last but for the most part Henry is super easy going.

We do some paperwork this afternoon, tomorrow is more... then we wait. Tuesday is our US consulate appointment where we promise everything is right and then we wait for them to complete his immigration paperwork. It sets in place that as soon as his little feet touch US soil he becomes an American citizen! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

We are missing our girls like CRAZY. It breaks my heart to see them sick and not be able to hold them and comfort them. Soon. Thursday night! I cannot wait.

In the meantime... we are here so we will enjoy the beautiful city and tropical climate.

Will update again soon!

Ps. I tried tried to get a bottle of wine out of the wine vending machine and then I found this




Unplugged! Ugh.

Oh well. Next time 😜😉

Thanks for the continued prayers! 

❤️❤️❤️❤️

The beautiful and ugly part of adoption

The beautiful: Today has been great for us. Another day of progress and bonding. We heard lots of babbling and laughter. My heart leaps every single time I hear it. Henry is a Taylor through and through. He's more easy going than I dreamed/wished he might be. He is perfect in every way. I mean, there's struggles like any child and we are learning about each other. There are bad moments and good and since I've been here before I know there is a long road ahead of us. God is in the business of making things beautiful again. He's taking tragedy and abandonment as filling it full of love. It's amazing, hard, and beautiful. It's what we knew we were getting into when we signed up. We had no clue if this part would be hard or easy. One family in our group is having a really tough time. No matter the age of an orphan it's like getting a newborn. These babies have medical/special needs and have been dealt more trauma in their short lives than most adults. Still we love on them and pray over them and work for smiles and try to comfort. It's a privilege and honor to be a part of this calling. I truly dont say that lightly. Im honored that God allowed ME to parent these kiddos. I don't deserve these gifts. ❤️❤️❤️

Before I address the ugly. Here's a few pics of the beautiful side.

The ugly: 

The ugly part is SO ugly. 

I probably shouldn't blog about it but I can't remain silent. 

Now, we know these children were abandoned by their biological families. They were left in the cold, heat of summer, rain, etc and thankfully someone found them. Thankfully the process moved in such a way that they were matched with families. When you sign up for this you hope for the best and prepare for the absolute worst. You decide. You think through all the possible hard parts and decide if you want to take the risk. It's an important decision you don't enter into lightly. Hearts are at stake and these little lives that have been flipped upside down are fragile and need to be valued. 

Today this is what I looked at in the hallway as we gathered and let the children play. 

This is the crib of a precious little boy that was taken back to the orphanage. His adoption final. His passport applied for. Paperwork finished. Fees paid. 

Minds changed. 

I cannot understand any reason that could possibly be given. A precious little soul who thought he finally had a family ... was abandoned again. Again. 

This happens somewhat often people don't prepare, they don't commit. It's scary. It's terrifying I get that. But there's no way in the world I could walk a child back into the orphanage and hand them back over to the nannies. No way. 

This morning at breakfast some of the inauguration events were on the tv. I thought of all the people mad and glad and caught up in who is president or not. And all the while, a little boy was abandoned again. It puts life in perspective a little more. He's not the only one of course. The story is the same around the globe. This one just happened to touch my world today and my heart broke. 

Please pray that his true family will be found. Pray for his little heart. Pray for the hearts of workers that had to watch that all unfold. And pray.... for the family that could do such a thing. It's super hard not to judge in a situation like this. I have to trust that God is in control.

In the meantime, I hug Henry a little tighter and pray a little harder. 

Love, Jenn

Orphanage visit

today was an emotionally trying day.... for me. Ha!  The orphanage visit, in my opinion, is key to attachment and progress. Some moms disagree but all three of my kids made major turns after the visit. It's nerve racking for mom and dad bc you're so afraid your child isn't going to want you back. Afraid that they'll prefer what they know. You dont want them to be sad or hurt again. It's tricky business.

Now I can say it went great for all three of mine. Henry was a popular Dude! All the nannies came running In to see him and hold him one last time. Olivia's nannies came in and wanted to see pictures of her. It amazes me that they can remember these children like they do. There are hundreds of orphans in this institution. It's a huge complex with many high rise buildings.

So, before the visit.... no smiles for daddy. He would NOT drink from anything. No formula no water no juice. Nothing. I bought 4 different bottles at Walmart. Nothing. Also cried every time we changed him. Every time we put him down. No babbles, a few giggles for me but not much.

He came right back to me when it was time to go. They said "go to mama"
And he reached for me. Since we left, He chugged two bottles of water. Changed diapers without a tear, Has been making sounds and babbling all afternoon. We even got a MAMA and BABA (daddy)! He's been light hearted and happy.  It's been a really good day.  We have turned a corner. That's not to say we don't have a long way to go bc we do, but we are making progress!

Your prayers are being felt! Keep them coming. Pray for my girls especially . They're still sick and Livvy is having a really hard time. She wouldnt even look at me or talk to us on face time. She's upset/jealous/sick/etc. please pray God will protect their hearts and give them confidence that we love them like crazy! Pray for my mom as she hasn't had a break from the sickly kiddos. Hoping they'll get back to school asap.

Here are some photos of our day.

Thanks again for the love ❤️!
Team Taylor

Taylor: party of 5!

It's official! Henry is stuck with us! We are so thrilled to make official what God made possible. Adoption is not for the faint of heart but man... y'all I can't tell you how awesome it is!

Today we took care of business. Finalized the adoption, then applied for Henry's passport. That took much of the day. It was go go go from 9am u too 7:30 pm. We made another trip to Walmart and went to dinner with our group.

Tomorrow morning we will leave early for our orphanage visit. Praying it goes well and Henry does ok. As much as I believe it's necessary, and good closure for him, I'll be glad when it's past us.


Watching our son through the day was amazing. It's amazing what even 24 hours of love can do. Take a look at these pictures and see if you see the difference I see.  One is this morning at breakfast, the other at dinner.

God is good. We still have a long way to go but we will get there. 

Thank you for your continued prayers! We can feel them! Keep em coming!

I'm hoping tomorrow there will be some downtime to catch up on a decent blog post.

Love and hugs,
Jenn

Gotcha!

Sorry this is late and short. Henry is grieving pretty hard and it's taken both of us.

But... here's a few pics! 😀 We are in love!

Dear Henry

my sweet boy,

tonight you're laying down your precious head in your crib in the orphanage for the LAST time. Tonight you go to bed an orphan for the very last time. Tomorrow you will wake up  a son and have a family. We are SO excited to meet you. We can't wait to hold you and squeeze you, tell you we love you and make you laugh. You are a dream come true.

I know tomorrow is going to be hard on you. I know you might be scared. I wish I could take away the fear and hurt...I CAN promise you this... you may be getting the most crazy, loud, feisty, ridiculous family out there but nobody will love you and fight for you like we will.

We have prayed for you before we even saw your face. You are already cherished.

You are our son.

We promise to do all that we can to make sure you always amd forever know that you are loved. We promise to always be there for you and always be your biggest fans!

Life is about to change for all of us.

We are ready.

Beijing

Our time in Beijing is coming to a close. In the morning we get up early and head to the train station. We are taking the train to Zhengzhou. This is where we will me our son!

We are super excited and nervous and all the other emotions that might go with something of this magnitude. I cannot believe in a matter of about 48 hours we will be parents of 3 children!

Today we explored the Great Wall. We got some great exercise and enjoyed the view! We are so blessed to have gorgeous weather and no smog! Amazing! Here's a couple pictures of our day!

Thanks for your prayers and love! We are
Feeling it and are so grateful!