One Year Home

While August 18th marked the day we actually got to hold Kassidy in our arms for the first time, today is the day that she first touched soil in the United States and also was the first day she spent in her new home. One year ago today there were four people who were totally exhausted and could not wait to get home to crash. For the next two to three weeks Kassidy and I still slept on China time. We were up at night and slept during the day. There were so many adjustments being made that I took advantage of being able to be a stay-at-home mom and not have to change our time zone out so fast. I don't know how that would have worked. I could have done it but it took her awhile and so I was definitely not up for being up during the day and then up all night with her. I cannot believe how fast we bonded and how fast and well she adjusted to life here in the States with us. At first, she would wake up during the night a time or two but then after that we were good to go. She is such a great kid. We are so lucky and blessed to have her. I'll never forget stepping off the plane in Detroit and wanting to kiss the ground. I was appreciative of the country I had come from and what they had allowed Billy and I to bring back with us, but also was reminded how blessed we are to live in the country we live in. Here are some pics of Kassidy this morning that I randomly shot for her first day anniversary at being an American Citizen and being at home.

Daycare Attempt #2

Well....over the past few weeks Kassidy's separation anxiety with me has just been getting worse and worse. At Bible class and gymnastic class, she always wants me holding her, touching her, standing right beside her, etc. So I decided to once again try once or twice a week taking her to a daycare IF I could find the RIGHT one. Finding the right daycare that both Kassidy and I felt comfortable with was the hardest thing. I called and inquired about several and then talked on the phone with the director of one for about half an hour on Monday evening and then Kassidy and I went and visited it on Tuesday. This daycare is run by a church and is much, much smaller (not only in building wise but students also). The last daycare we tried was on Fort Bragg military base. Although it was nice and structured and not to mention so many hours of childcare were free while Billy was deployed, but it was not a good fit. There were so many students and employees that it made it so less personable than the one today. When I dropped her off there she was absolutely lost with no adult coming to console her so after watching her cry for quite awhile outside at the door with no one paying any mind, I went back in and got her and vowed to never try again. But as the time has passed I see that maybe I should try again but just research for a better fit. The director of the daycare was so nice and listened to all of my concerns. She showed us around the center and we talked to all the teachers in each class. There are a max of 6 students in Kassidy's class as compared to 40 in the other daycare. Did she cry???? Yes of course but the teacher said she only cried when I left and at naptime. I was concerned with naptime because she is picky about sleeping in her own bed but I hope she can get used to the routine and that will not be an issue in the future. She even gave the teacher a kiss goodbye. Her teacher has her own little girl in the class and she said that the little girl held Kassidy's hand and walked her around all day so I thought that was cute. Several of the teachers suggested I try to at least take her twice a week for the next 3 to 4 weeks instead of once again so as not to have her get out of touch again with it and have to feel like she is starting again from day one so we will see how we can fit her into the schedule. There are usually 6 kids right now in her class most days which is the max right now that they are wanting so we will just call ahead to see if someone does not show up for a day or call ahead to see if there is one scheduled out for a particular day of the week and we will try to get her in those days. She definitely was tired when she left without having a nap and slept on the way home in the car but I really hope she had fun and that next time we go she doesn't go into meltdown mode because she will then know that I will be leaving her there. We will see how it goes though. Keep us in your prayers because this is hard for me and her but I think we both need this. Lately she is going through a lot of changes with both gymnastics and now daycare so I hope these will turn out to be positive things and help her social skills and help her realize that she can be away from me for a few hours and that I will come back to get her. I am going to call the director again tomorrow and talk about the upcoming schedules so I will keep you informed. Keep your fingers crossed for a positive outcome. I am attaching a few pics. One is just a few in her checkered outfit right before she went to daycare and others are of her playing with her toy dog and opening a dress that mimi and pop pop sent to her. We have our post placement home study on Wednesday and then after that this whole adoption process will be over. From start to finish it was over 4 years. I am so ready to not have to do anymore paperwork, social worker visits, or anything else but it was all worth it and we love her and would do whatever we have to do to have her in our life. Enjoy the pics and we will try to post more of gymnastics and possibly her new friends at daycare eventually.

Presents

Mimi and PopPop sent Kassidy some of the coloring book refill papers for the color wonder paper where the markers that come with it only writes on the paper. Wonderful invention as far as I'm concerned but we have a hard time trying to find the refill papers here so they sent some to us and we got it today and she went right into coloring mode. With these we have no worry about her coloring murals on the walls and anything else she may decide to brighten up with a little color. Thanks Mimi and Pop Pop.

WV Pics

Here are some pics from our last WV trip. The pictures include pictures of Kassidy with Aunt Debbie at Red Lobster, cousin Whitney's baby shower, and us in our room at Aunt Jodi's house.

Museum AGAIN!

Cousin Bobbi also looks forward to going to the Fascinate-U-Children's Museum when she comes so we went back once again and once again everyone had a blast. Here are some pics.

WV Cheerleading Outfit

While home in WV, we stopped in at the new University Shop that had lots of WVU stuff to get ready for the football season including two WVU cheerleading outfits that we had to get. Here is pics of her in one of them.

First Day of Gymnastics

Here are some pics of Kassidy's first day at gymnastics. She was the youngest one there and it was her first day so she was not sure of herself and what to do but I will give her another couple classes and she will probably pick right up on everything. I have been a little slow about getting pics of our last WV trip but I will get there eventually. These gymnastic classes she is in now are a parent and me class with the parent helping but cousin Bobbi got to help out for the first part of the class so I could take some pics. Enjoy and keep posted for the additional posts coming very soon.

Then and Now

What a difference a year makes. Yesterday (August 18, 2009) marked our year anniversary for what the international adoption world marks as "Gotcha Day", which is the first day we met and held our little girl in our arms for the very first time. Many people celebrate with a full blown party just as someone having their first birthday or such but since it was our first day back after a week long trip to WV to visit family and since daddy was not here, we just kind of treated it as a normal day but with that in the back of our mind all day long. Wow...how our lives have changed! While we were a happy couple and lived our day to day lives, Kassidy has brought so much joy in our lives and has given our lives such a greater meaning. It seems everything we do and every decision we make is so much more important and involved because we want to make sure we consider what is best for our family as a whole. All of our relationships together, even Billy and I, have grown to become so much stronger. We will never forget the day we got her and all the emotions swirling around in our mind. Our biggest goal now is getting daddy home and being able to celebrate the next Gotcha Day anniversary as a family together. Cousin Bobbi came back to NC with Kassidy and I to visit for a week before she starts back to school. Yesterday we went to Ms. Amy's house and let the girls play in the pool and then when we got back they played for a little while in Kassidy's splash pool before dinner and bedtime. Here are a few pics of the day's events yesterday with a few pics of a year ago when we got her. We cannot imagine any other child in our lives that would have fit better than our little precious girl and we await all the milestones that will be happening in the future hoping and praying that they do not go by too fast and that we are able to treasure every one of them.

Heartbreaking!

This is a story that has been very highly concerning in the international adoption community as of late. This couple has traveled to China to get their 4-year-old little girl that they have adopted. They have went through the same process as Billy and I and are in China now to pick her up and bring her back to her forever family. However, recently the US CDC has passed a law that adopted children have to meet certain criteria as never before to protect from tuberculosis being transmitted from one country to another. The problem with this law is many, as most laws that are passed have some fine tuning. The problem with this law is there is no time for fine tuning for this family. The law in it's early stages require harsh criteria for adopted children while allowing everyone else to flow freely from country to country without the same restrictions. This child is being kept away from the parents that she has already bonded with wherein other children and individuals would still be allowed to travel. It seems that the US CDC has intentionally or nonintentionally made inconsistencies that greatly harm the adopted child waiting to be taken home. This child has passed many tests that has proven she is not contagious, if she indeed does have TB, which is even highly unlikely to be the case. Whatever anyones view on this subject, this child has been devastated as seen in the video I link below. The video has been posted on YouTube in two separate parts because it is 17 minutes long. If you would like to keep on the families status and what they have been going through while in China, you can go to their journal they have been keeping and read up at:
http://jayscruggs.livejournal.com/

Below are the youtube links both part I and part II if you wish to view. Make sure you have at least 18 minutes and a box of tissues. It is heartwrenching and I so hope before they get on that plane that something happens in that little girls favor that she is able to go home with them or that one could stay back with her. Due to financial difficulties with one of them at least losing their job, that seems highly unlikely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G1FCAhL-WA Part I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkldZTw5f9g&NR=1 Part II

(I hope these links work but if not then go to YouTube and just type in the search engine Scruggs/adoption/China and it should bring up the links for you to view).

This family and little girl could definitely use our prayers over and over again. The people that need to iron out the wrinkles in this law also need our prayers so that this will not happen again because if it is not fixed then we will have this reoccurring in the international adoption community over and over again. If they still want to keep the same law then fine but they need to require the additional screenings that could stop the family from being put in place to only tear them apart again. Well...now that I have posted this and cried my eyes out, I will now go get my little girl out of bed and give her a hug like she has never had.

Just Having Fun!

More Museum Pics