Happy Halloween!

Mikenna has known for a few weeks that we had been talking about halloween. She would say, for halloween, I be a lady bug. I knew that she really had no idea what she was talking about. She did not like any scary things in the stores. So the day arrived and she put on her costume. It was pretty cold here in Chicago so we had to bundle her up. She really never got the hang of saying trick-or-treat. She did open her bag and then would say thank you. She would say, 'I like candy!' She likes the idea of having all this candy around the house. Hope you all had fun with your families.

Another Unexpected Reunion in October 2009

Well, I know it's a little late to update but we had the wonderful pleasure of hosting a very quick reunion in Chicago for our friends that we traveled to China with. Let me tell you how it all started:
On September 20th, I met one of the moms with her 4 daughters that we traveled with for lunch with Mikenna. I told Vipa that Jane our Holt rep that lives in China would be coming to Eugene, OR for 6 months for training. After our lunch, Vipa called Jane and found out that she was already here and that she would be taking a break from training in early October. The next thing we knew, Jane had a flight booked to Chicago on October 1-6th. I called everyone with 5 days notice and let them know that Jane would be coming to our house for a few days and that she would love to visit Chicago. So, needless to say, I was in a whirlwind to 'clean' the house for our company. Our friends from Va. flew in on Sat. Oct. 3rd with their 3 children, the Hecky's from Ohio drove in on Friday, the 2nd and then the other family from the Chicago suburbs met us in Chicago with Jane. The other family from MI could not make it down because they had made plans already and just could not rearrange their schedule. They did send a letter and pictures of Mei Li to Jane so she could see how much she had grown. It was a fun/crazy weekend of showing everyone the sights of Chicago. We met down at Navy Pier and the kids played at the Children's Museum all afternoon. It was raining most of the day so we couldn't be outside. Jane and some of the other people wanted to go to the Sear's Tower but we decided not to pay to go up and not be able to see anything because of the clouds. We went to OvenGrinders Pizza for dinner. It was good pizza and the kids were really good. The next day, Sunday, I took Jane to our church so she could experience a church in the United States. She was quite interested. We then went home for a BBQ which Jane had never experienced. All the families joined us and it was a little chilly out but we all manged to eat outside, play in the backyard, have dessert and then head back to Chicago to the Sears Tower. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening in Chicago and we took many pictures. The Hecky's left from Chicago to head back to Ohio. The rest of us headed back to St. Charles. Melia and Meriah did not go with us downtown because of soccer games but the good thing was that they had dinner waiting for us and the Sharps. We shared dinner together and then the Sharps needed to get back to the hotel because they were heading to O'Hare by 6:15am on Monday morning.
We packed a lot of things into 2 days but it was a lot of fun to see Jane and this was the first time that she has ever been to the states and the opportunity for her to see the children that she helped place in their American home and with their families.
We had some of our family and friends stop by on Sunday to meet everyone that we have talked about.
I will post pictures from both reunions soon. We love our friends!

4 month reunion

On Thursday, August 6th, our van headed to Hartville, Ohio. Our destination was the Hecky's house. We were meeting a total of 3 other families that we traveled to China with. A few families could not join us this time but we had such a great time that another reunion is in the works. On Friday we just hung around the house and pool. Mikenna was so excited to be with Zhan-Zhan(Mariah) again. We waited for the next family to arrive from VA. Mikenna was again happy to see Qi Fu(Emmett). She was in her glory with her little friends from China. On Saturday, the 3 families went to an animal reserve that is owned and operated by the Amish community. Then we went to an Amish resturant and enjoyed some delicious food. That evening we spent our time by the pool and BBQ'ing and the kids had a ball. The 4th family arrived from MI with little Mei Li. She experienced the pool for the first time with her Dad. It was so much fun to see the kids and how they have adjusted to the American way of life. We have such wonderful new friends from our adoption. The Lord really placed each family in our group for a reason. We loved and supported each couple and child throughout the trip and that relationship continues. Most of the families had older children and all the teens hit it off really well. In fact, Brienna felt so comfortable that she even played a prank on the one and only teenage boy. All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Before we left, we shared a lunch of Chinese food. Some of the families had had Chinese food since returning to the states and some of us hadn't ventured out to ordering Chinese quite yet. But it was very good and we really enjoyed every bite. It was sad to leave our adoption family/friends and Mikenna really didn't understand why we had to leave her friends. We all can't wait until the Spring when we see each other again. We had a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LET FREEDOM RING !!!!

As I get older, the more sentimental I get. For the last two 4th of July's, I have been very emotional thinking about our future daughter over in China. It was hard to think about our daughter being born and raised in a country that very much dictates their people. This 4th of July, I find myself so very grateful that Mikenna is home in the US with us and she will grow up in a country the celebrates its freedom. She will only remember the freedom we have here in the US. Our freedom did not come without a huge sacrifice. Many men and women gave their lives for our freedom. Thank you to all servicemen and women that have protected the US. I have always loved history, but until I traveled to Russia and now China, I never realized what a privilege I have, being born and raised in this country. Our founding fathers established this country for religious freedom and God has blessed us greatly. I pray that He continues to bless this great country that we all live in. I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July. Enjoy the pictures our newest citizen of the United States of America!

IT'S FATHER'S DAY !!!!

Well, Happy Father's Day to all you great Dads. I hope you have enjoyed your special day with your kids. Paul's day started off at church. Is there a better way than to start the day off with worship? I always feel like the Dad's get ripped off because our church always honors the Mom's with flowers but the Dad's seem to get little recognition. Anyway, Paul doesn't complain. He is now at softball(what he loves to do in his spare time) and then we are having dinner and a volleyball game with family. As far as Paul and Mikenna's relationship, some days it is going well and then some days she wants nothing to do with him. She will only approach him when he is on the ground. Sometimes we don't know if she is just playing a game with him or if she is still not ready to fully trust him. It is hard to tell because her emotions are still unpredictable and her language isn't far enough along to really express what is going on inside that little head of hers. As I wrote in my Mother's Day blog, I had a host of emotions on that day. I have to admit that I really haven't given much thought to how Mikenna's birth Dad must feel. Does he mourn the lost of his daughter? Does he and his wife regret leaving her? Have they had other children? Let's remember all our Dad's in prayer as they are such a vital part in raising our children and giving them a sense of security. Thanks Dads!!!!

Mikenna having some fun!

Mikenna is loving summer. She loved being outside in China and she longs for the nice weather when she can just be outside to play with bubbles, mow the lawn or play with friends. She is the happiest when she is allowed to be out and about. Here are a few pictures of her. Enjoy!

Welcoming Mikenna to the Neighborhood!

New Photos of Mikenna

Where has the time gone?

We now have been home 2 months and Mikenna has made so many adjustments. She is speaking English in 2-3 words per sentence. That is average for a typical 2 year old. She understood English shortly after we arrived but I think by 1 month comprehension was all there and then the speech followed. She has experienced a lot of new sights, foods and activities. We went to a minor league baseball game and she loved all the people, eating the junk food and at the end of the game, there was fireworks- she was mesmerized by them. She knows if the girls are gone that they are either at school or soccer. She is working on her ABC's and she has started to count up to 3. She is so smart (sorry that I'm bragging). She really remembers things that we say and she'll repeat it back to us. She loves to pray at dinner and I think that is the cutest thing that she has picked up from us. A big answer to prayer is that she no longer asks for her foster mom. While we were in China, she constantly asked for her and that broke my heart. I think this past month she hasn't asked at all for her- praise the Lord! I'm not sure if she has forgotten her foster mom, but I definitely see a difference in her attitude. She sometimes has problems sleeping thru the night but I'm not sure what causes that. She still is cautious around Paul, but she will play and goof around with him.(It's all men that she doesn't go to, not just Paul.) She needs to let him hold her and see that he isn't such a bad guy! Her personality has come out and she is a complete ham. If she knows she has peoples attention- look out for a show. I will try to have Paul attach some videos for you all to see a silly side of Mikenna. We will be going to Children's Memorial Hospital this month to have her ear checked out. The head of the dept. will be seeing Mikenna. (It is a female Dr., thank goodness.) We really do not know what to expect from this appointment. I just hope Mikenna will cooperate and that they can get an accurate exam. I am so thrilled that Mikenna is adjusting. Our girls are SOOOOOOOO in love with her and are still excited to show her off to their friends. We are all so fortunate to have one another. Summer is coming and I think Mikenna is in for a couple of months of a lot of attention. Have a great summer!

Mother's Day 2009

Wow! For several days I have had a host of many emotions! I can't tell you how many times that I have thanked God for all my girls! They are each precious and they were brought into Paul and my life thru nothing short of a miracle. I'll start with my JOY! I have been blessed with Melia, Brienna, Meriah, Madissen and now our newest- Mikenna! Paul is really out numbered, not to mention all those hormones flying around! Anyway, God has entrusted us to raise these girls in a godly home and to love Him. The desire of our hearts is that each of our girls would love Him with all their hearts. We know that the 4 older girls have put their trust in God's love and we hope that Mikenna will someday know of Christ's love for her and want Jesus to be her Saviour.
Since Oct. when we received Mikenna's picture, I have had a sadness for her birth mother. She will never know what happened to her daughter. I praise her for giving her the best gift- the gift of life! She could have chosen many different options, but she ultimately saved her life. I can not even fathom that she felt she had no other option than to abandon her daughter. The best we can tell, Mikenna's birth mother took care of her for the first 3 weeks of her life. She loved her, fed her and took good care of her. Then she left her in a very safe place for someone to find her. My heart aches for the woman that gave Mikenna her life. She loved her more than she'll ever know. She has missed all of Mikenna's firsts- her first smile, her first tooth, her first step, that first slobbery kiss and hug... what a sacrifice this woman made for her daughter to have life.
Last week, we received pictures of Mikenna's foster mom and the place where she spent her first 2 years. To be honest with you, until then, I really didn't have a connection to this woman. Now that I see her face and know that she helped to raise Mikenna and gave her love, I now know she also must be mourning the loss of Mikenna. She got to see all those first because 3 days after Mikenna was brought to the orphanage, she was placed with this lady. She really taught Mikenna a lot and we are grateful that she opened her heart and loved Mikenna before she came into our family.
So as you can tell, it was a mix of emotions that I celebrated my first mother's day with Mikenna. She is with her forever family that loves her so much. She has opened up so much in the 5 1/2 weeks that we have been home. We look forward to many firsts that we get to share with Mikenna.
As I close, I want to pray for all of Mikenna's Moms-
Dear Lord- My heart is heavy with the loss that Mikenna's birth mom and foster mom must feel. My hope is that somehow these women would come to know you as their Lord . They have both loved Mikenna and for that I am so grateful. You protected her from harm. You made her perfect and I pray that she will grow up knowing and loving you. Thank you for allowing me to be Mikenna's forever mom- Amen! Amen!

Church shower for Mikenna

Pictures

First Month Home !

Where do I begin? It has been a month full of firsts for Mikenna. She has really bonded well with all the girls. She can say their names as best as a 2 year old can. It is really cute how she calls for them. I will try to highlight each item for you to get a glimpse into Mikenna's first month.
* We celebrated Easter. We started out by decorating Easter eggs. She didn't quite understand what we were doing. She watched her sisters. On Easter, we went to Lori's parents house in the afternoon. She really enjoyed herself among all of the family. She even showed us a silly side of herself. She was hamming it up for all to enjoy her show.
* That next week Mikenna decided to follow me downstairs to the basement and she somehow tripped and fell down the last 4 steps and landed in the kitty litter! YUK! Her mouth was filled with litter. I rushed her upstairs to rinse her mouth out. The rest of the day she smelled like kitty litter- gross.
*That 2nd week we also got all of Mikenna's blood tests back. She was low in iron so that is being taken care of with vitamins. The tests also showed that she had Hepatitis A. The Dr. was not really concerned about that.
* By the end of the 2nd week, I was really done with having her sleep with Paul and I. I started trying her bed at nap time. That did not go well. That night, she went to bed for about 4 hours and then cried for 3 hours in the early morning. She tried to sleep on the bed rail and every time she would start to doze, she would fall down to the mattress. Then she would pop right back up. She was not about to give in. She finally fell asleep sitting up in the corner of the bed and she eventually just slid down to sleep the rest of the night. We had some rough nights but she sleeps all night in the crib. Some night she still wakes up to hold my hand or just let me know that she is not happy about sleeping in her own bed.
* The following week-end (week 3) Mikenna made her first visit to the ER. We were walking out to a soccer field and she was holding hands with 2 girls and suddenly her arm went limp. They said that they were not swinging her so we were concerned. After 2 hours of not moving the arm, we took her in. As we waited to be seen by the Dr. she suddenly started using it again. We decided to stay and have the Dr. take a look at it. They called it Nurse-maids elbow. It dislocated but she was able to pop it back in. While they were checking her out they took her temperature and she had a 101 degree temp. By the next morning, it was up to 105. We were able to get it down with Tylenol and Ibuprofen and cool baths. On Monday, I noticed that she was getting a molar. Poor girl! She was miserable. She ended up that week with a cold and cough. Welcome to America and all these new germs!
* Mikenna is really understanding most everything we say. She repeats almost everything. Her most favorite words or phrases are: 'What's Up?', 'Peace Out!'. 'Have a good Day!', 'Yo Dog!' (Can you tell she has older sisters?)
* On April 26th, our church had a very lovely shower for us. Paul and Madissen brought Mikenna over to the shower when she had awaken from her nap. She did very well considering there was a house full of strangers. Lisa, a very seasoned adopted mother shared from God's Word as well as her own words of wisdom. She spoke from her heart! We opened presents, that were very cute and fellowshipped with one another along with some very tasty treats. It was a great day!
As you can see, she has been introduced to a lot of new things. She enjoys going to all the soccer games, playing with all the daycare kids, and learning the ABC's in English. She still is very reserved around Paul. She will play with him if we are all in the room. She even gives him kisses but only on her terms. I told him that I think we have gone from stage one of not liking him or making eye contact to stage 2- liking him from a distance. Our social worker was out here on Friday and she said that this behavior is very typical. Please continue to pray for their relationship.
I wanted to share something that I read from Steven Curtis Chapman- he was talking about adoption and he said," God was saying, I'm going to bring these children into my family, but I want to invite you to be a part of that. I'm going to glorify myself through this. That's why there are so many waiting children; those are opportunities for God to show up and reveal His glory. They are each an invitation from God's heart, saying, Come and know Me. And I will make myself known through you, members of my body, the church, as you experience the miracle of adoption." A truth to ponder is that adoption is the visible gospel. John 14:18 says,'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you'. What a wonderful assurance! God is good. We could not have asked for a more perfect little girl for our family. We love her so much and we are being blessed each day with Mikenna! Our girls show her so much love and attention. Someday, Mikenna will realize how much this forever family loves her.
I will promise to update more. Many of you have asked me what is going on with Mikenna. Her world has been turned upside down. We think she is handling it pretty well. This is a process that she may have to work thru her whole life. Pray for her heart that she would come to understand that God created her just as He wanted her to be and she was meant for us so that she could have a good life and most importantly that she would hear of God's love for her.

Home for a week

It has been a week that we have been home and Mikenna has been very busy. We started off last Saturday going to Melia's soccer game. She was introduced to our crazy life from the get go. She went to a total of 4 games and seemed to love it. I'm sure the fact that they are outside helped a lot. She also was introduced to the daycare kids. She enjoyed waking up each morning to see who would be coming over to play. She even started to cry when some of the boys would leave at night. We went to the Dr. today. She did just fine until the nurse stuck her for the TB test. She thought it was done until she got a shot in each of her legs. The US does not recognize immunizations from other countries, so we have to start her all over again. She cried for about 1 minute and after getting a sucker, she was fine. Tonight her little legs are sore. Thanks goodness for Tylenol. When the nurse measured her she said that she wouldn't measure correctly on our charts and I said that I thought she would be pretty close to an average 2 year old. She was in the 45%tile for her weight and height. She really wasn't that little. Mikenna has started sleeping thru the night again. Thank goodness. She is a crazy girl in bed so our next step is trying to get her to sleep in the port-a-crib. She is picking up new words each day and continues to show us the true side of Mikenna Kruit. Our girls are really enjoying her. She has given all of the girls and Paul kisses only when she decides that she wants to. The Dr. said that she is very social which means that she was well taken care of. The Dr. said she was happy with how she interacted with us and how she bonded with me already. Let's hope that she continues to make adjustments to her new life. I want to wish you all a very blessed Easter.

We are home safely

Wow! what a long trip. Mikenna didn't do good. She started to cry before we even took off. I knew I wasn't going to make any friends with the people sitting around us. The good thing was that we were sitting right by the engines so when we did take off,it was harder for anyone to really hear her. She took a 2 hour nap and woke up cranky and we played a little bit with one other little boy that we had been with the whole trip. Then it was miserable until about 10:45pm. She slept until we landed. We made it thru customs and immigration just fine. We got home around 4:15pm. The girls were very excited to see Mikenna. She had just fallen asleep again from the time we left Arlington Hts. to St. Charles. She did not like the car seat. We had a wonderful dinner that I really don't remember much about because it was early morning hours in China. I fell asleep on the couch and didn't even hear my parents leave. Mikenna let Melia hold her for a little bit but then it was back to Mom. As I reflect back on our trip it amazes me how God has been with us every step of the way. For those of you that have known me since I was little, you would know that I have always loved children. Paul and I had always wanted a big family from the time we were first married. God decided to lead us down a path that we would never had chose for ourselves with miscarrying our first 4 children. God doesn't always make his ways clear to us but we know that He always had a plan and His ways are better than our ways. So, our adoption story really began about 18 years ago when we had miscarried several times. We had started to look into international adoption. We had never even discussed which country that we would like to adopt from. At that point is when I found out that I was pregnant. We put things on hold to see if I was going to carry this baby full term. That was our Melia. From that point on we didn't have any trouble with carrying Brienna, Meriah or Madissen. Although God gave us our 4 beautiful healthy girls, I still had a longing to adopt. At different times, I would bring it up to Paul and he usually just blew off the idea. In December of 2006, I told Paul again that I really felt the desire to adopt. At that point, Paul and I prayed about it for 2 months. We felt that this was the time in our lives that we could go ahead with an adoption. We told our girls about what we had been thinking and praying about and told them that we wanted them to all be in agreement on adopting otherwise we would not go any further. It took the girls about 5 seconds to respond that they all wanted to adopt. So, here we are with our little Mikenna. My heart is overwhelmed with the love I already have for her. We have been waiting since October for this little one and our hearts have been prepared to love her just as she was created. Before time began, God had a plan for each of us and what a blessing for us to have the newest addition to the Kruit family. Thank you again for all your support and love thru this new path that the Lord has set us on. God's love and blessings to all of you, Lori

WE'RE COMING HOME !

Hey everyone! We are SO excited to be on the last leg of the trip. It was a free day for us again in Guangzhou. Yes, I found more things to buy. We needed to be out of our rooms by 2pm. We left for the American consulate around 2:45pm. We all checked in our belongings because we couldn't bring anything in there except our personal items on our bodies. We took an oath to state that all the information that we gave was accurate to the best of our knowledge. We then took a train to Hong Kong. It seems a bit different from China. It was originally founded by the British so they drive on the opposite side of the street and the cars open the opposite of ours back home. It has been an emotional day of good-byes to all the families we have become so close to over the last 2 weeks. Some families will be on our flight back to O'Hare to catch connecting flights so we will say good-bye at customs back in Chicago. When we got off the train in Hong Kong, we could smell the good old greasy smell of McDonalds. We all sat at the train station savoring every bite of our hamburgers and fries. It was so good to taste food that is familiar to us. Mikenna has totally adapted to American food. They usually feed the Chinese children this rice mixture called Congee. She gave that up after the second day. She loves chicken nuggets, fruit(which was abundant in Nanning), toast, juice, fries and pizza. That is about the extent of the foods she has tried. Mikenna has slept the last 2 nights which has helped me out a lot. She'll wake up about 2 times just to make sure I am touching her somewhere. She had a crying time for her foster mom on the train tonight. Everyone around us knew what she was saying and it was breaking all our hearts. Someone said to me that she really must have been loved and well taken care of for how much she is mourning her loss of her foster mom. I know she has been loved because sometimes she just gives me tons of kisses and hugs. I wasn't sure a week ago if that would ever happen. Oh me of little faith. God has created us so wonderfully and He knew that Mikenna was created for our family. I can not wait for our girls to meet her. She is so loved already. I don't know what will be more exciting for Paul and I- to be home or for Mikenna to meet her new "Gigi's"(big sisters). God has been so faithful in supplying all the strength to get thru these last 2 weeks. With all of Mikenna's crying there was only 1 time that I really felt frustrated and we all made it thru that first week. The next time I write on this blog, we will be back in St. Charles. Thanks to all who prayed so much for us. Many of you were such an encouragement with your notes on the blog or the emails that you sent. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Good night from Hong Kong-

Free Day in Guangzhou

Our last full day in Guangzhou! We started out with Mikenna sleeping from 6:45pm last night until 8 am this morning. Our first full night of sleep. After breakfast, our whole group took a picture of the kids on the red couch. It was crazy but Mikenna did great. We had her in a traditional dress. We had the rest of the day to shop! We bought her some shoes that she wont let us put on because she wears the shoes all the time that she came to us from the foster mom. We bought her another dress for when she gets a little bigger. We also got her American name and Chinese name engraved on this stone so we will be able to use it as a stamp. We had fun (Mikenna and Mom, Dad wasn’t too thrilled). In the afternoon, I got the best treat, a massage! I’m going to make all of you jealous when I tell you that for 90 minutes of pure heaven, I paid less than $15 US dollars. It was better than any massage I have had in the states. Paul stayed with Mikenna who was sleeping when I left but her said that nap only lasted 30 minutes. They both survived. We then had our last night together and ordered Papa John’s pizza and took a river cruise up and down the Pearl River. It was a nice evening and the kids enjoyed playing with each other. All the families are ready to come home. Most of us have other children that stayed back and we’re all anxious to see them. I’m feeling much better today than yesterday (thank goodness). Mikenna had some more baby steps today. She sat in a high chair to eat breakfast and she also finally went in a stroller. My back was appreciating that. A big step was giving Paul his first kiss. She is making strides and yet she is still so vulnerable. If she doesn’t get her way, she just breaks down and cannot control herself. I think all of the kids in our group are really going to have a hard time when we leave for the states. All the families have become our extended family and we have grown close to them and their children. We will miss them so very much. Well, we stay good night from Guangzhou- next stop- Hong Kong!