Announcement...

Did I get your interest?

Have you been reading everything I write since last week when I announced that I had an announcement?

Well, here it is...

In July 2013 (a year and a half ago) before I even saw my little boys face and committed to him I saw this little girl. She was 9 years old and bald as can be. They had shaved her head bald! Why? She has waited on the China Shared List for over 5 years and no one had inquired about her. Her eyes and dimples grabbed me. So I asked about her file and her file sounded so familiar. My children have a cousin with Cerebral Palsy and she was listed as having Cerebral Palsy. I got her file emailed to me along with 6 videos of her. She was so quiet, shy, proper, and full of smiles. She was only 7 in the videos but so precious. I am not sure why God had laid her on my heart but I began to advocate for this precious girl...all the while hoping to adopt her. I was approved for two on my homestudy and USCIS had also approved me for two but my agency had just changed their policy to only allow one adoption at a time to married or single couples. I kept advocating for her, I had her listed on Reece's Rainbow so someone would see her, I tried very hard to find her a family. Little did I know God had already found her family. I kept her picture on my phone and computer the whole time during my adoption of Brennan. I prayed for her often.

                                                                                         

I know God has a reason for everything.


My fundraising efforts were sooo very hard for Brennan's adoption but God came through. My flights to China were beyond horrible but we made it with one hour before Gotcha. My flights home were even worse and we had to drive home from Nashville (a 12 hour drive) with a toddler who hated the car seat. So I told myself I would not adopt again. I couldn't. It was too hard. But then I remembered the children that were in those two rooms at Brennan's orphanage with more severe disabilities it broke my heart. I couldn't stop thinking about their future. There are steps everywhere in China, everyone walks, so how would they get around? How would they get to and from work (if they could even work). What is their future? They didn't have one. I felt broken for them. I felt overwhelmed with the brokenness that God had laid on my heart for them. I had to do something...but what? Of course, I continued to advocate for children to find homes like I did before I traveled. It didn't seem like enough though. What was God asking me to do with this overwhelming feeling? It was hard to look at all of these faces and feel helpless.

I know God has a reason for everything.

So, I talked to God. What do you want from me? I can't do the fundraising again...it was too hard. Then I remembered I don't know hard...of course, my life has been rough, I have been through so many trials and tribulations but my life is not hard... those orphans have it hard. They don't have a mother, they don't have a family, they don't hear I love you every day, they don't have anyone to kiss on them, they don't have anyone to tuck them in, or wipe their tears, or hold them when they are sick. They have it hard!

I know God has a reason for everything.

So, what was his plan for me?

Let me introduce you to my daughter...

Tynsleigh Madisyn QingYun Barrett

We got PA for her on November 3, 2014!!

Yes!!! It is the same little girl that I fell in love with over 16 months ago!!!

Yes!!! I am adopting again!!!

Yes!!! I am absolutely in love with her already!!! 

If you want to donate to help us bring Tynsleigh home here is our link:

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/barrett-family-adoption-/269042

We have our first fundraiser also:

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bringing-barrett-family-home

30 Day Challenge (Day 1-4)

I am doing a Reece's Rainbow 30 Day Christmas Challenge

We need all the help we can get for these kids...Please donate and share...

Our goal for today is to get each child I feature to have $30 donated to their fsp. Please help me spread the word each day until we reach our goal!!! $30 is all we need. It can take one, two or ten donations to get her to his goal! Please donate and share. Each day for the next 30 days I will share a new child for us to pray for and help their fsp grow by $30!!! $30 for 30 children in 30 days!!!

Day 1(Nov 17) - Kendall 

Beautiful 8 year old girl. Her fsp challenge was met.

http://reecesrainbow.org/59320/kendall

Day 2 (Nov 18) - Emma Grace

Beautiful 7 year old girl. Her fsp is still $10 away.

http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=emma+grace

Day 3 (Nov 19) - Gideon

Handsome 12 year old boy. His fsp needs to read $277.25 and he will then get an additional $100.00

http://reecesrainbow.org/70012/gideon-2

Day 4 (Nov 20) - Abner

Handsome 5 year old boy. His fsp needs to read $100.

http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=abner

My all time favorite

I forgot to add that he says I Love You Mommy all of the time and most of the time he says it first!!! He also asks for kisses too!! I love how lovable, snuggly, and sweet this little boy is...my heart is bursting with love for him.

First Post Placement Visit

We had our first post placement visit this past week. It started off rocky. I thought we set the appointment for 10:30 so I didn't interfere with the little one's lunch or nap but then realized it was set for 11:30. Then I get a call at 11:40 from my social worker saying she thought it was for 12:30. So she got there at 12:30 right after lunch, I was cleaning up and suppose to be putting Brennan down for a nap. But I couldn't because the social worker needed to meet him, see us interact and he doesn't lay down without me snuggling with him. I was worried he would be fussy. I was also worried she wouldn't get to see the amazingly intelligent boy I have because he will not talk in front of anyone that is not family (which I do not mind since he knows who family is and that is HUGE with an adopted orphan). BUT...of course, Brennan was a star. He sang nursery rhymes, talked to Chelsea and me, read us a book with animals and made their sounds, spoke in sentences, was happy, playing and she was in utter amazement at him. I am not exaggerating when I say how intelligent he is. He speaks like he has been here his entire 3 months and he only counted to 10 in English when he became part of our family. He picks up everything and knows what it means. If I take too long he has already learned to say "Come on mommy" thanks to my older children...lol.

He was a self soother from the day we got him. He use to suck his thumb when he was tired..every single time. He now does not suck his thumb any more so his lip and thumb are finally able to heal. He loves to cuddle and be held to fall asleep and I love that.

His favorite food is blueberry yogurt! His favorite toy is his Scout Puppy that sings nursery rhymes that we bought him with his baptism money! His favorite person is mommy (which I love)! His favorite place to go is to watch his brother Andrew play in his soccer games! His favorite movie (only seen it on the plane ride home 4 times) is Frozen! He is not afraid of Santa and even visited him yesterday! We went to the Frozen/Santa exhibit at the mall (only an hour or so drive away...lol) and he loved every minute of it!!!

                          

                    

                         

                                              

One month as Brennan's mother!

I know...I know... It has been a couple weeks since I have updated!! I'm sorry. I wasn't sure how many people read this since it says there are no followers but nearly 60-100 people have viewed each of my posts!!! So...I'm guessing someone might be interested in how we are doing. But I am a writer...I have been since I was in Middle School. I even use to go to Writer's Camp. Yes...I did!!! I have written books (just never got any published so I guess I write for fun). Anyways, like I was saying before I distracted myself... Since I am a writer I can't just sit down and write a little two sentence update. Have I had time to write longer than a two sentence update? NO! I have been bonding and spending time with my amazing family and this new little bundle of pure perfection!!!

First of all...our trip home was JUST as horrible as our trip to China! I keep telling everyone that God had to give us a horrible trip because the bonding and transition with my son has been seemless!!! We got in the van to head to the train station in GZ (Guangzhou) so we could take the bullet train to Hong Kong the night before we flew out. We bought our train tickets ahead of time online before we left (never will I do that again). Since we had troubles getting TO China and we had a van pick us up at the airport so we didn't miss Gotcha we didn't pick up our train tickets in Hong Kong so when we went to the ticket counter to pick them up to leave GZ to go to HK they said we had to pick them up in HK on our way into GZ and since we didn't do that they voided them. So now I am out $150!!! Then since we thought we had the tickets waiting for us we didn't get any more money converted. So we stood in the middle of this train station with no tickets, no Yuan or Hong Kong Dollars!!! We called our guide to see if she could help (NOPE)!!! All she said was ask around. Of course we had already done that for over an hour and a half. Then I saw this group of business professionals. I walked up to them with a screaming child (he was soooo done being there and he was hungry and tired since it was past his bedtime) and asked them if they had change. Thankfully they did and they exchanged our $100 USD for their HK dollars and we bought 2 tickets to get to HK! Then we get in the train station and this lady rudely shoved my daughter out of the elevator and threw her bags in the elevator and hurt the lady next to me in a wheelchair. Then she stepped in. I went down the elevator and waited for my daughter. We almost missed the train because this lady and her husband had over 7 oversized bags and shoved them all on the elevator and shoved my daughter off once again. So we got to HK about 11:30pm (way past all of our bedtime...lol). We checked in (thank goodness I was able to get this hotel on points with my bank and booked it before I left). We arranged for shuttle to the airport the next morning and went to BED! The next morning we got on the plane and headed to Seattle!! My son became a US Citizen on Wed Oct 22, 2014. Then we flew to Detroit. My boy was such a pro for the flights. He was amazing. Then we hit problems. Since we were still flying standby there were no seats to Tampa, FL. There were no seats to anywhere in FL any time in the next 5 days!!! Are you kidding? I couldn't stay in a hotel for those days. I couldn't afford it PLUS I just wanted to be home with my kids. I missed them. So we asked them to get us as close as we could. Then there was the problem that out of the 7 people who were trying to help us they couldn't all work together and I was running from the gate (that was trying to hold a plane for us) to the help desk (that was extremely helpful) to the red Delta assistance phones. I felt like I was running a marathon. UGH. Finally we got 3 seats (they couldn't like Brennan's with ours so that was the issue since ours were round trip and his were one way) to Nashville. We got into Nashville at 10pm their time and got a rental car (excpt it took 2 hours to get a car because that is just our luck). We drove straight through to home in Tampa, FL. It was a 12 hour flight that we had to turn into 18 hours because Brennan HATED the car seat and if he was awake he was screaming screaming screaming and kicking and trying to get out. He HATED it!!! He did sleep a lot since he was on China time so that made it easier and we had to make frequent stops so he could get out and run. We met my family at the airport since we had to go there to pick up our luggage that arrived the day before us and return the car. It was so amazing!!! My children and the Sotolongo Family met us there!!! My children even made special shirts for them all to wear.

I cried like a baby!!!

We were home!!!!

Bonding has gone amazingly well. He is very very bonded and attached to me and Chelsea. He loves his brothers and sisters. We took picture books with us to China for him with several pics of everyone plus we skyped every morning. He knew everyone's name after the first few days of talking to them. (He still looks at those picture books all of the time).

Brennan was baptized along with his brother, Trevor, and sister, Arianna, on Orphan Sunday! It was a beautiful day and lots of family came to celebrate this special day with us.

My oldest and my youngest!!! How sweet is this?????!!!!!!  <3

My 3 youngest that got baptized!!1

Brennan has only been part of our family for almost a month now and I am amazed at how smart he is and how fast he catches on.

Words he has learned (including the meaning)
Mommy (Not mama anymore)

I wuv foo (I love you)
Brennan (He doesn't want to be called by his Chinese name)
Brittany, Chase, Chelsea, Andrew, David, Jose, Paige, Arianna, Ameliya, Trevor, and Carter
Backpack
Eat
Cup

Drink
Mommy Truck
Carseat
Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth, Fingers, Toes, Belly
Car
Cow

Horse
Sticker

Good (with the thumbs up in reference to food)
Puppy
Kitty Kitty meow (that's what he calls our cat)
Please
Sock, Shoe
No (not my favorite but he knows it...lol)
Yes
Bye, bye
Mommy do
Yay Brennan
Water
Hello
All done

Frozen (yes my daughter taught him that because she loves everything Frozen)

Potty

And so many many more and he is learning more every day!!!!

He will not speak to anyone who is not family which is amazing for bonding that he already knows who his family is...

He knows several nursery rhymes nd their movements too!!!

His transition has been so smooth and amazing! I lay awake at night just looking at his perfect little face. He loves that mommy gives him a hundred kisses a day and never gets annoyed (thank you son for that...lol). 

All of my children have embraced him with so much love that it is amazing to see. He LOVES to wrestle with the older boys and uses them as his own personal jungle gym...lol.

I can't say enough great things about my son, his bonding, his attachement, the transition, our love for him or my appreication to everyone reading this that shared, helped, donated, prayed, and helped us to bring this little miracle home!!!

 I love my children!!!