GOTCHA DAY...One year Later and Happy

Since we thought we would never get to China to get Maran it is unbelievable that we have been home a year. 

Many things have changed.  ALL FOR THE BETTER.  First, Maran brings an added light to our family.  Who knew? She has touched many and especially her cousin David.  I am sure he will not mind me using what he wrote about her.  Such wonderful words from a young man who understands without fail what agape is and that a home is a home, deserved by all and especially deserved by orphan children.  David and I always said that if we opened ONE person's eyes to adoption then we would be happy.  With Cousin David(our nephew), we pray for him a life of happiness, a loving family and lovely wife and with that many children if they are what he wants.  If he chooses for some of his to be adopted great.  If he spreads the word and advocates for this wonderful cause then hip hip hooray!  While we know adoption is not for everyone we are excited about the openness we have received especially from our young and loving nieces and nephews.  Cousin David, in turn, has been an inspiration to Maran.

Below is an excerpt from what Cousin David wrote.  He is referring to three people in particular in his life that have changed his life. The title of his story is 'GOD HUMBLING ME'. 

The final example is with my three-year-old cousin Maran Gieser. I wasn’t ready for Maran to change my life when my aunt and uncle adopted her in October 2010.

Now that Maran’s been in the States, I cannot believe how much joy she has brought me in just the few days I’ve spent with her. Last weekend at graduation, I couldn’t get enough of playing with Maran.

If you would have told me just last September that I would find Maran Gieser the cutest, cuddliest cousin, and be laughing and smiling nonstop when I was with her, I would have pessimistically countered

God humbles me all the time, and this is the way he’s humbled me most recently. Eller, Jack and Maran, thanks for hanging in there and being willing to love me, even if I didn’t have the best attitude at first. I love y’all, and I hope that I’ll do a better job of loving all people through the lessons that y’all have unintentionally taught me.

Instead of looking at all those hungry faces needing homes or adoptions on TV, I shouldn’t dismiss them but think, “That’s somebody’s Maran right there.”

One year later we have this:

A little China Doll who is

*beyond her years of being fluent in English
*ready to perform heart surgery sooner than later as she wants to be a heart doctor
*lover of hair bows
*lover of any and all foods placed before her.  She has yet to meet many things she doesn't like
*a caretaker
*everyone's friend
*teacher's pet (IN A GOOD UNDER COVER WAY)
*Daddy's little angel
*Mommy's little helper
*the office wrecker (She is like a one girl wrecking ball when allowed)
*Lover of the outdoors
*Portable Party
*tender hearted
*thinks family and cousins are better than rice and noodles and BELIEVE ME this is truly special
*fearless
*daredevil
*prissy
*loving
*huggable
AND A SOUTHERN GIRL HAS BEEN MADE

We LOVE:

Grits and Green beans
Banana Pudding and Fried Bacon 
Waffle House Waffles
Soup that has cooked all day
BBQ in any style, flavor and combination!

ONE YEAR AGO:

We spoke Chinese now we speak some Chinese (still trying to keep it with her) some Spanish, and LOTS OF ENGLISH.  We are also pretty good with sign language.

We had on a ragged dress and shoes that were three sizes too small on Gotcha Day.    Today we have what we need and some of what we want but we have learned fast that want and need are different.

We hoarded food.  We still do it some today but not as bad.

We weighed 17 pounds and we now weigh 36.  19 POUND GAIN.  While this is not good for many people this was VERY NEEDED and GOOD FOR HER.  (We were told she weighed 25 pounds)

We were 26" tall.  We are now 34" tall.

We had on a size 5 pair of shoes that should have been 8.  Now one foot is size 10 and the other size 9.

We don't have club feet nearly as bad.

We have eaten more shelled peanuts than you could imagine.

We have shared the love (Blowed kisses) to just about everyone we have looked at.

We have enjoyed Mother's Morning Out and rocked at Pre-K.

We have gotten in trouble.

We have cried to get our way out.

We have heard every day from mommy "Share the Love" and "Be a good Friend and Listener" as well as "I LOVE YOU".

We have shown the world how we can cry on demand.

We can charm you like there is no tomorrow.

We can use little girl "ANTICS" on you and once you figure it out you are hooked in our grasp.

We drink YOO HOO (the only form of Chocolate if you can call it that).

We still will not drink Milk but we will tell you that we like it.

We think cemetery flowers are "BEAUTIFUL" like mommies friend Duckie.

We feel that boo boos should have MANY BAND AIDES on them regardless of where the boo boo is located.

We KNOW that Santa watches us all the time and we know that mommy gets text messages from Santa when we are naughty.

We know that BU*T is a bad bad word and that SH*T UP is equally as bad and we will tell you if we hear you say it.  (EVEN IF YOU SAY IT IN A NON-NASTY WAY). 

We love singing Baby Jesus song. 

We love playing dress up.

We ARE HAPPY that the holidays are around the corner.

There are many more but the best is that Maran loves her family and she KNOWS she is loved.  She loves Luke the majority of the time and is a good playmate. She has already learned that it is often better to go ahead and share than to fight over "whose turn it is". 

Blessings in the form of children are so sweet.  Here we are one year later with a beautiful and smart child who we hope continues to love being here.  She often  refers to China as "MY CHINA" but she will also quickly tell you that she does not want to go back.  Some of the stories I have learned have allowed me to confirm that 100% she does not have to go back (meaning to the orphanage).  To visit --- ABSOLUTELY.  She will see her native country as much as we can take here there. I personally promise that I will enjoy it a lot more this time around!

Thank you for joining us on our ride.  It has not all been smooth and happy but it has been worth every emotion we have gotten from it.

From our Happy Family to yours......

HUGS and "SHARE The LOVE".

At the Fair enjoying my ONE YEAR in America! Dora  This Princess Chic is one of my favs!

Tweetsie Rail Road/ Remembering Summer Fun

If you grew up in North Carolina then you know about Tweetsie Rail Road.  LONG BEFORE Carowinds thought about existing we had Tweetsie.  Back in the day (and this is meant in all of the truest senses possible) it was a REAL THING (Yep, like Coke or Diet Coke for me) to get to go there.  You were super lucky if you got to couple it with an outing to "The Land of OZ" which has been closed for many years now but I hear it opens once a year on the anniversary of the Wizard of OZ.

We were looking for something to do that would be fun with the kids.  Since we avoid Chuckie Cheese like we attempt to avoid the latest 'bug' that is going around we decided a jump in the car to Boone, North Carolina would be the Best thing.  Again we didn't tell them where we were heading but Luke being the brilliant "I KNOW THIS SURPRISE STORY ALWAYS ENDS UP BEING TRAIN RELATED" figure it out pretty fast.  He was so excited about going as  usual.  In fact he is happy with riding the CATS metro system in Charlotte and could do so for hours on end. 

Half a day later we are still at Tweetsie riding the train and eating popcorn.  The other rides were nice and fun enough for them.  THEY REALLY LOVED Feeding the animals.  The goats tickled them to pieces.  You can feed them if you buy the seeds.  Maran would walk up to all of them.  Luke was a little hesitant with the pigs but he quickly warmed up.  They didn't have animals when I used to go to Tweetsie.  Or maybe they did and we just didn't "GO TO THAT PART".  The old chair lift is the same one that was there 40 years ago ( I think I remember it being there) and none of the wood has been replaced since then either.  The scrambler ride is there and it wreaks havoc on me now like no tomorrow.  David and I were both dazed when we got off of it. Surprisingly Maran did not get sick which was unbelievable because I thought for sure she would. 

Another fun Family Outing which created some fun memories and some really Cute Pictures. 

If you can go to Tweetsie... DO.  It's no five star amusement park but it is quaint and cute and just the speed that you may need on one of those 'slow moving' weekends.

ONE YEAR AGO WE LEFT FOR CHINA

365 days ago David and I left on a journey that we had no clue would make a mark on our lives in the way it did.  Sure we had adopted before and it was wonderful.  The hurdles that we endured were not so fun when adopting Luke and the ones we endured in getting Maran are now somewhat VAGUE. When we were living through them, however, they were gruelling and we thought we would honestly never make it through.  Truth be known the 'process' was much easier with Maran than it was with Luke because we didn't have as many hiccups.  It was simply 'luck of the draw' as this does not happen often during adoptions of any type.  SO ONE YEAR LATER David and I will still say that we were paid back for a somewhat simplistic paperwork process by having the 'travels that make you want to scream and yell like a wild fool'.  Our journey to Maran, albeit not easy and time consuming, was worth every ounce of what it took for us to get her.  We were delayed in San Francisco for many hours which caused us to miss connecting flights and essentially caused us to get to Beijing one day late.  So we paid for tours and hotels that we didn't get to go on which was fine.  We paid for another 'in case we get stuck here hotel' that we didn't stay in and so things like that just kept happening.  All in all we paid for three hotels that we never saw and two tours so ALL THINGS CONSIDERED NOT TOO BAD.  Looking back on it I can say it wasn't so bad but living it at the moment was just an inconvenience.  BUT AN INCONVENIENCE that was well worth it.  

Blessed we were to get to do so much and to have SAFE TRAVELS like we did.  Yes we were detained, delayed, told inaccurate information and all that but we survived and we made it in time to get our little girl. (Which the flight to go and get here was cancelled too).  So we got her and the rest is making history.  In a few days it will be GOTCHA DAY FOR MARAN.  365 days of pink laundry, little girl giggles and a child who adores her daddy more than anything.  A loving, caring and very nurturing toddler who is the life of the party is what she is.  She has touched us in many ways but she has touched many others in many ways too.  For this we are so happy.  Looking back at one year ago and our traveling journeys is fun and it has gone by so fast.  HOWEVER some days have been long! 

We are loving our family, loving life and loving what the future holds.  We are appreciative of the continued love and support that we get from our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and the nice looks from strangers who see us at the mall.  We even appreciate the not so nice looks that we get from those who "don't understand" adoption and don't understand why we adopted from where we did.  It gives us the chance to smile at them and hope that maybe one day they will be enlightened to the fact that no matter where you are from or what you look like you deserve a home.  It is really that simple.  

In love with our children we are happy one year later to be a family who is living life to the fullest!

Hugs to all from "TEAM GEEZER"  (details on that later). 

 

Maran's School Day

When I pick up the kiddos from school I try to get them to tell me what they did during the day.  If I ask them what they learned I always get the standard "Nothing".  Makes you feel good about the money being spent BUT I KNOW IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY and I do know that they are learning things.   Add to that the fact that they are used to being in Mother's Morning out for 4 hours and now their day is 7 hours. That's quite a difference in time.  Maran pipes up the other day after I asked what they "DID" at school versus what they "learned" and she said:

• Playground
• Lunch
• Naptime
• Oh and a Snack

There we have it.  The priorities of the day according to Maran.  What we would do with a day filled with such activities!  How innocent it is..... Can it just stay this way?

We Went to the DIXIE CLASSIC FAIR

We went to Nammy and Pop Pop's house and it was fun.  Nammy always has wonderful snacks and delectable treats that she has baked.  We decorated Pop Pop's scare crow and then went to the Dixie Classic Fair.  Loads of fun! 

Thomas the Train Outing in Bryson City, NC

...and here we go again off to another "Day out with Thomas". We didn't tell Luke and Maran what we were doing but told them we had to go to bed early...and I won't let you know how that worked out for us.

Off we went at 8:45 in the morning to Bryson City. By far this is not a ghastly hour but when you have well over a three hour drive with two toddler of which one who gets deathly car sick you just have to prepare for it all. Dressed in their new Thomas outfits we hit Brueggers and then hit the highway. It is/was a nerve wracking drive. I felt like every three to seven minutes we were asking Maran if she was OK. Of course in our journeys we now have to plan for numerous car sick stops and we take the route that has the LEAST amount of 'Stop and Go'. So Route 66 basically has been replaced by I 85. It's no big deal but the 'waiting in anticipation for it to happen' is the worst. Last time it occurred I was able to tell. Not sure if it was my ONE AND ONLY PERFECT MOMMY MOMENT but the color in the face, the expression and all told the FULL STORY. We were able to get the bag (compliments of US AIRWAYS) front in center just in time.

We decided not to tell them until we got really close. Of course Luke had already pretty much figured it out. When Daddy handed him his new "THOMAS DAY OUT" hat it just confirmed what he already knew and had confirmed from the grimace on my face. Then Daddy gave them their lanyard's that allowed them to hang their ticket around their necks. The complimentary Thomas whistles never made it out of the bag and left the car and went straight to the recycle bin. Call me bad mommy and gasp in horror but how many whistles do you really need? Allow me to help you on this one..... WE DIDN'T NEED ANY MORE AT ALL". So there you have it and truth be known we never needed the first one that my sister felt so inclined to give to Luke a few years back.

Maran had ridden the POLAR EXPRESS at Christmas but had never ridden Thomas. She jumped up and down and put her hand over her mouth in awe of him. We had our pictures taken, went to all the stands to get the much needed stamps for the so called 'FREE GIFT' and sweat like there was no tomorrow. Finally it was our turn. We got on, we rode, we sang all the Thomas songs of which everyone stared at us as we even know the 'less popular tunes'. Luke and Maran immediately befriended the railroad attendant and collected their "Junior Conductor" certificate.

We walked around the quaint little town and checked out a Bed and Breakfast which will be perfect during the holidays for our Night time Polar Express ride. (We take Nammy and Pop Pop with us this time).

We ate lunch (late) at the Mexican restaurant and finally hit the road back to Charlotte. The train pulled back into the Charlotte station around 8 pm with two very tired conductors.

The surprise worked out well and we even got our "REPLACEMENT THOMAS FAMILY PHOTO".... it's about time. (To be posted on Main blog).

Keep on Chuggin'.......

Waiting for our ride on Thomas. 

Choo Choo! (Day out With Thomas July 31, 2011)