2 Years Together

I can still remember that day two years ago in the hotel lobby in Nanchang, China.

Waiting for her to arrive after the long 5+ hour drive with the orphanage director and two nannies.

That palpable excitement and nervousness of meeting our daughter for the very first time.

And then there she was.

More precious than I imagined.

Overwhelmed by the love that filled my heart.

She cried, screamed, arched her back, and tried everything she could to bust out of my arms after one of the nannies handed her to me. 

When we took her back to our room, and she began to realize I wasn't going to let her out of my arms, she locked eyes with me. It was a mix of searching for answers and grasping for understanding of who I was. I remember at that moment praying with tears running down my cheeks and nose, "Jesus, let her see You." From that moment on, she never once tried to escape from my arms. In fact, it was the place she preferred to be. 

And, two years later, it still is.

Praise God.
What a joy and blessing it is to be her Mama.

Three Things Thursday

Thing 1: 
A couple of weeks ago, we walked the courthouse steps for an adoption hearing in order to obtain a certificate of foreign birth for Mina. This is an official document in English with her American name. It's the closest thing to a birth certificate, which will be important for things like starting school and when she needs to get a driver's license one day.

The Magistrate who was assigned to our case has a niece who was also adopted from Mina's province! We even stayed at the same hotel in Nanchang. Such a small world.

We celebrated the day with a PF Chang's lunch.
And we all thought this fortune was perfect in describing our little dumpling. :)

Mina is such an amazing blessing. 

Pure sweetness, joy, and preciousness.

Thing 2:

                 (Image and recipe via here)

I have a true passion for all things Caesar Salad.
And this is basically my love language on a slider bun.

So easy. So delicious.
You can eat this warm or the next day after it's spent the evening in the fridge.
I've even put it on a bed of romaine lettuce and drizzled it with more Caesar dressing.
I'm telling you all -- I am obsessed.

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup to 1 cup Caesar Dressing (I use a full cup, and my favorite is Mazretti's Supreme Caesar)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley or 2 teaspoons of dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 can chicken broth (I've used 1-2 cups of water and it's been fine)

Shredded romaine lettuce
Buns or sliders (which ever you prefer)

1.  Put chicken and broth (or water) in crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

2.  Remove chicken and drain all liquid.  Shred the chicken.

3.  Place the chicken back into the slow cooker and pour the dressing, parmesan cheese, parsley, and pepper over the top.  Stir until chicken is coated well.

4.  Cook for another 30 minutes or until heated through.  Spoon mixture into buns and top with romaine lettuce and extra parmesan cheese if desired.

Thing 3:
Life is so funny sometimes.
It takes turns you never saw coming.
Like getting an email from an old college acquaintance asking if I'd be interested in teaming up with her party company / website. I would be posting just once or twice a month on the We Heart Parties blog -- things I've done with my munchkins like an afternoon craft, a holiday gift idea, or even featuring parties I throw for my friends and family. Basically just posting about everyday life stuff that falls under crafts / parties.

I said yes, by the way.
Gulp.

I won't really be diving into this venture until around August, when life has settled down a bit for me.
Right now I'm pretty consumed with packing and organizing our move to Kentucky, which is less than 4 weeks away!

The Unexpected Baby Blues

Aubrey's teacher recently sent out an email to the parents in the class: 

We need everyone to send a story about when your child was a baby. Add a fun baby picture to attach to the story and the class will make a baby book of all their pictures and stories. 

My heart cracked in half.

On one side was the realization of just how long ago it was that Aubrey was a "baby".

On the other side of my broken heart was little Mina.

I thought of the only baby pictures we have of her:

Her finding ad photo when she was one month old.

Her referral photo in the orphanage when she was somewhere between 5-6 months old.

Her photo the day she went to live with her foster mom when she was 7 months old.

That's it.

It makes me so, so sad.

I can barely breathe thinking about how one day it will probably make Mina so, so sad too.

She's already starting to ask questions.

"Mommy from China?"

"No, sweetie. Mommy isn't from China."

"Daddy from China?"

"No, Daddy isn't from China either. But Mina is!"

"Yeah! Mina from China! Aww! Happy! Mommy happy too?"

"Yes baby, Mommy's happy too..."

I know this is just the beginning of her search for answers.

Right now it's simple conversations during an afternoon popcorn snack.

One day it might be gut-wrenching questions over a box of tissues well past midnight.

But the thing is -- no matter what -- we are in this together.

Which takes a little of the sadness away...

Christmas, Part 2 / Chinese New Year

Grammy and Pop Pop came to visit exactly one month after Christmas.
So we celebrated again!

To get us all in the mood, we started the first day of their visit by going to The Christmas Story house.
I have been dying to go, but Daniel has had ZERO interest.
Whether you like the movie or not, you have to admit it's a Christmas icon.
I mean, you can't tell me you've never used any of the following:
You'll shoot your eye out!
The Triple Dog Dare...
Fragile (Fra-GEE-lay)
I can't put my arms down!
FUDGE! (the F-Dash-Dash-Dash word)
Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra
And everybody knows about the leg lamp...

The house and tour was everything I hoped it would be. 

It was even snowing, which gave it a nice, nostalgic vibe. 

That evening, the girls shimmied into their jammies and opened up a copious amount of gifts.

No BB guns or pink nightmare bunny pajamas though... ;)

The next day, Mina and I were supposed to have our first Mommy and Me class.
We decided to skip it. (Shhhh!)
We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame instead.
Totally worth it.

The museum was awesome -- stage / performance costumes, handwritten song lyrics, album covers, band members signature guitars/pianos/drums/ etc., memorabilia from groups ranging from Nirvana, The Supremes, The Beatles, ZZ Top, ELVIS, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and more. It was all pretty impressive.

The last couple of days it snowed non-stop so we stayed snuggled up indoors enjoying all the new Christmas loot:

Playing Guess Who, watching 3D movies, and reading books...

On the last night, we celebrated Chinese New Year!

Dumplings are Mina's favorite. Fried Rice is Aubrey's favorite.

And these two are MY favorite. I could seriously eat them up...

Each year I plan on making a new Chinese dish with Mina. This year she wasn't too interested in helping, but I hope as she grows older she'll like doing it. Wonton Soup was the dish this year. It was even featured in my friend, Brandi's, Soup virtual potluck!

I am trying to learn all I can about things like Chinese New Year traditions, but more often than not I feel like I am doing it all wrong. For instance, I couldn't find my other gold napkin so I used a black one. Apparently black is the biggest no-no color on CNY (Chinese New Year) because it represents death. I also got Mina some silk Chinese shoes as a CNY gift, but apparently that's one gift you shouldn't give. Oh well, I'll keep trying and learning and maybe one year I'll get it right!

I know some adoptive families choose not to acknowledge their child's birth country, and that's completely their choice. I find that I think about Mina's birth family even more when we celebrate Chinese holidays. Perhaps that's another reason adoptive families shy away from things like this? It bubbles up lots of emotions, and I'm sure as Mina grows up things like this will spur some hard questions. It gets us all wondering about things we don't have answers to.

So even though we are separated by thousands of miles, anonymity, and unanswered questions -- I take comfort in knowing that (for at least one day) we're all celebrating together.

From My Heart...

I've been waiting for this Christmas for years.

December 24th, 2011, Daniel gave me two gifts:

One was a 147 Million Orphans shirt. (Notice the daisies on there?! GODWINK!)
The other gift was a folder.
Inside the folder was adoption paperwork that Daniel had already started filling out.

Daniel said, "I just want you to know, I feel like God is saying now is the time."
I was so shocked.
I put my face on the ground, cried, and thanked God.
Daniel didn't know, but I had prayed every single day for over six months for God to work in his heart regarding adoption. I knew God had a child waiting for us, but I wanted it to come from God and not me.

That Christmas, I told Daniel before going to bed, "You realize that our child is probably alive already? They are somewhere in this world. I hope they had a Merry Christmas..."
I cried myself to sleep that night.
And across the globe, our little Shisi was turning 5 months old in a Chinese orphanage.

The next Christmas, we were literally aching to travel to bring her home.

She was living with a foster family in a rural part of China, which made it difficult to get information about our sweet girl. 

That December 24th, God nestled a little ladybug amidst the gifts under the tree. 

The hope and promise that our Shisi would be with us next Christmas.

I cried myself to sleep again that year. 

Well, this Christmas I cried too.
Tears of complete and total happiness.

Merry Christmas from all FOUR of the Riherds!

Daniel made this wonderful slideshow to a song that fits our past three Christmases perfectly...

Merry Christmas, by Third Day

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
Where the forgotten are

But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white,
Make angels in the snow

But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
And we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life
And prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heart
I wish you Merry Christmas

9 Months of Love

I remember calling my sister to tell her we were starting the adoption process.
"You'll have a baby before we have our little one!" I told her.

Adoption is notorious for taking a long time, and she and her husband had already decided to start "expanding" their family.
Any day now I just knew I'd be getting a call from her squealing on the other end, "I'm pregnant!"

Months went by.
She still had no pregnancy news to announce.
Daniel and I started the massive amount of adoption paperwork.
We continued to flip pages on our calendars.

More and more adoption paperwork.
Pregnancy expectations mounting.

Seasons and holidays passed without even acknowledging the pain they brought.
My sister didn't have her baby, and neither did I.
We both felt hollow inside.
We took turns sharing tears on our phone calls across the miles.

Daniel and I received news that we would finally be traveling to bring our daughter home.
We could see the light at the end of our tunnel.
My sister felt trapped in hers.

It had been over a year since the original conversation about pregnancy and adoption.

My sister decided to meet with a specialist to figure out why she wasn't getting pregnant.
The day she arrived for her appointment, she was told there had been a mistake in scheduling.
Sorry -- come back next month to see the doctor.

My sister never ended up going to her appointment.

Halfway across the world when Mina was placed in my arms, my sister became pregnant.
The week we brought Mina home, my sister saw her very first positive pregnancy test.

This week marks nine months since God placed this precious gift in my arms...

Nine months.
Just enough time for Him to deliver another precious miracle...

God truly amazes me with His intricate details.
Weaving lives together all over the world.
He has a plan.
For everyone.
And it's filled with immeasurable love.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

Mina's Homecoming

I realized I never fully documented our journey home to the States from China.

So...here I go!

Daniel and I were more than ready to get home after 14 days away.

We missed Aubrey so much we thought we might literally die if we had to go much longer with her.

Mina seemed ready to leave too.

After we packed up in Guangzhou, we took a private van to Hong Kong.

It took about three hours including our wait through customs/immigration. 

Our driver was crazy fast, which made this mama scared to death.

Car-seats are non-existent in China / Hong Kong.

I strapped Mina in with me on my lap and held on to her for dear life.

We stayed the night in Hong Kong in a hotel attached to the airport.

The next morning we loaded up our bags (again) and checked in.

Next stop: CHICAGO!

The flight from Hong Kong to Chicago was 14 hours.

Let that sink in for a moment.

FOURTEEN hours.

And Mina, being under 2, was a lap-seat baby.

Which meant she was in my lap for 14 hours.

The WHOLE 14 hours -- remember at this point she still wanted little/nothing to do with Daniel.

Despite losing a paci, three poopie diaper changes in the smallest of airplane bathrooms, and having zero leg room -- we survived. 

Mina actually did amazingly well, but it was still miserable.

The minute we landed on US soil, Mina was officially a US citizen.

As you can tell, she was super stoked about this monumental moment...

I cannot tell you how amazing it felt to be back in the US of A, to be in a familiar time zone, and (honestly) to be able to use my cell phone. When I turned it on, it was flooded with "welcome home!" texts and my Instagram feed pulled up these two precious girls with the most adorable sign. Melted my heart! Their sweet family has been such an encouragement to us throughout our entire adoption process -- even being all the way in Alabama. I can't wait for our girls to all get together one day!

So, when we landed in Chicago, we had a six hour layover until our flight to Oklahoma City.

Imagine our absolute delight when we were greeted by Zubie (who drove from Kentucky) and Aunt Margaret (who flew in that morning from Ft. Lauderdale)! Zubie had a hotel room, so we were able to leave the airport/get lunch/change clothes/and rest in a much quieter and relaxed space. It. Was. Heaven!

{Sad phone pics...my camera was packed in one of our crammed suitcases. :( Boo. }

I remember one of my first thoughts while walking through O'Hare airport: Wow, it's weird to see so many white people! I can only imagine how Mina must have felt!

By the time we boarded our flight from Chicago to OKC, Daniel and I were not feeling too well.

We had been awake for over 28 hours and had barely eaten anything (airplane food -- blech).

Our internal clocks were all askew, and we were just flat-out zapped.

I remember telling Daniel when he asked how I was doing, "I'm really praying I don't throw up..."

Daniel had been sick for seven days with what was finally diagnosed as Dengue Fever.

He had experienced the following during the week: nausea, cyclical fevers, chills/sweats, head-to-toe itchy rash, and migraine-type headaches.

Needless to say, we were on our last leg -- of travel and health. 

I remember Daniel saying, "We have to stay strong...Aubrey's waiting for us..."

And waiting for us, she was!

Along with so many others!
To say we were blown away by the love and support of these amazing families would be an understatement...


The Playgroup Mamas. They were such an emotional support system for me throughout the entire adoption process. They laughed with me, cried with me, asked all sorts of questions, helped in all sorts of ways. These ladies mean the world to me.
 

Here is just a handful of our sweet, sweet flock friends (aka: church small group/Sunday school class). These women know the joys and sorrows that accompany adoption. Our flock consists of about 98% adoptive families (it's a blend of biological children and children from China, Taiwan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Guatemala). They were such a wealth of knowledge for us as we plowed through the waiting process. Their prayers truly carried us through some emotionally challenging times.

I still get chills just thinking about these precious friends waiting for our arrival home...

By the way, how sweet are the China signs/shirts my friend's husband designed and printed for the adults and kids? And the sweetest of all -- baby Gracie's Chinese "love" character onesie. Oh my heart...

Words cannot begin to express the overwhelming love we felt the minute we rounded the corner.
I'm pretty sure this is what the entry into Heaven will be like...

(Mina had fallen asleep on the flight and was super upset that we had to wake her up. I found a sucker in my carry-on, thus the white stick poking out of her mouth in most of the photos!)

One of my favorite moments was when all the kids swarmed Mina and me to show us the welcome signs they had made. Such preciousness, acceptance, and love. 

  

  
Little sidenote: When we saw Zubie in Chicago she told us that Aubrey had a growth spurt while we were gone. I had to laugh when looking at these photos because before we left for China, that Big Sister swing top covered her bottom. As you can see, it's almost a crop top now! ;) She had literally out-grown all her clothes! Crazy!

  

 

There was a moment in the hubbub and noise and laughter.

When everything seemed to sort of freeze.

My heart felt a sharp pang as I thought to myself, "I wonder what Mina's birthmom is doing right this second?" Does she have any idea that her baby girl is halfway across the world surrounded by people who loved her instantly? That her life story began a brand new chapter?

Do you see the white string in Mina's hand among the red and black below? 

My mom brought that big bunch of balloons to the airport and made sure to include a single white one -- in honor of Mina's birthmom. Just like we did at Mina's 1st birthday party.

I love that she did that. 

I pray somehow, some way Mina's birthmother knows deep down in her heart that her daughter is cherished. That she is loved to the very core of another mother's heart.