Day 1 - Exploring China

China is incredible! We love it! Brady and I got up early this morning and walked down to the Forbidden City. At first there weren't many people out on the streets but as time went on the streets became more and more crowded. We went inside the gates to see the palace but the best part was just watching all of the people. So many people! Lots of old men sitting around smoking and enjoying the morning sun, women laughing and talking, young people with selfie sticks taking pictures, kids with giant headbands and brightly colored coats. It was fun walking through the old streets back to our hotel. Right now they are just coming out of their winter season and you can see buds starting to appear on all of the trees. In a few more weeks it will probably look different with all of the green out. Back at the hotel we met up with our guide. Her name is Vivian. She is from Beijing and works with our adoption agency. She has been so great to let us ask her questions about China all day long. It's nice having someone who can explain things to us in English. We drove through the city to the Great Wall on the out skirts of Beijing. It was amazing to see. We hiked up to the highest point of that section. The steps are steep and uneven so you really have to concentrate on where you're going. Our legs were shaking by the time we got back down. We had lunch a nice Chinese lunch of fried rice and chicken then went back into Beijing to the train station. It was the craziest train station we've ever been in and once again we were glad Vivian was there to help us. The train ride to Tianjin is a great way to see how the metropolitan area melts into the agricultural land. When you first leave the station you pass building after building of high rise apartments. One thing that I thought was funny about these apartment buildings were all of the wire cages that are popping out around the windows. Many of them were filled with junk. We asked Vivian about it and she said that is how they make their living space bigger. They put a chain link compartment out around their window and then they can store stuff out there. Once we got past all of the high rise buildings, the landscape was very flat and there were fields and ditches everywhere. Many of the fields had many people out working in them. It looked like they were planting something. Every once in awhile there would be a small village with about 100 or so little cinder block type homes. Vivian said this is where the peasants who work the fields live. It was fascinating to see how dramatically the lifestyle changes the further you get from the city centers. I thought the country side was beautiful and was glad we got to see a small glimpse of it before we pulled back into the robust city of Tianjin. Tianjin, what a place! There is a big river that runs though Tianjin so back in the day it was a harbor city with lots of colonial influence but now with the big population boom of the last few decades they have added tons of sky scrapers and modern buildings. The city has a unique mix of old and new, poverty and wealth. Such a fascinating place. The best part about it is that this is our son's city and in the morning we will get to meet him! We're so excited! Hopefully he likes us!

Lovin' the Chinese food!

We arrived at the Forbidden City early in the morning. The sun was trying to rise through the smog.

Walking back to the hotel we passes hundreds of these mopeds equipped with blankets and hand mittens.

 The Great Wall of China

 We packed Spuddy Buddy up there to get some RODS pics with him.

Pretty incredible where this wall goes and how it was made.

 Out at the great wall we were above most of the smog.

You can see a thick layer of smog down in the valley.

Train station

 Arriving in Tianjin

Looking down at the park from our hotel window.

                                          

View of Tianjin from our hotel window.

One Step Closer to China

We’re finally off and we couldn’t be more excited! It’s strange how similar child birth and adoption are. There is just no easy way to add to your family. It’s always a miracle! None of our children’s births ever went like we planned. Growing a family is always a good faith building exercise.
This morning Brady received a text saying that our flight from SLC to Seattle had been delayed just long enough that we wouldn’t be able to make our connecting flight to Beijing. He called Delta to see what options we had. They said we could wait and fly out on the 20^th.  Not happening. We are in what I would call “the labor” phase of this adoption. And everyone knows that during labor you don’t mess around. You just do what has to be done and you do it quickly. Brady explained the situation and just about went through the phone when the guy at the other end wasn’t going to do anything to help him. I just smiled when I heard him say, “You don’t understand! We’ve been working on this for a year. We have to catch our flight to Beijing today!” After being transferred and explaining the situation again and after exerting a little more pleading, patience, persistence and money, he was able to get us on an earlier flight. Good bye last minute plans to be completely and calmly ready, hello race to the airport. Like I said, it’s the labor phase, always exciting! We are blessed to have such a great team of people helping us! Now that we’ve made it onto our first flight we can take a deep breath and try to enjoy the experience. That brings me to my next train of thought…

Love. Isn’t love cool? It’s the only thing that I can think of that grows and gets bigger and stronger the more you give it away. I wish I understood better what love is and how it works but I do know that it is directly interconnected to God. For the past few weeks Nash has been randomly singing one of his favorite primary songs, “I Am A Child of God”. He has his own version and it goes like this, “I am a child of God and so are my parents, kind and dear.” It has moved me to tears more than once hearing his angelic voice sing these truths because he is right and I know he his. I have always believed that God is the creator of us all and that He loves all of his children but though this adoption process I have come to recognize that truth in my heart more strongly than ever. I know that God does love His children and He has a plan for every one of us on this earth. There will always be trial, heartache, and adversity to overcome but I honestly believe that without that we wouldn’t be able to experience true joy and happiness. I can’t wait to give Cooper a little more love. Not just from myself, but from God because we are his hands on this earth, and from all of the family and friends rooting for him back home.

Introducing...Cooper Michael Murray

We're dying of excitement today! Exactly one month from today we will have the newest member of our family, Cooper Michael in our arms! It feels like its been an extremely slow and long adoption process but now that we have our flights booked, final appointments in China scheduled, and things prepared for Cooper to come home its hard to contain the excitement we feel.
One question that Brady and I have been asked frequently over the last several months as we've told people about our adoption is, "How did you decide to do that?" or "What made you decide to do that?" We're never quite sure how to answer because we can't really pin it down to a specific moment, event or experience. For some reason Brady and I began talking about adoption even before we started talking about marriage. We had both had different experiences in our lives that had left us with favorable impressions of adoption. After we got married and began our own family, we continued to have experiences that left us feeling like adoption would be an even bigger part of our lives even though we didn't know where, when or how. We continued to be blessed with special opportunities to be involved with the adoption community as our family grew. Last spring Brady and I both began to have those quite promptings or feelings that it was time for us to look into an adoption of our own. After a quiet peaceful weekend listening to and pondering counsel spoken by prophets we love, and after counseling with our children, we felt prepared and ready to begin the adoption journey for our family. Trying to find the right child for our family was difficult but as we sought God's help we received the inspiration we needed to be guided to a sweet little three year old boy who has Down syndrome in Tianjin China. We saw this picture and couldn't help but smile at this cute little boy showing off his balance.

We inquired and were given his file which we reviewed. We were also shown several more pictures.

We were smitten and so excited at the possibility of having him in our family, not just Brady and I but the children too. We kept looking at his pictures and couldn't stop talking about our brother/son in China. Every time Nash saw his picture he would get so excited and say, "Look! It's me!" We wrote our Child Care Plan and Application to Adopt Letter as quickly as we could and sent it off to China. On May 5, 2015 we received our Notice of Approval back from China which gave us the green light to go ahead and begin the legal/paperwork part of adoption. We were also able to send our little Zhang Tong Jiang a small package of treats, toys, and a photo album of us and his new home. And in return the orphanage sent us some updated pictures.

 

He is darling! Of course we wanted to do everything as quickly as possible even though our agency told us to plan on 12-14 months. We worked as quickly as we could on our home study and dossier prep. It feels like it takes months for certified copies of birth and marriage certificates, medical reports, police clearance and criminal history records to be all properly notarized and authenticated. We felt like we were making good progress and had all of the certified documents and home study ready to submit by the end of July. Then our next step was to submit paperwork and get fingerprinting appointments with the CIS, Civilian Immigration Services, so we could get approval for Cooper to be issued a visa to come to the US. This was like running into a brick wall. It took months longer than we had hoped and there wasn't anything we could do about it. It was hard to know another birthday without his family had come and gone when he turned four in December. We had hoped to be able to do a Skype call for his birthday or Christmas but it never worked out. We did get more updated pictures and a short video though.

 

 

 On Christmas day we were all just dreaming of next year when we'll be celebrating with Cooper. Finally the dossier and every piece of paperwork had been stamped, and translated and passed back and forth between our countries enough times that our final approval and permission to travel came in January. Another month and a half of working with our adoption agency, getting our visas and consulate appointment and planning the details of our trip and we'll be traveling in March!

We know its going to dramatically rock Zhang Tong Jiangs world when we show up and he suddenly becomes Cooper Michael. We'll take him from the only life he's ever know into a completely different one. New language, new name, new people, new places, new food, new routine, new experiences, everything will be new. Naturally we are expecting that it will take time and patience as he processes and adapts to his new world. We are not afraid or worried. We know there will be bumps in the road but it doesn't matter, we just love him. He's not alone and we're not alone. We are expecting to continue to see miracles as he experiences the love of his new family.

Love is a powerful force.

I Love This Video!

Take a moment to watch this short video.  It brought back a lot of memories of the day when Nash was born.  He's such an integral part of our lives and considered such a blessing that I think I forgot what those first few days were like for me after he was born.  Enjoy!

More Than Winning

Last month in October the children and I were invited to a soccer practice with team Shazam!

This team of 10 and 11 year old girls had been having an incredible undefeated season. Their coach, David Child wanted to teach the girls that they could do a lot more than win games together. He came up with the idea of having these girls put their talents and efforts into working together as a group to raise money for the RODS orphan Lark.

They invited us to come to one of their practices so they could meet Nash and learn a little more about what RODS does to try to help orphans with down syndrome find families. The girls were so excited! They gave us the warmest welcome and made my kids feel like they were famous. Brynlee, Nash and Ridge had so much fun getting to know these sweet girls while running around the soccer field. Nash was heaven with all of their attention!

 

 

At the end of practice their coach brought the team together and they told us their goal of raising $1000.00 for Lark during the month of October as a team. That meant each girl had an individual goal of raising at least $100.00. Their coach also encouraged them to create awareness by telling as many people as they possibly could about these orphans while they were fund raising.

I left the field in awe of their kindness and enthusiasm. I knew these girls were a whole lot more than good soccer players and I couldn't wait to see what they would do!

Now fast forward to November when they invited our family to come to their end of the season celebration.

Once again they fed us, made us feel welcome,

and had Nash laughing like a mad man!

Their coach put together a fun video of their season and then he spoke about the effort the girls had put into their fundraising. It was touching to hear some of the stories...One of the girls had gone from door to door almost every day after school collecting mostly 1 to 5 dollar donations and had raised over $500.00. Two girls had gone to a high school football game together where they found $72.00. They turned the money in but after two weeks no one had claimed it so the money was split and given to them. Both of them were happy to add their $36.00 to the collection for Lark. One of the girls and her little sister entered a pumpkin carving contest, they both won $5.00 which they insisted be given for Lark. These wonderful dedicated selfless girls dug deep and reached outside of their comfort zones which helped them to more than double their initial goal of $1000.00!

They presented RODS racing with a check for $2105.00!



 

How incredible and inspiring! A team of twelve 10 and 11 year old girls raised over $2000.00 in one month to help a little girl they have never met! I love that you can see the look of joy and accomplishment on their faces in these pictures. These girls learned about so much more than soccer this season. I am sure this is a season they will never forget! When they come together again next season Lark will be home running around with her family!

Thank you team Shazam for helping bring Lark one step closer to home!

And a huge thank you to your awesome coaches, Dave and Alan!

What great role models you all are!

 Go Shazam!!



The Innocence and Strength of Our Children

Here's another great event that took place a few weeks ago.  I met Jed Grunig 11 years ago.  We became friends and have stayed in touch ever since.  Jed joined RODS this year and had a wonderful idea on how to raise some funding for our RODS Orphan. 

Jed is the principal at Bridger Elementary.  Here is a summary of the event.

RODS Fundraiser -- Bridger Elementary

Bridger Elementary school is  a K-5 school located in Logan, Utah.  The school serves a population of students that has 85% of students receiving free lunch, and 50% minority students. 

As a school we set a goal to raise a total of $2,000.  We felt it was important that we not only raise money for our focus on Leadership, but to also raise money that would go to helping others.   Many of our faculty didn’t think we would be able to reach our goal, but we set out to get it done.

To raise the money we first formed a committee of teachers with representatives from each grade level, and  a parent representative.  We first came up with a list of incentives that students would receive if they brought in different amounts of money.  We tried to pick things that would be highly motivating for students, and would add much to our expenses.  Below is a list of prizes:

	Prizes
Bring in	Earn
$20.00	Chic-Fil-A Lunch
	&
$11.00	Spirit Sleeve
	&
$8.00	Silly String War
	&
$5.00	Aquatic Center Family Evening (Family of 5)
	&
$1.00	Wii dance party

Whatever amount a student brought in more then $1.00 they would receive all the prizes bellow that number.  For example, if a student were to bring in $11.00 they would get the Spirit Sleeves, Silly String War, Aquatic Center, and Wii Dance Party.  

Our expenses were $500 to rent the aquatic center, $1 per can of Silly String, and $4 per pair of Spirit Sleeves.  The PTA donated half the cost of the Aquatic Center so we actually only had an expense of $250.   Chic-fil-a donated the cost of the lunches.

The committee then planned an assembly that was designed to get the kids excited about the project and teach the students about the prizes. Helping them get familiar with RODS and the work we are doing.  Brady came and did a great job showing pictures and video that really inspired the kids to do a great job.  After the assembly a group of Harley riders, and Hot Rod Cars did a drive by, showing their support for what we are doing and to the students.  They parked their cars and motorcycles on the playground and allowed the students to take a close look.  The group also got us started by donating our first $100. 

After the assembly the kids were SUPER excited.  I was surprised though by what they were excited about.  A couple of students told me they weren’t excited about the prizes, they were excited about helping the kids. 

We had volunteers from the PTA go around each morning to collect the money and we would count it in the office.  We tracked our progress on a big “thermometer” we created and updated it daily.

The first couple of days we did pretty well, but things really started picking up when we sent home RODS pass along cards.  It gave the students something to give to their friends and relatives that they were talking to about the fundraiser that showed it was legitimate. 

It also helped when we started passing out the Spirit Sleeves that got the kids really excited.

A 5^th grade girl that was given up by her mom a year ago, and is now under the custody of her 20-year-old sister was very inspirational.  She didn’t have $20.00 to donate so she built a lemonade stand and worked for a week, making $28 all of which she donated to the fundraiser.  We had families bringing in money that I KNOW didn’t have $20 they could afford to give, but they wanted to help.  Several days I cried as I counted the money in my office after school.  Thinking about the sacrifices these kids were making was very moving. 

Another student told her teacher that he would donate $1 for any student that couldn’t bring in any money so that their whole class would be able to go to the Wii Dance Party. 

I can’t begin to describe how proud I am of my school, staff and students.  These kids, most of whom have so little at home were so generous and caring.  We hit our goal almost exactly!  After expenses we were able to donate $1,000 to RODS!

 

 

 

Angels Among Us...

A few weeks ago we had our annual race in Meridian.  One of the race participants had a special surprise prepared for us that day.

Earlier this year Brooklyn McKenzie had a dream not unlike many grade school kids, which was to go to Disneyland.  She had a plan on how to do it as well.  She would pick berries from the family garden and make jam and jelly to sell.  It was sure to work!

Shortly after her endeavors started she made a decision that most kids wouldn't, she decided to forego the dream of Disneyland and instead raise money for a little orphan who has Down syndrome in South America she had never met so that he could have a family and so that he could someday go to Disneyland too. 

Brooklyn labored all summer picking the berries, making the jam and then going door to door telling the story of this little orphaned boy and what she was doing to help.  One jar at a time she started to make a difference.  The difference was small at first then it grew.  By the time she was done, she had collected $562!  After her story ran on KSL, a couple in St. George donated enough to make it $842! 

Here's another amazing part of this story.  As a team, RODS has been raising funding for months for Vaughn, but we weren't quite there yet.  Our goal was to raise $15,000.  After having dozens of athletes all over the country racing all summer we had made it to $14,500.  That's when I got a call from Brooklyn's mom. 

She put the phone on speaker and handed it to Brooklyn.  I heard an innocent little voice tell me what she had been up to.  She even recited the script she had prepared to help promote the jam.  In the end she told me the amount that she had raised.  Chills came over me as I knew that this was just enough to get Vaughn over the $15,000 mark!  It seemed fitting that a 7 year old would be the one to get our little 7 year old orphan to the goal.

This experience has reminded me of something I firmly believe which is...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Because of Brooklyn's example, we have made her an honorary member of RODS.  Brooklyn's example as well as some other experiences and suggestions from team members I have had recently has spurred on the thought of starting a Junior RODS team.  There are many kids that could make a difference similar to Brooklyn.  This would be a great experience for them and for us to take part in. 

I have a feeling that Brooklyn's work is going to turn out to be something that neither her or her family could have imagined.  Again, by small and simple things are great things brought to pass...

Thank you Brooklyn McKenzie for following that ever small voice that whispered to you "That Vaughn needed a family more than you needed to go to Disneyland."  Because of your willingness to follow this prompting you truly made the world a better place!