Visiting AnnaGrace's Orphanage

Today was the big day when we returned to AnnaGrace's orphanage for the first time in almost eleven years.  Although still the original building, significant renovations have taken place.  And in 2011 Half the Sky began implementing their Little Sister's program.  The positive effects are visible everywhere.

When we arrived at Changsha SWI, we were greeted by a white board with AnnaGrace's Chinese name Tan Xiang Wen on it and the following words:

It was such a special gesture of caring!


Zhiao Ying, the Children's Program Director, began by showing us AnnaGrace's file.  Unfortunately it revealed no new information but allayed any curiosity we had above the possibility of a missing finding note.


After that we toured the orphanage.  The orphanage is in-charge of around 500 children, ages 0-14 years.  About 300 of those children live in the SWI, while 200 live in foster homes or in the Butterfly House or CCI which are both independently run programs for children with critical medical needs.


They graciously allowed us to take a few photos of the rooms and grounds to put in AnnaGrace's lifebook.  They asked us not to post those pictures out of respect; however, Zhiao Ying said we could post a photo of her and AnnaGrace together.


AnnaGrace presented fifteen of the hats she knitted to Zhiao Ying  Our prayer is those hats will keep some babies' heads warm this winter.

As good as the care and nurture appeared to be at Changsha SWI, you just can't visit any orphanage without feeling a bit of despair.  It's a stark remainder of the fact that EVERY child needs a mommy and daddy to love them.  Nothing can replace the love of a family! 


AnnaGrace is fighting a fairly significant cough and cold.   Due to that and the emotional morning,we decided to just hang out in the hotel for the afternoon.  


Tomorrow we are going to do a little sightseeing and Wednesday we'll be flying back to Beijing.


I took a few more photos that I thought we're interesting. 


The first one is from our 19th floor hotel window.  We overlook a school yard and watched the children line-up first thing this morning.  We asked Celia, our guide, about it.  She said that every Monday morning the school children line-up to pledge to the flags - communist, national and school flags - which we saw marched past the student body.  Then the teachers make announcements to the student body which are pertinent to the week. 


The orderliness of the entire process was nothing short of amazing as no teachers' were actually in the line-ups with the children.  I just can't really imagine hundreds of our school-age children lining up this orderly and standing for twenty minutes without any adult supervision.



Just a note...although the smog in Changsha is nothing like Beijing, it is still significant as you will note in the  blurriness of many of my photos.  This is not a focus issue; it is a smog issue.

Another thing I always find interesting in China is the city planning.  I'm not sure Charlotte would allow this type of zoning...


Brand new high rise apartment buildings in the back, in the middle are older apartment buildings, in the front (and obscured from view because we were speeding down the highway) are businesses.  The zoning all seems so random to me.

But then again Changsha has a population of 6.5 million according to the Hunan Bureau of Statistics. That number is just staggering to me.  I don't know how you have city planning for a city of that size?  The new construction is absolutely fabulous, and they are even beginning to preserve some green space.  You can see the effects of a thriving economy, at least in the big city.


While I'm enjoying China, of course a piece of my heart is at home...missing my girls and Phil....

but I'm also counting down until we add another pair of little feet to our family.  Only six more days!

We're in China!

We landed Saturday evening after an uneventful, 13 hour flight from Chicago to Beijing.   Our guide and driver met us, and we made the hour drive to the hotel.  Exhaustion set-in, so we settled for a supper of snack bars and bottled water. 

We were in bed by 7:30 p.m. but not before we snapped one picture of AnnaGrace on her first night back in her birth country.  The photo was taken on the patio of our room which overlooked a beautiful pond and garden.

I find the signage in China fascinating.  Not quite sure what this sign meant.  It was on the side of the highway on our drive from the Beijing airport to our hotel.

Do you think they were worried about people transporting tall giraffe??  Probably not.

Today we made the plane trip from Beijing to Changsha, and tomorrow we are visiting AnnaGrace's orphanage. 

Thanks for your prayers as we spend the next three weeks in China.

Packing or Procrastinating?

Well, I packed Savannah Faith's suitcase.  That's the fun one!  Mine...that is another story.  Maybe I will get to it tomorrow.  After all, I have six more days until my plane leaves.  Plenty of time.


The last days have been filled with making arrangements for the three girls I am leaving behind,

making meals and freezing them

(okay, maybe Michaela has been doing more of that than me),

getting caught up on all my accounting work for my job,

and picking out a paint color for the little girls' room. 


Did I mention Phil is going to paint the bedroom while I am gone.

I am sure he will have plenty of time.

He will just be holding down the fort,

keeping up with the three little girls,

working full-time,

doing the laundry and

making sure the girl's make it to their speech therapy appointments. 

Did I mention he is my HERO!  I love that man!!



The most exciting thing I have been working on the past week is learning more about photography. 

For my birthday, Phil, my sisters and mom went in together and purchased a new camera for me.

It is amazing!

I am determined to get it off Auto!  



I want to perfect a few new techniques to "take" with me to China!

If you are looking for a great tutor,

check out Nancy at Ordinary Miracles & The Crazy Nine

http://nancyvnjourney.blogspot.com/p/photography-101.html -

She's not only a fellow adoptive mom and homeschooler,

but also a very gifted photographer and teacher.



So when I should be packing...



I just might be coercing my girls to be my "subjects"

and my dog to pose...

I am learning about f-stops and bokeh...

However my girls might be starting to lose their patience...

I can't wait to take photos of Savannah Faith.  Can't you just see her with a little dress on and a bow in her hair.  You're almost home sweet one.

Snow Day!

The long awaited snow day of 2013 finally arrived! 

Sadly, Sarah Mei and AnnaGrace were with Phil in Hardeeville, but Isabelle and Lily Rose enjoyed every minute of it!

They made snow angels...

and tried sledding. 

And when the sleds did not go fast enough, Torie obliged and hooked up our 30 year old Paint mare to the sled and coaxed the horse to be the engine.  The little girls REALLY loved that!

(Just a footnote...don't EVER ride a horse without a helmet.  In the excitement of the snow, we all forgot.)



While the girls, the horses and the dog played in the snow, our cats stayed dry on the front porch.

This was Lily Rose's first snowfall since joining our family.  Her eyes absolutely sparkled when she saw the flakes.  The wonder of it all!

Seeing "first's" through my girls' eyes is always a little bittersweet.  It  makes me heartsick for the 540,000 waiting orphans in China. 


A fellow "heart mom" just told me about Lainey with Holt.  She is a single ventricle "heart" baby like our girls.  You can read more about her at this link http://www.holtinternational.org/cgi/photolisting/display12.cgi?ID=Lainey&Index_re=0 . 

Here's an updated photo of her:

 

 

She needs a chance at life, at having a mom and dad to tuck her into bed at night, and a chance to see her first snow.  E-mail me (elainechorton@yahoo.com) if you want more information on little Lainey or call Holt International directly.

 

 

 

Only 12 days until we board the plane to meet Savannah Faith.  Here's the latest picture we received of her.  She's standing up on her own now!  She looks quite proud of herself.

 

 

 

 



To Ask or Not to Ask....

That is always one of the hardest questions for us when adopting another child.  Do we let me people know that we need help financially to bring home our daughter, or do we just wait on the Lord in Hudson Taylor fashion, make our requests known only to Him and see how He provides.

We have done it both ways.  Sometimes asking for help: Sometimes staying silent.  Last time we were blessed to be awarded a matching grant which gave us a great platform to petition our friends for assistance.  We were blessed with over $16,000 with gifts.  That went a long way to bringing home Lily Rose.

This adoption we chose not "to ask."  But I confess that we're just two short weeks away from traveling, and we are still $10,000 short of our adoption funds.  Don't get me wrong.  We are not panicking.  We know the Lord owns the cattle on a thousand hills and $10,000 is nothing to Him.  But we have decided to place the need out there in case someone wants to help us.  What a blessing that would be!

I must stop here and say three families stepped forward earlier in this adoption process, and without knowing we were in need donated a total of $7,000 towards our adoption.  I can not tell you what an encouragement and blessing that was to us.  After selling scrap gold, selling household goods on
E-Bay and Craigslist, selling a vehicle, and refinancing our home we had nothing left to liquidate.  Their gifts allowed us to keep moving forward for Savannah Faith when we were not sure what was going to happen next.

And with this sweet facing waiting on us...

 

 

we wanted to keep moving forward!

Now, next week CWTS (China Women Travel Service) needs their money wired to them to book our travel in-country and we need the money to carry with us to pay for Savannah Faith's visa fees, passport fees, and other in-country fees by March 1st - our departure date.

So here I am, "asking".  If you have ever considered supporting adoption but were not sure how to go about doing it, this is your chance.  You can make tax-deductible donations to our adoption fund by writing a check to SouthLake Church and mailing it to 13820 Hagers Ferry Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078.  Just put "Horton Adoption" in the memo line.

If you would like to give a gift instead, to benefit our adoption, you can purchase coffee at this link https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/hortonadoption/ and $5.00 a bag will go towards our adoption. 

Or take a look at the necklaces below.  E-mail me to purchase your favorite one for $24.00.  We will receive $12.00 a necklace to benefit our adoption.  (If you live locally in the Charlotte area I'll deliver it to you.  If you live out of the area, I will mail it for an extra $5.00 postage added.)

 

 

 

 

Asking for help is always uncomfortable.  I like helping others SO much better than I like asking for help.  But here it is.  Our plea for our daughter.  She needs to come home.  To have open-heart surgery.  To find love and hope.  We would love to have you be a part of "Team Savannah".

 

 

Counting Down to "One More"

I'm back from the moon (read Michaela's previous post if you don't understand this) and preparing to fly to China on March 1st!

We took a step of faith and purchased plane tickets several weeks ago anticipating our TA (Travel Approval).  Yes, I've been a bit anxious watching our paperwork progress since that time.

By purchasing our tickets early, we saved a considerable amount of money.  The risk: we might have to reschedule them, if we have a slowdown in our paper process, and lose a lot of money.  So far, so good.  Please pray with us that the Chinese New Year will not slow things down too much!

Our pre-Article 5 was issued today (hoping for the actual Article 5 by Friday) then our paperwork will make its way back to the CCCWA to await our approval for travel (TA) and then we will be assigned a Consulate Appointment at which time we can "book our flights."  Oops, I already did that:)

While waiting we sent a photo album and an outfit to Savannah Faith and a bag of candy for the ayis (nannies).  It was such fun to get updated photos of her this week when she received the package.

 

In this one she is either kissing or trying to eat the photo album we sent her.  Her picture is on the cover of the album.  She was probably excited to see that!

 

Here I think she's trying to decide if the bag of candy is for her?  That would be a "negative" Savannah Faith but nice try:)

Look at those girl's cheeks!  She is going to fit into this family nicely!

 

 

Michaela, AnnaGrace and I will be heading out on this trip to China while Phil and Torie corral the three little girls at home.  This will be AnnaGrace's first trip back to China since being adopted in 2001. 

 

We are planning 6 days of travel before we pick up Savannah Faith, so AnnaGrace can visit the province where she was born and her orphanage.  I expect it to be an emotional and life-changing experience!

 

So much to catch-up on the blog...but here is one of my favorite photos from the holidays.

 

 

 



This is a "pile of our girls" and our good friend, Brenda Scott, at Christmas time.  Brenda was the first person, besides immediate family, that AnnaGrace allowed to hold her when she first came home from China.  Brenda has been on this crazy ride with our family ever since!

Hi, this is Michaela:

So for all of you wondering...no, my mom did not decide to travel to the moon. So since she has not posted in a long time, I thought I would.

A few days ago mom and I left the two little girls with Torie, and  ran some errands. When we got home mom noticed some hair on the floor and proceeded to ask Isabelle a few questions...

Mom: Where did the hair come from?
Izzy: Starts sobbing.
Mom: Did you cut your hair?
Izzy: Yes.
Mom: Where is the rest?
Izzy: I threw it in the trash can.
Mom: Why did you cut your hair?
Izzy: I was curious to see if scissors would cut hair...

To give her credit at least they look like bangs...

P.S. Mom, you need to come up with a better password.

Daughters on Three Continents

It occurred to me the other day that we have daughters on three continents.  For parents who are self-confessed control freaks, we are a bit out of our comfort zone.  And yet, that is exactly where the Lord wants us to be.

Savannah Faith waits for us in China.  As usual the most frustrating part about adoption is the fact that we have absolutely NO control over the time frame.  Our part of the paperwork is finished and ready to be put in the mail.  We're just waiting, waiting, waiting on the government - this time the U.S. government - to complete their next step, so we can mail our dossier to China.

Adoption paperwork is a bit like watching an orchestrated dance. First  paperwork waltz's across the ocean to China where you wait on PA (tentative approval to adopt your child) and then back to the US for I-800A (tentative approval to allow the child to immigrant).  The waltz continues with the dossier going to China for LOA (definite approval to adopt your child) and then back to the US for I-800 (final approval to allow the child to immigrant).  Then the dance continues as the paperwork makes the trek to China one more time for TA (approval to travel to China) and then back to the States for the US Embassy's approval for an Embassy date.  And finally the dance winds down as plane tickets are obtained.

Now think about your most recent DMV visit.  Do you remember the bureaucratic speed (ahem) and clarity that awaited you upon your arrival? (Do you notice the sarcasm in my voice?  There is a reason we call my most dreaded experiences "DMV moments" in our house.)  Now imagine DMV speed and multiple it times the six trips across the ocean our adoption paperwork must make to the various government offices, both in the States and in China, before we can finally get approval to travel.

Now you understand the glazed stare that meets your eyes when you innocently ask us, "When is Savannah coming home?"  Sigh....

That brings me back to my original blog paragraph, we are completely out of control, and that is exactly where the Lord wants us.

While we wait and wait to hear paperwork updates on Savannah, Michaela is busy at work in Swaziland, Africa.  It's a bit surreal making weekly calls, via Skype, to a continent half way around the world, to our seventeen year old daughter and realizing that we have absolutely no ability to go to her if anything is wrong.

However, I can honestly say, we have a complete peace!  It can only be the Lord.

It's thrilling to hear the joy in her voice as she tells of sharing Christ's love with the children at the carepoints.  The fact that she is in her element is indisputable.

Even her training on our farm has even come in handy.  Two days a week she harvests fresh vegetables.  After spending all morning in the fields, the team takes veggies to the carepoints where they are distributed to the children.  The vitamins and nutrition from these are invaluable for the children whose primary diet consists of one meal a day of corn and beans! 

And while two of our girls are out of our reach but safely in the Lord's hands, I'm reminded that our four daughters who are right under our roof are not really safe because of "us."  They, too, are safe because of His good pleasure and His protective care.

One of my favorite verses has long been,

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

 

even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast."  Ps. 139:9,10

 



It has extra special meaning to me now as I wait for two daughters to come home from "the far side of the sea."