Adoption: Homecoming from China

Our First Family Picture! 

Homecoming!

Rachel, Sarah, Leia, and Natalia began the long journey home April 9.  After a 16 hour flight to Dallas, a 13 hour overnight layover (which worked out great because they got to meet Mimi and sleep in my childhood home near Dallas)...and after missing their morning flight, learning all flights to Boston the rest of the day were overbooked, and after sweet talking their way onto a connecting flight through New York....the China Scotts united with the New England Scotts to become THE SCOTTS.

After flying solo with four kids for 16 days without my wife (which is about 14 days longer than needed for me to really, REALLY appreciate having her as my partner in this life)....well, after that length of time plus the anticipation of meeting our new daughters for the first time made this such a sweet moment....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqeWg_O7ac&feature=youtu.be

With 9 people now in our family, we had no way to fit everyone into one car.  Our Ford Expedition has served us well for a long time but only has room for 8.  So, my surprise for Rachel was a 12 passenger van which we now call 'THE BUS'

It is almost impossible to surprise Rachel as she has a nose for these kinds of things.  I was just waiting for one of the boys during a Skype call to bring up the new 'bus'  However, we actually pulled it off and she was surprised at the new vehicle.

https://youtu.be/FWR9Jk5V2OM


We headed to a Bertucci's Restaurant near the Boston Airport and I snapped this picture as all these people were walking into the restaurant.  It was the first time where I looked at this huge group of people (Isaiah isn't even visible in Rachel's arms) and thought "My goodness....all of these people are my family!"   It was just one of those moments where reality set in (in a good way)



These are my people...

The past 10 days have been a blessing in watching our new children integrate into the family.

"The Littles" with Mommy the first morning.  AJ climbed into the bed that morning and said to Natalia "Do you want to snuggle?"



Game time...


Outside time...

























Celebrating Birthday 14 and 6.
Leia and AJ have the same birthday...



This beautiful girl has the toughest transition.  Think back to being 14 years old and imagine being moved halfway around the world and adopted into a family where everything is new from the culture to the food and especially the language.  We bought Leia Rosetta Stone English and she has been going through those lessons day by day, but English is really difficult for her.  We are praying for a breakthrough on this front.

In the meantime, Google Translate is a wonderful tool and we have spent entire evenings just typing back and forth with her, learning about her life, her hopes, her dreams....



And "The Littles" are learning to live with one another.  AJ has been an AMAZING big brother.  Isaiah is new to that 'big brother' role and, well, let's just say he is learning.  The horse pictures below were taken before the budding sibling rivalry began.  Having said that, he was sweet to little sister today so we are praying that he has turned a corner (at least for a few days!).



Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers over the past month.  I will put together a post on Rachel and the girls' last days in China as I have finally waded through all 1500 pictures and about 50 videos they took.  For now, I wanted to get this delayed 'Homecoming' post published.

God Bless,

Andrew and Rachel

Other Homecoming Photos

Landing in Dallas.  Rachel sent this first picture to me while on the plane with the caption "America's two newest citizens!"

Mimi's home (nice place for a 13 hour layover in Dallas!)



And the wait after missing the morning flight....



The video below will find its permanent home on the post from earlier in April introducing Natalia.  But for now I am posting it here.

  This 4+ minute video shows Rachel and the girls meeting Natalia for the first time.  Beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNOjPBY5-uE&feature=youtu.be

Adoption: Natalia Danae Daisy Scott

Rachel and I are proud to introduce our 7^th child and 5th daughter...

Natalia Danae Daisy Scott 

Born in China May 10 2014, her name, NATALIA, is a combination of her brothers and sisters' names…the last sounds of Vienna, Sarah, and Hayleigh form the base structure of the name and then the L, I, and A are for Leia, Isaiah, and AJ.  Natalia was also my maternal great grandmother who came from a faraway land to build a life in America over 100 years ago. 

Danae – This name is the female version of Rachel’s father’s middle name.  We honor him through this name and hope she grows to be a woman of such high integrity as her grandfather, Richard Dana Watson. 

Daisy – As noted in a previous post, Rachel and I had many years of frustration having our first child.  We attended a church during those years that had a tradition on Mother’s Day revolving around daisies.  An older gentleman would sit at the piano and play Jud Strunk’s song “Daisy A Day” while members of the church leadership would hand out daisies to all the moms in the congregation.  This tradition was bitter sweet during those years as Rachel was just desperate to be a mom and get a daisy on that day.  The twins came in April 1999, and Rachel got two daisies Mother's Day 1999.  Daisies on Mother's Day have been a tradition ever since in our home.  As our family talked about names, this story came up at some point during the conversation.  AJ’s eyes widened and he said “We should name her Daisy and then she can bring you a daisy on Mother’s Day!”  So, this part of her name is simply a sweet story and a reminder of a wonderful tradition within our family that will be all the more special from this day forward. 

Gotcha Day

On March 30 Rachel, Sarah, and Leia went to picked up Natalia in Nanchang.  A blessed thing happened when they met Natalia….she cried and cried, reaching out for her caregivers.  While it is sad to see such a thing, a crying little one like this is a sign that she has been able to connect with her caregivers and will likely connect with her adoptive family. 

 

Fortunately Sarah (aka ‘The Baby Whisperer’) was there because on Gotcha Day as long as Sarah was holding her, Natalia would quiet down.  If anyone else held her?  Well, let’s just say Sarah held her a lot on that first day.  Sarah said to me that night “I call her Princess Pouty Face….she’s so cute and I love her!”

Fortunately, the pouting has given way to more and more smiles and laughs as the days have gone by.  Rachel says when she laughs it is SO cute because “she opens her mouth huge in a laugh and her eyes close in a happy squint.”  Hayleigh and I saw her do this laugh while we were face-timing the other night; it is hysterical!  These aren’t the best pictures but give a good idea of what Rachel is talking about. 

 

Finding Spot

The bus station where Natalia was found

The next day the China Scotts were able to go to the place where Natalia was found.  Rachel wrote the following to me about this experience “She was abandoned at the only bus station (at that time) in this huge city of 16 million. It was emotional going to that place.  We prayed for her birth parents and left a poster covered in and sealed in a clear plastic cover with baby photos of her and photos of us and Leia.   The note let them know we appreciated them saving her life and that we are praying for them.  The note also said Natalia will be loved, provided for, and educated in a Christian home.” 

 

Connecting and growing

I asked Rachel to send her thoughts on what she is seeing with Natalia and here are her comments….

“She has a bit of stubborn in her and yet is so silly as well.  She loves to feed people and will seemingly eat anything!  For such a little girl, she eats SO much!  She won't be put down so we really haven't seen her walk yet.  She arches backwards when mad and hates elevators for some reason.  Natalia likes books and tends to put them on her head like an open book hat or at times puts them up to her ear like a phone. 

She LOVES Sarah so the joke now is that we came to China to get Sarah a baby.  Natalia liked swimming and figured out how to splash.  She loves playing with her musical toys, and she enjoys sharing.  She likes to have her bottle while sitting straight up. 

The back of her head is flat which would indicate to me that she spent a lot of her infancy lying in her crib. They said that they held her when they fed her, but I'm not convinced.  She has a scar on her forehead which they said she had when she was found.  She has a boo boo on one of her big toes;  the orphanage said it gets infected of the nail isn't cut right.  She is always hot and she consistently takes off her shoes, particularly the one on the foot with the boo boo.  She totally doesn't mind getting her fingernails cut and is so cute in showing which finger to do next.  

She is not good with adjustments of any kind.  If one person is holding her, she doesn't want to switch to someone else.  However, after she adjusts to that person she doesn't want to switch back.  She has shown no interest in children play areas and literally just wants to be in our arms. There was progress tonight in that I got up for a moment to get something, pointed to where I was going to go, and she let me go without crying (I was in her sight and it took seconds but it was progress). 

She did not like her first bath but really enjoyed her second one. 

She grinds her teeth sometimes when sleeping and they are super crowded in her mouth.  Sarah thinks she has more teeth than a shark (LOL).  She likes it when Sarah sings to her and she likes to be bounced.  She is babbling now to us, but we are not sure if they are actual words or not.   She says "eye-yah!" a lot!”

For me, it has been wonderful to see the change in her in just the few days she has been with the China Scotts.  We really didn’t have any pictures of her smiling before we adopted her.  We saw a video of how they get pictures of the kids and it is absolute chaos so the kids are kind of in shock (at least the way this orphanage did things).  So, it is really nice to see our girl smiling and laughing. 

Welcome to our family sweet Natalia!  You have been hoped for and prayed for since before you were born and even more so over the past year.  Your Daddy loves you as does your Mommy, sisters and brothers.  Please join us in welcoming this little one to our family. 

God bless,

Andrew

Other Pictures and Events...

Hangin' with the Pandas

Cadbury Easter Egg cultural lesson...

While this particular picture is on an overcast and 'wet' day, Rachel and Sarah both mention how noticeable and 'bad' the smog and pollution are in every city they have been to so far (Shenyang, Nanchang, Guangzhou)

The official adoption papers including a hand print for Natalia...

Crawfish...mmmmmm

Princess Pouty Face (first or second night)

Love this picture of our two new daughters in the pool together playing and laughing...

She is laughing here as she is being tickled...

Mommy and Natalia...

On the way to the finding place...

Natalia Thoughts = "I LOVE SARAH"

Sisters!   There is something I really like about this picture.  Not just the funny part with Leia having the silverware and Sarah the chopsticks...but there is just something joyful about these girls.